The First Time

To say it has been a long winter would be putting it mildly.  I've had projects and objectives for the Wing this winter which have taken some time, so the lack of riding hasn't been that bad.  But this weekend just looked like it was too good to pass up, so I had to take a short shake down ride for the new Aux Tank.  I thought I should try and see some areas of RI that I hadn't been to before.  I found some interesting references to the Scituate Reservoir and did a quick route plan in Mapsource to practice.  I found some interesting roads in Google Maps that didn't show up in Mapsource, which probably meant they were dirt or restricted access.  Either way it was worth a look and some practice finding weird locations would probably come in handy this June and August. 

I also talked Tom into the ride too, which really didn't take much convincing since he too was looking for an excuse to get the bike on the road.  We decided to meet at the reservoir and do the loop around together.  We arrived about 10 AM to be greeted by light traffic and ice free roads, sand was another thing but it is February after all. 

The loop was actually pretty short, and as I figured, the roads I saw in Google Maps were restricted access only as they all had locked gates.  Too bad since a few of them looked pretty good and would have taken us right down to the water's edge.  I guess since this reservoir serves Providence they don't want people going down to it for some reason. 

After a nice ride, we stopped at a Dunkin Donuts and decided that the day was still good and to head to CT for checking out some bikes and gear.

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We headed for the dealership formally known as Excalibur, but seems to be known now as only Motor Sports Nation.  On the way to the dealership I was finally down low enough in gas to try a transfer.  Since I had only a small amount of fuel in the aux tank I wasn't sure what to expect.  I flipped the valve on and within a minute the gas gauge started to go up!  What a cool thing, the first time I transferred fuel and filled my tank while riding.  When we pulled into the parking lot I checked the aux tank and it was entirely empty and there were no leaks, success!

Surprisingly, we were the only riders there, go figure, so we went in and checked out the inventory.  Pretty nice selection, they had quite a few GL1800s and a ton of sport bikes.  We asked a sales "kid" about the new VFR and he wasn't sure what a VFR was, so that wasn't exactly a good sign, oh well.  Upstairs was a nice selection of gear including the new Scorpion Flip Helmet.  I tried on the large and it was way too small, unfortunately they didn't have any other sizes.  About that time a young parts manager came over and started to ask as about our gear.  He was interested to hear what we thought about our riding pants as he was looking to stock up for the summer.  After a few minutes of talking we gave him some ideas and recommendations.  He then said to make sure to give him a call when we needed anything and he would beat all internet prices.  I told I would since I would need some tires and brakes this summer for my rides.  Tom and I took our separate ways home, and I swung into a gas station to top off both tanks for the first time.  I did notice the extra weight from the additional four gallons of fuel but soon was used to it by the time I pulled into my driveway.  It was a short ride, around 130 miles, but it proved out the first fuel transfer and first fuel fill up.  No leaks and no issues...a successful ride and awesome day.