TAZ R.I.P.
steve_sordy
Posts: 2,453
in MTB general
Some of you will know TAZ. If you do, I don't need to explain who he was.
TAZ died on 13th June 2017 (I knew it was mid June, I only just found out the exact date).
I got to know Taz through the MBR forum (now defunct) when I lent him some Ergon grips to try. We later met for the first time when I was passing through Banbury, where he was living at the time. We are about as unlikely a combination as you could imagine, but we just clicked. Apart from the odd meeting (he stayed over at mine, and when we met for the Taz Recovery Ride at Cleve Hill), we lived so far apart that most of our friendship was conducted by phone, text and email. For those that met Taz on the Recovery Ride, they saw only a shadow of his former physical self. In his prime he was 6'2", 18 stone and 9% body fat. He told me that in those days he wasn't a very nice man. But then he left the Royal Marines and, fortunately for him, he met his future wife - known as 'D. Four sons furthered the civilising process and he became the man we knew.
I think it’s safe to say that Taz sought thrills and he pursued them in his civilian life. Taz actually did a suicide parachute jump. Unbelievably, you throw the chute out of the aeroplane and then jump after it, with no reserve! Hence the name “suicide jump” (I’ll tell you how it ended later). Taz had the constitution of an ox and his powers of recovery were seemingly inexhaustible. He is the only person I know that has survived cancer four times, two of which he was told were terminal! On the last one he was told that he had days to live. Yet he survived. He has also woken from a coma where no brain function had been detected. He had a wing-sailing crash where pretty much every bone in his body was broken, and yet he survived and went on to also survive the suicide jump I referred to earlier (he did several!) The guy was a force of nature and I am privileged to have had him call me a friend.
I’m certain that anyone that Taz was friends with would have a fund of similar stories (and I have a LOT more), but this is what one of his sons told me about how he sustained the injuries that led to his death. When I read it I was gobsmacked that a 67 year old man that I knew could do such a thing. It says a lot about him. I have edited it.
Err, wow.
RIP Taz.
TAZ died on 13th June 2017 (I knew it was mid June, I only just found out the exact date).
I got to know Taz through the MBR forum (now defunct) when I lent him some Ergon grips to try. We later met for the first time when I was passing through Banbury, where he was living at the time. We are about as unlikely a combination as you could imagine, but we just clicked. Apart from the odd meeting (he stayed over at mine, and when we met for the Taz Recovery Ride at Cleve Hill), we lived so far apart that most of our friendship was conducted by phone, text and email. For those that met Taz on the Recovery Ride, they saw only a shadow of his former physical self. In his prime he was 6'2", 18 stone and 9% body fat. He told me that in those days he wasn't a very nice man. But then he left the Royal Marines and, fortunately for him, he met his future wife - known as 'D. Four sons furthered the civilising process and he became the man we knew.
I think it’s safe to say that Taz sought thrills and he pursued them in his civilian life. Taz actually did a suicide parachute jump. Unbelievably, you throw the chute out of the aeroplane and then jump after it, with no reserve! Hence the name “suicide jump” (I’ll tell you how it ended later). Taz had the constitution of an ox and his powers of recovery were seemingly inexhaustible. He is the only person I know that has survived cancer four times, two of which he was told were terminal! On the last one he was told that he had days to live. Yet he survived. He has also woken from a coma where no brain function had been detected. He had a wing-sailing crash where pretty much every bone in his body was broken, and yet he survived and went on to also survive the suicide jump I referred to earlier (he did several!) The guy was a force of nature and I am privileged to have had him call me a friend.
I’m certain that anyone that Taz was friends with would have a fund of similar stories (and I have a LOT more), but this is what one of his sons told me about how he sustained the injuries that led to his death. When I read it I was gobsmacked that a 67 year old man that I knew could do such a thing. It says a lot about him. I have edited it.
Dad was contracted to go to Africa as an expert in his specialism. He'd been there awhile and was travelling in convoy when they were ambushed. Abandoning their vehicles for cover they defended themselves, dad was badly wounded but was still fighting when a grenade or rocket hit his position behind rocks taking his left leg below the knee and his left hand above the wrist, pieces of rock and shrapnel hit him in the head, face and chest, no one understands how he lived long enough to be evacuated to hospital. He has had a lot of surgeries but is not responding well due to the extent of his injuries.
His colleagues say his fast thinking, skills and fearlessness were a big factor in their survival until the back up convoy arrived and turned the tide.
I'm very sorry if people are upset but at least he did the right thing, he couldn't just retire.
His colleagues say his fast thinking, skills and fearlessness were a big factor in their survival until the back up convoy arrived and turned the tide.
I'm very sorry if people are upset but at least he did the right thing, he couldn't just retire.
Err, wow.
RIP Taz.
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Comments
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You don't know anywhere near the half of it! He told me that his ambition was to screech through the Pearly Gates with a totally worn out body shouting "that was a hell of a ride!"
I believe that he achieved his ambition.2 -
I never met him Steve but do remember him from the old Forum.
Has it really been 4 years?
A total one-off.
RIP.1 -
You must remember him being "Reverend Bootneck" dispensing wisdom, penance and absolution for our biking sins?
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Would you like to see a sample? This Forum may redact a lot of it.1
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Yes please. I'm over 18.0
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Originally Posted by DISGreece
Dear Rev,
I have just got home after a particularly muddy ride (WELL, AS MUDDY AS IT CAN BE IN THIS NICK OF THE WOODS :P ) and I realised that I particularly enjoy the feeling of wet sticky stuff all over my body and even my face. Is this something I should worry about, especially as I enjoy doing it with company, and most of them are men... and, I'm ashamed to admit this, even young boys....
Help me please....
Desperate Dave...
Dear Desperate Dave,
As long as you are not doing this while dressed in Lycra it is not considered a perversion! Doing it whilst in the woods is to be encouraged and with young boys earns high praise indeed, how else would they learn of the deep joy to be found in the woods!
Now go and say three "Hail Shimano" for the sin of self doubt!
Go in peace Brother Dave for the Reverend Bootneck rides with you.
For Clarity only......"Kinky = using a feather....Perverted = Using the whole damned chicken!"
Tazzedx
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😂🤣👍 Not so much advice, more confession then absolution and a few 'hail Shimano's' as the appropriate penance. 😇
I rate that P.G. compared to my 8 yr old shouting M***** F****r at a chicken on a recent day trip to a farm. 🤦♂️0 -
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They do say that children learn most things from their parents, especially language!!reaperactual said:...............
I rate that P.G. compared to my 8 yr old shouting M***** F****r at a chicken on a recent day trip to a farm. 🤦♂️
How embarrassing, were there many witnesses?
Satisfy your self with the fact that she probably has no idea what it means.
When my grandson was two years old, his grandma was helping him with cutting out paper shapes. She held up a particularly tricky piece and he said "Good boy, grandma!" 1 -
Indirectly my fault as we played a certain video game during lockdown. It was plucked from the memory bank, totally out of the blue at the most inappropriate time. 😳
Yes, how is it they don't have a clue what they're saying but it seems to fit the situation so well?
Lots of people around so officially I just so happened to be distracted by a feather at that exact moment. 😆
I take it Grandma took the 'good Boy Grandma' comment well?
Looking forward to another shocker from our Little Angels, 🙈 it's never that long to the next one! 😃
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Thank heavens for that, I thought you were losing it!sniper68 said:double post
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