Newsletter No. 22
August 18, 2022

Yesterday, the day finally arrived! I mapped out a local route of some 13.5 miles with mostly right hand turns, no traffic lights, and only a couple stop signs. After firing up the Red One for the first time in too long (started on the first crank!), I geared up and headed out. I had navigation and tracking equipment on board and the image below is what was “tracked” by satellite. The aquamarine line is the line between the points reported by satellite (supposedly every 10 minutes), but in this map you can see the actual route we took (not sure if that will always be displayed). I don’t know what the dark blue line is. This is the kind of map that anyone will be able to see, live, during the ride in September.

The magenta line is the planned route, which was a bit of a pretzel shape to keep me in the neighborhood without covering the same roads.The blue dots are the 10-minute interval satellite reported locations.

Challenge Accepted: Besides navigation validation, I also plotted this route with a bit more of a challenge in mind... through several “downtown” areas including Yellow Springs, Centerville, and Xenia, Ohio. That and 55 miles of riding put a few things to the test, including fuel capacity. In 2019, I wrecked my gas tank paint job by overspilling during fueling. I now have the latest and greatest “no spill” gas can spouts but, still being ever so hesitant, I’m not filling to the very top. Today I paid the price – I ran out of gas about 53 miles into the ride, two miles from home. Lessons learned the hard way, but fortunately I had reserve fuel still in the old tank and was able to reach down under the tank and open the petcock to open the valve to keep the fuel coming... the old 1919 Henderson 14.2hp four-cylinder engine huffed and puffed a bit, but never died!

Lights, Cameras, Action: In addition to the navigation technology, I also had three cameras rolling (or so I thought, which is another project). I got some great views from different riding perspectives in the video above and will keep playing with that. Glen wants to strap a camera on the back of his bike looking back at me coming down the road. I also want some footage of Willie in his comm, route, and navigation mobile command center in the truck. One thing you may hear is the intercom chatter at 1:20 in the video. The quality of our intercom communication was greatly improved by use of a Sena +Mesh™ accessory, which was particularly notable during several non-line-of-sight events. At one point, I think Willie was behind traffic a half-mile behind me, but Glen could hear him 10 bike lengths in front of me.

Final Prep Work: Both Willie and Glen have a few real-life chores coming up, so our next test ride won’t be for two weeks, on Friday, September 2nd. In the meantime, I am going to be working on completing the trailer refurbishing, Garmin map production, and an end-to-end rewiring of the bike, among other things.

Three Weeks Out! We’re still planning on leaving town on Friday, September 9th, to have the Red One back on the Road in Kansas on Saturday, September 10th. I just finished an update on the Route Page on the web site so you can now see each day’s route on a single Google map.

Thanks to all who have written to cheer me on. It does help keep me going!
 
Best Wishes,
Mark