Pedro's Luck

by Headcramp

It was a beautiful day - a little overcast, not too warm and finding himself amidst a group of apparently sensible guys, Pedro set out for his first ride with Canadian Motorcyclist (Kingston Area).  Off we went, steadily, deliberately and so weaved our path of destiny through the back roads of the former Kingston Township and  South Frontenac Township.  We needled eastward through the fabric of Burnt Hills Road and drifted south bound to Seaforth.  Across an unexpected six-kilometre stretch of winding dirt road,  Pedro could feel his rear tire skipping over  what he'd hoped would be a comforting road of real asphalt.  With a modicum of apprehension, he made his way through and was drinking coffee at our rest stop in Gananoque before long.

As the group was firing up their engines and heading out,  I noticed Pedro's kickstand was down.  According to the unwritten rules of motorcycle etiquette, I pointed this out to Pedro and some inaudible communications occurred.  I rode out on the second half of the ride.

It was about this time that Pedro must have been thinking, "he's going to leave us here alone?!"  A block away, I noticed that neither Pedro nor Bruce (rear guard) were in sight.  Enslaved in the heavy traffic of downtown Gananoque on a Saturday afternoon, it was another five minutes before I could head back to see what had been the delay.  Gord, Chris and Gary waited patiently on Hwy 2 and had to have been wondering whether this was a typical ride for CM.  (It isn't).

As I entered the parking lot of the Tim Horton's shop, I could see that Pedro's expression was one of disappointment.  His bike was dead.  We quickly checked out the obvious and sure enough - this puppy was out of chow.  Pedro abandoned his unfaithful heap to the gods of Tim Horton Donut-shop-parking-lots and doubled back to Kingston with Bruce.  We met up -  you guessed it - at Tim Horton's on Princess Street in Kingston where Bruce informed me that  Pedro had gone to get a trailer and would meet us at his place.  Chris, Bruce and I headed over, met up with Pedro and his freshly rented "U-haul" and rode to Gananoque to load up his bike.

When we arrived, a flurry of electrical activity erupted in our brains as Bruce suggested we check the fuses. DOH!!  Okay, so after the nice Canadian Tire representative released the last box of fuses into my unyielding grip, we slapped in a fresh 20 A fuse and bada-bing!  This puppy fired up like it was fresh from Kawasaki.

All's well that ends well but it's nice to re-visit some policies any good riding group should have:

1.  Never leave a buddy/rider stranded.

2.  When in doubt, check the fuses.

3.  Carry some extra fuses!  (Preferably before renting a recovery trailer) hehe

I now have a few extra fuses for my bike too!  I think we all re-learned a good lesson.

In retrospect, this probably could have been made much simpler if Gord, Gary and Chris had been asked to return with me, for they'd suggested checking the fuses on our second phase of the ride.  But, by then we were stuck at Kingston Mills Locks and Pedro had already rented his trailer.

Remember that "inaudible communication"?  That was Pedro telling me through a visor that his bike wouldn't start!  In the end, Pedro's bike was okay and wasn't in need of any expensive repair.  This is what I like to think of as "Pedro's Luck". 

Headcramp (aka Kevin)