Greetings All
It´s been a long time between emails due to several reasons. A lot of it due to slackness and laziness on my part. No surprise´s there.
We have hit a pothole in the road to progress at the moment.
As a matter of fact it was probably hitting many potholes that has causes Kitty to become a Unicycle. The rear wheel has started to collapse (all the spokes have started to come loose) so we are in a small hotel in Mexico unable to go anywhere as I have had to ship the wheel back to the USA to a very rare company who can repair this type of wheel.
Unlike normal spoked wheels BMW don’t repair their cross laced spoked wheels and virtually no one else will , the usual solution is to break out a credit card and take a deep breathe. Luckily one of the few companies that do repair them was back in the US so the wheels had its own holiday in Colorado at Woody’s Wheel Works.
This delay with our slow rate of progress means that we have come to the realisation that we will not be able to make Tiero Del Feugo be fore bad weather sets in early in the year. We are working out plan B, Plan C and probably up to Plan Z25/3 as to where we will ship Kitty and ourselves from to get back to Oz.
We WILL be coming back.
On a lighter note I have written a few shorter emails that I will be sending over the week or so about particular incidents or places.
Finally if anyone cares to send back a reply that is a bit longer than
“Got yer email”
We would not be offended if it had some news and chat from Oz or wherever. (Hint, hint)
Onto the stories…………………..
Before we started the trip I had the brilliant (?) idea that the beloved should also learn to ride a bike, not that she would be riding any distance, but so she would get some experience and feel for it and maybe I could relax and take in the scenery occasionally.
A small Suzuki GN250, a few lessons later and the beloved is the proud bearer of a new motorcycle licence, that was several months ago. Forward to Nevada…….
Nevada is the home of Area 51, the atomic bomb test site and more remote air force bases that the public is allowed to know about. So there was plenty of space for the beloved to ride Kitty, long straight roads and slow sweeping bends.
As I’ve mentioned earlier Kitty is no feather weight. When we put ourselves on the weigh scale in Canada at the beginning of the trip the all up weight was 490kg, we were seriously overloaded and would have to go on a diet. Unfortunately even sacrificing my underwear meant that when we had everything packed for the southbound leg we weighed a sprightly 505kg.
Now picture the scene, it’s a deserted road straight as an arrow. Parked to one side, Kitty is leaning over on the side stand. The vertically challenged beloved swings a leg over the saddle and sits awkwardly on the bike, I clamber onboard and we haul the bike upright. With the pedal dexterity of a centipede the Beloved manages to flip the side stand up.
Ok ready to go.
“Carolyn, put both your feet on the pegs and I’ll support the bike”
“I can’t it’ll fall over”
No it won’t, I’ll hold it up. Put your feet on the pegs”
“I can’t”
“Put you feet on the pegs”
“I can’t”
“Carolyn put your feet on the pegs”
“It’ll fall over”
“No it won’t put your feet on the pegs”
“It’ll fall over”
“CAROLYN, PUT YOUR FEET ON THE FOOT PEGS ”
Gingerly the feet leave the ground.
“See that wasn’t so hard”
Trust is a wonderful thing.
As I said earlier Kitty loaded up is a daunting machine and the beloved needs to start slowly and get into the swing of things
“Ok now just get the feel of where the clutch starts to engage”
“Where is the clutch again?”
I’m suddenly racked by a horrible feeling that this might not be such a good idea.
“Left hand lever”
“Put it into first gear and just move us a tiny bit”
“How do I get it into first?”
That feeling is coming back.
“Left foot, kick down to first, then up for second, third, etc”
“Ok”
We gently move off, then stop, a couple of times (very nicely done) now for the big one.
“Alright put the power on this time and I’ll take my feet off the ground”
We start to move I retract the landing gear and off we go, we have success!
The engine picks up speed and things are looking good.
“When should I change gear?”
Engine now starting to race
“Now is good time”
A loud CLUNK is accompanied by a screaming engine followed by more screaming engine.
“When you change gear, release the accelerator when you pull the clutch in”
“Ok”
Change to third gear, engine screams again.
“Release the accelerator when you change gear”
“Ok”
Change to fourth gear, engine screams yet again
“Release the accelerator when you change gear”
“Ok, what gear am I in?”
“Fourth, one more to go”
Change to fifth gear, engine screams AGAIN
I’m getting a little tetchy by now
“Carolyn, back off the accelerator, when you change gear”
“I am”
“Do it more, a lot more”
Communication is a wonderful thing. (FYI we do have an intercom between us)
We have a few more unorthodox gear changes (with cringing from the pillion seat) as we travel along but eventually we settle into a groove of sorts.
There is some tension in the air at the moment but this soon dissipates as we cruise along. The day is sunny and the scenery is magnificent. The country is desert and the road is straight almost as far as the eye can see. Then it winds around the hills in the distance and then straightens out until the next set of hills.
I can’t remember the last time I was a pillion passenger and being on the back was harder work than I remember, the fact that most of the time I don’t even notice the beloved on the back is a tribute to how good a pillion she is and a good pillion is worth their weight in gold. (Carolyn – Now Ian knows why I want a back rest!)
At one stage we came on some road works which is never a good thing with uneven surfaces and other surprises.
“Ok slow right down and stay well back from the van in front”
“Slow down, slow down, slow down, slow down, slow down, slow down, slow down, SLOW DOWN”
“Dearest one, I may not be making myself clear, did I mention that you need to slow down and stay back from that van”
“I am”
“You need to do it today, very soon, now would be good”
We hadn’t practised how we were going to stop (how could we?) and as the beloved had trouble touching the ground it wasn’t going to be a graceful landing but in the end I reached over and grabbed the handlebars and we came to a slow stop.
I decided that I’d had enough relaxation for one day (I’m weaning myself off the Valium and nightmares with the screaming engine have almost stopped)
Despite my earlier rantings I was very impressed with the beloved efforts. Riding a large capacity bike for the first time with a nervous pillion is hard work, doing it when you are out of practice and on the other side of the road is twice as hard.
We swapped again a few days later and there was a great improvement, I was only mildly surprised to find out we were doing 140km along the old Route 66.
I’m sure we will swap again further down the road, I’m not sure when. I mean a man can have too much relaxation.
Regards
Ian J