Everyday for 7 Weeks–Day 9–Broken Rack in Dawson Creek

Those of you who have been playing the home game and watching my progress on the spot tracker (to the right) have already noticed, I didn’t leave Dawson Creek as expected. I started the morning by tightening the chains and checking my tires. I noticed my luggage rack was moving around more than it should, so I started checking each one of the four mounts.

There are two on the bottom and two on the top. The two on the bottom connect to the footpeg mounts, and the two on the top connect into the end of the subframe via small tabs. The left side tab cracked off. Not good.

I went back inside and started making calls to try and find someone to weld it back together for me. No such luck. It is Sunday, and almost everything is closed up here on Sunday. After about ten calls, I got a cell number from the voicemail, so I called it. A guy answered!

I got excited. I may get to ride today after all!

I explained the problem

He said “it’s Sunday. The day of rest.  Call tomorrow.” “it’s my day off, I work the other six.”

Me: “Anything I can do to change your mind? I would really like to get this fixed today.”

He laughs and says “No, call tomorrow.”

I was sunk. I sat there feeling quite sorry for myself for almost an hour trying to decide what to do. Staying the night and getting it fixed tomorrow would be the safest thing to do. Maybe I’ll chance the Alcan highway. How bumpy could it be? Maybe I could find someone further down the road. A quick check of the internet & phonebook, and I realized it would be far easier to get help right where I was. Besides, if the tab on the other side broke the whole rack would rotate down onto the rear tire and exhaust. That would be bad.

I decided to try to make the best of things and see what there was to do around town. I fixed up the rack with some zipties and a strap, and I was off to explore.

When the bike works, and you’re travelling it is the best. When something isn’t right it’s a mess. What’s that sound? Does the handling feel off? Mind the potholes. Is that a rattle? Is that feel normal? ugh. I parked the bike at the visitor and explored the town on foot.

I went to the information centre (yes, they spell it funny, I know.) which was also the town museum. The helpful girls inside gave me a little brochure which had all the gas stops and lodging along the way along with phone numbers and specific services. nice. I took a stroll around the museum trying to find something interesting to help me get out of the broken bike funk. It wasn’t working very well.

very old cameras. (see the full album link to get a closer look of each)

Lots of period rooms:

Upstairs they had an encyclopedia Britannica volume 11 from 1911-ish.

I proceeded to try and find motorcycles. I found motor vehicles which had a neat trike and a familiar story about how it was “killed off” by the horse interests with a collection of goofy statutes and fees. Nice to see they had lobbyists 100 years ago messing things up too.

I also found bicycle motorized which had what I was looking for. It was fun to read the descriptions of cars and bike back then. I took a few photos of the pages if you want to see them too (see the full album).

A nice exhibit on the building of the Alaska Highway

Next I took the walking tour around the old part of Dawson Creek. I found the original ‘Mile 0’ marker, curiously NOT on the current road. lol.

I enjoyed looking at the murals, but found it strange that most of them were in alleys behind junk. oh well.

Colorful hotel

A mural.

another:

I made some calls (thanks skype) and read more of my book. Not the way I wanted to have  day off riding. Especially since today was the nicest day of the whole trip. 65F and sunny. Not a cloud in the sky until dinner time. I finished off the day with a trip to the grocery store to splurge on tasty. It helped a little. The fresh pineapple and chocolate bar were both great.

This looks like it might be fun to ride:

Tomorrow I will hopefully get repairs to the rack and be on my way. I’m glad I wrote a good guide on installing the rack (tabs in step #8). It was helpful to me to review before I disassemble my bike in a parking lot tomorrow. *fingers crossed* it will be quick, and I will be sleeping in Fort Nelson tomorrow night; I am ready to leave Dawson Creek.

 

Full Day 9 Flickr Album 55pics

Other Posts in the series:

• Day 8–Hinton to Dawson Creek
• Everyday for 7 Weeks - Trip Index
• Day 10–Dawson Creek to Fort Nelson