Ride Three

For Ural Sidecar Motorcycle Enthusiasts

This past Saturday, Jodie, Ella and I did a great day trip up Oregon’s Highway 126. The highway runs east of Eugene/Springfield, parallel to the beautiful McKenzie River towards the Cascade Mountains.

The trip went great, though we did have some issues with the bike stalling when we would stop.

I’ll be getting to all that soon. Not tonight though — I’m heading out to meet Jodie for a picnic dinner and then to see Garrison Keillor, who’s performing tonight for Eugene’s Oregon Bach Festival.

Stay tuned.

Highway 126/McKenzie River Day Trip, Oregon

• Gas Price Per Gallon: 4.599
• Gallons: 3.049
• Fuel Total: $14.02
• Tripmeter at fuel-up: 145.2 km/90.2 miles (approx)
• kpg/mpg (approx.) 48kpg/30mpg
• Odometer at fuel-up: 1282km/797 miles
• Date & Time: Saturday, June 28, 2008, 6:42 p.m.
• Gas Station: Pratts Leaburg Count., 42840 McKenzie Highway, Leaburg, Oregon
• Fuel: Premium (92 octane with 10% ethanol)

Notes on mileage: Definitely seeing better mileage with more consistent highway speeds and travel. No surprise there, but glad to see mileage in the 30s on today’s 100-plus mile road trip.

Highway 126/McKenzie River Day Trip, Oregon

• Gas Price Per Gallon: $4.659
• Gallons: 2.671
• Fuel Total: $12.44
• Tripmeter at fuel-up: 119.5 km/74.25 miles (approx)
• kpg/mpg (approx.) 45kpg/28mpg
• Odometer at fuel-up: 1136km/706 miles
• Date & Time: Saturday, June 28, 2008, 12:40 p.m.
• Gas Station: Santa Clara Chevron, 2785 River Road, Eugene, Oregon
• Fuel: Supreme (92 octane with up to 10% ethanol)

Notes on mileage: Tanked up before the McKenzie River/Highway 126 road trip. Off we go!

UDF and Fresh Strawberries

Jodie is out of town visiting family this weekend, leaving me to my own devices. With a beautiful, warm sunny weekend at long last upon us, I’ve spent most of the day riding my Ural Patrol, Svetlana, around our South Eugene area. (No pics today, I’m afraid, as Jodie took the digicam with her.)

After a hot breakfast and lots of coffee, I rode Svetlana over to the Southtowne Shoppes for a bit of shopping. Jodie and I get most of our produce and eggs from the wonderful folks at Sweetwater Farm. On Saturdays during the summer months they also run a farmer’s market at Southtowne, and I motored down to pick up a flat of strawberries and some wee artichokes, for when Jodie gets back on Tuesday.

“I’ve heard about these!”

Following a nip into the butcher shop, Longs Meat Market, for some ground buffalo, good ol’ Ural Delay Factor, or UDF, set in. After chatting with a woman about her Smart Car (45 miles to the gallon, in town!), another woman came out and said, “Everyone inside is talking about your motorcycle!”

Soon after a man came out (her husband, I believe), and said something I had not yet heard: “I’ve heard of these! I looked them up online!” Now, people are often intrigued by Svetlana, but they generally have not heard of the Ural brand.

We spend a fair few minutes talking about the bike. Another guy came over and joined the conversation too, and we talked about two-wheel drive, fuel economy and how Jodie and Ella fit in the sidecar.

“Nice sidecar!”

After visiting some friends (and agreeing to take a visiting friend for a ride in the sidecar later), I was on my way back home to eat an entire flat of strawberries freeze some strawberries for the never far enough away days when fresh strawberry season is over.

On the way back home, a great moment. I was first in-line at a stoplight. A teenage boy, probably around 13, was crossing the street. He noticed the sidecar, and when he got to the other corner turned, smiled and said, “Nice sidecar!”

The whole way home, and the entire trip around town, people looked and waved and grinned. I don’t know that I will ever get tired of that. And today I got to have some great conversations with folks I’d never know otherwise. And Svetlana did what she does best – bring smiles to lots of people’s faces.

• Gas Price Per Gallon: $4.419
• Gallons: 3.485
• Fuel Total: $15.40
• Tripmeter at fuel-up: 148.7 km/92.4 miles (approx)
• kpg/mpg (approx.) 43kpg/27mpg
• Odometer at fuel-up: 1017km/632 miles
• Date & Time: Saturday, June 7, 2008, 5:09 p.m.
• Gas Station: Jerry Brown CFN, 2690 Prairie Road, Eugene, Oregon, Eugene, Oregon
• Fuel: V-Power (92 octane with 10% ethanol)

Notes on mileage: Still in the high-20s. Will see what happens with mileage as bike continues to break in. Also need to do some highway riding, to see what consistently changes with mileage when doing 45mph-60mph instead of just around-town riding.

I like this gas station. Not only is it a quick ride, but one of the attendants is also pretty stoked to see the Ural.

Whether in your own state or when you’re planning a road trip, you gotta know the laws affecting you and your rig. Do you have to wear a helmet? Can you carry a child? Do you have to bag up that radar detector? Heck, some states even have restrictions around helmet speakers and handlebar height.

Makes me glad to be a motorcyclist in Oregon — from what I can see, we don’t have too much in the way of restrictive laws (FYI, I’m not getting into a helmet law debate). The American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) has a comprehensive state-by-state breakdown of road and off-road motorcycle laws. Here are some highlights for road motorcycling laws in Oregon, but remember, 1) I’m not a lawyer and ain’t playing one in the blogosphere, and 2) here’s the full AMA list of Oregon motorcycle laws:

• Helmets are required, but eye protection isn’t (I’ll still take both, thanks)
• Passenger seats and footrests required if carrying a passenger (crikey, they wanna be comfortable too? whine, whine, whine…)
• No passenger age restriction (get that newborn in the sidecar, honey, let’s go tear-arsing!)
• Two motorcycles can ride abreast in the same lane, but a motorcycle is not allowed to lane-split (or pass another vehicle using the same lane that vehicle is in)

AMA - Oregon Motorcycle Laws

• Gas Price Per Gallon: $3.919
• Gallons: 3.778
• Fuel Total: $14.81
• Tripmeter at fuel-up: 166km/103 miles (approx)
• kpg/mpg (approx.) 43.93kpg/27mpg
• Odometer at fuel-up: 868km/539 miles
• Date & Time: Friday, May 2, 2008, 4:34 p.m.
• Gas Station: Jerry Brown CFN, 2690 Prairie Road, Eugene, Oregon, Eugene, Oregon
• Fuel: V-Power (92 octane with 10% ethanol)

Notes on mileage: Confused to see my mileage back in the high 20s. Have been doing more around-town riding on this tank though, so that might be it. I had switched to reserve yesterday, but forgot to switch off it after fueling up. I don’t think this has any ramifications, but I put up a “Reserve” thread on Soviet Steeds to check. I’m sure I’m going to get a lot of ribbing for what’s probably a non-issue, but better to ask and know…

Curing cabin fever

This week’s weather has known no constancy. A bit of sun, then hail. Then chilly sunlight. Then pounding rain. Then more pounding rain. Then a bit of hail, and all the while, chill and chill and chill.

So this evening, with clouds breaking and the air, well, approaching warm, I found myself in the living room with a hellish bout of cabin fever. A volume of Yeats, one of my favorite poets, lay on my lap, but I kept thinking I should go for a ride. “No,” I thought, “the weather’s going to go to hell again.” I opened the Yeats, skimmed it, put it aside. I looked out the window again. Shook my head. Opened the book again, skimmed it again, shut it again. It was 6:30 p.m.; I looked out the window once more, wondering if the weather would be decent for the reminder of the day, or if ominous clouds would roll in and break at any moment.

Finally I said the hell with it, and geared up for a ride.

I didn’t want to go far, didn’t need to go far. I just needed to get out for a little while. A few minutes thought gave me the answer: ride up Skinner Butte.

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Oregon Ural Road Trip: Eugene to Blachly/Triangle Lake via Highway 36

On Sunday, Jodie and I loaded up Ella the Hack Hound and a picnic lunch for our first road trip together. We ran a quick day trip, about 3 hours, up Highway 36 to Blachly, Oregon, and Triangle Lake. More to come on that, but here’s our pre-trip fill-up stats:

• Gas Price Per Gallon: $3.799
• Gallons: 2.614
• Fuel Total: $9.93
• Tripmeter at fuel-up: 200km/124 miles (approx)
• kpg/mpg (approx.) 77kpg/47mpg
• Odometer at fuel-up: 702km/436 miles
• Date & Time: Sunday, Apr. 13, 2008, 11:27 a.m.
• Gas Station: Santa Clara Chevron, 2785 River Road, Eugene, Oregon
• Fuel: Supreme (91 or 92 octane)

Notes on mileage: Sweet merciful crap! Including Thursday’s return trip from Corvallis to Eugene, I’ve been running the bike around town every day, with a combo of in-town and a bit of freeway travel. This jump in mileage from the 30s to 47mpg is a very nice surprise. I could get used to this! We’ll probably do about 100km or so on today’s road trip, which will be 45-55mph throughout the foothills of Oregon’s Coast Range, with both Jodie and Ella in the sidecar, so it will be interesting to see what the mileage is for my next fill-up. Still, 47mpg – wow, wow, wow.

This will be short, as it’s late and I’m knackered. Andy and I had a great ride from Eugene to Salem. Service on both our Urals went great (thanks to Jim, Tony and Kurt at Raceway Services for their skills, patience and willingness to answer heaps of newbie Ural owner questions).

I rode home solo, as Andy was staying in Salem. Great trip back; both the Patrol and its owner did fine.

But I’m tired. There are pictures to prep and posts to write, but the short of it is that I’m home safe and sound, and Andy and I had a great outing. More to come.