I know it's a cliché
but the thing about long distance motorcycling is the highs and the
lows and the last few days have been somewhat of a rollercoaster. I crossed from Peru a couple of days ago, the scenery changed
instantly from desert and the road changed from long straights to
windy mountain roads.
Around this time I
noticed my rear suspension bottoming out much more easily than before
and the first low started. About 50km from Loja, the suspension was
bottomed out and wouldn't come back up. I thought the spring had
gone requiring more expense and no doubt an extended wait. I found a
hotel that takes bikes and went out to find a beer and an internet
cafe so I could mail a mechanic in Quito that had been recommended to
me.
I mailed the mechanic
with my sob story and went back to the hotel to unload the bike and
that's when I noticed that one of the bolts holding my rack on had
sheared leaving one of the panniers firmly wedged against the axle
bolt, preventing the swingarm from moving.
I was going to find a
local mechanic but was up early and took a walk around town looking
for replacement bolts. It did take me an hour or two to locate them
(not speaking Spanish doesn't help) but I was able to remove the
sheared bolt with mole grips and was able to repair the rack myself.
This is when the first high started.
I took the rest of the
day off to wander around Loja, a somewhat picturesque little town
that looks almost Alpine. Nice cafes, nice architecture, no feckin'
bars.
The only bar I could
find open during the day was in the Grand Hotel with the associated
price. Still, I was pleased with myself and stayed for a few
cocktails.
I had a 7am start to
give myself plenty of time to get to Riobamba. The day started with
a slow slog over a number of 3000+ metre mountain roads. It was cold
(down to 3 degrees), misty and raining. The first 100km took me 2.5
hours and I had to stop to retrieve my winter gloves from my luggage
as my fingers had gone numb.
I stopped for breakfast
in Ona, just a cup of Nescafe and a sandwich but I was grateful for
it and my hands warmed up enough to start to enjoy the ride.
I met an Ecuadorian guy
on a KTM 950 in Cuenca (Hi Freddy if you're reading this) and was
generally having a great time on the twisty roads when just outside
Azogues the bike packed in. It would run, everything was fine until
I put it into gear and then there was a grinding sound and nothing
else. “Bollocks” I thought and moved onto the second low.
I was at the top of a
hill so I pushed the bike back towards town. There was a workshop
where they were doing paint jobs on cars and the guys there said I
was OK to leave the bike while I looked for a mechanic, they gave me
some directions which I hopelessly failed to follow and ended up
traipsing aimlessly around town until I could find a taxi.
We tried every moto
mechanic in town that the taxi driver knew, they were all busy and/or
couldn't be bothered to come and look at my bike so as a last act of
desperation we found an internet cafe, I got a number for the
mechanic in Quito, phoned up and started making arrangements to truck
the bike there.
We went back up to
where I had left the bike and I was just about to leave to find a
hotel for the evening when this guy (who turned out to just be a
passer by who was into dirt bikes) offered to tow me down the road to
see a mechanic he knew.
I let the taxi driver
go with a large tip and we towed the bike to a workshop where they
repair mostly trucks. This was my first time being towed properly
and it's a scary experience but at the workshop, they took the front
sprocket off to find that most of the splines on the drive shaft had
sheared. They were able to bodge it, by making a spacer as the
splines were not evenly worn.
They fitted the spacer
and a new (ish) sprocket, claimed the repair would get me to Quito
and refused to take any money for the job.
I bought a round of
beers for the lads at the workshop while Juan, the boss who had spent
an hour making me a spacer went off and found me a hotel. He has let
me keep the bike and most of my luggage at his house and he's
collecting me tomorrow morning so I don't need to get a cab.
Faith in humanity
restored and another job to add to the list for Quito.
