The Binary Circumstance

Today the sun was out most of the day and the temperature got up around 47, a good day to take my 2007 Kawasaki Ninja out for a ride for the first time in a few weeks.

I was a little worried that I might have forgotten how to ride it, a fear that was quickly dispelled once I put it in first and gave it some gas. The short ride into town to pick up my mail wasn’t long but it felt like a missing part of myself had returned after a long absence. It must sound a little crazy but it’s true. It made me look forward to the months ahead when I should have a full three seasons of good riding weather.

The whole world looks and feels different on a motorcycle.

One little bit of bad news: I got a recall notice for the motorcycle this week concerning a possible fuel leak so I’ll have to take it in for a checkup.

The weather was unusually nice today with the sun shining and warm, a good day to ride the Ninja into town. One of the errands on my list was to get gas in the bike which had logged 260 miles on the trip meter since its last refill.

From Kawasaki Ninja 250R Manual

A lot of motorcycles don’t have a fuel gauge including mine. They have a fuel tap which is usually in the “on” position under normal circumstances. There is also a “res” position which stands for reserve. On the Ninja 250R the reserve is supposed to give you access to another .26 gallons of gas, which would be about 15 miles worth of driving.

You use the trip meter to estimate how much gas you have left in the tank. When you fill up the tank, you reset the trip meter to zero and based on how many gallons the tank holds and how far it usually goes on a gallon of gas, you can guess how far you can go before the tank is empty.

Hopefully, you don’t guess wrong.

I hadn’t filled the tank recently because I wasn’t sure I’d be riding much more this year. Since gasoline degrades when the bike is not used, I didn’t want to have a full tank of gas if it was just going to be sitting in the garage. But they’re predicting three dry days with temperatures near 50 and I can’t resist the opportunity to take the motorcycle out for a drive. With 260 miles on the trip meter, I knew I was running low but figured I easily had enough to get to the gas station and could count on the reserve if I needed it.

About two miles from my house and about one mile before getting into town, the engine started to sputter and lose power. Then when I got to place where I had to go uphill, the engine just died. I wasn’t sure what was wrong because I really didn’t think I was that low on gas but after trying a few things to get the bike started again including setting the fuel tap to “res” and turning it around so it was sloping downhill instead of up, I finally looked in the gas tank and concluded I was totally out of gas.

I don’t know why I couldn’t access the last bit of gas by using the reserve but I couldn’t.

At first I was going to walk to the gas station about a mile away and borrow a can and bring back a gallon of gas but then I realized that I didn’t have a way to take the can back to the station once I’d filled the tank because I had left my backpack and net at home. So I decided to walk home to get the gas can I use for my lawnmower. I couldn’t remember if it had any gas in it, though.

As I began walking I was hoping one of my neighbors might pass me and give me a lift. Fortunately, that is exactly what happened.

With my neighbor’s help I was able to get some gas and get back to the motorcyle.

In the future, to be on the safe side, I won’t count on having access to the reserve fuel and I will fill up the tank whenever the trip meter says I’ve gone over 200 miles assuming I started with a full tank of gas.

Last time I went 250 miles before filling up and didn’t have a problem, but I guess I must started with more gas in the tank that time.

I watched the wonderful Moulin Rouge last night and had to return it to the video store in Silverdale before Wednesday. Since it wasn’t raining and was relatively warm, about 50, I decided to ride the Ninja 250R over to Silverdale.

I also wanted to check out books about quantum mechanics at the new Barnes & Noble in the Kitsap Mall. The new store replaced the stand-alone store they had for years across from the mall and it is very large, occupying the space previously used by the Gottschalks department store. I was told it’s the second-largest Barnes & Noble in Western Washington and after seeing the store I’m inclined to believe it.

The ride over there was pretty easy and uneventful. There was construction on HWY 305 through Poulsbo as there has been for months. I decided to take HWY 3 from Poulsbo to Silverdale instead of the back road I have taken on my motorcycle before. It was my first time on a freeway for any extended period of time. I think that portion of the trip is about six miles.

I didn’t have any problem with the freeway but I was much more aware of the temperature as well as the light weight of the Ninja 250. I understand why people who like to tour on their motorcycles have heavier bikes, even at the expense of gas mileage. A lightweight bike is easily blown around.

At times I got up to 70mph and although my body core was warm because I have a nice jacket, the air cut through my jeans and I could feel the cold. I almost wore my outerpants but decided against it because the trip isn’t that long and I knew I’d only be going that fast for a short distance. I would have been very warm with them on.

There were many other motorcyclists on the road. I passed a group of four on 305 and got the motorcycle wave from at least two of them. It always amuses me.

When I was in Barnes & Noble browsing books in the physics section there was another guy in the aisle. He was tall, slim and bald with a friendly face. He asked, “Isn’t it a little cold to be out on your bike today?”

He said he was going to take his bike out but decided against it, but when he saw other cyclists on the road, he felt a little jealous but his regret quickly turned to a sense of satisfaction that he had made the right decision.

I told him I wasn’t cold, except for my legs, and even that wasn’t that bad. I was just trying to get in what was probably one of the last rides of the season.

He asked what kind of bike I had and we also discussed gloves. He said that he hadn’t found a good pair of warm gloves and that was one reason we didn’t ride when it was below 60. I mentioned that I had recently bought a new pair that were much warmer than my vented gloves. I tried to remember what brand they were but I couldn’t think of it and I forget they were in my backpack.

I continued to browse the books and decided to buy a copy of Quantum Reality: Beyond the New Physics by Nick Herbert, because it seemed on of the more accessible books on the shelf. (I just noticed that I could have bought it new from Amazon.com for $2.99, where it is rated with five stars. I paid $14 for it.)

Later when I bought a drink in the cafe, I noticed the even-more-fair-weather-cyclist-than-myself in the cafe. When I sat at a free table close to him I remembered my gloves were in my backpack and I showed them to him. He said he’d seen them in the store before but of course you can’t tell how good they are on the rack. I told him that I bought them on the advice of two salespeople who recommended them over more expensive gloves they could have sold me.

After I left Barnes & Noble, I dropped off the video and headed home, but took the back road so that I wouldn’t have to go so fast for an extended period. It was definitly a little warmer.

There’s rain in the forecast for the next few days so I think I’ve just about reached the end of my riding season. I’m glad I got the ride in today. At least when it rains, I’ll have an interesting book to read.

It’s interesting to me that when I’m wearing my motorcycle jacket, some people will use it to start a conversation, almost as if I had a dog. They are often guys who have bikes but aren’t on them that day. We miss our bikes when we’re not riding them.

It has been raining pretty steadily and often hard throughout the past week in the Pacific Northwest. It’s raining again today and there are showers or rain in the forecast for almost everyday through next week.

I’m so tired of it. I’m having cabin fever and motorcycle withdrawal.

Many of the trees are in full color right now and absolutely beautiful, but it would a lot nicer to see them on dry, sunny day.

All this water has produced record flooding throughout Western Washington.

I wonder if it will have any impact on the election. So many people vote by mail that I doubt it will have a big impact, but I’ve already heard of polling places being flooded out.