Redding- quick click fix

7/12

After some fantastic times in Yosemite it was time for Alyse to return to Chicago. Alex and I split ways, he headed to Fresno to take Alyse to the airport while I rode northeast through Carson City and Reno. The plan was to meet up later that day in Redding, CA.

This was our first day riding apart, and it felt strangely free. My bike had been making a terrible "clicking" noise when I accelerated, and I hoped to get it looked at. I stopped at a Denny's for brunch and called every motorcycle shop in the Carson City/Reno phone books. Everyone was closed on Sunday.

I pressed on hoping to find some shop in Redding that would be open first thing in the morning. Once I got back into California, the ride was beautiful: a curvy, low traffic wonderland of pines, mountains, and streams. In a small town about 50 or so miles into CA I passed a garage with several motorcycles parked outside and a big sign that read "High Sierra Cycles." The doors were open to the garage, and I did a U-turn hoping to find someone who could take a look at my bike.

Inside, I met Andy, the mechanic, who had just opened up the shop the day before. I explained my situation, and he said that he would be more than happy to take a look. He advised me to run across the street and grab an ice cream while he finished what he was doing. I did just that celebrating the find with a rootbeer shake, a family favorite.

Back at the shop, he put my bike up on the lift, jacked up the rear tire, and spun it a bit by hand. Immediately he realized the problem. An O-ring sealing one of the links on my drive chain was shot and was causing a kink as it past through the rear sprocket. He shot some chain lube on it which loosened it up. After 6000+ miles of no lube and a long trip through the desert I shouldn't have been surprised.

Andy told me to keep the chain lubricated and sent me away only charging me $10 for the bottle of lube.

Back on the road the clicking was gone and I rode north through the volcanoes of Lassen NP. The ride was great, and I arrived in Redding with the trip odometer reading 8964 miles just before nightfall where Alex had been hanging for about an hour. We enjoyed a stay with a former residency student of Alex's dad.