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This is story of a stupid squid…. Kinda long
Went riding with my buddies today. I met these guys while on a Katana mailing list lookin for locals. Found one! He actually lives ¼ mile from me…. How odd? I started riding with them a month ago and we have formed quite a good bond. So every Saturday we head out.
Saturdays rides usually consist of me (Katana 600), Brian (Ducati 916, Katana 1100) and Jim (YZF1000) hittin the trail for about 4-5hrs. Today we went on the “liberty run” Which is 63 miles to a town by the name of Liberty and back. All back roads and the last 20 miles prior to liberty nothing but twisties in farmland. It’s GREAT!!!! Driveways every 5 miles so not a lot of bleed-on traffic, and when there is traffic it’s only one car every half-hour or so. Were halfway there when we stop at the Drop Bridge for a piss break. The drop bridge is a famous one lane bridge on a backroad that is straight until JUST after the bridge where it drops at a 45 degree slope for about 10feet, so if your doin over 20mph your airborn!!!! THEN 100ft after that is a 90-degree turn. Its fun to sit and watch people panic and lose it there so we stop there to drain and chill. Well, up rides this Bandit 1200 with lower fairing and he pulls up to say waaaazzzzuuupppp. We intro ourselves and banter of bikes for 10-15min then he asks where we’re goin. We explain and he’s in!
Now we ride staggered, so leader is in left side of the lane then 2nd is on the right and 3rd is directly behind the 1st guy. We leave 1-2 bike lengths between each other for safety and never push each other. If the leader is too slow the antsy person is allowed to pass and lead if it’s safe. So Bandit-boy takes the #3 position and I round up the rear. I usually take the rear because I am the least experienced and don’t want to hold up the group. Brian (duc-man) has been street ridin for 15 years and was a local racer in North Dakota before moving here. Jim (FZR) has been ridin for about 10 years and is very conservative, but can still ride his ass off. So that leaves me…..a former cruiser type rider for 5 years new to the sportbike scene. I can hang right with the boys but prefer not to hold them up (plus being up front makes me nervous…performance anxiety? hehehe) Actually they always say that I am right up there skill-wise with them. But if Brian actually pushed the Duc I’m sure he’d leave me. Anyway…… Jim (YZF) was leading and Bandit-boy took up second. Brian (Duc-man) was third and I was last. Jim (YZF) was taking it easy because of the new guy (didn’t know his skills) and it turned out to be a good thing. Bandit-boy hung well, but toooooo close for comfort on Jim’s (FZR) ass. We arrived at liberty to chill at the Gant station, where there are seats to cop a squat and Mt. Dew’s to be downed. We talked for a while and got to know bandit-boy. 33 (little snow on top) and second bike. Had it a month and lookin forward to riding better. If this ride goes well we’ll invite him for more, but won’t tell him that till after we’re finished. He had never been that route and was impressed. Told us of a few roads off the “liberty trail” that sounded cool, so we would let him lead after the 20-mile twisty section.
We head back out after chillin in the AC for about an hour. This time Brian (duc-man) is in the lead, followed by Jim (FZR), then me followed by Bandit-boy. Brian (duc-man) turns it up a notch…we go back the same way only a little faster (bandit-boy assures us he is confident he can handle it) Jim (FZR) is right behind him and I am heating up the kitty tires quite nicely in the first turn. A straight between turn #1 and turn #2 of about ¼ of a mile and we’re all doin 80 (45mph zone) bandit-boy attempts to pass me. I slow and duck into the outside so he can pass IN the lane. I’m thinkin, WTF? Maybe he needs to ask something. I slow and look over and he is in the OTHER lane!!!! He’s comin up in Jim (FZR) to pass as Jim leans to hit the turn. Bandit-boy is now in a curve on the wrong side doin 85+! He goes in too hot and hits the rear brake. At this point time stands still. I am now going what feels like 1.4mph and looking at my 11:00 position seeing him into the grass on the wrong side lowsiding it. Luckily it was tall grass and a wide shoulder. He ends up 180 degrees facing the wrong way…actually the correct way for the lane he’s next to but 180 degrees from the direction we were goin. He’s scuffed his arm. The bikes handlebars are bent all to hell, fairing busted up, and forks appear to be bent but not sure on that one. I spin around and wave to Jim (FZR) and Jim flashes Brian (Duc-Man) and we all come back. Get the bike out of the grass and check everything out. Bikes rideable, but barely. We tell him we’ll follow him home and make sure he gets there ok. “First wreck,” he says…. Brian says, “well you did something stupid, I hope you learned something so that this will be the last one” He giggles and takes off. Now he was told to do 10mph under the limit and we’d catch him at the stopsign 10 miles down the road (didn’t wanna totally waste the rest of the day). He takes off like a bat outa hell and Brian (duc-man) says “he’s gonna kill himself, I’m goin to slow him down”, and rushes off on the Duc. Now Brian is a great rider and would be well known if he wanted to pursue that, but anyway, he loses sight of this guy. He steps it up and 7 miles down the road catches his helmet around a turn but never get to him till the sign. Jim and I take out after them but at our “fun” pace to enjoy the road. We get to the sign and Brian (duc-man) is lighting into this idiot and tellin him to slow the **** down or he would die. Well he looked like he agreed then blasted off again. We took out after him like Smokey chasin the bandit. And at the next sign I get off the bike and yell at him to either slow the **** down or go home alone. He acts as if he agrees and takes off slower but still 20 over the limit. We round another curve and he loses it again, but doesn’t ditch it…recovers it. Heads down a straight at 80 then another curve where he does the same thing. His bike is wobbling at 45-55 as a result of the crash but he refuses to let off. Its’ at this point I blast up to Brian (duc-man) and do the cutthroat sign (kill it) and we all stop. We agree to let this fool go before one of us dies. We star back and here he comes in the opposite direction. We blow him off as he passes almost stopped with a van comin up behind us. This fool turns around IN THE ROAD in front of the van and drops the bike on the yellow line…what an idiot. I see it in the mirror and so does Jim (FZR) but we keep goin. Next stopsign, here he comes…. We tell him to go the **** home and sell the bike tomorrow and he laughs. We say we’re headin home and he should do the same…. He laughs…. Wants us to check out some twisties just down the road. Brian (duc-man) tells him to go home and he finally does…… We go home to Brian’s (duc-man) and vent for 2 or so hours before heading to our own houses.
Damn what a fool……..Just thought I’d share.
------------------
"It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog. "
http://troybaker.com/600
Went riding with my buddies today. I met these guys while on a Katana mailing list lookin for locals. Found one! He actually lives ¼ mile from me…. How odd? I started riding with them a month ago and we have formed quite a good bond. So every Saturday we head out.
Saturdays rides usually consist of me (Katana 600), Brian (Ducati 916, Katana 1100) and Jim (YZF1000) hittin the trail for about 4-5hrs. Today we went on the “liberty run” Which is 63 miles to a town by the name of Liberty and back. All back roads and the last 20 miles prior to liberty nothing but twisties in farmland. It’s GREAT!!!! Driveways every 5 miles so not a lot of bleed-on traffic, and when there is traffic it’s only one car every half-hour or so. Were halfway there when we stop at the Drop Bridge for a piss break. The drop bridge is a famous one lane bridge on a backroad that is straight until JUST after the bridge where it drops at a 45 degree slope for about 10feet, so if your doin over 20mph your airborn!!!! THEN 100ft after that is a 90-degree turn. Its fun to sit and watch people panic and lose it there so we stop there to drain and chill. Well, up rides this Bandit 1200 with lower fairing and he pulls up to say waaaazzzzuuupppp. We intro ourselves and banter of bikes for 10-15min then he asks where we’re goin. We explain and he’s in!
Now we ride staggered, so leader is in left side of the lane then 2nd is on the right and 3rd is directly behind the 1st guy. We leave 1-2 bike lengths between each other for safety and never push each other. If the leader is too slow the antsy person is allowed to pass and lead if it’s safe. So Bandit-boy takes the #3 position and I round up the rear. I usually take the rear because I am the least experienced and don’t want to hold up the group. Brian (duc-man) has been street ridin for 15 years and was a local racer in North Dakota before moving here. Jim (FZR) has been ridin for about 10 years and is very conservative, but can still ride his ass off. So that leaves me…..a former cruiser type rider for 5 years new to the sportbike scene. I can hang right with the boys but prefer not to hold them up (plus being up front makes me nervous…performance anxiety? hehehe) Actually they always say that I am right up there skill-wise with them. But if Brian actually pushed the Duc I’m sure he’d leave me. Anyway…… Jim (YZF) was leading and Bandit-boy took up second. Brian (Duc-man) was third and I was last. Jim (YZF) was taking it easy because of the new guy (didn’t know his skills) and it turned out to be a good thing. Bandit-boy hung well, but toooooo close for comfort on Jim’s (FZR) ass. We arrived at liberty to chill at the Gant station, where there are seats to cop a squat and Mt. Dew’s to be downed. We talked for a while and got to know bandit-boy. 33 (little snow on top) and second bike. Had it a month and lookin forward to riding better. If this ride goes well we’ll invite him for more, but won’t tell him that till after we’re finished. He had never been that route and was impressed. Told us of a few roads off the “liberty trail” that sounded cool, so we would let him lead after the 20-mile twisty section.
We head back out after chillin in the AC for about an hour. This time Brian (duc-man) is in the lead, followed by Jim (FZR), then me followed by Bandit-boy. Brian (duc-man) turns it up a notch…we go back the same way only a little faster (bandit-boy assures us he is confident he can handle it) Jim (FZR) is right behind him and I am heating up the kitty tires quite nicely in the first turn. A straight between turn #1 and turn #2 of about ¼ of a mile and we’re all doin 80 (45mph zone) bandit-boy attempts to pass me. I slow and duck into the outside so he can pass IN the lane. I’m thinkin, WTF? Maybe he needs to ask something. I slow and look over and he is in the OTHER lane!!!! He’s comin up in Jim (FZR) to pass as Jim leans to hit the turn. Bandit-boy is now in a curve on the wrong side doin 85+! He goes in too hot and hits the rear brake. At this point time stands still. I am now going what feels like 1.4mph and looking at my 11:00 position seeing him into the grass on the wrong side lowsiding it. Luckily it was tall grass and a wide shoulder. He ends up 180 degrees facing the wrong way…actually the correct way for the lane he’s next to but 180 degrees from the direction we were goin. He’s scuffed his arm. The bikes handlebars are bent all to hell, fairing busted up, and forks appear to be bent but not sure on that one. I spin around and wave to Jim (FZR) and Jim flashes Brian (Duc-Man) and we all come back. Get the bike out of the grass and check everything out. Bikes rideable, but barely. We tell him we’ll follow him home and make sure he gets there ok. “First wreck,” he says…. Brian says, “well you did something stupid, I hope you learned something so that this will be the last one” He giggles and takes off. Now he was told to do 10mph under the limit and we’d catch him at the stopsign 10 miles down the road (didn’t wanna totally waste the rest of the day). He takes off like a bat outa hell and Brian (duc-man) says “he’s gonna kill himself, I’m goin to slow him down”, and rushes off on the Duc. Now Brian is a great rider and would be well known if he wanted to pursue that, but anyway, he loses sight of this guy. He steps it up and 7 miles down the road catches his helmet around a turn but never get to him till the sign. Jim and I take out after them but at our “fun” pace to enjoy the road. We get to the sign and Brian (duc-man) is lighting into this idiot and tellin him to slow the **** down or he would die. Well he looked like he agreed then blasted off again. We took out after him like Smokey chasin the bandit. And at the next sign I get off the bike and yell at him to either slow the **** down or go home alone. He acts as if he agrees and takes off slower but still 20 over the limit. We round another curve and he loses it again, but doesn’t ditch it…recovers it. Heads down a straight at 80 then another curve where he does the same thing. His bike is wobbling at 45-55 as a result of the crash but he refuses to let off. Its’ at this point I blast up to Brian (duc-man) and do the cutthroat sign (kill it) and we all stop. We agree to let this fool go before one of us dies. We star back and here he comes in the opposite direction. We blow him off as he passes almost stopped with a van comin up behind us. This fool turns around IN THE ROAD in front of the van and drops the bike on the yellow line…what an idiot. I see it in the mirror and so does Jim (FZR) but we keep goin. Next stopsign, here he comes…. We tell him to go the **** home and sell the bike tomorrow and he laughs. We say we’re headin home and he should do the same…. He laughs…. Wants us to check out some twisties just down the road. Brian (duc-man) tells him to go home and he finally does…… We go home to Brian’s (duc-man) and vent for 2 or so hours before heading to our own houses.
Damn what a fool……..Just thought I’d share.
------------------
"It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog. "
http://troybaker.com/600
