Now I understand this thing.

Total miles: 210 miles
Est time: ~4 hours
[ Sunday - September 21, 2014 ]
So on a partial whim, my buddy Minh and I decided to take the bikes
out for a ride. I need a mental break and he still needs to
break in the FJR. It's been a while so we decide to head down
to the Pala casino for lunch. 10 or so miles and I'm at his
house to begin the ride. We topped off at the Chevron 1/2 a
mile away from his house. This should easily get us down to
Pala. We might have to fuel there before we head back. I
have a decent understanding about this GS's fuel range, but there is
still that lack of confidence in knowing when I'm actually running
on vapor. Ortega Hwy is quite a detour to Pala but we'll see
how things go. If anything there is plenty of stations on the
way.
The 10, 57 down the 5 was remarkably civil. Some folks were
checking us out but for the most part everybody left us alone.
We split a little on the 5 but that's kind of expected.
When we're on Ortega, fellow bikers kept on giving us the tap on the
helmet indicating there are officers near by. I acknowledged
them and gave the thanks, but in reality I'm not concerned.
We're doing no more than 5 over the limit. That's not
sufficient enough for the handgun posessing peace keepers to pull us
over. Sure enough, right before a green light down the Hwy,
there they are. Two BMW R1200RTP sitting on the side of the
road. I nod and they waved. I glance at my speedo... I'm
doing a little under 55. Perfect. I glance at the mirror
and my buddy Minh is nowhere to be seen. Ha ha ha... why fear
when you're not breaking the law. I kept my pace and continued
up the mountainous Hwy. Eventually Minh caught up to me.
I'm doing a slow roll between 55-60 MPH and enjoying every minute of
it. The woods provided shade and the road is just urging us to
keep moving forward. As always lake Elsinore is sight to
behold on the descent. Idylwild has nothing on this road.
Even the folks on the 15 are also civil. That nice for
once. We dine at the Pala casino and have fun catching up on
life events. There are a lot of tour buses today. We
estimated there are least 300-500 people just from the tour buses
alone. Pala's appears to be doing quite well.
Before we head out I look at the fuel range estimate. It
claims I have 126 miles left. Out of that 126 about 51-55 of
that is my reserve. In this case, the FJR beats me because
Minh's bike has between 6-6 1/2 gallons. I only have 5.
The GPS claims it's 87 miles to get home and Minh didn't need to
fuel so I decided to take a chance anyway. Worst case, I'll
pull into a gas station on the way and fuel up. We make good
time heading back. Again no fuss on the Fwy. Eventually
Minh took the 10 to head home while I took the 57 and the 210.
With about 10 miles to reach home, the fuel light finally
comes. When I pull into the Chevron close to my house,
the GS shows that I still have33 miles left to the tank.
Awesome! 210 miles on one tank and babe didn't run dry
yet. Now I think I understand this thing. As indicated
with the on-board computer, I was getting 54 MPG.
Excellent. I feed the GS 4.5 gallons then stowed it away in
the garage for the night. All this economy even when I wasn't
nice to the throttle on certain sections of the Fwy.
Written on: November 15, 2014
Last modified: November 15, 2014