Some photos taken between Hartford, CT and Washington, DC including New York City, NY.

In DC Erik met some “Friends of the Bike”.

Shake rattle and roll.

Between NYC and DC, maybe on the New Jersey Turnpike, I noticed that my bike was not sounding the same. Instead of a smooth rumble it had a loud crackling to it.

When I got to DC and onto the city streets I got out of my rain gear and switched from my full helmet to my shorty and the loudness of my bike became REALLY apparent. Something was wrong.

Unfortunately I am not the mechanic my father is, so I had no idea what was up. So I called him up of course. When I got off the bike to hold the phone up to the bike so my dad could hear the sound the problem was obvious. I had flames shooting directly out of my engine block! The nuts holding the exhaust pipe had rattled off and the pipe was no longer connected. Against my father’s advice I continued riding the bike the rest of the night and the next morning until I could pick up some nuts and Loctite to secure the pipe back on.

I need to reemphasize that the bike was so embarrassingly loud that when I pulled into my friend’s neighborhood in Alexandria, VA at 3:00am I cut the engine and rolled down his street and then walked my bike to park it.

Friend of the Bike: Fred

Fred rides with Soul Rebels out of Chicago, IL.

When I rolled into Washington, DC I realized my bike was low on oil so I stopped by a gas station to put some in.  It was around 2AM and the clerk had locked up the shop area, but after explaining I need some oil badly he unlocked the doors.  I felt pretty bad cos while he was ringing up my 2 qts of oil about 20 more customers had come inside (New York Ave in DC is a happening place at night).

After I got the oil in my bike a guy came up and asked what “4corners.us” was.  I started to explain and he yelled out “Hey Fred, get over here, this guy just rode in from Canada!”.  I started telling them both more about our ride and where we had been and that I was making my way down to the Florida Keys when Fred said, “stop right there, I’ve heard enough, I’M BUYING YOUR GAS TONIGHT!”

Fred then put $25 on my pump and he and his friend held my bike up straight so I could fill it up as much as possible.  He then asked if I wanted a drink with the change.

We talked about their bikes and rides they have done. They noticed that my highway foot pegs had rattled lose and fell off - and recommended getting some Loctite (something I have learned all too well on this trip).

Fred said I had a jacket like “Wolverine” and then I asked if I could get a photo with him - thus making Fred the first “Friend of the Bike”.

Thanks Fred!

Note to all others who want to be a “Friend of the Bike”: You can buy me a tank of gas too!

411.5 - Hartford, CT to Alexandria, VA (with a detour in Bronx/Brooklyn/Manhattan, NY and in Washington, DC)

Note: These are my miles since I was separated from the group as I broke away to meet up with my wife and visit with friends.  Others in the group will have different miles/end points for this day.

Rolled through DC like a thief in the night. After NYC sucked most of my day away it seemed like stopping near DC was a good choice. Thankfully I have some good friends Nathan and Valerie who let me crash at their home and do some much needed laundry. Before going to their place I had to snap a photo of my bike at the Washington Monument.

Passing through New York state on the way to checkpoint #2 in Florida I could not resist stopping by New York City. I has two objectives for my visit. To ride the Brooklyn Bridge and to take a photo of my bike with the Statue of Liberty in it. I did accomplish my goals, but doing them turned out to be a total time sucker and killed my MAIN objective of the day which was to get to North Carolina to visit with friends and meet up with my wife who flew there this week so she could ride to Florida with me on my bike. Sorry babe, we’ll hook up tomorrow.

Erik and Troy had commitments in DC and NC, so last night (Day 8) they split from Kent and Mike who stopped in Boston and continued onto Hartford, CT.

Troy and Erik then split today in Hartford so they could each make their own ways to their destinations in their own time.

Kent, Mike, and Troy will merge back in DC later today or tomorrow.

Erik will merge back with the pack in Miami on Saturday or Sunday.