I am a self-confessed adventure addict. My personal motto: one life live it! and my biggest passion: motorbikes!
My Suzuki DRZ400 can take me anywhere my adventure spirit wants to go. Whether it’s here in the Australian outback, or through the jungles of Vietnam. At the moment my sights are set on the Birdsville and Strzelecki tracks in September this year.
Welcome the first of many trail bike adventure articles. Like with most adventures, preparation is important. So, I’ll be sharing some tips I learnt along the way, to preparing your bike for your two-wheeled touring adventure.
Now, this is the way to enjoy the Aussie outback!
So, What Is Adventure Trail Bike Riding?
It’s is a cross between hiking and 4WDing, really.
You need to carry all the food, water, cooking gear, clothing, shelter, footwear, tools, communication gear, fuel, and accessories needed on your average 4WD trip, only all these things need to be micromanaged as on a hiking trip. You haven’t got much space to store it all on the back of a motorbike!
Most importantly, to maintain endurability through tough terrain, all this equipment needs to be balanced and secured correctly.
Cooking On A Trail Bike Adventure
Given the limited space available on a motorbike, I use a compact hike stove for meal preparation. Cooking on a campfire or BBQ is not always convenient when riding into remote areas, and often due to fire bans it isn’t allowed.
The 360 Degrees Furno Stove that I use only weighs in at 99g, and then there’s the popular MSR Pocket Rocket compact stove weighing in at just 85g. These are perfect for adventure bike riding as they fold down to fit in the palm of your hand, and slide easily into panniers. With a gas canister and a complete pot set, my 360 Degrees Furno stove weighs in at just 385g!
Meals On Two Wheels
A lot of energy will be exerted while riding trail bikes in certain conditions, and muscle fatigue can catch up with you very quickly. On sandy or muddy treks, most of your energy is used just keeping the bike upright, and on rocky surfaces your body absorbs a lot of vibration shock, even with the right set of forks and suspension.
I will go into more detail about the right nutrients and hydration requirements in future blogs, but to give you a general guide, this is the daily food supply that I use to maintain energy for an extended adventure bike tour.
This is what an average day’s eatin’ looked like on the Birdsville & Strzelecki Tracks.
Meals can be prepared using a compact hiking stove
- Breakfast – Quick oat sachet and a coffee
- Snacks – Muesli/trail bars dried fruit and nuts, chocolate and biscuits
- Lunch – Instant mash potato with sun dried tomato and tuna
- Dinner – You can’t go past Back Country Cuisine freeze dried meals. These provide good nutrition and are convenient. They only require hot water to prepare, and the packaging doubles as a bowl
At the end of days riding your body will be tired and fatigued. You will need to make camp, plus check your bike over for mechanical maintenance. Making meals can be the last thing you will feel like doing.
Keeping your cooking simple makes a massive difference to the time you spend enjoying your meal and reflecting back over the days riding whilst replacing energy supplies in preparation for the next day of riding.
You never know where two wheels can take you.
Bianca raised funds for Bowel Cancer Australia on a Birdsville and Strzelecki Track Adventure, if you’ve got any questions for Bianca, ask her in the comments section below.