"I pulled you over for Speeding. Do you have any idea how fast you were going?"

Regardless of what you ride, even if you don't ride at all, EVERYONE is welcome here.

Mr. Motorcycle


I am

My photo
I live at 1 Frozen place in, Minnesota, United States
My real name is Mark. For many years now my wife has called me Mr. Motorcycle. When I started my Blog I was looking for a catchy blog name, so I went with it. I'm happily married and I'm also a father of 6 children. I have two human offspring, one dog, two cats and one custom Harley. I believe that makes 6 children. When I'm not doing my real full time job, or going for a ride, I like to do art, custom paint jobs, and of course BLOG. If you would like to contact me, my e-mail address is phonetically spelled for avoiding spammers. (I actually do use the number 1 in the beginning.) 1mrmotorcycleATgmailDOTcom

*****This is my Bliss*****

*****This is my Bliss*****
Depending on your settings, Click, or Double Click on the image for full size photo.
The photo above is my ride :
"Kenny" started life as a stock '97, 883 Sportster. It's been a work in progress since the day I bought it many years ago. Its mostly custom with a built, "slightly juiced up" 1200 motor.
The Metal Fabrication, bodywork and custom paint was done by me.

How the Hell did I come up with a name like Kenny for my bike you ask?...... Most people who name their rides, go with chick names. I of course had to be different. I think bikes look tough, cool and masculine; not feminine. Plus, my father "Ken" has helped make me who I am today. Therefore with a little twist on the name, my bike was named "Kenny".

KUSTUM PAINT

KUSTUM PAINT
Come check out my custom paint! Click on the logo above to go to my custom paint blog.

Friday, August 29, 2008

Staying calm in a time of crisis.

Lucky, from The Great Motorcycle Pizza Tour recently posted about the trials and challenges we as bikers go through in certain situations. He said, " Things work out. I've had some bad experiences (who hasn't?), but they always turn around. Maybe I'm unusually lucky - it's not just my nickname, after all."

This reminded me of the many times I've had those kind of experiences of my own.

Here is just one example of staying calm during a crises.

One day while riding my Harley, my aftermarket Kuryaken forward controls shifter peg set up separated at the front ball joint where the shifter peg meets the shift rod lever and moments later, I ran out of gas. I was stranded, alone , and felt like panicking. The stress was killing me. But instead of panicking, I calmly assessed the situation. I looked at the separated ball joint. I'm not sure if it was defective, or if it just rattled apart or what. It was now like a dislocated socket. I was able to manage to put the two pieces back together, but I could not get the separated pieces to stay together. The ball joint needed a mechanical press or something like that to get the two pieces securely and permantly put back together. Of course I had nothing like this with me on the roadside, so I combed the ditches to see what I could find to temporarily fasten the two pieces together. I found an empty paper cup and straw that someone had discarded. I took the straw and used it as a tie to hold the shifter assembly together, and was so calmed down and relieved after that, I realized all I had to do now was hit the reserve and I should be on my way. Too bad I was unaware that my battery had also died. I was realizing that this was a comedy of errors. Before I left for this ride, I knew that my battery was dying. But I took the bike out for a ride to see if I could charge it up. I never anticipated that I would have a mechanical failure, and run out of gas, causing me to have to re-start the bike along the roadside. I was however, lucky enough that I had my cell phone with me. (I never ride without my cell phone.) So, I called my wife and asked her to bring jumper cables. She said she would be there as soon as she could. Now that I knew my wife was coming to my rescue, I was calm once again. I also knew that I have a bike trailer at home, and should the battery not jump start, I could rely on that as a last resort. I wasn't about to ask Mrs. M. to unload all the stuff out of the trailer, pull the heavy trailer out of the shed, hook it up and then drive it to me, only to find out after arriving that I could jumpstart the bike & ride it home. That might piss her off and may be way more work than necessary. It was a gamble either way, but I said just the cables were fine . I could always come back with the trailer if needed. I was just thankfull she was willing to bring me cables, and a ride home if I needed it. All that was left to do was wait for her. The Mrs. finally arrived, the jumper cables were hooked up to her SUV and my bike, and I was able to jump start life back into the motor.

Alas, I was finally back on the road with my wife following me home to make sure this comedy of errors did not go any more wrong than it already had.

In the safety and calmness of my own shop garage, including the right tools, repairs were made. The ball joint coming apart must have been a fluke, or not properly pressed from the factory or something, because it is still holding just fine today. A new battery was purchased, gas put in the tank, and the bike was back on the road.
Calmness, ingenuity & perseverance prevailed. (And yeah, the cell phone and wife as back up are always a good thing.)

Mrs. M.,
I know you're reading this, so thanks for saving that day for me!

10 comments:

B.B. said...

It's very nice that you have a wonderful wife who is there when you need her. Of course, that is how it should be. Dave always tells me the most important thing to remember is to stay calm. Panic can really mess with your judgement.
BTW..I have decided that now when I call you Mr. M the "M" stands for Macgyver. :)

FLHX_Dave said...

B.B. took my McGuyver line, bad girl! No bisquit!

Hence why I chose a bagger. I can carry lots of "anti-panic" devices. In the tool kit I have some bailing wire wrapped around the screwdriver handle.

Panic doesn't help at all, and neither does getting angry. (I frequently make things worse by getting angry. I'm still working on that.)

Ann said...

Biker's wives are unsung heroes!

Big Daddy said...

Thank's for the encouragement....Don't worry, Ann and I have been through a lot worse.
We'll get past it.
But thank you all for being Ann's stress relievers.
Someday I'll write about the time I fixed a broken U-joint on my truck with cardboard from my pack of smokes. Or any of the hundreds of other Mcguyver moments I had in the last 20 years...lol

Dean "D-Day" said...

Thanks for the reminder that I need to beef up my emergency supplies. The cell phone has always been a must but a few other things might not be a bad idea.

Anonymous said...

I think I remember this particular incident.....I believe this is the ride you took just before we were supposed to leave for vacation....

--Mrs.M

Mr. Motorcycle said...

B.B.,
Yes, I do have a wonderful wife who helps me alot.

Dave,
As I'm sure you are already aware, your Street Glide seems more and more tempting to me each day.

Ann,
I agree.

Big D.,
Too much suspense. Do tell how the U-joint was fixed with cardboard from a pack of smokes!

Dean, I'm always looking for ways to be able to carry more stuff without changing my bike. I'd like to beef up the emergency supplies somehow myself.

Mrs. M.,
I believe you are right.
See also my reply comments to B.B. and Ann.

Thanks for all the comments.

Mr. Macgyver, I mean Mr. Motorcycle.

Webster World said...

???

Webster World said...

Mine was in the foot hills of Boyne Mt. Mi. At 11:30pm My distributor decided to take a sh**. My wife and I still smoked back then and had 2 Bic's. In about what seemed like an hour or more I had it jery riged. We were going to just drop in on some freinds that like about 150 miles from us. Well I got it running we get about 3 miles from them and ran out of gas. Dah! Now it's late and the homes are far and few. Can't knock and ask for gas. Pride and respect for those folks who were smart enough to by gas. We pushed it about 3 miles up and down those foot hills. We finally get there and gee! They are out of town. Were able to get little sleep. The man across the road gave me some gas and we were on our way. Found the next HD shop I put the parts on and made it for home. From then on I lerned not to surprice anyone like that and call first. Did that ever ruin a good buzz.

Mr. Motorcycle said...

Great story Webster World!

I've noticed you pop in once and a while to comment. I check you out to see your blog to find out your Blogger profile is empty, and no way to lead me to your blog.

I appreciate you comments, and that you read here.Thanks!

I just wish you had a blog so I could return the fave.