Day 14 -Another Day Off?

 All we had to do on Tuesday was a short 60-mile hop from Boise, Idaho into Ontario, Oregon.  A little extra was added to add interest including lunch at The Riverside Pub on the banks of the Payette River.  https://lhriversiderestaurant.com/  This proved to be what the locals said, the best eatery in the area.  We chose to gather on the covered patio.  This was just such an agreeable place to spend time, a luxury that was simply not in the cards until this moment.  Up to now, it has been rush, rush, rush to stay on schedule.  

Payette River Playtime.  Richard and Chris Roberts compete in beanbag tossing. 

That's me with Chris and Helen and Ian.  

All the food we ordered was spectacular.

At the hotel, the work also proved to be light.  Chris' Shadow had been acting up on a couple of fronts - evil handling and hard starting.  In the preliminary inspection, Scooter noticed the magneto points had closed up.  Instead of a magneto swap, a simple adjustment had it purring again on one kick.  A tweak to the steering head bearing restored the steering.  Alas, the stiffness of the Girdraulic forks remained an issue.  More tomorrow on that.

The Support Team

A big shout out goes to the dedicated crew who often work 16 hours a day to keep our Vincent fleet rolling.  This group, all dedicated motorcyclists themselves, do the following:

• Inspect and service the Vincents every evening.
• Load, secure, unload, and drive the support trucks and trailers.
• Haul our luggage, tools, spare parts, and backup bikes.
• Fetch supplies including gas, oil, cleaners, tools, and personal request items.
• Set up the workshop every day. negotiate parking spaces at the hotels.
• Connect the power, generators, compressors and work lights
• Pick up room keys and deliver them to the riders as they arrive. 
• Set up, dismantle, and transport canopies, tables and chairs every day
• Haul the refreshments and keep them well-stocked and iced.

Every day, tired riders roll in, hand over their bikes, report any issues, and go to their rooms to freshen up.  Everything is ready for their comfort and relaxation:  snacks, wine and beer, water, music...   This is all done with smiles, jokes, and incredible patience.  Imagine arriving every night to be greeted this way.  Unbelievable.  But that is exactly what these merry men do day after day.  

Mark Dunn - Logistics, Mechanical, Supplies, Coordination, Communications

Steve Simpson - Driver 

Charlie "The Greek" Kogan - Driver

Alton Gillespie - Chase Driver, Artist, Philosopher 

Stephen Brenton - Inspection, Service, Documentation

Jay "Scooter" McCurry - Driver/Mechanic/Muscle

Ryan Ambrose - MVP, Mr. Fixit, Problem Solver, Does it all.

Thanks, guys.  And, special thanks to Richard Asprey for recruiting this special team. 

... the grateful riders 

Day 13 - Idaho Day

 Everyone was pretty spent after the demands of the day previous.  So we left at a reasonable 8:30 am.  Agent Orange had mercy on us as well.  He shortened our route and added a side trip to Craters Of The Moon National Park to spice things up.  The roads were relatively straight which allowed riders to drink in some very pretty scenery.

Here are some shots of Craters Of The Moon.  This is a vast volcanic lava field.

Vast pumice fields common in other parts of Idaho and Oregon

Piles of volcanic rock

A beautiful model poses in a giant cinder mountain

Lava flows

The night before, Ian Blake and I made further adjustments to the superb V3 clutch.  The hub had picked up on the standard clutch sprocket bushing causing the clutch to drag.  I heated up the frozen bush with a torch until it fell off the splined hub shaft.  A little polishing of both parts on the lathe had it all working sweetly again.  Ah, saved again by the mobile machine shop!

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\Ian, a happy camper once again with the V3, the lightest clutch pull in the world at his delicate fingertips.

I have primary responsibility for keeping 5 of the 8 Vincents on the road.  It is a big job, especially in the absence of Ryan.  I am running from one machine to the next, coaching the crew, and getting my hands very dirty too.  Last night I caught up by completing the installation of a new BTH magneto in Greg McBride's Shadow.  His old unit was misfiring and he had put it on the trailer in favor of his backup Norton Interstate.  That single job kept me busy until about 8:00 pm after which I was able to join the party under the tent.   Another great day in the books.

Day 12 - The Beartooth Pass and Yellowstone

 The day began with reasonable-looking weather, just a few clouds as a foreboding of the rain to come.  Right off the get-go at 8:00 am, the group headed out of Red Lodge for the Beartooth Pass.  Meanwhile, the mothership with the shop, tools, tables, and canopies took a route that was 100 miles longer on I-90.  This is the usual tactic to get there and set up before the riders arrive.  Even though their drive is more miles, they typically arrive at least 2 hours ahead of us.  

The Beartooth is an awesome motorcycling challenge.  The road rises to a summit elevation of 11,000 feet via switchbacks and tight hairpin turns.  These curves are marked with 20pmh speed limits.  Those limits are no-nonsense.   On most roads, speed limits can safely be doubled on a motorcycle.  Not these.  I found myself often in first gear.  

Often, there are no guardrails.  A mistake here would be disastrous.

The top-of-the-world views are amazing - but don't get distracted!

On the western descent, there are a few straights where one can relax the grip on the handlebars just a little.  The summit is a place to stop. 

Greg McBride and Bernie Nietvelt, our two fast guys, reached the summit first

Richard Asprey celebrates with a much-needed hot coffee after cresting the summit.  

The temperature in the valley was 47F.  Here, it must have been freezing.

Alton, driving the chase truck and trailer, is dwarfed by the sheer scale of the Beartooth.  Beware of falling rocks!

After the descent, we travelled through Yellowstone National Park.  In the park traffic, and close encounters with buffalos made progress very slow.  The average elevation was over 7,000 feet.  It was rainy and very cold.  My riding gear stood up reasonably well.  Overall, I was dry except for the hands.  Nevertheless, I don't think I have ever felt colder after a ride than this.  I was shivering uncontrollably while checking into the hotel.  Even after a 40-minute soak in hot water, my core was still decidedly cold.

To conclude, it was a helluva way to celebrate my 76th birthday.  Not the cold, and not the rain, could spoil a truly great ride and what felt like a real achievement.

America The Beautiful

 It was a debate about the title for today.  Should I title it "Busted!"?  The ride started out with a bang as the bikes went through the Black Hills, a road with never-ending curves.  Into Wyoming's high plains, the whole train was pulled over by an overzealous State Trooper for the bikes not having headlights on.  The polite diplomats among us went to work and coaxed a warning out of the officer.  But, that was not before checking the licenses and I.D. of each and every rider on his computer.  That took over an hour, a terrible waste of time on a 400-mile day.

Busted! 

From there, on things went according to plan with a bare minimum of mechanical grief until very late in the day.  The following is a series of pictures that capture the best of what America has to offer.  We went from the high plains to foothills. and then a breathtaking climb over the Rockies to our destination, Red Lodge Montana.

Vincents Reach the Rockies - A thrilling moment

We will end with a mechanical summary,  David Belleville's K75 BMW sputtered to a halt on the climb and had to be loaded up on the chase vehicle.  Our fearless road captain, AKA Agent Orange, was out!  Speculation was that a fuel pump had failed, allegedly the only thing that ever goes wrong with this motorcycle.  David carries a spare and all would be well.  But, at Red Lodge the bike started right up and ran perfectly without any intervention.  A mystery.

12 miles from home, Chris suffered his second flat rear tire.  We loaded him up and put him on a Triumph T160 triple, an alien device to this English gentleman.  Back at the field hospital, I found the cause.  A poorly designed wheel weight bolt with sharp edges has broken through the rim tape and punctured the tube.  I always grind these down.  See below, my modified version and the original tire wrecker.

Tomorrow, my birthday, promises to be another great day in the mountains starting with crossing the famous Beartooth Pass.  As a treat to myself, I plan to be back in the saddle on the Vincent Rapide (electric starter version with a new, now balanced front wheel).

Day 10 - Rest

This was a planned day off, from riding.  Several of the crew and riders went out in the morning to see nearby Mount Rushmore.  A few other souls remained behind in the "garage to work on bikes.   In particular, Bob Reiner and Bernie Nietvelt toiled away all day.  Bob's Vincent was trailered several days back with strange engine noises.  The suspected culprit was the magneto.  But, after replacing the bearings at both ends, retiming and reassembling, the noise was still there.  So that will be it for that Vincent.  It is running, however.  Perhaps we can drop it off the trailer near Ventura so we can have all the Vincents rolling into the International.

Jeff McCoy - Laptop Machinist

Bernie replaced a worn rear tire.  But he loves to fuss over everything and was there all day.  At the start of the day, a lazy start, I road-tested the bike that had dropped its front axle.  Big D had sent up a huge package containing a completely built front wheel with tire, etc.  As soon as I got it up to speed it was obvious that the wheel was badly out of balance.  The rest of my day was about trying to find balance weights.  There were none to be had.  Off I went in the truck with Logistic crew guy Mark Dunn to the hardware store.  For washers and soldering wire.  The washers were not even close to enough weight.  I ended up fashing weights by creating triple-layered coils of soldering wire.  I needed almost all of what we had bough.  It is crude-looking but effective.  This is what the late great Marty Reynolds would have called a "Provincial Field Repair".  See the Mild Ones for that great line.

Deadwood is what most would call a tourist trap.  It is Wild West-themed with street shows.  There are casinos galore and souvenir shops.  It was crowded and noisy on this long weekend.  Greg McBride says that this will be about it for the year.  He has been here in October when almost everything is closed up, even the chain restaurants.  We will be looking forward to moving on to more familiar environs where the support facilities can be set up properly.  Everyone retired early to rest up for another 400-mile day and early start.

Day 9 - Reaching Our Oasis

 This leg of the trip was most pleasant indeed.  The previous day had ended so hot, it was decided we should again get an early start to beat the heat.  Everything was readied by the crew at 6:30 am.  By sunrise, we were rolling. 

I am just going to show a whole slew of pictures I was able to take from the truck.

The Train

Just before Deadwood, we rolled into Sturgis for lunch at the famous Knuckle Saloon.  This was a good long stay to enjoy their fare.  We were in great shape to get to Deadwood early.

We ended up setting up shop in a covered parking area of the Four Points Sheraton hotel.  This is a wild crazy casino and resort place with a crowded Main Street full of souvenir shops. 

There was a flurry of maintenance and repairs on the bikes.  Jeff McCoy, an experienced machinist had picked up a suitable reamer and bushing material on route to repair the damaged axle hole on Ian's Rapide.  The operation was a success.  I will test-ride the result in the morning.  Then there were brakes to adjust, some tuning on Greg McBride's Shadow, and a whole effort to put away the tools for the night.  It was awkward in this hotel.  But, we will do what we can.  The crew wrapped up after 9:00 pm and we joined the party at Mustang Sally's to celebrate one of our most beloved characters, Charley "The Greek".  It was also a chance to bid farewell and thanks to Ryan.  He flies out tomorrow morning and we are on our own. Needless to say, this was a big blowout!

Day 8 - The Grind

 This ride was the longest so far at 400+ miles. From Rochester, Minnesota, to Oacoma, South Dakota, the plan was pretty simple.  We were to get on Highway 14 and stay on it all day.  It was a straight road over flat, barren country for mile after mile.  There were no redeeming qualities at all.  It was made worse by long stretches of bumpy road and strong a wind against us all the way. 

This was just the recipe to bring back my left shoulder and neck pain.  It was no fun.  Each bump shot pain through me.  When big trucks passed in the opposite direction, the buffeting wind blast did likewise.  I decided to tough it out.  But, after 350 miles of this punishment, I became unable to operate the motorcycle safely.  I could not turn my head to do shoulder checks.  Both my hands were slow to get to the clutch and brake.   I had to tap out.  The bike went on the trailer and I did the last 90 minutes of the trip in the truck cab.  

Close to the end, crossing the Missouri River

The only sensible thing to do is rest the next day and try to regain fitness.  I resolved to be there to jump in and resolve any mechanical issues that might arise with the Vincents.  

Our head crewman Ryan Ambrose is about to go back to his regular job at Big D Cycle in Dallas.  He has done an incredible job but Big D could only spare him for half the trip.  At Deadwood he will be flying home.  It is up to me to fully take over the technical reins on all things Vincent.  This is the job for which I was brought onto the trip.  It was never intended that I ride the whole way.

Ryan At Work - often very late into the night.

That evening, I thought all this over while having a good soak in the hotel's hot tub.  Ryan was showing the strain of the long hours.  How could I both ride and take on his repair chores?  I had to accept that it would not be possible and that I must manage myself differently.  I helped the crew with a few things and retired early.

Beating the heat - Richard completes Day 8. 

The above shows the nature of the terrain.