I belong to a Shadow forum, and we just had our East Coast Rally in Virginia Beach this weekend....wooooooeeeeeee, I sure got to know my T intimately! LOTS of
u-turns in sand and gravel on the little shoreline roads, lots of curvy roads, Interstate riding...we were on the bikes from 9 AM until 6 PM on Saturday.
After sweating all day, riding all over heck, and feeling groovy...we were coming back up onto the bridge out of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, and were hit with gusty wind. Tons of lighting surrounding us and there were mega black clouds ahead.
You could hear the collective "oh sh*t" from the group.
One member's CB weather channel was saying there was 3/4" hail in the area. We quickly pulled 20+ bikes over to the emergency area on the bridge and suited up for the thunderstorm. We had no choice but to ride on, as there's not exactly any protection on that 20-some miles of bridges and tunnel! I was pretty nervous (read: puckered), not having ridden the T in the rain yet, but our superb road captain and tail gunner kept the group moving safely in the rain over the bridges, on the Interstate, and through town back to the hotel. It was AWESOME!!
I faced the challenge of a dead battery over the weekend
(but
thankfully there were some manly men who were willing to push start the bike for me a couple of times). I was amazed when we got home that the local auto store
actually had those odd-shaped batteries right on their shelf! An easy fix, and she runs great now. No more push starting for me! 
I've never been to Newport News or VA Beach area - I wish we could have stayed longer to see more of the area. We definitely plan on going back. If you're bored and you want to see pics of the weekend, they're at ECR07
The T doesn't seem so huge to me now, and I'm much more comfortable with slow-speed manuevers. One of the things I liked best about the weekend was that everyone shared so much motorcycle knowledge and great road stories. Good times!!
After sweating all day, riding all over heck, and feeling groovy...we were coming back up onto the bridge out of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, and were hit with gusty wind. Tons of lighting surrounding us and there were mega black clouds ahead.
You could hear the collective "oh sh*t" from the group.
One member's CB weather channel was saying there was 3/4" hail in the area. We quickly pulled 20+ bikes over to the emergency area on the bridge and suited up for the thunderstorm. We had no choice but to ride on, as there's not exactly any protection on that 20-some miles of bridges and tunnel! I was pretty nervous (read: puckered), not having ridden the T in the rain yet, but our superb road captain and tail gunner kept the group moving safely in the rain over the bridges, on the Interstate, and through town back to the hotel. It was AWESOME!!
I faced the challenge of a dead battery over the weekend
(but
thankfully there were some manly men who were willing to push start the bike for me a couple of times). I was amazed when we got home that the local auto store
actually had those odd-shaped batteries right on their shelf! An easy fix, and she runs great now. No more push starting for me!
I've never been to Newport News or VA Beach area - I wish we could have stayed longer to see more of the area. We definitely plan on going back. If you're bored and you want to see pics of the weekend, they're at ECR07
The T doesn't seem so huge to me now, and I'm much more comfortable with slow-speed manuevers. One of the things I liked best about the weekend was that everyone shared so much motorcycle knowledge and great road stories. Good times!!
