back on the cars

in a way, the new TDI acquisition has brought me back in touch with a bunch of friends from the old car club. or maybe what I call my cycling vacation era. when I sort of let the commute time edge out cycling and I got fat, but i learned how to work on TDIs. Learned lots of pretty cool stuff about motor oils, fuel, how diesels work, why they make sense. And no, the new stuff isn't dirty. Heck this old '96 only gives a tiny puff of smoke at start up. I can't really even make it poof soot out the back under load.

those old days of driving, not cycling weren't so healthy for me. The seat time in the car took up all my cycling time. Waking up and getting in the car when it was dark and getting home when it was dark for months at a time was pretty depressing.

But that time was what adapted me to a 15-16 gallon tank in the Golf. That tank was small in comparison to the new wagon, and hence me wondering where the fuel was all going on Friday, but that tank in the golf getting 48-50 mpg (highway driving at ~78mph) got me where i was filling up just slightly more frequently than once a week.
The passat wagon should be in a similar fuel economy range with the extra gallons that's a good decent number of miles between fueling. That and we're mostly a one car family, with one or two days of the week when two cars are needed. it works for us and alternating between cars we literally go at least a month without needing to fill up either of the cars.

Yesterday I added all the fuel economy numbers to the spread sheet for the last six months. Number of fillups: 19. But for much of the fall I was topping up the tank once a week or every two weeks depending on how far away the races were. Even driving with B100 (100% biodiesel made by Newport bio, purchased at TH Mallory in cumberland) with the bikes on the roof and the rack on all the time and nearly all city driving when not going to races, i was getting 38-40 mpg. not great but considering bioD has slightly fewer BTUs and the wind drag from bikes on the roof is pretty significant, i'm very happy with that. going back to regular diesel or maybe a tank of B10 from REC fuel i only saw an increase of 3-4mpg. But hey, not too bad for a motor without any hybrid stuff going on. It was a big shock too because in the last six-eight months fuel prices dropped two dollars/gallon. That's crazy. But even at the highest price point running B100 my fuel costs were just at ten cents/mile.

It all feels good in a way. A balance. A balance between the cyclists and the auto mechanic car geek. Took a long time to establish the balance. The pendulum swinging first one way then unexpectedly far another way and then back finally circling somewhere in the middle. Maybe the perpetual connotation of the pendulum isn't quite right. Maybe a beam balance is a better way to describe it.

I did manage to get out and ride yesterday even. Found a hill that one of the Locals likes to use for hill repeats. It is a staged roller. not too steep but done in a 53 it can be pretty solidly tough. I got the Q-Pro out for the first ride since Jamestown. And it was nice. The shells had me a bit nervous and brushing the tires, but the marathons held up well (not the unflattable as they call the marathon plus tires but still pretty hardy stuff). I did three repeats using a progressively harder gear each time. The final time I hit it with the 53-14. The bike felt great under me. The first little riser isn't hard but it gets a bit harder, then you get a slight reprieve but really just a chance to pour on the coals instead of coasting down to the base of the steeper section and up to the top. I probably should have done 5 or so but I did 3. Not wanting to overdo the intensity going into a week of riding every day. Rest is important. And during these months w/o competition on the weekend I try to take advantage of days off the bike to rest and it seems to be working well. At least in the endurance building perspective. The strength one has yet to be measured. Heck even the girls were out riding their bikes yesterday. Hopefully I can get out for another long hilly ride next weekend. The Q-Pro seemed a bit more responsive and quicker accelerating than the giant Cyclocross bike, but that could mostly be due to the lighter tires. still it was nice to be back on that bike again.

Still have to get the oil changed and coolant flushed in the wagon, get the rear suspension changed in there. And get it in for inspections to finish making it legal here (have a few more days left to do that). And then the fun stuff begins, like making the rear wiper motor work again, the sunroof motor work. That and i still have to source some factory rack feet so I can get the thule cross bars installed.

St David's day is coming up. I should call it Dydd Gwyl Dewi. Lots of cool stuff going on in the Boston area. I did have a chance to catch the celtic sojourn's broadcast. Some great tunes indeed were played. And this sounds like it would be a pretty awesome concert.

alright, time to focus on other matters...

heddwch
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