OHV Trip Preparation

Preparing for an OHV outing requires a lot more planning than for a simple RV camping or sightseeing weekend. You still need all the normal preparations for a camping trip -- fuel, food, clothing, fire wood, fill fresh water tanks, empty holding tanks, check tires, plan routes, etc, but you also need to prepare your OHV toys. You will need to consider the kind of riding and the types of terrain. If you are headed into remote locations you will need to bring along enough fuel to last the entire outing. On one long dirt bike ride we went on in southern California, the ride leader had cached fuel along the trail ahead of time, knowing the gas tanks on most dirt bikes weren't big enough to make the whole ride without additional fuel. One option to consider if you do a lot of remote riding is to upgrade your fuel tank to a "desert tank". On my old KX 500 that boosted the capacity from less than 2 gallons to more than 3 gallons, more than 50% more fuel.  Before I got the desert tank I carried an extra quart of gasoline in an old motor oil bottle zip-tied to the number plate in case I needed a little extra to make it back to camp and more than once it saved the day.

First, check your toys. Well maintained equipment will provide years of reliable enjoyment. Poorly maintained equipment is likely to leave you stuck just when you least tolerate it. There is nothing like a breakdown to spoil a ride -- for you and everyone with you! So check each piece of equipment to make sure it is ready to ride. Tires, fuel, and other fluids (oil, coolant) are obvious items, but loose fasteners are often overlooked -- until it is too late and they've fallen off out on the trail. Some things coming loose are just a nuisance, but others can be dangerous so check all the fasteners regularly.  If your ride is equipped with lights, check them before you leave home and before every ride. Even if you are not planning any night riding, sometimes things come up and you find yourself in need of them. I was on a ride with 18 riders, ranging from about 8 years old to 65 in the California desert. It was supposed to be an easy afternoon ride, nothing too difficult since we had a number of young, novice riders on small bikes among us. However, for what ever reason (now lost in the well of years, I blame it on an over ambitious and over confident ride leader) we went further than planned and the ride lasted long into the night and we didn't get back to camp until well after 10:30 pm. Among the 18 riders there were only 4 bikes with headlights so we spaced the non-lighted units judiciously between them to provide some ability to see the trail and slowly made our way back to camp. It was a good thing we had those 4 bikes with working headlights! Do you know how dark the desert is on a moonless night? You quite literally cannot see your hand in front of your face, let along see the trail without illumination.  After a few hours of staring into the dark your eyes begin to feel like burned holes in a blanket.

While we're on the subject of lights, I have found it is helpful to keep a small flashlight like a Minimag in my fanny pack or in my fender bag. Cheap plastic flashlights are better than nothing -- until a crash or just tools bouncing around destroys them. These days you can get inexpensive LED aluminum flashlights that are sturdy, light weight, and the batteries will last a long time. Equipment can break down at night just as easily as it can in the day time, and, if you subscribe to variations of Murphy's Law, it may even be more likely to happen when you can't see to fix it. Even if you break down during the day, repairs might hold you up until after dark. I also include a chemical light stick in my trail tool kit. Although these are not as helpful as a good flashlight for illuminating repairs, they are really good for making yourself visible to searchers and they last a long time. Plus, having some light is soothing when you find yourself in total darkness in a strange place. And, believe me, nothing is stranger than some unfamiliar remote location in total darkness! Every sound, every shadow soon becomes an unseen monster about to devour you. Think that's just a scary story for kids? Talk to any survival expert and they'll tell you how easily the mind plays unkind tricks on you -- and how important a little bit of light (from a light stick or a small fire) is to your comfort and mental health. To protect the fragile light stick from damage in my pack, I cut a length of 3/4" PVC just slightly longer than the package and pushed end caps on both ends. Be sure to monitor the expiration date or condition of your light stick. I've observed that once the "puffiness" of the packaging is gone, the light sticks are useless. I have some that are WAY past their expiration dates that still worked, but not if the package had already gone flat.  Keeping them in the sealed PVC pipe seems to help delay them from going flat as well as protecting them from impact damage.

Back to trip preparations. Next to maintaining your rides, the most important thing is checking your riding gear. No knight would go into battle without his armor and you don't want to hit the trails without your body armor. Sometimes it is tempting to leave at least some parts of it behind, but as sure as you do, you're going to need it. While it sometimes feels cumbersome and too hot on summer days, it is well worth the inconvenience if you go down in a rock pile, cactus, or on pavement -- or even in the soft sand for that matter! Even soft soil is usually much harder than tender skin!  I keep a checklist for each member of my family and we religiously go down the checklist to make sure we have everything on board and in good condition before we leave home. Prior to the checklist, we occasionally left something behind and that always threw a monkey wrench into the works. In some places, California for instance, it is illegal for anyone to ride an OHV without a helmet. This is in addition to and pre-dates the infamous California helmet law for street motorcycles. Riding off-road without a helmet is an invitation to disaster. Even a low speed crash can result in serious or even fatal injuries if you hit your head on a rock, and there are usually plenty of rocks in most OHV riding areas. While other safety gear may not be legally required by law, it is still just good common sense to wear it -- EVERY time you ride. I once took a short ride in jeans without my riding pants and knee pads and soon regretted it. I jumped a small mound of dirt and the back tire kicked out unexpectedly to the right.  The bike twisted under me and dragged me to the ground with one leg still under the bike. My leg was purple from mid-thigh to ankle for weeks! Had I been wearing my regular riding pants and knee pads, much of the injuries would have been reduced or eliminated.

Now that you've got your rides and your gear together, what next? Next on my list are tools and spare parts. I have an enclosed motorcycle trailer that I keep stocked with appropriate tools and spare parts. Clearly you can't keep every possible part for every machine on hand, but you can stock those that are most frequently lost or damaged. A good supply of metric fasteners (bolts, nuts, washers) is good to have since the constant vibration and pounding OHVs take can loosen fasteners on a regular basis.   BTW, judicious use of Locktite can help keep fasteners from vibrating loose in the first place.  Just don't use in on anything you may have change frequently, like levers or the sidecovers over your air filter.  Small fasteners also easy to loose in the dirt or sand if dropped when making repairs. Clutch and brake levers are easily damaged on the trail. They are relatively inexpensive, take up little space in your trailer, and are easy to replace. For chain-driven vehicles, carry a few extra master-links for emergency chain repairs. Shift levers are not quite as vulnerable as brake and clutch levers, but a broken one can leave you stranded. Again, like brake and clutch levers, they are fairly inexpensive, easy to store, and easy to replace. While we're on the subject, I carry a small pair of vice grips in my fanny back or fender bag. Not only are they versatile for many repair jobs, in an emergency they can be clamped to the shifter shaft and serve as a make-shift shifter that will get you back to camp if you break or strip a shift lever.

When choosing tools, see if any of your equipment requires special tools. I found that some of our bikes required special spark plug wrenches. Universal automotive and even specialized motorcycle spark plug wrenches would not fit. Changing the spark plugs on our Honda CRX 250Fs is not just cumbersome without the special wrench, it is literally impossible. So we added the special wrenches required by our Hondas to our tool kits. It is a good idea to have at least one in your basic tool kit at camp and another one in your trail kit.

The key to stocking spare parts is to keep track of what breaks most often. Then, when you buy a replacement to repair your ride, get an extra one for your spare parts supply. And when you use items from you spare parts, remember to replenish them when you get home. Don't be stingy about sharing your spare parts with your riding buddies. Not only will you save their day, you can pretty much expect that some day you'll be in their place and need their help. Sure, by sharing you may give away something you need, but it is the right thing to do and will usually pay back many dividends.  Brake and clutch levers are among the most frequently broken parts on a dirt bike. I found equipping my bike with "Bark Busters" (sturdy metal hand guards) that I don't break levers as often as I used too. I also mount big plastic hand guards on the Bark Busters so my hands are well protected from brush and it cuts down the wind, a real benefit on cool or wet days. I get teased about my "flower pot" hand guards, but it is a small price to pay for the added comfort and security and for protecting my levers (and hands!).

Many OHVs require special fuel, often because they are powered by 2-stroke engines that require oil to be mixed with the gasoline. Some other, high-performance machines require high-octane gasoline  such as racing fuel or aviation gas. Make sure you follow your manufacturers' recommendations. Failure to do so can cause permanent damage to your engine while using the proper fuel will enhance performance, reliability, and long life. Your checklist should include fuel and essential lubricants to keep your equipment in top shape. Again, follow your manufacturers' recommendations for lubricants and lubrication schedules. A few drops of oil in the right place at the right time eliminates a lot of problems and ensures smooth and reliable performance, while lack of maintenance can literally mean disaster. You sure don't want your throttle cable to stick when you're half way up a very steep, very rocky, very technical trail. Stalling in this situation may send you racing or tumbling out of control down a steep drop off into a nasty canyon and spoil your whole day or your whole weekend -- or maybe even your whole life!  And, if  your ride is liquid cooled, don't forget to bring along extra coolant and check the coolant level before each ride!

A final word about checklists. Yeah, some may think they're for sissies or for old men with dementia or Alzheimer’s. In reality, they are useful tools used in many highly respected professions. Airline pilots and astronauts come immediately to mind. And those guys are definitely not sissies or old men! I use several detailed checklists: one for the RV, one for the trailer, one for each of our bikes, and one each for our personal protective gear. The few minutes it takes to review checklists before departing on a trip will save hours of frustration on your outings, not to mention saving money since virtually everything is more expensive "out there" (wherever that may be) than it is at home -- if  you can get it at all. The last thing you want to do is arrive in camp 150 miles from home, start getting ready for the that long anticipated ride, and realize your riding boots are still sitting on the garage floor or in the basement at home. It has happened to people in my family when they neglected the checklist. I've seen people resort to duct tape and flip-flops in such cases and I strongly advise against it. The chance of serious injuries is just too great! Your Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is critical to having a safe and comfortable ride.  I've seen riders injure their feet (in riding boots) enough that their toes turned black for weeks afterward.  Without boots their toes would have been brutally and painfully amputated by the original injury.

You will need to check your ride and your gear before each ride too.  You'll be surprised how many things can happen to your equipment in just a short ride.  Check fuel, oil and coolant levels.  Check tires.  Check for loose accessories or fasteners.  On chain drive vehicles make sure the chain is properly adjusted and oiled.  Check your lights and your brakes.  Check clutch adjustment.  Check your lights.  Check your tool kit.  Making  sure everything is shipshape can prevent a lot of problems.  More than once I've seen a loose chain get "stacked" and pushed the shaft of the sprocket right  down through the transmission case.  Not a pretty sight nor an easy or inexpensive repair!  Make sure your tool bag is properly closed, is securely anchored, and doesn't have any holes.  I once picked up nearly a completed set of dirt bike tools strewn along a trail by  an careless or  unlucky rider.

Prepare your own body too.  Make sure you drink plenty of healthy liquids before venturing out on the trail.  Water and sports drinks that replenish electrolytes are best.  Drinks with caffeine or alcohol are definitely not recommended.  Both contribute to dehydration and alcohol contributes to poor judgement, accidents, and expensive tickets.  If you really have to have a cold beer on a hot day, wait until you get back from your ride and can safely enjoy that tall cool one in camp where the only likely accident is falling out of your camp chair!

Be prepared!