The Hansen
dam run is an event put on by the Norton club of Southern Calif.
It is always held on the first Sunday of November. The ride is billed as an
“all Brit ride” but SoCal AMCA has been invited and attended for the past four
years. The ride is held in the mountains north of Los
Angeles so it is a trailer ride for many of us. The
ride itself covers some beautiful Southern California
terrain; mountains, rolling hills, and upper desert.
As expected
for a British ride, the morning broke with raindrops on the pavement and the
threat of more; oh so British. By the time I got to the dam at 0830 there were
already well over 200 people in the parking lot. Rain?,
nah, not on our ride! Well the heartiest of the SoCal members were on hand to
show the colors. Dillmann, Menzes, Kiwi, Cameron, the Suckers
and Knapp. Thanks for the turnout boys! Kiwi rode in from Riverside
(‘48 Chief) and then rode home. He kept mumbling about the need to ride the new
motor as hard and far as possible. He probably did over 250 on the day. Doc
Sucher was escorted in the sidecar (Euro) by his son Vic. Bless ya Vic for
taking care of dad like that! Menzes rode his newly fixed, broke it racing Tim
at DV, ‘67 Triumph. Nice job Mike. It ran great as usual! Cameron was seen
rubbing elbows with the Vellocet crowd for most of the day. As usual he rode in
and rode out, no problems. Homer Knapp was surprised to be reacquainted with
his riding purse. Story goes that Homer rides with a purse-like leather case
slung around his shoulder. He is rarely seen without it when on a motorcycle
and many can attest to the magic of his purse. Well, Homer left the tool bag
(purse) at my house and he was unable to find it for his next ride. Homer,
sorry it took me so long to get it to you. I had no idea of its sentimental and
practical value!
Oh yeah the
ride. If you have never seen an orange swan atop a motorcycle, I encourage you
to attend next year. Dillman was so pretty in his K-mart special rain poncho
that some of us fell off our rides in laughter. Somehow the poncho flew up into
his face knocking off his helmet and glasses. How he got stopped is a
miracle! He was easy to follow after
that because he left a trail of material every 100 yards or so. Now I know how
Hansel and Gretel made it back home! Hansen Dam is a great ride and the
camaraderie is even better. The attendance this year was over 300 vintage
motorcycles, quite a site even if most were English.