I attended a motorcycle hill climb at a southern Indiana snow ski hill. This was my first time to see a hill climb. I took my 9 y/o niece, Lauren. We met up with several of my friends and their kids the day before at the Rawhide Ranch, where we camped the night before. Jerome drove his motor home and let it run with the A/C on all day. That was nice since it was a hot summer day. Also, the camper had a awning to provide some shade. There were three other vehicles in our group. We got to the hill climb about 11:30 a.m. and got a good front row view. There were LOTS of motorcyclist who showed up - way more than the car/truck contingent. It is hard to capture the steepness of a hill with a camera. Most of this crowd drove Hogs. I sure saw a lot of beautiful bikes today. There was a net, but the bikes still threw dirt on the crowd. It was amazing how fast these motorcycles climbed this huge hill. It usually took them 8.5 seconds. The guy who won did in about 7.2 seconds. While most made it to the top, some did not of course. One guy got out of control and went off to the right. Another guy bounced off and landed back on his rear wheel - ouch! And another flipped over backwards! Then there was the poor guy who's engine quit about an inch from the finish line. During a break, the crowd moved over to watch this man known as "Mr. Backwards" jump over some cars while riding backwards on his motorcycle. He is in the Guiness Book of World Records for having jumped 60 ft over 7 cars in this way back in the 80's. Lauren took the above photo while perched on my shoulders. Mr. Backwards website This was a neat event that I hope I get to see next year.

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