10 Road Trip Hacks for Mountain Bikers

Last month we drove from North Carolina to Utah and spent a few weeks

mountain

biking through the west. Our

road

trip

was glorious. While we made a lot of memories, we also spent consecutive days just driving around. Keeping the car clean, staying clean, and getting plenty of rest were the main keys to sanity during our time on the

road

. So since you are all

mountain

bikers

, hikers, or outdoor enthusiasts, I thought you could use 10 road

trip

hacks

on your next adventure. Let us begin. You'll probably end up buying some things you forgot while traveling, like a toothbrush, flashlight, batteries, etc.

So start a dedicated container just for road trip stuff. When you buy all the things you forgot, just add them to the trash. Next time you can charge it and you won't have to buy everything again. It seems obvious, but in reality it is not. If you travel by road a lot, you may even need to change clothes and you may not have a discreet place to do so. If necessary, you can use your car doors as a dressing room. It only gives you 270 degrees of privacy, but it's enough if you're facing the forest. If you've road-tripped before, chances are you've already used this trick to get the job done.

Speaking of getting the job done, you can use a sturdy ladle for that. I even labeled mine. To make sitting more comfortable, you'll also need a pool float, which surprisingly you can still buy during the winter. Cut the noodles to the circumference of your sturdy bucket and then cut them lengthwise again. It should fit around the edge and provide a comfortable seat. You can use a bag to contain the mess, but make sure your sturdy bucket is clean before returning to your car. When number two is on the road, toilet paper just isn't enough. With a few days between showers, baby wipes should be your religion.

You can use them to clean public bathroom seats, to clean yourself, or even to take a bath on a road trip. With wipes, you won't need to wade through your own dirt for thousands of miles, so put them in your travel container and make sure you don't run out. If you're watching this channel, of course you'll be bringing bikes on your next road trip. While eating or going to the bathroom, you should protect your bikes from potential opportunists. U-locks and bike chains are great ways to secure your bikes, but the best ones cost a lot of money and are often not long enough.

Here's how to make a custom bike lock. First, get a piece of very heavy chain from the hardware store. I am 5 1/2 feet. Now cut an inner tube so you can slide it over the chain. This should be easy. Well, this is almost impossible to do with a narrow inner tube, so make sure you have one wide enough. Secure the ends with electrical tape and fold the inner tube back to protect it. I bought these heavy duty contractor locks that are about the size of a U. The inner tube will protect your bikes from the chain and you can also use a cable to prevent your wheels from being stolen.

Now no one can steal my bikes unless they have an angle grinder or a T20. At least they'll be safe from occasional break-ins at rest stops. Speaking of rest stops, you might get tired of driving and need to sleep. If you can't find a place to camp, some Walmarts allow overnight parking. If you see RVs and semi-trailers in the back of the parking lot, it's usually good to set them up and get some rest there. Be discreet about it and don't treat the place like a campground. I found a very expensive and outdated app that, to be fair, works well for finding these locations.

It turns out that English, Cracker Barrel, and a few other places also allow homelessness. When we wake up in the morning, many of us drink coffee, I know. One of the easiest ways to make coffee on the go is to simply keep some in the cooler. Iced coffee tastes delicious, you don't need to heat anything and you can make it with ice from your cooler. You can make coffee at home or even buy it ready-made in most supermarkets. Once diluted with ice, you'll find that one bottle of this is enough for several days and you'll save money on coffee stops.

Personally, I feel much more comfortable when my immediate surroundings are clean and free of clutter. Alex doesn't care that much. By shaking out the mats and cleaning the interior of the car, he will feel and actually be cleaner. To do this, I keep car cleaning wipes in my road trip bin. Although they say "Armor all", they are actually just cleaning wipes. In fact, you can probably use baby wipes too, although I haven't. Another way to keep your car clean is with a trash can. Trust me, this is much better than the shopping bag around your gear shift because it actually has junk in it, so you don't need to look at it.

Get a small office-sized trash can and secure it somewhere in the back. When you get a receipt, a bag, or food scraps, it can go into the bin until you find a place to empty it. This last trick is for those who like to cook. For this one you will need aluminum foil, bread, cheese and a little butter or oil. Simply cover the foil and place some cheese between two slices of bread. Wrap it up and throw it over the engine block. This works best on older cars with “proper” engine blocks, but Alex's Mazda did a satisfactory job of making us lunch.

I guarantee you haven't seen grilled cheese with an engine block in any other hack videos. There you have it, 10 road trip

hacks

. Road trips are one of the best ways to make memories, so start planning! There are plenty of trails, parks, and wilderness areas out there, and you won't explore it alone. So fill up your gas tank, grab your road trip container, and head out. If you found this video useful or at least entertaining, please like it and share it with someone you know. Thanks for traveling with me today and we'll see you next time. For seasoned road warriors, give us more ideas in the comments.