Riding my old Harley/Aermacchi Sprint way out of its element

At the water’s edge, I looked out across the stream, sand on both shores and rocks in the middle. The old Harley/Aermacchi single cylinder was thumping away, ready to make the crossing, but I found myself sitting there, awaiting my turn and thinking, “What am I doing here?!”

The Athens 100 is an annual motorcycle event hosted by the North Georgia Vintage Motorcycle Club. They ride pre-1980 motorcycles on a pretty grueling 150 mile, 90% off-road route each year, using only old style roll charts for navigation.

I know some of these guys and decided to give it a try this year. I equipped my 1973 Harley Sprint with dual sport tires, bought a roll chart holder and borrowed a spare gas container from a friend. I was a little nervous about riding this old bike in rough terrain and water crossings but what the heck, I’d give it a try.

The old ’73 Sprint, ready to roll some dirt. Hopefully.

The morning of the event I got up early and was on the road at first light for the ten mile ride to the rally point, where I met up with the other 27 riders who were getting their roll charts set up. For those who may not know, this is how the route is navigated, no GPS here! This is the same way they do the cross-country Cannonball runs, and the old Scull Shoals ride some years ago.

We headed out in small groups of six to eight riders and would alternate leaders so everyone got to navigate. There were all different types of bikes, from BMW to Triumph to vintage Japanese, even an old Sportster and of course my little Sprint.

Vintage indeed.

There were times out there on those loose gravel roads, flying along on that little Harley at 50 mph, I’m thinking “this is not going to end well,” but I managed to keep going. We had several stream crossings and one place where a bridge had been, but now was just a bunch of broken concrete slabs in the water. I really didn’t think I could get over that but I made it. I guess that’s why they call it an adventure!

We had a few motorbikes break down but most made it. I only heard of one bike going down and the rider hurt his knee but he was there at the end, standing up.

Yes he did.

The dust on the roads was brutal and as the sun began to set, looking through the sunset and dust made it extremely hard to see where the next turn, hole or log might be. My nerves were on edge a time or two.

We all got back to the rally point about sunset, after a long, tiring yet satisfying day of this Adventure Challenge. There was a huge pot of homemade chili with cornbread muffins and cold beer to wrap it up.

I had a great time with many old and new friends and will definitely (defiantly?) do it again- but maybe on a motorbike more built for that kind of riding!

Road Dirt Mike
Top featured photo: Fellow rider on a classic BMW Airhead. Yes, man and machine made it back for the chili and cold brews.

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