not the ride i had in mind…
The two riders facing me across the 511 were turning left at the stop. I was going straight on to Glen Tay; I waved them through.
When they swung into the Balderston Cheese Shop parking lot, I thought it might be neighbourly to stop for a chat so I made a right instead of riding on and pulled up beside them.
“Great day for a ride, eh?” I said, stating the obvious.
The sky was azure, the maple leaves were multiple shades of yellow, orange and red, the air was crisp and cool. A perfect autumn afternoon to be on a motorcycle in Ontario’s Highlands.
“Sure is,” one of them replied.
The usual exchange ensued. Where are you going? Where did you come from? Where do you live? Etcetera.
Dave and Randy – I learned their names during our conversation – reside in Russell and Renfrew respectively; they are long-time riding partners who were out for a slow Highlands’ roll.
After a few minutes of idle chit chat, Dave looked down at my front wheel. He frowned.
“Looks like your tire pressure is a little low,” he said.
Not again.
I’ve had more than my fair share of flat tires in my three seasons of riding – THREE in the front and one in the rear. FOUR in the front counting this one! Grrrr. The first front flat happened two years ago almost to the day. More on that here.
I had checked the pressure on both tires before I left on my planned loop to Westport and back through Smith Falls. Both were at a little less than 30 psi. Randy had a gauge, which we used to take a reading on the front tire – it was a mere 5 pounds. It’s only about 40 kms from Almonte to Balderson. What could have happened in such as short space of time?
So much for this ride. I called CAA.
Randy and Dave kindly stayed with me – part of the biker code – until a flatbed tow truck was on its way and I insisted I would be okay on my own until it arrived.
James, who had been on the verge of leaving to come to meet me halfway through my loop, abandoned his own riding plans to rendezvous with me at Richmond motorsports and drive me home to Almonte. We paused the return trip home for an hour and got treated by Adam Lewis to a lovely supper in Richmond. Yum!
The upside of this tale is that being sociable and stopping to chat with strangers might have saved me from ending up in yet another ditch. Big thanks to my guardian angels, both heavenly and earthbound <3
All I can do now is pray that a proper-sized inner tube is sourced and the tire fixed so that I may ride this possibly last weekend of the season…
Here I am arriving at Richmond Motorsports with Blue on the flatbed (vid thanks to James A.; the Relive vid with more pics is below):
© 2024 Susan Macaulay. I invite you to share my poetry and posts widely, but please do not reprint, reblog or copy and paste them in their entirety without my permission. Thank you.
