Who likes big group rides? I'll bet not many will say yes. I'll describe how this works in a separate thread, but imagine 42 bikes in one long string... it only works if the ride leader is quicker than anyone else and pulls everybody along. For the last 3 years I've made it, we had a very slow and deliberate leader on a Goldwing trike, it was painfully slow, so I'd make up routes and go separately with a half dozen of us.... well, "Bill" passed away and this year, I discovered our ride leader would be quick, so we decided to give that a whirl on the Friday, since we had signed up for the Amish lunch.....
Wow, very enjoyable, no issues at all, had some great twisty roads in an area of Ohio most of us haven't normally paid attention to. If you had been part of this, I'm sure you would have enjoyed it, seriously.... again, it depends on the leader. He didn't share the route ahead of time either. So here we are lined up getting the rules repeated by Pat and finding out who is riding Sweep. "Tony The Car Guy" is leading and "Shuey" is doing sweep in his car.
Gas and bio-break........
This pic taken by Dean, while on the move at a good clip on a straight section..... we're pretty spread out, Tony nowhere to be seen, likely about a mile ahead... yes spread out that much or more.
When there's a turn, the leader will drop a 'breadcrumb' to indicate which way to go..... this guy was hilarious, so animated in pointing us, and the sign fit quite well.
Suffice it to say, it was so much fun and at the end everybody heaped kudos on Tony. I saved the track. On Saturday, there would be another one, this time Pat was the leader....
Saturday's fuel/bio-break, gas station is to the left of the pic. When done, we line up ready to go.
Aha, trouble mid-ride..... we were coming down 285 into Caldwell, and at the corner of 821, we had a breakdown... Dave, from Canuckistan, riding his Triumph Trophy had the shift lever pivot break off, and could not shift as the shift lever just flopped about. A quick assessment, and we see it will take some significant surgery as the thing is buried behind the footpeg stay and a side cover. Not only that, not repairable on the road..... we inform ride leader Pat, decision made to trailer the bike back to camp.... Pat had his trailer with tools....
The group went to some special burger joint for lunch, and visited a spot on the 'bucket list' so to speak. Tony The Car Guy, second row, fourth from the right in the red t-shirt.
Dave and I are missing from the photo..... I did a slab shot to Zanesville to get my trailer, meanwhile Dave called Triumph dealers.... one in Columbus, one in Cleveland. We put our engineering hats on..... stopped at Ace Hardware in Caldwell to pick up a few bits and pieces, Napa for a T45 Torx bit. It took a couple hours to get trailered back to camp. Pat had a toolbox in his covered trailer, so we got to work McGivering a shift lever pivot.. had to drill out the broken off part, heat it with a torch, EZ out, fab up a nylon bushing with drill, hacksaw and file.... got 'er up and running!! Columbus Triumph had no part but said Cleveland guy did..... Cleveland guy not open until Tuesday..... Dave would ride home Sunday, order it in locally. I'll just say stupid design, 8mm screw where a 10mm needed IMHO.
Saturday, Dean and I loaded up again, ready to head out Sunday morning for points west.....
