The Allegheny Mountain Chapter Road Run. June 10-12, 2019 Ligonier. PA
This is a compilation of my Facebook posts from this road run. Even with the weather and the issues I had with the bike, it was a fabulous trip that gave me even more confidence in myself and my bike.
June 7, 2019:
So the day approaches. Tomorrow I leave for PA on my shovel. I’ve been planning and working toward this trip since December. Kind of gave a specific purpose and deadline to the shovel project. My plan was to finish the bike by the end of March, get it on the dyno in April, and then have it waiting in my garage for any decent day in May to test ride. I wanted to have about 500 miles on the bike before I took it out of state.
However, a few unplanned delays pretty much destroyed that dream. The reality is that I have been able to put about 160 miles on the bike after I finally finished it May 31. They have been uneventful miles, with the exception of having a little trouble popping the bike into neutral once. After I let it cool down, it went right in, and I haven’t had any trouble since. So that is good.
All the work we’ve done is holding together, and the bike is running great. But I’m still a bit anxious about taking what is still, to me, an unproven bike, on a 230 mile ride to PA, do probably another 300+ miles of riding there over 3 days, and another 230 miles home. 800 miles on a relatively unproven bike.
I’m not anxious enough to scotch my plans – it has been a real champ in those 160 miles. But it’s an old bike. I’ve done a lot to it, but there is a lot I haven’t done. And it’s not a bike that I can just pull into a dealer and say, hey, I need a part for a ’74 FLH. That doesn’t happen. Ever.
So I’m going for it with the attitude that whatever happens, happens, and I will deal with it. I’m not the kind to borrow trouble, but I’m not foolish enough to think that nothing could happen. If I happen to cross your mind this next week, just send me a good thought, or prayer, or whatever you might do to wish me well.
Life is too short to sit home, and this bike is too damn cool NOT to ride.
The ride to PA was relatively uneventful; however, I had one scramble moment just before I saddled up to go. I had added a 12v outlet in behind the headlight to plug my phone in to use GPS, and the vibration of the bike shook the USB connection loose. So as I was getting ready to leave the driveway, I noticed that the phone wasn’t on charge like it should have been.
I knew right away what the problem was. I’d already had it shake loose once, but I thought I’d taped it together tight enough. Nope. So here I was at the last minute, taking my headlight apart to fix the situation. No way my phone would make it powered up for 6 hours without a constant power source. I hate getting in and out of that headlight nacelle. It has steel screws going into aluminum holes. You have to be super careful re-tightening the screws – get them tight enough to not rattle loose, but don’t reef down on them and strip the threaded holes. I’m nervous as a cat every time, and it seems I have been constantly in and out of that damn nacelle.
So I taped the connections together yet again, and headed out. A little nervous – some butterflies. I still had no idea what my gas tank range was before I hit reserve, and I still felt the bike was unproven, but off I went. I found my range was around 180 miles. The first time. I’ve hit reserve as low as 135 miles, and as high as 180.
The ride was uneventful, really. Just a kick to be riding the bike that I’d tilted with for the better part of six months. I was actually so proud of myself, I could hardly feel the ground under my boots when I walked, in all honesty.
On the ride, I had a lot of time to think about how I was going to actually fix that 12v port and connections so it wouldn’t loosen up again. I knew that my electrical tape job was a hack. Actually, my final fix was also a hack, albeit a permanent one. When I got to PA and checked in, I pulled my luggage off the bike, put it in the room, and immediately got my tools out. Pulled the headlight nacelle apart again, and set about cobbling that power connection together.
I had brought a tube of silicone with me, so I pulled all the electrical tape off the connections, and tested the entire thing. It was good. No issues with the components. So I pulled the first connection apart – the 12v port and the USB adapter. I siliconed around the two components, then wrapped the entire thing in electrical tape. Tested, and I still had power through the connection.
I pulled the second connection apart – the USB adapter and the USB charging cable that ran to my handlebars. I silicone those two components together, wrapped them in electrical tape and tested for power again. All good. Done. Buttoned up the headlight, and I was all set.
The road run was a lot of fun. I saw some people I knew, met some new friends, and did some challenging rides. I’m not much for mountain riding. I simply don’t like near any real mountainous routes, so when I get into that kind of riding, I have to slow down and kind of think my way through the curves until I get the hang of it again. I have to do this every time. It is what it is, and I don’t lose sleep over it.
However, the tires that were on my bike from the previous owner were kind of squared off like a car or sidecar tire. They made for some sketchy handling in the PA mountains with riders easily sweeping through the mountain curves. There was no easy sweeping on my bike. It felt really weird to lean the bike too far – it felt like the tires were pushing back on me when I’d lean too far into that square corner of the tire. So I had to slow way down and kind of counter steer the bike. I dealt with it, but I definitely decided to pull those tires off that bike when I got home and put some daggone Dunlops on it.
Add to the square tire situation the fact that we had rain the very first day of the ride. I’d never ridden this bike in the rain, so I had no idea how it would handle. I’m a veteran of rain riding in general, but never on this bike. The bike did pretty well, but I learned that it was a combination of rain and certain types of road surfaces that affected how the bike felt. Most surfaces were fine. Other surfaces made the bike feel like it was dancing under me.
All in all, it was fine. Better than I anticipated, which was good since the day I rode home, it rained the entire day across my entire route. That morning it was pouring pretty good, so I just waited it out. They were calling for about an hour window where it would lighten up a bit, so I took my time getting ready. Packed the bike, then got into full battle rattle against the elements. Even my luggage has rain gear!
The ride home was wet, but again, uneventful. When I pulled into my driveway, I was the happiest girl in the world! I had just pulled off what many thought I could not do. What I wasn’t totally confident I could do. But here I was. In my driveway. Successful.
Never one to be satisfied with what I’ve accomplished, I’d already begun formulating a plan to ride the Atomic Shovel to the Music City Road Run in Lebanon, TN in September.
The Atomic Shovel 