I plan rides for a small but experienced riding group. I don't plan mile to mile, and we always stay flexible, but I try to ride those roads that other motorcyclists rave about. I also try to stop at some sites that the group would enjoy seeing that is in the area of the ride. We do short one or two day rides to ten day rides. Our goal is usually to be settled down to celebrate at some inexpensive but historic motel or hotel in the evening before it gets to late. There are a lot of great riding books out there that can help you get ideas for planning rides (i.e., madmaps, Motorcycle Journeys Through _______.)

You have great roads all around you in SC but feel free to check out some of the rides I have posted at www.texrider.com. Nothing fancy about the site, but I just maintain it to document the rides we have taken so the group can download pics, and other folks can benefit. There is a turn by turn itenerary an GPS maps as well.

Peaceful Crusin

 

I use goolge earth. I put in an address for a part of the country that I want to visit. Then I zoom in and pan around, looking at a real picture of the roads, terrain, rivers, mountains and whatever. I put a pin at the starting point of whatever trail I want to ride and put that grid coord in my gps and mark it with some name I will remember.

It also shows all the bars, restraunts, motels, etc. in the area so you can plan the area you will be in at days end.

The next must see place might be a couple hundred miles away. I mark that starting point. When I am finished with one, I can explore my way to the next place I am going or take the direct route by gps if time is a factor. That's the greatest part of gps. There is no reason for it to distract from your trip. You can always shut it off, but with it, you can leave the trail you are on for as long or short of a detour you want to and be right back on track as soon as you want to.

Traveling with no destination would be great if time was not a factor, but if you don't have that luxury, gps will make the most of your trip. It also doesn't hurt anything to always know where the closest gas, food, motels, etc. are either.

I guess it's not for everyone, but I enjoy every trip much more with gps than I ever did without it.

Dennis

 

what he said....
you never get lost you just find new roads! .

 

+1 The older you get the more you realize it is about the the ride itself, not the destination. All of ours, eventually, are to the grave, I hope to prolong my ride there with all the pretty side roads. And good company.

 

I enter a destination in my GPS and set the options to avoid highways & toll roads.

 

i find gps very usefull turn it on when i get hungry pick a resturant (non chain)then turn it off till dark then hit go home.

 

I ride a lot with friends who have "been there" before. When I have questions, I'll ask on here and always get great advice. For local rides, it's pretty easy to just pick a canyon, any canyon, and have a great ride.

 

You have to like Geography and maps for starters.
I did alot of flying and seeing the USA at 45,000, you get to see alot.

looking down you see some pretty cool areas and when I got time I researched it
plan a half *** route and wing it....

I also like where movies are filmed so I try to find where the location is.
example Wild hogs... (the bridge they crossed)
so here is the link of filming locations
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0486946/locations
The abyss was filmed in Gaffney ,SC at an abandoned Nuclear site.
They used one of the giant water tanks for some of the underwater scemes..the deep sea diver is still there
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096754/locations
Google map these coordinates...35.036743,-81.512461

Ideas like that, ........if I can't access the road..."oh well"
it sure as hell was fun getting there.

Man vs, Food, Diners Drive-ins and Dives..
That food joint looks good.... Where is it....find out and go...

i always retrace my big trips on a map to see which way i actully went vs, the general idea way to go.
you'll surprised what you missed close by....so you plan again...

This year i'm planning to go horseshoe curve (trains) Altoona,pa ..so theres a week or two trip just getting there from GA. So how I get there? Head up to south end of the smokies, may take the full length of BRP again or go up into Kentucky then West Virginia...way home? who knows



Good luck

 

I have a map of every State....have gone to the websites mentioned.....make must do roads in a certain color and other good roads in another color...as i see roads mentioned on here i add them to the map.....then i ride.......

Planning a ride can be as enjoyable as going on it.....the thought of riding the Million Dollar Hiway, 12/24 in Utah or any other great place gets the heart pumping......

 

For western NC and VA you can beat http://americaridesmaps.com They are inexpensive, have great roads laid out, things to see, total distance of the route, the time to ride the route, distances between fuel stops, etc. They are small and fit in your pocket. I also use Google maps, pick the back roads, and download to the GPS. I have an SD card with tunes for the ride in the GPS. The GPS was great last summer when one of the group I was riding with laid down his bike. I know there would be a Harely shop in the next town but it would have been very hard to get there in rush hour without the GPS. GPS is also great for finding non-chain (mom and pop style) places to eat. Now is the time to order the info from the different states dept of tourism.