March 3, 2013

Gypsy Stats:
7 hrs 30 minutes elapsed time
3 hrs 10 minutes riding time
129 miles
40.6 mph

Beemer Stats:
133 miles
40 mph
43 mpg



The  forecast this morning was for relatively decent looking weather but cold - a low of 27 and high of 37.  That's pretty brisk for motorcycle riding, but at 7 a.m. the sun was rising on a clear, bright day and it was hard to resist.  Setting off, the thermometer was reading 26 degrees.  I have reported previously that 26 is about my limit; with full winter gear, I can stand 26 but 23 is just too damned cold.  And stand 26 I did heading over to Form Up.  My jacket and controller were being fractious for part of the way, meaning no heat until I turned the controller off and on to reset the system, and my winter gloves were slightly past the limit of their ability.  Even with heated grips on high, my finger tips were frozen by the time I got there.  At Form Up, I put on my 'jammies, i.e. I added the Frogg Toggs jacket as an extra layer of wind break, which made a huge difference on the way to breakfast.

First Sunday finds us back at Kutztown Fire Company for PA Dutch breakfast buffet; $8, all you can eat, and the pig did not die in vain.  It was the place to be this morning and was packed, complete with Easter Bunny posing for pictures with the kids.  All right, the Gypsy doesn't lie:  we sat over talk and coffee for nearly 3 hours.  I think we have to confess that the choice between 60 mph at 26 degrees and a warm room with hot coffee left us on the side of comfort today.

We finally got out, suited up, plugged in, and hit the road, north and east from Kutztown across the corner of the county, into and across Lehigh County, and into western Northampton County.  With the Frogg Toggs keeping the wind out and the Gerbing jacket pumping the heat in, I felt like I was riding along in little warm cocoon.  And with my core truly warm, my body was sending warm blood to my extremities so fingers and toes were fine.  For most of the ride temperatures were in the low to mid 30's, about 6 degrees higher than the earlier jaunt, but what an important 6 degrees.  Really, we were no longer pushing the limits of the gear but were basically comfortable.  Of course if you compare today's stats with those from the middle of the summer you will see that running the jacket and grips on high knocks about 5 mpg off of the gas mileage on the Beemer.

The pictures really tell the story:  much as we were hoping for spring, it was another gray Pennsylvania winter day.  Daffodils are up and I've seen crocuses blooming in the neighbors yard this weekend, but today was a setback to late winter.

I still have not changed the rear tire on the bike and this morning Dave put on his tire inspector's hat and declared this tire officially done-for.  No bling showing by the end of the day but it's really time to retire this one and move on.   With 7255 miles on it I guess it does not owe me anything.