First Ride

Yesterday, before we left for Pembroke, I sent an Email to all the Freedom Riders. The forecast for today was good so I said I was going for a ride and asked if any one wanted to join me. I said we would be at a particular Tim Horton's at 10:00 AM.

I rose early this morning so that I could get all the gear that had been stored in a box over the winter back in the bike. I repositioned the cruising pegs for more cornering clearance and, while I didn't wash the bike, I cleaned the lower front cowl which had bugs and road tar all over it. About 9:30, we climbed on and found our first major GoldWing failure. The sound system locked up. On a Wing, this is a big deal.

With no time to find the problem, we set out sans stereo and intercom. We stopped at Leo's and, after admiring bubbling water from a broken water main in front of his place, we headed for Timmy's. We were joined there by Tony Cundari and new members Gill and Darlene Courville.

It was warm and sunny as we headed out, first across to Lively and then up to Chelmsford and out 144 to Cartier. I set a reasonable group pace, although I was tempted just south of Levack when a Harley blew by me in a passing lane. I picked up the pace (he was moving), but noticed I was losing my group so I backed off and resumed my original pace.

In Cartier, we stopped for coffee/pop at the restaurant and chatted for a while. Then we headed back south. Tony kept heading towards town In Chelmsford while we headed east to Val Caron and up to Hanmer. It had gotten quite windy by then. In Hanmer, Gill and Darlene turned for home while we and Leo stopped to see friends. Then we headed home via Radar Road. On the way, the sound system mysteriously started working again. Sandy and I stopped at the STP yard to say hi to Norm, who was wiring the rear fender of his Drifter for more lights. Then we hit the grocery store and returned home.

It was a good day for a first ride. I'm going to ask the GL1800 board about the sound system, but I suspect one of the radio connectors that was disconnected to get at the air filter may not be seated properly. It's a minor bear to get at, but if that's it I'll take a shot at it this week. After all, we do need tunes.