I had planned a 247-mile 3-state loop, riding from Greeley to Carpenter and Pine Bluffs, WY, and past Bushnell to Kimball, NE, and south to Fort Morgan, CO, and back to Greeley. That plan fell through because of a flat rear tire which I figured out later in the afternoon was flat because the valve-stem insert was loose. "Cheap and easy tire repair," I thought. And, it turned out that there very strong winds (45-50mph w/ gusts to 60-65mph) up in Wyoming, so I wasn't too upset about having missed that ride.
Then when today looked like the best day of this week, I figured I'd do the ride. And it turned out that my buddy and fellow-Forum member Ken Malone (RedBird on the Forum) could make it, too. I went out to the garage to get the bike and go fill the gas tank so we'd be ready to leave as soon as he arrived.
Well. When I started moving the bike out of the garage, I could tell that it wasn't rolling right. I looked and, DADGUMMIT!!, my rear tire was flat. I discovered that the valve stem insert was loose again (or, more likely, still loose). But I got concerned that I might have something else that was causing a leak. I couldn't get the bike on the centerstand by myself (one disadvantage to having lost 88 pounds!) so I sat and waited for Ken. I should have used the time to swap out my Doran Tire Pressure Monitoring System for the new one I've got in a box, because it turns out that the battery for the rear monitor was dead. Not that I wanted to know the pressure in a tire that's been flat twice in a week or anything.
Ken arrived and after we got the bike up on the centerstand, we couldn't find any thing stuck in the tire. I haven't checked the pressure since I got home, but it felt fine all the way.
By the time we got out of Greeley, we were an hour behind schedule but I got away with it -- nobody from Hospice tried to call me out before I got home. It was an interesting ride. We had a tailwind as we were going north and then a strong crosswind just before we got to I-80. When we turned east on 80 going toward Pine Bluffs, I was showing an instant mileage reading of 72-75mpg...while running at 80mph! By the time we left Kimball after eating at Subway and buying gas, the wind had gone down. Then as we traveled west from Ft Morgan to Greeley, we had another pretty strong tailwind, which turned into a strongish headwind before we got to the west side of Greeley. Overall actual mileage was 53.1.
There was a little bit of winter wheat showing green along the way, but the general color was brown. We saw a few pronghorn between Greeley and Briggsdale, and I saw two hawks on a nest not far of Greeley as we were coming home. Nothing was worth stopping for pictures -- although I guess I could have gotten one or two of Ken and his beautiful CB1100. Oh, well -- next time.
spotwalla.com
Then when today looked like the best day of this week, I figured I'd do the ride. And it turned out that my buddy and fellow-Forum member Ken Malone (RedBird on the Forum) could make it, too. I went out to the garage to get the bike and go fill the gas tank so we'd be ready to leave as soon as he arrived.
Well. When I started moving the bike out of the garage, I could tell that it wasn't rolling right. I looked and, DADGUMMIT!!, my rear tire was flat. I discovered that the valve stem insert was loose again (or, more likely, still loose). But I got concerned that I might have something else that was causing a leak. I couldn't get the bike on the centerstand by myself (one disadvantage to having lost 88 pounds!) so I sat and waited for Ken. I should have used the time to swap out my Doran Tire Pressure Monitoring System for the new one I've got in a box, because it turns out that the battery for the rear monitor was dead. Not that I wanted to know the pressure in a tire that's been flat twice in a week or anything.
Ken arrived and after we got the bike up on the centerstand, we couldn't find any thing stuck in the tire. I haven't checked the pressure since I got home, but it felt fine all the way.
By the time we got out of Greeley, we were an hour behind schedule but I got away with it -- nobody from Hospice tried to call me out before I got home. It was an interesting ride. We had a tailwind as we were going north and then a strong crosswind just before we got to I-80. When we turned east on 80 going toward Pine Bluffs, I was showing an instant mileage reading of 72-75mpg...while running at 80mph! By the time we left Kimball after eating at Subway and buying gas, the wind had gone down. Then as we traveled west from Ft Morgan to Greeley, we had another pretty strong tailwind, which turned into a strongish headwind before we got to the west side of Greeley. Overall actual mileage was 53.1.
There was a little bit of winter wheat showing green along the way, but the general color was brown. We saw a few pronghorn between Greeley and Briggsdale, and I saw two hawks on a nest not far of Greeley as we were coming home. Nothing was worth stopping for pictures -- although I guess I could have gotten one or two of Ken and his beautiful CB1100. Oh, well -- next time.
SpotWalla - Trip Not Found
spotwalla.com
