1979 Suzuki RM 400

For this post, I want to go back and pick up where we left off a couple of bikes ago. After graduating in 1978, I married a girl from my class, tried my hands at a few different jobs for the next couple of years. I was now fixing to turn 21, was expecting the birth of my first Son. I had settled in on a fourth job that was providing some income, so I purchased this bike and it was the making of a very good year. It was 1980 and Bathsprings Raceway had started. I was trying to figure out what I needed to compete in this motocross thing. I found this 1979 Suzuki RM 400cc in a shop in Henderson, TN. This bike was awesome, the new job was great, marriage was good, and having one's first Son all in the same year. It was a very good year.

I had never ridden a bike this powerful, it felt wonderful and turned great. The suspension was so good I felt like I could go as fast as I wanted too, it was absolutely a beautiful bike. This all started there at the Bathsprings track, after winning a few races I discovered it was more exhilarating than climbing the Big Hill at Bruton's. Winning was it, it stroked the ego like nothing I had ever done before. People were coming just to watch you show out, this was perfect! If not winning, just being in the battle for the win was a thrill and a rush, I loved it! Out of Bathsprings a group kind of formed that traveled together and competed at other tracks. It grew into more than a group, more like an extended family. We raced together and cheered each other on. We would pit together and talk the race together, it was really something special that would last for several years. It's been 40 years ago now and we still talk at times and remember all the fun we had. And did we ever, the weekend and the race was everything, it was what we worked for during the week. It was just such a great time, most of us can relate to special times in our lives that brings us to certain joys we experienced.

We need to be thankful for such times, for we should be careful, not to expect too much out of this life. I mean that in the sense that we look to it to be our fulfillment. The Puritan Thomas Watson speaks of this life as a mixture. We do not experience this life without mixture, but it is mixed or mediated with good and bad experiences. The next life will be without mixture, Heaven will have no evil, and Hell will no good whatsoever. So such times that we enjoy are to be received with thanksgiving or at the least gratitude.

Too often our focus becomes entirely on this life, this morning on the way to church we met a man on a bicycle riding the main highway. He was dressed in the best bike gear and you could tell he knew his business. He was giving great detail to his health and well being, extending great effort to strengthen his body and lengthen his life. As we passed, I wondered how much effort he was putting into his spiritual life, the one he would meet at the end of this one.

This past week I watched a tribute to a great motocross hero from my era, I remember having his pictures posted on my wall as a boy at home. He and his wife were killed this year in an off-road riding accident. He was a multi-time champion and lived a great life. In the tribute, he was heard saying how much he was enjoying his retirement. He was enjoying his home, his family, his dogs, all was so good. He commented, “What else is there?” I can only hope he and his wife had not expected too much out of this life, for this one is now over for them, they are faced with the next one that will last for all eternity.

It is difficult, especially when we are young, not to grasp for all this life can offer. As one beer commercial use to say, “Go for Gusto!” The problem with what this life offers is, once grasped, it cannot be held on too. Regardless of our strength, we only find it slipping through our fingers in the end. I can recount numerous accounts of people I have come across who related to me how successful they had been in life. However, they were now alone and in some fashion or another had lost it and living from day to day waiting on a monthly check from the government. Even if they had retained it, for many have, in the end, it will slip away.

The man or woman who lives for God and takes whatever lot they are given in life with thanksgiving and purpose are in much greater peace. Their hope is in heaven, and the earthly joys are but gifts in this life from a wonderful heavenly Father. As they fade away there is no loss, for their eye is on heaven and hope of that which is to come.

(Mat 6:33) What you should want most is God's kingdom and doing what he wants you to do. Then he will give you all these other things you need. (ERV)

(Ecc 1:1) These are the words from the Teacher, a son of David and king of Jerusalem.

(Ecc 1:2) Everything is so meaningless. The Teacher says that it is all a waste of time!
(Ecc 1:3) Do people really gain anything from all the hard work they do in this life?
(Ecc 1:4) People live and people die, but the earth continues forever.
(Ecc 1:5) The sun rises and the sun goes down, and then it hurries to rise again in the same place.
(Ecc 1:6) The wind blows to the south, and the wind blows to the north. The wind blows around and around. Then it turns and blows back to the place it began.
(Ecc 1:7) All rivers flow again and again to the same place. They all flow to the sea, but the sea never becomes full.
(Ecc 1:8) Words cannot fully explain things, but people continue speaking. Words come again and again to our ears, but our ears don't become full. And our eyes don't become full of what we see.
(Ecc 1:9) All things continue the way they have been since the beginning. The same things will be done that have always been done. There is nothing new in this life.
(Ecc 1:10) Someone might say, "Look, this is new," but that thing has always been here. It was here before we were.
(Ecc 1:11) People don't remember what happened long ago. In the future, they will not remember what is happening now. And later, other people will not remember what the people before them did.
(Ecc 1:12) I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.
(Ecc 1:13) I decided to study and to use my wisdom to learn about everything that is done in this life. I learned that it is a very hard thing that God has given us to do.
(Ecc 1:14) I looked at everything done on earth, and I saw that it is all a waste of time. It is like trying to catch the wind.
(Ecc 1:15) If something is crooked, you cannot say it is straight. And if something is missing, you cannot say it is there.
(Ecc 1:16) I said to myself, "I am very wise. I am wiser than all the kings who ruled Jerusalem before me. I know what wisdom and knowledge really are."
(Ecc 1:17) I decided to learn how wisdom and knowledge are better than thinking foolish thoughts. But I learned that trying to become wise is like trying to catch the wind.
(Ecc 1:18) With much wisdom comes frustration. The one who gains more wisdom also gains more sorrow. (ERV)

May God bless,

David

The Widow Maker

 

This week will be a continuation of last week's post and looking at the second bike in consideration. In so doing we will take a look at the Widow Maker as some have named it, we just called it the big hill back then. Folks said it was 300 feet to the top, probably not, but it made for good bragging rights. The year was 1978 and the bike was a 1977 Honda MR 250cc Elsinore.

First the Widow Maker hill, it was the main attraction in the Burton's Branch recreation area for those looking to prove their manhood, or perhaps for those who were slightly over-intoxicated. I suppose I would have found myself in the first category. I was a Senior in high school and was feeling an intense need to prove something. As a right-handed young man, I had two left hands when it came to doing anything in sports, especially if it involved handling a ball of some sort. My highest achievements with ball-playing were bench-warming and water boy. Kind of humiliating for a high school Senior. I had over the years acquired a certain amount of talent for this dirt bike thing. I had been asserting this ability in public displays (showing out) whenever possible.

Trying to draw attention to myself, I would pull stunts whenever I had an audience of one or more. Things like riding standing up on the seat while going down the road. Squatting down on one side of the bike like the cowboys when riding by. Riding with my feet and legs over the handlebars, riding wheelies, anything for attention. So you can imagine what a lure climbing this big hill would be to my ego. I had already attempted climbing it on several bikes, the Honda MT 250cc, CR 125cc, and the CanAm 125cc.

It would be the Honda MR 250cc Elsinore that would accomplish the job and put me over the top. My best friend and I had skipped school that day for the purpose of climbing that hill. It took several tries but the victory was finally mine. It put me in quite a unique group, however, to my surprise no one seemed to care. I had no pictures and no one seemed to know what a hill it really was. I tried to paint the picture as best as could, using lots of color, however, it never brought me up to the level I thought it would.

As to the bike, I didn't particularly like it. It felt too soft and you kind of settled down in it when sitting on it. The big metal fuel tank was awkward and in the way, one needed to be real careful in a certain tender area when riding it. However, it did have loads of torque in the little engine, I suppose that was the greatest advantage I had that day.

It was a new bike that never looked the same after that day. It was also the last bike my Dad would buy me, we had gone to Creasy's Honda in Lexington and traded in another bike I had. I have never really understood my Dad's generosity in buying me all those bikes. I never asked for them, it was always his idea, one of which I was very okay with. We had gone through some hard times with his drinking and this may have been away for him to kind of makeup for that. He and I never talked about that much, I just understood there were going to be times that the drinking was going to happen.

Looking back on that day I easily recognize the insignificance of it. Most things in life are that way, on the front side they seem so important, then when we achieve them and look at the back side, they are mostly disappointments. The Scripture speaks of it this way: 1Co 9:25 "All who compete in the games use strict training. They do this so that they can win a prize—one that doesn't last. But our prize is one that will last forever." 

1Co 9:26 So I run like someone who has a goal. I fight like a boxer who is hitting something, not just the air.

1Co 9:27 It is my own body I fight to make it do what I want. I do this so that I won't miss getting the prize myself after telling others about it. (ERV)

Proving ourselves to be men, testing ourselves seems to rest in most of us. Manhood and Womanhood are both to be sought after, yet we must look for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. There is more to being a man or woman than a physical physique. It is the inner man that proves our character and who we are. The steel and fortitude of which we are made. Sense of duty, personal holiness, control, and restraint of our passions; these are the most difficult achievements to make.

Eph 3:16 I ask the Father with his great glory to give you the power to be strong in your spirits. He will give you that strength through his Spirit.

Eph 3:17 I pray that Christ will live in your hearts because of your faith. I pray that your life will be strong in love and be built on love.

Eph 3:18 And I pray that you and all God's holy people will have the power to understand the greatness of Christ's love—how wide, how long, how high, and how deep that love is.

Eph 3:19 Christ's love is greater than anyone can ever know, but I pray that you will be able to know that love. Then you can be filled with everything God has for you.

Eph 3:20 With God's power working in us, he can do much, much more than anything we can ask or think of.

Eph 3:21 To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus for all time, forever and ever. Amen. (ERV)

The concept of the Gentleman and the Lady is almost lost to us. The lines between what it is to be a man and a woman and how we relate to each other are blurred. It was at one time just doing what is right and proper. As our culture has abandoned the Gospel our idea of just what is right and proper has been lost in the fog.

In 1978 I was looking to be a man and prove something, it needed to be more than a big hill to climb. I needed to look to my character, my own purity of life which was only to be found in Christ's righteousness and His Grace. Had I been looking to the Gospel it would have formed in me that Gentleman, I would have found my identity in Christ's righteousness and not in my own efforts. All that we seek in this life of any lasting value is found in Him. He has redeemed at the Cross our brokenness, our sin, and purchased true life and peace not only in this life but in the life to come.

What we need to prove has already been proven in Him, all we needed to achieve He has achieved. Put our trust in Him and Him alone and we will be real men and real women.

God Bless,

David

1976 Honda MT 250cc

Before we move on from last week's post into the motocross years, I want to talk about a couple of other bikes I have owned. The first one is this 1976 Honda MT 250cc Elisnore. These bikes were dual sport bikes and not intended for any serious competition. However, they were pretty good bikes and with a few modifications could be made into something that was quite formidable to reckon with. They had a good feel about them and carried motocross type handlebar grips. They could be ridden harder than they were really intended to be by design which made it possible to break them. I broke the frame on mine just below the engine case where the semi-double-cradle frame came together. I don't know what the steering rake was in degrees but it felt long when riding. They were durable and made great trials bikes.

There are a lot of memories that come along with this bike. Two things occurred on this bike that had profound effects on my life. I was around 17 years old and Don Buckingham invited me to go with him to Brutons Branch and ride one weekend. Back then one could ride all day on the trails at Bruton's and never cover the same one twice. Don was a little older than I was and already a seasoned rider and racing in competition events. I was thrilled that he would invite me to go riding with him, and it may have been my first of many trips to Brutons. I don't remember for sure what he was riding, I think it was a 125cc DKW which I hope to talk more about sometime. Whatever he was riding, we rode that day as I had never ridden before. At the end of the day, I was so tired when trying to load my bike, I fell off the trailer, bike and all. Don was kind enough to load it for me, I was really that exhausted.

This could have been partly due to a small malfunction I had with the bike. I had removed the lighting on the bike to make it more trail-worthy, however, I had left the wiring in place. Some of the electrical wiring going to the rear tail light came loose and became grounded to the bike's frame. When we came to water crossings and the bike became submerged, that electrical ground would give me a shock as the engine magneto charged with the engine rpm. It was so intent I began having leg cramps I couldn't understand, I finally realized what it was by noticing it was every time I would cross a creek. I got Don's attention and we removed the electrical ground, but not before some serious shocks to those leg muscles.

Two things followed, I realized that day I enjoyed riding to the extent that I was going to commit myself to it. And that commitment would create a conflict that would trouble me for nearly two decades. I had also committed my life to Christ at 13, I was now 17 and I was being challenged in my faithfulness. I remember when I told my Mom I was going riding that Sunday with Don, she questioned me, “David, what about Church”? I remember the prick I felt in my conscience, but this was so important to me. I had to choose that day what was most important to me. I did, and it bothered me. I was able to put it aside and forget about it pretty soon. However, after that day, I had to keep making that choice over and over again.

I understand going to church doesn't make anyone better than someone else, it is simply what Christians do. They enjoy being together especially on the Lord's day for worship.

"Act 2:46 The believers shared a common purpose, and every day they spent much of their time together in the Temple area. They also ate together in their homes. They were happy to share their food and ate with joyful hearts." (ERV)

It's not about being good, it's about the Lord's Day. It is called the Lord's Day, not David's Day. Our nation used to take this seriously, that is why there was a thing called the blue laws. As our heart grows cold, our devotions wane. Today Sunday is just another day for ourselves for the most part. Mow our lawn, play at river and party, and a hundred other ways to amuse ourselves. There are times our jobs and life, in general, keep us from Sunday Worship. But this was simply me desiring something more than my commitment to Christ and my local Church.

Over the years as I began racing, I would try to compromise and reconcile the two together. I tried attending Churches near the tracks where we raced. I would find whatever church was closet to the track regardless of the flavor and stop for the morning service and then out to the track. One of the churches started calling us their motorcycle friends. Sometimes I would have to miss practice depending on how far out the church was. This little bit of sacrifice helped pacify my conscience to some degree, but I knew I was not being faithful to my local church. Years later I would even try making gospel tracks and distributing them at the race. I suppose this may have looked pious to those who knew me, but it was only an effort to soothe my stinging conscience.

I discovered I was not the only one troubled with this conflict within the sport. Steve Wise was a professional racer who had won the Superbikes race on ABC's Wide World of Sports. He had become a Christian and started a ministry having Bible studies at races. One year he was at the Amateur Nationals and Julie and I attended his meeting. I asked about how we should deal with this issue of racing on Sunday and staying faithful to our local church. Several at the meeting expressed their concerns as well. He struggled with his answer for a few minutes, then finally conceded that it was very difficult to do.

It seemed he may have made an impact upon the sport, for a time a few stepped up to the plate and began having prayer and speaking a few words of exhortation on Sunday mornings before the race. I even notice now that the boys on TV are mentioning the Lord or the Man up Stairs in their interviews. Apparently, someone is trying to minister and provide some type of fellowship within the sport. The things of this world will continually test us in our commitments to Christ. I won many trophies over the years, only to finally haul most of them to the dump and throw them away. What I thought was so important at first, turned out to be nothing more than a trip to the dumpster in the end. I did keep a few, they are stored in the attic, guess I still couldn't let go of it completely.

The Lord was gracious to me during this time, though he pricked my conscience, yet he still used this time of my life to create life long friendships with people I would have never have met otherwise. I am grateful to Bathsprings Raceway for their effort to race on Saturday night. I remember one rider who had given up racing because he had become a Christian and did not want to miss being at his local church. But he would come and bring his family and race at Bathsprings Raceway. Bath springs gave him an opportunity to enjoy the sport he loved and gave me a chance to see someone faithful to their commitment.

Thanks for reading and hopefully you found something encouraging,

David

"1975 Husqvarna 360cc CR"

I had one of these Husqvarna's for a very brief time, I mention it because it was next in line and things were about to change. The year was 1980 and Bathsprings Raceway had begun. This was going to be the beginning of something that would place a mark in our memories and we would still be talking about it near forty years later.

Bath springs Raceway had run their first race, I had taken the Ossa and realized I was going to need a motocross bike. I found one of these locally, I think it was 1975 360cc CR.

I owned this bike for such a brief time my memory is quite foggy on the details. After talking with my Brother we remembered it had a problem. The bike's engine would seize up when it got hot. Apparently, the engine had been rebuilt and the cylinder bore tolerance was too close. I only remember racing it once, most likely it was the second race at Bath springs. The second one or later, it most certainly was Bath springs, for it was the first time I would meet a guy by the name Gene McKay. I was fixing to get a lesson in motocross, however, it would be a very brief lesson.

You need to understand, until now, as much as I loved riding, for the most part, my experience had been trails, gullies, and gravel pits. Like I mentioned above, things were about to change. I thought I could ride one of these things pretty well until this day. We lined up that day, I think it was perhaps a rubber band start, some of the older Motorcross guys will remember those. This guy Gene had been exposed to the larger world of Motorcross and had obtained skill and experience our local guys did not have. Gene made us look silly on the track lapping us during the race. I personally had never seen anyone ride like that before. Gene faded out of sight after a while and as we all progressed through the years, Gene's ability became something more to be strived for rather than amazed at, but for this time he was pretty amazing in our eyes.

I realized if I was going to do this, I was going to have to change. What I had been doing up until now had not prepared me for this. A halfway effort and an old bike was not going to get me where I wanted to be.

Lacking experience and exposure left me without really knowing what I needed, I just knew I needed something more than I had to be competitive at this. I found this old bike and it was Motorcross, I didn't understand yet how quickly these bikes and this sport was changing. I discovered after trying it I wasn't any better off than I was before. Excluding the engine problem it already had, Motorcross had advanced beyond what this bike was capable of being, it wasn't going to be competitive in the sport. Beyond that, I was in need of much personal improvement to be competitive on any kind of bike.

The suspension on this bike was way under par, along with the power and the general feel of the bike. I just couldn't get a grasp of it and feel comfortable with it all.

It is like that in our lives as God moves us along. In His Sovereignty, he governs the affairs of men. We stand back and wonder at times why certain things happen in our lives. Yet, each event is a link that leads to another that in the end brings us to His purpose. It has been said, “The same Sun that softens the butter, hardens the clay.” These events in our lives take us one way or the other. While one event may soften the heart of one, the same event hardens the heart of another. Would we not do well to check our hearts? Are the events in our lives leaving us hardened, or are they breaking us in humility? The answer we find may tell us the direction our life is going.

Exo 9:34 And when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his servants.

Gen 50:20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

Heb 3:15 While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.

We are all passing through this life with our various experiences, for some of us, the trip is shorter than others. We do not know how long our path will be, so we must make the most of each moment we are given. For some of us, the path will seem harder than others, this may seem a bit unfair, that is only because we cannot see past our moment into the end game. This old Husqvarna really didn't seem to add anything to me, however, it was a place for my feet to stand for a brief moment while I got my bearing in this small world of Motorcross I was living at the time.

We need not think the insignificant places of our lives mean nothing. God in His Sovereignty is working all things for his purpose, it is for us to trust Him with who we are and where He has placed us. To be content with the life and lot He has given us. Let us not allow things in our lives to harden us, but rather soften us into the surrender of our lives to Him and the Grace of the Gospel He has offered.

Even if we losing everything here leads us to the gain of everything in Christ, then glory be God!

Rom 8:26 Also, the Spirit helps us. We are very weak, but the Spirit helps us with our weakness. We don't know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit himself speaks to God for us. He begs God for us, speaking to him with feelings too deep for words.

Rom 8:27 God already knows our deepest thoughts. And he understands what the Spirit is saying, because the Spirit speaks for his people in the way that agrees with what God wants.

Rom 8:28 We know that in everything God works for the good of those who love him. These are the people God chose, because that was his plan.

Rom 8:29 God knew them before he made the world. And he decided that they would be like his Son. Then Jesus would be the firstborn of many brothers and sisters.

Rom 8:30 God planned for them to be like his Son. He chose them and made them right with him. And after he made them right, he gave them his glory.

Php 4:11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.

Php 4:12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.

Php 4:13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

David