Day 1. Mile 180. Chicago, il

Other than the cold, the ride was rather uneventful. I sort of like it
like that. Nothing to worry about other than the impending rain and the
relentless cold and wind. At least the wind was coming down from the
north, which means I was able to escape playing kite. My vfr750 doesn't
much like cross winds. There were points which found me riding at
angles, but I remind myself that bikes generally don't mind the lean.
The lack of contact patch always annoys and I try not to sustain lon
periods of leans in a straight.

My gas mileage has been rather shoddy. When I arrived in chicago, I
found that one of the seals on my flapper tube busted wide open. I had a
lack of airpressure in my engine which made my consumption soar. This
will have to be fixed before wednesday because 180 miles a tank just
doesn't cut it.

For those of you not in the know, a flapper is the name given to the
smog cleaner unit on the side of the vfr engine. It is 5 pounds of dead
weight and ought to be removed. I left the rear cylinder feeder tube on
because I lacked a flexible ratchet and now I regret that because the
seals on the tube keep busting.

And now, giordanos

~ I write with your life and my own ~