CharmingGeek.net Funness

I finally burned through that tank of gas. From the time I filled up Monday morning until I dropped back by the gas station this afternoon, I made some small changes to my driving habits while riding my 600 cc 2006 Honda Shadow. In addition to a couple of short errands, I made two trips to my office in Arlington — about a 15 mile round-trip in city driving conditions — and two trips to my office in Loudoun county — 60 miles round trip on highways and rural roads.
I drove more slowly, accelerated more slowly, increased my follow distance, gained momentum going down hills and slowed down while going back up. When I saw I would need to stop ahead, instead of gassing it until the last minute and then braking, I’d let off the gas completely and slow down over the entire distance. I turned my engine off while waiting at stop lights and while slowing down to come to stop lights.
My original goal was to stick to the speed limit wherever I was driving. That turned out to be nearly impossible, so instead I stuck to the speed limit where the road was open or traffic was moving near the speed limit and otherwise moved a little slower than traffic. Sometimes this meant comfortably riding along I-395 with traffic moving 10 miles below the speed limit. On the George Washington Parkway, cars blew past me in the left lane while I puttered along at only 10-12 miles over the 40 mph speed limit.
And the results are:
2.289 gallons of regular unleaded and 166 miles or 72 miles/gallon. That’s a 20% increase over the 60 mpg I typically get riding at peak efficiency during the summer without “hypermiling” techniques.
Well, now that I’ve figured that out, I’m going back to driving like a normal person.

Let’s play “Spot the day that CNN linked to my blog”
Ready?
Go!

Martha asked “Will people invent ways to safely carry babies and small children via motorcycle?”
And I say, they already have! It’s the leash, as shown here.

If I needed proof that Americans are changing their fuel-usage habits, this is definitely it.
After being the top-selling vehicle in America for 17 years, the Ford F-Series pickup fell, not to second, but fifth place behind four Japanese sedans.

Meanwhile, I’ve ridden about 20 miles in the past two days, mostly in city traffic and have realized I probably spend more time idling at stop lights then actually driving. My six-mile commute to work yesterday took almost 30 minutes.

Turns out $4 a gallon gas might have been the sticking point for a lot of Americans. Gas prices have been going up for years, but I think this is the first time I’ve seen people changing their habits because of it. People have complained and tried to get prices down, but suddenly SUV’s aren’t selling, Smart cars are. People are driving less, biking more. Houses in the suburbs (even more than others) are a hard sell.
With all that, there’s a lot of talk about hypermiling. Maybe not so much that you’ve heard about it. The first I’d heard of it was last week with a video on CNN. The video featured a man who averages nearly twice the fuel economy of his standard Honda Accord by using fuel-saving driving techniques. I have to admit I was a little skeptical watching him push his car out of his driveway. I guess overall it made an impression on me, because I realized there are a lot of more reasonable things you can do to greatly increase your mileage.

I’m going for it

At least for one tank of gas. I have a mighty small tank on my motorcycle, so the real question is, “How far can I go on 2 gallons of gas?”
I already have a distinct advantage — I ride a motorcycle that gets 50+ mpg. I usually average around 55 in the winter and 60 in the summer. That 5 mile difference is mainly because of item 10 from the link above. When my engine stays warm, I don’t have to burn extra gas warming it up. I just hop on and go, keeping the RPMs low.
It’s easy to kill the engine and coast to stops, and thus not waste gas idling at stop-lights. Now, I usually go a few miles above the speed limit. If I just cut that back to the unreasonably low limits in the DC area, there should be noticeable increase in fuel economy.
So that’s it — At least for my next tank of gas, I’m driving less aggressively, turning off the engine whenever I can, and coasting more than I brake. I already ride without air conditioning!
Anybody want to venture a guess at how far those 2 gallons will take me? It should take me about 3 days (4 if this goes well!) so I’ll keep you posted.

Well, my bike was just towed. That’s a real nuisance – I need to read those signs better. But I guess if that’s the first time I’ve been towed in 4 years of living in the DC metro, I’m doing pretty well.
In any case, I just found this little calculator on the Coleman Power Sports website.

OK, maybe 27000 miles/year on the bike is a bit much. That’s the number of total miles I drove last year. Figuring on a much more reasonably 12000 miles on the bike, that’s a savings of $2200 per year.

I’m sad that I don’t have the bandwidth out here in the desert to watch Frontline.

Do you ever ride with your windows open?
Maybe you have a sunroof that you like to slide back to let in the wind. Have you ever ridden in a convertible with the top down?
Remember how that makes you feel? You’re a little more awake, enjoying the drive more. You’re part of the journey instead of just being along for the ride.
That’s just the start of what it’s like to ride. It’s everyting you love about riding in a convertible with the breeze in your face, but take away all that extra metal holding you down. Now the wind blows over your hands, your legs, you body. You don’t just pass things by, you experience them with all your senses. I know that at night it’s always a little bit cooler near Arlington Cemetary. The air is fresh and moist along the George Washington Parkway. All day and through the night you can feel the heat radiating up from the asphalt of the beltway and 395.
My bike and my body move together, moving smoothly over the grade of the pavement. I carve in to every turn, leaned at an angle that would have me topple over if it weren’y for the greater force constantly pulling me forward. At this point I’m not steering the bike, I’m leading it as an extension of myself.
I breathe deeply and nothing restrains me. There’s no cluttered dash in front of me, just two needles at the edge of my vision marking speed and RPMs. The radio plays the symphony of a two-cylinder, four-stroke engine and a constant, rushing breeze.
As I straighten out of the turn, I’m already shifting into top gear. I’ve chosen my line and am looking at an open road ahead.

This is the best Google sight-seeing I’ve ever witnessed.

I haven’t posted anything in forever, but I just uploaded over 100 pictures.
Does that make up for it?
They’re all from my recent vacation to Costa Rica.
Enjoy the Pura Vida Photo Album.