WADDINGTON – Four Waddington motorcyclists have been working around the clock to prepare for a race across the country beginning Friday.

Jeffrey Tiernan, Steve Flea-MacDonald, Michael Fockler and Mark Hill, better known as “The Wolfpack,” will participate in the 2012 Cannonball Motorcycle Run, a two-week, coast-to-coast race from Newburgh to San Francisco, Calif.

The team and over 40 other riders will test their endurance as they travel upwards of 300 miles per day on bikes built before 1930.

The men have been building their motorcycles for eight months at Fourth Coast Four, Waddington, a motorcycle shop which repairs and restores motorcycles, using parts from the north country and Fockler Industries.

Owner Mark Hill said he wanted to participate after building engines for the 2010 race to Santa Monica.

“I thought, why am I not riding on this event? I really want to be involved,” he said.

The riders will be riding Henderson motorcycles originally built by the Schwinn Bicycle Company, “which stopped production during the Great Depression,” according to project coordinator Marcia Tiernan.

“Most people don’t know that many of the early motorcycles were made by bicycle companies,” said Mr. Hill, who will be riding a 1929 Henderson KJ.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the production of the Henderson motorcycles.

“They were the highest-end motorcycles at the time,” Mr. Hill said.

The race will take the group through American landmarks such as the Mississippi River, Mount Rushmore, Devils Tower, Yellowstone Park, the Rocky Mountains, the high desert, Shasta, the Avenue of the Giants, Pacific Coast Highway and the Golden Gate Bridge before before they reach their final destination in San Francisco.

“That’s what it’s all about,” Mr. Hill said.

The group completed the assembly of their motorcycles Monday and said they are ready to begin the race Friday.

“We’re like kids on Christmas,” Mr. Hill said.

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