Day 7 Challenges

 Today started out pretty cold.  We all bundled up.  As we traversed the rest of Michigan, a little Wisconsin, and entered Minnesota, the temperature slowly rode to 80+, sunny all the way.

Yesterday, I thoroughly enjoyed the Rapide and was bombing along today when mid-day it all went pear-shaped again. The engine died all of a sudden and I had to pull over.  A loose battery tie allows the battery strap to touch the terminals and short circuit burned the wiring to the electronic ignition.  This was not repairable at the side of the road.  I had to do the walk of shame to the chase trailer, load up the Rapide and deploy a TrIumph.  This one turned out to be a major surprise.   It is a heavily modified Triple pumped up to a whopping 1,000cc.  Even better it had updated suspension and a comfy seat.  Triple megaphones complete this awesome beast.

The dynamics of this bike are totally different.  The first thing you notice is torque, not just power.  Even better, the steering and handling are a big step up from the standard T160.  This was a thoroughly enjoyable ride.  Below is part of the lunch lineup

Something significant happened yesterday that I did not find time to mention.  At the start of Day5, we had the full complement of Vincents on the road.  This lasted barely an hour.  The front axle on Ian's Rapide loosened and backed right out.  The wheel collapsed to one side.  Fortunately, very fortunately the mishap occurred at a very low speed.  Ian had slowed right down for a stray dog that appeared just at the right time.  He was able to stop the bike without further carnage to man or machine.  It is not just bikes.  One of the trailers blew out a wheel bearing.  Some of the crew were dispatched to find parts.  That put this trailer, and its essential content (beer), delayed for 6 hours tonight.  

So we are back to being down two Vincents.  The rest is medical and I will not site names out of respect for personal privacy.  One of our men took a day off because he was not feeling well.  Another has a bad leg and was having difficulty starting the Vincent.  So he trailered it in favour of his electric start 850 Norton.  There are many others suffering pain and fatigue.  Make no mistake, this is a grind on all the people, including the crew.  There is a list of things to fix.  Some things can be done now.  Others need parts or time that will be available during our break at Deadwood.  In spite of it all, there is a wonderful esprit de corps that keeps everyone going.

Today ended on a positive note as we were greeted by local Minnesotans. Doug Cooper and his friend Dave.  We are posing with my Rapide.