We started the day with a late lunch in Phan Rang. This seems to be the routine throughout the trip. Pack our backpacks after a good night sleep, check out, have lunch in town, and gas up before the journey.
Our plan was to head to Nha Trang, a beach city by the east coast known for tourist and resorts. As black sole has been fighting his sickness for too long, he wants to find a clinic there, as the small towns we been to lacks any proper clinic. As he hasn’t t been able to eat much without visiting the WC instantly.
We decided to avoid QL1, the big highway along Vietnam, where there a lot of truck traffic. We decided to go around the Nui Trang national park by the coast, looks like there might be a small section of gravel road before reaching QL1 again.
So far along Vietnam, this section of roads has been our favorite. It has one of the most magnificent scenery, mixed with local culture.
It started with leaving Phan Rang, just east of the city, we were greeted by amazing salt fields and water along the way.
Further down the way near the park, we were going through desert roads with the mountain backdrop scenery. Cactus growing along the side, open smooth road cutting through the valley, its so cowboy. Once we made it to the small villages, the local culture become the new scene. Huge dual water buffalo pulled carts along the small narrow streets, with locals sweeping the sun dried rice ready for bagging.
Then the road leads to the most magnificent coastal scene. Picture perfect scenery with rocky mountains on our left, and the waves of the China Sea on our right.
All is picture perfect until we start reaching the hill. All of sudden my bike starts jerking up the hill. Can’t put the power down. For a moment it felt I was going to be out of gas soon, can that be possible? Stopped to check the tank, more than 2 litres left, enough for another 100 kms. What can be wrong??
For a moment I thought the overdue chain slack is causing it. But the jerking seems to be happening on 2nd gear only. So chain isn’t the problem. Bike starts up find, rev freely throughout the whole RPM range with clutch in. So engine is good, clutch is good. But why can’t I shift gears anymore with the clutch engaged, can’t get into 3rd gear or 4th.
Shut down the engine, same thing, cant shift into 3rd, and the tranny feel very hard to shift, even the tranny ceased came to mind. One more test to rule out clutch problem, clutchless shifting. Still stuck, so clutch is good.
Btw, what a perfect scenery to be troubleshooting. Took the moment to absorb the scene.
The more I try breaking down the problem, the more it came to a conclusion tranny is busted. I only have 1st gear to use, 2nd is useless, as for 3rd and 4th gears, cannot get into those. The only way of getting 1st gear is shut off the engine, roll the bike back and forth until it goes into 1st. Then start the bike, use 1st gear to go up the hill, clutch in while going downhill so that the bike can go faster than 20km/h without blowing the engine. Every time I try other gears, it ends up having to stop the bike, and repeat the process getting into 1st gear with the engine off.
With the picture perfect scenery, perfect newly paved empty road along the mountain with the coastal view, it kinda a big tease that the bike cant go faster, making the moment perfect.
Human are persistent at trying and never give up. The reward of such persistence is that the bike managed to get into 3rd gear. The perfect gear for the speed needed to bank around the corners of the mountain. The perfect moment has arrived. 3rd gear rocks the day!
We made to a small town of Cam Ranh just 60kms short of Nha Tran, without needing to push a mile. Even thought the bike broke down, it hasn’t set a negative tone for the day, the day is perfect.
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