back in one (frozen) piece
 

I'll have more to report later, but a quick "I'm back" note. Thanks to Don for picking me up at the airport and driving me into the city. Here's the short story : the gas guage sucks (I knew that) but heading out of SF I filled up and figured I was just under 50mpg. Then I ran into nasty head and crosswinds. Turns out headwinds drive your mileage way down. Down enough to make me run out of gas outside Arvin, CA (ie the middle of nowhere). $135 later I'm back on the road (most expensive tank of gas ever, but thanks to Joe's Towing...I've got to see if Ducati Roadside Assistance might reimburse me). Then rain and wind about 20 miles leading up to, then up the grapevine as I tiptoed between 18 wheelers. Couldn't really see much of anything...helmet fogged on the inside, misted on the outside...was quite nasty. Trying to find the Botts dots just to keep a line.

Finally cleared up west of Gorman, and was clean all the way back in. Great frickin' bike (except for the gas guage). And the termis sound awesome.

Termis are in the top 2 reasons to own Italian motorcycles.

I'm sure you'll warm up soon in SoCal. Welcome home.

JP

a few pics

the boy and his toy:
http://nostatic.com/images/trip0.jpg

outside somewhere
http://nostatic.com/images/trip1.jpg

uh oh...water?
http://nostatic.com/images/trip25.jpg

dark skies
http://nostatic.com/images/trip2.jpg

aftermath...I was wearing all that crap
http://nostatic.com/images/trip3.jpg

Ha! As well ran out of fuel picking up my last bike. Same thing, headwinds kicked my a$$ and ran out 1.5 miles out of my next fuel stop.

Nice looking bike!

Glad you made it back safe. Too bad about the gas, but it's all part of the adventure.

I agree - very nice looking bike!

Nice looking bike! Was wondering if you went for the ride. I am thinking of going to the Honda Hoot this year. June transcontinental ride. Anyone else up for it?

Re: back in one (frozen) piece
 

Try your insurance company as well. Many times they reimburse one way towing or emergency expenses.

Cool beans. So, you must of had Munroe add the Termis. Add anything else? What did you think of Rory?

I always crack up about running a GoldWing out of fuel once. Crossing the desert on the way to Phoenix. It started chug a lugging, and I had a mile and a half to go. I opened the throttle wide open and got to 105 before it died. Pulled the clutch in, and actually had to use the brake turning into the station. I would NOT want to have to ever push that thing.

Nice Duc!
Riding through rain and dodging semis..
Your a better man than me Gunngadin.

Sounds like a memorable ride, Todd. Glad you made it back in one piece. Bike looks awesome! Let me know if you find yourself down on Ortega Hwy. I'll drag my Duc out of the office and join you for a nice (short) ride.

Wow, I feel better about running out of gas now...nice to know that others have made the same mistake. The MTS has a notoriously rotten gas guage and light. My Triumph light always came on when I had about a gallon left. The MTS guage goes to empty when there are still 2 or 3 gallons left, and the light comes on soon afterwards. I figured I'd just go by mileage, but underestimated how much more fuel I was using doing 85mph into strong head/crosswinds. Live and learn...now when I'm at 100 miles into a tank, I stop to fill up.

Nothing else done to the bike other than the Termis. Huge difference...the stock pipes are way too quiet. These roar nicely. I need to change the bars out for something with a bit more sweep though...these are a bit tough on my wrists.

My back is killing me this am. I think from 8 hours in the saddle somewhat hunched over trying to stay relatively dry and also fighting the winds in semi-panic mode when it was wet with semis around me. To be honest I was damn scared on the grapevine segment...riding at night in the wet when you can't see is not a fun time. I almost packed it in for the night in Gorman, but I figured that if I could make it a few more miles it would clear up. So I cracked my visor to try and get some more visibility and forged on. Sure enough about 4 miles out of Gorman it was clear skies and dry roads.

Adventure...yes. I seem to be having a few of those as of late.

Congrats Todd, nice lookin' Duc!

Congrats on the MS...sweet rig.
Quite the adventure - you got balls!, my man.
I did something similar decades ago...my body ached for days because of the constant riding tension.
A true Ducatisti, you are. :)

Todd, get AAA Motorcycle Roadside Service. It's only like $40 a year and would have paid for itself.

Riding in hard rain sucks.

I learned to ride in Ithaca, NY--my second bike was a Kawi Concours with a Rifle windshield. Those shields have a vent in them to supposedly create laminar flow over the shield and force the flow over your head.

In the rain it creates a solid stream of water directed straight at your faceshield. It took me one rainstorm to replace that thing with a stock one.

BTW, re: gas. Don't bikes have a reserve setting on the petcocks anymore???

I actually have roadside from both Ducati and my insurance but didn't have any of the contact info. I'll see about a reimbursement.

There are other screens available for the Multi and I'm going to check them out. But I don't plan on riding in those conditions, at least when I can help it.

And yea, wtf happened to the petcock? I've done a lot of reading on the Multi board and the gas guage is a joke. Also because the tank extends below the seat, you can think you have a full tank but there is a hidden bubble. So it makes calculating mileage hard to do. A reserve setting would be nice.

Live and learn. Next time I have to remember to pack a flashlight :p

My BMW K100's also have a light, TWO of them even. One with 7 litres remaining, and one with 4 litres remaining. The first one is famous for coming on as scheduled, and the second one will usually come on as it sputters. All of the other bikes (with the exception of the GoldWing) have petcocks.

You have not been a biker long if you have never run out of fuel.

Ah, that brings back memories of my youth, underfunded, under dressed, always horny and hungry

Then I decided that motorcylces were best used at a track, still under funded, and horny and hungry, but not cold any more;)

sore and in pain somehow got added to the mix though:(

Bill,

You forgot to mention the burns. Still find them on my legs from time to time and remember the various incidents on bikes!