I'm Grounded

Jimmy & Ron

Yesterday was a beautiful day. We left on our ride early in the morning while the dew was still on the ground and the foggy midst hung over the mountains tops like a veil. As we made our way we weaved in and out of the fog for a while until the sun was finally up high enough to make it all disappear. It was a perfect day to ride with a long sleeved shirt or a jacket. I wore the black long sleeved Sturgis shirt that Jerry & Pat had given me when they came to visit us last summer.

The ride, or maybe I should say my bike, was giving me an extra workout or so it seemed. I noticed that it took much more of an effort to make certain turns yesterday and the extra wheels were much more bouncy and rattled a bit more than they ever had. They have always rattled and shook, but it was louder and more pronounced yesterday with even some new and unusual sounds coming from them. While riding with Brian & Reva the other day I thought I had run over something large on the road and I was puzzled that I hadn't seen anything in my path. I quickly looked in my mirrors to see what it might have been but I saw nothing. I was puzzled but quickly forgot about the incident.

Thinking back I also remembered thinking that something had fallen off my bike because I heard a metal object clinking around as it fell. I checked my bike when I got home and found that a nut that holds my seat on had fallen off and I was pretty satisfied that this was the only problem that I had, so this morning I decided that since one nut fell off that I should check to make sure that all of the other nuts and bolts are fastened securely. I felt that maybe something else might be loose on my extra wheels that needed tightening up because they were just bouncing around more than usual lately. Well, it was much worse than a few nuts & bolts being loose. A gigantic 5/8 inch bolt had broken off (part of it is still there) and with it took whatever part was attached to it and it's laying on some road somewhere.

I looked up the part in my manual and it's called a "bearing receiver & grease zerk" and it's a pretty big part so I'm grounded until it's fixed. I called the company and ordered a new part today, but I need to find someone to drill out the remaining bolt and put on the new part when it arrives. I hope I'm not grounded for very long, but I can always go back to being a passenger on Jimmy's bike, if he'll take me back????