By 8:30 am the rain began and continued soaking the riders on Day 2 of the ride. Steve had his ToadSkinz on and was completely dry on the outside, but hot and wet on the inside. Ginger began to protest and lose power in the wet, rainy mess and finally just before lunch blew a head gasket. She’s been doing that recently in the prep for this race to lead Steve to question the head gaskets he’s gotten recently. ??? So the new race was on to make to the motel in Sandusky, Ohio where he met up with his dad, Buck and Dick Jones and son, Justin Rinker. Justin knew what to do, and amid the video camera, camera flashes and questioning, he and Steve tore into replacing the head gasket and check for any other damage. They completed the repair, serviced the bike – which included cleaning out and drying out the magneto — and Steve took a test ride around 10:30 pm ….only to have a flat tire. Tires were swapped out and Ginger was put to bed with the promise of a better day.
Steve left WV with the start of a cold and talking to him on the phone includes “gentle” reminders to take his cold medicine that I packed as I can tell he’s now got a full-blown cold.
Buck & Dick spent a big part of the day trying to track down parts for Marcin Grela from Poland, to no avail.
Steve also told me that he and his dad sat down for an hour interview with reps from the Motorcyclepedia Museum in Newburg, NY before the race began, so it will fun to go up for a visit after this is over to see their video of all the interviews, pictures and start of the race, when it’s complete.
Day 1, Steve received a perfect 210 scores along with 56 other riders. However, 4 riders did not start, 3 received no score, and 8 others received only partial points. Day 2 scores have not been posted.
I talked with Steve just after he blew his head gasket and didn’t talk with him anymore until I was awakened this morning by a phone call from him singing “It’s a beautiful morning”, so I knew he got everything repaired and was on the ride for Day 3. He said everyone was pushing to get to the Lake Express ferry in time … if not, they were done for the day. He is currently riding with Josh Wilson (a fellow 101 rider) from Virginia this morning and expecting Jeff Alperin to catch them soon, which will be a good thing as the new front tire is not close enough to the magnet for the odometer to read correctly. He fears that it may be an interesting day to follow the route map and that he may be taking a few minor detours. It’s quite ironic that I’m always the one to blame when we’re “LOST” when I’m with him regarding “my” map reading abilities, but he just calls them “minor detours” when I’m not.
He’s promised to call when he’s on the ferry as it will be a 2 hour ride across the lake to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Today’s ride is a total of 300 miles and will include a hosted dinner at the Harley Davidson Museum with a Parc Ferme’ for all the riders bikes which will close at 8 pm this evening.
Go #7!
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