The Top Hat Classic is over for another year. It was a fairly good event
with no reports of serious injury or crashes from the bicycle riders. The
event itself ran fairly smooth but was not without incident. About the worst
incident for the bicycles was apparently a couple of teenagers decided to
drive around the route and throw raw eggs at the riders. Some of our Motors
searched the area they were last seen but nobody ever found them.
Flash back to Friday. Ray Davis is driving up with a group from our Sister
Chapter from Southern California. Exact details are a little sketchy but apparently
Mike Naron N6QZT received a nail in his back tire. It appears as if it happened
on the road. The tire was plugged, filled with air and off they went. By the
time they hit the Bakersfield area the plug failed and Mike suffered a sudden
loss of air in his tire. He was getting the bike off to the side of the road
when he lost control and laid his bike down. Unfortunately Mike suffered injuries
that required him to be flown by Helicopter to the local Trauma center.
Mike, we are VERY sorry to hear of your accident and hope that your injuries
are healing. You can see photos of Mike’s motorcycle on the
MARC WEB site by clicking
on the "Photo Center" menu item on the
left. From the photos it does not appear as if the
bike suffered as much as Mike.
Flash to Saturday. Roger Rines W1RDR and myself meet up with the remainder
of the Southern Calif. Group at the Motel. After all the hello’s, hugs and
introductions we head out for the event start finish. Route assignments are
given out, maps, directions, t-shirts and signs handed out and then a photo
session.
The event ran fairly smooth but we had a lot of reports of flat tires. The
roads were wet that morning from the previous days rain and that seems to
bring up the road junk that gets lodged in the bicycle tires easily.
I am disappointed that the HAM club running the Net Control was not as dedicated
to the job as they should have been. There were 2 rest stops that closed early
and I believe that the lack of dedication and failure to verify if the rest
stop could be closed is what caused the mishap. It is something everyone needs
to be aware of. Rest Stops should never be closed unless it is officially
done so by the event coordinators. Unfortunately in this case the volunteers
left simply because they had not had any bicycles pass in a while.
As Roger once said some events are memorable than others. During the course
of the day I went up the wrong road and while making a U-Turn on a hill I
lost my footing and dropped my own motorcycle. Ejected from the bike I ended
up running and then rolled down the hill. Returning to my bike it was on such
a bad incline that I was not able to lift it as it was lying on its side past
the engine guards. Calls for help went un-answered on the radio due to bad
location but fortunately a local neighbor helped me muscle the bike back upright
and we had to muscle it backwards into his driveway so that it could be placed
on the side stand. Minor damage was sustained to my bike with some scratches
and a broken Tulsa Wind Wing.
Finishing up the day, as routes were closed down, most everyone jumped into
the other routes like troopers and we were able to quickly and efficiently
clear the route courses and the event was done by about 4:00 PM. By this time
all of out Southern Calif. Crew had to leave for various reasons but the remainder
of us went to a local eatery to grab dinner and decompress for the day. After
dinner we all said our goodbyes and departed for home.
After getting on the highway I noticed my voltage reading was at 12.2 volts
and dropping. I radioed to Roger that I was in trouble and then began shutting
down all the electronics I could to conserve power until my bike finally died.
Sitting on the side of the highway we ended up using my girlfriend’s car to
charge my battery and then we leapfrogged my bike to Larry McDonalds K6ACE
house where I left it to repair and retrieve the next day.
Think the story is over? Nope! On the way home Ray Davis ended up with
a seized front wheel bearing on his Motorcycle. Ray, we are VERY happy you
did not have an accident. A seized bearing at highway speeds can be disastrous.
Ray ended up having to call Bonnie to bring the trailer. Still think it’s
over? Nope. Next day, Sunday, I went to Larry’s house and attempted to rebuild
my alternator, but alas, no luck. So now I end up calling Andy Brown KD6HWU
who has a big trailer, which we used to load it and take the bike home. Thank
you Andy and Larry.
It is very nerve-racking to see your 900-pound motorcycle on a trailer held
down with tie straps. My bike ended up with a bad rotor, something I thought
I tested but Lewis Osborn called it right off. This was absolutely one of
the most memorable events we have had, but I would like to thank everyone
who attended and helped out:
