How long can we keep riding.

A nice little story about a guy in his 80's riding around Australia for those of you who are interested.Hope to be doing something similiar at the same age myself,would prefer a little more comfort though!
http://www.abc.net.au/austory/specials/ ... efault.htm

 

Just got a '80 Honda Xl500, needs a little work but it's all there, th new toy iv'e been dreaming of for a while now,...can almost stand on th compression, gunna have to treat that respectfully. A single.. hhmmm..simplicity.

Been tinkering with it and now it's late, a new chapter in my refreshed riding years of late. Feeling a bit chuffed actually for my riding future in th 58th year.
A friend told me about Doug recently ..good days to him. And it's goodnight from me.

 

My neighbor is in his early 80's and he was riding his HD Electra Glide to work almost daily until he got hit by a large dog last year. He is still recovering but the bike was lost. He is definitely an inspiration. I hope I still have 40 more years of riding left in me!

 

Wait wait, so he was hit by the dog, like the dog ran across the road and hit him? or did he hit the dog like it ran into the road and he hit it?

I think it'd be funny ((not laughing at your friend of course)) at the thought of a big ole bull mastiff running out and knocking some old guy off his bike, wish there was a vid.

 

Yes it was a mastiff that had gotten loose from his owner and yes it did run into the side of my neighbor's bike. No I don't think there would be any humor in seeing a video especially if you had seen the way he was injured. Keep in mind he was slowing to try to avoid the dog and estimated to have been traveling less than 35 mph.

 

I don't mean any offense to you or your neighbor, but man, I would have love to seen that.... I've seen a golden retriever take out a guy on a bike in the Tour De France, but a mastiff taking out a guy on a motorcycle, that I'd want to see just to see it. I hope your neighbor was ok, though it sounds like he got messed up a bit. Was the dog ok?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=py2mVpyQ ... 4FC6DD7470

 

I know it's getting off the topic of this thread...but the key to avoiding a dog (that you see of course) is varying your speed, slowing down as it approaches, then speeding up before it gets to you.

Dogs can easily predict an intercept point for an object moving at constant speed. By slowing down then speeding up, you make them predict that point to be behind you. They taught that in the MSF course in Texas.

 

i had a guy unhook a collie from it's leash as i approached once, riding a yz250 a dog is just something else to wheelie over, no the dog wasn't ok

 

My third ex-wife's CAR got run into by a large German Shepard once, tore the whole side off the car. (Honda Civic.) And no, she didn't hit the dog, it hit HER.

 

I hope my health holds out till Im REALLY old, not jusţ a bit old like I am now. I sold a beautiful 1979 GS750L to a guy who was an "old" 76 a year or so ago. He asked me to ride the bike to him and he bought it without seeing it in person. The bike was showroom perfect except for one little dent on the #4 header(i have no idea how THAT happened). When I arrived at his home 50 miles away (in Nov- burr) he was very happy with it. He showed me all his old pics from the 50's when he raced scrambles and I truely enjoyed meeting and talking with him. There was one problem, he could not mount the bike. He had various medical issues and couldnt lift his leg over the seat, even on the L (Special equal). I offered his moneý back but he refused. About 8 or 9 months later i get a call from someone who is looking to buy the same bike. He had forwarded my emails with the pics to the new buyer and he called me for the background on the bike. I asked him how many miles were on it and he said "1077".....the same mileage when i had shut it off after riding it to the guys house.....he had never ridden it. A real shame but I dont ever want to be that guy.

jeff
uivelent

 

The Doug Sutherland story....totally inspiring!

http://www.abc.net.au/austory/specials/ ... efault.htm

 

"You never get too old to ride. You only get old if you don't ride."

To add to the dog hitting stories...
A couple years ago I noticed a couple dogs (full size black lab and a weiner dog) along the road on my way to work. They were obviously from the farm I pass by every day. I always look for them when passing by the farm to make sure I don't hit them.
So coming home from work, I notced the black lab crossing the road just ahead of me, so I slowed down to make sure he didn't decide to turn around and come back out. When I gave him time to go a good ways up the driveway, I picked up the pace. Just then the weiner dog shot across the road in front of me. In a split second I felt a "thump thump" as my wheels drove over the little dog. I pulled over and stopped to see the damage (not to my bike, but the dog) He was walking slowly to the sideof the road (probably broke a few ribs) and just then, a gal in a small car ran over him and didn't even slow down. I was sick. She didn't even stop, just kept on going like nothing happened.
So now the poor little dog was just laying there motionless. I picked it up and made my way up the driveway to see if the owner was home. A young gal came to the door and I explained what happened. She wasn't surprised but not too happy either. She did state that she had just spend over $1000 on the dog at the vet in the past year. I offered to try to replace it (it was the kids pet) but she said it wasn't neccessary. I still remember it like it just happened.
Thankfully it wasn't the blacklab it hit!

 

Yes I did similiar once ran over a chihauha[spelling?]small dog took it back to its owner and the poor thing jumped out of my hands in a death spasm. I was horrified and the poor old dear was absolutely gutted and then I was accused of deliberately running it down.
Oh and I have been run into by a kangaroo I was doing maybe 30 k's an hr on a frosty freezing cold winters night down a dark rural valley twisty road about 2 in the morning when this thing just hammered at me out of the darkness smashed my leg into the tank and engine left a massive bruise for weeks and it took me a bit to figure out what had happened as I wobbled on down the road.