I guess the 1950 Harley 74 was 'all that',
Just like the GS is (supposedly) these days. Seems pretty popular anyhow...
Here's the 'usual suspects' again taking
a morning break on a nice Sunday ride.
One Sunday ride took 'em to the top of
Mount Evans , elevation 14,264. This was back in the day before it was paved all the way to the top.
It was, however, paved here if it hadn't been for the snow. I was recently in a similar situation on
my Rally Twin coming over Pearl Pass. I thought it was touchy enough, and I didn't have a FOOT
CLUTCH!!! Yikes!
Yet another 1952 Sunday ride ventured up Arapahoe
Pass - it's near Eldora , Colorado and is now all wildernesses. Stupid lousy rotten environmental
freaks, but I digress… (sigh)
The clan started out from my Dad's house in
Wheat Ridge , which is a stone's throw from Golden, CO. They usually left about 8:00 a.m. If you
didn't arrive on time, they'd leave you. Hard knocks. They headed up to Boulder , CO and
followed the nice, twisty, scenic Boulder Canyon to Nederland . From there they headed through
the town of Eldora and up Arapahoe pass.
Now some things never change. There's always
that one person in the group that either insists that they absolutely positively know where to go,
or that it "not that bad". In this case, the group ended up venturing down this:
Turned out that this the wrong way (DUH!).
The Harley guys actually let the English bike riders be guinea pigs on this part of the ride.
Must've been one of those hot-headed British riding know-it-alls that suggested it in the first place...
After some back tracking and de-mudding operations,
they finally found the right trail and made it to the top at 11905 feet elevation. Nice day!
I also think these guys could've invented the
"No Fear" logo. I have fear when it associates a 750 lb hard tail with a stream crossing on a trail.
These guys really deserve some respect for being able to pull this off. Or they deserve to be taken
away in straight jackets, I'm not really sure.
Not that they didn't dab once or twice. OK,
maybe they dabbed about 100 times, but they still made it across. Now it's time to take a break
and dry out.
Here’s a portrait of my dad taken in 1951,
just before the start of a nice ride. Notice the cool stylish apparel. Helmet? I don't need no
stinking helmet! Of course, this was pre-head injury days....
These guys also had a lot of fun just playin’
around. Imagine getting a couple feet (OR MORE!) of air on a 750 HARD-TAIL Harley! This makes you
GS-jumpers look like whimps, with your fancy rear suspension and all. Sheesh!
But the most insane (read: talented) member
of the group in the area of piloting a Harley 74(7) through the air was a fellow named Kenny Erie.
If Kenny was alive today and about 50 years younger, I’m sure he’d be one of the top names in freestyle!
These guys weren't shy of riding on a bit of snow,
either. Here's Mike Sadusky on his 50 Harley. Man, I really envy this guy's legs. I bet he could straddle
the 950 Adventure-S with his knees bent. I, on the other hand, can't physically touch both toes to the
ground at the same time. Mike used to drape his legs over the handle bars to stretch on those long road
trips (no joking!). Who needs hiway pegs?
You’d think these guys would know when to stop. Apparently not…
Good thing Mike has those long legs...
These were taken up by my Dad's cabin on Mt Thorodin.
Wanna park, but you're too lazy to put the side stand down? Just cram it in a snow bank and leave it like
my dad did. Mike and Kenny are in the process of “parking”.
These guys were never short of play time. Once again, Mike's
extra long legs save the day. Well, almost.
And again...
You’re not a real rider unless you can power slide…
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