Spring Break
Issak Renner
The last weekend of spring break has come, the one I’m most excited for. Me and my friend sylias planned a motorcycle meet over a month out and it’s supposed to be pretty big ride. Travelling from Colorado to Albuquerque New Mexico we prayed that the weather would be better. As we pulled into the driveway however, it was still raining. During a quick trip to Panda Express a few minutes before I had locked up the brakes trying to stop at a red light, but slid through the whole intersection. Me and sylias knew it was not ideal, but we were too excited to ride for the rain to stop us. As the bikes were pulled out the weather finally started to clear up. I started texting the group chats telling everyone that the ride was still on and we started gearing up to ride. I knew that new tires were slippery, and that rain was also slick, but I didn’t care I knew I was probably a good enough rider to make it work. As we get ready to leave, I cut the zip ties used to hold my license plate on. Slipping my plate into my jacket pocket we head out. After a few miles of sliding around corners and a few other close calls we finally met up with my other friends at the gas station. On the way however we ran into a few cops. Most of them didn’t care except one who flashed his lights but didn’t chase. Now that we had six bikes, we didn’t need to worry as much because most cops don’t want to go through all the paperwork and none of us would stop anyway. We did wheelies and burn outs around town for a few hours while waiting for the main ride later and didn’t run into many problems. We stopped at one of our favorite lots to get some practice in when my friend decided to try out a two stroke for the first time. We all thought it would be funny to watch but quickly after seeing him try to wheelie right after getting on we realized we made a big mistake. The power band on a two stroke is much different than a four stroke for those of you who don’t know, and he was one of them. The bike starts slow then around middle range rpm the power really hits until the last quarter when the engine tops out. He, being a four-stroke rider, decided to wheelie while below powerband. The front wheel got up fine, but he soon hit that band and the wheel kept going up. I was half expecting this to happen and pulled out my phone to record one of the worst videos known to man due to not paying total attention and him being so far away. We watched in agony as the bike looped out and did several flips while Dom slid down the street on his stomach, “Oh shit!” said one guy while Sylas said, “I knew it was going to happen.” This was not a new sight to us but when we saw him get up limping, we knew he was hurt. A sudden panic hit and we rushed to get the bikes started and ride over to check on him. One after the other we pulled up to assess the damage cringing at the wounds. The bike was pouring both oil and gas and a small pile of parts had been collected by the others while we were trying to stop the fluids. We sat around for about half an hour telling him not to worry about the bike but worry more about himself. Eventually we got a truck and sent him and the bike home. Later that day the main ride started, and he was back out stunting. The ride went smooth at first; we had around thirty bikes with us. At a gas station about an hour later we were filling up when five state troopers pulled up with lights and started pointing guns at the safety truck we had following us. Everyone panicked, although many boasted about not being scared of cops, and rode off in every direction. I found myself with Sylas waiting for his bike to start so we could also leave. “This damn bike” he yelled over the sound of the other bikes. Eventually it started and me him took off down the street in the opposite direction since the right side was blocked off. We didn’t have to go too far because we knew they didn’t want us and there were other bikes that would have a harder time escaping. Miscommunication went on for a while but a few hours later we got the truth. A car had swerved at some of the riders, so the truck got right behind them and threw a water bottle. The lady in the car panicked and called the police stating that they had pulled a gun on her and that’s why the cops came. Lucky for us, everyone got out safe.
Issak Renner is a NMMI cadet.