Utah Road Run with the Atomic Shovel: Day 7

Posted byKaran AndreaPosted inUncategorized

Day 7

Albuquerque, NM to Kanab, UT

I have stayed on east coast time, and it’s a good thing… Getting up and out early pays off. This morning I was out a little after 6 a.m. Mountain time. The bike didn’t want to start that early, but she finally relented, and then I hit Home Desperate for a fender bolt. Got that repair done and hit the road. It was cold but no rain.
The ride today was glorious. New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. Every curve and hill revealed a new landscape. The rock formations and colors were incredible. I have no words. I was trying to think of the right words to describe what I was seeing, but there really aren’t any. It was so amazing to relax and just ride.
Of course, we all know that whole notion has a expiration time on it… The bike was running good, I was making great time. 40 miles out of Kanab, the bike stalled. It was doing this weird thing that I can’t really describe, but it would lurch forward like I had downshifted without slowing the bike down first. It has been doing it for a while, getting incrementally more frequent. Until it did it a bunch of times in a row and the bike stalled. On route 89. Narrow shoulder, thankfully it was at least flat, and I could get my kickstand down.
I thought maybe the bike was just hot. It WAS 95 degrees… So I sat by the side of the road for an hour, letting it cool down. I have to say, the spot my bike decided to stall was gorgeous, so it wasn’t horrible! After an hour, I tried starting it, and it fired right up, so off I went… My LAST 40 miles!!! About 15 miles down the road, it did it again. This time I knew it wasn’t hot because the temp had dropped and the air had cooled maybe 10 degrees. So I started it back up and rode on in.
I was relaying this fun tale to a fellow AMCA member and his wife, and he offered to take the bike for a ride and see if he could duplicate the problem. He did, and it did, and he said he thinks it is the fuel delivery. Very possible. The bike was tuned in NY and I am now in Utah. It started acting up as I rode in higher elevations, so it will be interesting to see if the issue clears up a I ride back east.
Regardless….
I. Am. Here!! 2238 miles… I missed the Bryce Canyon ride today, dammit. But tomorrow is Zion, and I may do Bryce Thursday while everyone else is doing the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

A beautiful place to wait out a hot motor.
Letting the motor cool, photos of the hotel and scenery in Kanab, and start/end odometer readings.

Published by Karan Andrea

I ride motorcycles, I live motorcycles, and I write about motorcycles. Both of my blogs are written for motorcyclists: atomicshovel.blog tells the never-ending story of my 1974 Harley-Davidson FLH, which I have named the Atomic Shovel. My other blog coachk.home.blog is written for riders of all skill levels, but is primarily aimed toward the rider who is transitioning from the riding range where they learned basic skills, to the open road. This blog address the most common questions I see in the online groups and forums: dealing with anxiety - yes, that is the number one question, navigating traffic, parking, holding your bike on an incline, just to mention a few. Much of what I write is simply drawn from my own experiences - successes, failures, do-overs. Nothing in either blog should be construed as the absolute one and only approach; rather, look at them as a starting point for your own discovery process.

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