Stop, Drop, and Roll

Yesterday's biking challenge was getting my 250 pound vehicle upright after dropping it in the parking lot at work.

The ride to work had been uneventful and I was backing into a parking spot; bike in neutral, engine still running. I'm not sure what happened to upset the bike's equilibrium, but it started to fall over to the right and all I could do was try to ease it down so it would crash from a lower height.

The bike was still running from its prone position, so I turned it off, got it upright, and began to assess the damage (relieved that no one was in the parking lot at 7AM to witness my mishap). I noticed that the mirror was loose, the brake lever was curved in a new shape, and there was fluid of some kind on the ground. I didn't see a leak, so I hoped the fluid had escaped in some natural way from the bike being sideways for a few seconds with the motor running. I took it for a test drive around the parking lot to see if the brake still worked. All good except the mirror, which couldn't be tightened by hand...

I consulted with Henry by email and decided it was safe to ride as far as the Honda place where I bought the bike two months ago. A friendly mechanic named Murray tightened the mirror and said the brake lever would work OK if I didn't mind the new shape.

Another learning experience: When I set off to get my bike repaired, I forgot to switch the fuel lever from OFF to RUN and learned that the bike will run for a few blocks before the engine dies. Fortunately I was able to turn into a parking lot when I felt the bike start to lose power and I figured out the problem fairly quickly -- after worrying for a few seconds that the loss of power resulted from damage in the fall...

All went smoothly during the ride home, but I decided to drive to work today to allow time for all the lessons to sink in.