weekend ride and other info for those new to list

[Kahiau]

Hey Ron, that was me (in my dreams). Yea, just before I fell off the bed onto the floor on top of the cat who scratched my face, who flew out the door from the bounce in my step, which landed on the dog, who howled at the moon, which shone on the bike, that was parked and still cold, which made me realize it was just a dream. Goodnight, kahiau, E14

[James Chan]

Hi all, Seems like this list is really gaining in popularity, with more new listers, so thought I'd share some info which might be useful ... Just got back from a 1,000 mile 2 day ride across the border, the friend I was riding with ( mounted on a BMW GS ) crashed and dislocated his elbow, cutting short our trip. So, in terms of... 1) Safety: Ride within your limits, we were going a little too fast, overtaking all manner of traffic ( at one time, we even 'whipped' a local Honda Dominator, which incidentally was already going at illegal speeds ) most times when there were double white lines, which made what we were doing twice as illegal. My friend washed out at a bend going up a hill resort at 2pm yesterday, fortunately we were near a construction site, and he was evacuated quite quickly by the crew there in their 4WD. Bad news was that I was up till 3 am this morning organising the repatriation of his bike back home. 2) Tyres: I was using Metzeler Enduro 4s, great on both tarmac and dirt, however, it tends to feel a little vague on wet tarmac, but is miles ahead of the Michelin T66s which were formerly on the bike. Would definitely recommend these tyres for those of you who do 90/10 - road/dirt riding. 3) Sleep: Very important, I dropped my bike this morning on an untarred section, this was after 2 hours of sleep, and the previous day's excitement. Knew I should have pulled aside, but was more keen at getting home as quickly as possible. Fortunately, suffered only a broken right mirror. 3) Mods and Fuel Consumption: I think I must now have the worst fuel consumption on this list ( I think this dubious honour is currently held by Ted from Oz? ) . On a freeway stretch, I got only 31.95 mpg, I was travelling between 85 and 90 mph. I've got a 150 Dyno main Jet, K&Ns, Supertrapp, and about 30 lbs of gear, I'm 170 lbs. Before the mods, I was getting about 51 mpg, and this trip, my average was 40.76 mpg. The best reading I got was around when I dropped the bike, I was going at about 30 - 50 mph, and got 47.11 mpg. Travel light: The saying to lay your gear out, and take only half is the best advice anyone can heed. Camel Pak: It's indispensible to me now, you won't realise you're dehydrated until you stop to nurse your pounding headache, which no amount of aspirin can cure. Drink as much as you can, even if you don't feel like you need it. Hope this helps, and ride safe... JC ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com