Miss Billie Didn't Start

Yes, I rode to work today.

And . . .

This morning Miss Billie, my beloved Symba, didn't start. I pushed her out of the garage as I always do, turned on the key, and touched the starter button. She tried to start once and then just went dead. There was nothing. She just went dead. The pigtail on the battery was blinking green meaning the battery was charged. I would have been worried if I hadn't been having this problem intermittently for some time. I've suspected it had something to do with switch on the brake which registers the brake is engaged in order for the bike to start. Often times if I played around with the brake lever it would turnover and start. If it didn't I'd just use the kickstarter and away we'd go. This morning it didn't play out that way. Billie was just as dead when I tried to kickstart her. Needless to say, Isabelle, my Kymco People 250S, got to go to work for the second day in a row. Of course, that presented its own problem.

Last night on my way home from class I noticed Isabelle needed gas but I was tired and just wanted to get home. I calculated I had plenty of gas to get home and still allow me to go to my favorite filling station sometime over the weekend. I chose to wait. My choice to wait meant getting gas before work this morning. This ruled out going to the cafe for my usual breakfast. It was an opportunity to see just how flexible the "head injured guy" could be. I'm grateful to report I handled it well enough. The details are boring but involved tuna and some growling to keep co-workers at a safe distance until all the ducks returned to their row.

I came home a different way and took another photo of the old South Side National Bank Building. It had been a particularly taxing day at work. I was doing things I enjoy, just too much of it crammed into too little time. Even though I was eager to get home and try to start Billie again, it seemed a good idea to take some ride therapy first.

When I did get home Billie was just as dead as she'd been in the morning. In one way I'm glad. We'd not been able to diagnose the problem, because it would never duplicate for Mike. Now I'm hopeful whatever was breaking or coming loose has done so. I'm confident if it's broke Mike can fix it. Billie is due for an oil change and she has new rear brake pads just arrived from Taiwan waiting to be installed.  It will be next Tuesday before the stars align and she can go into the shop, until then Isabelle will be my daily ride. I'm grateful to have the backup.

• 76F/24C and a few clouds for the ride to work.
• 91F/33C with an overcast, but bright sky to ride under on the way home.