Worst Rides!

[Sunbeemer]

Some of my worst rides were Great Rides (because I'm here to tell you), so maybe this is the right forum to ask,"What was your worst ride?"

Mine was bringing my new-to-me RR bike home from Jackson Mississippi after a strong front had passed through just after Thanksgiving, '05. I bought the bike there impulsively while visiting the in-laws (didn't have any gear, just threw on everything I'd brought with me) and decided to ride it 750 miles home. After 350 miles of gusty crosswinds we got to Pensacola by late afternoon to find traffic backed up on I-10 a few miles because the bridge over Escambia Bay was still being rebuilt from Hurricane Ivan, and a sign said, "3500 feet of steel grate ahead, motorcyclists use detour". So we went around in the dark and got back on I-10 some 20 miles east as fog was starting to descend. It got so thick I couldn't see anything but the single burning tail light of a truck ahead of me going 70mph through the dark gloom, and there was no place to pull off, and I didn't want to loose my beacon, so I biked by braille until I saw what looked like an exit appear 30 miles farther along and followed the fog line down the ramp to the fuzzy lights in the distance. I couldn't see well enough between the fog in the air, on my faceplate, and my glasses to find the entrance to a hotel and had to go around a few times to get into it, and was glad to be off that road! I kept thinking, "this is no place for a motorcycle!" I got up the next morning and rode 150 miles to Tallahassee in 40 degree (F) temps and thought I'd froze to death! By the time I got there I couldn't hold a cup of coffee still! About 40 miles out from Tallahassee my bike started shaking so bad I though I'd thrown a wheel weight, but it turned out I was shivering so violently that my knees were knocking the tank around! It was only later I remembered to turn on the grip heaters! What a godsend those are! Finally the sun came out and we got home in good shape after all. It was well worth the effort to get my Great Ride home!

[Ves]

Well, quite a few years back, I on my bike and my friend and his girlfriend on his, were coming down through Wisconsin, coming back home after a four day trip around Lake Michigan. We were on route 41. Traffic was actually kind of heavier than we like, but it was moving OK and we kept our speed up just slightly faster than most. When we catch up to a car we'd switch lanes, stay there until we caught up to another car, switch lanes, etc.. No hurry really just keepin it moving. Noticed there were a lot of cops out... Have to love those Wisconsin state troopers... So, we see another one up ahead in the right and we move over into the left lane. As we go past him he points at both of us and waves pointing to the side of the road. There were some cars near us, so my friend and I look at each other shrug our shoulders, move into the right lane, and continue on. Well, a couple miles down the road there's two state trooper on our butts. We pull over, ask what the problem is, and he says we were doing 80 in a 55, we got you by helicoper. I look at him and say no way.. cause there was no way. There was too much traffic for us to be moving at that speed... we may have had spurts of 70 when passing, but 80, no way. Well, he really wasn't interested in our opinion. He said we can pay the fines or go to jail... The bear of it was I would have had no problem paying the fine... but, this was the last day of our trip, and neither of us had enough cash on us to pay it. On top of it, the only credit card we had was an American Express.... and guess what... WI State Troopers don't take American Express. We're like now what? He says follow us down to the station... so, we got a police escort, our bikes were put in storage, we were photographed and fingerprinted and thrown in the holding cell... I didn't even get a pair of shoes cause they didn't have them big enough for me. Well, we got a visit with my friends girlfriend, and decided our only hope is to have her father Western Union some money to get us out and we would pay him back soon as we got back.... This all started about 10:00 am... by the time we got out of there it was 9:00 pm. My friend and I actually weren't that bad... got TV and meals... the friend's girlfriend basically sat on a bench out in the lobby all this time, eating crackers and cheese from the vending machines.

Well, to add insult to injury... when we finally got our bikes back and got back on the road my bike started acting up. First time we stopped, it died and barely cranked. We had to push start it, and I had to keep the revs above 4000 rpm at all times or it would die... I don't even know what time it was when we finally got back to Chicago... Found out later my stator had fried... It was a nightmare.

[OU812]

SH+T! That really sucked! I do hate the WI poopers!

[Ves]

SH+T! That really sucked! I do hate the WI poopers!

And they love us Illinoians that abuse their roads...

Got nothing better to do...

[Sunbeemer]

Ves' story reminds me of a ride I did in WI a few years ago - was riding my sister-in-laws R110RT back to Rosholt (past Stevens Point) from on a moonless night behind her husbands GS since I didn't know the roads at all, and to make matters worse, they had just re-asphalted the country roads we were on and hadn't lined them, so it was like riding in space with no points of reference horizontally or vertically except for his tailight in front of me, so I just followed it (and he rides spritly). Out of nowhere I got hit by several gallons of cold water (and it was already chilly!) By the time we arrived at their house (~20 miles lafterthe dousing) I was so cold I could barely get my foot down to stop, and he had to prise my fingers of the grip! I went back the next day to see what had got me, and itwas one of those big irrigation pipes on wheels they use to water the potatoes up there! It was like a water cannon shooting 5-foot long slugs of water! Lucky it didn't knock me off the bike I guess! Strange things happen in the dark!

[Just-Beeming]

One Picture worth a thousand words.

Taken somewhere in the midst of 3 hours of rain and snow mixed... Late April, Sierra's California. Waterproof gear that was NOT.

I'm parked on a sidewalk under an overhang to get out of it for a few minutes.
Brrrrrrr.

[DJ Downunder]

I think my worst ride was last year when I did my first icicle ride.

The icicle ride is a yearly event here that starts at midnight and finishes at dawn...and it's held in the middle of Winter..

I worked an afternoon shift..drove home to get my bike and gear..and rode straight to the start at midnight..I thought "I can do this...easy peasy"

By about 4am I was freezing my arse off and needed matchsticks to keep my eyes open..I did make it to the end..and got my little badge..I thought "never again"

I'm looking forward to it again this year.. ..only this year I might take the night off work and get some sleep before it.

DJ

[Just-Beeming]

DJ you crack me up.


"NEVER AGAIN"



...... but when I do it this year.....


I too am repeating that pure misery trip that left me with that stunned,glazed over look in my eyes! In fact I am in process of gathering gear for that trip now....I will leave the 20th.

I'm NEVER gonna do that again,

till next time!

ah ha ha ha

'Beeming

[Sunbeemer]

When you've got what it takes, you can take what you get!

DJ - do you have a heated (electric) vest? I got one this winter and love it - it's like having the sun shine on your back in the middle of the night.

[OU812]

Mine would have to be riding home from KY with a load if cigs in place of rain gear. You know what happens. Twice, and the second time was just as I was dried out from the first!