Joined
·
130 Posts
Happy Easter everyone.
I rode the Boss down to Eastman Georgia on friday. AcroPhil, Larry and Leonard were already there Practicing there airshow stunts for saturdays show. We had the airport all to our selves untill 4pm.
I unloaded my gear from the bike and went out on the taxyway to check out the surface. What I found was 6,000 feet of very smoth asphalt -- AND IT WAS ALL MINE. :shock:
At my last airshow I had a limited amount of space. This show would be different. If only we could all be this lucky.
Larry and I have been planning a drag race between the Boss and our SP-95 aircraft. He has been talking smack about covering me with smoke for a few weeks now. Larry was also worried about me being able to get the Boss stopped after the race, after all, he was just going to fly away.
So, after riding up and down slowly to look for bumps or holes that might be a problem, I went to the far end and lined her up.
The race was going to be to the "Airshow Center" so I needed to see what kind of speed I would need to out run a bad to the bone airplane and still be able to stop before running out of asphalt. This is at our sponsors airport and the hole staff of the school was out there to see this bike run.
I lined her up on the right side as she likes to toss the tire out to the right, this makes the bike drift slowly the the left. With the tire smoking clean thru 100mph I crack the throttle and hit second. By now I'm on the left side of the taxyway and watching the runway lights flash by. As I go by the center of the show I check my speedo. The needle is past 160mph and still this thing is pulling my arms out of socket. At this point I back of slowly, don't do anything fast at these speeds. We coast down to about 100mph and I start braking her down. As it turns out, we have lots of room to spare.
Yeehaa! I've only been here ten minutes and I'm off the fun scale already. And the best part, "NO TICKETS". I made a few more passes at about 70mph riding sidesaddle with no hinds, standing on the seat, etc. What a blast it is to be able to ride like a fool and not having to worry about getting in trouble for it.
OK I'm tuned up and ready for show time.
I ride her back to the hanger and put her up for the night. Before leaving, I gave her a little pat on the seat. Good girl, tomorrow we've got some aircraft butt to kick.
Georgia School of Aviation had a big party friday night. Lots of fun was had by all. Larry was no longer looking quite so confident about our race. Back at the hotel a young lady, Adrienne, was riding one of those very small pocket bikes. She let me ride it, what a hoot that was.
Saturday morning came and we all went to the airshow briefing. After the briefing, I gave some rides to Adrienne, her mom and Diana. These ladies have never seen tripple digit speeds like that before and were all smiling like anyone else that rides a Boss Hoss.
The show started with the announcer talking up the upcoming race between plane and this big bad 500hp Boss Hoss. He gave them all the specs and info on the bike and said I'ld be out on it in just a few minutes. They announced, here is Crazy Rick on his bike and out I come on the little pocket rocket. ( Thanks Adriene) It does all of 20mph. I did figure out how to ride it sidesaddle with no hinds the night before. But don't ever try to stand up on the seat of one of these bikes. I almost died friday night trying that one.
I came in and switched bikes and started with a few slower trick passes. After the bike warms up I fired off a bunch (lost count) of full tilt boogie smoking, speed is no object burnouts. (can we hear an Amen?) After a few more 150+mph passes, we slow way down to show them the slow speed handling of the big beast. Tight three sixties with one hand in the air.
As I went back to park the bike, one of the guys with the F16 wanted me to let his girl friend sit on the bike. So with no seat she hops on and off we go. Back on the taxyway we hit 110. This time we got off at the far end and idled back through the crowd. The crowd went nuts, we stopped for pictures and everyone wanted to be next to ride.
About this time the F16 come smoking over the top and the airshow was on. AcroPhil, Leanard, Larry did a great job with their performances.
At the end of the show was the big race. Karen got on the bike and we pulled up next to larry at show center. I made the bike jump forwards a few times to egg him on. He reved up the big radial motor back at me and we slowly made our way to the starting line. Karen got off and went out to the middle of the grass. Larry taxied to the ranway as I did a short burnout to warm up the tire and the crowd.
We had never practiced this before and did not know how it would come out. Larry was sure he was going to blow past me before we crossed the line.
Karen did the standard drag race start and off we went. I went past the show center finish line at about 140mph with no airplane in sight. Still thinking he would blast past any second I stayed in the gas as I looked over my left shoulder to see him turning left.
No contest --- the Boss kicked butt. I had tried not to spin the tire and keep it hooked up for speed. I backed out of it a about 155mph and went back to pick up my bride. Karen got on and we went back down through the crowd. Again, more picture taking and people wanting to ride.
When not on the bike, I spent the day answering questions, you have all done that. People wanted to have their picture taken with the bike. I sat many kids up on the seat for pictures and past out the factorys' literature and some magazines to the bikers that were there. They were shocked to hear the announcer say that this was not a special stunt bike but a stock Boss Hoss that they could buy and I still had to ride home.
At the end of the day thousands of folks got see see the Boss in action. I had a great time showing off and I'm sure that more than one rider in the crowd is losing sleep tonight trying to figure out how he is go to get his own Boss Hoss.
I would again like to thank Tom and his gang at Mountian Boss Hoss for building me this awesome bike that has taken everything I have put it through for over four years now. Tom is a class act.
Thanks for the tire Tom, I need it.
I rode the Boss down to Eastman Georgia on friday. AcroPhil, Larry and Leonard were already there Practicing there airshow stunts for saturdays show. We had the airport all to our selves untill 4pm.
I unloaded my gear from the bike and went out on the taxyway to check out the surface. What I found was 6,000 feet of very smoth asphalt -- AND IT WAS ALL MINE. :shock:
At my last airshow I had a limited amount of space. This show would be different. If only we could all be this lucky.
Larry and I have been planning a drag race between the Boss and our SP-95 aircraft. He has been talking smack about covering me with smoke for a few weeks now. Larry was also worried about me being able to get the Boss stopped after the race, after all, he was just going to fly away.
So, after riding up and down slowly to look for bumps or holes that might be a problem, I went to the far end and lined her up.
The race was going to be to the "Airshow Center" so I needed to see what kind of speed I would need to out run a bad to the bone airplane and still be able to stop before running out of asphalt. This is at our sponsors airport and the hole staff of the school was out there to see this bike run.
I lined her up on the right side as she likes to toss the tire out to the right, this makes the bike drift slowly the the left. With the tire smoking clean thru 100mph I crack the throttle and hit second. By now I'm on the left side of the taxyway and watching the runway lights flash by. As I go by the center of the show I check my speedo. The needle is past 160mph and still this thing is pulling my arms out of socket. At this point I back of slowly, don't do anything fast at these speeds. We coast down to about 100mph and I start braking her down. As it turns out, we have lots of room to spare.
Yeehaa! I've only been here ten minutes and I'm off the fun scale already. And the best part, "NO TICKETS". I made a few more passes at about 70mph riding sidesaddle with no hinds, standing on the seat, etc. What a blast it is to be able to ride like a fool and not having to worry about getting in trouble for it.
OK I'm tuned up and ready for show time.I ride her back to the hanger and put her up for the night. Before leaving, I gave her a little pat on the seat. Good girl, tomorrow we've got some aircraft butt to kick.
Georgia School of Aviation had a big party friday night. Lots of fun was had by all. Larry was no longer looking quite so confident about our race. Back at the hotel a young lady, Adrienne, was riding one of those very small pocket bikes. She let me ride it, what a hoot that was.
Saturday morning came and we all went to the airshow briefing. After the briefing, I gave some rides to Adrienne, her mom and Diana. These ladies have never seen tripple digit speeds like that before and were all smiling like anyone else that rides a Boss Hoss.
The show started with the announcer talking up the upcoming race between plane and this big bad 500hp Boss Hoss. He gave them all the specs and info on the bike and said I'ld be out on it in just a few minutes. They announced, here is Crazy Rick on his bike and out I come on the little pocket rocket. ( Thanks Adriene) It does all of 20mph. I did figure out how to ride it sidesaddle with no hinds the night before. But don't ever try to stand up on the seat of one of these bikes. I almost died friday night trying that one.
I came in and switched bikes and started with a few slower trick passes. After the bike warms up I fired off a bunch (lost count) of full tilt boogie smoking, speed is no object burnouts. (can we hear an Amen?) After a few more 150+mph passes, we slow way down to show them the slow speed handling of the big beast. Tight three sixties with one hand in the air.
As I went back to park the bike, one of the guys with the F16 wanted me to let his girl friend sit on the bike. So with no seat she hops on and off we go. Back on the taxyway we hit 110. This time we got off at the far end and idled back through the crowd. The crowd went nuts, we stopped for pictures and everyone wanted to be next to ride.
About this time the F16 come smoking over the top and the airshow was on. AcroPhil, Leanard, Larry did a great job with their performances.
At the end of the show was the big race. Karen got on the bike and we pulled up next to larry at show center. I made the bike jump forwards a few times to egg him on. He reved up the big radial motor back at me and we slowly made our way to the starting line. Karen got off and went out to the middle of the grass. Larry taxied to the ranway as I did a short burnout to warm up the tire and the crowd.
We had never practiced this before and did not know how it would come out. Larry was sure he was going to blow past me before we crossed the line.
Karen did the standard drag race start and off we went. I went past the show center finish line at about 140mph with no airplane in sight. Still thinking he would blast past any second I stayed in the gas as I looked over my left shoulder to see him turning left.
No contest --- the Boss kicked butt. I had tried not to spin the tire and keep it hooked up for speed. I backed out of it a about 155mph and went back to pick up my bride. Karen got on and we went back down through the crowd. Again, more picture taking and people wanting to ride.
When not on the bike, I spent the day answering questions, you have all done that. People wanted to have their picture taken with the bike. I sat many kids up on the seat for pictures and past out the factorys' literature and some magazines to the bikers that were there. They were shocked to hear the announcer say that this was not a special stunt bike but a stock Boss Hoss that they could buy and I still had to ride home.
At the end of the day thousands of folks got see see the Boss in action. I had a great time showing off and I'm sure that more than one rider in the crowd is losing sleep tonight trying to figure out how he is go to get his own Boss Hoss.
I would again like to thank Tom and his gang at Mountian Boss Hoss for building me this awesome bike that has taken everything I have put it through for over four years now. Tom is a class act.
Thanks for the tire Tom, I need it.
