Hello y'all,
An early update today but its been a very busy day.
First I had to drive the hire car to the recovery garage, then drive it back to Hertz only to be told I could leave it at the Yamaha garage where it would be going to try and get fixed.
Now I wouldn't use the words 'sorted' or 'perfect' but as of 3pm today I had done 100miles on the bike. The long and the short of it is that they didn't have the right tyre that I needed but did have one with a bigger profile meaning my bike is now higher at the front than the back. I have managed 100miles but they were a struggle, a max speed of 50mph seemed all that the bike wanted to do today as anything higher than this the front wheel decided it wanted to wobble all over the shop and the same between about 30-40mph. After seem researching online I'm hoping that this is because the tyre is over inflated as the guy at the Yamaha place inflated it to 'touring pressure', Which I have now learnt is 4psi higher than I normally have it. I suppose we will find out tomorrow when I lower it if its causing the problem.
So I guess you will all be wondering where I am. Well after 4 days of thinking and working things out I've decided that Nordkapp is now out of my reach which is very upsetting. This is due to the lack of days at my disposal )being 5 days behind schedule)and the fact that I'm not 100% sure about the bike. So I've turned around. But do not fear! The name of this trip is Arctic Ride and goddammit I'm going to make it to the Arctic Circle. And I'm doing it for all you people who belived in me and sponsored me to try and do something amazing and for those kids' lives that we are changing for the better by raising this money. The past 4 days have been hard but I hope that I've come out of it stronger.
So onto Plan B - I am now back in Sundsvall, where I was last Thursday night. From here I shall ride West all the way across Sweden and Norway to Oslo. In Oslo I'm going to leave my bike and my gear with a chap called Hans P who is a keen motorcylist from Norway and has been a great help to me in preparing for the trip. And because of the time lost in Ornskoldsvik I'm taking the train overnight from Oslo to Bodo, in the Arctic Circle to make up for lost time. This route would have taken me 3-4 days each way on the bike and the train can do it in 15 hours.
That is all for now folks. Speak to you all soon.
Ride safe,
Gord xx
Miles Today - 111 miles
Total Mileage - 2,349 miles
An early update today but its been a very busy day.
First I had to drive the hire car to the recovery garage, then drive it back to Hertz only to be told I could leave it at the Yamaha garage where it would be going to try and get fixed.
Now I wouldn't use the words 'sorted' or 'perfect' but as of 3pm today I had done 100miles on the bike. The long and the short of it is that they didn't have the right tyre that I needed but did have one with a bigger profile meaning my bike is now higher at the front than the back. I have managed 100miles but they were a struggle, a max speed of 50mph seemed all that the bike wanted to do today as anything higher than this the front wheel decided it wanted to wobble all over the shop and the same between about 30-40mph. After seem researching online I'm hoping that this is because the tyre is over inflated as the guy at the Yamaha place inflated it to 'touring pressure', Which I have now learnt is 4psi higher than I normally have it. I suppose we will find out tomorrow when I lower it if its causing the problem.
So I guess you will all be wondering where I am. Well after 4 days of thinking and working things out I've decided that Nordkapp is now out of my reach which is very upsetting. This is due to the lack of days at my disposal )being 5 days behind schedule)and the fact that I'm not 100% sure about the bike. So I've turned around. But do not fear! The name of this trip is Arctic Ride and goddammit I'm going to make it to the Arctic Circle. And I'm doing it for all you people who belived in me and sponsored me to try and do something amazing and for those kids' lives that we are changing for the better by raising this money. The past 4 days have been hard but I hope that I've come out of it stronger.
So onto Plan B - I am now back in Sundsvall, where I was last Thursday night. From here I shall ride West all the way across Sweden and Norway to Oslo. In Oslo I'm going to leave my bike and my gear with a chap called Hans P who is a keen motorcylist from Norway and has been a great help to me in preparing for the trip. And because of the time lost in Ornskoldsvik I'm taking the train overnight from Oslo to Bodo, in the Arctic Circle to make up for lost time. This route would have taken me 3-4 days each way on the bike and the train can do it in 15 hours.
That is all for now folks. Speak to you all soon.
Ride safe,
Gord xx
Miles Today - 111 miles
Total Mileage - 2,349 miles