At 3am I got up and walked up to the bike, wanting to do what I could in the cool of the night. By torchlight I discovered the problem – the corrugations were so bad, that the back wheel had spun, causing the chain to over ride itself and jammed between the front drive sprocket and the swing arm pivot. It was so thoroughly jammed, that nothing could be done to free it. So I lay it on its side, and unbolted the rear sprocket. This enabled me to pull the chain off, and tie it to the swing arm. Adrenalin gave me the strength to lift the bike up on my own, kick the stone chock away, and gingerly roll the bike backwards down the hill to my camp – an inch at a time. By sunrise – 6am – the bushflies and the heat were back. The only shade I had was cast by a road sign. I sat on a folding chair on the side of the road, a shirt over my head , and a lacerated hand, to protect them from the flies. Nearly 6 hours later, I heard the sound of an approaching vehicle. Tim’s 4WD, and a one tonne ute from the Bedourie Motel, with two occupants. Between the four of us we were able to load the Kawasaki onto the ute, with all my gear, and heade back to Bedourie,100km to the south Photo below: front drive sprocket with chain jammed....... rear sprocket now loose, and chain freed to enable the back wheel to rotate
Posted on: Mon, 24 Jun 2013 10:15:48 +0000
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