Valve drama - ready to roll

Got a late start this morning. Wanted to get up at 7, stayed up a little too late last night and got up at 10. I was hoping I'd be able to write this 2 hours ago, but at least I can now.

When a bike is running well, you should never change anything on it before leavingon a long trip. Too many chances to mess things up. Well, I'm tempting that fate.

My valve adjustment has been overdue. Coming back from the beach last weekend showed me how badly it needed done. I was getting a lot of vibration through the grips and footpegs. After 2 hours, my hands and feet were going numb. I knew I needed it done.

Now the last time I did my valves myself, it was a disaster. I never got it quite right. Made things worse and worse, until I had to take it into a dealer. Having learned that lesson I decided to look for a shop that could do it. I checked every dealership near where we'll be, and nobody could help out. So I knew I was on my own.

Called up Aaron a couple days ago, and borrowed his throttle body syncing tool. Spent a couple days reading up. Decided to go for it.

Now you have to do the adjustments when the bike is cold, which means morning was the only option. Had to work this week, so couldn't do it before then (takes too long). That meant I had to take off all day today to do it in the moments right before the trip.

I'm happy to report that it was an unqualified success. Took 2 hours. There was much sweating. But everything came out great. Valves adjusted. Throttle bodies synced. Bike is smooth as silk.

Now I have to load up everything onto the bike (It's all in my living room. Saddle bags and all.) and I'm ready to roll. No point in taking a shower. It's a hot one out there and I'm going to be a sweaty grimy mess in an hour anyway.

Should be rolling up to Hopewell Junction in 30 minutes.