Best Rain Suit for the Moto

BMW's ProRain 3
Stripped down wind and rain protection
that stashes anywhere.
Great for cool weather desert trips.

On a recent shoulder-season trip to the Nevada desert, I was traveling light. My trusty (but bulky) 'Stich wouldn't fit in a 50-liter dry duffel with my boots and all my camping gear. So I packed my lightweight Vanson mesh jacket instead, along with a pair of mesh jeans. 

For warmth and wind protection I brought along my BMW rain suit. Worked like a charm.

Get out there!

This is a great fall and spring layering system when you're flying towards your motorcycle touring. Packs light and small. Bright yellow keeps you visible on the choked highways leading in and out of the Big Smoke.

Best Romantic Glow

Until last week, all I knew about Portland-based Snow Peak was the popular ultra-light stove that I don’t carry. (I use the GSI Soloist instead.)

This micro lantern by Snow Peak
won the Travel + Leisure Design Award

Then I got wowed by a Mini Hozuki.

That’s the packable lantern by Snow Peak that really does light like a candle. No more harsh LED glare in your tent at night. The mini Hozuki hangs from a gear loop and fills your cozy nest with a soft, warm glow. 

Why shouldn’t the light on your table or inside your tent compare favorably with full moonlight?

I had the chance to bask in them both the other night in Death Valley, and there’ll always be a place in my pack for this nifty little 1.9-oz. lantern from now on. It packs a punch of 60 lumens and strobes when needed, then dials down for quiet conversation.

Never pack out without a headlamp, but for solo trips you might want to consider leaving your BD Apollo behind and taking this along instead.

Gone a-venturing

Been a while since I've loaded up the dry duffel, paid its extra freight on a business trip and carried my helmet aboard, dreaming of rolling through the Nevada desert.

EagleRider of Las Vegas can set you up with BMW rentals at reasonable rates. And my pal Jenny Lefferts, founder of Mad Maps, will show you the way. Tell her I sent you.

They just can't make your dreams come true.

Epilogue:

On the road to nowhere...

Had a total blast in the big wide open! Highly recommend! EagleRider's got it together with great equipment, courteous service, the real deal. It's equidistant from Death Valley and Zion. I'll be back in the spring.

If you're heading out there now, in November, expect gorgeous 60-degree days in Death Valley. Nights were balmy in the high forties, low fifties. It's a different story up in Bryce Canyon. The thermometer fell below well below freezing the other night. The roads are still clear, but it's winter camping up there. Bring the heated vest.

Escape L.A. traffic at Death Valley Junction

Best Clothes Line

Next stop: Spain.

Laundry the old fashioned way

My Napoleonic drama is up for best unproduced screenplay at the Madrid International Film festival. Pretty cool.

So what’s tucked away in my carry-on roller this time? 

The Lite Line Clothesline by Sea to Summit.

This thing changed my life in camp. No more ants in my pants from underwear left to dry on a stump. No more disappearing dish towels, socks, bandanas. No more putting on soaking wet, freezing cold sports bras at six in the morning. No more dew-soaked sleeping bags meant to be airing out while I’m striking camp. 

Now try it the hi-tech way

Face it. The para-cord clothesline has its limits. Wind blows stuff off it. The same wind you need for drying your clothes.

For no extra weight, try this. It’s a 1.3 ounce valet’s assistant with sliding beads that grip your drying items. It sets up easy and sturdy in 30 seconds between any two objects anywhere from 12-20 feet apart. It tightens itself. And it disappears in your luggage or your pack.

Sea to Summit, you’ve done it again. Clever, beautiful gear that works every time.



I have a Lite Line for every traveler in the household.

Lite Line Clothesline by Sea to Summit

So get out there and don’t worry about getting wet. It’ll dry.

Worst Loo Paper

The sales copy says: “Who doesn’t want toilet paper that glows in the dark?”

I don’t, not if it means wiping my bottom with strontium aluminate or zinc sulfide.

This has got to be the most idiotic product ever let loose on the backcountry.

I found out about its existence in the camping/touring issue of BMW ON, the motorrad club's news magazine. Now I worry about the sanity of its editorial staff.

Please, don’t embarrass me. Promise me now you will never, ever go near this roll of loo paper. Or anybody who turns up in camp with it.

Portable power

For years I’ve experimented with solar rechargers for electronic devices I take on backcountry trips. Like my phone, my camera and my iPod. And sometimes my laptop, if I’ve escaped to write.

Most encased solar chargers aren’t rugged enough for backcountry use. The plastic cases always crack on trips. The utility of solar mats is pretty much limited to base camp use. When you’re moving, they just don’t work. And in spite of manufacturer claims, I find that they’re not waterproof. So leaving them unsupervised out in the open is just asking for trouble. They don’t work reliably inside a tent or in a resealable plastic bag.

So I’ve turned to juice packs for portable power.

The one I’m using now is Powerstation PRO from Mophie, and it works. You charge the juice pack at home and take it with you to recharge your toys on the trail.

At $100, it’s at the top of the food chain on price point. But if you do the math (which I had an Apple Genius help me with), you’ll find models costing a third as much just won’t get the job done. They’re basically designed for urban use when your phone goes unexpectedly dead and you need a power boost quick to make an urgent call or check texts. Travelers, trekkers, sailors, skiers, climbers, riders and beach bums want to run apps, recharge cameras, listen to audiobooks or radio and play music at dinner. One Powerstation is more than I usually need for four or five days off the grid.

This rugged, wallet-size model packs easily and weighs in under 350 grams. It reliably recharges my battery-sucking iPhone 4S four times in the backcountry in three-season temperatures. At 6,000 mAh (that’s milliamp hours), it should be able to give my Macbook one full recharge and still have power for a single phone recharge. (A Macbook battery delivers about 5,300 mAh.)

Managing juice packs, like managing power on your devices, is a nerd sport. Read the manual and follow the directions. The most important thing to remember for high performance is never to leave your device plugged into the juice pack longer than it takes to recharge.

Power-saving travel tip: run your phone in aircraft mode on trips, especially in the backcountry. Carry a SPOT tracker instead for safety—not the SPOT Connect, which saps power from your phone. And use a handheld GPS device for navigation⎯not your smartphone. This approach also gives you the benefit of redundancy. You can readily buy replacement batteries for that critical gear on the road. Worldwide. You’ll need an electrical outlet, a USB adaptor and a couple hours to recharge the juice pack.

3G coverage and apps like Packing Pro and HG2 are adding to the pleasure of adventure travel, so I predict that lightweight, portable power will only keep getting better. Get off the grid and recharge.

My Favorite Riding Suit

Hi viz where you need it

Dead sexy it’s not. But I’m closing in on my third decade wearing the all-weather Roadcrafter by Duluth-based Aerostich.

The new lightweight suit is a big improvement over my old standby of more than 15 years. The redesigned zipper finally means it’s closing in on waterproof. And the built-in galoshes are the bomb in a sudden downpour.

BMW manuals list rider equipment as mandatory gear. That means you shouldn’t be on one of their Guggenheim-worthy moving artworks without a helmet, boots, gloves and a protective suit.

In my family, with its four-generation motorcycling heritage, we’re dead serious about this rule. No matter what you ride.

I’m the sort of person who likes taking my moto to the Guggenhiem, so two-piece suits have never really worked for me. Who wants to sit through a film, stroll the grounds or meet friends for dinner wearing knee pads and day-glo ballistic nylon trousers?

I like to ride to the destination, take off the gear, swipe the lipstick, run a comb through my hair and enjoy the evening. To me, that’s civilized motorcycling. The Roadcrafter is designed to be worn over street clothing. It slips on over boots. Both my suits, sizes 36 and 38, can be stored in my system case after removing the hip and spine protectors. That makes it the best choice I know for bobo commuting.

(Bobo commuting: motorcycling’s glamping equivalent. It’s a cultural allusion to Bobos in Paradise, the entertaining book by David Brooks.)

Details like the snap-back, magnetized collar
 make all the difference in hot weather.

But I’ve also ridden this gear across the country and through its share of wild weather. This suit works.

Riders I meet on the road are having equally good luck with the Lombard suit by Teiz. I like the softer hand on the Teiz suit. And it’s priced considerably lower.

If your heart’s really set on looking dead sexy on a motorcycle, you’ll want leather. Of course you will. Which means you won't be needing a one-piece. As shown below.

Leather is bulky, heavy and much too hot in the summer.

The issue with leather is four-season comfort. You'll arrive in leathers for the movie in a sweat with your hair plastered to your head. It's definitely a look.

You'll also want custom leathers for the track. As you can see from the vintage photo above, plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. Leather's still the best rider protection available, outperforming synthetics in wrecks by a wide margin. 

Whatever works for you, get kitted up and get rolling.

SPOT

PLB? This is the one you need. The SPOT tracker.

Alert 911, call for help or let people know you’re okay or delayed. On the road where cell service is unreliable. In the backcountry or on the water. Even fits in your teenage daughter’s handbag.

SPOT is the 7-oz. safety net for responsible adventurers. It’s a subscription-based PLB (personal locator beacon) service with a solid international land-based network.

I never ride or trek without mine turned on. It’s the ONLY reason my family lets me off the leash. Seriously.

Backcountry travelers: avoid the SPOT Connect, which saps the charge on your mobile phone, rendering the system useless in short order.

Now let's talk ethics.

Critics are right when they bemoan widespread abuse of this device. As a certified Wilderness First Responder, I've heard all the stories. Idiots regularly misuse the 911 alert feature, putting rescuers at risk. I’m all for SPOT, and so I’m all for adventurers paying for their own needless “rescues.”

Get SPOT, get out there, have fun and always bring fresh lithium batteries. Be responsible for your own health and safety. SPOT is there to back you up. It’s peace of mind, not a concierge service.

Best Soft Luggage for the Moto

50-liter Luggage Roll by BMW Motorrad

Soft luggage for long trips on the moto? Tried ‘em all. This is the No. 1 setup by far.

The 50-liter capacity took me cross country in a week, carrying everything I needed to camp. (Lashed my wet tent and poles in a separate nylon stuff sack by Outdoor Research.)

On a previous trip down to the Florida Keys, my gear had gotten soaked inside my 42-liter North Face Cargo Duffel. Believe them when they say “water resistant.” Believe me, you want waterproof.

The Luggage Roll is bomber, waterproof in the monsoon I rode it through, and very easy on the eyes. With a very secure 4-buckle, quick-release attachment system. And a map case that unbuckles and flips back to be used as a day-glo safety flag when you pull over to pull on your rain suit.

Plus, what other duffel comes with a butler’s tray so you can lay out your clothes on the wet ground? Talk about form meets function. Sigh.

Pleased to introduce you to another piece of flawless product design from the OCD BMW folks who list boots, gloves, suit and helmet as mandatory rider’s equipment in every owner’s manual. My kinda gals.

Spitzenmäßig! Five stars.