Friday, 9/8 - CANNONBALL STAGE 1

Friday, September 8th
Stage 1: Virginia Beach, VA to Greenville, NC

Stage 1 of the Motorcycle Cannonball presented us with many challenges. We’re having internet connection issues and will post more details soon.

Our day started at Neptune Park in Virginia Beach, VA. The atmosphere at the park was excited. Bikes were being worked on at the park, with big cheers from all the riders when each one got started. We got Renata push-started on the boardwalk, then lined up for the start.

Renata ran great. Jonas and Brenda were stoked. All of the riders were thrilled to see them running. Lots of cheers and high-fives. The team got a text from Brenda that they were having a great day.

And then things started going down hill. We lost our gas cap. The headlight almost fell off. The communications between Jonas and Brenda’s helmets stopped working. The clutch stopped working and had to be adjusted.

Then, the bike started losing power and eventually stopped. Jonas did what he could on the side of the road, but could not get it restarted. After running great for 96 miles, Renata’s day was done. They were picked up by the race support sweep vehicle and brought to our final destination in Greenville, NC.

After tearing apart the engine, we immediately saw that the exhaust valve’s head had snapped off of the stem. This is not a part that can be repaired, and we have no spare. In addition, we are not aware of any similar valves that could be used from other engines. Without a replacement, our race will be over.

We immediately put the word out that we needed help, both to the Cannonball riders and to our friends and family. We’ve had an immediate outpouring of offers to help. One cannonball rider got us in touch with an experienced machine shop in California that should be machining us a valve right now. We are also trying to get in touch with other machine shops along our route so that we have multiple options. One great idea is try to contact members of race teams, who have to deal with this kind of emergency frequently.

At minimum, Renata will be out of the race for 2-4 days. Fortunately the Cannonball rules allow for this type of issue, and we can miss a total of 7 days before we would be eliminated from the race.

We don’t know how this is going to be resolved, but I can assure you that we’re not going to give up. Stay tuned to see what happens next!