The Shakedown Ride

Who am I, and why do I shake things down?

Hello and good afternoon to all of you that are following the pre-adventure.  That’s right, the adventure hasn’t really started, but we’re getting very close.

I’ve been in IT for more than 35 years, and I’ve had to live with all of the statistics that inform us that most IT projects fail, that billions of dollars of software does not get installed and instead it sits on the shelf, and that something will go wrong each and every day, unless you mitigate the risks and address the problems.  So, I’ve been brought up to be one of those folks that works very hard to deliver projects on time, and with everything that was and is expected.

In order to execute to this degree, you must maintain a level of vigilance that is extreme, and which must be continuously applied over long periods of time.  It is also very important that the things that you learn from your vigilance (testing, thinking, discussing, designing, etc.) must have a material impact on your plan.  And, so begins our story for today…

I try not to do anything half-assed.  Many friends and certainly family would argue that I do many things full-assed, but I think that they’re just saying that to make a joke (it is a joke, right?).  In any case, I’m treating this trip with the care and attention that it deserves, and while I’ve done quite a bit of training, and have prepared the bike, the book of “best practices” would have us plan, build, and then test.  So, since I’ve planned (boy howdy have I planned), and built (have you seen that bike, it’s freeking beautiful), now it’s time to test.  The first test that includes a real actual ride (about 120 mile ride, with over 1200 turns through the hills of CA) will verify that I’ve got the bike setup properly, and that everything is working properly.  I’m calling today’s ride, a Shakedown Ride.  Please play the video below, so that I can be sure that I demonstrate my somewhat weak video editing skills.

Who else is going on the shakedown ride

Well, just about anyone that I could find that has a motorcycle, and is free on this beautiful Sunday morning.  If you play the next video, you’ll see who else is involved, and who is in charge…

So, how did it go?

Let’s see.  First of all, the ride was a whole lot of fun, and I felt really comfortable on the bike.  The problems that I had experienced prior to installing the new rear show have all but disappeared, and the bike handles like a dream.

That said, just about none of the Communication technology on the bike was operating properly.  I”ve recently updated firmware on the SENA 20S headsets, the iPhone has a new version, and the GPS is the connective tissue that allows everything to talk to everything else, and it seems to have forgotten all of the Bluetooth settings for all of those devices.  So, I’ll need to remove all of the blue-tooth pairings, and build the connective tissue again, from scratch.  Hmmm, that will take an hour to execute and test, but I’ll do it tomorrow.

The new crash-bar addon’s are working perfectly, except that they’re in the way (just a little bit).  You see, one of the problems with being 6’4 1/2″ tall is that I have long legs, long arms, and a long torso.  Of course, in and of itself this is not a problem, but things like motorcycles and cars are designed for a shorter person, and so these new bars fit the bike, but cause a minor problem for me.  Considering that there is not much of a chance that I can remove them, nor do I want to, I’ll simply need to accommodate them where they sit.

About the Author

Cliff Musante

Cliff Musante is a technologist, business leader, motorcycle enthusiast, father, grandfather, and more. In June, 2013 his passion for motorcycles was revitalized, and he set out to ride across Patagonia. Since then, he's logged thousands of miles, ridden across the US, and on July 10, 2019, he began a 120 day trip through Europe, and then on to Russia, China, and parts East. This 'Blog is the story of all of his adventures.