Worst Ride You've Had?

**Goblin** · 26th September 2006, 11:08

Originally Posted by XP@

Never had a bad ride, a ride is allways good!

some maybe "character building",
some maybe a tad embarassing.

But when it is over rest in the satisfation that you are lucky to get a ride and possiibly luckier still to have survived it. And remember what dosent kill you makes you stronger.

Gotta agree with all that XP@ ...but I did have one bad ride that ended in me laying unconcious in the middle of the road, right outside the airport entrance....infact the ride hadn't even started! Wrote the bike off, nearly lost my life and took me 16 months to get back in the saddle.

It did make me stronger and more aware and very greatful for every ride I go on now.

**Big Dave** · 26th September 2006, 11:14

Originally Posted by XP@

Never had a bad ride, a ride is allways good!

some maybe "character building",
some maybe a tad embarassing.

I've had some 'what the fuck am I doing here???' or 'I wish I was doing something else' ones too. Not many, but a few.

**Animal** · 26th September 2006, 11:33

Northern Cape, South Africa, in mid-Summer 1983. I rode into a swarm of locusts of biblically huge proportions. The cloud of insects was dense enough to create an eclipse-like darkness - although it was close to midday. I stopped almost immediately and crouched down of the roadside for the next 20 minutes (that felt like a whole day) with my sleeping bag pulled down over my head.

After the swarm had buggered off to eat another forty thousand acres of cornfields, I tried to remove the locust guts, legs and other components from my visor, and the insides of my jacket, gloves and boots, but soo gave up. It looked like gallons of snot had been sparayed onto me and my bike.

For the next twenty kms along the road, there were clusters of cages and trucks either crashed or parked up with overheating engines due to the solid paste of cruched insects blocking up the radiator matrix. I dumped my riding gear because it was impossible to clean, and for months afterwards, I was still finding bits of locust wedged into tiny corners and crevices on my bike.

Nasty experience.

**Paul in NZ** · 26th September 2006, 11:54

I've ridden through floods and blizzards when i was younger and thought it a grand adventure but a few years back, heading into Dannevirke from the napier side we encountered one of those winds on a rainy day.

Fark - I really thought I was going to die, even the cars were down to 30kph it was that bad. Not sure what it was about that day, maybe the hang over or what ever but I still shudder at the utter stupidity of it.

Oh well - unless I'm only seeing dead people - I guess I survived...

Then there was the hang over ride at one of the guzzi rallies - oh god, I wanted to die but toughed it out. Eventually i think I enjoy a little bit of it...

But that was my fault....

I guess second place was the gentle annie in the rain mid winter on the Guzzi. Mud clogged up the disks so no brakes (at all) which made life a bit scary. I knew I would not die but it's embarassing being passed by BSA bantams because you dare not hook anything higher than 2nd.

**Pwalo** · 26th September 2006, 15:04

Wanganui to Wellington on a TS125. Was a long slow trip, especially into a headwind across the Foxton Flats.

**skelstar** · 26th September 2006, 15:15

The lower North island seems to be mentioned a lot in these reports huh?

**Maha** · 26th September 2006, 15:16

Delivering my Yamaha to Dargaville.....wind/rain/farken' cold, stopped at Ruawai to get a bit of shelter and was shivering like a shivery thing that shiver's alot...i took me a good 3 hrs to get back to ....ahhhhh thats better state, i said i would have the bike there on that day and being a man of my word, i did it, but dam it was cold.....

**placidfemme** · 26th September 2006, 15:26

My worst ride (not counting the crash... because despite that it was a great ride). Was just normal commuting from work to home on a Saturday, that particular Saturday when it was pissing down with rain and hail (there was even a mini hurricane or something in South Auck's that day).

Couldn't see more than 3m ahead of me on the motorway, nearly binned it coming off the off-ramp on Onewa Rd, due to the nice big white painted arrows on the road, plus uneven surface, plus water running down the road like a little river... got home, absolutley soaked... get inside, and my phone rings, its Sam... she just got hit by a cager at the lights cnr of K Rd and Symonds St... hoped back on bike in pissing rain and rode back into town amongst more rain/hail/wind to help her out... shitty shitty ride

**Omega1** · 26th September 2006, 15:35

My worst...mmmm..One Sunday morning quite early I was on a solo ride on My TL1000s riding out to Martinborough (again lower North Island), I was blastin along enjoying myself in the countryside, came around a corner and there were three cows standing in the middle of the road...major evasion techniques were deployed... managed to stay on and continue around them with major high blood pressure but elation that I was still alive and not imbedded in some bovine host.
Anyway I rode out Martinborough and took the back road out to Carterton my confidence had returned somewhat and I started to enjoy myself I was then riding along a nice straight bit of road and admittedly was giving it the herbs then out of no where a suicidal Blackbird flew out of the grass next to the roadside and with remarkable resemblance to the kamikaze's of old flew smack into my chest it then bounced off in a shower of feathers..... it was definitley shades of the Mayor Hiroshima " What the F@#k was that"?.This incident destroyed my confidence completely so being a believer that things come in threes decided to go home before some other rural inhabitant had a go at me. Maybe it was the two bros cans? dunno..

**phantom** · 26th September 2006, 15:45

For me it's a toss up between the first time over the takas in a howling gale ( it looked fine at Martinborough ) and getting blown all over the road and coming back from this years Cold Kiwi with buggared ribs and a bent bike trying to avoid any bumps or having to change gear

**Beemer** · 26th September 2006, 16:20

Returning to Lower Hutt from the 1999 WIMA rally at Pohangina. I was a wee tad hungover, it was raining, I was cold and the wind picked up around Paremata. I had the RG150 then and the combined weight of bike and rider was about 170kg so the wind whacking against the fairings fair put the frighteners up me! I was on a restricted licence so didn't have much experience and by the time I got to Porirua I was basically hanging on for grim death. I got to Petone and decided to check my mail box and was sorely tempted to stay in the foyer until the storm passed! There were boxes flying past and bits of trees - by the time I got home it was near gale force and a hot bath returned me to normal!

And if I may be so bold, I'd like to add a second horror trip I just remembered - we were on a tour of the South Island on dirt bikes and were riding through Black Forest Station. If you've ever been through there you'll know it's quite steep in parts and there are also a lot of rocks. My front wheel hit a rock on an angle and I came off and had to wait for my other half to come along to help me pick the bike up again. I was on the edge of a bank that dropped away about 500m to the bottom and there was no way I was risking a borrowed bike taking me with it to the bottom! That was bad enough, but then I had to ride through the remainder of the station, which included a couple of dry river crossings with boulders the size of small children (one had a nice 90 degree turn to get up the hill on the far bank!), but also Dansey's Pass as we were staying in Naseby that night. That was day three of a 14 day trip - thankfully it was the worst day of the whole trip!

**Bloody Mad Woman (BMW)** · 26th September 2006, 16:42

About 2 years ago I rode in civil defence conditions - although I was ignorant of that at the time. Flew from Nelson to Wellington, picked my bike up in Welly -hadn't realised Welly had had bad storms and many roads closed - I managed to get to Ohau (out of Otaki) in about the only half hour gap the road was open! I was on my way to Napier. Had to stay in Ohau - gorge shut. Next morning, pissing down, gorge still closed (and was for about 3 months after that), takas closed. I had to get back to work so rode back to Wellington (to try and catch a plane) Rode in the the most heaviest rain, + wind - thank god for good tyres and I rode to the conditions. Just getting to Miramar and they were closing the road, they let me thru once I explained my friend lived up the road. My spidi jacket held up well, however pockets were full of water and guess where cellphone was! one dead cellphone, oh and at the end of all that planes weren't flying til next day!! Gorge and takas still closed so left my bike in Welly.