Pre insights

We left Nelson this afternoon and headed to Balfour to catch the Kootney lake ferry.  I did not feel tip top when we left Nelson.  I was physically fine but there were definitely some mental gremlins.

  There was a lot of traffic on the 2 lane highway we were riding so my focus was firmly on passing this never ending line up of trucks and campers.  I was also trying to run an extra couple of devices on motorcycle battery power.

Meanwhile Ishan's comm unit is not working so we're depending on old fashion hand signals for communication while we're riding.  For this to be effective we both need to be watching each other.  The first gremlin - i'm being an idiot and not paying attention.  I'm singularly focussed on passing - i'm so focussed that I miss the ferry and just keep riding.  Ishan's doing everything short of standing on his seat to get my attention and all to no avail.  15 kms later I finally notice that Ishan's no where to be seen.  I pull over on a spot just as we start climbing a hill.  Ishan arrives a couple of minutes later and explains the etiquette of riding with a partner (he's given this speech a couple of times before) and clues me in to the fact that i've got us going in the wrong direction.  First question where are we?  Well neither of us really have a clue.  What to do?  I pull out my Pre and launch the Google Maps app.  It takes literally 3 seconds to unveil the ignorance.  I'm in the BC wilderness, there's no cellular reception but data is definitely coming through and this beautiful smartphone lives up to its name and covers the tracks of my ignorance.

OK no harm done - let's just turn around and I'll pay better attention.  Simple solution eh?  Not quite.  I go to start the bike and nothing happens.  The starter is labouring and won't turn over.

I was trying to run a couple of extra gadgets today off of cig lighter power - big mistake.  I've killed the battery.  I'm in the middle of the BC forest with a bike that won't start.  Now i'm in a panic.  What to do?  Time to kick it old scholl - literally.  Luckily I pulled over on a hill so we push the bike around so that it's facing down hill.  Ishan watches out for traffic while I try a rolling start.

I put the bike into second gear and try rolling down and popping the clutch to get it started.  First try: chug, chug - no luck.  Take a deep beath, second try: chug, chug, chug - no luck.  A few not so nice words and my anxiety mounts.  I pull over to let some traffic get by.  Third try - if this doesn't work we'll have to push this fully ladden bike uphill to try again, this is not an attractive prospect.  Chug, chug, chug, VROOOOM - it worked!

Big smile on both our faces - now let's get some miles behind us and get this day back on track.

-- Sent from my Palm Prē