Adventures By Guy

What a day!
Normal in the beginning. I walked in the Continental Divide Lodge restaurant (it isn’t as fancy as the name sounds!) and Valerie said Hi Guy, what do you want? I’ll have a 3 egg omelet everything in it but the salsa this time. By the time I finished that and the fried potatoes and toast with raspberry jam I was full. Good thing because I turned around and saw a tray of big cinnamon rolls that were very good as I had one yesterday… sigh.
We paid our bill and then got on the road. Topped off our fuel tanks 60 miles later as we were leaving the Alaskan Highway and heading south on 37 and there isn’t a much for miles.. I was behind everyone and I put the cruise on 60 mph. This road is in the middle of nowhere and they have a 50 mph limit… um, no! We had been cruising it at 65 on the way up but I went to 60 to conserve fuel. 150 miles later in Dease Lake I honked as I went by. I was pretty sure I could make it to Iskut 60 miles further. Stopped and took pictures when I felt like it as no one was cruising with me. I think I got some good ones.
Then…. It changed.
I pulled in to Iskut it’s a 2 gas pump town. Gassed up and made a comment to the guy on the other side of the pump. He was hauling motorcycles for people as he was semi-retired. He had a nice Mercedes Sprinter van and trailer. Well. We talked for quite a bit. Traded numbers. Then he had to go. But he was looking at my bike and exclaimed… Oh My Goodness. Look at your rear tire! I did and two big lugs had ripped off and the inner carcass was exposed! Those were good MotoZ Tractionator GPS tires! I was thinking that MotoZ was going to hear about this! But here we are on a Saturday afternoon (beautiful riding conditions all day) 300 miles from anywhere. The guys said… What do you want to do Guy? Try to run down the road or change it? If I had to go 10 miles down the road I would try it… but where to go as there was nothing and even if there was they would be closed. Let’s change it here. It’s on flat concrete and not on the road. Our concern was would we be able to inflate it with enough air volume to seat the bead.
They knew someone 5 miles down the road that might have a compressor as they had to use that towing business last year. I got my tools layed out and found what I needed. Of course I was getting coached. Some things I looked at them and said what? But Mike had a great safety suggestion to ensure the centerstand didn’t get nudged which would cause the bike to fall over. Jeff had another set of tire irons so that helped too. They were concerned on how I was going to get my axle out. Like this and I pulled it out. They were very surprised it was that easy. I use grease! I was able to show Mike a few things he hadn’t known before. That’s hard to do as he is quite experienced. Like using the new tire to put under your rim while trying to remove the old tire. That keeps you from messing up your rotor. I also showed him how I easily line up my drive shaft splines when putting the assembly back together.
I got out my new Motion Pro bead breaking tire irons I bought just a few days before the trip. Glad I did as they worked like a charm! Jeff had a pair too and he had used them twice before he met up with us. Yep, they just paid for themselves in one use. After that Jeff got out his extra set and we had that tire off the rim fairly quickly once Mike pointed out the obvious. I was still in kind of a shock. Couldn’t get the tire to start coming over the rim. Mike says… you gotta compress the other side down into the valley. Duh, I knew that but wasn’t thinking as Jeff was already trying to work the bead over the rim.
I was going to go in and get some liquid soap from the store. Mike asks… don’t you have any shampoo? Yes, I do! Jeff said he had some conditioner he got from the hotel. I used it to lube the new tire to help it slip over the rim. Worked as I popped the first side on without tire irons. The next side was harder as it always is but we had it done in less than 5 minutes.
While we were spooning the tire on Mike and Jeff (both retired truck drivers) had discussed getting the truck that was unloading fuel to try to fill up the tire and seat the bead. I knew trucks had air on them and tankers usually had compressors… but fill up my tire? Sure, they usually have a hose and use it to keep their tires at proper pressure. He probably has a hose. So Mike goes over there and asks while we are working. If we could get it done before he left he would be happy to do it. We soon had it over and just like that the tire seated. It had helped to lube it with the conditioner and it wasn’t all squished down like a new tire. Jeff and Mike couldn’t believe it was that easy. I was just happy! Said thanks and I went back over to the bike and got to work putting it back together. Soon all was done. It took us less than an hour from start to finish. As in unpacking the bike, do the tire and repack the bike and hitting the road. I was able to put the old tire in a dumpster too! Going down the road I have no vibration at all! It’s all good.
Now let’s count the blessings that were provided.

1. It didn’t blow out at speed.
2. It was discovered while at a good place to remove and replace the tire.
3. Knowledgeable helpers and tools were brought.
4. Truck just happened to be unloading and able to fill it up.
5. I had a tire. If I didn’t I would still be there until Monday at least trying to find one. Jeff even admitted when he saw me with tires… what’s he doing with those. He said… it’s a good thing you had them after all!
   The cause had nothin to do with anything MotoZ did. It was all my fault. I had a very heavy load and all week I was thinking that I should pump up my tires to max cold inflation pressure. I didn’t as a little lower pressure is good on gravel… but with the load I had and they were low on pavement and gravel for 6,500 miles that tread had been flexing like it wasn’t designed to flex. After examining the old tire there were a lot more lugs cracking at the base. Lesson learned… just do what I think I should do and not rationalize it away. I pump up my tire pressure on my cars and truck when I haul heavy… should have on my bike too.
   So we are all done and I had bought a brick of cheese at Iskut like last time and we shared the cheese. Jeff went in and bought Spam and crackers. Prior to that he asked me if they had any Salami No, the truck hasn’t come in yet. (That is a reoccurring theme for up here.)
   Cheese, Spam, and crackers for lunch.
   We have 192 miles to go to get to Hyder, Alaska. It is the most southern town in Alaska and can be reached by road. So off we went. I saw a black bear walking along the road but as I got close it turned and disappeared into the grass. Later when I was on the road to Stewart and Hyder I saw one walking on my side of the road so I slowed down and coasted past him while on the centerline. He/she/they ignored me so I turned around but didn’t approach it so not a good picture. Then I continued down 37A and I am so glad that we came to Hyder. 37A runs a gap between two mountains thst run for a long way. I mean you are on the road and across a small river the mountain just goes up. Green until near the top. Glaciers, snow, evening sun shining on them and waterfalls everywhere. It took me at least an hour to go 19 miles. I have pics and video. The mountains surround the town. They dominate it. It is awesome. We got out my scope as Jeff was wondering what something was on the mountain. So we zoomed up close. Yep, we told him it was a big hole in the snow where watered bored a hole through it. Had some good pizza in town and that’s the day. Very blessed with how that tire turned out and in a beautiful place for only $80 a night . So $40 each.
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