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Published: August 14th 2015
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Distance driven today: 421 miles / 678 km
Cumulative distance driven: 15,003 miles / 23,531 km
Today’s trip: Buenos Aires to Bahia Blanca, Argentina
Record in longest distance driven in a day: yes
Record in wettest ride ever: it poured down for 10 straight hours
More clutch issues: unfortunately yes
I left the hotel in Buenos Aires at 7am, in order to put in a really long day and make headway toward Tierra del Fuego. Unfortunately, it was raining when I left Buenos Aires, and it continued to rain hard for the next 10 hours. But a little bit of rain was not what made today’s riding probably the second most challenging day of this trip. It wasn’t even the very strong wind, blowing from the east across the open plains, at over 40 mph / 60 kmh. Having said that, the wind gusts did threaten many times to blow me off the road, and generally made me constantly lean in to it, at a rather uncomfortable angle. By 10am I was completely soaked, and the visibility started to get really bad due to all the water spray that trucks and buses stirred up on
the road. Early on during the day, it was evident that this was not going to be an enjoyable ride. The only goal of today was to the destination of the day, which in this case was Bahia Blanca. Incidentally, riding in the flat and straight roads between Buenos Aires and Bahia Blanca, I also broke my previous record for the longest distance driven in a single day. I only wish that the 421 miles / 678 km driven were under better and more agreeable weather conditions.
By noon I hit a massive queue on the road, easily stretching for 8 km / 5 miles while the torrential downpour never wanted to even take a short break. Being the only motorcycle on the road, I could at least easily ride on the shoulder of the road, and pretty quickly bypass the endless line of buses and trucks that had formed. At the front of the queue were multiple ambulances and police cars. Unfortunately, the very strong wind gusts had made a car suddenly lose control and slam into the front of an oncoming truck. The driver and passenger were killed instantly. For the second time in less than two
weeks, I got another stark reminder of the traffic dangers.
In the afternoon, while being completely soaked through all clothing layers, I started feeling the effect of the chilling wind; both from the gusts as well as from the normal wind due to the speed. With temperatures just a few degrees above freezing, I started feeling a bit miserable. With no city or town for at least a few hours, there was no option but to continue riding south. Just when I thought that the situation couldn’t get any worse, the old clutch problems returned with a vengeance. This time the problem seemed to be worse than ever before, making it practically impossible to engage the clutch and change gears. Cold, wet, and tired, I could suddenly sense that this time this problem might spell the end of the trip. I decided to follow the advice of Jan Eliasson and simply take one hell at the time. Now it was all about getting to Bahia Blanca, drying myself and all my clothes, before figuring out what the clutch issue would mean for the rest of the trip.
Well at Bahia Blanca, I went straight to the local Walmart
and bought two hairdryers! Together with the hairdryer in the room, I have been busy drying various clothing items for 3 straight hours now. While waiting for the dryers to cool down, I decided to call the BMW moto dealership in Seattle and ask the very knowledgeable and professional technicians there for advice regarding the clutch. After carefully explaining the symptoms, and what was done during yesterday’s full service in Buenos Aires, the service technicians in Seattle concluded that this was most likely a more severe issue than first thought. They believe that there is a leak somewhere between the clutch actuator and the actual clutch discs inside the engine case. Since the clutch handle, clutch line and the fluid in the line are all new and/or very recently serviced and tested, our conclusion is that there is a hydraulic leakage somewhere inside the clutch itself, causing the clutch to feel very soft and hard to engage. This, the friendly BWM technicians in Seattle explained to me, is a major repair, and big parts of the entire clutch assembly must be removed to repair it.
After some deliberation (ok, I admit that I had to think long and hard
about it in the evening), and with just under 4 days left to reach Tierra del Fuego, I have reached the conclusion that the only sensible thing to do is to return to Buenos Aires and finish the trip. It is simply not advisable, or rather possible, to drive the remaining 2,500km / 1,600 miles to Ushuaia and the return to Buenos Aires with the current condition of the clutch. Also, in a vain attempt to post-rationalize the inevitable decision to return to Buenos Aires, I told myself that the close to freezing temperatures, and the fact that it is currently snowing in Ushuaia, would have made it hard to reach much further south anyway.
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Tot: 0.072s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 10; qc: 31; dbt: 0.0454s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb