June 2, 2013

 Gypsy Stats:
Elapsed time:  6 hrs 42 min
Riding time:  2 hr 43 min
Total distance:  116 miles
Average speed:  43.5 mph

Beemer stats:
Total distance:  120 miles
Average speed:  42 mph
Gas mileage:  46 mpg

 A bright sunny morning with lots of promise for a good day's ride in the early summer.  We headed out to Ephrata for the 1st Sunday buffet breakfast and motorcycle show.  The buffet was good; coffee was definitely OK, probably running No 3 behind Marvel Ranch and Lawn FC and the sausage gravy was excellent, really full of sausage.  Makes me think we better go back to Richwood to see how their reputation is holding up.

It's always interesting to wander around a congregation of motorcycles.  The crowd at Lawn tends towards chrome and load pipes but the Ephrata crowd is more eclectic with a better representation of diverse bikes from around the world, including some true classics.  There is always at least one or two home built, customed-out atrocities, of course, and today was no exception.  Between breakfast and walking the line of bikes we used up about 2 hours, then headed out to ride.

There was a sprinkle of rain and some wet road over towards Mt. Gretna.  On Rt 117 out of Mt. Gretna, Dave hit a slick patch of wet road on a right hand turn and low-sided the Triumph, sliding about 150 ft into and across the opposing traffic lane.  Luckily, there was no oncoming traffic, and smartly, we ride ATGATT, so he got up with a scuffed jacket, torn pants, and a ruined pair of gloves but no injuries.  The bike was somewhat worse for wear, of course, with a mirror gone and  scuffed and broken plastic on the right side.  The crash pegs seemed to have prevented any major damage and after a stop to decompress in Mt Gretna, we were able to ride home though with the day's enthusiasm curtailed.

May 19, 2013

Gypsy Stats:
7 hours 16 minutes Elapsed Time
4 hours 20 minutes Riding Time
169 Total Miles
39 Ave MPH

Beemer Stats:
175 Total Miles
40 Ave MPH
46 MPG




We were not able to find an open weekend for a 2 or 3 day trip this month, so the plan for May 19 was to go long, forming up early and blasting out to Carlisle for 300+ miles on a beautiful spring day.  Cory and Kevin joined us hoping to go long.

Our policy with weather is to ignore the reports and at ride time look up to the sky.  If our faces get wet, it's raining, if not, not.  Usually this system gets us out on the road in a pleasant overcast despite ominous forecasts of rain.  Today seemed to be the opposite.  At 6:30, the Doppler radar showed a storm piled up over the Missouri River and clear skies from there east to Pennsylvania, and the satellite image showed cloud cover breaking to the west.  But the face test came up wet.  Everything showed wet roads and moisture in the air despite the good radar reports.  So we decided to modify the plan and ride up to the Lawn Fire Company Motorcycle Breakfast.  

OK, no question about it:  this day got tapped with the ugly stick.  It's not actually raining raining but there is enough moisture in the air to constantly bead up on the visor and the roads are wet and traction uncertain.  The overcast makes for an even light with no contrast but really, with poor visibility it's a constant struggle reading the road surface and not a whole lot of fun.  Even at 59 degrees I am glad to turn the heat on low and run the grip heaters to help dry the gloves that get wet from wiping the moisture off of the visor.

Lawn FC does a good job with breakfast, $12 all-you-can-eat cafeteria style buffet, kind of a HOG trough given the theme.  But the coffee was probably the best FC coffee encountered so far and the sausage gravy, though not quite Richwood Moose, was top drawer.

We rode back to the south through the Amish country.  Around 11:30 the ceiling lifted, the air cleared , and the roads dried, so the day was not a total bust.  In the end, 170 miles on the clock, not long but not quite short and home by about 2:00 with time do some chores.

April 14, 2013

Gypsy Stats:
6 hours 40 minutes elapsed time
3 hours 45 minutes riding time
162.3 mile
43 mph

Beemer Stats:
167.9 miles
43 mph
44 mpg

A bright, sunny spring morning in southeastern PA this morning.  Daffodils and forsythia are blooming all over and the grass is greening up, so spring is really here.  Starting temps were in the high 30's, so full gear, plugged in, turned on, and toastin' heading out to Form Up.  Dave had whittled the 40 pending tax returns down to just 3, making a half day off before tax-day tomorrow feasible, and Corey and his friend, Kevin, joined us, so a total of 5 today.  We headed up-county to try out the all-you-can-eat at the Shoey Fire Company (Shoemakersville, that is).

Shoey (2nd Sunday of the month) is a definite come-backer.  All of the food was good from the blueberry pancakes to the country ham, but I think their creamed chipped beef might be top-of-the-list, beating out Haycock Fire, the former fave.

Fed up and talked out after 1 1/2 hours we headed out for a jaunt over the mountain.  Nothing too far today; Dave still has to be back in time to finish those last three before tomorrow and the rest of us have obligations, too.  We headed west across the northern edge of the county, then up over Swatara Gap on Rt 625. A further jog to the west on Rt 443 took us to Gold Mine Road.  If you are following on the route map above, that's the squiggly line crossing the next two ridge lines at the upper left of the route.  It's a great example of what happens to a road when it goes up and over the Valley and Ridge Province, a lovely thing to have right here in our back yard.  From Tower City we jogged over Rt 209 to Joiliet, then down Mollystown Road to Rt 125 in Ravine.  From there is was just a wander back home, crossing back across the mountain on Rt 183.  Corey and Kevin, heading for the western end of the Reading area, peeled off onto Rt 419 at the junction coming down the mountain, while the rest of us continued down Rt 183 and eventually made our way to Pricetown Rd and the Redner's Quick Mart for a wrap up and finalization of plans for the 3-day to West Virginia next weekend.  Most of the ride, the temp was around 50, rising up to 55-56 as we got south of the mountain and the day progressed.  Had to look sharp and take care to avoid the occasional patch of grit, but the roads were basically in good shape.  Home again by 1:30 with a solid 160 miles on the tires.

March 30, 2013

Gypsy Stats:
5 hours 39 minutes elapsed time
3 hours 47 minutes riding time
159.8 miles
42.3 average mph

Beemer stats:
162 miles
43 mph
44 mpg




Sunday was Easter this week, so we tried for a Saturday morning breakfast and ride, meeting up at Marvel Ranch in downtown Reading at 8:15.  Dave came by car to avoid temptation since he was staring down the barrel of  40 tax returns due by April 15 and really could not afford the helmet time today.  Bob came along with Dave so it was four for breakfast but only two for the ride.  Breakfast at Marvel Ranch was great, as usual, then off for a quick(ish) jaunt up over the mountain to Shamokin on Route 125 from Ravine and loop around back, one of our favorite local rides.  Nice sunny day but still kind of bare and bleak with not a whole lot of spring showing, but the promise in the air.  Home by 1:30 with 160 miles on the clock.

March 10, 2013

Pressed for time this week so no time to write up a commentary, but  here are the stats, route map, and handlebar pics from what is probably the last winter ride of the year; four on the ride this morning since Cory joined us on his Honda. 

Gypsy Stats:

6 hours 39 minutes elapsed time
4 hours 9 minutes riding time
164.5 miles
39.6 average mph

Beemer Stats:

172.4 miles
42 average mph
44 average mpg

2012 Summary

Beemer Stats:
Total miles:  9438
Gas used:  202.07 Gallons
Ave mileage:  46.7 mpg
Gas cost:  $799.06
Ave per gallon:  $3.95 for 92/93 octane
Fuel operating cost:  $0.085 per mile

The graph of MPG vs date shows that mileage is significantly better in the summer than in winter months.  I believe this is due to use of the heated jacket and grips drawing current and increasing load on the alternator.

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.