On The Pegs June 2020 - Volume 5 - Issue 6 | Page 113

On The Pegs VOL. 4 ISSUE 7 - July 2020 113
it to see what he thought. Sammy proceeded to ride it down a very steep incline
and dove off a huge rock landing front wheel first. When he did, the handlebars
rolled forward several inches. He came to a stop, looked at Mike and said “those
need a bit of tightening” or something to that effect. I was 17 years old, from
Oklahoma USA, in England, Riding with Sammy Miller…… And I thought it was
normal. After getting the scooter all sorted out we headed North to Edin-burgh,
where what I call the “real” SSDT (160 miles on the first and last day) started and
finished. We had all our luggage and a Bultaco in the back of lovely Hillman Hunter.
It reminded me of a Toyota station wagon. The wheels had to come off the
bike and the handlebars had to be rolled backward for it to fit. The plan was to
drive through the night and get to Edinburgh the next morn-ing. We had been
up all day. Mike drove and I navigated into the night. He was getting tired and
asked me to take over driving. I started driving and Mike went to sleep. I don’t
know how far I drove but what I do remember is waking up after I had crossed
the center median and had head-lights coming towards us. Somehow, I was able
to get back on the correct side of the road. You notice I said correct side, as I was
on the right side when I woke up. And what was Mike doing while all of this was
going on you ask?? He was screaming “you fell asleep…you fell asleep…you fell
asleep….” at the top of his lungs. He didn’t really have to yell at me. I knew I fell
asleep. Mike drove from there and I slept. Upon waking up we were in Scotland.
Beautiful country. We met a fellow named Ian Driver that was hilarious. A large
fellow he was. I think he was sponsoring Jeff Chandler that year. The team logo
said team marlin like the fish! He had a turquoise sweatshirt that had the black
logo on the front and we asked him what are you going to do with that shirt
when you’re done with it. His response was “I have to return it I’ve got it rented”.
We both stared at him with a puzzled look, he said “I must return it to rent a tent!”
The remainder of the SSDT was fairly uneventful, which was a good thing as we
had already survived a failed attempt at burning down a hotel and a successful
attempt at playing stunt driver on a foreign Motorway!
In 1973 I rode an OSSA MAR that I also got from Sammy Miller and Mike Mc-
Cabe got his Sherpa T there also. Every time I think of that scooter and that year it
brings back memories of Martin Lampkin. I will NEVER forget that voice. It seems
like only yesterday that I heard Martin say “Lets make dust baby” in his thick Yorkshire
accent as we prepared to take off on a long crossing in the SSDT.... We were
riding close together that day as it turns out, we were walking a section and he
inquired as to where I got the OSSA MAR I was riding. I told him it came from
Sammy Miller. He rode the section and hung around as I rode. I nearly got to the