Passes & Canyons Blog

Judy and I had just finished eating lunch, after I had been out taking the Honda CB750 for a run. The phone rang and Paul on the other end said “I have your motorcycle bag. I picked it up off the road on Belleview.”

What!? Yes I had just been on Belleview but I ran out to the bike and the saddle bags were there. But Paul told me there were tools and other things in the bag and only then did I see that the bag that normally hangs off the back of the passenger rest was gone. Oh my gosh.

I took a quick look and saw that three of the zip ties that held the bag on had broken and the fourth had held, which meant that instead of breaking, the weight of the bag after the other three did break pulled the loop that all the zip ties were looped through right out of the bag. The zip tie and the loop were still there.

Of course that complicates putting the thing back on. If all four zip ties had broken I would just put it back on with four sturdier zip ties. Now I’m going to have to somehow get that loop stitched back into the bag.

How had this happened? In fact, I had just inspected the zip ties before I took the bike out and all looked fine. Those zip ties do break occasionally but I’ve never had more than one break at any time. I carry an extra one in that bag just for that purpose.

So I pondered all this as I headed over to Paul’s and once I had gotten it from him and was headed home it all started to gel. It was right about at the spot along Belleview where he found the bag that I had thought I hit one of the worst potholes ever, though I hadn’t noticed it riding along. Was it not that I hit a pothole, but that the bag fell off and its bouncing off the rear of the bike sent that jolt that I took to be a pothole?

Or did I perhaps in fact hit some really bad pothole and the force of the jolt momentarily lifted the bag up and then when it came down hard it managed to snap the zip ties all at once and then rip the fourth loop off?

I’m sure I’ll never know, but what a surprise. And thank you Paul for stopping to pick the bag up and looking inside to find my registration and then calling.

Biker Quote for Today

If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.