In defense of the squid

O.K. now that I have your attention,here's what I've been thinkin':
It's been pretty fashionable to knock the squid(hell,even to cheer the harm these poor buggars endure).......BUT.....
Alot of these squid videos & pics portray YOUNG guys who really believe they are (or were) 10 feet tall and bullet-proof.
Even though MOST of us VFR World members are "ahem",...."older and wiser",there was a time in all our lives when we too were blisfully unaware of our own mortality.
Hell,when I was in my teens and early 20's I was quite the MORON...crashed and wrote-off more then one car,did burn-outs,street raced, sped like a S.O.B. and lost my licsence more than once.
I can only thank God I never hurt myself or anybody else ,and that I wasn't into bikes until my mid 30's or I might not be here today.

Anyway,I'm posting here today to admit to my sins and say that I have "been there done that" and have lived on to become a wiser man.

I know I'm not the only one here who has done some stupid shit and lived to tell the tales.....

So......what stupid shit have YOU done???? Are you man enough to 'fess-up??? Lets hear those tales from "back in the day"

 

I've never squidded. Ever. I never saw a reason to act like a retard on the street. I don't count speeding since ALL of us speed. Anyone who says they don't speed is a liar.

Whether you believe that or not is your business.

To be fair & un-biased, I must admit the talent some of these squids & stuntaz display is nothing short of phenominal. I wish I could ride like some of them. Now, if they would quit doing that shit on the street in the middle of traffic, maybe I would have some respect for them.

KC-10 FE out...
lane: :usa2:

 

:focus:

...back in the day. I'm lucky I even know what that is with some of the crap I've pulled. If it weren't for the military and some really close friends I don't think I would've seen 30 this year. I'll take the 5th on the confessional:biggrin:

 

I have to say, I'm only 18 but the worst I do is speed, 65 on a bike feels like the world's going in slow motion.

 

:crutch: All I can say is - I plead the 5th :tape:

 

I am totally embarrassed to say. Especially after some of my posts here. Some may say I am a hypocrite but I lived and learned. Prior to 1978, I drove home from work drunk, about every day. Worked in the brewing industry at the time. Someone was looking over me. More appropriate, someone was looking over the others I shared the road with. Can honestly say it has not happened since then.

 

Hmmm... I had to think really hard about this one because I haven't done that many really stupid things. I did run from a cop once but it was set up perfectly so it wasn't even really a chase. What happened was that I was in a long sweeper going really fast, probably fast enough for an impound and bam I saw a cop going the other way. In my mirrors I saw him slamming the brakes and just before I lost him I saw him about to make a turn. Because I was already going pretty fast I just had to speed up a little. I saw an unpaved road to the left and took it. Drove down there and saw an abandoned barn so I drove in and shut off the engine so he wouldn't hear me. About 30 seconds later I heard sirens in the distance and I didn't dare to peek out because I didn't wan t to risk getting caught. I just hid there about 15 minutes and took a peek. Coast was clear.

Oh and I nearly made a mistake by going in the same direction that I was running. Thank god a fellow driver going the other way flashed his highbeams on me, signalling that the po-po is up ahead. I then did a quick 180 and drove on home a little shaken but relieved. I don't go that route anymore because I'm afraid of them remembering me.

Some pretty funny stories there randy and reg good thing you're still alive to share your squid stories

 

Are you supposed to stand up and say your name first? Only thing I can say is I'm glad I got in to bikes at a later age. I went through 5 cars between the age of 15 and 21, including a 67 Cougar w a boss 302, a 70 Camaro, a 69 Dart w/ a 340, and a 71 Charger. I had my license pulled for a year doing a 100 over the speed limit (135 in a 35, and ya, thats a go to jail ticket). Meeting my wife and going in the Military pretty much straightened me out. I say pretty much because if the conditions are just right I still like to get on it a little. Not in traffic, but NM has some desolate roads with no exits where you can literally see for miles. All right, next.

Action

 

Hey Bud you had some nice rides. I hope that when you say you went through them, you bought and sold them. It would really be a pitty if those rides have been recycled into lawnmowers.

 

I took a lot more chance in cars then on my bike where I seem to ride like a old granny!

I've purposely jumped a 84 Ford Tempo over a downhill lump in the road. Took 3 friends in my car and was being followed by 4 more people an another car. I knew he was trying to keep up with me so I took the "jump street" and floored it. Must have flown a good 20-30 feet (horizontally) down the street with people's heads bouncing off the headliner of the car. The friends following slammed on their brakes but caught up a few minutes later.

I'm lucky to have kept control of the car on those narrow neighborhood streets and that no one was backing out of their driveway. A few powerslides, jumps and close calls later was enough for me to grow up and get into motorcycles! I've grown up a lot since those days...

 

Well I've done my share of crazy stuff myself. I remember when I was in my late teens and was legally allowed to drink (we could at 18 then), I can recall several times waking up after a fun night at the bar and not remembering how I managed to drive home. One time I even took out a contruction barrel going through a area getting some road work done. I kept going, even though I didn't know for sure it was a barrel at the time since it was raining and I was drunk. Then felt horrible thinking I could have hit someone and drove back out there drunk just to be sure it was really a barrel. It was, but the next morning I was pretty pissed when I had to work to get my bumper pulled back out and my parents were none to happy either.

I didn't get my first cycle till I was 23 or so and by then had wised up a bit, but I still went way to fast on that V-45 Magna and I ripped through turns like I was on a sportbike sending sparks everywhere more then once.

The tough thing for me is that my two older boys are riding now as well. They are 20 and 23 and I'm trying to teach them the right way to ride and what the right things to wear when riding. They don't understand why then can't just ride down the street in T-Shirts. I tell them they need their jackets on all the time. They realize they need jeans, but I'm still struggling to get them both to wear at least high top sneakers and tie them. I think I'm going to have to buy them Sidi Doha's for their birthdays which are coming up. At least then maybe they will wear a somewhat respectable boot.

There is also a lot of peer pressure out there to act stupid as well. All I guess I can do is show them the right way as much as possible and hope they learn.

 

Back in the day, I was too fast to catch.
Much older + dumber + slower, now = safer.

Mac

 

Sadly only the charger survived. The Camaro burned at the drag strip, the cougar I balled up, and the dart was rear ended at a stop light. There was also a 74 Camero with a 'vett motor in it that I rolled. I pulled the 440 out of charger and dropped it in a challenger. It also survived, I sold it about the time I went into the military. I payed for all of the cars and built them myself, usually by trading parts or services.



Action

 

I've ridden pretty aggressively with a short sleeve shirt on. Never again... I look back on that and feel so lucky nothing bad happened.

 

In Defense Of The Squid...

For Us Who Speak English As A Second Language...
How Do You Say : To Squid Or To Be A Squid...when Someone As A Squid Behavior ? This Is A New Word (squid) And A New Verb For Me !
Thanks And Hope The Squid Not Be With Us !
Lamps, Carmine.

 

1968, 100cc Hodaka, high school, my buddies held the doors open,I rode up the stairs, down the hall past the principles office, jumped the stairs at the other end, and left at a high rate of speed (well as fast as my Hodaka would go).Got in a ton of trouble, but I was, for sure, a hot-shit hero for a while.