Sunday, November 8, 2009

Motor JABB

It was 3 degree's Celsius and I was too excited about my electric jacket and gloves to accept the fact that it was farking freezing out. Nonetheless, I hit the starter button on the beloved machine (1992 Kawasaki KLR 650) and it was time to break in the newly rebuilt cylinder.

I should mention that this was the second attempt of a break in. A week prior to this I rebuilt the engine and to my anguish I was enveloped into plume of choking smoke. Alas the engine was to be re-torn down ....this time in the living room of the house (to offset darkness and cold). Little Zorrow came to the door on Halloween and said "yo!..how's it going?" I was expecting "Trick Or Treat" but in the end it was he that was the more surprised looking at a partially torn down motorcycle propped up on a stand in the living room surrounded with torque wrenches and socket sets scattered all round in no particular order.

That afternoon, I was just about ready to head out but.... living up to my red-neck demeanor, I decided that rather than take off my boots just to take a leak indoors, which was way to much bother, I'd pee in the back yard. I was peeing freely on the lawn when I heard footsteps in the crushed gravel driveway. I heard "I'm sorry".. I whipped it back in and turned round to see 2 finely dressed gentlemen with a bible. I asked them to pray for me and they wasted no time trying to convert a heathen like me and didn't even offer me their bible. It didn't matter though I had one from the last time that they were over.

I took off toward Moncton in a Zig-Zag fashion, to Hampton, Sussex and then decided to cut over Fundy National Park. Here I encountered ice and snow covered roads. Too stubborn to turn back I slowed down and navigated the 2 foot wide patch of pavement between the wheel ruts for more than 20 kilometers some parts fully iced over.

The bike ran fine and I made it to Moncton ... teeth chattering but proud that the machine made it in perfect working order. I have 400km more to ride before the break in process, Phase one, is complete and I can drive faster than 80km/hr Yee-haw


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