Saturday, May 12, 2012

Everyday for 7 Weeks–Week 2 Roundup

A summary post of the Week 2 of 7. 

Progress So Far: 
Progress as of Week 2

Fun facts:
  • The GPS says I have covered 1,777 miles in Week2 for a total of 3,938 miles with a total moving time of 73 hours over the 14  days of my trip so far.
  • The most expensive gas so far has been $7.27USD/gallon.
  • I’ve taken over 400 photos this week and over 4 hours of video.
  • Best MPG: 67mpg
  • Worst MPG: 36mpg
  • New motorcycled states on this trip: Montana, Idaho, Alaska
  • New motorcycled provinces on this trip: Alberta, Yukon, British Columbia

Week 2 Posts:

Week 2 Videos:

The videos were processed after the posts, and so you might have missed them.

Full Flickr Collection of All Photos

 

Animals I’ve seen so far:

  • moose
  • black bear
  • muskrat
  • bison
  • caribou
  • deer
  • rein deer
  • stone sheep
  • doll sheep
  • wild horses
  • bald eagle
  • wolf
  • fox
  • prairie dog
  • countless different birds

12 comments:

  1. Chris, thanks for taking the time for a round up. I was wondering how far you've traveled. I know it's a bit late for any tire advice, but I have almost 12,000 miles on the Michelin PR2 tires on my Zx-14. There's still tread left, but I'll have to swap them out before going west in August. They really seem to last, and the dual compound tread is a nice thing.

    Keep up the good work on the blog posting!

    Erik.

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    1. No problem, the wrap up was easy to compile, and was nice to take a day off blogging.

      I like the Q2s on the SV, and will continue to use them. They are a multicompound tire. I normally get 6-7k out of them, but the Alaska highway is extremely coarse.

      thanks for following along :)

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  2. Chris:

    such detailed records you keep. I don't know how you can remember all these things.

    Glad you're getting some time to relax a bit

    bob
    Riding the Wet Coast
    My Flickr // My YouTube

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    Replies
    1. lol. not that detailed. the gps and the blog posts do all the hard work.

      enjoying my time relaxing fairbanks with Richard.

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  3. The ME-eight-eighty's are what the LD riders advised me to use for my AK trip. Supposedly, I should have got at least 15k miles out of them, but the rear turned to cords by Seattle at about 8k miles on my trip. The AlCan is a bitch on bike tires. I suspect that pushing speed might have been part of my tire problem. BMW riders in Fairbanks told me that they got big miles out of their Tourances, if they held their speed under 65mph. Push it and the wear goes up exponentially. I don't know about you, but I couldn't do some of those long straight AK miles at 65 without tranquilizers. The same went for most of the northern North Dakota, Wyoming, and Saskatchewan sections.

    Tire pressure is a big deal with the rear wheel loaded up with gear, too. On the way back, with the same loads and Tourance tires, I kept the tire pressure a little under the tire manufacturer's max, instead of the bike recommendation and that really slowed up the wear, even in the Idaho desert areas. Obviously, cornering traction is reduced with a high pressure tire but it's not like there are demanding sections of road between AK and . . . anywhere.

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    1. Yes, the Alcan is very coarse. Impressively so.
      I wasn't pushing the speeds, and was mostly trying to conserve them.

      BMW guys are stuck on tourances and TK80s. I'm not a huge fan of the tourances; I think they are a bit hard. The long straight roads are painful for sure. ugh.

      I've been checking my pressure regularly. It has been consistent throughout this trip and the same on other trips. The roads are the big variable here -- coarse.

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  4. Wow, to see that distance on the map is quite something. That is a long ways.

    And look at all the amazing photos and videos you have. You'll have to make the photos into a coffee table book when you get home, you know, the ones like Shutterfly or Apple sells when you upload your pictures. Would be a great memento to go with the memories.

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    1. It IS a long way.

      Further from Minneapolis to Fairbanks than NY to LA. Still having trouble wrapping my head around the distance.

      I am thinking of doing something with the photos when I get back. I've seen those books; they are nice. We'll have to see.

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  5. Great summary! More detail on the food you're eating or some pictures. Just kidding. You're doing a lot already--I appreciate the details.

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    1. Yes, I have been slacking in the food department. the food blog is languishing.

      Delete
  6. Thanks for the summary, I'm following you with great interest as I'm hoping to soon be seeing the same scenery except I hope a little warmer ;-)

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    1. I suspect it will be a lot warmer when you come up. You'll also get to deal with insects hehe.

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