More Power!

During our reluctant downtime here in Arequipa, I decided to take a gander at my chain and sprockets. Although they didn’t look totally worn out, I figured it would be good to swap them out now rather than take time to do it later. After I got them off the bike, though, I noticed more wear than I did originally and am extra glad I did it now.

Chain maintenance back in New Mexico. Yes, I've lubed the chain plenty of times since then, but this is the last photo I could find.

I brought what I thought would be everything I needed along on the trip: new chain and sprockets, 32mm socket for the front sprocket, chain tool (break, press, rivet), etc. The 32mm socket was not a cheap purchase, and is the only socket I brought on the trip that requires a 1/2"-drive ratchet. As such, I only packed a 3/8"-drive ratchet along with an adapter to use with this one socket. That, as we shall see, proved to be a mistake.

After narrowly avoiding tipping my bike over onto Nick's due to the center stand sinking unevenly into the small patch of soft sand below the bike, I was able to find a scrap of wood to provide adequate support. And the the job started easily enough. The clutch slave cylinder and front sprocket housing came away with no issue, and the safety screw on the front sprocket came off without a hitch. But then: the massive, 32mm nut, itself. It does the lion's share of holding the front sprocket on. I knew that this was going to be an issue, as the manual prescribes more torque for this nut (83 ft-lb) than for anything else on the bike.

I wrapped a rag around a scrap of found rebar (don't need it scratching things up!) and stuck it through the rear wheel, effectively locking up the whole drive system. (At home, I usually use a 2x4 for this, which is adequately stout but unlikely to damage the wheel or swingarm.) But when I went to loosen the 32mm nut, I was putting so much pressure on the socket that I feared the ratchet might break. I needed another solution: both a stronger ratchet, as well as a method to apply greater torque.

After burning a bit of daylight cleaning out the clutch slave cylinder housing, I headed toward the centro on errands. First thing's first: we dropped Nick's bike off at the Yamaha dealer, who said that parts should be arriving that afternoon. By now, we know that was a big load of "nope". We checked on a laundry, but had no luck, so Nick headed back to the hotel while I turned toward the strip of little hardward stores (ferreterias) to see if I could find a 1/2”-drive ratchet.

When I had asked the Yamaha dealer where I might find a 1/2"-drive ratchet, I was referred to a large hardware store across town, requiring a cab ride. Before hailing a cab, though, I figured I would at least try a couple of the ferreterias in the market. Lo and behold, the first shop I stopped at had exactly what I was looking for. Problem 1: solved for a mere 26 soles (~$8 USD).

Now for more torque.

About a 2-foot scrap of metal pipe would be optimal to serve as a breaker bar by extending the handle of the ratchet. Interestingly, such a thing proved quite hard to come by. I stopped into several ferreterias, eventually locating a heavy-duty rebar stake with a loop in one end. The loop fit over the end of the new ratchet (more or less), so it would suffice if I couldn't find a pipe. I bought it for 8 soles (~$2.50 USD), but there were a few more ferreterias on the block, so I kept asking. After awhile, I’d stopped into a dozen or so shops, some of which had plastic pipe, but no metal pipe. They all tried to be helpful, but couldn't come up with anything that would do the trick. But the clerk in one of the shops had a look of recognition in his eye. He new what I was trying to do and disappeared into the back of the shop with my new ratchet for a few minutes. When he returned, I was delighted to see that he held a 2’ piece of 1.5” metal pipe. Perfect! At 20 soles (~$6 USD), it may not have been a bargain, but it was exactly what i was hoping to find.

All told, I spent 54 soles (~$16.50 USD) for a 1/2"-drive rather, a couple feet of 1.5" pipe, and a solid chunk of rebar. Just the tools for the job!

I headed back to the hotel and got back to work. The new 1/2”-drive socket and pipe were excellent and sturdy. But something still wasn’t right. After stepping back to evaluate the situation, I realized that the scrap rebar that I had used to lock up the rear wheel was bent…almost into a “V”.

How fortuitous that I had just purchased another, thicker hunk of rebar! I’d kept it even after I found the pipe, and now it was going to come in useful. With it in place replacing the found rebar, I put my weight behind the pipe-ratchet combo and, begrudgingly, the nut came loose.

From there, it was just a matter of order of operations: breaking the old chain, removing it, removing front and rear sprockets, installing the new sprockets, and installing the new chain.

By comparison, the old sprockets were clearly worn.

Old sprocket resting on the new sprocket. Notice the worn, pointy teeth on the old in comparison to the new.

Another shot of the old and new sprockets for comparison. The new one is bigger because it has more teeth, which will provide more pep, though at slight expense to the fuel mileage.

The old chain-and-sprocket set had almost 20,000 miles on it: more than my previous by a long shot. Also, with this change, I’ve gone back to the 17-43 ratio. (That’s 17 teeth on the front sprocket and 43 teeth on the rear sprocket.) It’s an adjustment from the OEM 17-41 set-up, and it should give me a bit more power, as a trade-off for fuel mileage. As I’m almost never in the high end of 6th gear, though, I think the impact on fuel mileage will be minimal, and I look forward to a bit more pep.

The Old	The New

And, a quick (very quick!) time lapse of the process:

DNF

The MR340 was just last week. 434 human-powered boats set out from Kaw Point in Kansas City last Tuesday morning, not long after Nick and I set out from Camaná, Perú. Amazingly, 377 (87%) completed the race within the 88-hour time limit. (Usually more like 2/3 of the boats that start go on to finish the race.) It’s a grueling ordeal, combatting the summer heat, various states of exhaustion, and mental preparedness for 340 miles across the state of Missouri. After several years of it playing at the back of my mind, I finally entered the race in 2016, along with Robin Bobo in the Mixed Tandem category, finishing in 66 hours with the support (ground crew) of my father, Rudy Bradburn.

Apparently I didn't get a photo will all three of us together, so that's Dad and I just before the start of the race at Kaw Point, and Robin and I about halfway through, getting ready to set out from Jefferson City on the second morning.

What an experience! It was awesome. The next year, I returned to volunteer for the event, and was honored to serve on the illustrious Reaper: the boat you never want to see ahead of you. The community that has formed around the MR340 over the past 13 years is an excellent one, and I look forward to being connected to that community for years to come.

Aboard the Reaper.

As I followed posts about this year’s MR340 on Facebook through and since the end of the race, I became particularly interested in the stories of those who Did Not Finish, listed as “DNF” in the race results. Much of this interest comes from the position Nick and I find ourselves in with our own epic summer trek.

It’s been an awesome moto adventure, and very excellent to see the breadth of sights we’ve been able to see in such a very short time. The world is a big place, and it is marvelous. And to feel the miles instead of just manifesting in airports to explore disparate locations of interest has been fascinating. There’s so much life in between airports…in the interstices.

Not going to find a flight to the Sign Post Forest in Watson Lake, Yukon...

...or to the Big John statue in Helper, UT...

...or to ride with fellow motorcycle adventurists in Costa Rica...

...or to this amazing overlook at Popanova, just south of Medellín, Colombia.

We’ve had delays, though. We were hit right off the bat with mechanical issues in Alaska. We overcame that set-back and were back on course before we hit Mexico. We got turned back at the Nicaragua border, subsequently electing to delay even further to await a couple traveling companions: Jeremy and Steve. Nonetheless, we still got to Panama City with extra time to see some sights before boarding the Stahlratte. On the other end of that sea voyage, though, we hit our biggest snag so far: what turned into a 2-week delay in Cartagena. But even after that delay, it looked like we still had a shot at making it to Ushuaia. We spent a bit more time moving slowly through Perú’s mountainous (gorgeous!) interior than we expected, which precipitated our most recent delay. The dirt and mud of the mountain roads (fun!) resulted in leaky front forks on the Super Teneré. We stopped at a motorcycle shop in Nasca, but they referred us the bigger city of Arequipa. We got here and after some discussion were told the parts could be shipped within 3 days and installed immediately. But here we are, going on 7 days later, still awaiting parts. Not easy to service these big bikes here in Latin America, where 99% of bikes are 250cc or less.

The bike I rented in Cartagena was 180cc: well-sized for most cities down here.

When we were told of the 3-day delay, I re-visited the schedule once again. Rocks and hard places, man: tough decisions. But still do-able to make it to Ushuaia.

When the delay extended through the weekend, it all went black for me.

Despite the beauty surrounding us here in Arequipa — a relaxing city high in a mountain valley, surrounded by white-tipped peaks — I retreated into myself through the weekend, It was a chat with Sarah that helped me face the very real possibility that we won’t see Ushuaia on this trip; or, that if we see Ushuaia, it will be at the end of a flight rather than by land.

It's marvelous to face reality with Sarah!

We haven’t made any firm decision on this yet, and likely won’t until we’re on the verge of crossing into Argentina from Santiago, Chile. That’s when we’ll need to make the decision to turn south toward Ushuaia or continue east toward Buenos Aires. But the moment it became clear that our stay here in Arequipa would be extended through the weekend, it also became clear that I needed to reconcile myself with the idea that we may not finish the trek that we set out to accomplish: to travel by land from Prudhoe Bay to Tierra del Fuego.

As I’ve read in several reports on the MR340 Facebook page, although a disappointment to DNF, it is sometimes the right call. For those who DNF in the MR340, they’re often headed home, to recover from heat stroke or to repair their sleek, carbon-fiber boats. Nick and I are fortunate: our adventure doesn’t have to end. A DNF for us would merely mean that the last couple weeks of our journey would take on a different shape than we’d originally intended. We will certainly continue south from Arequipa. We’ll still take on the N. Yungas Road and take in the Uyuni Salt Flats. We’ll still drive from Alaska to Argentina, a feat to be proud of. We just may not feel the miles all the way down to the southern tip of the Americas.

There’s still time for this to change, of course. We continue to play things by ear, as we have the whole adventure. On the phone today (Monday), we were promised the bike would be ready tomorrow (Tuesday) afternoon, which would mean we could be on the road early Wednesday. That’s our current hope, though hope has become quite seasoned with salt at this point, as many times as it has been quashed. In the end, hope — a creature of the future — is merely a distraction from the present, the only moment in which life is actually occurring.

Some Peru!

Getting into Peru was super easy!  Immigration took about a minute and the bikes took maybe 15.  On our way out we got pulled to be searched.  We waited about 15 more minutes, without ever being searched, and then they said we were free to go!

The cities here are pretty hit or miss.  The first beach town we stayed in was beautiful.  The cities in between are covered in a surprising amount of trash.  Many of the beach communities don't even really have usable beaches.  They are behind walls and also covered in trash!

I took my obligatory walk to the beach.  The beaches here are very popular with surfers. 

Ceviche!

Pacasmayo, the next nice beach town!  This hostel came with a Rola Bola!

And another obligatory beach shot!

And I went surfing.......

Moving inland, meaning, to the mountains.  The roads deteriorated very quickly but the beautiful views were worth the effort.  We spent the next three days on everything but tarmac.  It was frustrating at times to be working through so much mud but they roads were never really a danger once we got off of PE3N.  And it seemed like around every turn you were surprised by the beauty around here all over again.

In the Canyon Del Pato.

The infamous Canyon Del Pato!  Peru's highway PE3N was intense.  Sections of it were once a railway.  The cliffside roads went through dozens of tunnels.  It was full of intense and narrow one lane roads.

This video is the entire run of the Canyon.  It took several hours but here you can see it in 5 minutes.

This video is at normal speed but features some of the more interesting things that we saw.

We took a "shortcut" through a national park.  At the onset there was quite a bit of loose gravel and we discussed whether or not we actually wanted to ride this road since we did so much gravel the day before.  We eventually decided that it would be worth the time savings so we took it.  This was the most intense road we did so far on this trip.  These weird plants in the photo are between 40 and 100 years old!

At 16,000 feet everything is exhausting.  I had to catch my breath every time I stood the bike up.  In one place I had parked it and walked about 30 yards to get some pictures of Ryan.  I was so winded that I had to sit down for a couple of minutes to catch my breath.

Ryan is in this photo!

16,000 feet!  The road had ice on it and the mountainside had snow.

We get a lot of attention everywhere we go but bike shops especially love us.  Whenever we have to stop by one they call come out and take pictures. It's also amazing how well they handle the large bikes.  I feel like it takes so much effort for me to push this thing around and I'm used to it.  They push it around no problem!

Our first, but not our last, Pisco Sours!

July 21, Day three of driving the dirt roads.  I wanted so badly to have highway that I went so far as to check the google satellite photos to make sure there was pavement.  Somehow, we got mud instead.  And snow!  But it's hard to complain, the scenery was amazingly beautiful and it just kept getting better.

We had a wild bull delay.  They were in the road and a local said that it was too dangerous to pass them.   Ranchers eventually came by and ushered them down the road using a slingshot.  Total delay, about 30 minutes.

Three days of these roads caked on a lot of mud.  Later we will find out that my forks are leaking because I didn't clean it off fast enough.

July 22nd, we had set course to Nazca, completely forgetting that it is the same Nazca as the Nazca Lines.  We happened to come across a viewing tower.  It was really fascinating to see the lines. I was curious about how they maintain the lines so I tried to do some research.  Evidently, it just never rains here and the lines stay intact.  Earlier this year somebody was arrested for accidentally driving through a field of lines and you can still see the tire marks. 

More Pisco Sours.  Our bartender took pictures of the drinks, which I thought was funny.  Turns out he is a Venezuelan refugee and this was the first time he made them.

Too little too late.  Finally got the bikes washed.  We found a Yamaha dealer in Nazca that said he could help but that it would take three days to get my fork seals in.  He said the city of Arequipa would be large enough to have parts for my bike.  So we got them washed to try to help the problem and we hit the road again.  We found out that, though Arequipa is in fact a large city, they also needed three days to get the parts.  We ended up finding a nice hotel and settling in instead of risking to drive any further with the forks losing oil and dripping all over my brake pads.

Peru has very interesting terrain.  We used the word "bizarre" to describe it several times.  We would drive through a vast desert for a while, then it would be a coastline.  Then it would be a coastline and a desert.  Then we would be in the mountains.  And there would be thick, thick fog.  And then it would all repeat.  And in maybe 50 minute cycles.  The roads here are all over the place.  Often times it was like driving on an alien planet.

More Pisco Sours!  Celebrating a successful road day for sure!

While driving through Lima, on a busy three lane highway without shoulders, my left pannier randomly fell off.  It skidded a few hundred yards down the highway and came to rest in the middle of one of the lanes of traffic.  I pulled over to the shoulder, and Ryan joined me, effectively blocking a second lane of traffic.  I jogged back down the highway to retrieve the box, which was surprisingly easy because we were already blocking two lanes of traffic, and then I lugged it back to the bike.  Some guy on a bicycle cart stopped short of us to help block traffic.  The whole thing was stupid.  The skittering down the highway did some superficial damage to the box, but my camping gear was strapped to the top.  I wore some holes in my tarp and tent.

I had to replace the tarp and, wouldn't you know it, Arequipa has a tarp store.  For 20 Nuevo Soles I was able to get a 2 meter x 2 meter orange tarp.

OMG YES.  The hotel we picked has both hot water in the shower and coffee!  I haven't had coffee since we left Cartegena and I haven't had a hot shower in more than a month.  It's like being in heaven!

Having down time has allowed us to take care of some other maintenance issues.  My windshield bracket broke again on the gnarly mountain roads. 

Heading into the weekend the bike shop has not yet fixed the bike.  There is a lot of confusion as to whether the parts are even in the mail.  Though Arequipa is the second largest city in Peru, it is still isolated enough that best case scenario the parts would have been here in three days.  With the weekend, we are already looking at five.  For most travelers this is no big deal, but most Pan-American travelers are spending two to three years on the trip while we are looking at 100 days.  It's so frustrating, all we want is to be on the road.  Hopefully soon there will be a followup post showing you that we've made it out of this town.