What do you *do* on trips?

So far I've taken two multi-day trips on my K1200GT. One doesn't really count since it was just for my SS/BB IBR ride. The second was a three-day trip to Death Valley. The DV trip was fun hanging out at the campsite, but riding around the park was frankly boring. I didn't feel I could park the bike and hike around because of all the damn gear I'd have to stow/change out of - boots, helmet, gloves, jacket & pants. Just too cumbersome.

I'm trying to understand the point of motorcycle touring. From my limited experience, I don't get it. But given so many people here seem to enjoy it, I figure I'm missing something. What do you folks do when you take these trips? Ride from point to point, taking in the sights? If you go to a national park or something, how do you hike around with all the gear to deal with?

Don't think I'm criticizing anyone that enjoys long motorcycle trips. I'm just not understanding it and hoping for some insight.

I talk to people.

I don't talk to people.

I'll run a cable through my gear and hike in my boots.

It really varies, depending upon how I feel at the moment.

People are generally good and leave stuff alone enough that I've not had a problem thus far.

I suppose the whole point, for me, of a motorcycle trip is to find some sort of equilibrium with the world. If I'm not going to have a reasonable expectation of finding that, then there's no point, for me. YMMV.

I think if I were to really worry about stuff, it wouldn't be nearly so much fun.

I hope you find what works for you.

John

edited to add: I'll leave my stuff completely exposed but cabled to the bike for hours at a time *if* I'm far enough off the beaten track that only similarly-minded souls are likely to pass by. Lock up the important stuff (or carry it with you) and cable the rest of your stuff to the bike. It just takes a couple of minutes to secure riding gear with a good cable and lock. I'm convinced that if someone really wants your stuff, they're going to get it regardless.

John

Assuming you're serious...
This happens due to good marketing that appeals to people looking for an escape - something different. Moto riding is just one of these escapes.
Happens in most sports fields.

You either have the spirit and desire for this, or you don't.
Sounds like you might live in a cube with little outdoors experience.

Your IB thingy was to prove something - justifying, in your mind, some perceived accomplishment and respect.

If moto riding hasn't clicked with you yet, it's not for you.
Browse activity magazines at a Barnes and Noble. You'll find something else that gets your interest. Time wasted...

First, I'm really lucky that my usual riding/traveling partner is my wife. We enjoy the riding part of it and stop to take in as many good views and points of interest suuch as grist mills, National PArk sites and such as possible with minimal walking from the bikes.


I also like to stay at a place that has ample oportunities. For example, on our 2 week trip through CO and UT, we spent a day exploring Mesa Verde, camped for 2 nights at Bryce Canyon that had alot of hiking and we could leave our stuff at camp, then spent 2 days in Zion and this time left our stuff in the motel room and rode the free shuttle to explore the Park.

We then moved down to the North Rim and left stuff in camp when we went hiking....

But you are right.....it is a hassle getting in and out of the gear and that does discourage some middle of the day hikes that we would probably do if we were in the cage.....

Riding.

Ditch the GT and get something you can ride anywhere..there are COUNTLESS small adventures down the trails....who has time to HIKE ferchisakes?

I sit in my Kermit chair and wonder if the fish are swallowing big mac's. Or
I put a Big Mac on the hook and wonder if someone is thinking of making
my kermy theirs. Or, I breath really fresh air and see really beautiful wonders,
and wonder if there is a trail to the top, and if there is, then, that is what I go
and attempt to pull of, unscathed. Sometimes it does not happen as I planned.
I return to camp and wonder why things didn't happen as planned., fix a meal,
drink a beer, rinse, lather and repeat. Then I go home. Happy Trails.

The focus is on the bike. Travel exposed to nature, not cooped up in some cocoon with airconditioning.

Minimalist travel. You don't need an expresso machine to camp.

Same reason I don't travel with music. I learn to listen to my own thoughts.

There is no "point" to travel. The point is the travel itself. I can sit around and do nothing at home.

A bike is exposed, primeval, rustic, not compromised by a false sense of security. You fall off, you get hurt. It's outside the normal consciousness. "normal" people don't risk themselves.

So what do I "do" on trips? Whatever the hell I want.

What the sticker say's. It is not the destination, it is the journey. Grasshopper

The adventure is in the journey, not the destination. It's not for everyone. As an example, my brother, who has very similar interestest to me, believes that I-80 between Reno and Salt Lake City is the ugliest road he's been on. He calls it the absence of scenery. On the other hand, I find it stunningly beautiful. I love the wide open expanses and subtle differences in the mountain ranges. I guess I'm an explorer by heart. I always think to myself, "I wonder what is beyond that hill?"

So here's what I do on motorcycle trips...I ride about 500-800 miles in a day, soaking in as much scenery as I can absorb, getting tired and cold, and then I find a campsight or hotel. Then I either read a novel in my tent after dinner or soak in a hot tub in a hotel as the case may be. My goal is to be too tired to actually "do" anything when I get to a destination. Those are the good days for me.

The primary reason I motorcycle tour...relaxation. I've done an awful lot of hobbies and activities in my life and there is not a single one that is as relaxing and refreshing for the soul as solo motorcycle touring. Don't get me wrong, riding with buddies or family is a blast. But for true relaxation, nothing comes close to me, my bike, and the road. And when your battery dies in the middle of the desert, or you get caught in a hail storm or the temperature plumets and the snow starts, that is where the adventure comes in. And the trip becomes even more memorable.

Just my .02

PS- I took too long typing it and KawaYamaSaki beat me to it. :)

I just like the wind in my face, seeing scenery pass, most of the time in no great hurry, eat some place I've never been before and talk to people who live a little bit different life than I do. Come out of the motel room in the morning and laugh because it's raining and have to ride (you need the right friend who understands and laughs with you though).

How'd you come into motorcycling?

Intellectually I understand when someone says "I don't get it" but it just does not fully compute in my brain. Know what I mean? I feel like I've always been a motorcyclist; I was a motorcyclist before I even rode one, I'd buy the magazines or see motorcycles go by and dream. I just don't get people not getting it. From one perspective I am truly baffled at the fact that there are so many humans that are not motorcyclists.

Here's one angle; it's like when you are a little kid and you ride your bicycle everywhere and there is an irrepressible urge to want to know what is around the corner, the sights, the sounds, the adventure. At first you go just a little ways but you keep at it and before you know it you've peddled several miles and you find yourself skinny dipping in the Rio Grande.

One grows up a bit and at long last get a motorcycle and you go, you don't know where and you don't care but you know it's somewhere you've never been before and that's enough. It is so glorious that when one of us that thinks in this way bumps into a person that doesn't get it it feels like listening to the most wonderful music in the world and having someone say, huh?

There is nothing "to do", you are doing it. Yea, you go hiking here and there or you do this or that but that's not really the thing. Stop searching and you will find it.

This is a great topic. The foundation of this question is one of the main reasons that I'm close to giving up motorcycles.

I've ridden through the entire lower 48, and quite honestly, I'm bored. I suck it in the dirt, and don't have a lot of desire to get a dirt bike to learn. My main problem with touring these days is that it's a lot of doing nothing, and very anti-social. At the same time, completely sedentary, and puts me in a place where I end up staying in sucky hotels and eating crap food. At the end of the day I feel like I rode 150 miles on my bicycle, but I've got no exercise all day.

I guess I'm just over motorcycles for now. I'd rather ride a road or mountain bicycle, or be out hiking with friends and my dog these days. Sitting on the bike all day and being a fat lazy slug just isn't my idea of a good time any more.

I suspect that in a year or 2, both of mt BMW's will be sold, and I'll do a few track days per year, and that will be the extent of my time on motorcycles.

A motorcycle can be as boring as a car if you treat it like a car.

I love to travel and do not always do so by motorcycle. I can say though that my motorcycle trips are the most memorable. I think my love for travel and seeing what is over the next hill came from motorcycles. I got a Honda ZR50 when I was six and would explore the woods behind our house with it every chance I got, alone or with my Dad.

I usually find that motorcycle trips are the most social of my trips in that I meet so many more people along the way. Other motorcyclists, people that are curious about the bike or why you are riding it. I guess it gives people an excuse to talk to you. I've met some really interesting people and been to some wild out of the way places I never would have discovered if not for the motorcycle.

Beyond that the thrill and challenge of riding a bike. Feeling the weather change, outrunning a storm, having to depend on just the bike and what you can carry on it. It is a totally different experience than droning along in a car with the AC going, radio blaring and a trunk full of stuff you don't really need. I also feel like I've accomplished something after a long day in the saddle.

Motorcycle trips are about the bike. If I had to list what I do on a motorcycle trip I'd say ride, see the scenery, look for cool out of the way places to explore and talk to crazy people. If I want to go backpacking, kayaking, bicycling, etc. I usually plan separately for it.

I really don't think we can answer your question. I can't even comprehend the question.

I'm sure that you've seen a dog hanging out the window of a car or pickup with the wind in his face......maybe that explains it.

I love motorcycle touring because I just love riding a motorbike. For me being on the bike, alone with my thoughts, being in the landscape, not removed from it behind glass and steel is bliss. I recently completed an 8000km two week tour with a mate of mine. I had two destinations I specifically planned to reach (one was for personal business reasons, the other because I wanted to watch a couple of Aussie Rules games in Melbourne). Prior to leaving the only accommodation booked was in Melbourne. I really wanted to just play it by ear. I love camping so the plan was to camp where possible. So we just stopped and camped along the way. If the weather was crap we stayed in country pubs. We went to places that took our fancy. I loved the different contrasts of the countryside, the weather, the lifestyles. In a car, it would have been purely transport.

For me a car is a convenient and comfortable form of transport. If I go somewhere with the wife and kids, we take the car. For them they generally just want to get to the destination in comfort. When it is just for me, I prefer to be on the bike. I really enjoy bike touring when there is a lot of exploring and randomness. Just being on the bike. If you just want to traverse the landscape, then I think that would be boring. For me, it is about getting right into being on the road, taking things as they come and not getting caught up in getting to somewhere in particular.

Thanks for some interesting and thoughtful responses. A few people mentioned that I'm using the bike like a car, which is a good observation. I commute on the bike daily and don't want to go anywhere near it by the weekend. Getting rid of the K and replacing it with something more all-around would open up some possibilities. I'm not sure that will cure my problem of being entirely focused on the destination. I've always just wanted to get where I'm going and the journey can suck it. :)

Thanks again for the different perspectives. I wasn't trying to troll or make light of an activity that many of you clearly enjoy and take seriously.

cables are great, I cable everything to the bike. Most people in a national park won't mess with your stuff. I fly fish off my bike all the time in the GSM and leave my stuff cabled to the bike without issue.

Get some boots you are comfortable to hike in and ride in. It may not be the *gasp* safest boots on the market for riding, but oh well.

BMW makes summer pants that unzip into shorts. They are awesome for stuff like this. I am sure other brands make something similar.

So basically that will leave you cabling your helmet and jacket to cable to the bike.