I am in the middle of 10 days in Taiwan and China. We are just a little bit less than 2 weeks until the season starts in earnest. The first HS race is on the weekend of May 9 in Arkansaw, Wi. Then we are into the race season pretty much from there. The next weekend is another HS race on Sat, and then an Enduro on Sunday, the weekend after that is the National HS race in Rhinelander, and on and on from there.
Yippeee!
Posted in Joe's blog
Tagged Enduro, gncc, Harescrambles, motocross, offroad, racing, singletrack, trail riding
I finally got the opportunity to put my RM144 project bike up against my RM250. I have a lap timer that I used during supermoto practice years ago that comes in handy when I’m evaluating parts or my own body’s performance.
Homann’s was dry enough to put in an hour and a half of comparison riding last weekend so I gassed up both bikes and mapped out a short loop. I rode the 250 first to get a feel for things, beat in the trail and find some consistency. After a few laps I could see what an average lap time would be and with a little pushing I could take a few seconds off that. Average times were 2 minutes 8 seconds with a best time of 2:05 on the 250.
Suzuki RM hare scramble dashboard
Then I parked the 250 and tranferred the timing equipment to the 144, took on some water and hit the circuit again.
The loop I made went counter clockwise through mostly tight woods; nearly all of it in 2nd gear. There was an almost equal number of right and left turns, depending on if you count a few long sweepers, and two tricky off-chamber turns that cost a lot of time if you got off line or lost momentum. It was a short enough loop that even small mistakes showed up on the lap timer yet I had to try hard to do a quick lap.
The first thing I noticed was that the brake pads on the 144 were new and not bedded in. I blew a few turns before th brakes came around. Then the 20+ pound difference in weight between the 144 and 250 kicked in. The 144 is so light and nimble between the trees and over trail trash roots and rocks It felt like I could do whatever I wanted between the turns and trees.
But reality struck. I weigh too much and I haven’t learned how to keep the revs up high enough to get out of the turns with any speed. Despite being able to ride fast lines through the trees and carry speed into the turns, I haven’t learned how to keep corner speed and maintain control of the pipy engine on the way out of turns.
It took some big efforts on my part to do lap times that were my average time on the 250. I caught myself breathing hard a few times during a lap only to see a 2:09 on the timer. I think I was faster and more confident between the turns on the 144 but unable to get back up to speed quickly on the exits.
The tight woods loop I did my comparison on was exactly the terrain I was hoping the 144 would shine on. But it doesn’t seem to be working for me and I don’t have the time, patience or space to focus on making the 144 a part of my stable of bikes. No harm done and I’m happy to have gone through the effort of making the bike, but its for sale. Let me know if you have interest – spec and photos are on my bike page here within this site.
Posted in Scott's blog
Back in the saddle again. It seems like forever since I raced a motorcycle. The Enduro in November in northern Illinois. Wow. That is a long time ago. Today was the day that we headed down to Indiana, to be ready for tomorrow morning’s Sand Goblin Enduro. I decided to start my season this year with an Enduro, as after last years all year long GNCC effort, my woods skills are what need the most help. A tight Midwestern Enduro should be just the thing to jumpstart those skills. John Buechner and Joe Bauer picked me up at 12:30. We had all three of our bikes loaded in the back of the truck, pulling my little camper trailer.
That is my 2008 GNCC bike in the middle, turned into my Enduro bike now. It has a headlight!
It is a good thing. Bikes are in the back of the truck, The camper is being pulled along behind us, Candi is on the windshield barking out directions. We have stopped for gas and groceries along the way…all is right with the world. We arrived and parked in a big cow field. Typical. If it rains over night, we might not be able to get out. Like there often times is, there was a little kid doing his own Enduro there in the parking lot.
This is Hank. Hank 2.
Hank was roosting!
Hank was also airing it out.
We pretty quickly cooked dinner in the camper.
Getting ready
Definitely in a rut with my dinners at races.
Salad, pasta, grilled chicken. Over and over again.
John and Joe are pretty serious about this Enduro stuff. Me, I am just here for the 4 hours of trail. John has an Enduro computer from Enduro hot shot, Brian Terry. But, the problem is that he does not have any instructions on how to set it up.
3 guys .. 1 Enduro computer.
Since those guys are more serious than I, my plan is to ride along with them to let them do the timing, and I will just follow along.
It is warm tonight. I don’t even think we will need the camper heater. Should be a great night of sleeping. Probably down in the low 40’s overnight. Supposed to be 55 tomorrow for the race. Tomorrow is a 35 mile loop followed by a 30 mile loop. I cannot wait! 65 miles of singletrack!
There is a kind of a goofy spiral kind of thing right outside the trailer. It winds in on itself, and then winds back out. It does that 3 times. I think it is just an attempt to make us dizzy and then completely disoriented before we head into the woods. We signed up early, and are on minute 20 all together.
In addition to the race that we are here for, the Seattle SX race is going on, possibly a Moto GP race going on, possibly a World Superbike and there is the Loretta Lynn’s GNCC race. Our friend Mat Herrington is on the start line tomorrow for the XC2 class. I am counting on a top 10 finish from him. Go Mat!
Of course as I start to get sleepy here, and type this note, I can hear the rain starting to fall on top of the trailer. Race day It did rain during the night, of course. I mean after all, if I am going to a race it probably is going to rain. Just think about it, the GNCC circus is 5 races into it this year and they have not even had a single mud race.
It did rain all night the night before the race. The course held up pretty well, actually. It must have been really dry during this past week here. The dirt was really good and the trail was fantastic. My bike was spectacular. I rode the bike that I have set up as an Enduro bike.
-big tank
-Moose carb spacer
-big flywheel weight
-Fatty pipe.
I did not have a computer, but John did get the loaner working. We rode together most time, except when I struggled with getting my bike restarted.
Turns out there is a nudist colony in Roselawn. I didn’t see any naked people, but I saw the sign for the Ponderosa Sun Colony in Roselawn. The fact that there were possibly going to be naked people along the course, kinda weighed heavy on my mind during the race. I kept looking for them. Who really wants to go to a nudist colony anyway? I mean think about it, saggy people naked while doing whatever they are doing. Yuck. PUT SOME CLOTHES ON FOR PETE’S SAKE!
Anyway, back to the race. It ruled. It is 70 miles of singletrack laid out in front of you. There were a bunch of tight sections that were just primo. There were a bunch of field sections that were really fun. There were log crossings, of course. It is the midwest after all. I have only done a couple of Enduro’s, but they sure are fun. What is up with the license plate thing though? I mean, they tell you at the riders meeting that you have to have a license plate on your bike. But, no one actually has a current and real license plate. I had one on my chest protector from Illinois 2003. Joe Bauer had one from Colorado 2001. Jeez. What is up with that? Seems goofy, but everyone does it.
I am doing a couple more Enduro’s this year, but they are both no timekeeping format. I like that better. I don’t want to worry about timekeeping, I just want to ride.
Next up, Arkansaw for the first D16 HS race.
Out.
Posted in Joe's blog
Joe and I played hooky from work yesterday afternoon to ride at Dyracuse. Actually, I have to include Roger on that list,too. Roger suffered an ankle injury in a race years ago then suffered a debilitating shoulder injury that’s kept him off the bike for far too long. Having Rog along for the ride yesterday was monumental.
Anyhow, Dyracuse is normally pretty wet this time of year but the dust kept us from riding too close to one another yesterday . The whoops get deep and irregular when its so dry; I really suffered from this being that my skills are dull and fitness is mediocre. Today I’m sore and tired but happy to have to gotten in a solid 2 hours of riding.
I nearly always start a ride with an objective; a skill to hone, a level of intensity to maintain, a part to interrogate. This time I focused on riding at 7/10ths and corner speed. The 7/10ths kept me honest because I knew my fitness was sub-par and the corner speed techniques were interesting since I’ve never dissected that part of my riding before. I learned a lot and plan to keep working on making that a part of every ride in the future.
I put my trusty RM250 into action yesterday. That bike is so familiar to me that its hard to go wrong. GPR send us some revalved steering dampers that are close but not exactly what I was looking for so I’ll need to address that before too long. But jetting and suspension were totally predicatble so I could mostly forget about the bike and put my attention into rubbing the rust off.
Next ride? Probably at Homann’s farm sometime next week. I need to put the RM144 to the test on local trails to determine if it’s going to remain in the stable or not. Suzuki Mark thinks the RM-Z250 bikes will be here soon. I’ve got big plans for that build so having 3 bikes might be too much for the limited time I have. We’ll see.
Posted in Scott's blog
This is the funniest advert I think I have ever read.
enjoy
Posted in Joe's blog
Still hurting from Saturday’s ride. Damn, this getting old thing sucks. My back, shoulders, arms and legs all still feel it. Riding my bicycle to work this morning, to a meeting in Cottage Grove (15 miles away). That should loosen everything up. But, it is just 29 degrees out so have to bundle up.
Tonight I will prep my HS bike from the weekend. Needs to have oil changed, tires mounted up, new grips etc… I might end up going to Aztalan MX track to ride on Wed or Thur eve. I just got my new key in the mail, and it is finally going to be up in the 50′s on those days.
I also need to prep my Enduro bike. I am planning to go back up to Dyracuse to ride this Saturday on that bike, and it needs the sand front tire and a few other things to be ready for that.
Just 10 days till the Enduro in Indiana.
Joe
Posted in Joe's blog
Tagged D16, Dyracuse, gncc, offroad, RM 250, Sand Goblin Enduro
Perfect! That is about how I would describe it. 50 degrees, moisture in the soil but no real mud to speak of. There were a ton of people there.
Joe Bauer, John Buechner and I arrived at about 9:30. The gate does not open until 10, but we got changed and all set by the time the gate was open. “Speedy Pete” Laubemeir and a couple of other arrived at 10:15. We were ready to ride by the time they were unpacking.
The 3 of us went out and found a loop. A combination of the HS race loop from 2 years ago, and some of the HS race loop from last year. It was great. We made about a 15 minute loop, that had the trademark terrain of Dyracuse. Lots of sand, lots of whoops, lots of fast sections and a bunch of log crossings etc… Damn, Speedy Pete really is speedy. Wow.
I was on a plan to see if my bike can run 2 hours with the small tank. I think I can. I am going to expand it a bit, just to give me some insurance, but I think I can get a 2 hour race in with the small tank. I am psyched by that.
My Suzuki worked flawless today. This is the 06, that I grenaded last year. But, Mark Junge completely rebuilt the motor for me, and it is sweeeeet! I love that bike. My new Moose XCR gear is really really good stuff.
On the way home, John and Joe talked me into do the Enduro down in Indiana with them instead of the GNCC race at Loretta’s. Loretta’s is 9 hours away. The Enduro down in Indiana is just 4 hours away. That did it for me.
This week I will get my enduro bike ready to ride, and I will ride that up at Dyracuse next weekend.
Posted in Joe's blog
Tagged D16, Dyracuse, Enduro, Mark Junge, moose, suzuki, Vesrah
Mary Daubert has worked with us over the years, to have us ready for the season. She is magic and easy to work with.
She has a new website for her fitness training business.
check it out.
Posted in Joe's blog, Scott's blog
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