Monthly Archives: September 2007

Somewhere during my career as a licensed car driver I changed from needing a sporty car to a utility car.  I remember thinking while I was a sporty car driver that I would never own an SUV, minivan or any other family-like car.  Then motorcycles happened and I learned that the best way I can get me and my gear from A to B is with a van.  I don’t even think about wanting a sporty car anymore I guess because I get plenty of thrill satisfaction from motos.

I bought a used 1997 E350 in a nearby town a few years ago.  It had 292,000 miles on it then and knew it wouldn’t last very long.  But the price was right and it has served well.  I striped the headliner out, installed a wall just rearward of the side barn doors, hung some pegboard on the inside of all of the doors and created a tiedown system that allows for 3 bikes to ride side by side in the rear end of the van.  So far it has worked out great.

But, Joe and I have put 30,000 additional miles on it over the past two summers so its time to abandon it before it costs me more money.  I thought finding a replacement would be easy since there are thousands of E350 vans on the roads.  Based on the fuel economy and power of a diesel I started searching locally for one of those but learned they are far and few between.  Might be that Ford offered the 1-ton vans with the 5.4 gas engine as standard and the PowerStroke engine was an option (an expensive option at that). 

After an extensive and time consuming search I finally found a guy in San Diego with two E350 PowerStroke-powered vans.  Long story short, another moto buddy of mine bought one and I bought the other.  Trouble is that I have to make time to fly out and drive it home.  But the pros are that it has no rust and it was a fleet vehicle so it ought to do us just fine.

This past weekend was round 8 of the District 16 Hare Scramble series.  We have raced at Valders for years which can be good and bad, depending on where my head is.  Good because I know what to expect and bad because the course is getting beat up. 

The Viking gun club owns the place and as far as I know allows only this race once per year.  ATV trails litter the land but they trails are for access to various hunting screens and shooting ranges and not normally used for race courses.  Valders is south of Green Bay.

The land must be about 50 acres or so with some open rolling hills, some leafy tree sections and a ton of sandy soil with fist sized rock.  The temps were in the 60s on race day but the dirt was a little dry so the course didn’t hold up very well.  Rain would have been a good thing.

I was 2nd to first turn but quickly lost a spot before turn two.  The soil was too loose for me to get any grip so I was making noise but not getting anywhere.  JD got the holeshot and usually checks out pretty quickly so I wanted to be as close to him as possible.  I recovered the 2nd place spot a few turns into the course but by then JD was stringing things out and was a few turns ahead of me.

Because we only ride here once per year the single track takes on a personality that I struggle with.  Loose rocks gather in the bottoms of the ruts.  I like to stand nearly all the time but my standing style wasn’t working with how loose the trail was.  I kept losing the front of the bike and hence losing speed and confidence.  It wasn’t until I was back in 4th place that I figure out that I needed to make a change to my riding style.  I started sitting in the places I normally stand.  It took me a while to get going but I finally did. 

About that same time the two guys that had gotten by me started to fade.  The third place guy, Matt Herrington, looked like he had arm pump or some sort of fatigue.  He moved over to let me by in a wide open field.  I guessed I was 30 or more seconds behind Ben Bernard who was in second when Matt let me by. 

I was still making small mistakes but getting better.  I had given up hope on ever seeing JD again but figured I could catch Ben.  That same lap I had a big bobble and that put my efforts in neutral for a moment.  I had a short but firm mental conference with myself to try to put things in order.  I was unhappy with how I was riding and needed to get back on the ball.  A lap later I caught Ben.

The race was 16 laps and I finished 2 minutes and 1 second down on JD.  That’s a big improvement for me considering JD nearly lapped me at Valders last year.  It’s not worth stressing over how I might have done if I had my head in gear from the start but I have to wonder how much closer I might have been.

I have a 31 point lead over Ben Bernard in the AA class at this point.  That’s something I am proud of and feel satisfied with all my hard work this year.  Only two races to go, one of which is on my home course in Rome, WI.

Below might not make any sense to you but I’ll post it anyhow.  Normally Joe and I drive to races togehter but this time around our work schedules differed too much.  Here is a note I dropped to Joe the day after the race:

Didn’t get the chance to share race notes on the drive home after Kewaunee so I’ll do it here.

I was a little bummed that Clayton caught us so quickly on the opening lap. I got the holeshot and battled with Ben B for a few turns but I could hear a four stroke behind us and assumed it was Flea.  I took the time to look over my shoulder because I wanted Flea in front of me – he knew the course and would be easy to follow.  But when I looked and saw Clay, my stomach dropped. 

Clay got by Ben B somewhere and pulled up to me.  I started thinking I wanted him to do the work up front if he had so much pace.  He probably didn’t know the course any better than me that early in the race and was going fast by just hanging it all out.  I pulled to the side of the trail on one of the grassy sections and let him by.  He looked over at me on his way by.  Who knows what he was thinking. 

I jumped on his wheel hoping I had enough pace to keep him in sight.  I don’t know if he slowed from the pressure of being up front or just didn’t have the balls/energy to ride as fast as he did in the opening minutes of the race but I could stay on his wheel pretty easily.  I did get tangled with a lapper in the woods section that cost me 5-10 seconds but I reeled Clay back in by the time we got to the scoring tent.  That reeling gave me lots of confidence and I started thinking race strategy.

I learned a few things about his riding vs. mine in those opening laps.  He gets on the gas way earlier than I do when exiting a turn.  I carry more corner speed.  And the rear end of his bike needs some adjustments because he can’t keep it under control in any of the heavy braking sections. He’s also not as good on the jumps as I thought he would be.  He slowed before all the same stuff I did and he didn’t do anything special in air to make or keep speed.

I think he lead for 3 laps before I passed him after a banked turn on the north side of the course.  It looked to me like he strained something, based on his body language.  I later thought maybe he was tired of me hounding him and he let me by.  He said after the race that his back hurt but I don’t know details.  Anyhow, when he sat up I rode past checking to see that he was okay and soon afterwards thought I should be putting time on him so I can see what he is made of.  I had referenced where he was slower than me and I made sure to keep on the gas and not make any mistakes in those sections.  The rest of the loop I tried to stay safe, keep away from the lappers and no make any mistakes.

I didn’t hear or see him for a few laps and wondered if he had to stop for gas.  I never did see if he had a big tank or not but so I don’t know if he stopped.  For sure he would have had to stop if he had a small tank because we were going fast and the course used up a lot of fuel.  His dad took a good hard look at my gas level after the race while I was talking to Clay so I wonder what he was thinking.  Did I mention that I don’t like Clay’s dad?

With maybe 3 laps to go I saw and heard Clay opposite me in the woods.  I wondered if I had 30 seconds on him or not but feared I did not.  I put my head down for a while but really wasn’t making up any ground.  The course had started to deteriorate and I was getting tired.  I was alarmed at how winded I was every time I dove down that steep hill into the woods.  The previous straights and mx track took more out of me than I expected. 

At the end I knew it would be close on time for the overall.  I recall dreading the thought of winning the AA class with a good ride and being beaten by an A rider on time.  That would make the AA win feel hollow.  It did.  When I pulled up to the timing tent at the end there were 2 riders in front of me.  Paula had no reason to be fast with the scoring because the race was over so I had to wait until she got to me to be read. I think that probably took 3 or 4 seconds and I panicked while the time ticked away.  Nothing I could do but wait.  In the end I was 11 seconds behind Clay for the overall. 

Lots of stuff stands out to me as satisfying about the race, even if I was beaten by a kid with little league dad.  My bike was perfect.  The jetting was a little lean so it pulled hard out of the turns and ripped across the fields.  With my standard suspension settings I was comfy in the creek beds, happy on the mx track and not afraid of the high speeds.  I was able to up my game and assess the race situation with ease when asked to, even if I doubted my abilities at first.  I’m a good late braker and it helped me make up time on riders in front of me 10 out of 10 times.  I only stalled once and it bumped back to life with ease.  No crashes and only a few bobbles to speak of for the entire race. 

With a few more miles of narrow stuff that could be a great 3 hour race course.  Although I only have one GNCC race to compare to, the Kewaunee course felt GNCC-like to me.

I put 30 points on JD because he was racing in PA somewhere.  I’m glad he was off frying bigger fish yet sorry he wasn’t here in WI / D16 keeping us honest.  Maybe next time.  That puts me firmly in the lead of the AA points chase with 4 races to go.  Pressure is on.

I’m currently leading the AA points chase in D16 and I really want to go into 2008 as a series overall champion. We have just come off our summer break so I’m a bit concerned about my in-race intensity and hope to get going again when the season resumes on September 9th. I can normally maintain some fitness between races but I have a difficult time staying sharp when we have big breaks between races. I definitely build confindence and speed when we race back to back weekends.

D16 has a fair number of fast guys but not as many as neighboring districts. We get the occasional MX guy that has some woods speed but for the most part is JD Friebel taking the top spot. JD is a young up-and- comer that has had success at OMA events this summer.  Finishing second to him isn’t a hard pill to swallow becasue I know he’s fast.

After that September 9th race we hit events all the way up to the end of October. Joe and I will do the Ironman GNCC in Crawfordsville, Indiana as a season ender and exposure race. We have only done one GNCC race in the past so our learning curve is pretty steep right now. I have lots of questions about how my body and bike will survive 3 hour races next year.

Aug 29, 10:44 PM — [ Edit | Delete ] — View post “Scott”