blamin' Rat

he triggered memories of ridin' in Germany - bought a honda from a friend - Dave, went to his girl's house for dinner one Sunday - ate, drank and listened to the stories from the other side -
paid 200 for the bike - sold it for 200 a year and some change later
older honda - a 450, modded for the tracks over there - drop bars, full race faring - wasn't balls out off the line but damn!!! - it had no top end - just kept goin' - gonna twist that thing, it's more than happy to go faster
blowin' through a curve one day - 110, takin' it easy when - oh fuck!!! - a farmer takin' his cows for a walk in the road and me with little or no brakes
chasin' a Norton and a BSA up a "hill" one sunny Sunday - sure, they got off fast but I'm gonna blow past those fuckers like they was standing still - cheat some on this curve and - oh fuck!!! - car - grabbin' brakes that weren't there - slammin' gears while that side of the "hill" is approaching fast - a sheer drop, no guardrail - maybe a whole buncha hundreds of feet
runnin' on fumes one night - had some friends follow me off base so I could fill the tank - couldn't buy gas on base, needed a ration card - didn't have that cuz I never registered the fucker - no euro license either - fuck em if they can't take a joke - so, fill up and heading back when the throttle cable snaps - mighta been a bit - or beyond a bit buzzed - well, bright idea occurred to me - tie a small knot in the end of the cable - put it all back together - ride it home - fucker wouldn't fire - kick start - I kicked the fuck outta that thing in a lot with a big ole restaurant with massive windows - which I was facing when I was kickin' and kickin' and gas pumps that I was damn near leanin' on and facin' as I was kickin' and kickin' til
I said - hey, you guys - push start - and the fucker fired
wide open
I lifted the bike up off the ground - got it pointed straight down a road and went for the ride of my life - pitch black out - no lights on the bike - blew through 5 gears in about a heartbeat and a half - never knew the fucker was that fast - guess I never twisted hard enough before then
got it shut down - undid what I'd done - fed the cable between speedo and tach and rode the fucker home - tuggin' - no more twistin' that night - already had my ride
gettin' run off the road by the ghost white Mercedes that haunted the Bitt/Spang highway
man - those were some good fuckin' times
thanks Rat - for the memories