So look, I know a thing or two about late starts, but after last night's hotel room shenanigans, this one was really something… I sought out real eggs and toast at the in-hotel Denny's, but it was overrun out the door with long-weekend tourists, so I fetched a luggage cart, returned to my room to load out and get dressed, checked-out (uncaffeinated), and with Badger rolled a few blocks down the street where we found gas and McBrunch. While eating, I chatted briefly with a KLR rider who had come in after me, looking at Badger, and asked me how I liked my KTM Adventure as he was contemplating a bike upgrade over KLR farkling in order to improve his distance touring comfort. |
Tank #1, from Edmonton to Slave Lake, was getting through bridge construction and out of the city, then hunting for a full-on combine action shot while I was still riding through harvest country.
Tank #2, from Slave Lake to Red Earth, was into the tree tunnel, with recently-mowed ditches which was appreciated. Fortunately the few deer that I did see were all Vulcan deer who, from their behaviour, had no difficulty understanding my strongly suggestive thoughts to "Don't play on the road," and "Run into the trees, you hoppy <bleep>s." During this tank, roadside oddities included a murder of crows eating a rotting deer carcass in the ditch (no photo; you're welcome), then a lone crow at the next roadside turnout enjoying all of the litter to itself (veggie crow?), and a red Chevelle diesel hatchback that looked like early '80s, crammed full of possessions and a young couple with a Saskatchewan plate, headed north.
Tank #3, from Red Earth to High Level, was a Zen-like exercise of stillness in motion. Wanting to avoid the need for a gas stop (complete with 15-minute tank vent waiting period) at Fort Vermilion, my objective was fuel efficiency to comfortably complete the 322 km from the Red Earth gas station to my bed for the night. I shifted into 6th gear, held the throttle at 5000 RPM, speedometer indicating 122 km/h, crouched with my eyes just above the top edge of the windscreen, my left fingers curled around the bar clamp to support the weight of my left arm, and held it for 260 km, stopping only once when I caught up to the wake of a semi-truck. I squeezed the clutch and coasted to a stop at the end of my momentum, then took the photo below.
There was no wind.
No traffic.
No hills (but for 3, I think, creek crossing dip-and-back-ups).
No distractions.
No music.
I was at steady-state.
In the zone, I watched the Tank #3 fuel mileage indicator gradually creep up, asymptotically, in increments of 0.3, from 44.4 all the way to 49.2 MPG.
No fuel stress.
The last 50 km into High Level were de-Zenned by turns through Fort Vermilion, dusk harvest action at the northern grainfields of Fort Vermilion (admittedly a nice bookend to Tank #1), a long paving construction zone with some stretches of fresh oil, and super evening bugs (3 lens cleaning stops required).
Within the final 2 km, my noise-cancelling earbuds battery started to quit, and Badger’s “low fuel” light illuminated… perfection.
Day total: 719 km, 9h10m Trip total: 6,027 km | Start: Edmonton, AB. End: High Level, AB. Soundtrack: Audioslave shuffle, general shuffle, “Ommmmmm.” |