Staying calm in a time of crisis.

Lucky, from The Great Motorcycle Pizza Tour recently posted about the trials and challenges we as bikers go through in certain situations. He said, " Things work out. I've had some bad experiences (who hasn't?), but they always turn around. Maybe I'm unusually lucky - it's not just my nickname, after all."

This reminded me of the many times I've had those kind of experiences of my own.

Here is just one example of staying calm during a crises.

One day while riding my Harley, my aftermarket Kuryaken forward controls shifter peg set up separated at the front ball joint where the shifter peg meets the shift rod lever and moments later, I ran out of gas. I was stranded, alone , and felt like panicking. The stress was killing me. But instead of panicking, I calmly assessed the situation. I looked at the separated ball joint. I'm not sure if it was defective, or if it just rattled apart or what. It was now like a dislocated socket. I was able to manage to put the two pieces back together, but I could not get the separated pieces to stay together. The ball joint needed a mechanical press or something like that to get the two pieces securely and permantly put back together. Of course I had nothing like this with me on the roadside, so I combed the ditches to see what I could find to temporarily fasten the two pieces together. I found an empty paper cup and straw that someone had discarded. I took the straw and used it as a tie to hold the shifter assembly together, and was so calmed down and relieved after that, I realized all I had to do now was hit the reserve and I should be on my way. Too bad I was unaware that my battery had also died. I was realizing that this was a comedy of errors. Before I left for this ride, I knew that my battery was dying. But I took the bike out for a ride to see if I could charge it up. I never anticipated that I would have a mechanical failure, and run out of gas, causing me to have to re-start the bike along the roadside. I was however, lucky enough that I had my cell phone with me. (I never ride without my cell phone.) So, I called my wife and asked her to bring jumper cables. She said she would be there as soon as she could. Now that I knew my wife was coming to my rescue, I was calm once again. I also knew that I have a bike trailer at home, and should the battery not jump start, I could rely on that as a last resort. I wasn't about to ask Mrs. M. to unload all the stuff out of the trailer, pull the heavy trailer out of the shed, hook it up and then drive it to me, only to find out after arriving that I could jumpstart the bike & ride it home. That might piss her off and may be way more work than necessary. It was a gamble either way, but I said just the cables were fine . I could always come back with the trailer if needed. I was just thankfull she was willing to bring me cables, and a ride home if I needed it. All that was left to do was wait for her. The Mrs. finally arrived, the jumper cables were hooked up to her SUV and my bike, and I was able to jump start life back into the motor.

Alas, I was finally back on the road with my wife following me home to make sure this comedy of errors did not go any more wrong than it already had.

In the safety and calmness of my own shop garage, including the right tools, repairs were made. The ball joint coming apart must have been a fluke, or not properly pressed from the factory or something, because it is still holding just fine today. A new battery was purchased, gas put in the tank, and the bike was back on the road.
Calmness, ingenuity & perseverance prevailed. (And yeah, the cell phone and wife as back up are always a good thing.)

Mrs. M.,
I know you're reading this, so thanks for saving that day for me!