Man you ever had one of those days???????

Ok, I put off changing the front brakes on the Road King long enough.  So Today Laura and I were going to take an afternoon ride down to the San Diego area to visit a couple friends camping at the beach.  So I figure no problem... get up, go out in the garage and change the front brake pads.  Normally just a 45 minute to and hour job, maybe a little longer if my son was the last one in the tool box and I have to search for stuff.

Got my coffee, got the bike up on the lift and the football game on the garage TV and I'm ready to go.  Five minutes in the first problem... one of the bolts holding the caliper to the fork is on tighter then crap. No problem, get a longer handle ratchet and muscle that thing off... but of course it strips the bolt head instead - I hate those external star bolts.  I figure not that big of a deal I'll just drill head off, drop the front tire and take the caliper off from the back and go get a new bolt.

Ok, did that and now I'm running a little behind schedule and also not in the best frame of mind - frustrated to say the least!  So I get the pads in on both sides and lower the bike off the lift, but the friggin kickstand was up so I lower the bike and it lowers down and falls straight over on its left side.  And to top it off the cover was off the brake fluid resovoir so there is brake fluid all over the bike and windshield.   I yell for my son and we get the bike back up.  No damage, but now I'm really not in a good mood.

I proceed to bleed the brakes - no problems there, but I'm still in a bad mood so when I go to move that bike lift out of the way to go for a test ride I just give it a good push with my foot to roll it across the garage floor.  Well it runs in to the open bottle of brake fluid and the coffee can with the brake fluid from bleeding the brakes and sends them both spewing brake fluid all over the garage floor.  So by the time I cleaned all that up my 45 minute brake job lasted almost 4 hours.  Just one of those days.

But once I got on the bike with Laura right there behind me and hit we hit Pacific Coast Highway with the ocean breeze in my face it was a whole new day and all was good in my world again! 

Why is it the simple jobs turn out to be the worst ones to do. lol

I've had more than one of those days. ;-) . I sometimes have to walk away, take a coffee break, and start over where I left off. It's good you got your ride in, though.

Same here when a small job turns into s--t walk away go get a coffee calm down and go back to it. Works for me sometimes.

Murphy's Law is a bitch. One of those days? Man, if I had a nickle for every time something went south, when I just needed to do something relatively simple, I'd be a comfortable lassy. Honestly, tho, the frame of mind you have, really does dictate the outcome. And if, by chance, things DO start to fall apart? Take the best advice out there, and take a break. Have a coffee or a cold one, whatever floats your boat. (although I don't recommend alcohol if you're going to be riding.) Coming back at something, with a fresh mind, and a cool head, will make things go one helluva lot easier. Not to mention, safer, if you are working on your bike.
Ride Free
Tweek

Sorry Lucky but I was laughing my ass off while reading your story, only because it sounded to close to home. Hey at least your son was there to help with lifting the bike back up.
This is what I hate......you go to remove something and hear a couple of springs, clips or whatever shoot accross the garage under something really heavy......SHIT what was that, and where did it go.
Dragon

The ride was great except for Laura's helmet continually smacking the back of mine while I got used to the new brakes. Good thing we wear helmets or Laura would have one serious bloody nose!!!!

Tough day there Lucky, glad you found some peace while riding.

That's funny about the helmet clashing!

We have a term for those whether its the car or bike. Oh it a 20 minute job and there goes the afternoon. Glad to hear the ride and the wind but things back in to prospective.