May start mileage: 65,524
- Gas @ 65,583 – 3.649 g E10 93 @ $3.699/g = $9.80. 88.9 miles/2.649 g = 33.56 mpg.
- Gas @ 65,695 – 3.076 g E0 90 @ $3.699/g = $11.38. 111.5/3.076 = 36.24 mpg
- End at 65,743 (219 miles) NEW WORLD RECORD!!
I was out from 0900 to about 1700. First I went to a friend’s house in Haymarket to drop off some military reference books for his model building and painting use—planes and tanks, mostly. Then I went to the shop to get lunch and hang out with George. Then to Mineral to get E0 gas at Duke Oil before coming home. Had Beeline stay off the interstates, so everything took a long time. I definitely think I could do a 300-mile day, maybe 350, with few problems.
Bike is really running great other than the fast idle problem. G says (again) that rebuilding the carbs will likely cure that ill.
Today was perfect. Temps topped out in the mid-70s. I picked exactly the right gear—green 3/4 Indian jacket, BMW racing gloves, Kevlar & armor jeans and my Danner zip boots, Schuberth C5. Picked exactly the right layer under the jacket, my heavy flannel shirt. Picked exactly the right time to take it off. Picked exactly the right time to switch to my REV’IT summer gloves.
Just glorious. 219 miles!
I almost forgot—the ride today was mostly small two-lanes, some without markings in Orange, Fauquier and Prince William Counties. At one point I got stuck behind a box truck going 35 in a 45. It kept making the same turns I was making. I passed that slowpoke hunk of junk—safely—in a place I shouldn’t have (straight and clear but with certain paint on the pavement). About 30 minutes later, I had to pee real bad, so I pulled off on the side of the road to lighten the load. As I was walking back to my bike, that yellow hunk of junk truck went by, trailed by almost a mile of angry traffic. It still took me a few minutes to get going, and by the time I caught up to the wagon train, it was only a mile or two to where I had to turn off that road.
Not long after that, I was riding through a long, sweeping curve to the left when I saw a long convoy of bright, shiny American cruisers … and the front half of the 10 or so bikes in the chain were IN MY LANE! They seemed more intent on waving than properly controlling their massive motorcycles. Lots of really terrible stereotypes popped into my mind. Not a single charitable thought among them. I need to do better about letting people ride their own ride … provided it doesn’t impinge my actual safety, I guess.
