lauantai 7. lokakuuta 1995

Fast curves


A couple of years ago I pulled up to a gas station, when a saw an old CB500 Four. I used to have just this kind of bike when I was 18. The owner of bike seemed to be in trouble with the engine and I just happened to know by the sound of the bike, that the carbureator needles were worn out. And I told it to the owner.

He was very happy to hear that since the bike was new to him and he had been struggling with this problem for long time. He did not know were to get the spare parts and I told him I could show him the way because the day was so beautiful and I had nothing to do.

The shop for these spare parts is in Ylästö. The place is full of curved motorcycling roads but unfortunately the general speed limit in the area is only 40 km/h (25 mph). This guy turned out to be quite a racer and I had hard time keeping up the pace. We were going about 140 km/h when I passed him the third time.... :-)

I was scared if the police would see us, we would loose our licenses and bikes for driving 100 km/h (70 mph) over speed! However, we were lucky this time and the blue boys kept away. All good things must come to an end and I left this happy fellow smiling to the yard of the shop.

A couple of weeks later I was washing my bike at the pavement in front of our office when a police car stopped next to me. I thought they were going to tell me to get away from the pavement but no. The same guy, this time in uniform, jumped out from the driver seat with a huge smile and asked me when are we going to go for a ride again?

tiistai 5. syyskuuta 1995

Moose is loose

It was evening, about 11:00 pm and it was getting dark. We call this time between the day and the darknes "the blue moment". The blue moment is the time when mooses are moving around and cross roads frequently. You know moose, the huge animal with the weight of a truck and brains of a chicken?

Me and Maija, my girlfriend, were driving near Lahti. I was doing some what 110 km/h (70 mph) when I saw this huge moose running to the road from the left side. I hardly had any time to break nor make any moves. I tried to brake hard and countersteer towards the tail of the animal. As we were passing I felt something hit the big windshield and I thought we had hitted the tail of the huge animal. Anyway, I managed to pass the moose from it's tail in one piece.

Naturally we on the bike were not the only ones who got scared! The moose got shocked too, I bet! Actually, the moose got so scared, that it let loose a cloud of wet shit. Guess who splatted the moose shit in mid air at the speed of 100 km/h? Yes, you got it.

We were totally covered. From head to tail. And not just by the insurance. Good thing we had our mouths shut.
What did we learn? Never drive fast when it is the blue moment. And if you see a moose running to the road, aim to the ass. The moose is not going to turn back. It also pays to practise. I had practised high speed manouvers on asphalt before and it was worth it.