Words of wisdom as presented by the Iron Butt Association;
1. Know your limits and plan your trip around them.
If the longest ride you have ever taken is 300 miles in a day, don't plan a trip with a string of endless five- hundred mile days.
2. Forget about high speeds.
A steady rider can book more miles.
3. Leave your drugs and coffee supply at home.
If you need No-Doze or other drugs to stay alert, it's time to stop for the day and get some serious rest.
4. Prepare your motorcycle before the trip.
It is often cheaper to replace tires and chains at home rather than squeezing the few remaining miles from them.
5. Avoid adding accessories or doing maintenance immediately before a trip.
Don't use a trip as a test bed for a new exciting accessory.
6. Use an electric vest.
Even on the warmest summer nights, a 75 degree evening ride can send a chill through your body.
7. Pack wisely; keep personal supplies handy.
Sun screen, skin lotions, eye cleaner, eye lubricant, a flash light, a tire gauge, maps and other essentials should all be kept in a handy location. If these items are not on-hand when you need them, you won't use them.
8. Be ready before you leave, don't waste time shopping on the road.
Maintain a check list of items to carry and then check it before you leave.
9. Learn how to avoid boredom.
Carrying a tape player with your favorite music can prove invaluable.
10. Join a towing service!
Break downs happen and there is nothing like being stuck with no one to turn to for help.
11. Learn to Stop to go Faster.
What is important is to know what speed your internal riding clock runs by and when your speed falls below that average, take time out and get some serious rest.
12. Know when to stop!
As soon as you are tempted to close an eye, even "for just a second", find the nearest safe place to pull over and take nap!
13. Maintain a good mental attitude.
If you really hate rain, you just may be better off taking a time-out and hold-up in a motel for a day.
14. Eat healthful foods.
Fast foods and a big road trip are a bad combination, but realizing that this is the real world.
15. Eat at the right times of the day.
Dinner is best eaten early to beat the dinner crowd. Additionally, eating after dark with a long ride ahead is a bad idea - it will put you to sleep.
16. Separate gas stops from food stops.
After getting gasoline, it takes just as long to suit-up to ride across the street to eat as it does to ride twenty miles down the road and then eat. The result is two mini rest-stops for the price of one.
17. Get gas before you need it.
You only have to run out of gas one time, or take a five mile detour in search of gas to blow the time you saved by not stopping. When gas is handy, stop and get it.
18. Put on your rain suit before it rains!
The dangers are too numerous to outline, do you really want to be standing just three feet from traffic zooming by at 60 mph?
19. Carry a flat repair kit and know how to use it!
The majority of tubeless tires punctures can be repaired in just a few minutes.
20. Carry a Cellular phone.
They may not work in Death Valley, but you may be surprised at the number of locations they do work.
21. Upgrade your tool kit.
The tool kit in most motorcycles are at best junk. Use the tool kit as a guide and purchase quality replacement tools.
22. Carry at least one-half gallon of water.
You don't have to be riding in the desert to listen to this advice. For example, pushing a broken motorcycle a short distance up a hill to get it to a safe parking place on a cool night can generate a thirst that cannot be described.
23. Carry aspirin for aches and pains.
Aspirin enjoys an almost cult-like following in the riding community, riders claim it alleviates a variety of pains and helps prevent muscle spasms.
24. Pack a variety of vitamins.
We have to defer this exact advice to a doctor, but in general a minimum recommendation is to take a one- a-day vitamin.
25. Consider purchasing a mapping program.
While most mapping programs are far from perfect, in some cases they will route you in ways that defy logic.
26. When riding back roads, be extra cautious when crossing county lines.
In many states, road maintenance is the responsibility of the county. That means every fifty miles or so you may be dealing with different pavement mixes.
27. Never ride faster than you can stop
Always remember the Absolute Number 1 priority when participating in a long-distance ride or endurance rally: cross the Finish Line alive.
28. Stay away from trucks
If a trucker has to get on the brakes hard because of a of something in the road or someone has cut them off, and you aren't alert back there, you will hit the trailer.
29. Eliminate all distractions/irritants
Eliminate all distractions and potential irritants before the ride, no matter how minor they may seem. Even minor aggravations are magnified during a long-distance ride, robbing you of precious energy in the form of stress.
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