I've been riding for 12 years now, somewhere near 100,000 miles. I have never had a break down while on the road. Yeah I lost a radiator fan in the Black Hills of ND, but I was able to continue on. I even suffered a cracked transmission case on a Yamaha, but that was in my garage. So I was long over due for a flat tire, lucky for me it was a leak and not a blow out. But either way I found myself on the Maine turnpike with a tire that was not holding air.
Now many of my well intentioned facebook friends told me all about plugging a tire or some such thing. I guess if you had such things with you you could use that. I had a phone with me...I used that. Thankfully I was still in cell coverage land. But hey, I have good riding Karma.
With the little tool kit that lives tucked in my tail fin, I was able to get the rear tire off. Upon its removal, I discovered a broken spring on the disk brake, see it's good I had a flat, I wouldn't have known about the brake problem.
It was a fabulous day to hang around waiting for help. 3 nice folks did stop to offer assistance, including an ADV guy.
I was in a spacious, safe Irving Station, so I was able to keep my strength up. See my new helmet?
Now there were much closer places to take my tire but my friends and I decided to throw the tire in the trunk and head on down to Max BMW. And why is that? Because some of the other places couldn't find customer service in the dictionary. Max's on the other hand could teach a class on it. You're on the road? You're in next. Great people to do business with.
So my original intention was to ride to my friends house and enjoy the foliage. Seeing as I was cooling my heals at a gas station, I looked around and spotted a teeny tiny bit of color.
Not the day I thought I was going to have, but a good day none the less.
