I woke up at Deadwood Reservoir, excited for the day on the Idaho BDR, got packed up and ready for the trail. Helmet on. GoPro rolling. Then my motorcycle wouldn’t start!
This was my first BDR and my first trip doing full-day GoPro helmet cam motovlogging – I was really excited to capture the whole adventure.
Since GoPro cameras don’t have much battery life, I had an external battery pack that would last for a full day of filming. I figured I’d charge the battery pack from my motorcycle overnight. I mean, how much juice could it use?
Turns out, enough. By morning I had drained the motorcycle battery just enough that it would no longer start the bike. First-timer lesson learned: motorcycle batteries are small, and with all of the electronics on modern motorcycles, it doesn’t take much to leave you without ample power to crank the engine.
Crap. Now what am I going to do?
A grandpa and grandson were camping nearby. They had a great camp set up, and a big diesel pickup – they were just getting ready to head out bow hunting. I walked over and explained my dilemma.
They didn’t hesitate.
“Hell yah, we’ll help you out.”
A quick jump later and the bike fired right up. Trail day saved. That’s one of my favorite things about backcountry riding. You meet some of the best people in the middle of nowhere.
What I Do Differently Now
The first thing I did when I got home was buy a portable lithium jump starter. I’ve taken many trips since – so far I haven’t had to use it, but that’s exactly how I like it. It stays in my gear as insurance in case I ever end up with a dead motorcycle battery in the backcountry again.
Neighbors are great if you have them, but a jump starter in your bag on the BDR is insurance.
I also changed how I power the GoPro. Now I ride with a full battery powering the GoPro while a second battery charges under the seat as I ride. I switch them each morning.
For external power I use portable battery banks – at least 36800mAh. One battery easily powers the GoPro all day with normal start-and-stop recording.
I intentionally chose a battery with micro-USB charging instead of faster USB-C charging. Slower charging puts less demand on the motorcycle’s electrical system, which can be helpful on modern bikes that already run a lot of electronics.
My system is simple:
- One battery powers the GoPro
- A second battery battery charges under the seat as I ride using a Battery Tender quick-disconnect USB adapter
- I switch them each morning.
Watch the Idaho BDR Adventure
You can see the battery incident and the rest of the ride in my Idaho BDR video here.
