Sehnert’s Bieroc Café RTE Ride Report

(you can click the photos and see them full size)

June 12, 2019

Last weekend I took a trip to Sehnert’s Bakery and Bieroc Café in McCook, Nebraska to meet some motorcycle friends for a Ride to Eat event. The idea was to enjoy a German meat pie called a bieroc.  Nebraska LD Rider Ralph Hanson organized it and convinced me to make the journey. McCook is about 1500 miles from my home near San Francisco, so it was going to be 3000 miles for lunch.  Along the way I would make a few stops as part of the States of Confusion Grand Tour, which is basically a complicated excuse to go places on a motorcycle. I had a route planned and my bike was ready to ride.

I left mid-day Thursday and rode to Wendover, UT. Here are some pictures of the Sierras and Donner Summit.

The Nevada desert was more green than I’ve ever seen it.

On Friday morning I said hi to Wendover Will, then hit the road eastbound.

I made a couple of bonus stops in Ogden, Utah, for the States thing. Then I took I-84 back to I-80, where I saw this nice snowy landscape.

I arrived as planned at Justin Phillipson’s house in Greeley, Colorado, just in time for dinner. (Lamb stew, yum!) I enjoyed meeting his wife Jordana, and talking about family histories. Then their cat slept on my lap.

On Saturday morning, Justin and I set out for Sehnert’s, a quick 225 miles away. I got a pic of him on the road. His middle finger must be broken.

About 90 miles into our ride, my bike broke (see below for details) and I pulled safely to the shoulder.

Justin doubled back to find me. Our RTE was over. We notified Ralph that we were going to miss lunch. AAA quickly arranged for a motorcycle trailer to collect me and the bike, and the driver towed me back to Greeley where a Harley Davidson shop had the right size tire in stock and could get me back on the road the same day.

While Justin and I waited for the tow truck to arrive, we dismounted the aux fuel tank so it would be safer to transport. Some good Samaritans had stopped and provided the necessary sledgehammer to get that done. It’s eastern Colorado, where everyone travels with a sledgehammer in their truck.

Justin rode his bike back home, got his van, picked me up at the shop, and took me for my first bieroc at a place in Greeley. (It’s known there as a Krautburger, but it was the same concept.) It was good, but I’m sure not as good as the one in McCook.

While we did that, the shop changed the tire and tidied up the mess underneath the fender that had caused the tire failure.  They gave me excellent service and reasonable labor prices. Justin and I put the fuel tank, still carrying 4.5 gallons of gasoline, into the van and went back to his place. There, we prepared it for transport strapped onto my passenger seat. I loaded up the smaller remaining parts into my saddlebags, and I pointed myself toward home. Justin was really fantastic at helping me through the crisis. I’m very thankful to have a friend like him.

Even though I missed the RTE in Nebraska, my schedule was unaffected, and I was able to stick with the plan for my return trip. That included a stop in Idaho Springs for the States rally, and a stopover with my brother-in-law and his wonderful wife in Carbondale, CO. They provided a much-needed shoulder to cry on, along with plenty of wine and great sleeping arrangements. (and more cats.) The next morning, I planned to ride the 1120 miles home in one shot, so I got an early start and said goodbye to Steve and Christine. Those guys are the greatest.

My ride home included a detour to Cleveland, Utah for the States rally.

From Cleveland I rode to Huntington and picked up UT State Highway 31 from Huntington to Fairview, which has the unwieldy official name of “The Energy Loop: Huntington/Eccles Canyons Scenic Byway.” Whatever they call it, I love this road! It has mile after mile of sweeping curves. It started in in a forest and climbed upward. Then at the top it turned into snow country. I took countless pictures of the snow, a thawed lake, and a still semi-frozen lake. I was grinning ear to ear the entire way.

From Fairview I found my way to US-50 in Delta, UT. Then it was familiar roads all the way home. I pounded out the miles and arrived home at 12:30 AM. I had covered the 1120 miles in 17.5 hours, including having to stop more often for gas because of my missing auxiliary fuel tank. And now we have answered the question: Can you get home from Steve’s house in one day? Answer = Yes.

Here's a link to an interactive map of my trip. Thanks, Spotwalla! 

Failure Analysis

Not long after we left Justin’s house on Saturday morning, I began smelling burning rubber. I thought maybe it was coming from a vehicle around me. When the smell persisted long enough, I realized it was probably me, but I didn’t know what was causing it. The bike rode and handled fine, and my TPMS wasn’t indicating any tire problems. I decided that whatever it was, it would make itself known whenever it was ready. So I kept going.

About 90 miles away from Greeley, the rear end started making some unusual noise, and I could feel rumbling from the seat. I coasted to the shoulder, dismounted, and quickly found what was happening. My auxiliary fuel tank, which is installed taildragger style on a trailer hitch behind the rear wheel, had turned into an actual taildragger. The trailer hitch bracket had partially failed. The tank didn't fall off completely, but it was suspended by less bracketry than usual. It had fallen against the rear wheel. The burning rubber that I had smelled for so long was the rubber mudflap between the tank and the tire, slowly rubbing itself away against the tire. When the mudflap finally disintegrated, the metal platform under the fuel tank was able to directly contact the rear wheel. It didn’t take long after that for the tire tread to get scraped away. After enough rubber was gone, the noise and vibration started and I pulled over.

We spent a good amount of time on the roadside deinstalling the tank. It wouldn’t have been smart to have a full gas tank dangling around the back of my bike while it was being towed. We jerry-rigged a few solutions to seal off the fuel line and the vent line and get the tank free of the mount. That was fun!

With the tank free of the bike we could see where the trailer hitch frame had failed. There was a tubular steel connection to both sides of the platform where the hitch receiver mounted. Justin observed that one side of the broken tube was rusty, so it had probably been broken for a while. That caused the tank to bounce around and eventually make the other side fail, which had a fresh break. When I replace this system I will try to get some reinforcing brackets welded in that area to better handle the stresses of the weight bouncing up and down. A normal trailer is more of a forward/back and side/side movement, not so much weight up and down.

Also, the next time I smell bad things I will stop and investigate, and not wait for it to fail. Pay attention, children. Don’t be dumb like me.

Darkside Analysis

The shop installed a motorcycle tire where I had previously been running a car tire. The first few miles around Greeley felt a little unusual. Once I got on the highway I adjusted to the feel. I soon realized that the bike handled MUCH better than it had with the car tire. The difference was mostly evident when leaned in a curve. The darkside bike always felt like it wallowed in the turns. I really dreaded hitting any sort of bump while leaned at speed, because the bike would bounce. Last summer I was riding in Oregon with Paul Peloquin, trying to keep up with his FJR on a super fun canyon road, and working extra hard to fight the wallowing. Even on this trip I noticed it again, and vowed to have my suspension looked at, and to possibly try a different tire pressure on the rear. Something definitely wasn’t right.

Once I had a motorcycle tire installed, I quickly knew what wasn’t right: The car tire! The bike no longer wallowed. My suspension was fine. I bombed down Glenwood Canyon on Saturday night, just absolutely loving my new bike’s handling. It was planted solidly. The next day on UT-31 I was scraping the sides of my boots and having a ball on that gorgeous road. Yeah, the car tire really sucked compared to the bike tire. I had been using a run-flat tire, and a low pressure (32) recommended by a trusted friend. I’ve been watching the darkside group on facebook, and they like higher pressures on non-RF tires but low pressures for the RF. So I think I had that right. Maybe I would like the feel of a non-RF tire next time. But wait – there will be no next time. I don’t ride with a passenger very often, I don’t ride at high speeds in Nevada very often, so there’s no safety justification for darkside any more. Screw the mileage advantage, I like my bike to handle like a bike, not a tank. Flame on, darksiders!