Another nice day for a ride in Iowa

[Iahawk]

you, sir, are a mad man! I awoke this morning to darkness, ice on all the trees from last night's heavy rains, 24 degree temps and a howling wind. I don't think anything could have enticed me to get on a scoot or bike this morning!

[rjs987]

Yep, it was dark this morning. But only at first as I mentioned. The rain here stopped shortly after lunch yesterday so was all dried up before the temps dropped below freezing. We missed getting the ice. But we did have some wicked wind this morning on my earlier ride. Slick stuff on the pavement is something I am very attentive to before I ride in these conditions.

And, OK, I'll answer to that moniker 

Rode another 19 miles for my Veterans Day lunch. Temp was only around 26-27 F for that ride. Part of it I left the heated grips turned off even.

ON another NSR note. My wife went with me for a Veterans Day dinner at another place tonight. Temps still below freezing but we took the Legacy so that wasn't an issue. What WAS an issue is that she wanted me to stop at the car wash (another free Veterans Day offer) before we went to eat. Then after dinner we went to the gas station to fill up the tank before the next price hike. This is where the issue was made clear. When I was finally at the pump (a line had formed) I discovered that the cover for the gas cap would not open. Nothing I did would get it to open. So I pulled out to a remote parking spot to investigate further. Turns out the cover was frozen shut from the car wash. I banged on it a few times and it did finally break free. So I was able to go back and fill the tank. I didn't even think about that. This ranks right up there with accidentally turning off the kill engine switch without knowing and being puzzled why the bike won't start. In the dark I couldn't see the ice holding the cover shut until I moved to where there was better lighting.

[rjs987]

Today I went out for a Thanksgiving Day ride for the very first time since I've been riding. Due to family scheduling we are celebrating with the turkey dinner on Saturday. My son and his family are celebrating that today by having his in laws over at his place.

Just finished replacing the rear tire on my AK so I needed to take it out anyway to check out if the balance beads are good and if I aligned the belt right, etc. First time for replacing the rubber myself. First time for using balance beads. First time for owning a bike with belt drive and adjusting the belt/sprocket alignment. I discovered that the TPMS may be off a little more than I thought. After getting the tire bead set using up to 80 psi I adjusted the pressure back to 42 psi using a tire gauge. Then I mounted the tire on the bike and checked the pressure using the TPMS and found it was reading only 38.5 psi. So I double checked with the pencil gauge which was still showing 42 psi. I checked with a second pencil gauge with the same result. I know that pencil gauges are not really all that accurate but didn't think two of them would be off almost 4 psi. So I set the TPMS indicated pressure to 39.5 psi instead of the usual 40.5 psi. Not much change but closer. The manual calls for about 38 psi anyway and the tire sidewall says 42 psi max. I always like to go a little higher than what the manual says as long as I don't go over the tire max. I set the front tire to 37.5 psi. All of these pressures are +/- .5 psi so the readings will vary. It is very hard to get closer than +/- .3 psi with this TPMS. Close to those numbers is close enough given the accuracy of the gauges.

I rode slower roads at first just to get a feel for the new rubber. Then I increased the speed a little at a time choosing roads that were progressively faster. Near the end I finally jumped on the Interstate for a fast run at just over 65 mph. All is well. The tire ran very smoothly. I ended up with a total of about 35 miles. Temp during this ride was around 47 F. The handlebar muffs were left on (I was too lazy to remove them) and my hands were a little more than warm as a result.

When I returned home I immediately felt the hub and axle of the rear wheel just to be sure it wasn't heating up and it actually felt cool to the touch. I think I got it right. I also checked where the drive/timing belt was running on the rear sprocket. Originally, from the factory, the belt was riding close to the outer edge of the sprocket. But still 1-1.5 mm from the edge. The spec is a minimum of 1 mm. After the ride I found the belt was about 2-2.5 mm from the inner edge of the sprocket, or just inside of center. I wanted it centered. So I did some more adjusting and got it to ride in the center of the sprocket. This was done by adjusting a little and then running the bike on the center stand for a while at around 4000 rpm. Then checking and adjusting again and running again. Will see if this stays put under power on the road.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/NfjcUDghqeRrLeBw8

[rjs987]

Needed gas in the AK so went out this morning to fill the tank. Temps during my rides for the last tank of gas were generally below 55 F and often below 40 F with a few rides below 30 F as noted in prior posts above. This tank calculated out to 50.9 mpg. I am expecting the cold weather riding to result in between 45 F and 50 F. Gas station is only 1.4 miles away so a round trip would be normally 2.8 miles. Somehow I managed to get in 12.1 miles anyway. Today we are celebrating Thanksgiving with family so I needed to get back home to assist with the dinner and other preparations or I might have gone two or three times farther. Temps during this ride hovered around 31-34 F. I did turn on the grip heat for only the last half of the ride since the handlebar muffs were enough until then.

[rjs987]

Expecting a bit of snow tomorrow so decided to get a ride in before that. Left home with temps at 52 F and the temp dropped to 47 F along the way. Meandered around country roads that were still open (construction still going on) but still couldn't escape all construction so had to go through a section of road with a single lane controlled by a flagman. Explored one or two new roads (always interesting). Rode just over 56 miles. Using the handlebar muffs without grip heat and still plenty warm. Second picture I am just coming out of the first curve and the third curve is just to the left of the tree line at the bottom of the valley. There were 2 more curves just after those.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZEyCRXgZXezbJQ9X6
https://photos.app.goo.gl/F9RngWyTorVgW1Rv8

[rjs987]

There was a BIG wind on Friday evening that had high gusts overnight. Winds of 37 mph with more than one gust up to 57 mph here in West Des Moines. We only had one small Christmas tree sitting on our front stoop blow over from it but my son up in Ankeny had 1/3 of his lights on the roof blow down and one string in the middle stopped working. So I rode up today to Ankeny to assist with resetting the lights and replacing that broken string. My son cannot climb a ladder very well. With me getting older it's also getting harder for me to climb up high but I can still do it carefully. No winds today so that was a big help. Temps were about as good as they will be for the rest of the month so it was a good day for it. Temps were around 45 F on the way up and had dropped to 43 F on the way back home. 22 miles one way to get there. 32 miles on the way back for a total of 54 miles. Used the handlebar muffs but did not turn on the grip heat (too warm for that). Stopped at the boat ramp for the Des Moines River on my way back and noted there was some ice on the water near the banks. Lows have been in the mid 20s F and highs around mid 40s F lately. Temps will trend a few deg lower next week and lower still the rest of the month. It may be January before the river ices over completely and is ready for ice fishing.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/EEWVE2rJHHvzQZjQ9

[rjs987]

Another few shopping trips on the bike today. Temps were around 43-45 F. One trip was 2 miles that turned in to 4. The other trip was 3 miles that turned into 17. So 21 miles today just shopping. You'd all be proud of me. For the second trip I needed to pick up more than would fit under the seat without crunching the Lays potato chips into crumbs so I strapped on a milk crate and put the heavier stuff in that with my bungee net over it to hold it all in. The bags of chips did go under the seat for better protection. I hate it when my chips get crunched.

[Neil955i]

I recall one UK Bike Magazine years ago referring to this as "bungee engineering"!

[rjs987]

Looking ahead I was seeing some really low temps coming up this next week. But the coldest mornings are all preceded by a few inches of snowfall. I like to ride in cold temps during this season but the road surface must be clear and dry. It's the only way I get to ride. Kind of like those in Seattle riding in rain if they want to ride at all (almost). It usually takes a few days at least to clear the roads enough for me to ride after a snowfall.

I decided to get a ride in this morning. It was a bit colder earlier if I really wanted to get out but it was so warm in bed. I didn't get out until just before 9 am so temps were already warming. Still, as I sat in the driveway warming up the bike the temp sensor was showing about 10 F (likely getting heat out of the garage since inside the garage was 21 F). Only a few blocks down the road it dropped down to 6.2 F and hovered around that. Near the end of the ride the temps started warming again back up but still less than when I was sitting in my driveway and when I pulled into the garage it was the same as when I left. I guess my route went through the cold air mass just west of home. I ended up with 24.5 miles with a mix of city and country roads and a little bit of highway. I was keeping to the main, heavier traveled, roads this time since there was still ice over the less traveled streets in strips. There was one section of road I was on where the only bare pavement was 2 tire tracks from other vehicles that went before. And a few intersections where I had to swing the turn wide or move toward the center to avoid sheet ice and packed snow closer to the curb when I was turning right. Don't expect any more days this year to be as cold as this week. But January is coming!
This is the stretch of road that had only narrow strips of dry pavement on that far up hill section and more so just over the hill where the road is in constant shadow all day. This particular road is new this year so there is no treatment put down on it at all to protect the new concrete. There is a frozen large pond just in front of those houses across the bridge and another mostly frozen large pond to the left just out of the picture that had a flock of geese on it.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/BVRb6wkjib1M5PBNA

[Iahawk]

wow..seeing how our roads are here in the Iowa City area...still patches of some snow and ice...I'm tapping out..probably done until March, unless we get a warm spell, again. I'll live vicariously through your sub zero rides and Stig's 35 degree rain rides!

[rjs987]

Rain coming tomorrow.
WHAT! RAIN???
It's January in central Iowa when the average HIGH temps are around 31F and snow is the order of the day if there is any precipitation!
But today was in the mid 40sF and tomorrow is expected to be over 50F and rain all day. The snow will come Wednesday night into all day Thursday (4-5 inches forecast) with falling temps.

So I went for a ride today. I rode a few small towns west of me keeping mostly to country roads. Traveled 50 miles today. Saw some yard art and even saw the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile on the side road as I rode past. I pulled in for a photo op. They were stopped just long enough for me to snap the shot. Like I said the temps stayed around 46-48F so heated grips were not needed. The handlebar muffs were also really not needed but I didn't want to bother taking them off. It's easy enough to do but I just didn't.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/AVmKojumKE6aDqER9
https://photos.app.goo.gl/KE57sEFs4wYxU9qa9
https://photos.app.goo.gl/r1uaeG4Uh85eAwRX6

[Iahawk]

low 40's and sunshine to start my ride in Eastern Iowa after noon, then became cloudy. Took a nice 33 mile ride on the bike, heading into Iowa City. Stopped by my old fraternity house for a pic. Riding in January...wow..

[Stig / Major Tom]

low 40's and sunshine to start my ride in Eastern Iowa after noon, then became cloudy. Took a nice 33 mile ride on the bike, heading into Iowa City. Stopped by my old fraternity house for a pic. Riding in January...wow..

Cool!
Photos!
Nice looking bike.
Thanks for your post.
University of ?
Stig

[rjs987]

Cool!
Photos!
Nice looking bike.
Thanks for your post.
University of ?
Stig

That would be University of Iowa. Home of the Hawkeyes!
This is the view most opposing team players see:

[rjs987]

My wife needed me to deliver some baby shoes to someone across town who wanted to buy them. All our grand kids are too big now to use them and don't expect any more to come along so we don't need to keep the baby stuff. I took city streets going there but then headed out into the country coming back home after a total round trip of only 40 miles. Temps stayed right around 50F. The heat wave has started here.

When I went out to my AK 550 there was no response to the attempt to turn the bike on. It's a keyless fob system like many modern 4 wheeled vehicles. Just put the fob in my pocket and everything works... usually. When I pulled the fob out of my pocket and pushed the button on it (the button only shows fob battery condition) there was no LED. That meant the fob battery was dead. The fob was working fine yesterday. I tried the backup fob and that battery was also dead. I know the bike battery was good since it was still plugged into the Battery Tender and that was showing a good charge on the bike battery. Like all keyless start systems there is a backup method to start the bike. There is a symbol on the dash on which I can place the logo of the dead fob and the AK comes to life so no issue getting the bike started but I now have to order new batteries. They should be here Monday

I also stopped for gas first before riding across town. I could have gone there and back and then stopped for gas but decided the time was right when the lines that are always at Costco are shortest so I went there first. Calculated the mpg on this last tank of gas at 51 mpg. That includes a run yesterday at below zeroF riding at -2.5F. I was actually expecting at best a few below 50 mpg but this is good.