Well it seems Bolivia was not quite finished with giving me some challenges. As I was prepping to head out from Uyuni to the southern town of Tupiza. A tour operator who was not paying attention when backing up knocked Fred over snapping my front break lever off.
Now anyone who rides will understand that the majority of breaking power on a motorcycle comes from the front and not the rear. And to add to this when they washed the salt off my bike the day prior they sprayed my bike down with a water/petroleum mixture to prevent rust. Problem was that they also carelessly sprayed my brake discs as well and now I have rear breakpads with oil on them.
So what does this mean? I now have to travel 220km off road with no front breaks and barley working rear breaks.
Eight hours of constant washboard, sand patches, water crossings and high winds I arrive in Tupiza exhausted but safe. For trivia buffs Tupiza is near the town of San Vincent where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid finally met there demise.
So now that I am all settled in it is time to deal with finding a replacement lever for the front break. No problem I will just drive the bike around town to various moto parts shops and see what I can find.
Or maybe not!
Seems I somehow picked up a flat overnight. Well at least I have all the tools to remove the front tire this time.
So, long story short.
I was able to customize a front break, clean the back break pads and get the flat fixed.
Bolivia threw everything it had at me but I was up for the challenge.
Adios Bolivia until we meet again.
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