On my way from Manhattan I ran out of gas on my bike 0.5 miles from my target gas station. Yosakoi practice ended at 9:20 and I usually speed home so it won’t be midnight by the time I get home. I normally take K-15 between Abilene and Newton, because it’s fairly empty and I can go like 100mph most of the way. The problem with going that fast is that it greatly reduces my gas mileage to about 35 mpg. I can normally get about 45-50 mpg at normal speeds. My gas light turns on when I have 1 gallon left and lit up at 125 miles, so I calculated my mileage to be a little over 35 mpg and that 160 miles is my max. I figured I’d stop at Park City which would have been at 153 miles. I was attempting to pass a semi when the bike finally decided “no mas.” I pulled over and restarted the bike and puttered along for another several feet. I did that two more times before it finally stopped starting. I could see the gas station sign so I wasn’t too bad off. Two concerned drivers actually stopped to help, but I declined, because I figured I was close enough and could push the bike. It was quite a workout. So decided to take off my helmet which I clumsily dropped and the face shield popped off. They’re meant to come off, but still are a pain to get back on. Once I got to the off ramp I hopped on the bike hoping to coast to the station. It amazingly started again and had enough gas to make it to the station. I almost lost control at one point, because I had to throttle it more to get it to go, and all of a sudden it got more gas from somewhere and accelerated unexpectedly. When I filled up, I calculated my mileage to be 34.6 mpg, amazing how 0.4 mpg can screw you. And apparently my bike got less efficient even though I was driving about 15 mph slower once I got past Newton.
This little ordeal added only about 20 minutes to my drive home. So I still got home faster than if I had driven the speed limit. If I was smarter I probably should have slowed down more once my light came on. I always sacrifice efficiency for speed on the bike, and that was my main reason for getting a bike in the first place. The loss of mileage means I have to stop at gas stations more often to refuel, almost offsetting any time gained. Though I don’t mind stopping, it gives me a chance to stretch out, and rest my ass, because my seat is uncomfortable after about an hour.
4 comments:
100mph? I'd be scared of hitting something and scatering my body parts all over the road.
Yeah, that why I avoid Highway 77, because there's deer. But there's no deer or police on K-15. 100 mph doesn't feel as fast as it sounds, I gun it when I pass semi and when I look down at the speedometer, I'll usually be going 110mph.
It's still insane... One little screw up and you're probably going to die, you realize that, right?
Well the same could be said about "one little screw up" at 70 mph. But that's why I wear protective gear. Though I'll probably slow down to 95 mph, my dad said something about if you're caught going over 100 mph, they confiscate your bike. Though I have yet to find anything online about it.
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