Trail Rider Magazine

W hatever Became of Bob Hicks? By Bob Hicks I'm still around, and still riding way out here at this end of my life. ese days my dirt riding is on dirt roads (including the rougher Class 6 stuff ). What happened is that when I came back to dirt bikes in 2000 a er an 18 year hiatus I found that I still knew what to do but no longer always could count on doing it soon enough. e potential for injury overrode the urge still deep inside to seriously hit the trails again. And sadly I found that just about all the miles and miles of trails I rode so much so long ago were now closed to bikes. In 1983 I had arrived at an outlook on my motorcycling of having "been there, done that". And at 53 my views for what "Trail Rider" ought to be no longer fi t the rapidly changing trail riding environment. Time to go, get out of the way of the younger generation. So I sold out to Gail Pells Menzies and her husband, a generation younger than I and more in tune with the times. I also sold my dirt bikes and quit cold, going on to something else, a small boat magazine, which I still edit and publish a er 33 years. So why did I come back a er 18 years? In late 1999 an invitation from a longtime friend and NETRA member, John Leone, to a reunion of a local trail riding club relit the embers of that now long gone fi re within for off road riding. en in 2000 a call from a longtime riding friend and ISDT vet, Dave Latham, suggested we go to the ISDT Reunion Ride in St. Louis and he off ered me the Ossa Pioneer I rode in the 1970 Spanish ISDT to ride. He had purchased it a er that event from Yankee Motors and it had lan- guished for many years in his barn before this resurrection. It was all upbeat a er that as I got back in the swing of riding again. An involvement with the Path- fi nders of Connecticut in organizing the 2003 US ISDT Reunion Ride celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the 1973 US ISDT further drew me back into bikes and I bought a 1975 Pioneer to ride in the event. It was a historic event drawing over 70 former ISDT riders, including about 30 from the 1973 US ISDT. e Pathfi nders did a superb job of recreating an ISDT experience in miniature, and when one of my fellow riders from the 1969 German ISDT, Jerry Pacholke from Ohio, commented to me that this was "just like the real thing", I knew what he felt, it was living history for us both along with the other vets taking part. I since have moved on to a 1975 BMW R65/6 for the road, then upgraded that to a 1992 BMW R100GS dual sport which was a good bike for the dirt back road riding I was beginning to enjoy most. When a 2007 BMW F650GS Dakar for sale came to my attention I added it to the stable, it is now my favored dirt road bike. So it's a second time around for me now and the thrill is still there, muted by age but still a thrill. Until I start to experience some "close calls" I foresee no end in sight. e fi re just never did go out. While that fi rst time around 1952-1983 was the "good old days", what it's like today riding still has its charms. Any of you reading this who rode in1970-83 should know that I still have a complete fi le of my Trail Riders and can supply scanned copies of specifi c articles via the internet. I need to know at least the year and the story title or event name to locate what you want. You can reach me at: maib.offi ce@gmail.com Whatever Became of Bob Hicks? 36 Trail Rider www.TrailRider.com

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