For the Sake of Posterity

[Rev Rider]

Copied from the COG-online CDA pages just fer the fun of it.

I suppose I can go ahead and make formal pronouncement of my MOST RECENT CDA(s).

Yep, not one but TWO drops on a mountainside in a few minutes time.  On the Black Canyon run on June 3rd, the left bag fell off as we pulled out of Frisco, it fell off again on the following day (this is really embarrasin'), and once again, on the return trip home a week later the left bag bailed on me.  This time it was on the downhill side of one of those rocket-ride mountain passes in the midst of a FAST left hand sweeper, the kind with a mountain on one side and a cliff on the other... so as soon as the bag pulled out to pass me, I pulled over to watch it slide and crash.   

My winger buddy, Randy, thinking I stopped for a photo-op, proceeded down the mountain ahead of me whereupon he stopped for a smoke or six.

Anyways, I stopped and parked the bike near the lost bag, in gear of course,  and I collected it and the two halves of the broken bungee that had been holding it in place and returned to the bike.  Having no extra bungees, I tied the broken one back together.  This is where things begin to get out of hand.

You see, since installing the ZX14 forks, the bike is lower than it used to be by a fair margin.  So I had cut down the kickstand just a bit to restore some lean angle to the bike when parked.  But I didn't quite cut it enough so that I have to be careful when the bike is parked because when I sit or lean against it the suspension settles a touch and the still too long kickstand "kicks" the bike over to the right.  This has already caused one other CDA and several miraculous, Hail-Mary type saves.  My chiropractor is now recommending the ZX14 fork mod to every Connie owner he meets.

Well anyway, the bike was pointing down the hill, IN GEAR, on the side stand and the lean was safe enough since I was right there with the bike... but as soon as I attempted setting the bag onto the antler, the heft of the seriously overloaded bag (yeah, I know it says 22 lbs.  But why do you think it kept falling off the bike) lowered the bike a bit and gravity became my nemesis, overcoming the lean of the Turbo. Now recalling the fact that my wife had just upped my life insurance immediately before my leaving for Frisco, and not desiring to burden her with the responsibility of caring for that much money, I let go of the handlebar to escape being catapulted over the guardrail and into the waiting abyss beyond as Connie went over on her right side and onto the guardrail, braking the latch on the right side bag and scraping up the windshield badly as well as breaking the right peg and bracket.   

I tried to pick her up, but due to the incredible load with which she was outfitted (of course I needed to bring the BBQ grille and plasma arc cutter) I was unsuccessful in righting her on the first attempt.  No worries, I’ll just call Randy on his cell... but my cell phone battery was dead.  RATZ!  In the fading light I could see Randy way down the mountain parked alongside the highway and I waved and yelled frantically, but he was busy blowing smoke rings into the New Mexico sunset and never noticed.   

So... after some LONG time on her side, I finally wrestled the Turbo (Miss Pork Belly 1986) back into a less embarrassing posture and surveyed the damage for a few minutes.

Now, since I have no petcock and Connie’s lying down is not conducive to good carb-needle sealing, the engine was severely flooded and I had to put her into neutral and crank and crank on her to get her to pop.  But, finally she responded and after long bouts of blubbering and the sending of smoke signals, she began to clean out and run like the good girl she usually is.  After this clearing of the fat lady’s throat ritual, I put her back on the side stand and went around to attempt to re-mount the right side bag which had had the latch severed by the guardrail (the left was still laying on the ground too).

And no sooner had THAT bag touched the right side antler than I realized that after starting the bike, I had left it in neutral on this steep incline and I wasn’t out of doo doo yet.  The bike lurched forward as the side-stand folded up and Connie did the kickstand crash over onto her left side.  With BOTH bags now off the bike, and this time not wedged against a guardrail but rather sprawled across the middle of the highway, she was much easier to upright this second time.  Total losses?  Both bags are badly damaged; the left one destroyed upon high speed impact with the guardrail that saved it a 200+ ft. plummet.  Also lost were the right mirror, right foot-peg and bracket, and any shred of human dignity I might have once possessed.   

Once at the bottom of the hill, and after approximately thirty minutes of relentless CDA activity and after invoking of names of deities long forgotten to modern humanity (my 3 year Master of Divinity seminary education at work), I accosted Randy with his failure to come back and look out for his partner.   

He reminded me that 11 years ago I didn't answer the phone when he needed a ride to the hospital cuz he was having a heart attack.  Sheesh!  I can't win fer losing. LOL

All in all a great time and we caught a zillion fish all over Colorado.  No ugly stuff save this one "little" incident that causes me to write this application for another and another CDA.   

Rev

[BBAR]

That really sucks!