Ride With Tank

What a nightmare getting ready for this trip has been.

In addition to all the usual stuff, I needed to replace my chain and sprockets and my back tire. The tire was in stock at my local dealer, but I needed to order the chain kit. I ordered it from the great folks at Dual Sport Touring. Trouble struck when I found out the chain kits were on backorder. Francois
told me he would get it to me in time, but I was worried. True to his word, the kit, along with the rivit tool I needed, was scheduled to be delivered on Tuesday, plenty early for a Friday morning departure.

I took the back wheel off Monday night and took it to work with me on Tuesday. On the way home from work I stopped at my dealer to get the tire mounted. Junior looked me straight in the eye and said he could mount it on Thursday. i told him I had made arrangements to have this done on Tuesday, but he said nobody told him that. We were at a standoff. In the end, he thought the wheel was on the bike and when he found out I had the wheel in hand we were good to go!

I had a message that MG wanted me to call him, so while junior mounted the tire I called MG. Originally, my reservation started on Sunday, but they had a cancellation so I changed my first night to Saturday. When I called MG they said it was a mistake, there was no Saturday cancellation so I had no room until Sunday. They felt really bad about it, but I can’t really complain because they have gone out of there way for me so many times in the past, so I figured i would just change my plans a bit.

With the tire on the wheel, I headed out to the garage to get the project started. I got as much as I could get done without the parts and tools, and at that exact moment UPS pulled up and blew the horn. He brought the box straight to the garage and I quickly checked it – everything was there, and they appeared to be the right parts! I got the sprockets on and opened up the tool to rivit the chain. There are two pins included, one to break the chain and one to rivit the chain. I could not tell the difference between the two. They looked exactly the same. The reason they looked the same is because they were the same! Screwed again! Now I was in a real jam, with just two days to get things going. I called Motion Pro, and with a little begging on my part, they agreed to send me a pin next day air, but it would not ship until Wednesday. That means Thursday night delivery, with a Friday morning departure!

i racked my brain trying to figure out where I could get a pin or a tool. My closest option was my buddy Dave, but he lives about 100 miles away. Eventually, I remembered that Mark had a tool, so I called him crying like a little girl. Not only did he have one, but he said he would head out right away and deliver it to me! I told him I don’t expect him to go out of his way like that, so I jumped in the xcar and picked it up.

The tool worked great, and I got everything back together for a midnight test ride. Everything was good, and my heart returned to its normal rate. Francois, Motion Pro, Gollans, and Mark all came through for me and everything is a go! I turned the room cancellation into a plus by changing my route to the Blue Ridge Parkway, my favorite ride in the world. The only downside is I will miss the 50 racing at the Gap Saturday night, but all in all the beginning of my trip should be even more fun than I had originally planned! I hope I have all the problems and bad luck out of the way now, so all I have to do is have fun for the next 11 days!