Yeah. My car broke down. I loaded my the tough little bastard so I could drive back to Boulder. I got in my car and thought to myself, “I hope it starts” which is a common thought that runs through my head when getting in it after not using it for several days. It coughed. I tried again, the cough sounded even worse. I waited like 20 minutes, and no luck. then I tried to jump it. No luck there either. Then I noticed that the starter was smoking. I thought, “Sweet. FIRE FIRE!” Ok, no, I didn’t think that. I had to accept the fact that I was stuck. I got my car towed to the only repair shop in breck. They were really nice there, but told me it would be 70 bucks JUST to diagnose the problem, and then an additional 400 bucks to fix it on top of that if it actually was the starter. My dad and I worked on my car and replaced it back in Dec.
Back when my car died in Dec. No, that is not MY Z06 Corvette.
Poor tough old bastard. He’ll make it.
So I reinstated my AAA Plus so it’ll be a free tow back to Boulder in the morning. Unfortunately I’m still out 70 bucks for the diagnostic testing and 50 bucks for my palace of a hotel tonight. 😉 Some of my man friends have offered very nicely to help me work on it for food or a bit of cash. That’ll save me 250 bones. Until then, I’m working in a very nice coffee shop in Breck called Clint’s. I’m going to warranty the part so at least I can afford a cappuccino this week! 🙂 Too bad my legs are totally destroyed or I’d do another big ride today. At least I have my Cannondale Scalpel to commute around town in style. My camera is unfortunately dead, or I would have gotten you pics of the tow truck in action. haha
Hi Sonya-found your blog looking at Leadville stuff. My wife and I will be in Breck next week. Hope we get better weather (and no car trouble)! Can’t wait to ride in the mountains again. We’ve been going there over 10 years and staying at Beaver Run. I recoginize the buildings in the background of your photos. Looking forward to 90 Shilling beer, Breckenridge Brewery, the Blue Moose, and Clint’s coffee!
YES!! All very good choices. Have fun in Breck. The weather should be nicer. 🙂
You got away lightly with only broken glasses and a bit of a bump, I reckon..
I did the same thing last year, 1 week old glasses exploded as I smacked my head into some cobbles, first thing I checked was that my nose wasn’t broken as I hit it *really* hard, magically not a single mark on me, had a sore neck for a few days though.
Hope you get the car fixed for not-much-money.
Are you watching the British and the great ‘Haul of China’ (gold medals) in Beijing?
Come and live in the UK if you’re serious about riding your bicycle! The weather’s shite (no tan lines) but we’ve got IPA & we’ll get you a gold medal!
The starter shouldn’t be bad if you just replaced it in December. Did they check the connections on the starter? Many times the wires can come loose or get corroded…that will cause the problem you describe. It will also cause the smoking (bad connection between two metal parts with one giving off an electrical charge and one receiving it will cause this). With all of the moisture you talked about leading up to this that also could have played a role. Moisture and cold weather tend to bring out issues in cars. The car you have is also known for starter issues…good running car…will last forever…but does have a few small issues here and there and the starter is one of them. Might not be a bad idea to get the warranty like you talked about.
Sorry for the long post…but I’m a bit of a car guy…and always lend advice when I can. Hope this info. helps you out.
Umm…yeah…the Z-06…totally badarse!!! 🙂