Re the 11/7 show, the man who described his young son’s delight at negetive gravity at hill-toping -
In the mid-70’s in Denver, CO, a road named County Line Road joined I-25 south of Denver and ran west. This road, a 2-lane, had one hill that would allow my 1976 F150 to become airborne when approached from the west at speed somewhat higher than posted.
If done exacxtly right, the F150 would be airborne for a second or so, and would land without a hard touchdown. Exhilarating. Never dared to try same with my Suzuki road bike.
Anyone else have such stories?
SideHillBill
In the plains states where it’s flat, the old boys (like me) will tell you all about the thrill of ditch riding. Pick a spot between poles and yank it into the ditch at 60. Keep your hands off the steering wheel and let 'er buck. 16, two beers and never gonna die. YeeHaw. Now I think back to that, and a whole list of other fun things, and thank God for sparing a complete moron. Soft landing is dumb luck. You come down from airborne and (a) blow a tire (b) pop your steering links or © blow a strut, you will rue the day. Delight stops at the ICU or the funeral home - worse when its an innocent person who pays the price. But the experience did teach me one important lesson for going in the ditch. If you do, drop the steering wheel and ride it. Worst thing to do is try to turn back to the road. You will flip over.
Southern Indiana has plenty of places like that. I still, from time to time, run down a lane ominously named “Shiloh Cemetery Road”. It’s nearly straight until reaching the hill, which rises about 100 feet in five seconds. Coming over the top at nearly 75 mph was an exhilarating ride, made even more exciting if another vehicle was coming in the opposite direction.
Most of these “Stories” are just that…I lived near County Line Road and I-25 in the '70’s, traveled it in both directions everyday. An F-150 could not go fast enough to get airborne anywhere along that road. A little Tummy Tickle maybe, make the kids squeal, but not airborne…
I recently was at a party where a normally same person described how his 950cc Bug-Eyed Sprite equipped with a “Judson Supercharger off a 390 Ford” could maintain 145 MPH between Phoenix and Flagstaff in the early '60’s…Right…All you can do is smile and nod your head…
Here in a relatively small Pacific Northwest farm town on the flats, going airborne has apparently become the latest teen sport – and also the deadliest. Since December 2009, 2 dead (one driver, one passenger), 5 severely injured. I would like permission to post your well-worded post locally perhaps even in time for the memorial service on Friday. Thanks.
Not in a vehicle. But I’ve done some really ragged stuff on a mountain bike. However I would never ever ever get on a bicycle without a good helmet. And yes, I’ve split a helmet. People who take risks like that end up rolling in the hallways in their motorized wheelchairs by pushing a little joystick in the armrest.
A broken arm will heal. A broken leg will heal. But a busted melon is forever.
If you seriously want to do this a lot in a production vehicle - I would recommend a Ford Raptor. About anything else will have ill effects from jumping.
Have fun…