Ride Report from Steve Short: I decided to go for a ride this morning. I chose to go to Ozark, MO and visit the Victory dealership. I had a coupon for 25% off any one item and thought I’d see if they had anything I couldn’t live without. They didn’t, so I asked if they could apply the discount towards an oil change and they said sure. I like oil changes on this Victory. There’s just one oil and you change it every 5,000 miles and they can change the oil when the bike is hot. When I had my 2008 Harley-Davidson Ultra Classic, they always wanted me to drop the bike off the day before so they had a cold engine to work with. All they do with the Victory is change the oil. Seems every oil change on my Harley always cost more each time. Oh well I’m not bashing any other brands anymore. I had to eat a lot of crow when I bought this Victory due to me always bashing Victorys. The oil change took about 20 minutes, enough time for me to walk around the showroom floor and try to get everyone to buy a Victory. Well the oil is changed and there’s nothing else I really need, so I head for home. I was just cruising along at about 70 mph and since I had no other appointments I was in no particular hurry to get anywhere. Everything is going just fine until I get to one of those long uphill climbs on US 65 South before you get to Branson. There was a pick-up towing a boat in front of me and a Ford F-150 beside me. I looked over to see if the F-150 is going to pass the pick-up towing the boat. There’s two Bubbas in the front seat looking at me, pointing at the bike and laughing. I’m not going anywhere as the F-150 wasn’t going to pass the pick-up towing the boat. Now we’re doing 50 mph, in a 65 mph zone, and it appears we aren’t going to get to the top of the hill doing anything more than 40 mph. OK, my stupid people meter has just pegged out. Those of you who have had the misfortune to ride with me know that when my stupid people meter pegs out…watch out. The Bubbas are laughing their asses off and then I do something really, really stupid. I went to the shoulder of the road, which is really, really stupid because of all the debris that’s always on the shoulder which include anything from tires to broken glass. The shoulder wasn’t all that wide what with half of it having those corrugated wake-up bumps, but I nailed the throttle and passed the slow moving pick-up. As I got back into my lane the F-150 is now beside me. Now my meter is off the charts. The F-150 sped up a bit, OK. Then he’d slow back down to get right beside me only to speed up a bit. Alright I’ve had all the fun I need for one day. I sped up and passed the F-150 and then he’d sped up and passed me. Let me explain something about this F-150. It’s a four door with really big off-road tires and the truck has apparently been jacked up a bit. No way this truck can do 80 mph, so I sped up to 80 mph. To my amazement the F-150 has caught up and now has passed me and that’s when I first noticed the large Harley-Davidson sticker on his rear window. Now I understand and it’s time to show them what my Victory can do. I got right beside the truck and motioned if they wanted to see who could go faster and the guy in the truck nailed it. He jumped off to a bit of a lead and then I twisted the throttle. I shot passed him as if he was in reverse. I kept on it to put as much distance between us as possible and then realized that I’m flying low and if a cop is out there… I slowed down to about 70 mph and never saw them again. What is it with these drivers of cars and trucks that think they can outrun a motorcycle, any motorcycle, with an engine of 1,100 ccs or larger? I mean with the exception of a Corvette or a Viper any motorcycle will outrun a truck and most cars. Now that my heartbeat has slowed down, it’s time for a beer. -- Steve Short U.S. Navy (Ret.) Its a shame that Stupidity isnt painful...
Posted on: Mon, 21 Oct 2013 15:36:38 +0000