Ride Oklahoma Magazine Update

We are getting close to the publishing date for our first Ride Oklahoma magazine. This is something I have wanted to do for years and finally began working in earnest on this project in spring 2006. Luckily I have gathered an excellent and entertaining group of writers that will put you in the seat of their motorcycle as they cross the state in search of adventure. We are busy doing the final advertising push to help pay for the printing and publication. We REALLY need help with advertisers. They are crucial to bringing you this high quality publication. If you know of a local vendor who would benefit from reaching a target audience of Oklahoma motorcyclists, tell them about our magazine and web site, and then drop me an email and I will follow up with them. Substantial discounts are available for the first year as we start publishing, so it is a great opportunity for them to reach thousands of readers and be associated with a high quality, local Oklahoma motorcycle publication.

I am also looking for stories, events, and interesting riders to profile on our web site and in the magazine. If you know of an event or person that you think would make a great story, again please drop me an email with contact information. Ride Oklahoma encompasses all types of two wheeled adventure, no matter how obscure or what part of Oklahoma you are from. I am always interested in attending events to gather a story and some good photographs. If you have your own story and pictures you would like to submit, either post them in the forums and notify me, or send me an email with a submission.

I hope you enjoy this long-nurtured labor of love as much as I have enjoyed putting it together!

Dirt Riding makes Better Riders

My favorite riding is off-road dirt bikes, especially jeep trails, fast fire roads, and places that are just fun and fast. I don't care for brutally hard rides, but I do like challenges.

My first foray into motorcycling was in 1978. A Yamaha XS650 Special was my bike of choice, a psuedo-chopper with a sissy bar and little power. After some butt-killing rides I quickly switched to sport bikes, with nice Honda 750 Supersport, a Kawasaki KZ-750E1, a Honda VFR, and others. In my mind I was pretty decent rider after 5 years, several track days and lots of miles.


But once my wife's uncle hooked me up on dirt bikes, I figured out how little I really knew about riding. I was hooked! A good old solid Honda XR250R was worn out at Draper, followed by a Husky 250 WR, a YZ-250, KX-500 and other. Dirt riding made me a MUCH better street rider by teaching me how to slide the wheels, wheelie at will, control the bike even though it was getting squirrelly underneath, and generally just be more comfortable in all conditions.

Flat Tires

It's 102 degrees outside. A thick, choking dust from 10 dirt bike riders hangs in the air like a San Francisco fog, except in the Bay area a fog like that means much cooler weather. We had just pulled over and were examing Tom Sawyer's flat tire. It looked like a wet noodle on the rear of his Suzuki DRZ, effectively saying "you guys are not going anywhere anytime soon - hope you got some water and tire irons".

With 10 very experienced off-road riders in the pack, it was no time before we had the bike propped over against a rock, the rear wheel off, and the tire ready to come off the rim. We could all help with this task, but once you start removing the tire and patching the tube, only two people can effectively pitch in. So like any good dirt bike rider, the rest of us stood around and gave advice. Since it was Tom's bike natually he wanted to be the one changing the tire. Who would be the helper, the one that would get bloody knuckles and sweat dripping off their nose while the others watched with impatience? Let's see, draw straws? Rock/paper/scissors? Indian leg wrestle? Adam Pratt, the youngest rider of the group, quickly volunteered - or did is older, more experienced, and lazier riders volunteer him? Either way, we now had the oldest rider and the youngest rider prying away like drunken sailors, while the rest of the pack gave advice, told tall tales about how fast we used to be, and snapped pictures of the pit crew slaving away. The nearest shade was a scrawny sapling 20 yards away, but with only enough shade for a lizard, this didn't do us much good. A cold Budweiser would have been a welcome addition to to the team.

In no time Adam and Tom had the tube patched and the tire back on the bike. The NASCAR-level pit crew slapped the wheel back on the embarressed DRZ, and in 15 minutes we were back on the trail, spitting rocks and dust on the southeast Oklahoma two-track.

But wait, only a mile down the trail, Tom was missing again. Backtracking like an indian scout, we found him once again on the side of the trail, the ingomious tire flat once again. DAMN!! We didn't even get far enough for a good breeze to drive the sweat from our bodies. I am guessing our world class pit crew pinched the tube in their rush to beat the clock and the heat. So this time we get to do it all again, but at a slower, more cautious pace.

Flat tires are a way of life for off-road riders. When you travel to the remote wilds of southeast Oklahoma, you better have tire irons, spare tubes, and a way to inflate the tire or it could be a LONG, slow, wobbly ride back to camp.