Natural Attrition

I lost my favorite glasses in the crosswinds going across South Dakota. They were in a case clipped to the bike, and had been like that most of the trip with no problem, but one of the gusts whipped them away… this was in I-90. I knew roughly where I lost them. I went back to try to find them, knowing that if they were on the road they would probably be either crushed or scratched up, and if they were in the shrubbery I would never find them. I just did one pass, with no success. Knowing myself, I’d planned for this and have spare glasses – but I thought I might go for more than a week before losing my best set!

Those winds across SD play havoc with gas consumption – 32mpg was my worst. I found the bike pretty stable though. Last time I was this way on the KLR, it was downright scary – I was getting blown into oncoming traffic at one point and had to slow right down and ride the shoulder. On the Super Tenere, you just lean into the wind and it doesn’t really move around that much.

The helmet is a different story – the visor on th Shoei Hornet dual-sport helment really catches the wind rips the head sideways. I found if I hung to the left or the right of the bike, depending on which direction the wind was coming from, I could find a pocket of clean air behind the V-Stream screen. Not a comfortable long-term riding position though.

More camping lessons – when dismantling the tent in 20-30mph winds, a different technique is required if you are to avoid turning the tent into a parasail! Wish somebody had got that on video 

The bike is good – but I put about 200cc of oil in it. I guess it burns a little more when working hard, pushing into a headwind. I’m seeing some misting of oil on the bottom of the final drive, not worried but will keep an eye on it.