Who builds a hard tail, foot clutch, jockey shifting shovelhead and heads out on a 400 mile road trip after a quick once around the block shake down run? Captain Pete Fucking Sparrow that's who! Why you ask, because of a challenge put forth one month before the AMCA meet at Oley by our friend Hutch. Get Shovelicious put together and ride it from Cleveland to Oley. The Captain said "challenge accepted". So, many long days and nights followed after the challenge was made. The frame was being stripper of its old paint and being repainted just 4 days prior to the deadline. She came to gather fast at the point and Friday morning, the Captain packed up and hit the road. I wish I could tell you that he rode into the fairgrounds at Oley just as the sun was setting. Looking like a golden god riding his chariot of fire, but I can't. All the little gremlin's were just waiting to reek their havoc on Shovelicious and about half way across Pennsylvania she would run no more. But a rescue plan was hatched and Teeter of the Great North who was enroute from Toronto to Oley made a slight detour and picked out the Captain and Shovelicious. Once they rolled into Oley the party began. Alone with drinking large amounts of beer and Pooh Bear's legendary Boilo there was parts gathering, brainstorming and wrenching. After hours of wrenching on Saturday we admitted defeat. Well not really, after deciding that we couldn't court on Shovelious to run reliably all the way back to Cleveland a new plan was hatched. The Captain would tow Shovelicious back to Cleveland with Hutch's CB900 powered rigid trike. So the cooler was removed and some brackets were fabbed up and bang, Tow Trike!
Well I wish I could tell you all was good and
the Captain rode off on the Trike with Shovelicious in tow. Nope, theory got kicked in the face by reality and it quickly became apparent that the shovel's front end was too high and she wanted to flop over in a turn. So after much decision amongst the members of our little think tank and a check of the weather forecast, Shovelicious was transplanted to the bed of Hutch's 62 Chevy stepside for the voyage back to Cleveland. Well now I can tell you the Captain made the trip without a problem, mostly driving in the rain I might add. So was the Captain's plan a fools errand? FUCK NO!
It's just the way it goes sometimes. Would the Captain do it again? For sure. Would I? Fuck ya, because like Captain Pete I know that my brothers will be there when shit goes bad and some how some way they will get it squared. How do I know that you might ask? Because they were there when my shit went bad and they did get me squared away. But that's a story for another day. Go Fast! 
epic
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