If you are a regular on this forum you most likely know about Harvie AKA Springer. If not, this will not be the ride report you are expecting.
I first met Harvie back in 2013. He was doing a track day at the Barber Motorsports park racetrack on his XR1200.
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A couple of months ago Harvie Passed away. There was a memorial Flash Mob for him. The details are here: http://www.motorcyclealabama.com/rides/index.php?topic=3627.0 (http://www.motorcyclealabama.com/rides/index.php?topic=3627.0)
Some of the people on this forum where his closest friends. Those friends ended up with his ashes. Don in particular was trying to come up with something meaningful do with Harvie's ashes. Something that Harvie would have approved of. Something to help keep his memory alive.
We were at the Barber Vintage Festival. There was a plan on what to do with his ashes, sort of. The details needed to be worked out. Eventually they were. I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time to end up getting involved. Harvie and I were friends but not close friends like the other people involved. I was honored to be able to participate.
Participate in what?
Stay tuned.
We finally came up with a plan. We had a couple of passes to ride in a parade lap around the track. Don would ride and scatter some of Harvie's ashes around the track. I would ride behind him with Chris as a passenger and she would videotape it. Don and Chris where really close friends of Harvie's and deserved to be in on this. I never expected to be doing this.
I am looking forward to seeing the video. Kyle found a photographer with a good camera to take pics of us as well and I can't wait to see those. Until then I snapped a few pics.
I gave Don my camera for this first one. By the expression on my face you would think I was heading for a root canal :D
Ignore that. I was excited(https://advrider.com/f/styles/advrider_smilies/happay.gif)
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Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would be riding around a racetrack on a scooter, wearing shorts and with a passenger on the back.
Lined up and ready to go.
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Just before we headed out on the track Don turned on his video camera and handed it to Chris.
Out on the track.
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I was expecting this to be a sloooow ride. Well it wasn't race pace but we ended up going faster than I expected.
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How fast were we going?
Well at this point we went to ludicrous speed and everything became a blur. ;)
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We ended up doing three or four laps. I saw at least 60 on the speedo. I took a bunch of pics. I'm not going to post them all but here's a few.
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Sorry for the picture quality but I was taking these with my left hand and riding with my right.
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I don't know if the deceased are watching us or not, but that was a nice thing y'all did for Harvie.
A phone pic(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20191007/f468cd476d0f24a43175cd38693db12c.jpg)
Sent from my moto z3 using Tapatalk
i hate that I had to head home before this occurred but it was one of the most meaningful things I have seen happen in a while! No matter your sentiment toward Harvie he was one of us and he was a damn good man!! I hope he is up there laughing at this!!
Harvey taking his last ride around Barbers.
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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I would like to thank my co-conspirators (who shall remain nameless, even upon coercion of subpoena) without their efforts, this epic event would have never taken place - it takes bold moves by brave people to move the world, so thank you! I know Harvie is laughing his ass off in heaven or hell, or the next stage as a beetle/grasshopper, cow or whatever - he is laughing, guaranteed!
I sincerely do NOT want this to end, so might I make a suggestion?
I have a small urn full of his ashes, and I had intended on fastening them to a rock (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86SKZ-KiB7s&list=PL1xHmAZWsXoDsAIDb0Ay9K8V8C9_f3rS4&index=8), or to Springer Station (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARRRZcYnqgQ), but I think it would be much more interesting for anyone/everyone interested to TAKE springer for a ride whenever the mood strikes. This might even be a more epic memorial than we have achieved so far? Imagine, several times a year, springer gets to go on yet ANOTHER ride? I think it should be pretty simple, just pick up the urn (smaller than a baseball) and carry him along, passing him to the next rider. It has been done before, just not sure if it has been done with ashes. I would LOVE to see Springer's Relay Rally catch on, if nothing else, just here in Alabama, but I am open to see him cross the Himalayas?(as long as there are pics) Guess I need to get on ADV to see what THEY think?
What do yall think?
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I can just hear Harvie's voice saying, "Dude, That is a Helluva idea!"
What a wonderful way to pay tribute to a fellow rider.
I Love the idea. I'd love to take Springer out for a ride! I'm sure there are a lot of places he never got to ride. Let's see how many places we can take him!
BTW, there is a thread on ADV on RedClayRider as he was known on that forum: https://advrider.com/f/threads/rip-redclayrider.1399320/ (https://advrider.com/f/threads/rip-redclayrider.1399320/)
Heading to Deals Gap and WNC this weekend if we can coordinate a meeting location before Thursday evening!
all i have is a couple videos of the ashes being spread
https://youtu.be/XrzicZN5Zcw
and the other stuff that went on at bvf
https://youtu.be/Vgppj8tVUtQ
bfv woods race
https://youtu.be/y2ZlSdup_bc
Quote from: catang5oh on October 07, 2019, 07:26:44 PM
Harvey taking his last ride around Barbers.
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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
now that's doing somebody a solid, outstanding
I have to show this post to my lady friend. I can never explain enough to her, my reason for being on this forum. I've told her of some of the adventures I've had with folks from MC Alabama. Ya'll rock!