[Bryan Bosch]

A couple of mornings ago, we lost a great friend, fellow enthusiast and TT Moderator, Rich Horstmeyer (AKA TheGitch). Please share your thoughts & memories of Rich in support of the Horstmeyer family. :thumbsup:

Here's the original thread where many of you heard of this sad news:
http://www.thumpertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=467845

Here's a link to Rich's Profile on TT:
http://www.thumpertalk.com/forum/member.php?u=35504

[milje]

Rest in peace Rich. Godspeed.

[motodad393]

While I never had the pleasure of meeting Rich in person, I did have the privilege of speaking with him a few times on the phone. This guy was a good man with a "big heart." He will be missed by many and is loved by those who knew him. I feel privileged to have spoken with him.

I am not sure but I believe Rich was born on a Husky and was riding after just a few hours. I am told that his first words were, "Mom, where's the Husky." :ride:

May Rich Rest in Eternal Peace. I know he will be riding and roosting in the heavens and I would suspect that he and Garrett will fast become buddies.

My condolences to the Horstmeyer family and please feel free to contact me if I may be of assistance to Rich's family.

Sincerely and in Sympathy,

Mike Berg
"Motodad393"

[KTM250rm]

DAMN IT!

I never got to ride with Rich at Milford Lake, but I had dinner with him and his family on a couple of occasions.

He will be sadly missed and I know his father will miss him as a riding partner.

I knew Rich had an illness, but never knew it was cancer.

Rich will be riding those fantastic trails in heaven and has earn his motowings.

God Speed Rich!

Here is Rich's website: http://www.horstmeyerracing.com/

Rick

[ove]

I got to know Rich here on TT 3 years ago. So it's strange to say goodbye here as well...

A little background info:
I broke my Tib/Fib 3 years ago.:cripple:
It would not heal and I had to have 7 surgeries to get it right.
To get to the point: I had waaay to much time on my hand, so I was hanging around here on TT ,and here I met Rich.(TheGitch!)
We quickly discovered we had the same sense of humor,liked the same music, loved Dirt Bikes and we were both into Airplanes as well, he building and flying, me maintaining them.

He was on MSN every day to check up on me and ask how my leg was doing, he kept my spirits up, joking and really helping me to get through that shit. It took almost a full year to heal, and he was there, either on mail,MSN or the phone.
I am so thankful for that.

He was a big guy with a big heart.
What I want to say is that in those three years it felt like he and I got to know each other.
I understand he had lots of friends on TT, and I'm sure each and everyone of them can say the same thing: He made you feel like a special person.
And to me he was very special, getting to know him was like finding my lost brother .
We often spoke about him or me traveling to meet, and sit down with a beer after a day of riding. I know we would have had a blast!
I'm so sad it would never be.

He called me the afternoon before he passed away.
He told me about his cancer getting worse, but he never told me it was this close to the end. Maybe he didn't know, but thinking back, it strikes me as this phone call was his way to say farewell to me.
We talked and joked about drinking a beer together on his porch this summer, I was hoping to come over to visit him and his family.
He was a bit down of course, but he talked about surgery and that the Doctors was planning on how to remove the cancer.
I asked him how he felt about this, and as the good guy he was, he told me it was better that he got it, so maybe his wife and kid could go free...

He took every punch life threw at him standing up.
I just wish I knew how serious this was, so I could get a chance to help out in any way.

He was brave, and I'm so happy and proud to have known him!
Man, when it is my time to go I just pray I'm half the man he was.

So goodbye Bro, I know we will meet again and have that cold beer.

--Ove (Mad V to you)

[jschner]

My sincerest condolences to Rich's family and friends.

I really didn't know Rich very well, except from TT and his posts and a few PMs we had in the past.

Like many people on TT "The Gitch" touched most of us in some special way. Some in a big way, some small but usually everyone.

In my case it was small but meaningful. A couple years ago I had started a thread about Astronomy asking if anyone else was interested. A few people posted but Rich had private messaged me to chit chat about space a bit.

I simply asked him what part of Space he was interested in and he gave the following reply;


"hey buddy,
AS far as what parts of space I am interested in...ALL OF IT. It think the whole thing is amazing to think about. And I think that it's a rare hobby for people because you have to keep an open mind about space and what it contains. It's hard for a menial minded person to think about the scale of space. Albert Einstein once said. "The enemy of forward thought is a menial mind." That is so true. My main interest is the Space Program. I haven't really gotten into the Shuttle missions because (I hate to say it) they seem a little boring to me. They just stay in low earth orbit. From what I am hoping, this president will take some initiative (pardon spelling) and think a little further out. The ISS is cool, but we need to be going back to the moon and farther. Just like Tsiokofsky said "The Earth is man's cradle, but We cannot stay in the cradle forever"

That is one thing that bumms me out is that I can't pick out planets and things like that. Even with a telescope, I couldn't tell you. I havn't been able to afford a telescope so. I can tell you about the Super String Theory, but I can't tell you where Venus is.haha. This is definitly cool, lets keep in touch and BS about it!"

Funny thing about this is this PM is over two years old and for some reason I have felt compelled to keep it and not delete it like I have so many other PMs. I think what I love about it is his kid like enthusiasm shown here and his genuine curiosity about the heavens.

Rich is a very special guy who had the ability to connect with others and I'm thankful I got to enjoy just a small part of that through his posts on TT and a few private messages.

As Rich is now left the cradle, may God bless him and personally give him a guided tour of the heavens.

When I'm looking up, I'll be thinking of you buddy.

[cheezy]

RIP, Gitchard.

[fasteroldguy]

To the Horstmeyer family. I've been throwing my leg over these two wheeled monsters for almost 50 years. I sat down not long ago and recalled how much of my life has been affected by motorcycles. It was amazing. There is no doubt about it, where I am now in my life can be attributed to motorcycles and the wonderful people that I have had the pleasure of meeting over all of those years. There is a certain "brotherhood" or commoraderie felt by all of us and even though I didn't know Rich, I feel your pain. God sends to the family of a lost loved one a huge pile of grief to bear. Each person that expresses himself or prays for the family, takes away an amount of that grief leaving the family with that much less to bear. God speed Rich, you're in even BETTER company now!

[Anna]

It's taken me a long time to write anything, eveytime I try I can barely see the screen, because my eyes fill with warm tears.

I had the opportunity to talk to Gitch a few times last fall. The TT owners and moderators had chipped in to get him a laptop so that he could stay connected to his friends through the internet. He didn't have enough strength to sit at his desk, the chemo therapy and illness had taken its toll. He did start to get stronger and even went back to work for a couple months. He told me in those conversations how much his friends at Thumpertalk meant to him, we both choked up as we talked about family, friends, and outcomes.

He had a great sense of humor. One night in TT chat, two years ago, I shared a story about how I was supposed to move into an office at work, but the present occupier would not leave the space. He would lock the door and the movers were unable to get it done. I was stuck between offices, with my belongings in limbo. I said I needed some help, so Gitch took this picture, and told me to write a scary note about getting out of the office, and show him that I had an "Enforcer" who was going to provide the muscle. I think it was probably hard to take this stern photo, without smiling...

We miss you Gitch.

Anna,
TT Chat Moderator

THE ENFORCER
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v622/Anna78/Enforcer2.jpg

[kiwijohn]

:cry:

Me and the Gitch had many a PM on the subject of Caddyshack - the worlds greatest movie... even to the extent of testing each other on the dialogue of the movie!!

He was a great guy..... kind to Kiwi's, so good with children - See ya fella.

For anyone who's interested - check out this site - The Gitch was a BIG fan:

http://www.carlspackler.com/index.html

[sirhk]

Wow, 2 years younger then me to the day!!! My condolences to the family.

[BassMan]

You still live on in my IPOD brother!

[motodad393]

I remember Rich. He was a good man and person. I hope he "Rests in Eternal Peace" and that his family is doing well.

Roost On Rich!

[DougWood]

Same here. RIP Rich.

[MXJunky]

TheGitch