That’s right, the old beast came through on the year’s biggest ride!

I had the Repi all prepped and ready for this year’s Friendship Ride… lines bled, parts lubed, and even some old parts replaced… followed up by a good scrub and polish. Well, “the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry”, and come Saturday morning the battery decided it was done. I guess nine years of starts was all it was able to take. Time was running out, didn’t know what to do. Should I continue on with the Repi, knowing that I would have to be push started after each stop and face the ridicule from all my battery tending friends? Oh, HELL NO!

I quickly pulled the cover off Ol’ Yeller, dusted off the parts that were dusty. Wiped down all the gruff from the previous rides, checked the tire pressure and when I went to start it up… nothing. Damn, I had unplugged the tender to use for some other, at the time “necessary” electric device and forgot to plug it back in. No worries, I knew that the battery was good so with a quick jump from the wife’s car, we were on our way.

That’s right, no prep, no fancy new parts, no clean and polish, just wake up, shake the bugs off and go. I did require a little help on my first stop/start, but after the first leg Ol’ Yeller was starting and stopping like the best of them. Still had to endure a day of ridicule and jabs from the mob, but I held my head up high with the fact that my oldest, slowest, most outdated bike still took care of business. I just love this thing, and I’m probably the most comfortable on the bike after owning and riding it for the past 21 years.

Here’s to old friendships that never let you down.