Bike trip from hell. (long)

[flynrider]

Several of you emailed, asking about my bike trip that resulted in losing an axel and getting struck by lightning on the same day. I happened to write it up for a "Worst travel stories" contest a few years back, so I'll just save us all some time and copy it here :

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My road trip from hell was actually just the last day of a great 2 week/4,000 mile motorcycle jaunt through the western U.S. in 1988. The trip so far had been flawless. No flats, no breakdowns, I should have known something was up.

On the last day of the trip I was in Southern Utah, bound for my home in Phoenix. Being a safe rider, I dutifully spent about 20 minutes that morning lubing the chain and adjusting its tension. On a bike, this is done by removing the axle nut's cotter pin, loosening the nut, then turning a few adjusting bolts to make the axle slide backwards a bit. Once the chain is adjusted, you just reverse the proceedure.

Well, it seems that in my excitement to get on the road, I'd forgotten all about the cotter pin. About 150 miles down the road (somewhere in the middle of an Indian reservation in Arizona), I felt the chain jumping the teeth on the sprocket. At 65 mph I looked back at the rear wheel and saw 6 inches of the 6 1/2 inch axle bolt sticking out of the left side of the wheel. This was not a good thing to see at that speed. I was able to slow down to about 30 mph by the time the axle fell out of the wheel and the whole works locked up, sending me sliding to an abrupt halt in the middle of nowhere with my back wheel hanging out just aft of the license plate.

It only took 15 min. walking down the road (in 100+ degree heat) to find the axle. Unfortunately, the nut was probably miles away. I was able to slide the axle back in to the wheel, but there was no nut to keep it there. Since I had about 150 lbs. of camping gear bungeed to the back of the bike, I decided to run 1 of the bungee hooks down to the axle and place the hook through the hole where the cotter pin used to be. The other end of the bungee was tightly hooked to the gear which was hanging off the side of the bike. Sounds crazy, but it actually worked. After all, it only needed to last another hundred miles to Flagstaff, where I could buy a new nut (and cotter pin) at a bike shop.

I made it all the way to Flagstaff with my axle held on by the bungee cord. 3 bike shops later, I left town with my axle held on with a bungee cord. No one carried the right size nut. Figuring it was only another 120 miles or so, I rode on.

I arrived in Phoenix at rush hour. I spent 45 min. on the freeway (mostly standing still) trying to get from the north end of town, to the south end. During this time, Phoenix's typical afternoon thunderstorms began to let loose on the valley. I finally got my bungeed, rain-soaked and generally disheveled self to my exit ramp, only to find the traffic backed all the way up to the freeway and definitely not moving.

At this point, I was sitting on the off ramp in a downpour. My boots were under water that was streaming down the ramp. Most of the folks in the nearby cars were reading their newspapers. I had the kickstand down and was fuming. I wasn't having a good day, but it was about to get worse.

Right about that time, lightning struck a guard rail about 12 ft. away. Judging from the exit burns I found later on my hands and feet, apparently, some of it had made it's way over to my soaking self, sitting on 500 lbs. of metal and standing in 3 inches of running water. The temporary deafness and blindness lasted only a minute or two, and when I became aware of my surroundings, I noticed that everyone had gone back to reading their newspapers.

Being a determined soul, I decided I was going to make it home if it killed me. About 10 minutes later, I was crossing a bridge less than 1 mile from home. As I approached the bridge, lightning struck a lightpole at the center of the bridge about 200 ft. away. Certain that God was out to get me, I cranked on the throttle of the bungee-mobile and sped across, waiting for the big one to hit. Nothing happened. A few minutes later, the bungee-mobile and I were safely in the driveway. It only took about 6 hrs. for the ringing in my ears to stop, and that tingling in my arms and legs was hardly noticable by the next day.

What did I learn? a) Bikes with driveshafts don't look so silly any more. and b)A rubber wetsuit might not be a bad addition to my riding ensemble.

[skoebl]

Crazy story. Good to know that you're still alive too!

But, as tough a day it was, you still ride, and you still probably have just as much fun as ever. You just have one more cool story to add to the mix.

[Skier]

That is an impressive story. Certainly one to trump pretty much anything your buddies can come up with down at the bar.

Glad you made it home alright in the bungee-mobile. Ingenuity and improvisation wins again!

[Keyoke]

"desperation is the best inspiration for invention"

perfectly true in this case! Really glad to hear you made it home alive, although it sounds like a pretty close call!!

[2wheel]

Wow, thats an unbelieble story! You should win some type of award for it.

[flynrider]

I hate to imagine what that award might be called Forgetting the cotter pin and sitting on a large piece of metal in a thunderstorm are not very smart things to do. Fortunately, since I'm still here, I don't qualify for a Darwin award