It was a 7.5-hour iron butt ride from Moab to Boulder County in Colorado. So far I’ve almost doubled the 2,550 miles I bought the 2008 KLR with; mainly highway miles so far, since my trail mileage has been slow and sporadic. Although, my objective for jamming to Boulder is to rectify that situation by shipping the make-up and nail polish and linen pants, and extra weight etc. to the bride-to-be in Tennessee – and yes, eye-roll rebuttal, I know I should have shipped it before bothering to pack it. And I am well aware that my frosted lip gloss will not get my through an in-the-middle-of-nowhere rut … unless the farmer’s son shows up. Anyway, post-Boulder brewery tasters, a bit of rock-climbing 101 and hopefully some Nepalese cuisine and a concert or two, I’ll rejoin the Trans-Am just south of Denver.

Now, on to more pressing KLR news.

Issue 1: My 10W-40 synthetic oil has been ingested after about 1,500 miles; from the full to the low line.

Issue 2: My miles-per-gallon has dwindled from a low of 46 to the 14-under-advertised-unspecial of 41.

I calculated low of 46 when the reserve kicked in at 233 miles after using 5.1 of the 6.1 gallons while highway riding without luggage and with the stock Dunlops. I plunged to the lower of 44 when the reserve kicked in at 223 highway miles, while loaded down with 100-pounds of luggage on Kenda Z270s. I got a jerk from the reserve at 210-miles with a sad 41 miles per gallon on the Moab/Boulder journey. However, this jaunt was with both with the luggage, the Kendas and while shivering through the Vail and Loveland Passes on the I-70; 10,600 and 11,160 feet respectively.

Altitude, specifically the changes in air-pressure, temperature and oxygen, does pose a few digestive issues between a motor and its fuel. As we power up a pass there is less atmospheric pressure and cooler temperatures making it harder for our motors to achieve a happy heat and conducive compression level for combustion. There is also less oxygen, making the fuel/oxygen mixture needed for the bang of the suck/squeeze/bang/blow cycle explosively challenged.

So fine, the other event extras are gone, no problem, but now the weight is replaced with a back-up liter (or two) of Pennzoil. I’m off to the forums to figure this one out.