I thought it might be fun to have people share the dumbest or funniest thing that they've done (or will admit to) in regards to riding or working on motorcycles. My contribution is, unfortunately, exceedingly current (see Puzzle on My JackPiner just below this post). I also had a story I told this summer about making a fiberglass expansion chamber in 1971 for my 1970 Steeltanker, and having it blow a hole in the side, without my knowledge, and spew hot air against my lace up leather boot while I was riding hard and fast. Once the heat built up in the boot, to where I felt it, I jumped off the bike in full flight and was flipping like a fish out of water trying to get that boot unlaced and off my foot. I have a friend who was with me that day that still, a couple of times a year, starts snot-laughing about it.
Anyone else brave enough to give the group a laugh or two? I could use a little help wearing this big pointy hat :-)
Larry Seale
I choose to ride
Larry, I luv humor. Just because your hat comes to a point, doesn't meen you're sharpe, case in point. My dear Bultaco buddy, Bultaco Bob, recently built a full-on Pursang, I was there the day of the inagural "firing" after twenty kicks, she finally lit, what remains that came out of the exhaust? Bittso pieces of red schemgmum.......in his haste, he forgot to remove the red shop rag from the TE, will never forget the inscription on his face...red, like the Irish within, and the deposits on the garage door, a moment to never be forgotten, itsa a true story. how's the chili?
Tom...
OK Boys, here it goes. When I was 17 we had a farm, my brother and I built a motorcycle track around the pasture. The track took you through the pasture and past some of the out buildings. Well one day I was getting on my CR 250 pretty fast when a cow ran out from behind the chicken coop. Yepper I hit him. Got the bike turned sideways so I hit him broadside. The cow bellered and ran like a banshee. I must have suprised him pretty good cause he left me little presant to remember him by. [B)][B)][B)][B)]
Yep, those were the good old days.
Rod Whitman
1972 6 Day (Rider)
1972 6 Day (Project)
4 years ago I built a killer 125 Husky. Best of everything money could buy. First thing I did was put the piston in backwards. Caught that fairly quick. Then I some how got the Mikuni slide in backwards. Interestingly enough the bike ran but only on the very top end. I won both motos. I was later commenting to my engine builder the problem.
My friend Matt Waldron pulled the carb top and laughed for about 1/2 hour. He then anounced my boo boo at the trophy presentation. I was pretty embarrassed.
Dirk
Larry, while on the subject, would be very " enlightening" to hear from the likes of our LEADERS. Cumon boyz Dane, Paul, Doug....surely there are a few treasured laughs, that should be shared[8D]
Tom....
If ya ever put duct tape over the breather holes of yer 74.5 Piner frame before washing,REMEMBER to remove forementioned tape before re-placing gas tank tank and going to a harescramble. Bill
Tom,
the chili is GREAT! It's been down in the single digits the last two night, so the chili has been well placed. Thank you so much!
Larry Seale
I choose to ride
First off, you have to remember that the mind tends to block unpleasant experiences, so I can't remember much. HOWEVER, as long as I've been involved in motorcycling, I've probably done every stupid thing that everybody else has. Rags in the intake when the filter is out, paper towels in the exhaust when the pipe is off, forgetting to tighten the mag nut and have the flywheel come loose and the key shear.
And then there is the loop the bike out in front of all your buddies while trying to show everybody how good you can do a wheelie.
Dane
I think Larry Perkins said it best when he said "the wrong things happened when he used to tell his Friends watch this". All I will add to that is man did it hurt.[:0]
Ron Carbaugh
Ron and Dane, that reminds me of a news item I saw a week or two ago ...
National Transportation Safety Board recently divulged they had
"covertly" funded a project with the U.S. automakers for the past 5 years, whereby the automakers were installing black-box voice recorders in 4-wheel drive pickup trucks and SUV's in an effort to determine in fatal accidents, the circumstances in the last 15 seconds before the crash.
They were surprised to find in 38 of the 50 states the recorded last words of drivers in 61.2 percent of fatal crashes were, "Oh Sh*t !"
Only the states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, Alabama,
Georgia, Mississippi, Lousiana, Missouri and Texas were different, where 89.3 percent of the final words were:"Hold my beer, I'm gonna try somethin."
Larry Seale
I choose to ride
Hi Guys,
Here's my dumbest (boderline stupid) story.
First off this goes way back to the day when smoking cigarettes was a cool thing to do.
One evening a friend of mine and I were trying to get his Suzuki 250 X6 Hustler to run (wish I had that one).
After changing several old spark plugs with more old plugs and then kicking a million times each, it wouldn't start.
I sugggested making sure it had enough gas in the tank.
My Dad had a dimly lit garage back in those days so when I took off the gas cap, it was to dark to see down in the tank.
Quickly I reached into my pocket retrieving my trusty Zippo and promptly lit the tank on fire.
In shear panic we both turned and ran. At about 30ft we turned back to see the flame still burning.
We stood there watching it burn for a few seconds and then I thought "throw some dirt on it". Scrambling to grab hand fulls of dirt from a flower bed, we began throwing dirt on it and into the gas tank. No matter it kept burning.
Not knowing what else to do, I had another brilliant idea run for the garden hose! I ran to the side of the house and grabbed the hose. I turned on the hose and ran back around the front of the garage, turning the water hose on my friend who was standing there with his t-shirt off, smothering the the fire.
More proof cigarette smoking can kill you.
RonW
I've never ever did anything dumb or funny while riding dirt bikes or working on dirt bikes either.
since 1973 !!
Raymond
Down East Pentons
Hi Guys
My dumbest or funniest motorcycle moment depending on the perspective, rider or audience(buddies),was when I was 18 or 19 years old.
I had just bought a few year old 1976 Honda MR 250 from Penton's here in Amherst, and was riding it in my dad's pasture.My brothers and I had a little figure eight track set up with the crossover at the gate between the two fields. There was an old overgrown brush pile that groundhogs had basically made into a potentially perfect dirt pile for a jump.
Riding the MR around the pasture to get the feel of it as my previous bike was an old street Honda 100cc I converted into a "dirt"bike. My friends had come over to see this "new" machine and waited for a turn to ride a 250! Their experience on a bike was limited to a Trail 90 or my 100.
The moment of truth came to jump the old brushpile. I gathered speed ,much faster than the 100, and readied myself to show off some! .All of a sudden as I came to the top of the pile I was instantly ejected off the bike ,sailed through the into the the fence row!!(Complete with pricker bushes and an old 60s VW body for character)Of course I couldn't have went through the gate! The bike immediately followed me into all that mess on top of me. I got out from under the bike scratched and bloodied ,but otherwise intact , wondered what the heck happened.
After my buddies came to see if I was OK ,we went up the trail to the top of the pile to see what went wrong . Well... I seemed to have overlooked the fact that the 250 was a much bigger bike than the 100 which meant that the handlebars would probably be WIDER!!!! DUH, should have trimmed all the spindly trees and brush growing on either side to compensate. Needless to say , my buddies did not want any thing to do with the bigger bike. I picked it up ,straightened up the fork to match the handlebars and rode the rest of the afternoon. I'm just glad there weren't camcorders back then.
The moral of this story even though I had ridden it a 100 times before is...[B)]
"Know your trail before you show off!"
Jeffrey P. Borer
So, Ikseven gets full credit for CARBON FIBER 20 years before its time. Did the Skunk Works team use you on the F-117 stealth fighter project?
Bentrims,
Sadly, no. I think my creativity evaded their radar ;)
I think the primary contribution I made that day was to highlight the need for heat shielding pads on the inside of the pant legs [xx(]
Larry Seale
I choose to ride
Raymond,
I take it you'll be a Presidential candidate in 2008? :D
Larry Seale
I choose to ride
Larry,
I cannot speak for the other 11 states you quoted in "God's Country" but in Tennessee the last 15 seconds before a crash is.
"Pop will you hold that dadburn light still I have got that big sonofagun in my sights"--- Then--"Floor it yonder comes the game warden"!!
Bobby Stults
Bobby,
I thought that was Alabama...actually down near Prattville[:p].
Ron Carbaugh
In the early thru mid 80's we rode 3 wheelers alot (I owned every model 250 2stroke Honda made) in the lead belt of MO. The mine tailings were piled into giant dunes. One day I was haveing trouble with my rear disc brake not releasing. Will climbing a dune the brake was dragging and I barely made it the top.I came to a stop as I crested the razorback and looked down to see the disc smoking hot.As I bent over to crack open the brake bleeder (are you laughing yet) I grabbed hold of the rear grab bar. As soon as I cracked the bleeder the bike took off down the dune faster than I would have ever rode down it with me holding on to the grab bar and literally skiing behind it. I just knew it was going to go into a tank slapper with man and machine rolling down the hill in a ball. Some how I made it all the way to the bottom and came to a stop.At this point I'm thinking I just had a religous experience when my brother rides up and falls to the ground laughing to the point of exhaustion and hurting his ribs. He still gets winded whenever this story comes up.
Dennis Jones
How bout leaving the rag in the airbox,putting the filter in anyway,kicking the bike and actually have it fire once,sucking the rag through the carb ? Or taking the expansion chamber off a project bike,fixing a couple dents,brazing a crack, then wire brush, prime and paint and not realise til you try to start the bike that it's packed solid with about five pounds of mouse nest material? Maybe rebuild a Pursang motor the night before a race,almost finished bolting the seat back on ,find a circlip on the floor and aren't QUITE sure if it's an old one you just took out or a new one you dropped? Nope, never done that.
Ron,
I forgot to mention Alabama,since it is about 400 yards through the woods behind my house to Alabama I kind of consider it my home state also.
It is pretty much the same saying there also.
But you have the area wrong also it is not Prattville it is Maplesville.
One more last tidbit is they considered South Alabama for the movie Deliverance but they had to pick East Tennessee to keep it clean enough for a "R" rating.[}:)]
Bobby Stults
Several years ago I was chasing the series points lead in the Open Amateur class in our local Vintage Dirt Racing NW series on my trusty CZ 400 (BPE--before Penton enlightenment). After an 8-race series, I was within 2 points of the leader, a young up-and-comer on a Bultaco, so the final 2 motos were make or break time. The CZ wasn't exactly jetted right...it started fine cold or hot, but was kinda spotty in between and often flooded when it was very cold out, necessitating a quick plug swap to get it going.
Plug 1 (of 2 in the head) had faltered in the rush to start before Moto 1, and I'd already switched to Plug 2 for that race. A smart guy (not me) would have put in two fresh plugs immediately after the race. When it failed to start again just minutes before Moto 2, I then figured I'd better quick throw in a fresh new plug from the toolbox to be safe. I grabbed for the closest NGK box and the plug wrench. I switched the cap to the shiny new plug and it finally fired up nicely so that I could take my place on the line.
About halfway through Lap 1, my good start and early lead were lost when it started to misfire and finally died altogether. After some fruitless kicks and watching the entire field pass me by, I switched the plug cap over to old Plug 2...and it fired right up! I figured the coveted Amateur (ha!) class series championship must have been lost to a faulty factory sparkplug!
Nope...in my hurry to put in a fresh plug, I'd stupidly grabbed and installed one of the NGK B8EG long-reach plugs (for my modern KTM) by mistake. The reach was just long enough that the piston had mashed things to the point that it was running on just a hair's breadth of gappage, until it finally fouled out. Fortunately no damage...but I now keep Husky and modern bike plugs in one box, Penton-KTM and CZ plugs in another.[B)]
Big Mac,
that's one of my biggest fears, so I'm anal enough to tape and label each spark plug when I buy them. One starts out thinking one will always keep everything clear and straight in one's head, but enough living will change one's opinion. [:p]
Larry Seale
I choose to ride
Bobby...ya down around Demopolis or Union Town.. Great come back.[8D]
Ron Carbaugh
Stupid human tricks? Yeah, I've got a few to my credit, just like the rest of you.
How about pressure testing my Hodaka Combat Wombat engine and then installing it into the frame? For the life of me I couldn't figure out why it wouldn't kickstart worth a darn. It sure sounded muffled somehow. Eventually, that evening I figured out that I had forgotten to remove the 1/8" thick rubber gasket I'd used to seal the exhaust manifold during my engine pressure leak-down test.
Then there's the time I was showing off my wheelie technique on a friend's newly purchased 60cc Yamaha Mini-Enduro at the local campgrounds, with all the chicks watching. The asphalt was the type where they pour tar and then spread gravel on top and let it set, GNARLY stuff. Anyway, while in the middle of the wheelie, the left handgrip comes completely off. Unfortunately, I wasn't trained in the art of one-handed wheelies!
Just about two months ago, while leading my class in the 125cc Sportsman Intermediate, I heard my exhaust note become very loud. I figured the headpipe had come out of the exhaust manifold, and continued racing, but a somewhat reduced pace since I couldn't see my nearest competitior. Then someone started pointing at me while I crossed their position; he was pointing to my exhaust pipe on my Hodaka Super Combat which was being dragged behind my bike by the rear hanger and its bracket. I still finished in 1st place, albeit dragging my pipe across the finish line jump. The pipe had come out of the header and the mid-bracket had broken off completely. While this doesn't count as a stupid human trick, when was the last time you saw the 1st place rider cross the finish line before their exhaust pipe?
Phast Phil
Moderator, Hodaka Owners Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Hodaka
No No Phil, theres just me thats never done anything dum or funny with a bike, I dont fit in the "like the rest of you" category [8D]
Raymond
Down East Pentons
OK I might as well add my moment to the list. When I first started riding we had a Heathkit minibike. Anybody remember those? 5hp BS motor, big tires, snowmobile type drive, Would do 30-35 mph. Well anyway, when someone was around we'd show off by coming around the barn on full song. The pegs on those were in front of the motor on the base of the frame curve, so if you lean too far over, all of a sudden your doing big circles thru the yard. It was even more fun on wet grass. When I moved up to a big bike [ Yamaha CT 1], I was riding at my cousins in the southern tier of NY. We had three or four places where we would "hillclimb", a pretty good grade,too. More than once I'd lose momentum about 10 ft from the top, then try to figure out how to dismount gracfully. Got laughed at alot, of course it wasn't funny when it was someone else.
I once hurled my big CCM motocrosser at a tabletop jump in a vain effort to keep up with the fast guys. On the take off ramp I hit a bump which sent me off slightly diagonally. By my standards it was a massive jump, and while up there I had plenty of time to realise that both wheels were going to land pretty close to the ropes. It turned out to be rear wheel just inside the ropes, front wheel just outside the ropes....
The spectators loved it.
It must have been the summer of 1978. I was at a summer camp in northern Michigan. Got really bored with some of the classes I had....such as edible wild plants. Got the bright idea of skipping that class and seeing if I could "borrow" one of the CT70 minitrails that the camp had for trail riding. Got to the barn where they stored them and nobody was around so......I got one out, fired it up and off I went. One of my classes was trail riding, but none of the kids had a clue how to ride and I was getting very frustrated at the pace we were riding. Now I was FREE with nobody to slow me down. [:p] Didn't know the trails very well and that would cost me dearly. I had the CT wound wide open when I crested a hill. To my horror I realized that the other side of the hill was much longer and MUCH steeper... and at the bottom was a steeply banked drainage ditch. I tried to slow down, but it was way too late. I planted the front wheel squarely into the steep bank of the ditch and smashed the "family jewels" into the triple clamps with a tremendous thud. I had hit the bank so hard I had bent the forks all the way back to the frame. The front wheel would barely roll. What to do now? My "jewel sack" was cut and swelling at an alarming rate. [xx(] I knew if I went to see the camp Doctor they would put 2 and 2 together and I'd be busted for sure.... so I took the bike back to the barn and leaned it against a tree. Nobody had seen anything! I pulled off that one, but my fun for the rest of the week was over as I could hardly walk. Looking back now it was poetic justice. I sure got what I deserved. I often wondered what the camp mechanic must have thought when he found the bike all mangled up. Stupid kids.....
OUCH,OUCH,OUCH!!!:(
OK I might as well add my moment to the list. When I first started riding we had a Heathkit minibike. Anybody remember those? 5hp BS motor, big tires, snowmobile type drive, Would do 30-35 mph. Well anyway, when someone was around we'd show off by coming around the barn on full song. The pegs on those were in front of the motor on the base of the frame curve, so if you lean too far over, all of a sudden your doing big circles thru the yard. It was even more fun on wet grass. When I moved up to a big bike [ Yamaha CT 1], I was riding at my cousins in the southern tier of NY. We had three or four places where we would "hillclimb", a pretty good grade,too. More than once I'd lose momentum about 10 ft from the top, then try to figure out how to dismount gracfully. Got laughed at alot, of course it wasn't funny when it was someone else.
I once hurled my big CCM motocrosser at a tabletop jump in a vain effort to keep up with the fast guys. On the take off ramp I hit a bump which sent me off slightly diagonally. By my standards it was a massive jump, and while up there I had plenty of time to realise that both wheels were going to land pretty close to the ropes. It turned out to be rear wheel just inside the ropes, front wheel just outside the ropes....
The spectators loved it.
It must have been the summer of 1978. I was at a summer camp in northern Michigan. Got really bored with some of the classes I had....such as edible wild plants. Got the bright idea of skipping that class and seeing if I could "borrow" one of the CT70 minitrails that the camp had for trail riding. Got to the barn where they stored them and nobody was around so......I got one out, fired it up and off I went. One of my classes was trail riding, but none of the kids had a clue how to ride and I was getting very frustrated at the pace we were riding. Now I was FREE with nobody to slow me down. [:p] Didn't know the trails very well and that would cost me dearly. I had the CT wound wide open when I crested a hill. To my horror I realized that the other side of the hill was much longer and MUCH steeper... and at the bottom was a steeply banked drainage ditch. I tried to slow down, but it was way too late. I planted the front wheel squarely into the steep bank of the ditch and smashed the "family jewels" into the triple clamps with a tremendous thud. I had hit the bank so hard I had bent the forks all the way back to the frame. The front wheel would barely roll. What to do now? My "jewel sack" was cut and swelling at an alarming rate. [xx(] I knew if I went to see the camp Doctor they would put 2 and 2 together and I'd be busted for sure.... so I took the bike back to the barn and leaned it against a tree. Nobody had seen anything! I pulled off that one, but my fun for the rest of the week was over as I could hardly walk. Looking back now it was poetic justice. I sure got what I deserved. I often wondered what the camp mechanic must have thought when he found the bike all mangled up. Stupid kids.....
OUCH,OUCH,OUCH!!!:(
"I say you surely all will kickgas if you hold the clutch in and grab a handfull of throttle and WFO then let out real fast!!!Try forgetting to tighten a front backing plate stay arm to the slider on a 72 piner on the pipe wfo on a strait away making up time in a qualifyer at Stone Mountain!Thats when they started playing with the clevis pin replacements project?Just make sure pins tight!Or you will have worse than worrying about quick wheel changes?;)
Wolf man, Its sounds like that happened 30 years ago, ... havent you done anything off/camber since then ? I've never/ever have done anything dumb or funny on a bike, It sounds like alot of us haven't done anything dumb or funny on a bike since 197 shushushba. sshhhs
come on guys, did anybody crash or have a funny mishap this past season ??
I'm leading up to something here,
Raymond
Down East Pentons
Alright Rainman"I'll give you something exciting!This summer I bought a 1970 400 cross husky and some idiot lost the little strait retainer left in the side of the bing 54,36mm carb,the little dohicke that keeps the slide from turnins sideways and holds it strait in venturi?I was unawhere of this! started it up and man I could hear that piston wanting to hit me !Instant RPM,scarey when you're in a inclosed area!Now I know why some of my machines had that old ugly orange three-M adheasive globbed on them to prevent air leaks and to keep those keepers that were pressed at factory in place?Nothing like a pinched throttle cable either!On a heatyhy 250 penton![:p][B)][}:)];)
Rain man! you deserve a gold medal![:o)]
Naa Wolfy, you gotta earn gold medals, and they don't come easy or give them away.
Now i'll tell you the dumbest thing I've eva seen a fella do up here in the great North Woods.
I've always been a driver in this sport, trying to encourage others to come to the races and events and all...
Well one time I talked this real green horn into coming to an Enduro with me down in Massachusetts, and he calls me @ 6am and says he'll meet me there cause he's late and didn't wanna hold us up. Cool,
The enduro starts and finishes and I never see the guy.
Well he drove the 175 miles down to the starting point and forgot his bike !!! And he fessed up to it ta boot.
That was just one of the few funny things that I've seen, but talk about being nerved up on race day !! wow
Raymond
Down East Pentons
If I was to tell the dumbest thing I ever did on a motorcycle[?]. Well let's start with the dumbest thing I ever did with a motor cycle and maybe later I could tell some of the dumbest things I've ever done on a motorcycle. I guess I was sixteen when this story took place. I was working on my first full sized bike, a 125 suzuki I had spent the whole summer working to buy. The bike was purchased from my cousines husband and he lived about onehundred miles away. When he delivered the bike to my parents house it came in pieces stuffed into the trunk and back and front seats of a Datsun 210 two door. He pulled all the stuff out and informs me that it's time for me to learn to build a motorcycle, and then leaves me standing there with a pile of parts. I suposse that maybe it was a way of pleasing my dad. I think nobody thought I could put it all togeather. I moved all the parts down to the basement and went to work. Somewhere during the later portion of the project I was working on getting the carb back on but first decided to clean it in gasoline. I had a pie tin with some fuel and carb parts in it on the floor near the base of the milk crate that was being used to support the machine. Somehow while that was going on my adolecent mind got side tracked to some other important item that needed attention. I don't remember exactly what that important thing was but it involved the use of the propane tourch[xx(]. When I was finished heating I went to set the tourch down on the cement floor. The floor was full of cracks and was very uneven and I just happened to set the tourch on the edge of a crack. As my attention was on the part that needed heating and getting to it before it cooled I hadn't realized that the tourch was falling over right into a pie tin full of gasoline. The fuel went all over the place and immediately burst into flames. The first thing I noticed was that my left hand was on fire[V]. I tried shaking it to put it out and when that didn't work I without thinking put hy hands togeather between my legs. This was successful in extinguishing the flame on my hand but as I looked around me I now saw that the motorcycle had burning gasoline all over the gas tank. This required immediate action and I quickly grabed a mattress pad that I had used to cover to bike. I beat the flame with the pad and smothered it. As I stepped back to gather myself I realized that my hand was painful and I noticed that two of my fingers were severly burned. I new what to do and I ran to the sink next to the washing machine and turned the cold water on my fingers. As I did this the skin fell off the back of my fingers. Now I new I needed real help and I ran to my fathers study. There was one thing I could always be sure of was that my dad was always home working in his study. I ran into the room and informed him that I had started a fire in the basement. He yelled "is the fire out" I told him yes and he asked if I was ok. I showed him my fingers and he freaked. He took me down to the kitchen and put some ice and water in a plastic bag and off we went to the emergency room. We got to see the doctor and he said that I was lucky and would probably not need to have any skin grafts. They cleaned the area touroughly to prevent infection and I don't have to tell you how that felt, because it's kind of hard to describe. When we got home I was sceaming at the top of my lungs and my parents being on the safe side wouldn't give me any more pain medication than what the doctor had perscribed, had to call the doctor to ask if it was ok. I remember laying on the bed screaming and the pain being so bad that I actually was halucinating as I looked up at the ceiling it became a swirling haze of geometric patterns. My brother later told me that the sceaming was so bad that he just plain had to leave the house. Needless to say that I learned well from this expeiance and havn't done anything like this since. More stories later on the dumbest thing I've ever done on, or while riding a motorcycle. Gavin
Uh, Gavin, I don't think I'll be able to sleep for a week after reading your horror story ... Lordie!
I was gonna post that everyone else is vying for 2nd place, because I have a new story from just last weekend. But my first place vote now is squarely in Gavin's ballot box. I'll have to settle for "most recent" dumb thing on a motorcycle.
Anyhow, last weekend I was riding/exploring through a new virgin 80 acres, and became completely enmeshed in a big pile of discarded coiled barbwire (on the KTM) that was disguised by tall grass. I felt the drag, stopped, and when I looked down, the barbwire was threaded up between the rear tire and brake and fender, and also was wrapped around both my legs almost to the knee.
It literally took me 10 minutes to extract my boots from the barb wire so I could dismount from the bike (I told everyone later that I looked like Steve McQueen in The Great Escape when he ends up tangled in the second barbwire fence on his stolen BMW motorcycle, but I'll confess to you that I didn't look one single bit like him ... he looked Cool!), then I had to walk a quartermile cross country to the truck and get wire cutters, walk back to the bike, and take about 20 minutes to cut the barbwire into about 30 pieces so I could get rid of all of it from my rear assembly. Amazingly no damage at all to the bike or my boots - thank God I was going slow (my usual :-( ). Would have been really bad, though, if I had been going fast, or had not been wearing boots.
Boots, boots, boots!
Larry Seale
I choose to ride
I hear ya on the barbed wire, my favorite thing to do used to be ride along the front of the woods until you find a hole to head into, then ride around for awhile, then back out. Alot of the woods and hedge rows have old fences running through them. So you come zipping along and go to pass through or into and all of a sudden someboby put out the anchor. You look down and you've a wire hooked on a footpeg. Also very dangerous on a snowmobile, can cause some damage or injury, even death. Something to watch for. Be careful!![^][^]
I have to admit I had a few laughs reading your stories and it reminded me of a few of my own, to be honest I had forgotten alot of them until everones stories reminded me of them again. So here goes,
My first bike was a Susuki Ts 90. It had been siezed up by the previous owner and my younger brother and I bought it together.
We had some friends that lived down the street and there step dad had bought each of them a new bike. He use race Triumphs at Ascot and I guess he was really fast, he had hung that up and decided to trail ride with his kids, We were invited along since we had just aquired a bike of our own. We had gone to a place called Clear Creek and we had been out on a long trail ride. I was begining to feel my oaks and I thought I knew were we were. Clear creek his a huge place and it is all sand and everything looks like everything else... to my horror.
Bob, my friends dad, had slowed up and I could not figure out why, I quessed he had slowed down to wait for the little kids and I was in a mood to show off just a bit.... As I passed Bob the trail just dissapeared before me, and I was airborne. That would not have been too bad but the trail was really steep and at the bottom was the road and then a drop off and then the stream beyond that.. I had to slow down, there was no place to do that but the down hill I found my self on. I tried to down shift use the rear brake but that caused me to do tank slappers.... what to do now.... I went up a gear from where I had been and applied the rear brake real easy... finally I was slowing down but I was running out of room, down shifted again and a little more rear brake, I did not know how to use the front brake yet so it never saw much service until much later in my riding experience. I got it stopped on the far side of the road with the front wheel just in the soft stuff along the side. I was ready to go back to camp and change my shorts, but Bob came up next to me and slapped me on the back and said that was great, you looked like Joel Roberts coming off the top the hill, thanks I said but I did not feel like that, The moisture in my jeans gave me a different idea, I figure I would never hear the end of it. And there was many a camp fire after that were my exploites were told for all to enjoy.
Or how about Jan. 1974 I had just picked my first new bike a 250 Elsinor. The call had come in that my bike was ready, it was so new that it had to be ordered. Saturday morning I drove down to pick it up and there it was, in all its glory. I loaded it up in my truck and headed to my friends place. He had an orchard behind his place and I wanted to ride it and I have to admit to show off too. we had selected a dirt road that was loose dirt to test the new bike out. I fired it up and headed away from him. I went out 50 yards or so and turned around and gassed it, wow what fun. this was made to do wheelies. As I passed my buddy on the rear wheel the bike came on the pipe so fast that I had no time to do anything and over I went. I got up and only my ego was buised but the bike, the bike, Oh no! As I went over the bike must have gone a little side ways and the rear fender was caught in the soft dirt and it snapped off. This was the first year of plastic fenders and they were a bit brittle. I looked to my friend more some comfort but he was on the ground holding his stomach and laughing hard and loud. If this was not bad enough I figured the only thing to do was to go back to the shop and buy a new fender, but there was none to be had. I ordered a replacement and hoped it would not be too long but the damaged was done and now everyone knew what happened. I could not cover it up. everyone knew that I had the bike and I would have to tell them how I broke the fender on my new bike with in the first ten minutes of ride time. A side note... I never broke another fender on that bike.
Thom Green,Still crazy after all these years!
76' 250 MC5 (orginal owner)
75' GS400 (project bike)
72'sixday (project bike)
This is one of those questions that brings up memory after memory...
my favorite is the time i hit a spectator spot at some east coast national enduro....... the hill was covered with fallen bikes so I took off into the woods to the left of the crowds. Unfortunately, I got into trouble... and fell off as my bike went airborne and hung up on a tree limb several feet off the ground. Luckily, the friendly onlookers helped me pull it down... but was my face red.
As I sit here with pulled ligaments and swollen ankle ... I am more aware of my dumb move 2 months ago when I was climbing a steep, rocky hill in Colorado and again got into trouble. This time when I fell ... the rotating rear wheel sucked my foot down in between the swingarm and the wheel. Luckily the engine died and the wheel stopped before breaking any of my bones, but my leg was jammed in so tight that my riding buddies had to remove the rear wheel to get me out (cute trick on a steep rocky mountain). Ouch!!!! Then even dumber me went on to ride/fall another 50 miles before crying uncle (luckily i was feeling no pain as my lower leg and ankle were numb by the time they got the spokes straightened out and the wheel back on).
Lynn,
I'll have a cup of coffee with you and you can pick the place. But if you ask me to go riding with you, I'm gonna have to see a topographical map first :D
Larry Seale
I choose to ride
Lynn, nice to hear from you, I was thinking of you the other day, when I was posting on this site. Good to hear that you are still kicking around. I do not trail ride much, but if you ever get up this way, let me know and I will ride with you, There are several other Poggers in the area and we can make a day of it.
A couple of summers ago my son and I were riding in the high mountains, I have pictures of it some where on this puter, there were alpine lakes and meadows, beautifully! The trails were steep and narrow at times but it was sure fun. We did not have any trouble until we stopped. I had pulled over to talk to a rider comming the other way and when my son stopped he lost his footing and he and the bike fell over, breaking the clutch lever, I managed to tape it so that it would still work, but he was feeling pretty red in the face too, We called it a day and rode back to camp. I remember seeing the panic in his eyes as he fell over, He was fine and the clutch levers.... no big deal. He could not seem to believe that I was not upset about the lever, in fact I was proud of him. That was a tough trail and he handled it like a champ. oh the memories!!!
Thom Green,Still crazy after all these years!
76' 250 MC5 (orginal owner)
75' GS400 (project bike)
72'sixday (project bike)
I got three that come to mind.
Once as a kid riding near my house in the woods I watered out my bike in a stream crossing. I had the trusty spark plug and wrench holder hosed clamped to the frame so I took out the plug. Still got spark, thats good. So we turned the bike over and tried to pump out the water, still wouldnt start. I figured I know what will get this going and had my friend ride me back home for some starting fluid. So I shot the fluid in the spark plug hole while my buddy cranked her over (if you have ever tried to kick start a bike upside down you know its fun in itself), but I forgot one thing...I forgot to take the spark plug out of the cap. All of a sudden I had what seemed like to me a very large flame ball all around me. I jumped back, then realized my trusty steed was going to go up in smoke unless i did something so we thru it back into the stream...and started over again.
Another one my buddy and me were trying to cross a busy four lane road that was raised up about 15 to 20 feet from the field to the sholder of the road. Finally a gap came and we both gunned it...except my 400 Penton had almost died and caught running backwards. Well this shot me back down the embankment backwards, crashing at the bottom. Also had this happen on a starting line of an MX once. Very susprising indeed!
The last is a Super Hunky story. One day at a race he had to go to the bathroom. So he went into the porta potty to go and was thinking about some possibly better lines he could employ to beat his buddy. He went in, shut the door, took off his gloves...and casually tossed them into the toilet pit. Then just stood there for a bit pondering the situation.
Mike thats a great Super Hunky story. I did the same thing with my rain jacket before a fishing tournament. Took me almost 20 minutes to fish it out of the hole. My buddies thought I was crazy, until I told them my lunch was in the pocket. [:o)]
I thought my running into the cow story would take the cake but you guys are mad men. My story ain't got no chance amoung folks like y'all.
Rod Whitman
1972 6 Day (Rider)
1972 6 Day (Project)
Thats what I like, some are funny, and we all can relate.[^][V];)
While riding an Enduro in 1980, I came out of a wood section a few minutes late. I turned onto a really dry and dusty gravel road, and just ahead of me were two buddies that started on a earlier number. I was thinking more about passing them than what I should have been doing....like checking my odometer and route sheet mileage to the next turn! I caught the first buddy, Jeff, with no problem, but the other rider, James, was faster, and he was trying to get back up on time like I was. After eating his dust for quite a long time, he finally slowed up to let me by....so I thought. But when the dust cleared, to my surprise the gravel road ended, and all I could see in front of me was a paved road (that if I had looked at my route sheet, we were to make a right turn on to), and the tops of trees. I did a panic two wheel brake lock-up, but that didn't do any good in the loose gravel. I got a lot of the speed scrubbed off as I crossed the pavement, so when I went over the edge, I was able to slid the bike down the thirty foot embankement on it's side. Lucky for me, it looked like an automobile had been over the same hill, and it pushed down a large area of the trees. I crawled (it was that steep) back up to the road bank to let my buddies know that I was OK, but when I looked across the road, there was James' bike in the road ditch, and he was off in the grass holding his sides from laughing too much.
It took twenty minutes to drag the bike back up to the road
Gary
OK Rain Man......... hate to admit that I haven't got any smarter with age... so here you go with more recent experiences.
This summer, I did a respectable 90 miles of rocky mountain trails... and had come off the mountains on to a jeep trail so was totally relaxed and on the way home. So..... was thinking about how wonderful trail riding is... and how we should be able to give handicap people access to these incredible trails and views of the mountains and valleys and so... I was mentally engineering a handicap-enabled dirtbike. All of a sudden, i realized i was going way, way too fast into a turn, went off the road, laid the bike down and tucked my arm into my side (a trick that I had learned this summer in order to avoid the continous injury of my hands as i try to block my falls). Wellll.......... instead of annoyingly injurying my hands/fingers by bailing, i jammed my arm (in that little space between my front and back chest plate) into my side -- and cracked my ribs!
The Fortune 100 company I work for has spent gazillion dollars training me to "Be Here Now". Now I understand what they mean!
Quotequote:Originally posted by lksseven
Lynn,
I'll have a cup of coffee with you and you can pick the place. But if you ask me to go riding with you, I'm gonna have to see a topographical map first :D
Larry Seale
I choose to ride
Larry,
Great thread you started!!! I am certain that our ISDT/RR and National Enduro heroes have tons of stories, but it is nice to put in our two cents.
Regarding the cup of coffee......... I look forward to sharing a grande latte with skim milk at Barnes and Noble at a city of your choice ....... but will have to warn you that the only physical mark I have from my escapades is a scar on my wrist from hot, burning coffee spilled while negotiating a surge on our boat in florida.
Along those lines, I second your vote for Gavin. There is nothing in this whole world more painful than burns. No drug can even touch the pain!
Thom,
Thanks for thinking of me.... one of these days we will be able to connect for a great ride... The good news is that Colorado has a wide range of trails and we can introduce your son to some awesome views -- at any skill level.
Lynn,
I found your High School, and you must have made quite an impact there since they re-named it after you. I went trail riding in the Daniel Boone National Forest in the southeast section of Kentucky. Staying and riding out of London, Kentucky.
Well, driving down I-75 south of Lexington, and north of London (can't remember exactly the name of the town) I saw a sign on the side of the highway and the school that's named "Lynn Camp High School". :)
By the way, I found it to be a very enjoyable area to ride. It's about a 9 hour drive for me but we don't find hills that big up here, and it's about the closest good place we can find that's out of the snowbelt for riding in the winter season.
The locals down there don't ride this time of the year, they thought we were crazy. But compared to the snow and cold that we typically have in MI., it's wonderful.
Lynn, You once talked about relocating out of Chicagoland and were searching for utopia. Have you discovered where that is........let me know, I'll be heading that way myself someday.
Bob W
Hi Bob!!!
Have seen photos of Lynn Camp River/Creek and it is truly beautiful. Wish I had known that there were open trails there....I would have visited.
Funny you should ask where we settled...... as you may remember, my husband was newly introduced to trail riding -- and went absolutely berserk about the sport. So after we found this -- seemingly perfect -- place in Colorado (see my response to Bill MacKinnon's post for the ultimate retirement location) we returned from vacation to Chicago. There is absolutely no place here worth riding and Jim was driving me nuts.... so I told him to take one of our (rodeo barrel racer) daughters and go scope out Salida, CO to see if it was as good as we thought. Wellllllllll he sent my daughter back, but he is still there!!!! I am not ready (or able) to retire....... but I will join him as soon as I can. Right now, I just visit as often as I can.
In high school I considered myself un-breakable. If it took little brains and no one else would try it, I got the task. Always around cattle and a foolish horseless cowboy I often herded cows with my bike. Hard to rope one and ride though.
A guy who worked with my Dad had a horse and was allowed to let him roam in a neighbors harvested corn field/woods. He figured it would be cheaper than feeding the horse all winter. All went as planned until the farmer needed the horse gone so he could plant again. The mild-mannered saddle horse had turned wild. No body could catch the horse. They ran the devil all around the field trying to rope him out of the back of an old p/u. Beer WAS involved!
The problem was they were too "happy" to rope him and he soon tired of being chased aroud the field so he took to the woods and swamp to hide out. Here I came in the picture. They called my Dad and asked if I could herd him out of the swamp with my bike and wedge him close to the truck while they throwed ropes at him. So off we go.
Several attempts were made and I finally got tired of these drunks missing him. It wasn't a real big horse I thought. I've bulldogged bigger calves before. If I get real close to him I can just jump off this here bike and bulldog that devil down. Yeah, right, great plan. I gassed it and as I pulled by him, off I go, arms 'round his neck, plant my feet, nothing....I still got him around the neck but I can't get my feet planted to throw him, son-of-a-guns too blame tall, I don't have any leverage on him. His front legs have been kicking the daylights out of me the whole time with every step he takes. 'Fraid to let go, he'll stomp me as I go under him. 'fraid to hold on, El Diablo drags my tail across the field, though the woods, and finally stops standing in the swamp. We were both too tired to go anymore. One of the boobs finally arrives and puts a rope on him. I collapse in the mud beat all to crap.
At least they had beer left, Dad let me have one or two. Probably first time he and I ever drank a beer together, I was 15 or 16. I hurt for days.
Never jump out of a perfectly good airplane, never jump off a perfectly good bike.
Frank
Lynn I totally forgot about you wanting to relocate. That must be hard to be seperated. I did that for a couple of months and it was almost more than I could handle. Whats that about hearts growing fonder..... I sure missed my wife during that time.
My son has moved to California to live with my Sister and go to school so his bike sits gathering dust. I will be seeing him in a couple of weeks so that will be great.
I thought of another funny story, Last summer I entered a trials event... my first... I was moving from one section to the next and had to traverse a off camber grass road. As usual I was going to fast and I was not really paying attention and the next thing I know I was on the ground with a head ache. I was fine but I broke the throttle. I tried to finish out the day but some of the tougher sections were even trickyer. Going through a creek and turning left on a grassy bank, my trottle caught and the bike wheelied and landed in a vine maple that was on the edge by the creek. I landed in the mud and the bike is screaming. I got it shut off and I sort of finished the section... no points... and to add insult to injury I lost my score card in the water. some one found it but I did not know it until I had got to the next section so then I had to go back and retrace my steps. boy did I feel like a fool!
Thom Green,Still crazy after all these years!
76' 250 MC5 (orginal owner)
75' GS400 (project bike)
72'sixday (project bike)