Wanted to post this yesterday, but time ran out before I had to hit the sack for the night.
I took an open country road ride to Fremont on Sunday (06-08-2008) to visit the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center. I hadn't been there in over thirty years (when I at the tender age of sixteen years old). So, I thought this would be a nice way to try and extend my abilities at doing a long distance ride on my Vespa LX150. I figured with gasoline ever going up the LX (or any other good scooter) is going to be one of the transportation waves of the future.
Course with an engine only 150 cubic centimeters in size, riding the 'I' or any heavily traveled route (like US 23 which shoots right into downtown Fremont) is out of the question. As anyone who has ridden for a while (and I've nearly 10,900 miles riding experience since September 2005) - you have to plan your route - mostly using the less traveled State and County Highways.
I choose two roads: Ohio 25 and what I thought at first (due to a map misread) was Ohio 6 (but what turned to be US 6). This would take me directly through Bowling Green, Ohio and then east, for a distance of 29 miles, to Fremont - right up to the front door of the Presidential Center.
Weather is also what you have to account for. Sunday it was forecast to be sunny and hot (the 90's) and humid - and, what I did NOT note - very windy. The forecast lived up to its prognostications right at the outset.
The ride began at about 8:30 AM - leaving my home just as the bell from St Hedwig's Catholic church, across from my home, tolled the beginning of Mass. I noted the heavy headwind when I was on Ohio 25 in Lucas County (mostly the Anthony Wayne Trail), but got hit with that SSW blowing at 25 mph hard on as I passed outside of Perrysburg headed south for B.G.
Now on Wednesday, as noted in an earlier Blog, I rode the same way (in the fog) and easily got up to 50-55 mph. Today, I was lucky, with the head wind, to get up to 45. Mostly I was hovering around 39 to 42. But no matter, Ohio 25 is a two laner here and the cars/trucks merely passed me.
I got to Ohio 6 and found, surprise surprise, it was US 6 - a moderately traveled road between Bowling Green and Fremont. So, I cussed myself a bit, but nevertheless turned the LX east, through the controlled access (an overpass). The wind now was at the 4 O'clock postion (instead of the 2). I could tell. How?
Because for the rest of this ride, except with slight inclines and curves, I was able to maintain speeds up to 47 to 53 MPH the whole. However, there was two other problems. One was US 6 which soon petered out from a two laner to single and the other, which I knew at the outset, was I had less than a full tank of gas.
The one laner I did expect - after all I thought this was Ohio 6 and thus traffic would be low. But US 6 is moderately traveled and used by truckers in their Semi's. The oncoming semi's were no problem - I just moved over to the right. The followers were an issue as they likely would blow by me at 60 mph or better (tail-gating me until then). I decided to solve that by simply pulling off the road and out of their way.
It also helped that it was still early. Most folks were either doing a Sunday sleep-in or attending church services - traffic, therefore, was light.
As far as gas - well when I set out I already had about 60 mph of mostly city riding on the Vespa. Meaning about 54 - 55 mpg - total of 126 miles total for the 2.35 gallon tank. I figured had already burnt off half of that. As I got to US 6 the yellow reserve warning light came on - meaning I only had .35 gallons left. But I decided to go any how.
I was a little worried of a flame-out and the need to call the Vespa service to which I am subscribed and then sit it out waiting for somebody to come and give me gas fill-up.
Well, to my pleasant surprise, I rode without incident. I only encountered two 'follower' semi's. The 'pull-over' strategy disposed of them. The oncoming one's were no issue. And as for the sedans, SUV's and minivans - they just passed me.
So, I got into Fremont from the west at about 10:10 and immediately saw an Exxon station just inside the town. I stopped there to fill up.
I found I nothing to worry about 'cause when the gas nozzle clicked off - showing a full tank - the ticker read 2.093 gallons. This meant I'd had plenty of gas left before the fill-up - even enough to ride right through and past Fremont. The open-throttle ride on US 6 had most likely upped my mpg's to 62 or better - that or the reserve warning light came on a .5 gallons than .35. But the point was I'd successfully riden to Fremont (50 miles +) on less than one full gallon of gas.
Now it was on to the Presidential Center - less than a mile away.
Here ends Part I of the rode ride tale.
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