Male: Hi, nothing prettier than a New England Autumn. Hey, this is wild wheels; you don’t think we’re here to look at trees do you because leaves aren’t the only things falling around here; yikes! That’s right and today things are looking up and up and over the top.
Now you might think that Motorcycle Hill Climbing is one of those fears dreamed up by thrill-seeking GNXers but believes it or not, this sport’s been around for almost a hundred bone breaking years and these days, a new generation scrap that’s torched with gusting and taken the hill before the hill takes them so grab your hat and hang on tight, we’re going up, up and away with hill climbers.
Male: Looks like he’s going to do it man; I think we’re going to get some major carnage up there today.
Male: Meet Ryan Allan Tebow; today’s a big day for Ryan, it’s his last time ever racing in the American Motorcycle Association Amateur Hill Climbs; that’s because next year, he goes pro. Now Ryan’s got mixed feelings about the move; he’s kin to take it to the next level but at the same time, he’ll miss the guys around here that he’s been racing with for the better part of 10 years.
Hearing that time, Ryan’s picked up 4 National number 1’s and 6 New England Championships; but he never got too big for his bridges. Down in the hole or starting area, Ryan’s quick to grab a shovel and help out prepping his launching spot.
Next year, Ryan’s going to be looking up at hills more than twice these socks and bikes are going to get a lot faster. Although it’s pretty hard to imagine it getting much deeper and faster, you’ll see what I mean when you’ll ride along with him here so hang on; up we go and over the top all in 6 ½ seconds.
Now one of the reasons Ryan gets up the hill so fast is his dad Henry knows what the heck he’s doing when it comes to building a fast bike. Another reason, he’s been racing since he was 7. This is exactly how old rider Nick Blue is; on his 80 cc bike, Nicks got a pretty good power to wave ratio.
Now mom and dad can get a little nervous before the race but the one thing Nick can’t break today is his 2 front teeth. But he’s got some new ones coming in that will have to take care of because getting into hill climbing is kind of a sink or swim endeavor.
Male: It’s kind of hard to find the hill to practice on that compares to this you know, you can’t just go into back yard and start you know, it’s not the same.
Male: That’s for sure; now you probably notice that the hill’s not even going up. You start out down in the hole. Now after you launch, you go about 20 feet where you’ll break an infrared beam that starts the clock.
Now the first half of the hill’s about a 50 degree climb with the jump towards the starting sign. And just over halfway up, you get to the graveyard; a flat area cut into the hill that precedes the final push to the top, a 70 plus degree vertical base.
Male: You see the rope there that’s a easiest way to get up without the bike. Now the finish line isn’t the top of the hill otherwise everyone would launch of like a rocket. Some do anything, it’s actually 10 feet below where a white chalk like indicates the infrared beam that stops the clock.
This gives the rider’s time to get a lead off before they hit the top. Although on the really powerful bikes, this is easier said than done. Ho yikes! Ho, check the bones make sure we’re all in one piece. Ho, that looked kind of ugly.
These riders are a tough breed and the one we just saw take this bill is this guy Dan 04:10 from Charlton, Mass. Now one of the reasons Dan hits the top so fast is because of what he’s doing right now. Now in amateur riding, you’re not allowed to use chains or paddle tires but you can modify stock tires into the next best thing. Now there are tools available for doing this but Dan’s got his own high tech device (overlap 04:31)
Male: But it works; I’ve tried everything you name it; believe it or not the good old steak knife does the trick yes, that yes, exactly 04:37 steak knife; lay that baby.
Male: Dan rides in the 250 Class; the smallest engine class for riders over 15 years old. But this doesn’t mean they go slow and one of the fastest 250’s out here is this guy 04:54
Louie took the New England number in the class and he’s looking to end this season with some fast runs today.
As the 250’s lineup at the bottom, veteran members of the 05:05 riders wait at the top; one of them is Bob 05:07.
Male: They say that I’m fast with today; good hell yes and we’re going to see some fast runs.
Male: On race day, at the Manson Hill Climb, it’s ladies first; the first one up is Molly 05:20 who gets up and over the top.
Now it’s Louie’s turn, we’ll ride along see what he sees; off we go. Man the 250 screams up the hill. Yes, oh, oh this one didn’t end well. Take our word for it; we’re not going to show you but the camera wasn’t the only thing that breaks; poor Louie suffered a broken Femur and a compression fracture in the back. Word is he got a stuck throt that’s why he launched off the top like a missile.
Mini Hill Climber Josh Cobble is running Red Flag too.
Female: He was like up to that tree.
Male: Higher than trees up here and he kicked off about here and the bike landed over there and it literally landed over the dirt pile over there.
Male: Are you kidding me?
Male: Yes, 06:18 picked it up prepped it up over there.
Female: Oh my God
Male: It’s the worse it’s been in the 3 years I’ve been here doing this; that’s the worst accident I’ve seen.
Male: I know how it feels; I did the same thing before same with the throttle stuck on me before and I broke my tailbone; my legs came up, my knees smashed my nose, shattered my nose and I broke my tailbone. So I know how it feels taking a hit that hard.
Male: All of these broken bones stuff’s giving me the 06:45. I think it’s got the riders a little soldered up too. The first few rides after Louie’s run are pretty conservative; well until this guy, ouch! Man good thing it’s soft. That shoulder looks like it’s going to be smart in the morning.
Now Bob 07:04 knows a thing or two about injuries; he lost an arm years ago riding through fire roads in Maine. But with some prosthetics, he managed to get back on the horse and conquer the hill again. Well most of the time anyway.
Male: One time I was riding here and I crashed on the hill and the prosthetic arm broke in half. So it’s skin colored plastic right? And 07:26 saw it, Oh my God and I’m on breaks all the time zone. Woo that I got a new bolt, bolted together.
Male: While the injuries in today’s amateur events, sometimes mean a trip to the Orthopedic Unit, the sport usually a lot more unforgiving. Back in the days, self preservation wasn’t a priority but luckily, safety gears come a long way.
12 year old hill climber Josh 07:54 had a great uncle who was a legend on the New England hill climbing circuit.
Male: Yes, my father’s down here. He’s 73, Allen Cobble; his brother was a championship hill climb in the 30’s and 40’s for 08:05 Harley Davidson. That was some time ago.
Male: They called him Handle Bar Hands and as his younger brother Allen can attest back in the day, it wasn’t just about winning, it was about living to tell about him.
Male: No helmets, no boots; all I had was 08:21 and a leather hat and goggles. They’re lucky to have a leather jacket; they don’t have the equipment they have now.
Male: They also didn’t have these. Quads, one of the fastest quad riders here today are George Loring from Brockton, Mass.
George’s main competition is Randy Barry; the 2 run pretty much neck and neck and today will be no exception.
Male: As whoop his ass pretty good last year; a lot of races and trying to beat him. I had a pretty bad this middle of the season in the night was catching out pretty fast at the end of the season; just wasn’t enough reasons left.
Male: But this year’s been a different story George got a first in the nationals in 2 classes. He’s also the New England number 1. Now both quads have been pretty heavily modified with new motors and suspension. Randy bought his quad for 4,000 back in 89. And is about 22,000 into it so as you can imagine, 09:14.
The rear swing arms have been extended 5 inches; it’s got aluminum wheels; hollow axle and bee locks so you can run really low pressure without worrying about the tire coming off; but there’s plenty of other things to worry about as you’re staring up at that 70 plus degree widow maker.
Male: The nerves are kicking in now and you’re pretty nervous and you got a feel like 3 or 4 times before you ride so
Male: As much as you shoot at the bottom hill all that’s for guard and you could be hurt or everything else when you sit at the bottom, you can feel it.
Male: Guys like George and Randy usually start in the second gear then get it into 3rd as soon as possible; the goals is to pull the tallest gear that will get you up and over the top. And George making it look easy; of all the classes that do the hill climb, we noticed that the quads are the only ones that gather at the top to watch their 4 wheeled cohorts.
Of course, we were about to learn they’ll gather up there just to cheerlead. All hands on deck; oh man, so that’s why they wait at the top. You see a quads a heck of a lot heavier than a bike and you don’t want to come in back on you. Plus they say it’s a hundred dollars 10:29.
This time, they make the save but it doesn’t always work out that way. 10:39 like this one just struggle with the hill and sometimes the only place to go is back down. Well gravity needs to win sometimes too you know, especially when you’ve got hill climb in phenom Ryan Tebow ready to roll because after the quads, it’s time for the big boys.
The 600 4 strokes, the 740 class and then the open bikes; Ryan runs in 2 of these classes. First up, it’s 85 Honda CR 500; it outs out 85 horsepower, not too shabby for a single cylinder 2 stroke. Part of the secrets that fatty piped in as dad out on, its 7 ½ inches diameter, the widest point, giving him a lot more RPM at the high and most of the other bikes out here.
The gearing will start in second then take third all the way to the top. Ryan also runs a heavy iron 1688 cc Sportster Harley Davidson, the motor has been bored and stroked and it’s an inch and a quarter taller than stock. Like almost all the bikes out here, the backend’s been extended. And it’s adjustable about 8 to 10 inches out; because dirt bike shocks aren’t made for 400 pound bikes, they had a shock specially built and when you have a 700 dollar shock, you protect it with a homemade aluminum shield.
Obviously the big bikes aren’t going to set any speed records but the heavy irons has a certain aura you don’t get with the dirt bikes. And they’re not all 12:08 you’ve never seen a 1967 Triumph do this, a 7.8 for the venerable 12:14 and it’s not alone, 12:17 even runs a 1975 Norton 850 Commando.
Male: Now I’m holding the flag for the British flag: I got a Norton myself at home.
Male: Now whether it’s a Norton Triumph or Harley, one thing all of the heavy iron bikes have in common is well they’re heavy which makes it interesting when one goes down at the top, that extra 220 pounds makes a heck of a difference. But no matter what the performance disadvantage, there’s some guys you’re just never going to get to sit on a Honda or Kawasaki.
Now that’s not to say the Japanese dirt bikes can’t run with the big dogs, you see in the open class, a lot of the guys use dirt bike bodies with big street bike engines and the biggest and badest of them all is this, Kawasaki 1440 ridden by Jason Conley.
Male: This bike is as mobile as probably as most people’s cars.
Male: Yes and it shows, check this out.
Now if you think was impressive, hold onto your hat because today’s a special occasion. After all riders go twice, they’ll get to use paddle type tires.
Paddle tires and chains are what the pros use and because this isn’t an official AMA points event, the guys will get a taste of professional hill climb. It will also give the cameraman a taste for the local dirt; because when you get behind those spinning paddles, yuck!
Now, if you’re not used to riding with paddle, it is important to show restraint because with this kind of traction, you’ve really got a tiger by the tail.
Male: 13:52 was on a paddle tire when he crashed. He would’ve jumped over the dirt pile which is about a hundred feet away.
Male: Only the more experienced bikes will go with the paddle tires. One of them will be Ryan Tebow; it will be a good test in tune for his pro riding next year.
Male: I don’t think it’s going to that already because the bike’s so showing as it is, you don’t need any more traction. I don’t, today, it don’t really matter as long as I’m going to throw down for fun, try hanging on to it if I can. Probably I’ll ride the wheels 14:19
Male: Well we’ll see; and here we go.
The wheel is on the way, makes a difference does it?
Now that 140 horsepower Kawasaki rocket with paddle tires; look out fellows, oh men! Hanging on for dear life, literally. This thing just eats up the hill. He could keep going probably climb a tree if it needed to.
6.1 and the fastest time of the day.
Male: Right baby that’s how you do it.
Male: So there you go folks; you’ve seen the fastest but before you say goodbye to the hill, it’s time for the you youngers. The Ryan Tebows of the future.
Here’s the first one for Josh; oh you can make it buddy.
The 50’s and the 80’s struggle on the 70 plus degree incline. For the kids, the top of the hills in an elusive challenge and they keep the rest to improve really busy. Well most of the rescue crew anyway.
Male: If he’s old enough to ride, he’s old enough to drag a 15:30
Male: I got to love that New England compassion; well the youngsters grow up quickly in this game; it may not reach the top of the hill but to get the feeling they’ll be there soon enough.
And here comes Josh again, 1 last shot. Oh baby, bend over; might have bent the bike a bit but hey, you broke the beam that put it on the mountain that’s what counts.
Male: 15:57 yes
Male: Me?
Male: Yes
Male: Eight, nine
Male: An eight, nine; well done. Handle Bar 16:05 be proud.
This hill climbing business must be in the blood. Time to move up next year, Josh will be headed to the senior level. Hard to believe Josh is a senior. For Ryan, next stop, the pro circuit.
Male: Right now, he’s the best here but I bet he’ll just be another guy racing against the hill.
Male: And he’s got a nice, long winter to think about that hill and upgrade that bike; and he’ll need all the help he can get because as we learn today, you better bring your best game because if you don’t beat the hill, that hill is going to beat you.
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