More Virginia

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Tuesday 13th

We rode to the local bike shop we had found last night to see if they had any front tyres as ours were approaching there use by date. As it turned out they had in stock, four perfect fronts so we could get all bikes fitted up. The shop was shifting to a new bigger, brighter premises. The proprietor Terry gave us the address of the new premises and arranged for his Techs to fit the tyres and do an oil change. The shop is called Gearhead Junction.

We were the first customers at his new shop which has a Royal Enfield franchise plus SWM and a couple of other brands. We met his staff and the Techs immediately started working on our bikes. While we were there, we told them where we stayed last-night and they said this was “Crack Central” in this town. Judging by the state of play there, as mentioned on the previous blog, people running up and down arguing, kids up all night it makes sense. I have heard that crack addicts (same as meth in NZ) stay awake for days on end and some of them get into a cleaning frenzy. Definitely none of these “cleaning frenzy crack heads” had been allowed access into our rooms, for some months, by the state of the rooms.

During the course of hanging around the shop we realised they also had some IRC rear tyres that would suit our bikes. So, working out our tyre strategy, we decided to get them fitted now so these should last us the rest of the trip.

The shop was stocked “up to the nines” with new Royal Enfields (about 66 I counted) and while there, another 4 arrived on a truck. Terry the owner told us that when covid hit he decided to go for broke as he was nervous about supply and freight costs. (e was on the money) I think he’s specialling the cheapest 350cc Royal Enfield out at around $US3500. They had a full range of models so we think once their new shop is on stream they will do well.

Instead of hanging around we got an Uber to a local shopping centre with a Walmart as Ian wanted to replace his back-pack and a few other items. After buying our bits and pieces, having a pizza lunch we tried to order an Uber to return to the shop. No joy, so Terry sent his 2ic Lorrie out to pick us up. Great service – these guys really looked after us. When we got back to the shop, Ian realised that he had missed a call from an American Number. Calling back it was the lady from the Police Station in Damascus. Someone had found his back-pack an handed in to the Police, all intact. The lady had contacted all the motels in town to see if we were staying there, no she will organise to courier it to one of our stops. Great service. Another shop staffer, Richard a retired aeronautics engineer, works at the shop helping out. He test rode all our bikes when the work was finished. He is a keen motorcyclist and he and his daughter rode the TAT a few years ago from coast to coast.

Leaving here with our fresh tyres, we rode the 20 miles to Christiansburg where we had booked a motel. A pretty laid-back day & a good result for a Ian.

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