Santa Cruz, CA / February 3rd, 2003
Finally we are on our way and already experiencing some warm weather. I am sick today with a cold from all the northwest weather riding that we encountered getting down here as well as the lack of sleep from two nights ago. That's something worth writing about. As we entered California on Saturday afternoon we were greeted with a terribly dark cloud that stretched across the horizon like an iron curtain. "You ready for this" i asked Jim through the Autocomm communication unit. "No" he flatly stated. All we saw was a wall where trees disappeared and unknown weather loomed. Suddenly we were in the midst of a snowstorm and both of us stunned, we slowed down our speed drastically. Within two miles we emerged to the other end of the curtain of snow where sunshine awaited us. Relieved we rode on.
Brake calipers aren't supposed to dangle like this. The next hang up we encountered had nothing to do with the weather but rather with the bike itself. "Hey, let's take this exit." Jim responded by quickly by changing lanes to make the off ramp and as i did likewise i realized something was up with my front brake. The front brake of a motorcycle provides a good majority of the braking power so without it you have to get creative. Using both my rear brake and down shifting saved me from a bad situation. As i signaled Jim over, i looked down to see my caliper hanging off my Galfer brake line. What had happened was that we forgot to lock tight the bolts that kept the caliper in and this allowed them to shake loose allowing the calipper to dangle as i was cruising down the highway. Luckily when we replaced the brake lines we threaded the line through a metal loop on the fork. If we hadn't then the caliper would have smashed to the ground going seventy plus on I-5 and that would not have been fun.
As we were evaluating what to do, a man drove up in a truck with a motorbike in back, and asked us if we needed any help. Turns out we did. Our replacement bolts were too long and lucky for us he had a hacksaw. The next thing I knew he was sawing away and sanding down the edge. Turns out he's a carpenter from Great Britain originally and he was working in the area that day. "Do you know of any good places to camp around here" I inquired. After naming off a few he warned us that it was going to be cold and if we wanted we were more than welcome to stay at his house in Sacramento-130 miles away. He looked like an honest man, had already helped us out, and wore a wedding ring, so he seemed legit. We hit the highway and once again had a place to stay. Praise God.
