Afast03nNJ
Well-known member
Sunday 7/10 in NJ was supposed to be the nicer, slightly cooler day to ride. It's been in the 90's and the humidity wasn't helping things either. So myself and 3 buddies decided to meet up and spend the day riding around N.W. Jersey and then head up to Yonkers for a BBQ at my buddies house near the Hudson.
Strike 1 - Got a phone call from one of my riding buddies, he worked all night long and simply isn't up for a day of riding. I've got to hand it to him for not pushing himself to go out on the bike after a long night. So I guess that was sort of a good thing, but he was visiting from Basil and we got him a loaner bike for the day. OK - Bit of a let down.
Three of us head off riding up from Bergen Cty up into Greenwood Lake.
Strike 2 - A quick stop and my buddy who suffers from a light disorder in his left eye is really hurting. Eye's all swelled up and he's not feeling so good. So he makes the decision to rest his eye under a dark tree and then head back home.
That leaves just myself and my buddy Dennis who rides a 749 Duck. I ride with him often, we love the area of NW NJ and upstate NY just around Port Jervis. So off we go. On the road for about a good hour, having a blast. Got to finally use my new Garmin NUVI 1490. The GPS helped us find some really cool twisty roads. It must have been upwards of 90 degrees again, but not so humid. The sun was intense!
Strike 3 - Suddenly the Duck dies. Dead, no lights, no horn, nothing. We are out on an open road, nothing around us. (it's 90+ degrees in direct sunshine) We take the bike apart with what tools we have. Battery seem very hot, he's been having slow cranks for a while, yet the battery is only a year old.
Now seems out of nowhere this guy in a beat up old car pulls up and asks if were OK. Quick answer - NO!
He joined us and helped diagnose what we think is a shorted battery. Got it out of the Duck (remember it's like 90 degrees in hammering sunshine) and off we went to the closest Advanced Auto.
After about 30 minutes we were able to match up the battery. The guys at Advanced were of no help at all! They did however confirm that the battery from the Duck was toast. We're thinking, great we'll just put the new battery in and we're off. Not quite, as a new battery isn't charged. After getting it installed, we used jumper cables to slightly charge the battery from our helpers car. 20 minutes later the Duck fired up and we were on our way.
A big should out to Mike our helper for really going out of his way to get us back on the road! There are some good people out there, he was awesome! (wishing his beat up car had A/C!!!!)
We head down 17M in the 90+ degree heat and get caught up in bumper to bumper traffic. GPS - Alternate route and we're back in the twisties heading towards the NYS Throughway. Finally pick up the Throughway near Suffern and head towards the TAP-N-Z bridge. Just as we get up to the GSP exit the Duck completely dies once again. We coast up onto the GSP southbound lanes and come to a halt in some shade. (thank god) A few phone calls later and a visit by the State Police, we managed to let the bike cool down and jump it from a buddies car.
Off we go again, this time heading back to my buddies house so we can put the Duck away. We have a car with a friend following us at this point. Didn't get more then 5 miles this time and the Duck drops dead once again. Same thing, let it cool down, it jump starts. Finally got it back into the garage at my buddies house were we started our trip.
I set off at 10:30AM for a nice Sunday ride ending with a BBQ at around 3PM.
Three strikes with riders and mechanical issues and a bike that died three times.
I got home around 6:30PM that afternoon, hot, cranky and very hungry.
Things happen in threes, I'm going to play the lottery for the next three weeks!
Strike 1 - Got a phone call from one of my riding buddies, he worked all night long and simply isn't up for a day of riding. I've got to hand it to him for not pushing himself to go out on the bike after a long night. So I guess that was sort of a good thing, but he was visiting from Basil and we got him a loaner bike for the day. OK - Bit of a let down.
Three of us head off riding up from Bergen Cty up into Greenwood Lake.
Strike 2 - A quick stop and my buddy who suffers from a light disorder in his left eye is really hurting. Eye's all swelled up and he's not feeling so good. So he makes the decision to rest his eye under a dark tree and then head back home.
That leaves just myself and my buddy Dennis who rides a 749 Duck. I ride with him often, we love the area of NW NJ and upstate NY just around Port Jervis. So off we go. On the road for about a good hour, having a blast. Got to finally use my new Garmin NUVI 1490. The GPS helped us find some really cool twisty roads. It must have been upwards of 90 degrees again, but not so humid. The sun was intense!
Strike 3 - Suddenly the Duck dies. Dead, no lights, no horn, nothing. We are out on an open road, nothing around us. (it's 90+ degrees in direct sunshine) We take the bike apart with what tools we have. Battery seem very hot, he's been having slow cranks for a while, yet the battery is only a year old.
Now seems out of nowhere this guy in a beat up old car pulls up and asks if were OK. Quick answer - NO!
He joined us and helped diagnose what we think is a shorted battery. Got it out of the Duck (remember it's like 90 degrees in hammering sunshine) and off we went to the closest Advanced Auto.
After about 30 minutes we were able to match up the battery. The guys at Advanced were of no help at all! They did however confirm that the battery from the Duck was toast. We're thinking, great we'll just put the new battery in and we're off. Not quite, as a new battery isn't charged. After getting it installed, we used jumper cables to slightly charge the battery from our helpers car. 20 minutes later the Duck fired up and we were on our way.
A big should out to Mike our helper for really going out of his way to get us back on the road! There are some good people out there, he was awesome! (wishing his beat up car had A/C!!!!)
We head down 17M in the 90+ degree heat and get caught up in bumper to bumper traffic. GPS - Alternate route and we're back in the twisties heading towards the NYS Throughway. Finally pick up the Throughway near Suffern and head towards the TAP-N-Z bridge. Just as we get up to the GSP exit the Duck completely dies once again. We coast up onto the GSP southbound lanes and come to a halt in some shade. (thank god) A few phone calls later and a visit by the State Police, we managed to let the bike cool down and jump it from a buddies car.
Off we go again, this time heading back to my buddies house so we can put the Duck away. We have a car with a friend following us at this point. Didn't get more then 5 miles this time and the Duck drops dead once again. Same thing, let it cool down, it jump starts. Finally got it back into the garage at my buddies house were we started our trip.
I set off at 10:30AM for a nice Sunday ride ending with a BBQ at around 3PM.
Three strikes with riders and mechanical issues and a bike that died three times.
I got home around 6:30PM that afternoon, hot, cranky and very hungry.
Things happen in threes, I'm going to play the lottery for the next three weeks!
