Any Sunday

[massdrive]

Risingssun and I went out for a ride Sunday. We agreed to meet at the Lake Mead Parkway Trailhead at 10:30am and ride the River Mountains Loop Trail https://maps.google.com/maps?q=4811+East+Lake+Mead+Drive&hl=en&ll=36.099325,-114.911671&spn=0.08655,0.155869&sll=36.103547,-114.901993&sspn=0.005444,0.009742&t=m&hnear=4811+E+Lake+Mead+Dr,+Henderson,+Clark+County,+Nevada+89011&z=13&lci=bike.The loop is about 35 miles, we figured it would take 2 to 3 hours. You're probably thinking 3 hours to travel 35 miles geese these guys must ride painfully slow. Not true, the thing is this trial loop is full of and ridiculously sharp curves and steep hills. I'm talking about pull in the clutch and peddle around the curves. Up hills so steep the bikes barley made it to the top and on the other side down hills so steep we were coasting at 35 to 40 mph! Not to mention it is a 2 way trail so riding with caution was mandatory. It was wildly fun...

The first problem we encountered was me. I put to much oil on my air filter the night before and my bike wouldn't go more than 5 miles mph. I tried washing the filter with gasoline, but it didn't help. I tried zip tying a piece of red shop rag to the filter boot, that didn't work either. Fortunately we had an unusual amount of rain over the previous 3 days which created another unusual condition for S. Nevada, 58% humidity and absolutely no dust on the paved trail or in the air so I decided to run with no filter.

Because of the all the rain many portions of the trail were washed over with gravel and/or mud often inches thick. In some places someone had mercifully put down sheets of plywood over the mud, but it was slippery none the less. Also some portions of the trail were actual parts of the flood wash system. So again caution was the rule of the day.

In the beginning things were a bit murky, overcast sky and cold temperature (cold for S. Nevada that is). As the morning progressed things starting looking better, the sky was clearing the temperature was rising and the trail was beginning to dry. Everything was going well until about 15 miles in when Risingsunn's engine started losing power. Then at 17 miles the engine made a clicking noise and died. We were near a resting station and it seemed like the logical place to investigate the problem.

 

[massdrive]

He had fuel and spark, but no compression. Ah oh, that's not good. After removing the head we discovered that the piston and head were badly pock marked. Obviously something was let loose inside the engine. Further investigation reveled that the cylinder wall was badly scored with 2 long gouging racing stripes above the exhaust port. Ok now we know why there isn't any compression, and there will be no quick fix today. Time to start peddling buddy...

After a about a mile is was apparent that the bike was to hard to peddle and he wasn't going to make it back to the trailhead spinning the jackshaft. I suggested that we pop the master link on the drive chain and remove it. It was a good idea except there was no master link. Ok how about if we just remove the drive sprocket and slide the chain out? Yeah that will work. The drive sprocket wasn't coming off with out a gear puller. How about if we just take the chain off the rear sprocket and secure it to the bike. Ok that will work, but now where do we secure the chain? How about looping it over the seat post. Genius I tell you!

 

[massdrive]

We continued on our way for a few miles. At Railroad Pass we stopped to rest, well Risingsunn stopped to rest I just stopped. At this point two things became obvious, we still had 15 miles to go and we weren't going to make it back to the trailhead before dark. We talked it over and decided the best course of action was to call the wife's for a ride and wait at the Railroad Pass Casino. It was then that I realized I had left my cell phone on the rear deck of my open top Jeep parked back at the trailhead. I could have used Risingsunn's phone, but I decided to press on. Stupid me.

At first I was taking my time enjoying the scenery and stopping to take pictures until I realized that I was fast running out of daylight. So I put my camera away and twisted the throttle. I was averaging 25 mph and was having a good old time until I noticed that I was fast approaching the 35 mile mark and there was no end in sight. At 40 miles I was getting concerned that I had missed a turn or made a wrong turn and wouldn't have enough fuel to reach the trailhead. At 45 miles my clutch wasn't disengaging. I thought oh well that shouldn't be a problem unless I have to peddle and that wouldn't be any trouble because I have a master link in my drive chain that I could pop off if needed and peddle freely. Stalling the bike with the clutch engaged didn't occur to me until I was rounding a sharp curve at low speed and stalled the bike. Turns out the clutch arm had popped out so I removed the clutch cover and popped it back in, no problem. I took a moment to looked around and new exactly where I was. Unfortunately I was nowhere near the trailhead. In fact I was about was about 15 miles by road from it. I checked my fuel level and was sorely disappointed. I had used the extra fuel I brought with me and didn't have enough fuel in the tank to get back to the trailhead. So there I was in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area running low on both fuel and daylight, and no phone not to mention I hadn't eaten anything since 9am.
I wasn't lost. I new exactly where I was, where I wanted to be and how to get there, but I didn't have enough fuel to get back to the trailhead. Than along came a kid on a skateboard. At first I was wondering what the heck he was doing out here on a skateboard, then I wondered if he had a phone. Turns out he did and he let me use it to call Nancy. The visitors center was near by so I asked her to pick me up there. She was wigged out because she didn't know where the visitors center is. She has been in the recreation area thousands of times how is this possible? So I asked her to meet me a few miles up the road at Albertson's super market in Boulder City. It was up hill all the way riding on a very busy 3 lane highway. I pegged the throttle and cruised all the way there (uphill) at 30mph. Along the way the clutch arm popped out again, and as I was riding through the store parking lot I ran out of gas. Yeah baby that was close. While we were driving in the car back to the trailhead Risingsunn called on Nancy's phone. I thought great he must have found my phone.
He had been waiting for me at the trailhead for an hour and a half and was concerned for my safety. I had mentioned Nancy during the ride in one of our many conversations and he had the presence of mind to look her number up in my phone and call her. Needless to say he was relieved to know that all was well and I was relieved to know that he made it back to the trailhead. When I got back to the trailhead we talked and laughed about the days events and chalked it up as a good adventure. Turns out his engine burned up the wrist pin bearing and the pieces ran through the engine like, well like lose bearings in a engine doing all kinds of damage. No worries he had a new Dax engine waiting for him at the post office anyway. Best of all we both struck up a new friendship too. We are planning to ride through Red Rock Canyon next...

 

[Sidewinder Jerry]

Long trips tools, tools, tools, LOL. Sounds like y'all had a great time.

 

[2door]

Long trips tools, tools, tools, LOL. Sounds like y'all had a great time.

And a tow rope.
One of our Denver Area Riders was really thankful for a tow when his shift kit failed and folded his derailer into a knot. He took the chain off and another rider towed him back to our starting point, about ten miles.

Glad you had a good time anyway, Mass. That's what these things are for. You'll be better prepared next time. Thanks for sharing your adventure.

Tom

 

[massdrive]

Yes Tom we did have a good time thanks.
I keep a tow strap in my jeep, but its to bulky to carry on the bike. I'll look for a more appropriate sized strap.
Other then that we where fully prepared with tools, extra fuel, and water. Nothing short of a full upper end rebuild would have put Risingsunn back on the trail.
The only bad part took place after the ride was over. My bike leaked a little fuel in the back of the wife's SUV. She b*$%ed at me all the way back to the trailhead. I spent $125 to have her interior detailed. It took 2 professionals 3 hours to clean 11 years of neglect out of her vehicle. To show her appreciation she asked, "why didn't you have the outside cleaned too?". I replied "the fuel was spilled inside". 3 days later she is still b*$%ing...