When you’re riding…
your smartphone can make just as much of a difference to your experience as it does when you’re not on your motorcycle. It’s true that distracted riding is just as dangerous as distracted driving. However, that doesn’t mean that your smartphone can’t play an important role in helping you get more out of every trip.
You can still get away from it all while enjoying the features some great riding apps can provide.
In fact, instead of distracting you from the road, they can actually help to improve your safety. The key is to make sure you don’t forget your mobile motorcycle phone charger so you can keep your device charged. Without a power socket or USB port on your bike, it’s up to you to have a good backup battery bank to get the job done.
The following are some of the best apps currently available for motorcycle riders:
- Eat Sleep Ride – a solid all around motorcycle app that offers everything from group ride tracking to route planning and sharing and even ride replay. It also features CRASHLIGHT which works with your accelerometer to detect if a crash has happened. If you don’t deactivate its warning after a small amount of time, it automatically alerts emergency personnel of the situation and your precise location.
- Waze – this is the biggest traffic navigations and directions app in the world. It shares road and traffic conditions so you can get information about your route in real time. While it was developed with commuter drivers in mind, its design makes it perfect for riders, too. One fantastic feature is that it can help you to find the best spots to get cheap gas along your route, too.
- FuelLog – this is an amazing gas and fuel mileage tracker that also lets you monitor additional issues such as motorcycle maintenance and costs. It provides you with automatic calculation of certain handy stats like mileage. That said, it can also give you a pretty good average cost per distance or tell you the amount of gas needed. It can tell you how much you’re spending on fuel every year or month, how far you’ve ridden and a great deal more.
- NOAA Weather Radar – knowing the weather along your route is super handy. This app lets riders have a look at what Doppler radars say you’ll be riding through on your route. This is highly useful for route planning.
When you need to take a bus or a train to school, every day…
it doesn’t take long to discover that there are some gadgets and devices, like the iPhone battery pack, that you simply can’t live without. However, it doesn’t stop there. There are actually quite a few things that can make a huge difference in your ability to comfortably and conveniently make it too and from class, every day.
The key is to find exactly which items you really need and that fit the bill perfectly, because the last thing you want to do is spend money unnecessarily or give up limited real estate in your bag to something that isn’t perfect for the job.
The following are the absolute must-haves when it comes to equipping yourself for your daily commute to school:
- An iPhone battery pack – This one goes without saying, but if you don’t have one, it’s worth a reminder to pick one up. If you are going to face a commute every day, then you will need to make sure your smartphone, tablet and/or MP3 player are always charged. This will allow you to keep yourself entertained and even keep up with your reading of electronic textbooks, so you can pass the time more quickly and usefully.
- A large water bottle – Preferably one that is stainless steel to protect you from plastics leeching into your water and to lower the risk of breakage associated with glass. Find one with a design you love – or even your school logo – so you’ll feel motivated to use it even more.
- A fantastic, durable bag – A backpack or messenger bag with padded places for your laptop, water bottle, books and all the other essentials is something you just can’t live without. This should be considered an investment. Don’t cheap out on function in favor of form and be sure to try it on in the store. Put something inside the bag, if you can, to see how it functions when you’ve got some weight in it. Focus on padded straps, a padded back, quality materials and solid stitching.
- Emergency clothing – Life happens. Be ready when it does with a spare black tee, yoga pants, socks, undies and purse flats. They don’t have to be bulky or trendy. They just have to be there for you in case the ones you’re wearing rip, fall victim to a spilled coffee, you sit in gum or anything else happens to them. Choose black options because they’re most likely to match the rest of the outfit you’re wearing on that unlucky day.
With these items and a gift card to the coffee shop you pass on your way…
which is great for breakfast or a latte when you’re running late – you’ll have the essentials covered for your daily commute. Just don’t forget to keep your water bottle full and your iPhone battery pack charged for when you need it!
