A Change in Lifestyle

So much attention has been focused on getting this motorcycle and parts list on track for a 4100 mile ride. With almost a completely restored 1919 Harley Davidson ready to start breaking in, now I have a spare motor, transmission, generator, carburetor, wheels and many other parts ready to put into action if needed. My detailed logbook, known as the "Blue Book" has many chapter sections of notes, to-do list, and thoughts. Every time I think of anything related to completing this journey, it goes into this book, under the proper section. There is also a section listed as "Fitness" in this blue book. This chapter is intended to monitor the path I need to follow that will help my body get ready for "A Trip of a Lifetime" It's one thing to prepare and restore some 94 year old metal and iron, but a totally different thing to get a 55 year old person physically and mentally ready to endure the elements encountered on a ride like this.
For the last month, I have been getting up at 4:30 to 5:00 am and walking my neighborhood. Covering about 2 or 3 miles a day. My dogs have really been enjoying it, because I take one of them each day with me. The plan was to get a month or two of physical walking under my belt and then advance to a more physical activity after that. Many years ago, I was deeply involved in weight and strength training. That also included running 3 to 5 miles outdoors and on a treadmill. Considering my age, I decided to look into bicycling as a new form of physical training.

The story of finding this Fuji Cross Town 26 inch road bike is really a neat unfolding series of events. While chasing parts for the Harley Cannonball motorcycle, I also began to watch Craigslist, and local sources for a used road bicycle to ride. I had arranged for a local club member to lace and true my new and spare motorcycle wheels. Everyone knows it is a unique art to lacing and truing wheels. I had several new rims, hubs, tires and spoke kits. This included the wheels for the Cannonball bike, a spare set of wheels for that event and even another set of custom rims, intended for a future 1934 Harley Davidson VLD Bobber. The job I needed of lacing and truing wheels was a big job, consisting of 6 complete wheel rebuilds. It seem to be a larger task than my local club member was willing to tackle. He backed out of the job on me, leaving me with "what to do now"!

My friend, Johnny Whitsett informed me about an older fellow named Henry, who owned a bicycle shop in Southaven Mississippi. Johnny said he was an expert at lacing and truing wheels. Henry has been in the bicycle business for nearly 60 years. I called him and described the project. He told me to bring a couple of the wheels down to the shop, drop them off and let him look at them.

A week went by and Henry called me one morning a said, He was worried about scratching the powder coating on the rims when he was lacing the spokes. Then he asked me the Big question, "if you want to come down to the shop and help me, I think we can do this together". That was all I needed! A chance to see lacing and truing with my own eyes. ( Many of my club members had already tried to get me to do the work myself - Yea, Right!!) On Friday, I went to Henry's bicycle shop and he invited me in the back to the work bench and explained how to get started. He even had me masking tape the rims to help against scratches.

 

Henry showed me the very detailed art of lacing the inner and outer spokes. After a few minutes, it clicked in my brain and understood how to lace the spokes. Lacing is one thing, truing the wheel is another thing! After a few minutes, we had both wheels laced and snugged up tight. I actually laced the 2nd wheel with Henry coaching me. While Henry and I were lacing wheels, I also told him about my quest for a road bicycle to help me get in shape for this upcoming event. I inquired about any used bikes he might have around the shop. He pointed to a few rough old bikes in the corner of the shop. Nothing I would want to actually ride. That was about all he said concerning bicycles.

After lacing these 2 rims at Henry's shop, I went home pretty excited about this new procedure I just learned. I pulled the red custom rims and hubs up on my work bench and started to lace these two rims. Henry told me if I wanted to lace those wheels at home, I could bring them over to his shop on Saturday and leave those with the ones we already laced. He would true all 4 of the wheels the next week.
About 1 hour later in my shop, Here were the results:

So, Saturday, I go back to Henry's shop, with the red wheels to let him inspect my lacing skills he had taught me the day before. He looked the wheels over and, "boy, you did good". As I was about to leave, Henry said, "David, I want you to take that bicycle right there out in the parking lot and ride it around for a few minutes and tell me what you think about it". He pointed to a bike setting right next to the door, ready to ride.

This was the Fuji Lightweight 26 inch frame road bike with 24 speed Shimano trigger shift levers, front shocks with anti-dive, and a Gel padded seat. The bike was Awesome!

As I was driving back home in my Honda Element with a brand new Fuji road bike tucked in the back cargo area, two things occurred to me:

There is a reason Henry has survived 60 years in the personal family bicycle business. He wasn't a pushy salesman, he was actually quit clever. He listened to me when I described my plan to find a used bike, and actually had exactly what I was looking for sitting right in front of me when I came back to the shop. I already knew what a new bike was going to cost if I went down that road. My original plan was going to be finding the guy who bought a brand new bike, rode it for a year and hung it on the wall. Enter David Lloyd to sweep it up for half price!!

Number 2 - Henry taught me something I will carry with me for the rest of my life. How to spoke a 4 cross pattern wheel. That alone was worth spending my money with Henry and his small bicycle shop.

So, for the last few days, I have been riding my new bike, putting miles on it, continuing down the path of preparation to Ride in the 2014 Cannonball Antique Motorcycle Run next September. 4100 miles - Daytona Fl to Tacoma, WA in 16 days. - More to Come - David