Planning a route: GPS, wing it? Etc?

I'm planning a route to a city a few hours away. There are a couple of roads I would like to ride through the mountains to get there. I might come back using another route (a little shorter). I have NOT done a lot of touring.

I have planned out the route on google maps. I have done a little street view to see what the roads are like.

I have a phone with GPS, and and old GPS I have never used on a m/c.

I suppose I could just print the directions, but have no tank bag or anything to keep them.

What do you do? Do you program the directions into a GPS? (I know on my bicycle people do this) Do you follow from point to point via a program? Just wing it?

How far do you ride in a day as well? This is a lot of riding (for me), so likely an overnight trip.

When I go touring, I look to get from home to the "fun" area as rapidly as possible. I let my GPS figure out the route (I just give it the destination), and it almost always involves a lot of interstate highway travel. A 600-mile commute to the "fun" area might involve a bunch of interchanges as I pass through various cities, and it's nice to have the GPS remind me when the next exit is coming up.

Once I get to the "fun" area, I typically have preplanned rides that I want to do. I will have squirreled these away in my GPS before I left home. Here's a good example, going from Madison to Hudson (Wisconsin):

This was 392 miles, and there were literally dozens of turns on this route. There's no way I could have memorized this without screwing up at some point, and paper would have been a major hassle. This is exactly the kind of thing GPS units are great for. I surveyed the map in my GPS software (on my PC), and then laid down a route with enough waypoints to force the routing software lay the route down on exactly the roads I wanted. Once it was all done, I uploaded the route to my GPS unit, and I was ready to go. You can also create waypoints for important things along your route, e.g. the hotel you'll be staying in, or a particular restaurant you'd like to stop at. Most GPS units include the locations for thousands of businesses, but it's often quicker and easier to search for them in your own short list of custom waypoints than in the GPS unit's giant database of all the businesses in the country.

Everyone has their own style of touring, whether it's winging it and seeing what you find down some random road, or planning things to a T. If you haven't done much touring, you'll have to figure out what balance suits your own needs.

Everyone has their own endurance limits, too. Some people ride non-stop between fill-ups (this can be 250 miles or more, depending on the bike), some people prefer to take a break every hour or so. Miles per day depends on the individual, but it also depends on the type of riding. If you're in tight twisty stuff, 300 miles can be a very long day; if you're on the interstate highway system, you may be able to do 800 or more if you're efficient with your stops and ride from sunup to sundown. If you haven't done much touring, you'll have to learn your own limits here as well. as you plan your next trip, I'd suggest keeping the daily distances a little more on the modest side. If you feel underwhelmed, then you'll know you can safely plan longer distances on future trips.

Low tech solution: print the directions and tape them to your tank with painter's tape.

Me: I usually do what Mitch does, if time permits: Plan the route to hit the roads I want (usually on Google Maps, because it's the easiest to use), create a route that does that in Basecamp, and download the route to my Navigator VI (or, previously, Zumo 660 or Navigator II). But I've had a couple of interesting day rides by riding some distance from home, and then telling my GPS to take me home via the "shortest route", rather than the "fastest route". Note that if you're using a GPS, it's extremely helpful to have an in-helmet audio connection of some sort. You don't want to be staring at the GPS screen when you should be watching the road.

One great advantage of using a GPS over printed directions: if you miss a turn, the GPS knows about it and will get you back on track before you go a bunch of miles in the wrong direction. On the other hand, you might discover something interesting by going a bunch of miles in the wrong direction!

If just a few turn directions,then printed lists are ok,use a big font or big handwriting.

Otherwise consider the GPS,your phone GPS May be fine,but they tend to run down battery quickly and some phones do not operate well in the heat,or cold,or wet.

If your old GPS can route you,then go with that,just be aware that your maps are years old,which may not be an issue in well established areas with not a lot of road construction.

Both phone gps and stand alone gps require a mount system,RAM makes a ton of mounts,some likely specific to your gps,some useful for your phone.

Also both units will require some type of power source,either some way to plug phone cord into bike power or gps power cord to bike power.BurnsMoto among others has a variety of options for getting power from bike to your electronics.

Info on your phone and gps would be helpful to us,to help you.

JR356

Info on your phone and gps would be helpful to us,to help you.

 

JR356

Thanks. I'm truly a n00b at this and I guess I'm ok at saying so. I need to find the GPS, it's something my wife bought for the car and I need to locate it. Thus, I'm sure it's not waterproof nor likely has Bluetooth that I could hear the commands. My phone is a Droid and it's pretty modern but I have never loaded a map. I never really use it for directions (in the car) but I should. The bike I bough used and it has a harness to power my droid (but I have no mount). I'm a little worried that Bluetooth would be a distraction - I'm new to this, like I said.

This will be a short journey I suppose. About 130 miles one way. But I'll allow myself enough time to stop and smell the exhaust as it were. I figure I'll leave in the afternoon, spend the night at the destination city after having dinner, and leave back in the morning the other route. Allowing time to stop along the way at a couple of spots.

I actually did find last night that I have a map bag of some sorts that someone gave me long ago and I never used. It's really just a pouch with a strap. Maybe I should figure out how it works. I would say that the first hour or so out, I know the route and the rest of it will be following one road, so it might not be that bad. Just looking for pointers.

I need to find the GPS, it's something my wife bought for the car and I need to locate it.

If I recall correctly, most automotive GPSs don't support downloading routes created on your computer. You'll have to built the route on the GPS, which can be a challenge. And I think the number of waypoints in a route is also pretty limited in the automotive units.

This will be a short journey I suppose. About 130 miles one way. But I'll allow myself enough time to stop and smell the exhaust as it were.

Well, then, you can just check your paper map when you stop.

With a trip that length,just look for scenic routes on a current road map.

There are motorcycle specific maps out there,may or may not be available for your area.

Figure out a way to safely mount the map holder to your bike,then put a map in there or just a simple turn direction list.

Just keep it simple to concentrate on and enjoy the ride.

JR356

I did two experiments this weekend. One, tested riding with an earphone in. I just listened to music to see if it was a distraction. It wasn't. It was actually nice and kept my mind a little more focused than listening to the engine and the rushing wind.

Also, I bought a Ram Mount and put my Android in it. I didn't like the position and the screen on the phone is TERRIBLE in the sun. So I have moved the mount a little and dug out the old TomTom. Once I procure a converter cable, I can power it back up. I'm not sure how much of a fan I will be of all this as I don't want it to be a distraction. On the handlebars, I think the GPS is too far from my eyes up position. But, I don't need to follow it for turn by turn except for one part of my next planned trip. I'm not even sure if the TomTom has Bluetooth, but I'll find out soon. Then again, I can't pair the TomTom and the music at the same time. I'll figure it out I'm sure...

Connect your TomTom to their website and update it and mapset,if available.

This will likely take some time,especially the mapset.

JR356

Did the trip. There was some lost getting and trips on the interstate that I didn't realize were there but it was all fun.

Lessons learned: I need a better/different GPS. I need one that will let me work it easily to skip a "destination" as it was really just a waypoint. I need to consider the map a little better, I did some by memory and ended up on some wrong turns. If there were specific roads I wanted, I need to do a better job of planning them in there.

Otherwise, I need a taller windshield for the interstate.