Road Kill Diaries

The readout on the thermometer said 61 degrees at 7:30 a.m. Saturday when I fired up the Super Glide and headed north on U.S. 221 to Roanoke. The National Weather Service predicted a great day to ride.

And it was.

After coffee and too many donuts at HOG Hall at Roanoke Valley Harley-Davidson, hooked up with two buddies and we headed for the mountain roads of Roanoke, Botetourt, Craig and Alleghany Counties. Headed up Virginia 311 to New Castle and then through the Jefferson National Forest on winding roads that eventually took us back to U.S. 220 between Fincastle and Clifton Forge.

By then it was lunchtime so we headed over to Buchanan. Big mistake. A civil war enactment invaded the tiny Botetourt County town and packed the restaurants so we turned East on Virginia 43 and wound our way to Bedford and some Italian food. After stromboli and pizza we turned South on Virginia 122 to Hales Ford Landing at Smith Mountain Lake for some bikini watching and then on it to Rocky Mount where my friends picked up U.S. 220 to head back to Roanoke while I picked up Virginia 40 to Woolwine and then Rte. 8 up Woolwine Mountain to Floyd and some refreshment at the Floyd Country Store.

After filling the tank for the second time in a day, I stopped at Pine Tavern to chat with friends and headed home for sushi, a hot tub and some Aloe for sunburned arms and face.

Another great forecast for today, which leaves the question: Where to next?

The owner of the Virginia Harley dealerships in Roanoke and Christiansburg cancelled a scheduled dealer ride Saturday because he laid off nine employees at the two locations earlier in the week.

Call it a sign of hard times. Most of the layoffs came in the parts, motorclothes and service departments. No salesmen were affected -- yet.

A brother rider in the Roanoke Valley Harley Owners Group (HOG) went down the other day, breaking his ankle and clavicle in an accident on Virginia 311, the road that winds through the mountains from Salem to Paint Bank and Crows near the West Virginia border.

If you ride a bike long enough, you will go down. You just have to hope you can walk away from it.

An old saying notes there are two kinds of bikers in the world: Those who have dropped their bikes and those who will. At some point or other, I've dropped nearly every bike I've owned but the new Superglide had not been dropped.

Until this past Sunday.

While on a ride with friends up the Blue Ridge Parkway, we stopped at Meadows of Dan for refreshments and a head stop at the Country Store. The paved section of the parking lot was full so I parked on the sloping gravel section with enough room to head the bike downhill when leaving.

But a van pulled in close to the bike during our stop and my only exit was to back it up on the incline. While attempting to duck walk it backwards, both my feet slipped on the gravel and I felt the bike start tipping to the right. My friends saw me fight to save it but it went down, trapping my right foot under the footpeg and exhaust. They quickly dismounted and lifted the bike off me (along with some help from a group of metric riders at the store). I hobbled around on the twisted ankle and walked off the pain. With the help of several others, we pushed the bike off the gravel onto the paved area of the parking lot. An inspection found no damage so I remounted, fired her up and we headed off to complete our ride.

By the time I returned to Floyd, my right shoulder was throbbing and I couldn't lift my arm. That shoulder already has a torn rotator cuff so I figured I had aggravated that injury. Arriving home I headed straight for the hot tub and soaked both the ankle and shoulder for about an hour.

Some stiffness now but the injuries appear to be more bruised muscles and a slightly-bruised ego. I survived. So did the bike.

Had the Harley-Davison Shop of Wytheville install a set of Rush slip-ons with 1.75 inch baffles on my 2009 Dyna Superglide recently. They said a Stage 1 upload to the Engine Control Map for the fuel injection was not necessary. However, when I called EPI to register my mufflers for warranty they asked if I completed the software download. When I said "no," they said they "highly recommend" the Stage 1 download.

Checked with our technical guru for the Roanoke Valley Harley Owners Group and he said, yes, Rush is now telling dealers to download the remap for their mufflers on '08 and '09 models.

The bike was scheduled for installation of some accessories at Roanoke Valley Harley-Davidson this week so I told them to download the remap as well. I also bought the Screamin' Eagle Stage 1 Air Cleaner kit and installed it. On the first test run, noticed some improvement in throttle response and smoothness where the engine was choppy before.

Rush said they sent a technical bulletin out to all dealers last year. If you're buying a set of Rushs or any othre slip-on muffler, make sure the dealer is up-to-date on the latest recommendations from the manufacturer.