Nice To Get Out

Craig and I got out for a ride last weekend as well. We chose to head up to Jim Thorpe. What we didn’t expect was to see as much snow as we did after going through the Lehigh tunnel. The mountains were simply covered. Oh well. We’ll take it easy and try to have a nice time our first time out of the season.

We were taking it easy cruising around some dirt roads and playing around on some mild double track, then after a break decided to get trickier.

That’s when the snow got deeper, wetter, and slipperier, which in itself is fine. The problem is the trail also got narrower and rockier. Combine all that together and it was really tricky trying to keep the bike going in a straight line. To manage I did what I always did – slip the hell out of the clutch. I guess I did this for a ways trying to maintain forward momentum and no dabbing as I went slripping through the snow, when finally something happened. My bike started to smoke and smell a lot, so I shut it down. It didn’t take long to realize what had happened, then remember something Zach the mechanic told me last fall. The gear oil cap on my gear box (clutch & transmission) was gone as well as all my gear oil.

Ride over.

That’s when I remembered what Zach had showed me last fall. The gear oil cap is plastic and mine had been melted. He said I was running the transmission too hot with all my clutch slipping and it was melting the cap threads. I must have gone too far and melted the cap right off. While pacing around trying to figure out what to do, we found the cap.

With a half melted cap and no gear oil, I still wasn’t riding out of there. Even when I got out, there was no proper gear oil to be found to hike back in with and try to ride out.

The bike was staying.

Luckily it wasn’t a popular trail. Though there were some tracks, it still wasn’t likely anyone would come along soon and find it.

That’s fine. Drive home the hour and a half, get some oil and maybe a cap and come back tomorrow.

But that was the problem. I was scheduled to fly to Minneapolis the next day and stay for the week.

Hmmmm.

Text Zach and offer cash money for his recovery services. He accepts, but he needs my truck too. Deal.

As I was flying off into the west (likely over Zach’s head), he was headed into the woods to find my bike.

Three hours later I land and he confirms all is safe and sound.

Yay!

I still don’t have it or my truck back, but all’s good. Can’t wait to ride again. Next time I’m taking a bag of caps with me and likely some oil too, because I doubt I’m going to start slipping the clutch less anytime soon.

– b