Bama Rides

I got a kick out of reading this one, and the fun just started spinning through my head.  So much fun is there it is hard to stop.

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) – A man claims in court that a four-hour ride on a BMW motorcycle with a “ridge-like” seat gave him “a severe case of priapism,” which left him “unable to engage in sexual activity.”
     The man sued BMW of North America and Corbin-Pacific, which made the seat, in a bare bones complaint.
     Aside from four pages of checked boxes, the complaint states, in its entirety, that on May 1, 2010, “Plaintiff was riding his 1993 BMW motorcycle equipped with a Corbin-Pacific seat. The ride lasted approximately two hours each way to plaintiff’s destination, after which plaintiff developed a severe case of priapism (a persistent, lasting erection). Plaintiff alleges that this condition was caused by the ridge-like seat on his motorcycle, negligently designed, manufactured and/or installed by defendants.
     ”Plaintiff now suffers from priapism (a long lasting erection), and has been experiencing continuing problems since his motorcycle ride. He is now unable to engage in sexual activity, which is causing him substantial emotional and mental anguish. Plaintiff is distraught and distressed because of this. Defendants, and each of them, are liable to plaintiff due [to] their negligent design, manufacture and/or installation of the seat on plaintiff’s motorcycle.”
     He seeks damages for lost wages, personal injury, medical expenses, product liability and negligent infliction of emotional distress.
     He is represented by Vernon Bradley of Sausalito.  From Courthouse News Service

Spring Gymkhana is in Birmingham this year again at the BMW dealership at Century Plaza. This is a FREE event as usual, and should run from 10am to 4pm if everything goes well. Come out and practice your low-speed turning and agility, and find out how much you don’t know about riding a motorcycle. If the mood strikes you we have a timed course set up to compete against yourselves or your friends to dramatically improve your agility in a few minutes. Safe, practical way to improve your skills and have a blast doing it. Details

Two of our own are on an adventure around Cambodia – you know, the typical tourist route, fly over to a scary foreign country, rent a motorcycle and ride around the countryside looking for the Khmer Rouge and unexploded ordinance.  A typical vacation.

Another Vintage Festival in the bag, and I spent the whole weekend almost stationary.   Unlike past events, where I am running from booth to booth, into and out of the track, the paddock, up and down stairs, grabbing interviews etc.  This time I sat almost all weekend in a folding chair, observing. It was still wonderful.

And I am just as tired as normal.

I was quite shocked to realize how much a really relaxing weekend can take out of you.  Oh sure we worked setting everything up on Thursday and Friday, and taking it all down Sunday, but that was really only 4 hours of work, maybe.  So where did all the energy go?  My guess is it went into trying to process the huge mall of people, talking to strangers, members new and old, and trying to process all the information coming in at once.

The DucFest was going on, and besides a few older Ducattis running around, I never would have known it.  I never got over to that end of the world.  Sure I made several laps around the park, and maybe 20 inside the swap meet area, I never really made an attempt to do a comprehensive sweep.  There is just too much going on to see it all, it’s the same way every year.

51,000 people – that is 35,000 more than last year.  Amazing that you can even move out there, but on a motorcycle it was pretty easy to get just about everywhere.  Next year the plan is basically the same, sell stuff, hang out, socialize, but get more video, pics, and interviews.  In other words, party less

Buddy Harescramble – What the hell is that? We found out today by riding down to Stanton, Al. – a cow pasture just below Maplesville. I had never been to anything known as a Harscramble, Buddy or not.  I heard the guys talking about it, seen a few pics, short videos, but nothing really prepared me for the real thing.  As we show up for the event, we see that Crash and yamahamer were running buddies, and Rattletrap was running in Ironman.  By his third lap, Rattletrap he was looking whooped. The heat seemed to be taking a good bit of thrust from the riders that I talked to, even Crash stated the course was not that difficult.  Fans were even set up in the pit area to cool down the riders while they rest and wait for the next rider.

The Buddy-part of the Harescramble, is achieved by pairing up with another rider, and alternating laps.  The official accounting of laps is done with a series of arm-bands worn by the riders, and exchanged at the end of each lap.  Once one lap is run by each rider, a new arm-band is exchanged by the officials, until you have received one of each – this is the way I understand it anyway.

The surprise to me about the event is that it appeared that most everyone was there to have fun.  Sure, there were several cats out there looking like their lives depended on them winning  the race, but most appeared to be mildly serious, not the  kill-you-and-take-your-bike-and-boots, serious.  The crowd looked on in family-type supporting mood, much like you might find on a soccer field.

The plan was never for a week of fulfilling riding, rather just a simple solo getaway, to test out the bike and new equipment and gear I have acquired recently for the next adventure I am planning out west.  My setup should allow me to remain a bit more independent as far as routes and times, and need for a reservation anywhere – just stop on the side of the road, anywhere with 2 trees, and sleep.  The gear performed well.

The plan started out as a hazy route northeast to the mountains I knew fairly well, and discover new paths and roads, without making too much of a time commitment.  The objective of exploring new roads and trails was main goal, as I have done very little non-paved exploration in the area, just enough to know that they have some really nice areas to explore.  A secondary goal was to photo-document the journey, and transmit as much as possible while on the road.  A third goal was to test bike and camping gear to gauge performance, and remedy any issues before the next trip.  After all, I would be carrying everything I need on the bike – hammock/tarp, clean, dry clothes, toiletries, chair – all in the dry-bag/duffle riding on the seat.  In the top case – cameras etc. ( batteries, chargers, lenses, gorilla-pods) filling the case full.  One side case – all camping/cooking/fluids and gear, and in the other case, everything else.  It became tighter than expected when pulling items in and out, but worked pretty well to keep things dry and secure.

As I wandered thru Georgia and into Tennessee, it seemed that I would never make it into a state or Nat. park.  My plan had evolved into finding an isolated, public place to hang for the night, when I ran into the first public park, not isolated, but they had camping, and there would be no need for hunting in the dark for any safe place to hang for the night – pay my $12 and go to sleep.  The campground was not in the plan, but it was a welcome sight, as I was quickly losing the ability to concentrate and navigate on the road.

From the Ride Report:

Its 11:30, 12:30 in Tn.  I am camping on the Hiwassee River at a state park.  I figured it was close enough and I was hungry.  Slung the new hammock in less than 3 minutes ( I am still a noob at hanging) and threw some water on for a boil – Pad See You w/ chicken was on the menu.  While the water was heating, I had a drink and a smoke, and tried to gather in the odd activity at the campground.  The oddest thing, maybe 200 folks here, and all you can hear is crickets and wind?

That was the 3rd night in the hammock, and I was quite pleased at the sleep, although I did have to get up for a sweater – your back tends to cool a good bit even in the summer.

The 4th was spent riding the Dragon and a new trail that bypasses the Skyway – descending down into the valley and spitting me out at the very end.  Pleasant alternative, but the cue-ball size gravel was unsettling at times.  Tried in vain to hook up with other members that were riding in the area, so I continued to ride the Dragon until soaked.  The fact that I was unprepared for riding in the rain, kinda took the spark out of my day.  That night out of fear, I finally put the tarp up for the first time, thinking that it may rain again.  What a total pain in the ass the tarp was to set up, compared to the 1 minute simplicity of the hammock.  Certainly gonna adapt it with the same system I am using for the hammock to keep life simple and quick.

The next day I was determined to find some new asphalt and dirt roads or trails to get into, hopefully both.  Upon mounting my bike in Robbinsville, another rider strolled up to me and struck up a conversation about bike, which led him to telling me about highway 64 and Wayah Bald, which led to 28, and eventually back The Dragon – a 3-for-1 deal that I could not pass up.  I thanked him and was on my way to find some new curves and vistas.  In less than an hour I was standing on top of Wayah Bald snapping pictures of the mountain Stonehenge that was being obscured by rolling clouds.  It was a wonderful ride to the mountain, and a treat to roll down into Franklin for lunch.

On the decent of this mountain I discovered a new favorite game – neutral rolling.  Not many places you can do this in Alabama, but on this decline, I did it almost all the way down the hill.  I decided to pull the camera out and capture some of the joy and beauty of my coast down the hill.  I was actually singing with the camera in one hand and the handlebars in the other.  It was very nice to drift down the mountain and take in the scenery in such a casual manner. 

From the discussion that started in May, to the event on June 25th, the First EVER Alabama Motorcycle Gymkhana event went off without a noticeable hitch.  It seemed like from the beginning we had a very good response to the idea.  Several folks offered to help, pitched in ideas, references, materials and equipment, and it quickly appeared this thing was GONNA happen.  As the final date drew near, the excitement grew, and more folks became interested in the event.

As I rolled into the parking lot at 8:30, folks were already showing up to help.  By the time I unloaded the equipment, I had 4 assistants ready to start laying out cones, and setting up.   We quickly got the first route laid out, and after running it a couple time, I decide it was WAY too tight for mere mortals.  After several adjustments, we decided it was close enough to get started.  About the time we had several folks signed up with waivers and stickers, it was 10am.  Time to start.   My biggest fear was that someone would crash and get hurt, or drop their bike without knowing fully the consequences of what we were doing.  That never happened.

The first bikes rolled onto the course and everyone seemed a bit timid, slow and awkward.  I did not really realize that this course was really difficult and challenging for folks that have never really pushed the limits of their bikes.  But this idea, pushing the limits, was part of the goals we had for the event.  Not so much pushing the limits of the bikes, but pushing the personal limits and the abilities of each rider.  I am pretty certain most of the riders and spectators were curious about what was gonna happen.  The only thing they had to go on was the videos we had posted before the event – videos of Japanese sport-bike riders, pushing their bikes to the absolute limit of bike, tires, and riders – reaching speeds close to 50mph, and miniature race-tracks.  That was never our intention, at least not for the first event.

As the day progressed, more people turned out, spectators, riders, and the curious – the folks that may have been riders had they been encouraged to try it out.  I tried very hard not to push anyone, although REALLY wanted everyone to try just one lap.  I felt very strongly that everyone needed to see where there limits really are.  I think pushing people at the first event would have had a negative effect.  Putting folks in a bad position, to suffer embarrassment if they did not have the skills they thought they should, or pressuring folks into something they were not ready for.  So I only offered folks to ride, and refrained from any pressure for the most part.  Hopefully the comments, pictures and videos will encourage more curious riders to join the mix next time.

After noon, the speeds around the track became lower and lower.  The riders became more fluid and confident.  The smiles became bigger.  The faces and arms became redder.  By the time we shut it all down at 2pm, the folks that had bee riding for 4 hours were totally exhausted.  Many folks were even too tired to ride, or ride with the skill level they had just an hour before.  It was a good time to fold the tents.  After we collected the gear, and mounted up for dinner/cocktails, we were ready for some cold air and beverages.

The dinner was almost as good as the event, cooling off after all day in the sun.  Spending more time with the same folks made me realize how much we all had in common.  We all shared the joy of riding for half the day, then we spent 2 more hours talking about it all.  I can’t wait till the next one.

More info at American Motorcycle Gymkhana Riders Association

Saturday night was a hot one, but the turnout was excellent considering the party that almost did not happen.  Matt at Magic City Scooters picked up the party and ran with it, and made everyone feel welcome.  The Haints showed, along with a good turnout from the scooter crowd, Floribama Riders and of course Bama Rides folks.  We also talked about an upcoming event we are calling “Gymkhana” for now, and agility event for two-wheels.  More details to come soon.

My guess is that Doug would chuckle, and probably argue about the “legend” title, as he does not really see the scope of his accomplishments on a motorcycle as legendary. Riding around the world on a 1948 Indian does not seem to be that big of a deal to him – he is prepping the Indian for yet another ride into foreign lands.
I first spoke to Doug 2 years ago, and expressed my interest in meeting him and doing a story about his adventures. I ran into him at Barber Vintage Festival last year, and tried to get a few minutes with him as he was packing up his vintage wares.  That was not be either.  But I did get a chance to ride up last Friday, to a small community just below Huntsville, and spend a few minutes with Doug in his shop, before his departure to Europe, and his ride on the Road of Bones, with his highly modified Harley Davidson DIRTSTER.

Follow Doug’s adventures on ADV Rider and his website – Moto Sapiens

Well, where do I begin?  We did so much riding and some many different types of trails, roads and challenges ( I think Mill finally has the crossing of downed logs down to an art) in two days, it seems like we were gone a week.  All in all, it ended up being about 110 miles for the two days.  Don met  me at my house at 8:00 just like we had planned and after a few checklist and loading of something that I forgot, flip flops, we headed south to meet the other guys in Talladega.

We arrived at the meeting place and met with everyone else, Don, Mill, Dan, Rattletrap, Teaux, Ohgood and Ironslede.  After a brief talk we mounted up and took off.  Everyone was looking at us because we all had bikes loaded with enough gear that looked like we were going to war or something.  Our first destination was a long abandoned Army ammunition plant just north of Talladega.  We didn’t spend a lot of time in this area, just enough to drive in and on a few bunkers.  We stopped at one, talked for a few minutes, then got on the road again.  A few more miles of pavement, then we darted into the woods.  When I first did my pre-ride of the route, it was not near as muddy as it was this time.  I first posted that there would be a few hill climbs, but you could go around them if you liked.  I completed the first hill climb and ohgood followed me.  I turned around and noticed that Teaux had decided to take the mud route instead of the hill climb.  I’m not sure if this was a mistake or not, he can post his own comment, but I will say that when he dropped in the mud hole, and I use that term loosely, he disappeared and then fell to the side.  Now this heavy bike is caked with mud.  The first thing Teaux said was that the hole was so deep he met a China man at the bottom!  The rest of the mud bog was slow going, but he eventually got out.  Everyone else then chose the hill climb.

We traveled on down this path until we came to out first of many creek crossing.  The creek was crystal clear, at least it was when I went into it.  This was more of a slight travel down a creek instead of just crossing it.  Everyone was doing fine until Ironslede found the deep end of the creek.  His bike looked like the Titanic and water was all the way up to gas tank.  He kept the bike running, but when we got out of the creek, his clutch was toast. After a short talk Ohgood volunteered to end his day and go get a trailer to take Ironslede and his son home.  We carried on to another creek crossing and on the exit I got on the throttle too much and down I go into the muddy bank.  I couldn’t get the bike off my leg, so I sat there as everyone passed me, until finally Mill and Teaux helped me get the bike up.  It was very had to start and I kicked and kicked and finally Don kicked it a few times and it started.  Go figure.

We were getting ready to leave and got a call that on the way to get the trailer, Ohgood had broken down.  We back tracked all the way to Wal-Mart and Ohgood was loading his bike.  He had some bad gas or something but got it running.  We decided to eat a bit a Wendy’s, since we were right there, but we had to sit outside because the A/C didn’t work and it was hot as hell on the inside.Back on the bikes and some more pavement until we made it to the trail again.  Our first stop was a pretty steep hill that only Dan wanted to conquer, which he easily did.  We all watched, sighed, then went on our way.

Our next small challenge, well, maybe not, was a short downhill ride to a long lost and forgotten town called Goldville Mine camp.  In today’s world it wouldn’t be a town at all, but in the 1860′s America was greatly populated with these type of small towns.  It was beside a nice creek and the town folks used to get gold from.  There were no remnants of anything left after 150 years.

Now a small challenge arose for Teaux when he attempted to climb the hill. A couple stalls on the hill and the final one resulted in a hard fall downhill into a rut that caused a back injury, but he was a trooper and rode the rest of the way.  Both the bike and him were pretty banged up, but he had all of his gear on.  Without it, there would have been some blood shed and a LOT more injuries.  Sorry about the bike damage.

Also during this stop, Rattletrap broke the kickstand completely off of his very nice Husky, so for the rest of the trip he was leaning against trees when he stopped.  We all gathered up and hit the trail again.  Our next stop was an old abandoned covered bridge, which was pretty neat.  But the trails were waiting.  Another creek crossing and we hit some old logging roads that were a blast to ride.

Several miles later we ended up at a single grave site.  I know some other folks got some better pictures than mine, but the story is that in the 40′s, the National Forestry Service bought all of this land from individuals who were then told they had to leave.  When they did, they also left this little girl all alone.Off we go after a water break onto another old logging road.  Here I am leading the way and I slow to go into a turn.  I throttle out of the turn, I had forgotten about the extra weight on the rear of my bike, up comes the front tire and on the way down it catches a small sapling and down I go on the right side.  All my gear on, so no damage to me or the bike.  I pick her up, re-mount and off we go again.

We take a few more roads and came up on some covered graves, which I didn’t photo, but I’m sure someone did.  Everyone rode on to the campsite with us.  The only three that were camping were Don, Mill and myself.  Don stayed to watch the gear while Mill and myself escorted the others back to civilization.

I have some random pictures of the campsite.  Don, Mill and I learned about about each other especially after the Dickel, Wild Turkey and Gentleman Jack!

I have to say that this was a great campsite, a great ride and some great folks.  Oh, and the creek you see in the background is VERY cold.  But it was nice to take a refreshing bath and soak after the long dirty day of riding.  I did the whole creek soaking thing alone, just in case anyone was wondering!
We also saw the “super moon” and man it was bright in the woods.  This pic looks like it was lighting up Don.

We had a blast, the weather was perfect, the roads were great and so was the company.  I had a great time guys, thanks for joining me.  Discuss