motogobi

So last weekend I took off on Saturday morning, rode ~300 miles to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, camped overnight, and rode back while trying to stay off of any major highway I could find. Not much of a story to tell, but some incredibly beautiful (but hot!) riding through southwestern Colorado.

Found in Gmail. Weird.

And I thought they’d come out badly ’cause of how much the classic Bantz lack of flexibility kicked in during some photos Anna and I took with Steve Z, our wedding photographer.

But?

WOW. All I can say is: you’ve got to see his work for yourself. He’s awesome to work with, and the results are just incredible. See for yourself…

With gas at the $4/gallon mark and oil flirting with $140/barrel, fuel economy seems to be on everyone’s mind - and pretty much completely taking over the motivations of any auto manufacturer’s marketing department. You see MPG ratings prominently displayed in TV and magazine ads, where even a Dodge 2500 is trying to claim 20mpg to keep those heavy suckers moving on the lots. Well-intentioned, yet kind of stupid politicians are now stepping into the fray with lifestyle legislation (only a matter of time, eh Boulder?). So it is with great amusement that this comes in from our friends at Top Gear:

A test aired Sunday on BBC’s Top Gear television program, however, casts doubt upon the notion that a hybrid would be the most fuel efficient in every circumstance.

“This is a BMW M3,” the show’s host Jeremy Clarkson said in introducing the car that would compete with a Prius. “It is not designed to be as economical as possible; it is designed to be fast.”

Clarkson chose the most extreme examples to make the point — a sedan equipped with a V-8 engine producing 414 horsepower against the Toyota Prius with its 76 horsepower hybrid motor. The EPA rates the BMW at 14 miles per gallon in the city, and 20 on the highway which compares unfavorably to the 48 and 45 figures for the Prius. In this test, the M3 matched the speed of the Prius as the hybrid ran flat-out over ten laps of the 1.8 mile Top Gear Test Track in Surrey, England. Measurements taken after the run show that the Prius returned just 14.3 miles to the US gallon, while the BMW had 12 percent better fuel economy at 16.1 miles per gallon.

Not to get all little-pinky-turned-up-in-the-air and all, but I’d also like to point out that I’ve been watching my fuel consumption on the Wee as well. I’m consistently in the 55mpg range, and that’s at full-throttle, idling, city and highway, and so on… Anna and I took off for Estes Park last weekend, and at a mid-day fill-up I was showing 59mpg.

via Anna, who’s loving her 35+ mpg Goob hauler. Suck it, hybrids.

“Therearemonkeys. Therearemonkeys. Therearemonkeys. Therearemonkeys.
Therearemonkeys. Therearemonkeys. Therearemonkeys. Therearemonkeys.
Therearemonkeys. Therearemonkeys. Therearemonkeys. Therearemonkeys.
Therearemonkeys. Therearemonkeys. Therearemonkeys. Therearemonkeys.
.
.
There. Are. Monkeys.”

Thank you, Anna, for reminding me of this. AWESOME.

So, we’ve been watching Long Way Down (thank you, Internets). Being able to watch the original BBC broadcast is interesting - they’ll censor out “bollocks” but dropping an f-bomb left or right doesn’t seem to faze the censors… It’ll be fun to compare with the American broadcast coming up in a couple of months.

All I know is that I want to be back on the bike, road-tripping, camping. Like, um, now.

Spotted on Fox’s Reality TV (I’ll admit - I’m a little addicted to The Academy): interstitial commercials are showing very brief shots of Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman starring in Long Way Down. In case you haven’t heard what that series is, it’s the followup documentary to Long Way Round - a television miniseries that literally changed my life. And I don’t say that lightly, folks. While I rode around like an idiot when I was younger, I take the Wee very very seriously, realizing (in my advanced age) that enjoyment of the sport involves seriously buying into the responsibilities of the sport. Plus, I’m gettin’ 55mpg to and from work. Reliably.

If anyone ever wants to gain more understanding of why I bought a bike last year, they only need to watch - from start to finish - the 10-part series release in 2005. I’ve got a copy you can borrow any time.

Don’t bother calling on August 2nd of this year. I’ll be glued to the television set…

We just got back from three nights in the mountains outside of Nederland, CO with a few members of Anna’s family. Lots of camp food, Thatcher running around in the woods, and camp fire ensued!

More pics in the web albums…

When allergies bloom and so do tornadoes? Let me just say that this morning was a little nerve-wracking. Coming back out to Erie today, the skies were clouding up - which is odd. Afternoons are usually t-storm time. While out walking Thatcher, we had to turn back because of the big, fat raindrops starting to fall. Followed closely by the hail:

What passed too-uncomfortably-close-by was a pack of tornadoes, apparently:

Seven reports of tornadoes touching down have been received from the following locations:
- Laramie, Wyoming
- Windsor
- 2 miles northwest of Milton
- Platteville
- Gilcrest
- 3 miles east of Milliken
- 8 miles west of Greeley
- 4 miles west of Dacono

Do you know what was 9 miles west of Dacono? Thatcher and I. Like I said, waaaaaaay too close for comfort…

…and, she’s DONE! May 9th, 2008 marked Anna’s commencement ceremony. My mom was in town, and we all met up with Mary, Bob, Jessie and Zondra to watch Anna don her cap and gown and join the ranks of the CU Boulder alumni.

To allow more family to join us in celebration, we had the full-on grad party the following day, Saturday.

More pics in the galleries…