Valentines Day 2013. It started as a great day, with the roads drying up, sunning peeking aside fluffy clouds and the house all quiet because everyone else is at work or school.
i had taken a days holiday to sort of a special dinner to be prepared for the evening, which meant i had to go to the shops. as the weather was at its best in months i forced myself to make the decision to take the bike out and go to the bigger supermarket rather than the local mini-mart.
this did prove to be the right decision as the mini-mart had almost nothing of what i wanted anyway. i had decided that after the dog walk, shower and breakfast i would visit my nearest "Hein Gericke" store. For those that do not know this store, it is the last of chain of shops dedicated to bikers and their equipment. i was on the window shopping trail for a 2-piece leather combo for the summer which the missus had promised to help me buy as a Christmas present.
i was disappointed at the stock levels, and was promised by the manager that they were waiting for their new spring collections, which is why the levels had dropped. Not totally a wasted trip, because i got some good advice on my intended purchase and a little ride to boot.
as i left , i noticed that i was skimming the tank of the engine close to dry, and had calculated in my head that i could carry on the next leg of my trip and fuel up at the end.
i have previously got 186 miles out of a tank of fuel with approx "62mpg" regular riding. These 2 stats are pretty static and rarely change. so i was about 10 miles shy of this figure which was where my destination was and fuel stop were. i was confident, really confident.....!
so confident that in fact on the A127 Southend bound 6 miles short of my target, the engine decided to cough.....
at first i though i had rode over a hump, as the bike lurched but then it happened again.... Oh Jesus H....the bike lost all power and i little choice but to pull over into a nearby layby.
Bugger, Frack....... i had only managed 181 miles and the tank was dry...
after the initial embarrassment, i had a 2.5mile shuffle along the side verge in full motorcycle kit to the nearest petrol station on the opposite side of the carriageway..
i was sweating and knackered, but finally manage to enter the forecourt and the shop to purchase a gerry can. which by the way i had to pay for before getting my petrol and queueing to pay again. The stupid attendant even asked me a second time in about 10 mins if i wanted a free coffee... i had to reply.. "remember me from 10 mins ago... NOOOO".
as i was doing this it was hard tp excape the sniggers from the rest of the clientele which consisted of mainly tradesman. it was bloody obvious that i had run out of fuel, and was a biker.....
so, the shuffle back to the bike again, and i was pleased to see it was still in the layby. i emptied the can into the tank and carried on my journey. Rather than throw aside the jerry can i managed to squeeze it inside my rucksack wrapped in a tesco carrier bag.
the only downside really is that the bag stunk of petrol afterwards.
i have learnt a lesson here, rather than run the bike to the limit, always try to leave 10 miles in the tank...
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