The closer to home I get, the worse I sleep. Last night I woke up every 90 minutes, convinced I’d overslept. Of course, this lead to oversleeping. No worries, housekeeping woke me up knocking on the door at 0830h, as I’d neglected to put the “Do Not Disturb” tag on the door. Groggily explained I was still there, showered, dressed, packed, then went to the lobby for breakfast, which was surprisingly good for a hotel breakfast. Hauled my stuff out, loaded the bike down and got on the road.
Wasted a bit of time in heavy traffic around a confusing (poorly signed) construction detour, but once I escaped traffic had a really nice ride. I’d plotted my route so once I hit MA I would have the option of more back roads or a much quicker slab route home. Both would leave the days mileage around 400. When I got to MA, I was still having fun, so decided to continue on back roads.
That may have been a mistake. Went through a couple of small towns, then turned off the main streets to get back to the fun bits, but as I was climbing the hill up to the I-90 overpass, I missed a shift, or so I thought. Tried again, still no go. At this point I’m rolling uphill about 40, and foolishly decide to stop to investigate, instead of letting my momentum carry me to the top of the hill. Rolled back a bit to get the bike off onto the shoulder (mistake #2), had to roll pretty far off to get to a place I could safely park, having finally figured out what really happened.
Yep, that’s right, another drive belt failure. The first “lifetime” belt snapped at 11,240, replaced under warranty by the dealer who said “that never happens”. The replacement “lifetime” belt snapped at 22,360. I can’t help but notice a pattern. There aren’t words to express how glad I am this happened on the last day of the trip, a couple hundred miles from home, instead of, say, in North Carolina or Tennessee.
Getting the bike back on the road and turned around from where I foolishly parked was the work of a very sweaty 45 minutes, owing to the loose gravel over very soft sand sloped steeply the wrong way. Eventually managed to get back on the road, and rolled back down the hill towards town. There was a bit of a rise between me and there, and I didn’t get enough momentum on the way down to roll over it, so I had to push a bit more. Now I’m sitting in the McD’s just off the highway, waiting for some really incredible friends who are on their way with a trailer to haul my sorry ass home.
Not the end to the trip I was hoping for, that’s for sure. As I was riding, I’d been thinking about what I’d put in the last post for this trip, but never imagined it’d be something like this. I suppose there’ll actually be one or two more posts for this trip, once I actually make it home.
Mileage: 263
States: NY, MA
Casualties: Drive belt
