I was riding South today towards Ushaia when the connecting link on my chain snapped. I could hear something clacking near the tire but I assumed that it was the annoying plastic mud guard coming a part again after just fixing it. Did I mention that my speedometer quit working yesterday and my neutral light will not turn off today. If you are doing a grand voyage do not take a post 2000 F650! I am going to post up a picture of how dirty and chewed up my hands look from working on the bike every day.Now I will return to the subject of being robbed in La Rioja, Argentina. While trying to figure out how to take the chain off several kids showed up and started asking me questions for 15 minutes. I was frustrated and did not really want to answer all their questions but at the same time I did not want to come across as a jerk.
I took my rear tire off and placed it a few feet behind the bike because I did not want the kids to mess with it. (In Colombia a guy used my rear tire as a chair.) One of the kids went over and picked up my tire while I was concentrating on the bike and I ran over and stopped him just before he was about to put the rotor on the ground. After that all of a sudden the kids took off and they made off with most of the tools in my tool kit.
Wow, was I ever surprised that people would have the nerve to rob you of your tools when your bike was broken down! Some people truly are heartless!
I am going to stay here in La Rioja a couple of days and try to track these kids down. The more I look for them, the more I think I will not be able to find them. I know that 2 of the kids have lip piercings so that makes conducting a search worth it, but this city is a lot bigger than I had thought intitally.
All in all, I would rather risk being friendly and having something like this happen rarely than being an jerk and just telling the kids to go away. I guess next time I will keep a closer eye on my stuff though.
I took my rear tire off and placed it a few feet behind the bike because I did not want the kids to mess with it. (In Colombia a guy used my rear tire as a chair.) One of the kids went over and picked up my tire while I was concentrating on the bike and I ran over and stopped him just before he was about to put the rotor on the ground. After that all of a sudden the kids took off and they made off with most of the tools in my tool kit.
Wow, was I ever surprised that people would have the nerve to rob you of your tools when your bike was broken down! Some people truly are heartless!
I am going to stay here in La Rioja a couple of days and try to track these kids down. The more I look for them, the more I think I will not be able to find them. I know that 2 of the kids have lip piercings so that makes conducting a search worth it, but this city is a lot bigger than I had thought intitally.
All in all, I would rather risk being friendly and having something like this happen rarely than being an jerk and just telling the kids to go away. I guess next time I will keep a closer eye on my stuff though.
BTW: Sorry for not posting pictures in a while. The internet in Boliva was horrible and so far all the Argentinian computers have been great except they all have firewalls that will not let me upload pics to this website. I am staying with a couchsurfer in a couple days and hopefully he will have a computer I can use.
Dang, I hope you find some tools. I don`t know how your planning to get back to the states? I`m sure you heard by now but sounds like Columbia vs. Venezuala & Eqador are about to go to war? Borders are shut down right now. Good luck.
Posted by: kyle | March 03, 2008 at 09:18 PM