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Bench Racing
Must be getting close to winter, the number of posts has dropped for the last week or so. When I was in my forties, on our dairy farm in western Michigan, I somehow heard about a 500cc Triumph Trophy twin, high pipes and all. Three-hundred bucks later and it was mine. I used to take Sunday off, except for chores. So, after church and breakfast, I would ride all over that farm. Whole place totalled up to 600 acres, and a little less than half of it was woods. There were deer trails through the woods, and I used to ride them for a couple of hours on Sunday afternoons. Mucho fun. And those Triumph twins sounded so sweet without mufflers. I couldn't get too radical riding that bike, as I had cows to milk twice a day, plus normal farm work to do, so I couldn't risk getting injured. But I had a young friend "Party Time" Postma. He owned one of those 360 Yamaha's, and he rode like the wind, no cares, all balls. So I'm out doing little jumps and doing figure eights out in a hay field when he shows up. Yes I had just mowed and baled that hayfield during the week. Now I knew he was a better rider than me, or he just didn't worry about the consequences. After he cut a couple of hot laps on the Yamaha, I offered him the Triumph to ride. It had a good set of Dunlop Knobbies on it, and I had the carburetor just set up to really work. The carb. was an Amal Mono-Bloc, and those were really good carbs. So he asked me how do you ride it, and I told him it was heavier than what he was used to, so just kinda go with the flow. Very easy bike to ride fast, as long as you didn't try to get careless with it. So he rode it, faster and faster - man, that engine was really singing, and he had an ear to ear grin that was worth the price of admission alone. When he stopped by me, engine idleing as smooth as a hound dog drinking milk, he says "Wow, this thing is really fast, and s-o-o-o easy to ride!" Well he made my day, what else can I say. Thanks for the memory, Allen.
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