i probably mentioned on here about my first new bike,it was a texas ranger and i got it at a regional auto parts place called white's auto,they were just about the same as western auto.the street i lived on was asphalt on our side and on the other side of the county road it crossed it was concrete and it had been broomed when poured to give it that rough texture.
the county road was called millwood in town but it's county designation was 546,and we lived on the corner next to it,it was elevated from the street by about 4 or 5 feet i think,it's hard to remember sometimes but it created a natural ramp,and in the winter time if we got an ice storm and it coated the street we would get out on the county road, run and slide down the ramp on the icy street.since most everyone was wearing leather soled shoes it made it easy to slide.
there was a teenage boy and a guy in his early twenties that would ride out to our street about 12 or 1 o'clock at night in the summer on their motorcycles and use the ramp as a jump and fly over the county road and onto the other side of the street.they would start making alot of racket gunning their engines to build up speed and soon someone would call the cops and they would be gone.
my brother knew the teenage guy but never ratted him out,he had alot of gall on that bike and i think he eventually broke his back,but i think he was a dyed in the wool biker and it never stopped him,i think his folks had a few dollars and he might have been a little bit spoiled.
the distance they would get making the jumps was awesome considering the suspension quality on street bikes in the mid to late 60's,you could hear them land hard and then they would get on the brakes.
well a kid i ran around with in those days was a couple of years older than me,his name was billy don mcintire,he had a older sister and two half brothers by his stepdad.i would spend the night with them sometimes and it was the first time i had heard of apple butter because we didn't keep it at our house so when there i would eat apple butter sandwiches.
well one time a bunch of us were down in the street in front of his house talking about the guys jumping the motorcycles,he lived on the concrete side.his neighbor was about his age,his name was nicky nix and he dared billy don to get on a bicycle and get going as fast as he could and hit a ramp and jump like they guys on the motorcycles did.
i believe the were both in junior high then and the trash talk and daring started about how much money nicky would give him if he did it and i think it was about 5 dollars.well they found some plywood and propped it up with something,i don't remember what but about this time billy turns to me and says david let me use your bike.
aw no,i'd only had it a couple of weeks and then we went through that if your my friend stuff,well against my better judgement or fear that my bike might get tore up i let him.here he went,doing a couple of test passes to see what he would do or just to get the nerve up to do it with nicky nix chiding him and giving him a hard time.
well here he came full bore,going as fast as he could and hit the ramp and after he hit it everything seemed to be in slow motion,he got his body weight to far forward and he started over the handle bars with the bike landing vertical on the front tire.he land in the gap between the butterfly handlebars and then his face hit the street and he rolled over and over and appeared to be unconcious,all i could think of was my bike,my poor bike.
after everything came to a halt i grabbed my bike and the only damage i could see was that they handlebars were cockeyed and i quickly straightened them out.then i went to where billy was and where the others had huddled around him,then i went and knocked on the door of his house and when his mother answered i told her i thought billy had been hurt bad and his mother and stepdad came out and helped him wobble into the house.
i didn't get a good look at him because they rushed him in.well the next day i went down to see him and realized he had skidded down that rough concrete on his face and it had tore the hide off one side of his face and it was raw and oozie looking.well by the next day his face was a big scab,yeah i know yall are enjoying this part,anyway i remember him missing a couple of weeks of school because he didn't want to go to school with a big scab on his face
.it didn't matter anyway,he never graduated from school.
but i tell you what, ol' billy had some gumption,i saw him fight a couple of guys bigger than him and whip them pretty good,and he would take up a dare,not to smart sometimes but thats the life of teenage boys,i'm glad they didn't have video games then,i would have missed out on alot of lessons learned and fun times as a kid.haven't saw billy since i was about 20,i hope he's doing well.
the county road was called millwood in town but it's county designation was 546,and we lived on the corner next to it,it was elevated from the street by about 4 or 5 feet i think,it's hard to remember sometimes but it created a natural ramp,and in the winter time if we got an ice storm and it coated the street we would get out on the county road, run and slide down the ramp on the icy street.since most everyone was wearing leather soled shoes it made it easy to slide.
there was a teenage boy and a guy in his early twenties that would ride out to our street about 12 or 1 o'clock at night in the summer on their motorcycles and use the ramp as a jump and fly over the county road and onto the other side of the street.they would start making alot of racket gunning their engines to build up speed and soon someone would call the cops and they would be gone.
my brother knew the teenage guy but never ratted him out,he had alot of gall on that bike and i think he eventually broke his back,but i think he was a dyed in the wool biker and it never stopped him,i think his folks had a few dollars and he might have been a little bit spoiled.
the distance they would get making the jumps was awesome considering the suspension quality on street bikes in the mid to late 60's,you could hear them land hard and then they would get on the brakes.
well a kid i ran around with in those days was a couple of years older than me,his name was billy don mcintire,he had a older sister and two half brothers by his stepdad.i would spend the night with them sometimes and it was the first time i had heard of apple butter because we didn't keep it at our house so when there i would eat apple butter sandwiches.
well one time a bunch of us were down in the street in front of his house talking about the guys jumping the motorcycles,he lived on the concrete side.his neighbor was about his age,his name was nicky nix and he dared billy don to get on a bicycle and get going as fast as he could and hit a ramp and jump like they guys on the motorcycles did.
i believe the were both in junior high then and the trash talk and daring started about how much money nicky would give him if he did it and i think it was about 5 dollars.well they found some plywood and propped it up with something,i don't remember what but about this time billy turns to me and says david let me use your bike.
aw no,i'd only had it a couple of weeks and then we went through that if your my friend stuff,well against my better judgement or fear that my bike might get tore up i let him.here he went,doing a couple of test passes to see what he would do or just to get the nerve up to do it with nicky nix chiding him and giving him a hard time.
well here he came full bore,going as fast as he could and hit the ramp and after he hit it everything seemed to be in slow motion,he got his body weight to far forward and he started over the handle bars with the bike landing vertical on the front tire.he land in the gap between the butterfly handlebars and then his face hit the street and he rolled over and over and appeared to be unconcious,all i could think of was my bike,my poor bike.
after everything came to a halt i grabbed my bike and the only damage i could see was that they handlebars were cockeyed and i quickly straightened them out.then i went to where billy was and where the others had huddled around him,then i went and knocked on the door of his house and when his mother answered i told her i thought billy had been hurt bad and his mother and stepdad came out and helped him wobble into the house.
i didn't get a good look at him because they rushed him in.well the next day i went down to see him and realized he had skidded down that rough concrete on his face and it had tore the hide off one side of his face and it was raw and oozie looking.well by the next day his face was a big scab,yeah i know yall are enjoying this part,anyway i remember him missing a couple of weeks of school because he didn't want to go to school with a big scab on his face
.it didn't matter anyway,he never graduated from school.but i tell you what, ol' billy had some gumption,i saw him fight a couple of guys bigger than him and whip them pretty good,and he would take up a dare,not to smart sometimes but thats the life of teenage boys,i'm glad they didn't have video games then,i would have missed out on alot of lessons learned and fun times as a kid.haven't saw billy since i was about 20,i hope he's doing well.
