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Good morning, all!


I battled overnight drizzle that then froze into ice on the car. ~31F

- 60.8 mpg / 13.1 miles - home->school->work

The tank is down a tick to 63.5 / 325 miles and almost down to 3/4.

Monday morning, back home:
Temperature -3C (26-27F), clean and mostly dry. Honestly, I was so cold I often slowed down to ~50km/h (31mph) even on the open road. Luckily, traffic was almost non-existent.
Low fuel light came out, this tank became 435.2km long out of 14.06l of gas, which means 3.23l/100km = 72.8 mpgUS.

Nice work, Alvaro! In the winter, no less.

I did:
66.1 mpg / 12.1 mi - home with an ATM detour.
65.4 / 13.0 - home->school->work this morning

The tank is up to 63.7 / 350 miles and 3/4 on the gauge.

I have the pleasure of working from home today since every one of our typical babysitters is sick, drugged (had teeth pulled), or out of town. It's rainy and gloomy and I'll be honest...I'm not all that upset about it!

Nice work, Alvaro! In the winter, no less.


Thanks, I'd like to continue - but I'll skip riding the rest of the month (I'll sleep at my mother's place instead - you can even count it as saving all of the gas needed for commute, but I don't save anything on it, at least financially; and I like to come home after work...). This morning it was -10C (14F) nearby and it finally really started to snow (the forecast has already been promising it for at least 4 days). We'll see when it's going to melt, this weather is not suitable for riding :(

What's worse, we'll have to buy some more firewood, we'll be out of it soon. This house is a PITA (an old adobe (is this the word for real???) house, with equally old doors and windows, leaks like crazy). If you stop burning wood for a few hours, temperature plummets. When it's freezing outside it's typical to wake up in ~12C (54F) and it takes much wood to reach some 17-18C (64F) in which we can function properly. I'm pretty much fed up with it and we've been on the way to buy one, and insulate that one properly (this one is a rent), since December or so.

Two nights ago (after a very tiring session of visiting houses for sale) an idea conceived in my head about building a semi-passive (we surely can't afford the proper air exchanger yet) timber house. It's a leap of bravery - we'll see how can we sqeeze it in our limited budget (which has a hard limit as we absolutely refuse to endanger our lives by using credit), but it would be a great joy. Now I'm contacting a company specialized on timber houses (and I'll find some more, I already know a timber house in this village). I would be so proud to live in a much more energy efficient home where even my PC counts as a meaningful auxiliary heating (and cooking and baking even more) :D

Good going, Alvaro. I used to motorcycle to work an hour each way, until temperatures dropped to 10 degrees F. Then I'd carpool or ride the bus.

I got out Sunday in 60 degree F temperatures, 36 miles @ 62.7 mpg. Brought my tank average over 200% of adjusted E10 EPA - 400 miles @54.1 mpg indicated. I have a couple hundred more miles to better those numbers. Local gas is $3.599/gallon now.

Huhh... 10F is... -12C. It's... cold :eek:
I stop it a few degrees under freezing point. It was funny when the fog froze on my jacket, but this last ride felt insanely cold after working at night. I'd need better gear for lower temps, I suppose. My heated gloves are still the most comfortable parts at -3C, but cold finds its way through the thermal bridges between parts - and the very fabric of my jacket too :( A real big windshield could also help, but there's no way I applied something like that on Teresa, it would look horrible (and could cause more aero drag, I suppose)

Sooo close to 27 this time in the Transit Connect. 26.984. Transmission is definitely a weak point, 4 speeds is not enough.

Alvaro, I wore heated socks, wool mittens instead of gloves, and leather mittens over the wool mittens. Two things that really helped were a knitted boa that completely sealed my full coverage helmet, and vinyl "hippo hands" that blocked the air hitting my mittens.

65.6 / 10.7 going home last night, 50 degrees
61.1 / 13.0 this morning, 28 degrees and frosty

The tank is down a tick to 63.6 / 374 miles.

Cloudy, 50*F this morning
6.4 miles 36.4 MPG trip
11.1 miles 33.9 MPG tank
Just got my SGII back last night, excited to figure out how to crank out higher numbers...the Firestone Firehawk GT-H tires aren't helping, but they are at 7/32 and 52/50 psi.

Had a doctor appointment today, & the hospital parking lot is under construction, so I drove over early, in the cold and dark, necessitating lights on. My mpg stunk, 9.7 miles @ 38 mpg in 48 degree temps. I tried to average the trip into a decent one by driving out to the next town to retake some photos that didn't come out last Friday.

46 miles, 53 mpg. Tank avg dropped to 53.9 mpg.

68.7 mpg / 10.6 mi - home last night
56.3 / 8.4 - out to a dinner date. Not a single free parking space!
38.7 / 0.8 - to another restaurant.
58.0 / 1.8 - to a store
67.7 / 7.9 - home
---
64.6 / 13.0 - home->school (long line)->work this morning

The tank is down a tenth to 63.5 / 417 miles.
That's the bad news. The good news is I saved almost a half gallon taking my car instead of the van. Even getting infinite mileage in the civic wouldn't save that much.

Clear, calm, 36*F
6.1 miles to campus 34.8 MPG
27.4 miles on tank 39.4 MPG

dr appointment. ~55F

58.1 / 4.9 mi there
78.6 / 4.9 back

The tank is up to 63.6 / 426 miles now.

Picking kid up from sitter
18.9 miles round trip 43.1 MPG
49.2 miles on tank, up to 40.5 MPG
(hopefully it won't be too far off calibration...*fingers crossed)

Sorry everyone, I have no right to write here, because there's cold and thick snow here so I can't ride now but I miss that :(

Alvaro, I wore heated socks, wool mittens instead of gloves, and leather mittens over the wool mittens. Two things that really helped were a knitted boa that completely sealed my full coverage helmet, and vinyl "hippo hands" that blocked the air hitting my mittens.
You are very hardcore... How often do you get "you won't be able to walk when you will be old"? Alvaro rarely rides below freezing point, I have no heated gloves and it's my first winter (I miss riding, it's good November was cool and we both rode a lot :D) so I don't ride in cold weather (only my hands are cold, I need heated gloves) except behind Alvaro like a luggage... well a bit better than nothing... but I do ride on nice winter days and I don't mind Alvaro is willing to use his beloved bike even on a bit nastier winter days (therefore, he comes home on those days to me :D) and people always says we do it wrong and we will have regrets when we will be old and have every kind of problems.
We use many layers of clothes, approporiate motorbike jacket+pants+boots and it's rare anyway and we will buy a car later (but it can't solve the desire to ride :D)...
I won't feel guilty or stupid because of this.

I have received many warnings about physical disabilities when I get old. However, I am already old (age 66), and I am still walking just fine. Many of my friends have had hip, knee, and shoulder replacements, while I'm still doing fine with my original parts.

I rode down to 10 degrees F for hour-long one-way commutes. I rode to work in -6 degree F temperature when I lived in Alaska, but that was only a 6.5 mile ride.

Had to fill up on Tuesday. The numbers aren't that good but better than this time last year, which I guess is an improvement.

Cold and some snow describe this tank (besides SHORT)

377.6 miles
18.062 Gals
20.91 MPG (4.78 x100 miles)

I kept it above 20 and that was my goal. This next tank I will shot for above 21.0
My Percentage is now down under 150% again for my average.:mad:

I have received many warnings about physical disabilities when I get old. However, I am already old (age 66), and I am still walking just fine. Many of my friends have had hip, knee, and shoulder replacements, while I'm still doing fine with my original parts.

I rode down to 10 degrees F for hour-long one-way commutes. I rode to work in -6 degree F temperature when I lived in Alaska, but that was only a 6.5 mile ride.

Good to hear, I'll use you as an example against those voices, if you don't mind :) Bringing up someone from Alaska sounds like a solid argument :D

Anyway, I didn't ride today, but walked to work from my mother's place. Interesting that no one warned me about walking at winter, considering that I got these annoying comments about bicycling in cold weather too... temps are -8.4C (17F) according to idokep.hu, and -11C (12F) by the thermometer on the next roof. That one is often a bit pessimistic.

I have received many warnings about physical disabilities when I get old. However, I am already old (age 66), and I am still walking just fine. Many of my friends have had hip, knee, and shoulder replacements, while I'm still doing fine with my original parts.
Yay, that's cool, stay healthy and spirited!
By the way, we sometimes get "you will use a scooter when you will be over 60 and can't ride a real bike anymore". If there will be bikes when I'll be 60 (it's very likely, it just won't have use gas, probably), I want to ride them. I've just started and I'm already 34! I want to ride for many, many years :D
I can't love or respect scooters, they may be oh so useful in a city but sorry, no, not for me :( They aren't bikes. Goldwing isn't a bike to me either :D I prefer "normal" ones.
{Some people say they will ride a cruiser when they will be old. Hmpf. I have a little cruiser and she's playful enough, accelerates nicely and even can go at the PSL in freeways (I don't use freeways if possible. They are mostly boring and I get horrible FE results, below 70MPG... *shudder*)... yeah, cool guys surely use much higher speeds... and sometimes much shorter lives.}

I'm back to the grind for a while. I was attempting to commute on my hybrid bicycle, but after taking a few falls, I decide to stop; more about it here: http://www.bentrideronline.com/messageboard/showthread.php?p=727941#post727941. I would be riding my trike, but there's just way too much snow and it actually doesn't handle that well because you have 3 tracks to worry about instead of one. For the time being, I'll be driving my car till the snow starts melting. Once that happens, I'll be back to trike commuting.

Unfortunately I didn't do so well because the ramp to get off the highway was back up passed the "1/2 mile to exit" sign. After sitting in that traffic for a few minutes, I ended up getting back on the highway and taking a different way, which didn't help much. Monday I'll either be leaving a lot earlier or taking a completely different route. 12F and overcast with no winds

- 41.8mpg for 25.9 miles from home to school

The tank is up to 40.1mpg over 32.9 miles with 12.2 gallons remaining.

71.3 mpg / 10.4 mi - home last night, 55F
74.5 / 8.9 - music practice, 50F
70.1 / 9.4 - home, 45F
63.0 / 12.9 - this morning, 40F

The tank is up to 64.0 / 468 miles and coming down to 1/2 on the gauge.

Could have been better. Tried a weird route to get to the highway and I don't think it helped. 33F and overcast with winds from the S @ 7mph.

- 41.6mpg for 23.5 miles from school to home

The tank is up to 40.7mpg over 56.4 miles with 11.6 gallons remaining. I have to make another trip tonight and hopefully can get better numbers.

better to talk being bent than the uprisings in Egypt, Yemen and other places :eek:

Much better this evening. 27F and dark with light flurries with no wind

- 46.4mpg for 56.2 miles from home to person's house to check out/purchase craigslist item
- 46.7mpg for 57.4 miles from person's house to home

Day total: 45mpg over 163 miles

The tank is up to 44.5mpg over 170.6 miles with 9.2 gallons remaining

I don't mind. Once temperatures dropped below 0 degrees F, it felt the same to me down to -35 degrees F. Bare skin freezes fast at those temperatures.

When I rode in cold weather, I wore heated socks, and wore wool mittens under leather mittens inside vinyl "hippo hands." I wrapped a wool boa under a full coverage helmet to seal the air outside my helmet. Full leather pants, jacket, and boots also broke the wind, and I wore a down jacket under the leather jacket, and a fluorescent orange hunting jacket over the leather jacket.

Not too bad today. I took the Insight out for a spin for an errand. The temp was 30F and the wind was NW@ 5-10 mph. I went 16.5 miles @ 77.9 mpg. I may be doing about 13 more miles in a little while to go get some BBQ chicken.

Ok, final numbers for today were 78.6 mpg over 29.7 miles. this included an impressive (for these temps) 88.9 mpg for the trip back from getting the BBQ chicken at my daughter's school.