antmakka
Well-Known Member
Day 11, May 17[SUP]th[/SUP] – 336miles – 7hr 45m
Although it was going to be another hot day, we were riding at a higher elevation through AZ so the temperatures weren't too bad. Scenery was spectacular, once again, but the roads themselves weren't very interesting. That's what you get when you spend too much time on the twisty stuff during the first week. If we had more time we'd have doubled back the way we came the first week, but taken some different roads. You live and learn.
Despite what the map shows, we made it into Gallup by the end of the day. We met up with some bikers doing the Run to the Wall. They had ridden from DC to LA (I think) and were on their way back. Wasn't much to do in Gallup. The local liquor store had a burly bouncer on the door, so we headed to a rundown looking Mexican restaurant. Well it turned out to be the best food of the whole trip and the manager was very funny. Just goes to show you shouldn't judge a book by its cover.
Gallop is situated on a rail line which transports goods all night long. Also, as there's a crossing in town, the trains have to sound their horn for what seemed like the preceding 5 miles before they reach it. With no sleepy juice (beer) available in the restaurant it turned out to be a very long night.
Day 12, May 18[SUP]th[/SUP]– 149 miles – 3hr 22m
Packing our bikes for the final time, it was now time for us to go our separate ways. Gordon and Barry took 2 days to get back to Denver and once again had to deal with rain and snow storms in the Rockies.
With only 149 miles to go from Gallup, I had considered riding home yesterday. I'm glad I didn't. As well as pushing too far when I'm tired, I didn't realize how tired I would become when the end came into sight. It was as though my body knew I was at the end of this long adventure and had decided it could now finally get some well earned rest. Well it can, but I'd prefer if it waited until I'd actually finished riding before it switched off.
To make matters worse, I found myself behind a mass of traffic, taking up both lanes, and they seemed to be together. I managed to wind my way through them and as I neared the front of the cars/trucks/busses I could see the reason. Hundreds of Harley's with a police escort. It looks like I had caught up with the main Ride to the Wall group. Honorable stuff, I'm sure you'll agree, but riding at 50mph when I'm so close to home was too much. Without any other roads to take, I pulled off for some food and gave the bikers time to get some distance.
As it turned out, the bikers must have also stopped shortly afterwards for some food or fuel, because it soon became apparent that I was now ahead of them. As I got closer to Albuquerque the bridges became more and more crowded with people waiting to cheer them on, waving flags and showing messages of support. Well these people either thought that the Run to the Wall was being led by a solitary orange Tiger or half of Albuquerque had come out to welcome me home from my biking adventure. I like to think it was the second.
I thought about pulling over to watch the bikers ride through town, but I was now completely exhausted, so I just rode the last few miles home. I parked up my trusty Tiger, took one last look at her covered in the dirt of almost 3500 miles, smiled, and went to bed to dream of the good times we'd had and maybe to begin planning my next trip.
The entire route.
And finally, a few statistics from the trip.
Total trip length was 3495 miles (5624km)
Average mpg was 52.4 US.
(62.9 mpg imp., 4.49 L/100km, 22.3km/L.
My best mpg was 59.1 US.
(70.98 mpg imp., 3.98 L/100km, 25.1km/L.
My worst mpg was 47.2 US.
(56.69 mpg imp., 4.98 L/100km, 20.1km/L.
Fewest miles between fill-ups – 56. Just before entering Yosemite National Park.
Most miles between fill-ups – 188. On the final day when I just wanted to get home. I was playing fuel bingo, see how far you can get before refueling, in order to keep myself awake, but when I stopped to let the Harleys get some distance ahead of me I forgot about my game and filled up out of habit.
Best price for gas - $3.76. Again, onthe final day.
Worst price for gas - $6.80. On thePacific Coast Highway. To make matters worse, two miles farther down the road there was a Shell selling it for $2 cheaper. Why didn't I use my GasBuddy app?
Most fuel I put in the tank – 4.03Gallons. In Las Vegas on day 4, before setting off in search of a hotel due to the (unsurprising) lack of tent sites in Sin City.
(3.35 Imp Gallons, 15.25 Litres)
Highest speed – 86.5 mph/139km/h.
My average speed includes time spent eating, fueling, resting, etc. so it's meaningless. Next time I'll set my travel app to pause during breaks.
Greatest distance in a day – 445miles (716 km)
Least distance in a day – 83 miles(133 km)
Glad I had;
AirHawk2 seat pad - This was my best pre-trip investment. I normally start shifting around on my seat after a couple of hours but with this seat pad I was fine for all day riding. Highly recommended.
Screen Adjuster – Also glad I bought this, for my standard screen, from Triumph. I just set it on the highsetting and left it there.
Endomondo tracking app - Great for logging out trip but sometimes it didn't post live updates to Facebook. I'm still looking into it.
MapMyRide tracking app - Only found this 2 days before the trip was over. Looks good and I ran both apps simultaneously for the final 2 days without problems.
Wish I had;
Better in-helmet speakers. Any speed above 30 mph and you can't hear anything from them. Maybe I should have just used in-ear speakers, for listening to music, instead of my foam ear plugs. It would have make the long freeway miles a lot morebearable.
Although it was going to be another hot day, we were riding at a higher elevation through AZ so the temperatures weren't too bad. Scenery was spectacular, once again, but the roads themselves weren't very interesting. That's what you get when you spend too much time on the twisty stuff during the first week. If we had more time we'd have doubled back the way we came the first week, but taken some different roads. You live and learn.
Despite what the map shows, we made it into Gallup by the end of the day. We met up with some bikers doing the Run to the Wall. They had ridden from DC to LA (I think) and were on their way back. Wasn't much to do in Gallup. The local liquor store had a burly bouncer on the door, so we headed to a rundown looking Mexican restaurant. Well it turned out to be the best food of the whole trip and the manager was very funny. Just goes to show you shouldn't judge a book by its cover.
Gallop is situated on a rail line which transports goods all night long. Also, as there's a crossing in town, the trains have to sound their horn for what seemed like the preceding 5 miles before they reach it. With no sleepy juice (beer) available in the restaurant it turned out to be a very long night.
Day 12, May 18[SUP]th[/SUP]– 149 miles – 3hr 22m
Packing our bikes for the final time, it was now time for us to go our separate ways. Gordon and Barry took 2 days to get back to Denver and once again had to deal with rain and snow storms in the Rockies.
With only 149 miles to go from Gallup, I had considered riding home yesterday. I'm glad I didn't. As well as pushing too far when I'm tired, I didn't realize how tired I would become when the end came into sight. It was as though my body knew I was at the end of this long adventure and had decided it could now finally get some well earned rest. Well it can, but I'd prefer if it waited until I'd actually finished riding before it switched off.
To make matters worse, I found myself behind a mass of traffic, taking up both lanes, and they seemed to be together. I managed to wind my way through them and as I neared the front of the cars/trucks/busses I could see the reason. Hundreds of Harley's with a police escort. It looks like I had caught up with the main Ride to the Wall group. Honorable stuff, I'm sure you'll agree, but riding at 50mph when I'm so close to home was too much. Without any other roads to take, I pulled off for some food and gave the bikers time to get some distance.
As it turned out, the bikers must have also stopped shortly afterwards for some food or fuel, because it soon became apparent that I was now ahead of them. As I got closer to Albuquerque the bridges became more and more crowded with people waiting to cheer them on, waving flags and showing messages of support. Well these people either thought that the Run to the Wall was being led by a solitary orange Tiger or half of Albuquerque had come out to welcome me home from my biking adventure. I like to think it was the second.
I thought about pulling over to watch the bikers ride through town, but I was now completely exhausted, so I just rode the last few miles home. I parked up my trusty Tiger, took one last look at her covered in the dirt of almost 3500 miles, smiled, and went to bed to dream of the good times we'd had and maybe to begin planning my next trip.
The entire route.
And finally, a few statistics from the trip.
Total trip length was 3495 miles (5624km)
Average mpg was 52.4 US.
(62.9 mpg imp., 4.49 L/100km, 22.3km/L.
My best mpg was 59.1 US.
(70.98 mpg imp., 3.98 L/100km, 25.1km/L.
My worst mpg was 47.2 US.
(56.69 mpg imp., 4.98 L/100km, 20.1km/L.
Fewest miles between fill-ups – 56. Just before entering Yosemite National Park.
Most miles between fill-ups – 188. On the final day when I just wanted to get home. I was playing fuel bingo, see how far you can get before refueling, in order to keep myself awake, but when I stopped to let the Harleys get some distance ahead of me I forgot about my game and filled up out of habit.
Best price for gas - $3.76. Again, onthe final day.
Worst price for gas - $6.80. On thePacific Coast Highway. To make matters worse, two miles farther down the road there was a Shell selling it for $2 cheaper. Why didn't I use my GasBuddy app?
Most fuel I put in the tank – 4.03Gallons. In Las Vegas on day 4, before setting off in search of a hotel due to the (unsurprising) lack of tent sites in Sin City.
(3.35 Imp Gallons, 15.25 Litres)
Highest speed – 86.5 mph/139km/h.
My average speed includes time spent eating, fueling, resting, etc. so it's meaningless. Next time I'll set my travel app to pause during breaks.
Greatest distance in a day – 445miles (716 km)
Least distance in a day – 83 miles(133 km)
Glad I had;
AirHawk2 seat pad - This was my best pre-trip investment. I normally start shifting around on my seat after a couple of hours but with this seat pad I was fine for all day riding. Highly recommended.
Screen Adjuster – Also glad I bought this, for my standard screen, from Triumph. I just set it on the highsetting and left it there.
Endomondo tracking app - Great for logging out trip but sometimes it didn't post live updates to Facebook. I'm still looking into it.
MapMyRide tracking app - Only found this 2 days before the trip was over. Looks good and I ran both apps simultaneously for the final 2 days without problems.
Wish I had;
Better in-helmet speakers. Any speed above 30 mph and you can't hear anything from them. Maybe I should have just used in-ear speakers, for listening to music, instead of my foam ear plugs. It would have make the long freeway miles a lot morebearable.
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Some day I hope to make a West Coast ride.
