Project Day, and mountain biking

Before we arrived in Huntington, WV my friend Richard sent me an email asking if there were any "fix it" projects in which he could assist me.  I promptly emailed him back advising my dash A/C needed recharging, and I needed help locating the tachometer (RPM's) generator/sending unit that had stopped working all the way back in October of 2010.  He said he would be more than happy to assist.  If the truth were known, and it is, Richard loves this kind of stuff.  He calls it "treasure hunting". While he is a chemical engineer by degree and trade, he loves working on mechanical things.  He even went to the extent of becoming a certified A/C technician so he could work on, and service his own Newell A/C.  When we were in Creede, CO at the Newell mini rally back in 2009 he helped me with a freon  leak up front, and then recharged my system then, too.

Richard is a punctual guy, and in some cases, like Sunday, he arrived early....eager to start "treasure hunting".  The first order of business was to help me locate the broken tachometer generator/sending unit.  First he checked the front fuse panel under the dash to see what color wire Newell used to run from the Stewart-Warner tachometer on the instrument panel in front to the engine bay in back.  Both wires were red and white striped, and, thankfully, Newell is consistent.....we ultimately found the two red and white striped wires (after wiping 30 years of gunk off more than a few wires) on the "front" side of the engine up near the turbo, and on the engine side of the radiator fan.

He disconnected the wires from the sending unit, and then connected them together.  Then we went up front to check "continuity" and found that the wiring was fine.  We checked the tachometer and found the same.  Now that we had isolated the malfunctioning culprit it was a matter of removing it to get a part number.  It is a VDO gauge (made by VDO in Germany) and they can be expensive....close to $200.  Well, now that I know where it is, and what it is I can source the part online, and when I am ready change it out myself.  This has been an almost 3 year odyssey for me.

Richard then turned his attention to recharging my the freon while I went inside to research the VDO sending unit online.  By the time I was done with my search, Richard had my dash A/C blowing icicles again!

Originally we had planned to go tandem riding with the girls in the afternoon, but the wind had come up and TLE had no interest in riding in the wind, so Richard suggested he and I get out the MTB's and go check out the single track at a local park called Barboursville Park.  I should have known what I was getting into, but it had been 6 months since I rode my Intense 5.5 mtb, and I was eager to get out in the dirt......if only I had any semblance of being in condition to ride that trail.  On the steep uphills I had to get off more than once to push my bike to the top.  There was a time just over a year ago when that would have been unthinkable.  In spite of my conditioning deficiencies I had a great time, and we ultimately covered just under 16 miles.  We started from Richard's home at 2 pm, and were back at Richard's home by 4:15 where we promptly stripped down to just our riding shorts and hopped in the jacuzzi, each with a Shiner Bock brew in hand.....after about an hour I began to believe I would not die after all.

TLE arrived at Richard and Rhonda's home around 5:20, and we then followed them over to a Chinese restaurant in Huntington called "Wonderful Restaurant".  Even if I didn't love Chinese food I would have to check this restaurant out based on the name alone.  The occasion for dinner out was the celebration of their oldest son, Tyler's 22nd birthday.  We had a fun time swapping mtb stories, and other tales over dinner.  The restaurant by the way gets 5 stars on Yelp, and 4.5 stars on Urbanspoon......we would both have to agree....some of the best Chinese food we have had in a long time.

We bid our hosts adieu in the parking lot and headed for our "home" arriving around 8:30.  I watched the NCAA women's basketball semi final games and then went to bed around midnight....okay, I fell asleep in the recliner for about 90 minutes.  When I awoke around 11:30 TLE was sound asleep in bed.  The Notre Dame v. UConn game was in it's final 8 minutes, so I watched the end.  Louisville (from the first game) prevailed over Cal State, and UConn advanced to the final game by beating Notre Dame. 

We were originally going to leave Huntington on Monday, but we are going to extend our stay a couple of days, and depart on Wednesday.

Thanks for stopping by!