Favorite motorcycle memories.

Not sure whether to say thanks for that or not....still really bums me out when I think of it. I was actually in Hawaii when I got the news, and I just couldn't enjoy vacation after that happened. That said, that story makes more sense. I kept telling my ex that they didn't actually go through my class, but like I said, it might have been that we let them on track during a session, and I do remember them being in the tower at IRP during class. More likely they were just hanging, or possibly talking to officials about something. I also do remember discussions about eligibility for Nicky, as the story states..lol. I'll say this though, I do remember Tommy being much more polite. Nicky could be a little smart aleck. My leathers during that time were.....'interesting' to say the least. I was doing endurance with another guy, and because we didn't have transponders back then, we painted the bike to be the most obnoxious scheme we could, to be easier to track. I had leathers made to match. So I'm walking through the pits at Grattan, and he says "nice leathers", and he didn't mean it in a positive way. I told him "at least they're not pink", cuz of course I'm going to throw shade back at a 12 year old.

 

To be fair, most people made fun of my leathers.....man, Sublet never failed to razz me about them.

 

When I was a kid/young adult in the 70's and 80's south eastern Ohio was a meca for dirt bikes. There were government national trails, abandoned strip mines and organizers ran national enduros in the area. There were multiple places you could go ride trails.

There was this pair of hills on a power line called little dog and big dog. Little dog was steeper and almost unridable if wet. Big dog was not as steep but I'm guessing 700 feet long. We would always stop and goof around there. I made many climbs and failed attempts of these hills.

I had a 1972 ts250 suzuki that was stripped down and had a big rear sprocket. This bike was before long travel suspension so it was low to the ground and had a wide powerband. It was the best steep hill bike I ever had. Back then a group of us would hang around these and other big hills and just goof around with power slides, jumping and climbing. No agenda just fun. The thrill of accelerating through three gears on a very long steep hill is something I can not describe.

 

This goes along with the previous post.

In an abandoned strip mine there was a run off pond that filled up. It looked like a big field of black dirt. The water still flowed through it. At the water entry point it was thick black soup. 100 feet down the black silt was mostly solid. We you see who could get closest to the entry point without sinking. It mostly depended on how well you could keep your speed up. This was probably very dangerous but we never encountered anything like quick sand. The best run would see you slowing down and sinking a foot then coming out of it. More than once we had to drag tree branches and stuff to stand on to get the bikes out. We would laugh until we cried at each other then help each other out.

 

I was on the back we were riding in the NC mountains to go pick up another bike

 

Really? I remember the five times in my life I was on the back of a motorcycle. The only time I wasn't terrified was with my father when my age was still in the single digits. Only one of the other four times could be qualified as reckless (teenagers, no helmets) but they were all terrifying just the same. All of those experiences probably amount to a total of under an hour.

 

You’re so right , 2/3 times I rode on the back I was shitting myself. The back of a ducati 748 is no place for a man to sit.

 

You and Moose leaving Canton to ride more into the hills to get another bike… yeah man, you boys ain’t right for sure…

Was it on his 900 Zuk or whatever that thing was?

were you going on a ride together after you picked it up or were all of your cars/trucks broken?

 

One time for 10 min to get a truck because my bike blew up street racing… that was enough, even then I wished I’d have walked by time it was done

 

yes it was on the back of his bandit

 

All of mine have to do with corner working as I decided to give
up riding early because I liked to party too much and I lost several
like-minded friends and friends of friends and decided to not push
my luck.
A simple one:
I was working 2 at Loudon during a race that was mostly experts but included
vintage bikes and riders. A guy in his fifties high-sided in 1A somehow and
clocked himself pretty good and since he wasn't getting up I called for a red.
There was nobody working 1A so I ran down and quickly determined that,
while the guy was not hurt badly, I didn't want him trying to stand so I told
him to stay down and stood astride him and made myself big which is not
difficult because I am big. We were under a red flag but it took a minute or
so before bikes stopped coming by and he was understandably nervous laying
on the track and watching tires coming at him so I had to continuously reassure
him that he was safe because they weren't going to hit me and wreck their bike
and they had to hit me to get to him.
Anyway, the bikes stopped coming by and the ambulance arrived (it actually got
there before the last few bikes) the scene had been cleaned by our crack crew
before the ambulance left, and while I was giving everything a last once-over before
okaying a green track, a lady on the other side of the fence called me over. She told
me that she didn't know the man who had crashed but that she was so touched by
the way I took care of the man that it was like he was someone I loved.
I honestly didn't know what to say other than to thank her and mumble something
about treating everyone the same but what she said has stuck with me all these years.
It meant a lot to me and made me feel appreciated.

 

In college a frat brother had a Harley sportster, a hot bike at the time. He gave me a ride out Atherton Ave. I put an old half helmet on and only loosely strapped it. At 110 it blows off and was like to strangle me like a parachute. I was too scared to let go until he slowed down. Almost ripped my ears off pushing it back on. I think that was the last time I rode bitch.

 

Of all the bikes to be on the back of, I think a Bandit would be at the bottom of the list. I had a '97, and I think that thing had a balance problem or something, because the front wouldn't stay down.

 

And he’s still making me laugh from the other side… thanks for sharing CR… I sure miss that hillbilly buddy of ours…

 

Riding passenger to pick up a pizza on a Kawasaki 500 triple. Had to hang on by knees while my friend wheelies his way back.

 

I have so many great memories on bikes. A few stand out, though, since they were sorta crazy and unforgettable.

I was riding in Azerbaijan, on a gravel road at the base of the Caucasus Mountains. Found a place to camp on the side of the dirt road, pitched my tent and broke out my local bread, cheese and bottle of wine. Enjoyed that for a few hours then crawled into the tent. A short while later, I heard the crunch of footsteps in the gravel. Heard 2 men talking to me in the local language outside my tent in total darkness. Thought I was gonna be a goner. Opened my tent door to confront them. They turned out to be 2 local farmers and had brought me a bag of their local fruit. We couldn't speak to each other with the language barrier, but I was very grateful.

Was riding in Russia and rode into Dagestan, which is a forbidden oblast for tourists. Was a direct violation of my Russian Visa, but I DGAF. There's a security border at the oblast border, so I had to get off my bike, show papers and go through security. The Ruskie cops saw my American passport and were in complete disbelief. I asked them when the last time they saw an American passport was and they couldnt even remember. Really made me feel alive and that I was on a real adventure.

Back in around 2004, a buddy and I were riding our BMWs in Montana. We were in Red Lodge for the annual Harley rally and had been riding all day in hot temps. After a few beers, we rode out of Red Lodge and just on the edge of town on a hill, we stopped. There was thunder and lightning in 360 degrees, with a cool rain. It was just magical. I knew I would buy a place in Red Lodge some day, and here I am.

Back in the Ninja Cup days at Willow Springs, Wes Totsubo was winning every damn race. Finally, after a year or so, I beat him and won a race. Was a huge accomplishment for me. I'd won races before, but beating him and the rest of the competitive field was a big deal for me.

Could go on and on...

 

I had a bunch of different ones in wild colors too, back in the late 80’s to early 90’s.

 

Got damn. What a bunch of homophobes up in here!!!

 

Some good ones in there. You definitely have more balls than me riding all over Russia and other war zones.

Having said that, I’ve heard of Wes, was his bike only running on one cylinder, or did he have 10 race old tires and it was your week for new tires ?

 

Friggin Wes was putting on new Michelins every weekend! I usually ran 10 race old Bstones.

We could hit up Ukraine this fall on the bikes. Not too far from Bulgaria.