Exposed For The Shadows

I spent yesterday doing my first real motorcycle ride of the year. My best friend, Ken, and I made a loop around some of the more interesting parts of Ohio on back roads. One of the roads we rode was Rt 550 between Athens and Marietta which is known internationally as one of the finest motorcycle roads in the US. It was a very nice day, just a little cool, so the touring jacket was comfortable for most of the ride.

Last year I didn’t do any riding. Got the bike ready to go and took it out for a short ride, then parked it and never took it out of the garage again. It was one of those years with just too many other things taking my time and attention. This summer should be a bit different, with more time to ride.

The bike didn’t like having missed a year of use. I had prepped it before yesterday, of course, and had it out for a shakedown ride and all seemed fine. But after topping off the tank yesterday it started backfiring and refused to idle. When I pulled over in a small town to check things out it went completely dead, with no electric at all. A quick cleaning of the battery contacts fixed the electric problem, but the backfiring and non-idle continued. I decided it needed to burn out some crud that had gotten into the carbs, so I rode it for the next hour without going above third gear. That’s about 6,200 rpm at road speed…not all that high on an engine that red lines at 10,500. That did the trick. By the time we reached Athens the engine was running fine, no backfires and a perfect idle. Just needed a good workout.

Now I just need to work on striking the right balance between photo expeditions and motorcycle tours. I’ve done both at the same time, but it’s not my favorite way to work.