Even MORE provision!!

So the Joker has a broken gas gauge and has had it since we bought it. But in being cheap, I havent spent the money to get it fixed. It's only about $10 with parts AND labor, but you know how easy it is to put that kind of stuff off . . .
But we have now ran out of gas TWICE because of it! :(

The first time was a Saturday. Jen and I decided to head to the lake to do our long Saturday run. That Sat it was suppose to be a 10k distance.



We had looked up the distance of the lake and saw that it was a 5k around 1 time. Perfect! 2x's around and we'll be done. We get there a little later than we wanted and discover that there is a race going on there that morning. We ended up having to wait till everyone was done, making it even later in the day and HOTTER!

We park the bike and start running.
well, 1/2 way through the first lap, i reeeally have to pee! there are bathrooms where we started, so i told Jen we would need to stop. we decided that we would check our time after the first lap and see if we could beat it on the 2nd lap.

we were REALLY surprised to see that our time was better than it had ever been before! we were so encouraged and excited that it gave us a little extra boost to run the 2nd lap even harder!

also for you to know- this is NOT flat terrain. many many hills are on this lap around the lake.
so- hungry, hot and thirsty (b/c we didnt plan on being there is late already) we headed into our 2nd lap. feeling really good and keeping up a really great pace the whole time. towards the end of the lap, Jen had gotten pretty far ahead of me. knowing that this was the last lap i'd have to do, i decided to kick it into High gear and catch up with her to finish at the same time. i dont know where i found the energy, but i managed to run those last 2-3 minutes at my Full speed and caught her Just as we reached our starting point!



we were SO tired, SO hungry and SO proud of ourselves for beating our best times ever! we started walking around just a little bit to cool down.
we were talking about our times and trying to figure out how in the world did we shave off so much time?!
well there were some other people still at the lake from the race earlier that morning and we started talking to one guy on our way back to our bike.
he was telling us about the race they did this morning.
about the 6k race they did . . .
WHAT?!
6k?? how many times did you guys go around??
twice- it's 3k around one time.
Nooooooo!!! you've gotta be kidding me!!!
no Wonder our times were SO good!!!
we had only done a 6k thinking we had done a 10k!!

by now it was around 11:30am, we hadn't eaten anything all day, we had no more water and the sun was HOT!! we both had on tanktops and were getting totally sunburned, had no sunscreen with us b/c we had planned on being home by now originally.
AND we find out we still have 4k to go!!

we decide to get on the bike and drive around to really see what the distance is. we both had given it such our all in our 2nd lap that we really didnt have the strength to go around again. we get on the bike and drive for about 30 seconds when it starts to spit and sputter and just DIE!
OUT.OF.GAS.
you've gotta be kidding me!!!
this lake is like 40 mins from town! we arent close to anyone!
we call Anne
can you bring us gas??
she was going to take at least an hour to get there.
starving, hot, sunburned.
Jen says- "well, i guess we could run around again and get in our mileage".
is she on crack?!
i think long and hard . . .
well, what else am i going to do for an hour??
jen runs and i walk.

we got in our mileage. we got some KILLER tan/burn lines. and Anne shows up with gas an hour and half later.



we had nothing to help us pour the gas into the tank with, so jen got creative and found a leaf to use!



The 2nd time we ran out of gas, i was by myself. i had run to buy some groceries and as i was driving home, the bike just started to sputter again and died on me. i'm thinking- i KNOW it cant be gas!! b/c the Saturday event above had just happened a few days ago and we havent driven this bike since except 1 time!
i'm on the side of a highway and i'm trying to call Jen- which there is no answer.
then some Thai guys stop, say all kinds of things i cant understand and then start loading my bike in to the back of their truck! i figured out that they were telling me it was out of gas and they would drive me to a gas station. they totally loaded my bike and strapped it in, one guy sat in the back with it. we drove first to a mechanic b/c i had told them that i didnt think it was the gas. but the mechanic confirmed that in fact it WAS out of gas. we proceeded to a gas station, had them fill it up and it started right away! it was about a 20 minute ordeal in total. i tried to pay them for their time and gas but they wouldnt take it and just said "Mai-pen-rai" which means a host of things here, but mainly- "No problem/Dont worry about/You're welcome".
What a blessing!!!
I had a picture of this on my phone, but i cant seem to find it now. so you'll have to use your imagination on this one!