Motorcycling adds miles
One nice thing about moving to a small town is the short commute. I have a 5 mile commute each way to work.
Except when I ride the motorcycle. Somehow I end up on curvy back roads, on gravel, and on almost anything besides the dead straight, easy-to-take 4 lane highway.
This past weekend I added a few more miles exploring roads up near the top of Lake Sardis. The lake is flooded -- no more riding in the drained area -- but I still found some double track that deserves more exploration.
Morning ride
More riding
Been too busy getting my volunteer firefighter certification to ride much.
January 1 -- Did some trail riding at Trace Lake State Park in Tupelo. The ranger was right to ask, are you sure you want to bring that bike with smooth tires in here? I only dropped it once (on the easy trails).
In January and February the bike has been ridden a handful of times for commuting and fun, but not nearly enough.
March 8 Duane took us out on Sardis Lake. To avoid flooding, the Army Corps of Engineers allows the Lake to drain in the winter and exposes open space that can be ridden. We spent about 1.5 hours out there and had a lot of fun. Adding just one more trail proved to be a problem, though. What had been relatively dry shallow ruts in the early fall have turned into deep, muddy ruts. We rode through anyway. The bike did fine until I high centered it with one wheel out of a rut and one wheel in. The bike was light enough to pick it up in spite of sinking deep into the mud. The long travel suspension saved me more than once, too.
Another trip to Sardis Lake
Another day exploring Sardis Lake, this time off Hurricane Landing. The lesson for the day was THROTTLE STEERING. 
First we stopped at Lewis' Dirtway. It rained a few days this week so the road down was a muddy mess with a little Mad Max thrown in. That's a car on its side and truck with flat tires and it's bed hanging off the body.
My friend rode down the hill to the track. I've ridden down in the dry, but with the mud, ruts and incline, I wouldn't have made it back up this hill (and I might not have made it down with the wheels on the ground). The sign next to my buddy says "Ride at your own risk."
With the track too muddy for me to approach, we headed back over to Lake Sardis. The lake is drained every winter and re-filled in the spring. My GPS thought we actually were in the lake.
I rode out until I could travel no farther. At this point, my back tire was just spinning on the mud. The Super Sherpa made it farther. The difference between a dual sport and a supermoto, is about this much. The Sherpa made it through this puddle with no trouble. My WR would just spin out.
From there we headed back over to the mud to play. It was all about THROTTLE STEERING. Turn the handlebars a little bit, goose the throttle gently to steer the rear of the bike, then modulate the throttle once you're pointing in the right direction. All low speed right now -- jus' learnin'.
This is Mississippi mud. It is heavy and thick and it compacts down to near-cement. It can break an ATV's axle (as a few friends tell me from personal experience) if you let your 4-wheeler bog down in it. Right now I've got from front sprocket cover and fork protectors off just to try to get to the mud to be cleaned.
Lots of fun today, but I can't wait for some of this to dry out.
1000 miles
No new photos. Finally by the end of November I reached 1000 miles on the WR-X.
The bike has been ridden out on the Lone Lake Motocross course, http://www.lonelakemxracing.com/, and it has seen more roads around Lafayette and now Panola counties.
A coworker recently acquired a Super Sherpa, so I have someone to ride trails with. And some old friends have started planning a ride on the Transamerica Trail, http://www.transamtrail.com/, in 2010.
In the meantime the bike is running just fine with gas mileage on more spirited rides settling into the mid-50s, only a little better than the ZX6R. Maybe it will do better on open highway.
The heated vest is working after a minor wiring problem and that will be welcome in the winter months. It should see one or two weekend trips in 2009 along with a bigger gas tank if I start doing more mileage.
Holly Springs National Forest fall colors 11-02
I'll just shovel these photos on here. Got out for 50 miles, about half of them gravel road. It alternated nicely -- paved sweepers, gravel, paved, hard pack dirt, and back home paved. The GPS is great for showing me which gravel roads actually get me back home without dead ends. I managed to get < 5 minutes late. I will definitely have to correct for average speed: just 33 mph moving average. After a quick trip over to Lake Sardis, I headed for the national forest.
On the way, I found a little bandit dirt track! The sign is right in front of a motorcycle club hangout. I've got to come back here when someone is working. I rode down to the track, which felt a bit weird. There was a car resting on its side. Only high clearance and possibly 4x4 cars could make it down (or more specifically, back up) the dirt "road" to get to the track. I've seen ATV tracks that are less technical than the driveway. I didn't go on the track itself, but it had a tight 180 degree turn and looked like it ran into the woods somewhere. Someone had spray painted "RIDE AT YOUR OWN RISK" on a piece of plywood just in front of the "$5" sign, and I believe it. No pix from the race course since I think it may have been trespassing if only to learn more about the track (and pay my money another time).
Fall colors were out today in the Holly Springs National Forest.
A little earlier I was following a signed, marked, designated county road. The Forest Services lists it as an unimproved dirt road. It was a little more interesting shortly before the photos, but I couldn't find anywhere to put the kickstand down.
A little late for Halloween, but I found this cemetary with... guests who checked in around the turn of the century and just a few decades ago. Many tombstones had flowers and too may have been very recent.
GPS Installed!
The family went out to trick-or-treat, and I stayed home to work on the motorcycle (and hand out candy). Finished wiring up the GPS.
Good: It's at the bottom of my line of sight and easy to see while riding.
Bad: It's higher profile than I would have liked. I might just drop it in front of the speedo. THe cable bounces around a little more than I would like when it's not hooked up to a GPS. Does Garmin make a lanyard for this thing?
With all the plastic off, I also wired up the heat vest cord. It slips under the passenger strap when not in use.
Quick Sardis Lake ride
First day trip
October 4 saw the WR's first day ride down to French Camp, Mississippi on the Natchez Trace Parkway, a round trip of about 280 miles.
The bike ran just fine throughout the day. Vibes were minimal. The seat was slightly uncomfortable on long straights, but just fine on the curves. I did discover that the bike runs just fine on 87 octane since two stations where we stopped had nothing else (well, diesel...).
Gas mileage, which got as high as 79 mpg just commuting to work, dropped to 54 mpg on the fast sweepers and straight roads where we spent most of the day.
A friend from work on his Z1000 joined me, so gravel roads were out. I'm looking forward to repeating parts of my route linked by more gravel and dirt.
Grocery Getter and Commuter
Achieved 59.3 mpg on my second tank of gas.
The bad: The low fuel light comes on after just 1.4 gallons of gas burned and about 80 miles.
The good: It takes just a moment to fill up the tank.
Still, I can't wait for the aftermarket to start selling a 3.5 or 4 gallon tank, even if I have to install a new fuel pump in it myself.
With the rear rack and my old, smaller Nelson Rigg tailpack installed, this bike is a great little commuter and (small item) grocery getter. It's easy to run little errands, even if cashiers look at you funny in full motorcycle safety gear. I wear ATGATT -- All the Gear, All the Time -- since you can't plan for a crash even if you do everything to avoid one.
No new pictures today, but I continue to find back ways to the office. What once was a 5 mile/8 minute commute can grow to 20 miles/30 minutes when I have the time! The bike takes gravel roads, bad pavement, dirt and debris, and dogs in stride.
I sold my old wheel stands on S.T-N and picked up my new lift from Sears. Now I can do maintenance and upgrades. With the cooler weather we will get, the bike will see vest wiring, handguards, and probably heated grips soon.
Nelson Rigg is replacing a broken bungee under warranty. Once I get the new strap in, I'll test fit my full size pack across the rear rack and the back of the rear seat. If that works, I'll be able to do some light touring this fall/winter!
Long Way to Work
Gas mileage
One question everyone usually asks about a bike -- how fast does it go?
One question everyone should ask about a little bike instead (since you give up all straight line speed when you have 26 hp at your command) -- how good is the gas mileage?
On the first tank I filled, I saw 59.9 mpg riding a variety of speeds in a variety of gears.
New rear rack
Introduction
After 6 years of riding sportbikes, I switched to a baby supermoto 2 weeks ago. I sold a 2001 Kawasaki Ninja ZX6R with 68,000 miles on it and replaced it with a brand new 2008 Yamaha WR250X.
The ZX6R was a fantastic bike, but my riding interests have changed a bit over the past year. The ZX6R was used for commuting in Los Angeles, touring around the country (26 states in 5 years), and the occasional track day.
Well, I don't need a motorcycle to commute. I'm not really interested in touring right now since so many new places to me are so far away. And, as always, tracks are far away and a pain to reach.
Enter the X. A smaller motorcycle capable of short, occasional commutes and, most importantly exploring our new home county and points beyond.