Friggin Petcock

[Charles Scappaticci]

I haven't gotten my new petcock yet, but since Saturday was supposed to 
be a sunny day in the low 80's, I decided I had to go for a nice ride 
and offered to take my ex on a ride through Rocky Mountain National 
Park.  We figured this would also be a chance to finally test my Autocom 
intercom out as it's sat unused for the past year since I bought it.  A 
friends Friday night emergency made for a late night, so we decided to 
at least ride Mt. Evans and have lunch at our favorite cafe in the 
hills.  Also, I could empty the tank for the petcock swap out next week.

Since the new petcock hasn't arrived yet, I figured no sweat, I'll just 
hook it back up and it will be fine for the day.  I removed the bolt I'd 
stuck in the hose and reattached it to the filter as it dribbled all 
over my hands.  This turned out to be the first of several soakings of 
gas.  I started it to warm up, oiled the chain and started to get my 
coat on, only to notice it was leaking badly.  I turned it off and saw 
the hose had torn above the hose clamp so I cut it off and reattached 
it, started it back up and got dressed.

We headed out on C-470 along the foothills and enjoyed the intercom 
which was working very well.  A little before I got to US 285, I noticed 
my left foot was cold in the morning air, but warmer temps were coming 
so I ignored it.  About a half mile farther I felt a cylinder drop out, 
and since I'd left the house with a half tank I took a look at the gas 
gauge and saw it said empty.  I pulled over as another cylinder dropped 
out and saw the gas line hanging in the breeze and understood why my 
left foot had been cold, it was soaked with gas.  The line had broken 
off just above the clamp which I thought was odd, but I cut it cleanly 
and once again reattached it and we hit the closest gas station for a 
couple of bucks of gas.

We got back on the road again, but my left foot was burning from the gas 
soaking, so we stopped in Idaho Springs and I bought a cheap pair of 
socks, washed my left foot which was a bright red, changed the sock and 
headed up Mt. Evans.  We had a nice and uneventful ride and made it the 
Country Roads Cafe about 1:00 and sat down right as my friend Tim 
DeScala showed up on his 1200GS.   We had an excellent lunch and made 
plans to try to take next Friday off and he, I and my friend Bruce tow 
our dirt bikes down to Lake City and then ride over to Silverton and 
spend the night at the Bent Elbow and then try to ride over to Telluride 
and Ouray on Saturday and go home on Sunday.  I've been wanting to do 
this for a couple of years and with the aspen turning it should be an 
excellent ride.  We had an uneventful ride home and once the motor was 
cool, I drained the remaining gas from the tank and am ready for the new 
petcock.  I guess my one boot will spend winter in the garage until it 
stops stinking like gas so much, LOL!

Charles S.