Saturday, January 24, 2009

A Texas Legend

How often in life do you get the chance to share part of your life with a real legend? I was thoroughly blessed by having one of the greatest men Texas had to offer be a part of my life, Johnny Allen. Johnny was quite a man, with gunfighter eyes and absolute nerves of steel.

<---Click on article to make it large enough to read.

When Johnny hooked up with two other legends by the name of Pete Dalio and Jack Wilson, he won 38 dirt track races in his first season. (I could go on forever about Dalio, Wilson, and also Stormy Mangham, but this is about a kind, good man named Johnny Allen.)

Johnny is best known for piloting Stormy Mangham's Texas Cigar. It was tuned by Jack Wilson to a speed of 214 mph at Bonneville Salt Flats on September 6th, 1956. His fame was such that in November of the same year, he toured Europe to tell of this great achievement.

Besides this kind of fame, Johnny was involved in the motorcycle community at every level. He was the Triumph dealer in Ft. Worth, Texas, and added Suzuki to his store later on. The Trailblazers Motorcycle Club met in his store and they still are meeting in Ft. Worth to this day.
As a young racer, Johnny supplied me with a Triumph Roadracer for our Texas races, and later on a Suzuki 500cc Twin, so as to promote his new brand. Not only was he generous and kind, he was tough as a boot. I will never forget the time back in 1966 when I was racing in the Wooley Bugger Enduro and John was on an X6 Hustler, the TC250 high pipe model. Not much of an enduro bike, and I couldn't believe he was riding it.
We were flying across one of the Trinity River levies when the trail all of a sudden veered off and down the sides. Johnny fell for what seemed like forever. I stopped and ran back to help him up, and as I approached him, I could see that he was bleeding down both arms and knees, and he still had that short cigar in his mouth as he jumped up and started the X6 and left me standing there wondering how an old man could do that. After all, he was 36 years old, and to me that was really old.
When John passed away on February 7, 1995, his wife Reva gave me some of his keepsakes and I wanted to share a couple of them with you. The picture of the streamliner was taken in Smithfield, TX, at Stormy's airport -- Mangham Field. In the picture from left to right are Stormy Mangham, Jack Wilson, and Johnny Allen. The dirt track picture is of Johnny after one of his many wins on Texas half-mile tracks.

I would ride my motorcycle out to the airport and just stand next to the streamliner and try to imagine the feeling that he must have had piloting that rocket at 214 mph. I'm sure that he was a lot cooler than I would have been.

Oh, yes, one more thing. We are all so familiar with the legendary Triumph Bonneville. FACT - three years after Johnny's 214 mph run, Triumph named that bike the Bonneville in honor of what a 26-year-old from Texas did.

Thanks for listening to my ramblings!

Little General

Thursday, January 15, 2009

No Whining!!--Just riding

WOW--Take a look at these pictures that Kim H. sent me a link to. These guys knew how to have fun, and they aren't exactly riding dirt bikes are they? I just love pictures like these, they draw me back to a time when things seemed to be much simpler, long before we spent so much time polishing our bikes and spent more time in the saddle. Click below and enjoy the link.

Click here: Superheroes of Old for link to a really cool site.


Wednesday, January 14, 2009

A Day in the Life

Saturday was to be a big day of motorcycles and Scooter Trash, riding dualsport and going to Dallas with the ST people. I started my Saturday off in a strange way. I was going to meet the other riders for our dualsport ride at 8:00 a.m. for breakfast, so with great excitement I jumped out of bed at 7:00 a.m., put on all the winter riding gear (it was 30 degrees outside), went to the shop, pulled out the KLR, fired it up so as to be warmed up and ready to ride by 7:40 a.m. I threw my leg across my trusty steed, plugged in my Gerbings, and, just as I started to put it in gear, I stopped and looked around -- "Hey, it seems to be awfully dark out here for 7:40." I reached down to my GPS and flipped to the time page -- it was 6:40 a.m.! In all the excitement of a new adventure, I misread the clock. Oh, well, that just meant I got 1 more hour in a great day.
After breakfast, we departed for our adventure. We were only going to ride until 2:00 p.m. because at 4:12 we needed to be on the train heading for Dallas. I had sent out an email inviting both dirt and street Scooter Trash to join Debi and I at the train station for a field trip. Sixteen people showed up for the ride to Dallas on the big iron horse. When we arrived at Dallas, we all went to the Cadillac Bar and Grill for a wonderful time of Mexican food and fellowship.

After dinner we walked to the arena for FMX Freestyle Motocross. Oh, those young men and their flying machines, what a great time was had by all. By the time we arrived back home, it was midnight and I had myself an 18-hour motorcycle day. I still say that Scooter Trash are the best people. I fell asleep with a smile on my face, instead of egg as usual. I thank God for America and the great state of Texas.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Clutched in the Jaws of Winter

Well, here we are, January 2009, and the Southern cruisers had their annual Polar Bear Ride on New Year’s Day. The turnout was pretty good at 50, and it was made up of different chapters and riding groups. It’s real hard to say Polar Bear Ride when the high temp of the day was 80. You’ve just got to love thisTexas weather, 80 on the 1st and then the electricity at my home was out for 16 hours on the 5th due to ice. Oh well, they say that variety is the spice of life.

Since we do ride all year round here in Texas, and sometimes the weather is quite cold, I wanted to tell you how I survive comfortably on these cold days. ELECTRIC GEAR--I have used the electrics with a great deal of success. I use them for both street and dual sport riding. There are a large number of brands to choose from, about ten if you count what you can get out of Canada. Out of the ten, eight are priced about the same. I personally have used two different brands and my friend Mark uses a third. The one that most of us use is Gerbing, which has kept a big wuss like me very comfortable on all my cold rides. I have a multitude of jackets and with the Gerbing jacket liner I was able to remove all the liners and store them away and use just the Gerbing liner. It also doubles as a light jacket for kicking around in after the ride. It is also washable and has a life time guarantee on it. With the liner you don’t have to fool around with extra wire,s as it has the wires for the gloves built into the sleeve, unlike the heated vest where you run wires down your jacket sleeve.

GLOVES—I also use Gerbing gloves because they are so supple. I prefer the classic model with the gauntlet for extra warmth and wind protection at the sleeve area.

This is what I have learned about fit. The liner needs to be of a snug fit so as to transfer the heat to the core of the body, but use caution with the gloves so as to not get them too tight. The gloves need to be just a little looser then your other gloves. I find that the next size up works for my buddies and me. When you pull or squeeze on the handlebars, your gloves pull up tight to your fingers and hand. I suggest that you need a little extra room from the heating elements and your fingers so as not to have any hot spots or feel the wires.

TEST—A test that I have tried a multitude of times to prove how important it is to keep the body core warm: While out riding in temperatures of 25 to 32, I will be comfortable all the way down to my feet. I just turn off the electric heat and within a short few minutes my feet and legs start to get cold, and next my hands and arms get cold. I turn the heat back on and the whole body starts to warm back up by pumping warm blood from the heated core to my extremities.

So here is how I dress for those cold rides:

· Warm socks that wick moisture away from my feet and Alpine Star boots.
· Long underwear with the Joe Rocket Ballistic overpant.
· Long-sleeved shirt made of cotton under my heated Gerbing Jacket liner, topped off by the jacket choice of the day.
· A full face helmet,
· then my electric gloves and I’m ready for all weather including rain since all the outerwear including the boots are waterproof.

One other thing is that when you are warm, dry and comfortable, you are a more alert and a safer rider. Remember: dress to slide and enjoy the ride.