How can guys like Hannah, O'mara just

BIGRIGGIN
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BIGRIGGIN
Edited Date/Time 9/22/2012 6:52pm
stop riding. It's always just baffled the hell out of me. I know they dig moto as much or more than anyone and how these guys just quit cold turkey makes no effin sense at all. They have experienced first hand the epic-ness of fannin da clutch of a factory 2 smoker, launching a works bike out of the gravity cavity, tank slappin down a dry blue grooved so cal test track. The experiences that keeps us riding. I'm going on my mid 40's and I still think about riding as much as I did when I was 10 yrs old. I still visualize and fantasize about hits you see while driving down the freeway. I still have a godam pile of dirt bike magz sky high next to my crapper. And I still ride. I just don't get how those guys choose to ride mtn bikes and fly airplanes instead of doing what they damn well know is the baddest thing ever, motoing.
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Lawrence929 9/21/2012 8:47am
9/21/2012 8:47am
People are gonna say.. they hit it too hard.. .they did their thing and they were over it... they were tore up...


IDK. I agree with you. I can't leave the damn sport. I've left it for dead on the side of the road many of times. Usually in a cast. But the sport just shows back up on my door step.

MX for me is like being drunk and running into an ex. Out of nowhere, I really wanna be rippin thru a dirty rut.
CamP
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CamP 9/21/2012 8:50am
9/21/2012 8:50am
I asked O'mara that question once and he replied that he's hardwired to go WFO and he thinks he'd end up in the hospital if he continued to ride.
Sandberm
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Sandberm 9/21/2012 9:04am
9/21/2012 9:04am
Its too depressing knowing you cant go as fast as you once did.
slipdog
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slipdog 9/21/2012 9:13am
9/21/2012 9:13am
I just talked to Tallon Vohland about this subject yesterday.

Like CamP said of O'Show, Tallon said it's not fun for him anymore because he only knows how to go WFO and he gets arm pump in 2 laps from lack of training. His body wont let him ride like he knows how and he's affraid to get hurt.

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BIGRIGGIN
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BIGRIGGIN 9/21/2012 9:22am
9/21/2012 9:22am
CamP wrote:
I asked O'mara that question once and he replied that he's hardwired to go WFO and he thinks he'd end up in the hospital if he...
I asked O'mara that question once and he replied that he's hardwired to go WFO and he thinks he'd end up in the hospital if he continued to ride.
This is our internal fear. We all have it and it gets harder to control the older we get. My father is a big giant pussy now and takes absolutely no risks. He use to try to moto and a bunch of other fun things. I'm not saying I want to see him out there tearing it up but he is certainly capable of still putting a leg over a dualsport and going out for a mellow ride. It doesn't have to be WFO to be fun we all know that. Moto provides the greatest escape of any pastime/sport I've ever participated.
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gsxrcr28 9/21/2012 9:24am
9/21/2012 9:24am
Sandberm wrote:
Its too depressing knowing you cant go as fast as you once did.
I do believe there is some truth to this.

One of the reasons I don't Road Race anymore is I know I wont ever be as fast as I once was, and I'm not nearly as fearless.
BIGRIGGIN
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BIGRIGGIN 9/21/2012 9:25am
9/21/2012 9:25am
slipdog wrote:
I just talked to Tallon Vohland about this subject yesterday. Like CamP said of O'Show, Tallon said it's not fun for him anymore because he only...
I just talked to Tallon Vohland about this subject yesterday.

Like CamP said of O'Show, Tallon said it's not fun for him anymore because he only knows how to go WFO and he gets arm pump in 2 laps from lack of training. His body wont let him ride like he knows how and he's affraid to get hurt.
Trail riding and Dual Sport riding are almost too fun to be legal. Safer too than motoing the track. Ask that guy named Malcom Smith; he's been doing it for awhile and still gets a smile at like 100 yrs old.
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GuyB 9/21/2012 10:30am
9/21/2012 10:30am
Do you ever ride, have a sketchy moment and wonder, "Why is it that I do this again?" Now imagine how many moments some of those guys have had over their careers. Or how many friends they have in wheelchairs. For the majority of us, riding is something that we do for fun and because we love it. For a lot of the pros, it's another day in the office.

Johnny still rides...a lot. But these days it's on mountain bikes, and he's probably just as fit as ever. If you use Strava for mountain bike rides and check out So. Cal. rides, you'll see what I mean. Here's one example where he's the KOM (King of the Mountain). Nine miles long, over 3,200 feet of climbing, and 10 mph average...for nearly an hour.

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MT MX 9/21/2012 10:42am
9/21/2012 10:42am
slipdog wrote:
I just talked to Tallon Vohland about this subject yesterday. Like CamP said of O'Show, Tallon said it's not fun for him anymore because he only...
I just talked to Tallon Vohland about this subject yesterday.

Like CamP said of O'Show, Tallon said it's not fun for him anymore because he only knows how to go WFO and he gets arm pump in 2 laps from lack of training. His body wont let him ride like he knows how and he's affraid to get hurt.
BIGRIGGIN wrote:
Trail riding and Dual Sport riding are almost too fun to be legal. Safer too than motoing the track. Ask that guy named Malcom Smith; he's...
Trail riding and Dual Sport riding are almost too fun to be legal. Safer too than motoing the track. Ask that guy named Malcom Smith; he's been doing it for awhile and still gets a smile at like 100 yrs old.
X2
I also think that you appreciate motorcycles much more when you look at ithem from a different perspective than what you orignally did.
BIGRIGGIN
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BIGRIGGIN 9/21/2012 11:00am
9/21/2012 11:00am
GuyB wrote:
Do you ever ride, have a sketchy moment and wonder, "Why is it that I do this again?" Now imagine how many moments some of those...
Do you ever ride, have a sketchy moment and wonder, "Why is it that I do this again?" Now imagine how many moments some of those guys have had over their careers. Or how many friends they have in wheelchairs. For the majority of us, riding is something that we do for fun and because we love it. For a lot of the pros, it's another day in the office.

Johnny still rides...a lot. But these days it's on mountain bikes, and he's probably just as fit as ever. If you use Strava for mountain bike rides and check out So. Cal. rides, you'll see what I mean. Here's one example where he's the KOM (King of the Mountain). Nine miles long, over 3,200 feet of climbing, and 10 mph average...for nearly an hour.

No doubt Johnny's fitter than most 18 yr olds, never questioned that or his ability and accomplishments on the MTB. The guy is a stud, period. You answered my question GuyB, I think they are a bit scared. Scared of wadding up, WFO, scared of getting hurt. That is respectable and understandable for sure. They hung it out hard for a long time and walked away. Most of us have good friends who have been severely injured in this sport. It sucks balls.

In response to your "do yo ever ride and have a sketchy moment ..." I'd respond, "do you ever ride and have one of those moments where your fresh tires are just hookin up and you are flowing so effortlessly through the track or trail and it doesn't matter that you are old and out of shape, you are still riding with your friends having a great time." I have way more of those moments then the sketchy ones thankfully!!

Cheers
CHILL
BobbyM
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BobbyM 9/21/2012 12:06pm
9/21/2012 12:06pm
BIGRIGGIN wrote:
stop riding. It's always just baffled the hell out of me. I know they dig moto as much or more than anyone and how these guys...
stop riding. It's always just baffled the hell out of me. I know they dig moto as much or more than anyone and how these guys just quit cold turkey makes no effin sense at all. They have experienced first hand the epic-ness of fannin da clutch of a factory 2 smoker, launching a works bike out of the gravity cavity, tank slappin down a dry blue grooved so cal test track. The experiences that keeps us riding. I'm going on my mid 40's and I still think about riding as much as I did when I was 10 yrs old. I still visualize and fantasize about hits you see while driving down the freeway. I still have a godam pile of dirt bike magz sky high next to my crapper. And I still ride. I just don't get how those guys choose to ride mtn bikes and fly airplanes instead of doing what they damn well know is the baddest thing ever, motoing.
don't know but it's possible since they can't perform to the standard they themselves have set they feel it is a waste of time more than it is fun.

roger d pretty much quit altogether too, bad brad told me he has tried to get roger out the vintage mx events but roger always declines
backinthesaddleagain 9/21/2012 12:11pm
9/21/2012 12:11pm
Hannah said he put it all out there, no regrets like some others have, and thats why he can stop. In same interview he said he enjoys riding big cruisers that get swappy at 80 mph and stopped riding crotch rockets (bullet bikes as he called them) because to crash at the speeds he was going was too dangerous. Paraphrased a bit, but there is a you tube of him discussing this.
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VoR 9/21/2012 12:15pm
9/21/2012 12:15pm
I was stoked to see RJ tweet a pic of him out desert trail riding yesterday...
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BobbyM 9/21/2012 12:20pm
9/21/2012 12:20pm
CamP wrote:
I asked O'mara that question once and he replied that he's hardwired to go WFO and he thinks he'd end up in the hospital if he...
I asked O'mara that question once and he replied that he's hardwired to go WFO and he thinks he'd end up in the hospital if he continued to ride.
yup, i always had a hard time trail riding because it would always end up like a mini baja 1000 between me and my riding buds
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CamP 9/21/2012 12:41pm
9/21/2012 12:41pm
CamP wrote:
I asked O'mara that question once and he replied that he's hardwired to go WFO and he thinks he'd end up in the hospital if he...
I asked O'mara that question once and he replied that he's hardwired to go WFO and he thinks he'd end up in the hospital if he continued to ride.
BobbyM wrote:
yup, i always had a hard time trail riding because it would always end up like a mini baja 1000 between me and my riding buds
It's the reason I rarely race anymore. When I line up behind a gate for a race, my head switches to 16yo racer mode. That can be hazardous to your health when you are pushing 50.
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jeffro503 9/21/2012 12:49pm
9/21/2012 12:49pm
Some great points in this thread......great thread in general.

I'm just going to throw this out there since it's something that I have been dealing with a bit since I came back to riding almost 2yrs ago. My brain tells me I can still ride like the way I used to.....but my body has a hard time keeping up with what my brain is telling it to do.....sometimes it causes me problems on the track.

The main thing ( I hope I don't sound like a puss for saying this ).......but after a lot of injuries over the 30+ years I think it has like scared my brain a little. I mean......the accumulation of wrecks over the years has some what damaged me a little? ( mentally and physically ).....Kind of hard to put into words. It's kind of hard to explain what I mean I guess. Just that all the wrecks , added up over time seems of taken a toll on me more mentally than physically. My body feels good for my age......but my brain ( even though it wants me to twist the throttle at times )........sometimes just doesn't want to get in the game.

This is also weird I guess and I don't know if any of you guys go through this? But "sometimes".....if I'm kicking back and relaxing and thinking about riding , I get small flashbacks sometimes from certain wrecks I have been in. It'll startle me enough to say " Whoa!........Damn I hope that never happens again".

Crap I hope i don't sound like a complete idiot.
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Wolfman 9/21/2012 1:35pm
9/21/2012 1:35pm
jeffro503 wrote:
Some great points in this thread......great thread in general. I'm just going to throw this out there since it's something that I have been dealing with...
Some great points in this thread......great thread in general.

I'm just going to throw this out there since it's something that I have been dealing with a bit since I came back to riding almost 2yrs ago. My brain tells me I can still ride like the way I used to.....but my body has a hard time keeping up with what my brain is telling it to do.....sometimes it causes me problems on the track.

The main thing ( I hope I don't sound like a puss for saying this ).......but after a lot of injuries over the 30+ years I think it has like scared my brain a little. I mean......the accumulation of wrecks over the years has some what damaged me a little? ( mentally and physically ).....Kind of hard to put into words. It's kind of hard to explain what I mean I guess. Just that all the wrecks , added up over time seems of taken a toll on me more mentally than physically. My body feels good for my age......but my brain ( even though it wants me to twist the throttle at times )........sometimes just doesn't want to get in the game.

This is also weird I guess and I don't know if any of you guys go through this? But "sometimes".....if I'm kicking back and relaxing and thinking about riding , I get small flashbacks sometimes from certain wrecks I have been in. It'll startle me enough to say " Whoa!........Damn I hope that never happens again".

Crap I hope i don't sound like a complete idiot.
Well put. I have flashbacks from some nasty crashes often enough that it really dampens my will to throw a leg over my bike for anything more than trail riding.

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dr516
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dr516 9/21/2012 1:46pm
9/21/2012 1:46pm
slipdog wrote:
I just talked to Tallon Vohland about this subject yesterday. Like CamP said of O'Show, Tallon said it's not fun for him anymore because he only...
I just talked to Tallon Vohland about this subject yesterday.

Like CamP said of O'Show, Tallon said it's not fun for him anymore because he only knows how to go WFO and he gets arm pump in 2 laps from lack of training. His body wont let him ride like he knows how and he's affraid to get hurt.
When you’re a mini dad things change..
jeffro503
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jeffro503 9/21/2012 1:46pm
9/21/2012 1:46pm
I think a lot of the bad stuff that happens to a person on these bikes add up over time.......and it's not anything you can really ever get back.

I will say though....I have had a blast over the past 2yrs since I came back....minus a couple wrecks. But I wouldn't take any of it back because the good times far outweigh the bad.
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motomike137 9/21/2012 3:38pm
9/21/2012 3:38pm
I think they just get tired of breaking their bodies and aren't in love with riding as much as we think/wish they were. And in Hannah's case he loves flying and took his adrenalin rush to a level most of us will never experience for a few years when he raced those unlimited WWII era warplanes.
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kijen 9/21/2012 3:54pm
9/21/2012 3:54pm
I rode a lot as a kid in the trails at Saddle Back, (never raced there) and in the dez at Victorville when I was a kid....30 years later, I'm back riding with my son and racing a little vet C, the best part of starting again and being slow, I'm still getting faster and having more fun clearing jumps then ever.

Talking to a PGA pro running a course said the worst thing he did was become a pro, cause it was work and he lost his passion for it...very rarely gets to play cause he is so busy doing the business side of it.

I agree with some others that have said that pro's know what they used to be able to do and either they can't or know they would get hurt trying...

think MXA (Jody) wrote a pretty good article a while ago that said something like "slow guys ride forever"....
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TeamGreen 9/21/2012 4:05pm
9/21/2012 4:05pm
Johnny still shreds on a Mt Bike and Hannah still flies planes like he's racing them...and...every now and then does race them.
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ocscottie 9/21/2012 4:08pm
9/21/2012 4:08pm
BIGRIGGIN wrote:
This is our internal fear. We all have it and it gets harder to control the older we get. My father is a big giant pussy...
This is our internal fear. We all have it and it gets harder to control the older we get. My father is a big giant pussy now and takes absolutely no risks. He use to try to moto and a bunch of other fun things. I'm not saying I want to see him out there tearing it up but he is certainly capable of still putting a leg over a dualsport and going out for a mellow ride. It doesn't have to be WFO to be fun we all know that. Moto provides the greatest escape of any pastime/sport I've ever participated.
You better watch it Craiger! gonna take some "hush money" for me to keep quiet on that one or im letting Stan know you called him a "giant pussy" hahahaha He would still prob kick your ass! Woohoo

HAR! Dude remember that time at HH when after a trail ride he asked me how come i kept slowing down and waiting for him, then i would take off and fill his face with dirt? I was just makin sure he was ok and still back there Laughing
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TeamGreen 9/21/2012 4:24pm
9/21/2012 4:24pm
HH = "Hollister Hills" for those of you not fortunate enough to be from "Back in the Day"...
jmar
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jmar 9/21/2012 4:24pm
9/21/2012 4:24pm
CamP wrote:
I asked O'mara that question once and he replied that he's hardwired to go WFO and he thinks he'd end up in the hospital if he...
I asked O'mara that question once and he replied that he's hardwired to go WFO and he thinks he'd end up in the hospital if he continued to ride.
This is the correct answer.
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jmar 9/21/2012 4:26pm
9/21/2012 4:26pm
It's also a bitch for these guys to go out and ride and every Tom, Dick and Harry wants to race with them.
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TeamGreen 9/21/2012 4:30pm
9/21/2012 4:30pm
jmar wrote:
It's also a bitch for these guys to go out and ride and every Tom, Dick and Harry wants to race with them.
Not in SoCal...folks are kinda used to them being there and usually do a pretty good job of gettng out of the way...

No shit.
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Hank_Thrill 9/21/2012 4:43pm
9/21/2012 4:43pm
jeffro503 wrote:
Some great points in this thread......great thread in general. I'm just going to throw this out there since it's something that I have been dealing with...
Some great points in this thread......great thread in general.

I'm just going to throw this out there since it's something that I have been dealing with a bit since I came back to riding almost 2yrs ago. My brain tells me I can still ride like the way I used to.....but my body has a hard time keeping up with what my brain is telling it to do.....sometimes it causes me problems on the track.

The main thing ( I hope I don't sound like a puss for saying this ).......but after a lot of injuries over the 30+ years I think it has like scared my brain a little. I mean......the accumulation of wrecks over the years has some what damaged me a little? ( mentally and physically ).....Kind of hard to put into words. It's kind of hard to explain what I mean I guess. Just that all the wrecks , added up over time seems of taken a toll on me more mentally than physically. My body feels good for my age......but my brain ( even though it wants me to twist the throttle at times )........sometimes just doesn't want to get in the game.

This is also weird I guess and I don't know if any of you guys go through this? But "sometimes".....if I'm kicking back and relaxing and thinking about riding , I get small flashbacks sometimes from certain wrecks I have been in. It'll startle me enough to say " Whoa!........Damn I hope that never happens again".

Crap I hope i don't sound like a complete idiot.
Not a complete idiot at all. I wouldn't be surprised at all if this is a common experience from anybody who has had some bad wrecks. I can't remember, maybe it was someone else, but I think I remember reading a post about one of your bad wrecks that had you hang up the boots for awhile??? Not sure though.
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jeffro503 9/21/2012 4:56pm
9/21/2012 4:56pm
jeffro503 wrote:
Some great points in this thread......great thread in general. I'm just going to throw this out there since it's something that I have been dealing with...
Some great points in this thread......great thread in general.

I'm just going to throw this out there since it's something that I have been dealing with a bit since I came back to riding almost 2yrs ago. My brain tells me I can still ride like the way I used to.....but my body has a hard time keeping up with what my brain is telling it to do.....sometimes it causes me problems on the track.

The main thing ( I hope I don't sound like a puss for saying this ).......but after a lot of injuries over the 30+ years I think it has like scared my brain a little. I mean......the accumulation of wrecks over the years has some what damaged me a little? ( mentally and physically ).....Kind of hard to put into words. It's kind of hard to explain what I mean I guess. Just that all the wrecks , added up over time seems of taken a toll on me more mentally than physically. My body feels good for my age......but my brain ( even though it wants me to twist the throttle at times )........sometimes just doesn't want to get in the game.

This is also weird I guess and I don't know if any of you guys go through this? But "sometimes".....if I'm kicking back and relaxing and thinking about riding , I get small flashbacks sometimes from certain wrecks I have been in. It'll startle me enough to say " Whoa!........Damn I hope that never happens again".

Crap I hope i don't sound like a complete idiot.
Hank_Thrill wrote:
Not a complete idiot at all. I wouldn't be surprised at all if this is a common experience from anybody who has had some bad wrecks...
Not a complete idiot at all. I wouldn't be surprised at all if this is a common experience from anybody who has had some bad wrecks. I can't remember, maybe it was someone else, but I think I remember reading a post about one of your bad wrecks that had you hang up the boots for awhile??? Not sure though.
Yeah Hank....that might of been me. I had a good 3rd gear wide open / swap out of a set of whoops this past Memorial day. Broke 3 ribs , got knocked out a little and banged the rest of myself up pretty good. It was my first "real wreck " since coming back almost 2yrs ago. I stepped away from the sport for about 5.5yrs after a nasty wreck I had in June 2005. 16 days in the hospital with punctured lungs and a bunch of broken bones.....was never going to ride again. That was due to a head on collision with another rider who came out onto the track backwards. Actually......that specific wreck is probably the most frequent flashback I have out of any of them. I see that red front fender coming at me and BAM!.....it wakes me right up. It doesn't bother me when I'm riding so much , but just the accumulation of others all wrapped up together kind of linger in my mind a little sometimes.

Post a reply to: How can guys like Hannah, O'mara just