About time for some updates....

The bike chain? Resolved, finally. It took about four phone calls more than it should have, but I eventually got the amount of the chain refunded, which covered all but $3 of the replacement chain I had to buy in Greenville. Persistence paid off.

The odometer? Resolved. I found one on ebay from a 2000 model with around 19,600 miles on it, which is only about 3,000 less than what my bike actually has. It's not every day you get to flip 20,000 miles twice on the same bike.

The bike? I'd toyed with the idea of upgrading before the next trip, but after test riding a couple of candidates, I decided I'd stick with mine for the next while. I got it back last Friday after being out of commission for two weeks while TJ adjusted the valves, installed the new odometer, fixed a water leak, cleaned and adjusted the carbs, and gave the bike some general TLC. Him finding out why the front end vibrated so much (missing bolt) has given my mirrors new purpose in life...they actually work now! For the past several months, they have given me blurry approximations of 'things' behind and to the side of me. Now I can actually tell makes and models of the vehicles that approach. It's rather refreshing.

Me? Glad to have my bike back after two and a half weeks of four wheeldom. I've signed up for an Experienced Rider Course up in Flat Rock, NC, which is scheduled for the last Saturday in August. I am annoyed at the counter and visitor map at the bottom of the page, though. Reckon I'll have to pay for a decent one. The first month had over 700 unique hits, and then it reset. Next month had 225 hits, and poof, reset. I changed it to a different type of counter, and that one wigged out after a week. I guess you get what you pay for!

The next trip? Planning and more planning. I've adjusted my route some, and may have to trim up a little here and there, since I'll be working with a lot less daylight than I've got right now. The night of staying at the cabin in Mariaville, sunset is something like 5:47, so my ambitious side trip to New Brunswick may have to be shelved. Depends on how soon I can get up to the cabin, after visiting with folks at the branch. I've also modified one of my hotel nights into a Bed & Breakfast night in Vermont. For about $30 more than a night at Super 8, I can stay in a pretty neat looking house with a made to order breakfast the next day. I'm pretty excited about that tweak in the plan. Once again, with the earlier dusk, and a higher moose per capita population up there, I may not be able to make a run up to Quebec just for grins.

79 days, and counting...

First Pie Ride

On the biker website I frequent, "pie" is a major theme. Doesn't matter what part of the country, pie is always lurking in the background. The southeastern contingent of riders has a pie place in particular, located at Mercier's Orchard in Blue Ridge, GA, that sells fried pies. Apple, peach, blueberrry, apricot, cranberry, espresso (wha?), you name it, they have it. Pretty often, there will be pie rides posted for those who want to go enjoy the twisty roads and get a fried bit of goodness (no, that is NOT an oxymoron) to top it all off. A week or so ago, there was a post to ask if anyone was interested in a pie ride on July 3, and I got to thinking. Looked at the map for the proposed meeting spot. Calculated how much time I'd need to get there. Calculated the amount of sleep I was willing to give up. Decided at the 9th hour to go ahead and opt in. There were only going to be five people on the ride (including me), which suited me perfectly. The most I've ever ridden with was two other folks, so this wouldn't be too much to bite off.

At 6:15 Friday morning, I was up and out the door with Riley so he could get a good walk in before I left. He seemed surprised at the early trek, but wasn't going to say no. Once back home, I finished packing, wiped down the bike, lubed the chain, and checked the tire pressure. By 7:10, I sent a text to the ride leader to let him know I was hitting the road. Our meeting place was a bike shop just north of Dahlonega, GA, at 10 a.m., just over 130 miles from my house. I threw my rain gear into my tank bag 'just because', even though the forecast was beautiful, and turns out it was a good thing to have. I was wearing a sleeveless shirt, a long sleeved shirt and my mesh riding jacket. I mean...it's July 3 in South Carolina...that's major overkill on the layers, right? Not so much! Before I was 8 miles from the house, I pulled over to put on the rain jacket as an added layer for warmth. I didn't check the temps before heading out, but it turns out our low yesterday was 63, which explains a lot!

The interstate ride was pretty uneventful. I was able to make the entire trip with no stops, which is decent for my first long ride in several weeks. I topped off with gas just before Dahlonega so I'd be full for the day's ride. I still haven't fixed the odometer on the bike (which kind of stinks), so I have to be a little more vigilant about filling up the bike since I don't have a gas gauge, and my only way to know when to fill up was when my trip meter started to get above 180 miles. It also stinks when you have directions that say 'after five miles, turn right at the stoplight' and you can't read the road sign at the stop light, so you're not sure if that was where you were supposed to turn right or not. Yep, that was the one! Once I hit the traffic circle in downtown Dahlonega several blocks beyond the light, I figured it must have been the one I needed, so I took a side spur off the circle and headed in a direction I figured would meet me back up at the road I needed. Thankfully it did (who needs stinking GPS, anyway?) and I continued on my merry way, once again wishing I had an odometer, since it was only 3.1 miles on the left to find the place to meet. By the time I got back on the right road, it was almost 9:45, so I figured I could keep going for five minutes or so, and if I didn't see the store, I could stop somewhere and ask. About a minute later, I saw the sign for Riders Hill and turned left into the parking lot. At the top, I saw four bikes parked together, two of which I recognized as belonging to a couple of the riders I was meeting.

Three of the guys I met I was able to recognize from pics on the website, with the fourth being a friend along for the ride. It was kind of interesting to meet the people behind the posters...I'm sure I'll get some grief for meeting up with five men I'd never met before to go riding in the Georgia mountains, but no worries...we never once heard banjo music. The folks in the group were: Karl, riding a 2004 BMW R1150GS (think Long Way Round), Larry, riding a 2008 Versys (accompanied by Puff, a dragon sporting a banjo), Karl (yes) also known as Kato - or 'Tinkerbell' on this ride - on a 2001 Honda CBR F4i, and Tim, riding a Yamaha FZ1.

We had the preliminary meet and greet, looked at some very pretty machines outside and headed off. Karl (the Elder) led the group, followed by Larry, me, Karl (the Younger) and Tim. The reason the Tinkerbell name came about, is that Karl the Younger's bike has one of those super bright headlights on it, and he was riding with his brights on, so I made sure never to look directly into my rearview mirror, but that gleaming light was always in my field of vision, like Tinkerbell flitting around. I'd never been on any of these roads, and it was nice to be able to sit back and enjoy the ride without having to think about what connected where, or get out a map. It was also a great time to practice my technique in the curves. We rode to a convenience store that was no more, just to get off and stretch, over by Lake Burton. Karl the Elder had an Incredible Hulk toy from a Burger King who seems to get photographed in various and sundry locations and situations (whilst Igor the Gnomad has fled the country...), and the cameras came out at the first stop, and never were put back. (I'll be borrowing some of his and Larry's pics, since I was uncharacteristically lame on the photo front this trip.)

After this stop, we pushed on to Tiger, GA, for a Tiger Burger. I don't think the town had a stop light, but at the big four-way stop downtown, there is a convenience store with a short order window just inside. You order your burger/sandwich, grab your chips and drink from the store, and pay on the way out. That place was hopping while we were there. The burgers were pretty big, and since I wasn't terribly hungry, I opted for the BLT, which was verra, verra yummy. The guys I was with have ridden together many times, so there were some funny stories to listen to, with KtE usually sharing the background story for me. The humor occasionally reminded me of a 9th grade locker room, but for the most part wasn't too bad :)

We headed out of there with a fuel stop before destination: PIE! I had a couple of 'Hiawatha!' moments on the ride, and one came shortly after leaving lunch. We'd gone up a curvy mountain that descended rather sharply and curvily. In a couple of these, I committed cardinal sin of braking in the curve, which means I entered it too fast (for my skills anyway), but not bad enough to do much more than get a minor wobble in the front. At the gas station, there were more Hulk antics, as you might notice the green blur in KtY's hand (he was about to toss him up for a mid-air pic). And no, our mother did NOT lay our matching outfits for us this morning. (It was also humorous that KtE and Larry were wearing identical riding suits...Tim was the only one who had any individual style for the ride!) There were some really nice roads on the way to pie, and we pulled in there about 2:25. I went to the restroom when we first got there, and so got stuck at the back of a longish pie line with Larry while the other guys were picking up their orders. There were probably a dozen or more varieties of fried pie to choose from, but I opted for good old American Apple Pie, along with a lemon slush drink. Grand total was $3.10 for both.

While we were there, KtE mentioned we might be getting a mystery guest, he kept looking around and out the windows. About 2:40, another BMW pulled into the parking lot and he walked out to greet the rider. Turns out it was another BBO member, James (known as Prof HH) who had come down from Indiana that morning as part of a ride to get a SaddleSore 1000 certification, which entails riding 1000 miles in a 24 hour period. He'd left at 5:30 that morning, and we were the turnaround point, just over 500 miles into his trip. He called his wife at each of his stops to post up the city on a thread he'd started in the forum for his trip. Not surprisingly, he had the espresso pie from the bakery. Just before 4:00, we all headed back out, bidding James a safe ride home, and ourselves aiming back towards Dahlonega. Here is one of the pics I did get, with the guys over at the bikes...only bike not pictured was Tim's, but standing there from left to right are James, KtE, KtY, Larry and Tim.

The last leg to ride was down about 40 miles Highway 60 from just outside Blue Ridge to Dahlonega, and this was definitely a beaut of a road. From the intersection outside Blue Ridge, Tim led out, followed by Larry, me, KtY and KtE. There were a few cars in front of us that Tim (the Hwy 60 speed demon) and KtY passed, and Larry was able to get around them shortly after that. There wasn't really a good passing zone and since I was unfamiliar with the road, I hung back until there was a nice straightaway and then got around them, with KtE riding along behind. The next several miles were full of very nice curves, and later KtE commented that my bike did quite well on what was out there. He's got some track time under his belt and probably takes curves faster than I normally ride on the interstate, so hearing a comment like that from a rider like that was pretty cool. The five of us regrouped at another c-store in Suches, which was a little hole in the wall place...you don't really know it's a town/hamlet/village by anything other than the dot on the map you see. Several riders went by, heading off Highway 60 to go across on 180, which sounds pretty rough (technical with stinky road surfaces).

From there, we rode to our last stop for fuel in Dahlonega, slaying tar snakes left and right. Shortly after leaving the station, I had my second Hiawatha moment on a right handed curve. I was following Larry, and didn't brake much (like at all) before entering the curve. The black and yellow arrows posted on the far side of the road should have been a clue that I might want to back off a touch. Once I was committed, I knew I could NOT brake or roll off the throttle, so inside my helmet I sounded like a labor and delivery nurse, yelling, "push! push! push!" to myself, willing my right handlebar lower and lower, while having visions of the bike leveraging on hard parts and slithering across the road. However, those racing folks must know a thing or two, because I got through it, wheels sticking to the ground and bike happily intact. The adrenalin from that kept me going for quite a while.

About four miles from the gas station, I broke off from the group and took a different route back to I-85 than I'd ridden up on that morning (a result of much map consulting by Larry and KtE). It turned out to be a great ride, avoiding any large cities and going through rural countryside. It intersected with 85 just south of the big shopping exit for Commerce, GA, and from there it was about an hour and 15 minutes to get home. The last 40 miles of the ride I was reminded over (and over and over) again that I need to get the seat modified for the bike. While my total miles for the day were probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 400-425, I'd been riding since 7:10, and getting home at 8:25 made for a sore backside. Once again, I found that, while I was fine when riding, once I got off the bike and done for the night, I realized how tired I was. Today's been a lazy day, recovering from sore muscles and thinking I might plan out my own SaddleSore route one of these days, as well as wondering what type of pie I'll try next time...

Epic Journey #2 - Rough Draft

The countdown has begun to the next trip, this time in October, and this time to New England. The miles will be about 400 fewer, and the time will be one day shorter. Once again, I'll be stopping off to see friends and co-workers at branches (both current and former) for the company where I work, as well as seeing some old friends who relocated to Long Island four years ago.

The details are still a little fluid, but I should be leaving on a Friday morning, and staying in Martinsburg, WV, that night. A branch manager there has two guest rooms, and I plan to take the non-pink one :) The next day, I'm heading up to Long Island, where I will spend Saturday and Sunday. Monday morning, head through Lakeville, MA, to see folks from work, and end that day in Manchester, NH.

Tuesday, I head up to Waterville, ME, and see more work friends, before finishing the day in Mariaville, ME, at a 'cabin' on an acre with 200 feet of river frontage. A two story, three bedroom, screened in porch 'cabin.' This will be courtesy of good old Charlie (good morning, Charlie!) at the branch, who has the property for sale, and if it's still on the market in October, I'll be able to bunk there gratis. Depending on the route, I'd like to end up at the coast at some point. Bar Harbor is less than an hour from the cabin, which puts Acadia National Park in close reach, too.

The next morning, Wednesday, I'll make my way over to Montpelier, VT, and have my second hotel night (the first being Manchester on Monday). Thursday I'll be winding across upstate New York and ending near Rochester to stay with a former co-worker, her husband, and the pet mouse. Not a tame mouse, actually, but protected, nonetheless.

Friday may find me swinging up to Niagara Falls, since I'm that close, perhaps dropping in to Canada, depending on my mood. End of the day should find me in Solon, OH, with yet another pair of accommodating friends from work. Saturday morning I will leave from there to head back home, for a rather long day...about 600 miles. The first day of the trip will be just under 500 miles, and the other days average in the 250 mile range, with one as long as 340 miles. Comparing the day by day miles to the last trip, this one is much more balanced, and should allow for some good leaf watching, picture taking and lollygagging, if I so choose.

Preparations to be done will very possibly include the purchase of heated gloves, and another rain suit. Now is the time to find good deals on high tech long underwear. The weather is extremely variable up there...I highly doubt I'll see any snow, but I could see some pretty chilly temps. However, I could also see some nice 60s and 70s with an Indian Summer. The bike still needs to the odometer cluster replaced, but I may have that shortly rectified. I've been toying with the idea of upgrading the bike, but I'm not sold on that yet. Test rode a couple different options last week, but neither floated my boat. An upgrade would take some pretty serious machinations, some of which are not even in place yet, so I'll hold off on saying too much there.

That's about all of an update for now. I'm still in the middle of waiting to get the chain issue resolved from Kansas City, although I made some good progress last week. I think it'll end up working out, but it's just going slowly.

Ride On!

Friday, I started crunching numbers and figuring what I'll need for the next trip I've got in mind. Part of that included revisiting my budget, and deciding I'm actually going to have to start sticking to said budget in order to have savings up to where they should be before I leave. Sticking to that budget will require me to ride the bike pretty much everywhere I can and retiring my truck for the most part this summer. All in all, not a bad problem to have. This morning I rode to church and it was lovely (both the ride and the service). First time to get the mesh jacket out this year, and it was one of the most comfortable rides for the temps (upper 80s) that I've had yet. The pants I bought for the trip are mesh, and they are cooler to wear than jeans, even though they are a sun-sucking black.

For the past several weeks we've had some old fashioned weather patterns going through, with almost daily thunderstorms in the late afternoon, and today turned out to be no different. I decided to stick to my plan, and loaded up rain gear on the back of the bike when I left the house to go to church tonight. At the house, it was overcast, but not ominous. A mile from my house, the ominosity started to kick in. The only light(er) patch in the sky was behind me, over my house, and I was heading 14 miles east and a little south. Over there...towards that slate blue patch of clouds. I thought about putting on the rain gear then, but figured I'd wait and see. About two miles from the house, the pavement was wet from recent rain, but drying off, as it was by the time I got onto I-385. The car in front of me was kicking back some spray, so I got into the next lane, watching oncoming traffic for signs of rain ahead, as well as watching the clouds and road. Shortly after the next bridge, the road was probably 50% dry, no oncoming cars had on wipers, but the sky still looked portentous although no rain was coming down more than a mist. Beyond the following exit, the road was looking very wet, and I started seeing some wiper activity in the northbound lanes. Now the question was not if, but when.

There were only two overpasses left...I was over three quarters of the way to church, but that last quarter had the potential to be soggy. I opted for the second overpass, pulled over and started doing the raingear shuffle. While I was putting on the layers, a cruiser went past. Neither the rider or his passenger had any riding gear (helmet, jacket, pants, boots), much less rain gear. She was wearing a halter top and trying to hunker down behind him as best she could. I've not experienced it, but have heard that riding in rain is extremely painful, and if you've got drops of water hitting your bare skin at 60 miles per hour, yeah, I can see where it would hurt.

Finally got my silver space suit on and headed up to the Woodruff Road exit. About 45 feet beyond the cover of the changing station overpass, the rain started coming down in earnest...no more of that weenie misting we'd been having (owie for the cruiser folks). I rode the last three miles (and nine stoplights) to church, very glad I had my rain gear on. Did learn an important object lesson tonight. While my gloves do have gauntlets (a cuff that comes over the top of the jacket sleeve), in stop and go traffic they will work better if the gauntlet is tucked under the sleeve cuff. The rain was running down the sleeves of the jacket and into the gauntlet right near the end of the ride. The only part of me that got wet was just the underside of my wrist where that happened. Good to know for future rainy rides. (And not an issue on road trips, since the wind keeps the rain blowing away from the gauntlet.)

The other rain suit issue I'm discovering is the fact that the pants in my suit are too stinking short! I bought the size small of the suit since it fit while walking around in the store, but once they are put on over riding pants (bulkier than jeans) they hike up just a little bit, and then when you have to sit on the bike with knees bent, they ride up a little more. The elastic cuff holds them firmly in place, so when you get off the bike, they are firmly held...hiked up to mid calf , with two inches of riding pants sticking out over the exposed riding boot. Paints a pretty picture, I tell ya. I don't think I can buy the pants separate from the suit, so I might have to go test out some mediums and see if they give me enough leg length so I don't impersonate Urkel after riding through the rain. The rain protection of the pants is superb other than the length. After church, flicked them once and they were dry. Happily, the rain had moved on and there was a lovely sunset, perfect for riding off into. So I did.

Mountain Ride

Today I went for a ride up in the NC mountains with a fellow-rider from work named Martin. He was on a Suzuki DR-Z 400 SM (pretty sure) which is much more nimble in the mountain twisties than my bike. We headed up US276 to Caesar's Head, which is normally a pretty intense ride, but today there were lots of bicycles, slow cars, and even an emergency crew cutting up a tree that had fallen across the road, so not much time to get zippy. Once we regrouped at the top, we rode into Brevard, NC, behind some rather...um...SLOW riders (for lack of a better word). There were five in the group, mixing up everything from a Goldwing to a scooter to a Harley. Once we headed west on 64 and got to a decent passing zone, it was a relief to get past them.

From my house to the top of Caesar's Head, it's roughly 35 miles. I was surprised when I looked at my trip meter (reset with a fresh tank of gas this morning) and noticed I'd only gone 34 miles by the time I was well past Brevard. I looked again when passing Sapphire, NC. Still 34 miles. Hmm. Reset the meter and kept glancing down. Nada. My speedo and tach work fine, but the odometer (main and two trip meters) have all died. Since the speedometer is still working, it's not a cable issue, but likely to be an internal gizmo working issue, and from what TJ says, not many places will repair the gizmo parts. I've got to do some research to see what to get. We headed in to Cashiers, NC, to eat at a barbecue place that, evidently, many riders frequent. When we pulled into the parking lot, there might have been five other bikes there. When we left, there were well over 20.

No pics today, but here is a map of the route we took. Coming back down 288 to 130 was lovely: great sweeping curves and no traffic. Stopped for gas and bathroom break, and then on to 188 through Pumpkintown (yes), over to 276, hopped onto 414, and then Martin took 25 North and I went 25 South to our respective homes. Total for the day (my best guess) is about 140 miles. (I took a nap when I got home...yawrn!)

I've also got my sights on some of these for the upcoming, potential, might-happen, hope-so trip in October. (You know...it's just one more thing...)

I've got this itch...

Tentatively, there are now plans for a fall excursion, heading up into New England. I've got to check with folks along the route, to see if I can do some more mooching for overnight stays, but it's looking pretty good. Details will follow as arrangements solidify.

I'm still waiting to hear back from the folks in Kansas City. They weren't overly anxious to refund money, and are supposedly checking with the chain manufacturer to see if there will be a warranty they can claim on it. I did pick the bike back up from TJ's shop after work today...when he wrote up the ticket, he charged for installing the new chain and checking a couple of items. Nothing on there for coming out to pick me up north of the next town on a Saturday (and taking me home). Not only is he a good mechanic, he's a good friend.

Tonight was the first ride since Saturday, and it was just the mile and a half it took to get home. Once I was home, I changed clothes and headed back out with the Riley dog to walk back to the shop and pick up the truck. Had to go through a little bit of a ghetto section, but with the 125 pound dog with me, the worst I got was someone calling across the street that, "That sure is a big dog!" I agreed and kept walking. Made it to the shop in 25 minutes. The rain's come in earnest for the evening, and is supposed to linger through tomorrow. However, Saturday is looking pretty good, and a co-worker is planning on riding up to the mountains for some barbecue on Saturday, and I think I'll be joining him :)

Day 10 - But Wait...There's More!

So here it was. The sun had dawned on the last day of my trip, and I was heading home! The thought of that was exciting, even if the thought of dragging myself out of bed wasn't so exciting. The hotel alarm clock was evilly set for 5:30 a.m., and I hadn't thought to check it before going to bed. I fumbled through a couple of snooze setting on it before figuring out how to turn it off.

An hour later, I thought I might get up, but that thought proved to be short-lived. Eight o'clock rolled around, and I finally forced myself to get up. Got stuff packed, wiped off and polished the bike and helmet, checked tire pressure and used the last dying gasps in the can of chain lube. Once the bike was packed, I knew I wanted a decent breakfast so I could push on for a full day. Wouldn't you know it, there was a Cracker Barrel just across the interstate! I got over there shortly before 9:30 (hoo boy, this was going to be a long day), and can't say the service was exactly speedy. Did manage to get out of there and on the road by 10:02 a.m.

As I've said before, I like to try to find someone on the road to ride with, and this morning there was a white Toyota Tundra with NC plates that was keeping a rather lively pace, and I decided to keep time with him. After 150 miles, my small gas tank was starting to gasp, and I had to flip over to reserve fuel. The next exit showing a gas station was three miles away, so I dropped out of the pace, and got off the interstate. When I got to the station, every one of the unleaded fuel pumps had bags over them, and signs saying "Out of Fuel". Rawr!

I headed back out on the interstate, figuring I had at least 20 miles worth of reserve left, and was happy when the next exit had the desired Shell station. I put in about 4.3 gallons, which averaged out to only 46 mpg, which was on the low side. I thought it might be due to the lively pace with the truck, but when I was leaving the station, I saw that my choke was opened up about a quarter of a turn beyond where it should be for normal running. Oh great! I closed it back down and headed back onto the road.

By now I was south of Lexington, KY, and started going on some really nice mountain roads. Up ahead, I saw a guy on a white bike, and as I got closer, I saw it was a Kawasaki ER-6n. We teamed up, and the next 90 miles melted. The roads really had some nice curves through there, and my legs are weary tonight from holding on...it was like a ThighMaster on drugs (Suzanne Somers, eat your heart out!) He pulled off about 20 miles before Knoxville, tossing a wave my way, and I filtered onto I-640 with all of the other little ants heading towards Asheville. I stopped at the Gatlinburg turnoff and fueled, took a bathroom break, and ate an ice cream bar.

This was the last push. I was only about 120 miles away from home. It was getting so close I could taste it! Often, you let down your guard when you get close to the end, and I made sure I was just as alert at the end as I'd been for the previous 3,000 miles. I really wish I had a video camera for the bike to ride those first 20 miles from the Tennessee border into NC. There are some super curves through there, and two tunnels to go through. I did succumb and honk my horn while going through the second tunnel. (It's a 139 decibel air horn for those of you who might have missed that detail...loudest thing on the market.) The skies were a beautiful blue with light clouds puffing here and there, and my wrists were getting a top coat baked on. I did put on sunscreen this morning, but they're pretty raw right now.

I didn't get many pictures on this last day, since it was mainly business (ride to get home!) but I did stop at the SC border sign :) From that point, it's about 32 miles to my house. There's a steep grade down the mountain for the first 10 or so miles, and then a country highway heading in to Travelers Rest from the north and down to Greenville. I was making super good time, and even with starting as late as I did, I was on track to make it home by 5:30. Yee haw!

The first stoplight when heading back into civilization was red, and I was the first one in line, next to a convertible Toyota Solara. The light changed and I gave it throttle up the hill, zooming through first, second, third, CRUNCH! and then lost power. Down shifted, but nothing was going to the back wheel. I was able to coast to a turning area in the median, and stopped the bike. I got off to look at the chain, because I had a sneaking suspicion...I looked, leaned, looked some more and saw a rear sprocket with no trace of a chain. A pickup pulled up beside me to inform me the chain was laying back at the other end of the median. I was 12 (t-w-e-l-v-e) miles from my house. Did I mention TWELVE?

Jump back in time with me for a minute. When I was due to get the bike back from the body shop, my friend was going to bring the bike down to Greenville on a trailer from Rock Hill to deliver it. He was going to be getting down on the late side, so I'd talked with TJ about the possibility of meeting us that evening to put the bike in his shop. He agreed and gave me his personal cell phone number to let him know how things progressed that evening. Turns out the bike wasn't delivered until the next morning, but I still had the cell phone number in my phone.

Once I'd walked back and retrieved the chain, and settled down by my crippled ride, I proceeded to call that cell phone number, praying that he'd answer. On about the fourth ring, he did, and I told him my tale of woe. He happened to be working in his garage right then, which is about 15 miles away, and was able to hook up a trailer and come out to pick me up. (Have I mentioned that I love having a good mechanic? Thanks again, TJ :) In the meantime, I had a couple of people check in on me, and another rider stopped to see if I needed help. He was a bike mechanic from Florida, riding a BMW R1200 GS Adventure. He looked at the chain and said the master link had most likely been incorrectly installed, since it was patently missing from the remaining chain. I told him I had someone coming by with a trailer, and he offered his condolences. He also offered me a beer :) I'm a bit of a beer snob, so instead of asking what he had, I thanked him but told him I'd pass. It was pretty funny in retrospect...I can imagine what TJ would think as he drives up to get my bike and I'm waiting, beer in hand! He did show up shortly and we loaded up the bike, strapped it down and hauled it back into town. It was rather an inglorious ending to the grand saga, but rather fitting in its own way.

On Monday I plan to be talking to the guys in Kansas City who installed the chain last Friday (about 2,200 miles ago). The bike made it 488 miles today before throwing in the towel, and I'm glad it waited until I was that close to home before kicking. The final tally for the trip came to 3,176 miles in eight days of travel (two of those days being less than 150 miles).

In retrospect, would I do it again? To quote my friend in Fargo...you betcha! In a heartbeat! In a skinny minute! Would I have done anything differently? I'd probably want to have the seat modified for long distance travel. The stock seat can be brutal after a few hundred miles. I also might opt for a narrower CrampBuster (a throttle assist device - earlier referred to as a throttle rocker - but ThrottleRocker is a trademarked name :) thanksabunch, Dennis!). The one I used was wide enough that I had to hold my hand at an odd angle for in-town riding unless I rotated it out of the way, and my throttle hand thumb is giving me an occasional complaint. The only other occasional item of discomfort was just the low seat height (which translates into limited leg space). I've got a 34" inseam, and every once in a while my knees needed more stretch room than they had.

Also, to those who've read through here, drop me an email at k_skellenger@yahoo.com. I'd love to hear who you are and what you think. There were several hits from countries across the globe, and I'd be curious to know how you found about about this tale. I'll be somewhat at a loss when I don't have a daily adventure to compile (although I shall give the final update on the chain, and any other side effects from the trip).

I do have a sneaking suspicion, however, this won't be the last long distance trip for one particular rambler :)