Into the Desert Wind, for the MDA Charity ride.

Last Weekend we went to a Wendover Utah for the MDA Fund Raiser motorcycle ride. We had a very good time and the event was well attended. The event was a 120 mile ride from the Salt Lake City Harley Shop to the Wendover Nevada casinos. At the Casino they had an outdoor stage setup and a rock concert. We saw Night Ranger play as the sunset and the wind blew. The concert was good but, the wind took all the heat our us and we started to get cold towards the end.

Now it's time for an MPG update. We filled up the bikes in Sandy before we left. The king only took about a half a gallon to be full. Gas was $3.99 a gallon and together the bikes took 3.11 gallon and it cost $12.47.

Later that afternoon in Wendover we filled them up again. This time the Road King took 3.5 gallons and traveled a 139.7 miles, the main odometer read 4395. So let's see 139.7 / 3.5 = 39.91 milers per gallon. Not bad for full speed 70-80 miles an hour into the desert wind. “Into the Desert Wind” I think is a great title to the motorcycle touring book I should write one day. So as of right now I am copy righting that title. And committing to writing a book. Sorry my mind just wandered. The 2002 Dyna Low Rider took 3.2 gallons of gas and the odometer read 135.6 miles. This shows the odometers are off, as we had traveled the exact same distances. So 135.6 / 3.2 = 42.375 MPGs. This is pretty good, definitely shows the difference between the big wind shield on the Road King and the smaller one on the Dyna.

This gas stop was when the high gas prices hit my wife. I guess she has been trying not to worry about it, and was thinking we usually gas up the bikes for 12-15 bucks. This time the total bill was $28.39. This fact hit her and she was amazed that the price had basically doubled for a two bike fill up.

The next day we ventured home along the same path but the wind was not as strong blowing in our face. The Road King went 154.4 miles on 3.8 gallons for 40.6 MPGs and the Dyna went 148 mile on 3.2 gallons for 46.25. The total cost was once again $29.78 at $3.99 a gallon.

On the way home we took a detour to find the Larry Miller big new super speedway race track. Out in the desert of Utah west of Salt Lake City they built a world class race track for Nascar Road races and Super Bike Motorcycle races. It's an amazing thing out in the middle of no where. We wanted to take a look around and were in the neighborhood so we stopped in. The Track was pretty coolll but we didn't go inside. We didn't have enough time and they were having an official motorcycle race.

I'll have more info and picture of this event when I get some more time. Stayed tuned.

MDA Ride, post haste

Well It's Saturday June 14th a week after the MDA ride, and I am finally getting a second to put down a few words about the ride. It was a good time, with a big turnout, and they raised a lot of money. I head that attendance was down a bit, but I don't know for sure, there seemed to be a lot of people from my point of view. I also heard them say that this is the 3rd largest one day bike rally fund raiser in the country so that is cool. I too a bunch of pictures and plan to get them posted to the website soon, thanks for your patience.

57th annual MDA Ride one day away

The 57th Annual MDA Ride for Cure




Dog and Cats, living together! I am excited about the Harley Davidson of SLC sponsored ride for a cure for MDA. It's tomorrow morning and me and about 3000 of my closest friends are getting together for a Little ride, and a concert, and I'm sure a 1000 stories that are all true. Night Ranger, is the band, bring on the 80 big hair rock and roll. Yaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We went down to the SLC Harley Shop and registered, 60 bucks a cow, wow I thought this was alot per person, I'm in 120 bucks for a ride, plus hotel, and food and gas and gambling. Look out budget we may get dinged. Not that I am cheap I am just thinking and comparing this to other forms of fun. Skiing is 60-80 bucks and movies are 10 so, I guess I will just nod my head and say it all goes to a good cause. (I hope).

Well the 60 bucks did include a t-shirt and a pin. SWEET! I need a new t-shirt with flames and babes and Bike on it. Yahoo!!!!

This shirt is pictured above, a white heavy T with a cool looking logo on it. Here is a shot of the pocket and the pin we got. Nice enough to wear to church. I like the little halo effect on the riders. Adds a cool touch.

This ride is fun the police lead it out and run in a big group. 5 or 6 years ago we were headed out and I had my daughter with me, she was about 5 and riding on the back, I had made her some blocks out of wood to add around the rear foot pegs so her feet could touch the pegs. It was cool and everyone that saw them was impressed, a Harley with silly wood blocks like my dad added to my trike when I was 5. Well anyway the police had stopped at the first rest stop and we passed them. They got back on the road and as a group passed us. They all waved and smiled and my daughter thought it was really cool to see and wave to all the police bike. They seem so big and so many as they ride side by side in the lane and really close together. All the things we are taught not to do and don't do when riding. That's OK they passed us at 80 and were having a good time too. Well I hope to see you all out on the Road!

Now I'm getting over 40 mile per gallon on my Road King

June 3rd.
The fourth tank of expensive gasoline goes through “The King”. I am confident and excited, over a little thing like this. Yes we made progress. This time around I think I broke the coveted 40 mile per gallon mark. So let's run the numbers, I bought 4.3 gallons of gas at $3.799 per gallon. I drove a total of 176 miles this time for an average of 176/4.30 = 40.93 miles per gallon. Yeippiieee!!!! That's a pretty good improvement over the first tank. The main odometer of my Harley Road King now sits at 4229 miles. Thus I have almost put 1000 miles on it since I bought it. these trips were all around town where the stop light and the speeds are 0-40 on and off. I did a few short freeway trip to and from work but this is only about 4 miles at 80 mile per hour.

MDA Ride for a Cure, SLC to Wendover Utah

So mark your calenders for this Saturday. I know it is late notice but some times you have to just wing it. That is what we are doing, we lined up a baby sitter, we haven't wash our bikes or even signed up for the ride yet, but we are going. The baby sitter is the hardest part.

So the ride is a fund Raiser for the MDA Muscular dystrophy Association. Every year they raise a lot of money and put on a great event. The ride is about 100 miles due west on I-80 from Salt Lake City to Wendover Nevada. Once in Wendover the fun begins, a concert with Night Ranger and then we hit the tables for an all night money winning festival. Ohh ya, we can't loose.

The ride is sponsored by some local radio stations and the Local SLC Harley Davidson Shops. It's a big event with close to 3000 bikes each year spanning the road for a 100 miles. The group is lead by the local Motorcycle Police squads and they are not scared to lead on at 80 miles per hour. Just ride safe and have some fun.

See at the Harley Davidson shop at noon on Saturday for all the fun.