The BattleCat III completes 580 days this weekend, and I plan to take her on a nice long ride.
I have been keeping track of her odometer since I took delivery on 25 April 2022, but I lost parts of the documentation for the first 100 days (till 03 August 2022) in a crash.
However, from what I have, here’s some interesting data that shows my averages:
- I ride 67.48km a day.
- I use up 2.96 litres of petrol every day.
- I go 2.48 days between full tanks.
- I rode the maximum distance in September 2023: 3,802km.
- I rode the minimum distance in October 2022: 1,434km.
I also have other data I could glean from my records, like intervals between servicings, tyres, air filters, oil, brake pads, and chain-sprocket changes, for example. But right now, this itself is insightful.
Motorcycling gives me wings, truly. It keeps me sane. It gives me time to think, to talk to myself, to sort out issues in my mind, to free myself from the shackles of my own baggage, to bring clarity to situations, and to, at times, escape. Recently, it has also been the instrument of connecting with the woman I love. Nothing bonds you like opening throttle as you and your pillion stand up as one on your footrests, she hugging you tightly, while the motorcycle hurtles forward, front shaky, rear fishtailing, over slippery, gravely, rocky terrain that threatens a painful death & horrible disfigurement on one side and brilliant, unseen vistas & breathtaking landscape on the other!
In many ways, the BattleCat has saved my life. By making it worth living.
![Mr Baba: 'Would you like to take off the backpack now that you've been downstairs for like 30 minutes?'
Ms Kym-Kym: 'I like it like this. You should try it. It's very comfortable.'
Mr Baba: [Pulling on his backpack] 'Hmmm, you're right. That's rather snug.'
Ms Kym-Kym: 'Twinning! Yay!'
#LuckiestManAlive #BearFamily](https://scontent-lax3-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.29350-15/416920031_3373151642830342_6696851954454537274_n.webp?stp=dst-jpg&_nc_cat=105&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=18de74&_nc_ohc=ZMLmjPdSAEUAX8nnJex&_nc_ht=scontent-lax3-1.cdninstagram.com&edm=ANo9K5cEAAAA&oh=00_AfB0olvUVmnenPKd2wCllMDehg5gzDgAbc4BDsGLqIm6pA&oe=65BA4561)
![Kym: 'Mr Baba, can I tell you something wierd? You can actually get tired from doing nothing!!'
Me: 'It is called boredom.'
Kym: 'Noooo. I mean, like physically tired.'
Me: 'One can get tired and sleepy due to boredom. I remember reading about it somewhere. Let's find out.'
[Some Googling later]
Me: 'It says here that "A new paper published in the journal Nature Communications finds that a part of the brain that is associated with motivation and pleasure - the nucleus accumbens - also can produce sleep. The new findings may explain why we have the tendency to fall asleep in the absence of motivating stimuli, i.e., when bored." Isnt it interesting?'
Kym: 'I already knew that. Why do you need to research things we already know?'
Me: [Finding a subject worth talking about now]: ' Ah well, that's what we'll talk of tomorrow on your morning run. It's very interesting the way science is done and our understanding of the universe is expanded.'
Kym: 'Can we talk of unicorns instead?'
Me: 'Sure. How do you know they exist? That's an interesting question too that you can use the scientific method to answer.'
Kym: 'Do they have to exist for us to talk about them? We can just pretend they do for an hour and have fun.'
Me: [Laughing] 'Yes, sure. We can do that too.'
#BabaBabyConversations #BearFamily #KymAndI](https://scontent-lax3-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.29350-15/416410840_383105434396466_2267910263456009774_n.webp?stp=dst-jpg&_nc_cat=104&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=18de74&_nc_ohc=LIozs445JFcAX_48wGC&_nc_ht=scontent-lax3-1.cdninstagram.com&edm=ANo9K5cEAAAA&oh=00_AfDQ2qbb0yO_wUmLj_L0ZxF61eDdwlIN-vyrd8GZe_pBMQ&oe=65BAFA57)
