We Just Made It

We're here in Tucson, Arizona. Mark Pozniak, and a friend of ours Rick Barrow, left Niagara Falls on Saturday morning in the 89 White Dodge 1/2 ton 150, fully loaded with lots of stuff. We had planned on leaving at 9am, sharp. Plans changed that morning when my dad heard a "clunking" in the rear end. My dad is a mechanic by trade, so he usually know's what's going on with cars. Dad just thought it was the new brake that Gord Singleton's crew at Niagara Tire and Battery had put on for us, and should go away soon. Just to be sure we took the wheel off Saturday morning, checked it out, and it all looked great. So off we went, leaving about an hour and a half late. The drive was smooth, and long as always. The van was going well, the "clunk" would happen every now and then, usually turning corners into gas station's.

On the first night, we drove 13 hours, and managed to get just south of St.Louis Missouri, found a hotel, crashed, and took off around 7:30 Sunday morning. This would be a hard piece of the drive, because we knew we would be driving through Oklahoma, and if you've never been there, let me tell'ya, it's boooooooring. Sunday night, after 16 hours of driving, we shut the eyes in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Now, we were down to one more 8-9 hour drive, and we would be in Tucson. Looking at the map and estimated distances, it looked to be faster and shorter to cut through the mountains of Silver City, New Mexico.

I've always wanted to see Silver City, because I always thought it would be great for training, as some pros have talked about it. So up the hills we went. It's a beautiful area, great drive. We started the long ascent up some mountain, full of switchbacks, and the "CLUNK" was getting louder, and happening more often. So over the top, I thought I would try and put the van in neutral, and it worked. The clunking was gone, in the corners too, but, I obviously couldn't drive the van, all I could do was coast. Soon we were back on straight roads, and we were going o.k. I knew something was wrong, but I thought we could make it to Tucson, and we did, with no more clunks (other than turning.)

So on our way to the house where we'll be staying, I'm driving, waiting to turn left, letting cars pass, there was a break in traffic, so I went. Half-way in the turn the van kacked. It made a bad sound, I knew something was stripped, the drive shaft wasn't getting the gear, as if the the teeth were gone off the rings. And they were. The pinion gear in the rear differential is stripped. I don't know how it happened, but I'm glad it happened one block from the house, and not somewhere in the mountains of New Mexico.

I found a garage, talked to them, and it turns out that the owner's a cycling fan. So tomorrow, and $500US later, I'll be back on the road with a rebuilt rear end. When it's fixed, it will be a big weight off my shoulders, and I'll be able to focus on riding the bike, although having a $500US charge on the credit card bill won't help!

So that's the scoop, I'm looking forward to training hard, I've had a bit of rest in the last week or two, so the next 10 months are full tilt. Im looking forward to a great season.

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