Range Anxiety

I've never actually run out of fuel while traveling abroad, but I've come very, very close on quite a few occasions. Sometimes, I got lost and wasted fuel finding myself. Sometimes, I was forced to take a detour because a road was impassible. Sometimes, I saw a town marked on a map, assuming it would have fuel available* and this turned out not to be the case.

In Italy, petrol service stations are inexplicably closed almost all the time. And in France recently, I found that my Irish bank card wouldn't work in some self service petrol stations. And in Ireland, we have lots of beautifully made Motorways with no services stations on them...

On one occasion in the Italian Alps, the self-service station would only dispense an amount of fuel that would fill my relatively small tank if it were entirely empty. But the tank was one-third full and this seemed like a waste of money, so I carried on up into the Alps in the hope that I'd find another, more reasonable solution. I didn't. I ended up using most of my available fuel before returning to the same self service station and filling my now empty tank...

On other occasions I've been compelled to curl up into a little aerodynamic teardrop and drone along at 80kph. And often, I've felt it prudent to turn off the engine and coast down any available incline.

On one particularly ill-concieved adventure, I traveled to Sweden on a Buell that would only go 100 miles before the orange fuel light came on. I had the range anxiety the whole time. On the way back, on the twelfth fill-up in the fifth country that day, my bank card was cancelled due to suspicious behaviour. That's a whole other kind of anxiety...

When I was younger all I wanted was a big tank and a comfortable seat and I'd drive and drive and drive until I went onto reserve. Of late, I'm inclined to use maybe half a tank and then start keeping an eye out for somewhere to top up.

I still love big petrol tanks though. With a proper reserve tap, not just an orange light. It's a courier thing...

*These little fantasy petrol stops usually have a fantasy diner with a fantasy waitress and fantasy food. If I ever find this Shang-ri-la I may never leave...


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