Sunday, 26 Jun 2005
While heading down highway 25 at a good pace Fred starts looking at the rear end of his bike and eventually pulls over. He gives a sign that was supposed to mean “I’m stopping” but was taken by the other 5 riders as “go on”. We did. He had a flat. His tube of flat fixing goo was a hardened mass. I had 3 tubes of the stuff in my tail pack. Luckily, Ted had stopped with Fred. Ted found us 25 miles down the road, waiting for them to catch up. We turned back to lend a hand to a rider in need.
Fred, chewing nails
A lame Guzzi
Wave to the camera
Ready for surgery
Hole preparation
Fresh goo
In goes the plug
Time to extract the tool
Clean up
That’s how it is done
5 or 6 CO2 cartridges later the tire had over 20 PSI. We headed back to Hollister where Fred filled it up with air, bought us some drinks, then checked to make sure the plug was holding. It was.
Fred writes:
So I had to stop and check my earplug, as I’d rather ride alone that suffer more deafness. I got on 101 and as I pondered the very rough exit ramps, I noticed Marc waiting along one of them, and wondered why he had stopped….then I saw the rest of the group waiting a little ahead at the light…..realized too late, took the next exit and doubled back….now guessing at the route Ted was leading……went thru downtown Gilroy, gave up and picked up 101 at 152…..took 85 to 17 south, Bear Creek, bound for the Foster Freeze in Boulder Creek……no group there, so figuring I was a little ahead, had a nice cold medium chocolate shake….made up 9, 35 to alice’s…….Ted there eating what appeared to be a Moon Pie.
Ted sez, lost you guys somewhere on 85, I guess the 9 exit? We hung out waiting for y’all, but finally gave up and here I yam at home. Message on phone from Carl indicates that you were dawdling around so much that you only got to the Foster Freeze, perhaps about the time that Ted was secretly thinking about a 2nd Moon Pie.
Thanks to all for returning to my rescue, although the wait did afford the opportunity to critique Irma’s resume- which she had secretly stowed in anticipation of a misadventure such that I was having. Yes indeed, she persuasively argued, a business meeting beats the hell out of looking for souvenirs on the road…..”