The year was 1973;

The place was Milton WV;

The time was about ten in the evening;

My motorcycle was a 1972 Yamaha RD-250 Twin cylinder Two Stroke

and I was Sixteen Years Old.

This is my story, it’s true. The place is real; the people are real and only the names have been changed to protect the innocent. LOL

My mother had remarried and we had moved from my old home place in HarveyTown to a place called Milton, which was about a thirty-mile move. The little house that we moved into was six miles outside of the Milton city-limits. That six miles was two-lane rural road with twisties and a few really neat hills and NO STREET LIGHTS!

I still had friends that lived in HarveyTown so I made many frequent trips there. My motorcycle was my main mode of transportation. So this fall night wasn’t really any different than the many others before it. I got my riding gear on, got my motorcycle out of the barn, and fired it up. Ah! The smell of two-cycle smoke filled the holler. I really liked that smell.

I had traveled the six-mile stretch of road to town enough to make very short order of it by now. I pulled out of the driveway and onto Jenkins Creek and up the hill and over the top of Dudley Gap. The gap was a four-way intersection where Barker Ridge road and Dry Ridge met but straight over the top was Glenwood road – the road to town.

I was going pretty fast when I crossed over the top of the gap. I seen some car lights coming down from Dry Ridge but the car wasn’t that close, so I just busted on over and started down Glenwood road. I was going at a pretty good pace but not hair raisin which means I was well over the 35mph speed limit for that road. I was a half-mile or so into the trip and I noticed lights going back and forth like they were shinning through the trees then they would disappear and then flash by me again. I slowed way down trying to figure out what was going on, that’s when I heard tires squalling and engines revving behind me. I thought NO WAY that nut that was coming down off the ridge is wanting to race me. Now the ride was about to become hair raising for sure. The short order trip was REALLY going to be short this time. I hammered down, I was already in first gear, I rev’ed till the tach was in the red and banged second gear. Hammering it in third gear meant dragging the pegs in the curves. I used third for the curves and forth for the short straight stretches. I was losing him for sure because I couldn’t see the headlights any longer. There was one more intersection before I got to town. The road to the right was Lower Creek, the road to the left was still Glenwood road. The turn onto to Glenwood was a 90 degree left turn and a stop sign. I didn’t really care about the stop sign but I did take the time to stop just past the sign to see if that nut was still tying to catch me. YEP! I could still hear the tires squalling and see his headlights jumping from one side of the road to the other as his car slid sideways one way around this curve then the other side for the next curve. The engine sounded to be a very large, maybe Mopar engine. They had a distinct sound when you were really getting into them and this guy was really into it. The race was still on! A quick rev to the red, drop the clutch and I was off to a rear tire burning launch. Now it was about four more miles to the town city limits and plenty of time to finish smoking this guy. I wasn’t going to let up this time until I got near the city limits because I didn’t want a run in with the town’s city cops. After that last intersection there were a few curves but the most exciting part of this section of road was a hill called 'Meadow’s Hill'. The great thing about this hill was that you had a little bit of a straight stretch just before mounting the hill. The hill wasn’t horribly steep but in forth gear, with the tach in the red, I knew I was going to leave the ground whenever I broke over the top. I had done this many times in the daylight but I didn’t ever remember doing it at night and this night was one of those 'Black Nights'. I hit the bottom of the hill and hammered the throttle. I knew that there was going to be a few seconds of a head rush at the top at this speed. I knew I had to get lined up just right before topping the hill because that would mean touching back down on the road on the other side. I shot over the top; I was air born; I let off the throttle... Silence! I felt like I was just hanging there! Waiting! It was only a couple of seconds but time slowed down. There was a rush in my head, I was holding my breath, and my heart was pounding. I couldn’t see nothing but my headlight shinning off into nowhere. The bike felt positioned right for a good landing, I felt the back tire touch down, then the front, I’m in the road, the throttle is again opened to full throttle. From here it was only a couple of miles to the city limits. I still had a couple of curves then another straight stretch before getting into town. I started slowing down thinking it would be good for me to calm down before I got into town. Now I’m putting along at near the speed limit. I round a couple of curves then onto the straight stretch. 

Then from out of NO WHERE this car flew by me, locked up the brakes, started sliding sideways!! I’m already stopped by now. The car slid to a stop sideways of the road maybe fifty feet in front of me. I knew something wasn’t right! I was in first gear, bike running and so was my brain. I saw the interior dome light come on in the car and I saw the driver's door open up! I saw this big bellied guy getting out of the car and putting on one of those big hats - you know the kind? My headlight were aiming right at him as he was walking towards me and I could tell he wasn’t going to congratulate me on out running him! Nope! This was the town constable in an unmarked Mopar. I was looking at the grim-reaper FACE to FACE! Oh Sh!$$!  Now my brain was really cooking, my body tense, and the palms of my hands were sweating. I was thinking, "Give up? I can’t! I’ll go to jail forever! I’ll never EVER get another drivers license as long as I live!" Then my brain landed on something solid. "This guy never got close enough to see my license plate. He can’t catch me!" So I reached around with my right hand and grabbed my license plate and bent it straight up. I did a little burn out U-turn in front of him and I really hammered down. I left him standing in a cloud of burning rubber and two cycle smoke! This time it was back the other way, back to the barn. I had no plans of stopping or looking back. This was a ride for my life!.

The return flight over Meadow’s Hill wasn’t nearly as much fun as the previous flight even though I may have been going a little faster, if that was possible. He didn’t catch me and I really don’t know if he tried. I never figured out what in the world he was doing out on the ridge anyway.

I guess the good guys don’t always win.

MarkC