OOOOkay...where do I start
This turned out to be a very interesting day! It's probably better that yall couldn't come in the end (you know who you are)
For those who don't know, I embarked on a last second ride from DC to Skyline Drive, which runs thru Shenandoah National Park
Everything was going pretty well until I found a nail in my brand new rear tire!
The weather this morning was about 90 and there was high humidity from last nights rain. I left around 11am after checking the bike and putting some air in the tires. The ride up 495 was ok, hit some traffic but it didn't last long. Stopped for a redbull and a good stretch then chugged on. After I got on route 17 things were really movin, zero traffic and the scenery was nice. About 25 miles down route 17 I was at half a tank and was pretty thirsty so I decided to stop off at a gas station to fill up and get some water. After fillin up and walkin around a little bit I went back to continue the ride. From there the roads and scenery were only going to get better!
As part of a habit I have, I do a nice look over of my tires when ever I stop to look for anything wrong like rocks in the tread. Well this time I go back to look at my rear tire and see what looks to be a little rock stuck in the tire...get closer and come to find there's a damn nail in my 3 week old rear pilot power.
After discovering that, I went and got a cheapo tire pressure reader to see if it was leaking air, the meter read 26psi, definitely leaking. I'm not sure how long I was riding with that in for but I sure am glad I saw it. Wasn't sure what to do so I posted here
and took Alex's advice and decided to call it and head back, bummer
Went and paid a $1 to put air in my tire
sat around for a couple minutes and checked the tire pressure again to make sure it wasn't leaking profusely. Put the pressure up to 36psi. I rode on that 25 miles back to right before I got on the 495 back toward washington. Stopped at a shell for some more air, and water, this time free air
The psi was back down to 26. It was damn hot and humid, at least 95 with 100% humidity, I was sweatin like a beast. There was also another motorcyclist there so I asked his opinion and he said to keep doing what I was doing. We tried calling some shops but everything was closed. Oh yeah, while I was there this pretty blonde girl said she really liked my bike and asked for a ride...I said I would if I didn't have a nail in my rear tire
Put some air in and checked the pressure a couple times, seemed to be holding ok so I decided to continue on.
Got on the 495n toward washington and not 3 miles later the bike gets a little wobbly and squishy in the rear, so I pulled to the side of the road and saw the tire completely flat. Just when I thought I was totally screwed, being 50miles from home and deathly hot outside, no roadside assistance on my insurance, and out a tire, things actually got better
Today I was absolutely blown away at the willingness and generosity of the motorcycle community to help others.
Seriously, not even 5 minutes after I pulled over and was off my bike, a lady pulled over to the side of the freeway to help me. She just happened to be part of a motorcycle group called "sudden impact" I told her my situation and that I was pretty much out of options, less I call a tow truck and fork over a bunch of money. She offered to call some of her friends from another motorcycle group she is close with called "hypnotik ryderz" because they had a truck and a motorcycle trailer. 10 minutes later she told me they were on their way, no questions asked! We chatted it up and I told her how thankful I was, she kept sayin that no matter what whenever you see a rider on the side of the road to always stops cuz you never know when its gonna be you that needs help.
What continued to blow me away was how many other riders slowed down and signaled to us if everything was ok, all of them were harley riders
One guy did pull over despite us giving him the thumbs up. He came over to us and we explained the situation and everything was good. He was an old salty dude with a thick albanian accent. He had a leather vest on with all kinds of military, special operations, usa patches and chest hair stickin out.
We talked and he said he had been riding for 35+ years...old salty dude indeed
after a while I asked him if he was former military (like it wasn't obvious). Turns out this guy was a former Green Beret who served in Vietnam, and multiple other campaigns.
How awesome...he showed me some pictures and pictures of pictures on his phone of him with all sorts of guns and ammo strapped across his chest, shootin a .50 cal, team pics, pics from the 'nam, HALO jump pics from 30,000ft, etc. He had one picture of a quarter, a nickel, and a penny, all with bullet holes perfectly through the center. Said he had shot each at 300 yards out
I was pretty amazed, he was a pretty funny guy. He gave me his card and said he kills for a living
. He then turned around and on the back of his vest he had a skull and crossbones, and "THE EXTERMINATOR" embroidered on...he then told us he now works as a pest control guy
About 30 minutes later I shook his hand and he went off. "passion" (thats her given name by her group) offered to go sit in her suv cuz she had the a/c on...more outstanding hospitality.
20 minutes later the brigade showed up, and I mean a brigade
4 hayabusas, an escalade and a motorcycle trailer all showed up to help. Haze, C-dog, Princess, and Easy were there rider names
Everybody was incredibly nice and we loaded my ninja up. Everything was closed so one of the riders, his name was Haze offered to bring the bike back to his place so he could patch the tire up. I hopped in with my new friend, passion and one of the riders stopped traffic while we got back on the road.
After we all got to Haze's house we rolled my ninja off, put her on a rear stand and Haze patched up the tire for me while C-dog went back to his house to get his portable air compressor. 30 minutes later the tire was patched up good and at 32psi and holding. They gave me some water and I told them how very thankful I was and I was off, back on the road again.
While riding on the freeway I took it easy on the bike, trying not to go over 65. I was at 70-75 the whole time tho pretty much
Riding back through Traingle, Va things started to cool off and there was a slight mist about the air. I rode through a patch of rain that lasted about 5 minutes. I wasn't out of the woods yet tho
Once I got closer to D.C. I got caught in a rain storm
so now I'm on the freeway, it's raining, I have my dark smoke visor on and there is water and mist everywhere from the cages. The wind was the only thing keeping my visor visible enough to see through by pushing the water out of the way. I slowed waaaay down and rode very cautiously the rest of the way back. I had my mesh jacket on w/out my liner and shift torque jeans so I was absolutely soaked
. At this point I just wanted to make it back alive
I finally made it back to base and after being soaked and riding thru 2 huge puddles that splashed water all up my leg I couldn't help but start to laugh to myself.
I was soaked, sore, tired and I was beginning to be able to smell myself, I smelled like a wet dog
But I made it back in one piece and with a tire that is still useable. I met some awesome people and was totally blown away by the hospitality and camaraderie that I was shown by my fellow motorcyclists. All in all 8 amazing people were all involved in helping me, someone they had never met. These were complete strangers that put a grinding halt to their day, and dropped what they were doing to help one guy, and not just help me off the road but to also repair my bike and help me get back on the road. It was like I flashed some sort of motorcyclist distress sign in the air and riders around the area went
and came flying to my aid.
In this situation, I don't think things could have gone any better, really. I thank God for these people!
All in all I'm chalking this ride up as a win. Only thing that sucks is that I'm out some money for a (nother) rear tire.
I'm gonna say the experience was worth it
As I parked my ninjette in the parking garage, I walked out and the clouds literally parted, the sun came out and the rain completely stopped
The icing on the cake!
