Cyclerides.com Weekly Update
6/11/08
 

Greetings Riders,
 
Everyone has heard about and experienced the high price of gas lately and it isn't pretty. The last fill up in my SUV was a nice round $100.00 for 24 gallons, and that is because the pump shut off. This was the last straw for me. I couldn't believe I had just spent $100 to put fuel in my car. What could I do about it? Well the obvious solution is to find transportation that gets better than 12 miles per gallon. The good news is I have something like that setting in the garage that gets 40 miles per gallon. The bad news is, it is 108 degrees today and going higher. There has to be a breaking point with the American consumer, but what is it? $4.00, $5.00, $6.00 per gallon? For me the breaking point was $4.00. It was a harsh reality when I let go of that Benjamin for a tank of gas.
 
I had a lot of miles to cover on Monday so I decided to put it to the test and see if $4.00 really was my breaking point. I parked the SUV and decided to burn my fuel at 40 miles per gallon this day instead of 12. The real test was to see if the amount of discomfort from the 108 degrees outweighed my joy of not seeing my money carried away by a bearded man in a robe riding a camel. My day consisted of a trip to the Southeast Valley and then out to New River to look at a couple of new potential Bike Night and breakfast locations. Since I live in the NW Valley, it was going to be a 120 mile round trip and then another 65 miles to New River and back with some other stops to make it a 185 mile day. 
 
If your timing with riding a bike in the valley is good it can be a lot more bearable, but my appointment was at 2pm, pretty much the heat of the day. As I was riding down US 60 I glanced at my digital thermometer to see that is was a crisp 108 degrees. To pass the time I immediately starting doing the math to see if it was worth it. The answer to that is relative I guess, but here is what the numbers look like for just one day. 
 
Miles Ridden: 185
Fuel Used in SUV at 12.5 MPG:   $60.68 =  14.8 gallons @ $4.10 per gallon
Fuel Used in Motorcycle at 40 MPG:  $18.94 = 4.6 gallons @ $4.10 per gallon
Savings Equal: $41.74.
 
So for the day, $41.74 stayed with ME, instead of making the trip on the camel back to Saudi Arabia, simply by changing my mode of transportation. Ah, but was it worth it? Is $4.00 really my breaking point like I thought it was? As I look back on the day, I had a lady on a cell phone change lanes into me on the 101. There was a truck in front of me that ran over a big piece of tire tread flinging it into the air that I had to swerve onto the shoulder to keep from getting hit by it and on the 60 there was a metal lawn chair laying in the center lane that I had to go around. Are these unusual occurrences or just another day of riding in the Phoenix area? A little of both.
 
The question that still begs to be answered is: Was saving enough to buy a small appliance or a nice dinner for 2 worth it for a few hours of being a human pinball in intense heat doing something you can't wait to do on the weekends anyway? That is an individual decision that everyone has to make for themselves. For some it will, for others, not so much. If you have a bike in the garage, you can see from the above calculations that free money is just setting there waiting to be plucked from the handlebars of your motorcycle. And the more gas prices rise, the faster your handlebar money tree will grow. For me, I love to come up with any excuse to ride, so I would absolutely do it again, especially when I have that many miles to do in a day or two. It really isn't that bad once you get used to it. I might try to plan my timing a little better, but you just dress for it to keep the sun off of your skin, carry lots of water with you, have some fun and smile because you are doing your part to stick it to our friends in the middle east.
 
Hey Guys! You can do the math for your own situation, but I would think some of you would be able to make a case for saving enough money to make the payment on a new bike. Now that would be worth a little extra sweat! Give it a try some day and see what you think.   

Thursday, June 19th
Hacienda Harley-Davidson Boys Night Out. The Ladies party was last night, now it is time for the guys to party. Admittance is FREE. Festivities begin at 7PM. Enjoy the HACIENDA HOTTIES FASHION SHOW, Special Guest Appearances, Appetizers, Cigars, Beverages, Raffles, Door Prizes, Parts Specials and much more. Ride by the Boys Night Out party and Hacienda located at 15750 N. Northsight Blvd. in Scottsdale. For more information call Andreanne at 480-905-1903.
 

Extras 

I mentioned about 5 weeks ago that I was finally going to fulfill one of my life long dreams of learning how to fly and getting my private pilots license. Well, on Tuesday, 6/10/08 I made the first step in achieving that goal by taking my first solo flight in the Cessna 172 that I have been training in. It was every bit as exciting as everyone had said. Besides having a child, this ranks at the top of the most exhilarating things I have ever done. You do a couple of final touch and goes with your instructor and if he feels you are ready, he will have you take him back to the hangar where he gets out and you are all alone in the cockpit to head back to the runway to fly it by yourself. While this is the day that all student pilots look forward to, you wonder if kicking a perfectly good instructor out of the plane to give it a go on your own is such a good idea. Even though it is a rush when that door closes and it is your plane to fly, I had complete confidence that I was ready. It has been an adventure trying to learn how to fly with all of the wind we have been having this year, but it was a thrill to finally get to solo. Here is a short video of my first take off and 3 landings. You pilots out there take it easy on me. I will admit to being pretty nervous on the first landing trying to grease it in. Click Here to View.
 
This is a very funny bit from a comedian suggesting different songs to play with commercials. Click Here to View.
 
Ok, there are many different jokes to make about this video. But you will definitely call this guy a butt head. Click Here to View. 
 
Here is a great video of David Cook singing lead with ZZ Top on Sharp Dressed Man. This is a good link for the desktop. Click Here to View. 
 
Until Next Week,
Blessings and Safe Riding To All, 

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