Don Andrew from canada writes

Story number 1...

I think i have done something that no one has ever done before ... Or for that matter i don't think anyone will ever get a chance to do... ;-)

Weds. April 23rd 1996... Picture this...

Downtown toronto... The corner of bay and king st... For our American and overseas friends.. This area is the "heart" of canada's finacial business...

All the major banks have their head office here... Anywho... The scotia bank tower... Head office of the bank of nova scotia... Now picture the "executive dinning lounge"... Now picture don andrew... Hey that's "me"... "riding" a motorcycle through the halls of the tower... Into a elevator... Up to the 4th floor... Where the lounge is... And into the lounge with all these ... Ahem... Stuff shirt bankers... In their blue pin strip suits, and red oxford shoes... And here is don in his full leathers..plus as an added bonus... One of my friday the 13th t-shirts on.. The one with the skeleton sittin' on a bike saying "if they don't allow motorcycles in hell then i'm riding mine to port dover"

Now before you say: "no way"

I am not telling just a story here... I actually did this... Here i was with the motor running... And riding a bike through the halls... Heheheheheheh

What a treat... I was eating all these funny little types of food..that i Have no idea what the hell i was eating... So i asked the waiter if there Was any beef on a bun... And shit i had to drink my beer out of a "glass" Can you beleive this... Me with beer in a glass... :-)

So by now i probably have your attention and you are wondering how the hell was don able to do this?????... Well there is an explanation to this story...

Not sure how many of you know the name marnie mc bean... She is the olympic rower for canada who has won a number of medals in this... Well her father peter mc bean is a friend on mine plus a member of our club.. The retreads... And peter is retiring from the bank... So it was his retirment party... One of the folks from the bank calls another friend of mine (and a member of the club)... And asks if he thought there was any way That someone could "steal" peter's bike that day..and ride it into the party... Well ... Who comes to mind first????... Yep he called me..and heck fire i thought it was a great idea and i was game for it... What a blast... I had a heck of a good time doing it... And i've got a story to tell..what more could i ask for???... Hehehehehehehe

Story number 2...

Well this is more about a trip that i just took this past weekend... On the bike of course... Another one of my retread buddies is on the internet. And he is in these chat groups... Well they were having a meeting down in Baltimore maryland.. And he really wanted to ride his bike but didn't want to do it by himself... So again.. Whom comes to mind??? Well this time it wasn't just me, but me and another good buddy... So the 3 of us left hamilton... At 6:45am on fri. Morning... And off we went.. The sun was shining... It was cool, but not all that bad... Temp. Around 6c or 42f ... As we get down into pennsylvania... It was geting cloudy.. But they only called for "scattered" showers... Yeah..right.. They scattered alright scattered all along our route... But it didn't rain all that much i mean we didn't realy get wet... Just a little damp... The bikes got the worst of it... Hell the roads are still dirty so my bike has never been so dirty.. Just covered in mud... You all know she is red and white.. Heck she turned brown by the time i got to Baltimore... but we cleaned them in the hotel's parking lot... Heck they even gave us the hose and soap... On the way it wasn't too eventful... Except that my gas tank started to collapse right before my very eyes... Man what a feeling... The tank was creating a vacum inside her... So what i had to do ever 10 or 15 kms i had to grab the cap and jiggle it around to let in some air to stop this... The verdict is stiil out on this..meaning i'm not sure what the problem is yet.. Either i need a new cap... Or i think i have a vent tube under there.. And maybe it is blocked or something... Too dam tired to do anything about it right now but will do so in the next few days... One of my buddies good ole harley decided to act up on interstate 83... And just at the right place too... We are in a construction area 1 lane with no shoulders... And his bike starts to cough and sputter.. And the bang out of the pipes... Man i thought i was being shot at... I mean this is America isn't it??? And this can happen on the interstates can't it??? ... Hehehehehehehe... Just kiddin'... :-)

Anywho i am riding behind him so no body gets the bright idea of trying to pass him as he is weaving all around and trying to keep his bike going... We make it to a make shift exit where there is a small shoulder... And start to figure out what the hell is wrong... It turns out that one of his power cables from the battery.. I think it goes to the starter???? Well he keeps a few wrenches under the seat wrapped in a rag... But the weight of them finally made the cable break off and it was arching... So we fixed it and off we went again... Pulled into Baltimore.. At 7:45 pm... Yep 13 hours on the road... Man was i tired... But we went out for a beer and dinner... Sat. We went off to washington dc... Man what a day this was... Temp was around 75f sun was shinning... Perfect... We went off to see if bill wanted to hav a beer with us..but we couldn't get in to see him... :-) we went to see the "wall" it was very touching indeed to see... My one buddy really wanted to see this as he almost signed up to go over there... He is canadian... Oh... We got a real good souvenier (sp??) there.. We rode around and around to find a bloody parking spot but could not and we did not want to leave the biks too far from us... So we parked in this bus area..heck there where other cars there... Plus we where only going to be there a "short" time... Heheheheheheh

Came back and each bike had a $50.00 parking ticket on them... Now in my 45 years This was the first time i have "ever" been to washington... Hehehehehehehe... I don't think i will ever go back... "if" you catch my drift here... :-) so sat. Afternoon we where sitting at a patio bar in downtown Baltimore having a beer and watching the world go by... Man was it ever a great day!!!!!!!... Sun. It was up at 6:30am... I had to go and "find" my 2 "friends" but that's another story... :-) As we all agrred we had to leave by 7am to get home and try and beat out the rain that was coming... Finally pulled out at 7:45am to get home... We were "just" ahead of the showers all sunday afternoon... Every time we stopped for a rest after a bit it would start to sprinkle of rain and "off" we went to get ahead of them again... Made it all the way to the boarder before it finally decided to "pee" on us... By that time it was now 8:30pm... And i couldn't see a dam thing as we rode along the qew To get home... As it was raining and it was now dark... Man what a fun ride that was... But you know what??? I was actually still singing to myself..and laughing away... Hell's bells if you can't take the heat then don't go into the kitchen, eh??? Man what a trip i pulled into the drive way at 9:20pm... Fell into the house... My dear wife gave me a kiss... Made me a cup of tea.. And a couple of pieces of toast.. I went upstairs to have a shower..did that... Then i fell asleep before my head hit the pillow... All in all it was a heck of a good ride... Put about 1,500 kms on my girl in the 3 days... Tha's approx. 900 miles for my American friends... But... I don't think i'm agona do that again.. Atleast for a "little" while... :-)

Cheers;

Don has a near miss

We are having the ontario retread rally this coming weekend... And i am doing the tours for this rally...

Well... I was doing a run of one of the tours that i had planned out for the rally Last saturday the 20th i had a earth shattering experience, a pick-up truck cut me off in my lane on hi-way #8 just outside of stoney creek while i was on my susie (ed: don's shadow is called susie)

... And it was pretty close from me getting out of this without being hurt pretty darn bad and being in the hospital.. I had 3 visions while trying to avoid this stupid jerk as he cut into my lane...

1st was i am going to hit the side of this truck and be hurt pretty bad... He stopped and left 1/4 of my lane open still... I was emergency braking as i was also trying to go to the open spot

..so the second thought was i'm going to be a new hood ornament on this truck... I was getting over further so my 3rd thought was i am going to just clip this dam truck and roll off into the ditch and maybe just get hurt a "bit" well we just missed the dam thing and i mean "just" missed him... I stoppped about 8 to 10 feet past the stupid bugger... Whew... A close one for sure...

It is one thing that i just love about this bike... Throughout the whole time which was probably only about 5 or 8 seconds... I never lost control of the bike... And i had even locked up the back wheel while braking... Man do i love my susie... :-)

The best thing on this experience was my buddy syd.. You have seen him in the picture from lake george 3rd from the left in the top row (ed: see owners and their shadows page, vt1100 riders don andrew & retread picture) he is a real mild guy... Well he pulled up to this guy and laid into him he swore up and down this guy.. I just sat there and let syd handle him... Nothing much else to do except get off my bike and beat the shit out of him, but i didn't do that...

(ed: don's a nice guy, folks!)

I feel that an experience like this is good for you to go through... If you never have them then you will not be up to the skills to handle yourself when the time comes that you need them... So life is just one experience after another, but mind you i wouldn't want one like that too often... :-)