I've posted one of mine before in a windy conditions thread but I'll never forget this one EVER. Here's a copy/paste of the main parts of a ride over Tioga Pass which is the eastern entrance to Yosemite going west...
We were on an 85 Electra Glide at around 3:00am and the winds were so bad that I was dodging huge boulders that were being blown onto the road. And when I say huge I mean VW bug size. The wind was gusting in every direction it seemed depending on the corner we were taking. That's a steep pass so I had to keep down shifting until I had no more to go down. I was in first gear and had the throttle pegged wide open doing about 35mph when all of a sudden we got stopped dead in our tracks. The bike and us were completely stopped for just a second as the poor engine chugged one stroke at a time to get us moving again.
By the way, you could still see the imprints of my hands on the grips of that bike when we traded it in 2 years later. I had a death grip on that thing. What kept us from getting blown off that mountain can only be by the grace of God. Even the guard at the gate to get into Yosemite had huge saucer eyes when he saw us and waved us on thru without paying to get in. We stopped for breakfast at the first place we came to out of the park and heard the pass had been closed due to winds and debris on the road. Debris was an understatement. I'm still amazed we made it. There is no side rails to keep you from going off that sucker. That was one crazy ride I'll never forget. Earned my "Rides In The Wind" merit badge that morning.
We were on an 85 Electra Glide at around 3:00am and the winds were so bad that I was dodging huge boulders that were being blown onto the road. And when I say huge I mean VW bug size. The wind was gusting in every direction it seemed depending on the corner we were taking. That's a steep pass so I had to keep down shifting until I had no more to go down. I was in first gear and had the throttle pegged wide open doing about 35mph when all of a sudden we got stopped dead in our tracks. The bike and us were completely stopped for just a second as the poor engine chugged one stroke at a time to get us moving again.
By the way, you could still see the imprints of my hands on the grips of that bike when we traded it in 2 years later. I had a death grip on that thing. What kept us from getting blown off that mountain can only be by the grace of God. Even the guard at the gate to get into Yosemite had huge saucer eyes when he saw us and waved us on thru without paying to get in. We stopped for breakfast at the first place we came to out of the park and heard the pass had been closed due to winds and debris on the road. Debris was an understatement. I'm still amazed we made it. There is no side rails to keep you from going off that sucker. That was one crazy ride I'll never forget. Earned my "Rides In The Wind" merit badge that morning.
