Took at least an hour to clean my bike. There was at least 40 lbs of mud on the bike. It was everywhere. The plastic, chain, sprockets, brake pads all went straight to the trash.
Love that Crawfordsville race and course, but man is it hard on equipment.
Out.
Posted in Joe's blog
Tagged Crawfordsville, ironman gncc, Joe Vadeboncoeur, RM-Z250, Vesrah Suzuki
The Ironman race has come and gone and the experience delivered its usual plethora of emotional ups and downs. I’m riding shotgun to Joe as we make our way back to Madison, around Chicago in the pouring rain.
Joe and I did our usual course inspection, race registration and GNCC friends check in before eating some lunch and dressing up for the race.
I opted to enter in the 4 stroke lites class this time to help me achieve my goal of finishing in the top 50 overall. It was a little awkward being so close to the front of the race (I think mud spit from Josh Strang’s bike landed on me when he blasted from the line at the start). I tried to distance myself from the my abnormal start location and focused on taking advantage of being with fast guys and not behind so many riders at the start.
Anyhow, the flag dropped and I got going. I was pretty far back in the field but made it through the first grassy turns, initial single track section, first mud hole, steep climb and corn fields without any issues. I can only guess at how much time had elapsed in that opening lap when I noticed I was riding with Nate Ferderer. He’s a D23 woods guy that has some good speed, a cool personality and a nice dad. I was keeping with him and felt I was in a good spot; Nate would only be going faster as the race progressed so if I could tail him for a while it would help me get into the top 50, or so I thought.
Late in that opening lap we got to a big creek crossing. I approached with caution and was looking for ripples in the running water because that’s usually the shallowest water. As I pulled up to the bank a guy in a blue Factory Yamaha shirt was yelling to stay left. I must not have seen anything better than that advice when I scanned the water myself so I stayed left and rode off the bank into a huge hole.
The water came up over my bars and into my lap. The bike folded under me and tossed me off to the side. I don’t think I went under but the splash soaked my goggles, jersey and gloves. I stood up in a panic because I was hoping to keep my top 50 hopes alive. In my haste I lost my balance on the creek’s bottom and fell on the bike. My weight pushed the bike completely under the water. I don’t know if it was floating there or if my handlebar grip mushed into the sandy creek bottom but seeing my bike lay on its side under water was horrible.
I grabbed it and stood it up. Only then I realized how cold the water was and that I was up to my pant zipper in water. My boots were full of cold water and weighed a ton. I yelled back at that guy in the Yamaha shirt and told him he was an asshole.
Thanks to the guys that helped me stand my bike on its rear wheel to dump the water out and thanks to whomever it was that kicked my bike when I got tired from kicking. After what seemed like a long, long time, my bike sputtered to life and I tiptoed across the rest of the creek and up the trail. The rest of that lap was dangerous because whatever water was sloshing around in the carb or being sucked through the filter would cause intermittent massive bogs and sputters. I couldn’t count on the engine to get up and over anything.
As I struggled through the rest of that first lap I thought about what it would take to finish the race. It was a long way to drive to not try and finish. I had to let go of my top 50 ambitions and that hurt.
I did make it back to our pit. I pulled the air filter and wrung it out like a sponge then I pulled the carb bowl plug and let the silty creek water drain out. The bike fired back up and ran pretty good after that. I was more than a lap down by then and set out to just enjoy the ride.
My mental state was so ragged for the rest of the race that it was difficult for me to focus. I did get through some sections with ease and recall recognizing how fast and fluid I felt but for the most part I sucked. I think that because I haven’t raced much this year I end up investing too much time and energy into doing well at the races that I do make it to. My disappointment revolves around my high expectations.
I have no idea where I finished overall but I did finish. My 5 year streak of finishing every race I’ve entered continues.
When I was sitting squarely in the saddle my RM-Z250 was really good. The engine mods that Mark did and the race gas made the bike sing. GNCC races are fast (even when you’re having a bad day) so having confidence in your suspension is so very important. The Factory Connection set up was perfect.
It’s going to take some effort to get the bike looking and running well again. I’ve got time though since the next planned ride is in Tennessee a month from now. More on that another time.
This is taken from about dead center of the parking lot. It looks like this in every direction. Mud, RVs, quads, tents and portapotties.
Judging by the way they spoke to each other they were married. They were just sitting there with nothing to do except pull or push out something that was stuck.
It wouldn't have been complete without me getting the van stuck.
Posted in Scott's blog
Tagged Crawfordsville, D16, factory conneciton, gncc, Harescrambles, Mark Junge, moose racing, offroad, RM-Z250, Vesrah Suzuki, wisconsin cross country, WIXC
I needed to post up some pictures of the aftermath of Crawfordsville. We got home late last night, so the bike just went into the garage and I piled into bed. Today after work, I got after trying to get started cleaning it all up.
That was an almost new feeling motorcycle before this. It had new plastic, and new graphics. I wanted it to look good, and more than one person remarked that our bikes looked really good. They did.
Ugh.
Joe
Posted in Joe's blog
Tagged Crawfordsville, gncc, Joe Vadeboncoeur, RM-Z250, Vesrah Suzuki
What do you get when you combine 1000 motorcycles, soft dirt a bunch of river crossings and huge hills? You get the Crawfordsville Ironman GNCC – that’s what you get. This years addition was the hardest ever. I think it was at least 10 times harder than last year. The mud, the ruts, the hills, the waist deep river crossings, the ruts, the whoops, the power sapping soft dirt… Ugh.
Crawfordsville was the normal chaos of cars and trucks and ATV’s stuck in the muddy field. I am also always amazed at the fact that we see confederate flags this far north. They are on the back of trucks, they are on peoples hats, there are flags flying… Wow.
We parked in the XC2 pits. We kind of know our way around the place and just inserted ourselves in there. We pulled in and wedged ourselves between Chuck Woodford and our friend Mat Herrington. A primo spot, it was cool.
The morning race had over 500 motorcycles. Unbelievable. This was probably the most well attended race I have ever seen. I don’t know what the recession has to do with it.
see of motorcycles.
this one should have been with the mud gallery. that is how your tires look trying to get in and out.
When the first guys go through, it is not so bad. Later during our race this will be a sea of mud and bikes stuck everywhere.
I got a pretty good start, probably 5th off the line and into the woods. There were 15 guys on my line. Dang, that RMZ is a great bike. I also am really amazed at how well the 4stroke works now, compared to my previous 4stroke experience. It is fast, it handles well it just does everything well. Except, it is loud. I don’t really like that part about it.
The first lap there was the usual impassable spot that had to be rerouted. We were caught under this bridge culvert and with bikes stuck everywhere and overheating. There was a super muddy creek we had to ride down, under the culvert, down the creek and then in theory make a 90 degree right turn up a 100 foot hill from the river. There were at least 30 bikes there stuck when I arrived. No one was making it up the hill. We finally got through when they rerouted us away from a huge hill that people just could not make it up, but it was at least 5 minutes of just sitting there.
Also, somewhere along the first lap, I picked up a ribbon in my front brake. For the whole race, my front brake had to be pumped to make the brake work. The first pull it would go all the way to the bar, the second halfway and then finally on the 3rd pull it would work. It was a bit distracting as the hills are so big there, there is just no way to ride without a front brake. Hmmm… must have heated up the fluid somehow and boiled it all out or… I don’t know.
Because we start 15 minutes after the pro’s, and we had spent so much time sitting there in the creek, the pro’s caught us all before the end of the first lap. ugh… No 5 laps today.
Some of the race, I ran in 5th place. But, then on the last lap, I got impossibly stuck and was multiple minutes slow. Crossed a creek and then chose the wrong rut. The rut I was in was deeper than the top of the seat of the bike. There was an old guy there with an ATV, and after arguing with him for multiple minutes, he finally pulled out a strap and helped me pull the bike out of the rut. I don’t know what he was there for, if he was not going to pull people out of the ruts. I stood there for all those minutes, while multiple multiple people went by me. Unfortunately, I dropped back to 7th there. Not a bad finish, considering.
Of course it would not be a GNCC race, if we did not get the van stuck in the field trying to get out. For what feels like the hundredth time, we had to have a tractor pull us out to get going. We have been stuck in Scott’s van in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana (more than once), New York, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee… Wow. I wonder how many other states we can get it stuck in?
yep, stuck again!
And yes. we had to be towed out.
The results.
Yes my bike looks horrible.
Out
Joe
Posted in Joe's blog
Tagged Crawfordsville, gncc, Joe Vadeboncoeur, moose racing, RM-Z250, Vesrah Suzuki
On our way down to Crawfordsville, we needed to stop off at Suzuki Mark’s. Thats what we call him anyway.
Mark and I standing in front of the trailer INSIDE his shop!
His real name is Mark Junge. Mark and his wife Nancy run Vesrah Suzuki racing. Mark is 8 time national endurance racing champion. 8 times! Holy crap. That is some skill But on top of that, he and Nancy are just really good people. They are super to be around. I always love going to their shop.
A few Youtube videos for you from Mark’s racing.
Looking into Mark's shop. That is the semi pulled into the shop and those are STACKS of race tires! Yow!
The shop is huge! It is big enough that the full semi for the race team just pulls right into the shop. Stacked on one end of the shop are at least 20 stacks of race tires in stacks shoulder high. Stuffed into corners all over the shop are various race bikes. Mark runs a full compliment of GSXR1000′s and a team of GSXR600′s. There are what appears to me to be about 25 motorcycles in various states of race prep around the shop.
A few of the many many bikes around the shop. They are all for sale at the end of the season, btw.
Nancy showed me some of the archive bikes that Mark has around the shop. He is trying to rebuild race bikes from all of the 9 seasons of championship racing. Wow.
We wound our way back to the bowels of the shop, where Mark had stacks and stacks of race gas. He gave us a bunch of the stinky stuff and we were just giddy to get it. Something about having “race gas” makes it all seem that much more real. That much more serious and sort of famous some how. “I have race gas in my tank”, I had better go fast!
As much as we are moto freaks, Mark is a bicycle freak.
You can't really see it up there, but on the loft above the dyno room, there are at least 20 bicycles.
What is it with motorcycle guys loving bicycles? I think it is really cool.
So, we got going from there and Candi told us that we had about 4 hours drive from there to get to Crawfordsville. We had to make it through Chicago (The city of 24/7 traffic) and then through Gary Indiana (you know how nice that is) and then south in Indiana. Indiana is actually a pretty nice place. A lot like Illinois, ony better I think.
We had dinner in West Lafayette, the home of Purdue University. It seems like a pretty good town.
After an uneventful drive, we are here in Crawfordsville. We are in the lap of luxury is what it feels like. We are in the Ramada Limited. Doesn’t feel anything like our full season of GNCC. During that season we were right in the thick of things. We camped in the camper at the race site of each race. We were there for all of the Quad race saturdays. We walked the track on Saturday. We worked on motorcycles. We made lunch at the campsite. We went to talk to Shane at Suzuki. We found Jason Weigand and others. We got signed up on Saturday. We were regulars. Now we are just 2 guys in a hotel room, doing a motorcycle race the next day.
I miss the full GNCC thing. We will at least get a little bit of it tomorrow.
I will post up from the race site and twitter etc… Wish us luck.
Joe
Posted in Joe's blog
Tagged Crawfordsville, factory conneciton, gncc, Joe Vadeboncoeur, Mark Junge, offroad, RM-Z250, Vesrah Suzuki
Joe and I are on our way to the last GNCC race of the year. This will be the only GNCC race that I’ve done this year which is has sparked conversations about the complete GNCC calendar that we did last year. We’ve been reminiscing about the fun times, the challenging times, and our favorite courses during last year’s race season as we drive south to Crawfordsville, IN for the Ironman. We’ve been discussing what races we want to try and hit in the 2010 GNCC season. Too early to know for sure but there are few that I hope to get to in 2010. Anyhow, we are on our way to the Ironman and we are stoked.
On an aside, there’s an OMA winter series that’s caught our interest. We might try and hit a few of those during the upcoming dark and chilly months. Might help the winter pass a little faster if we had a bright spot on the moto schedule once per month.
I had a list of stuff that I needed to get together in prep for the Ironman GNCC. Most everything revolved around bike set up and Mark Junge a Vesrah Suzuki helped me get things done. The biggest task on my list had been gearing challenges. I’d been tinkering with gearing options at Dyracuse from time to time and learned that the stock RM-Z250 transmission ratios and final drive were very motocross focused (no surprise since it’s an MX bike that I’ve massaged into a woods bike). The combination of stock tranny/sprocket gearing and my riding style make it so that I spend a lot of time in 4th and 5th gear, even at a place like Dyracuse where there’s some tight woods and lots of heavy sand. The OE 12 tooth counter shaft sprocket and 48 tooth rear sprocket help the bike get up to speed pretty quickly but I run out of gears on too many long straights.
I asked FMF Suzuki Racing’s Shane Nalley what the hot set up is for gearing. He suggested 13/51. That’s not much taller than the OE 12/48 but it should feel “longer” and the larger sprocket sizes should wear better. When I tried the 13/51 at Dryacuse, I was suddenly using 2nd and 3rd from time to time but it took a long time to get up to speed. Seems the 13/51 was a little tall for the stock engine (plus the heavier 110 rear tire and additional weight in other woods-specific bolt on stuff). Maybe the broader performing 13/51 and stock engine would be good for mellowing out the ride during 3 hour races but that wasn’t good enough for me. I wanted more power.
This is where Mark comes in. He upped the compression and re-shaped the intake ports on the head and he gave me some flame thrower R-Tech race gas. The engine isn’t so radically changed that I have to run race gas but when I’ve used it in the past it not only makes more power, it also makes crisper throttle response. To take full advantage of the fuel’s potential I stepped up the main jet size and raised the needle a notch. It’s going to suck a lot of fuel at the Ironman but I have to stop for gas anyhow – I’m running the stock 1.9 gallon tank. Might as well make more power between stops.
Joe and I swung by Mark’s Vesrah Suzuki shop on our way down to the Ironman. He set us up with some race gas and we gabbed about motos and mountain bikes.
Left to right is Nancy (Mark's wife), Mark and Joe. Our visit was too short - the Junge's are great people and we thank them for their support.
Outside the Vesrah shop. That's Mark in front of his grocery getter van.
Mark will be pissed that I posted a shot of his "messy" shop but its an amazing place. The truck had just come back from the WERA finals and dumped its guts in the shop. There were tires, bikes and parts everywhere.
The 2010 RM-Z250 is fuel injected. I haven’t researched the tank size on that bike but rumor has it that some of the injected 450s burn a lot of gas. Some of the 450s have 1.5 gallon tanks. One point five gallons will probably get you through a long moto but it won’t do much more than an hour in the woods, especially with race gas and high horsepower mapping. So now my concern is that the injected RM-Z250 might have a smaller thank than the carb bike: will I be able to do local Wisconsin 2-hour races without stopping for fuel?
Tomorrow we race. My RM-Z250 is in prime condition and I’m excited to race. Woohoo!
That's an RM-Z250 powered kart. This would be the only 4 wheeled ride that's cooler than my 2 wheeled rides.
Posted in Scott's blog
Tagged D16, Dyracuse, factory conneciton, gncc, Harescrambles, ironman gncc, Joe Vadeboncoeur, moose, offroad, OMA, RM-Z250, suzuki, trail riding, Vesrah, Vesrah Suzuki, wisconsin cross country, WIXC, woods racers, woods riding
The 303 rides again!
Now that is tight. Thanks a ton AJ for the graphics upgrade just for this race. It has rained a bunch there, but it rained overnight on Thursday. Last year it rained all night on Friday and the race was fantastic. I am counting on it being similar. Either way, time to shred.
Posted in Joe's blog
Tagged Crawfordsville, gncc, Joe Vadeboncoeur, RM-Z250, Vesrah Suzuki
Absolutely perfect dirt today! Rode with Mat Herrington. Damn he is fast. We did 3+ hours. We did the first hour together, and my pace. Then switched and of course I cannot keep up with Mat. We strung up the loop from the race 2 weeks ago. But, it was really good and I had good form. Too bad that I did not ride this well at the race there.
Stopped at 2 hours and splashed gas, ate 2 gu packs and then headed out for another hour. In that hour, I really rode well. Mat did lap me near the end of that 3rd hour, but he was not going that much faster than me then. I suppose we were both on auto pilot at that point.
Mark did a superb rebuild on my motor, and OMG! Wow is it super. It has tons of power now, and is really smooth. Temperature was 40 at the start, probably 50 at the finish. I have only raised the needle one clip. Otherwise the jetting is stock. It was pretty perfect.
I cannot wait for Crawfordsville now! 7 days to go!
Woohoo!
Posted in Joe's blog
Tagged D16, Dyracuse, factory conneciton, Harescrambles, Joe Vadeboncoeur, Mark Junge, moose, offroad, pirelli, RM-Z250, Vesrah Suzuki, WIXC
Only 9 days till the best race of the year! I cannot wait!
Posted in Joe's blog
Damn! I so want to be there.
http://www.pinkbike.com/video/50631/
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Posted in Joe's blog
Here are some of my favorite shots from the race we did a few weeks ago.
Marquette fast guy Ben Bernard
fellow Trek employee and veteran racer Roger Bird
Thanks to Brian Terry for posting these on Smugmug for all to see!
Posted in Scott's blog
The big one is just a couple of weeks away! As you can see, I am returning to my number from last year. Doing a bunch of bike prep today.
Getting spruced up plastic and decals ready for the GNCC race!
Yipee!!!!
You will definately want to check out this video. Thanks Ryan Moss from Midwest Enduro’s.
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Posted in Joe's blog
Tagged Crawfordsville, factory conneciton, gncc, Harescrambles, Ironman, Joe Vadeboncoeur, midwestenduros.com, RM-Z250, Vesrah Suzuki
I am thinking that you will totally want to check this out.
I am so doing that!
Posted in Joe's blog
Sunday was the last WIXC race of the year. The race was held at the fantastic course at Rhinelander. This is the same course that was used earlier in the year for the National Harescrambles race there at Sugar Camp.
The difference here was that the WIXC course ran the loop backwards. I think that the loop actually works better backwards than it does the normal way. The loop is long. About an 18-20 minute loop is super fun.
It had rained during the previous day, and during the night. It was raining as I went to sign up (what was I thinking?). It was raining at the start of the race and it was still raining at the end of the race. The sand the mud, the slime. Ugh… I said I was never doing a mud race like this again. Last year at Unadilla was the mudder of mudders, and I said I was never going to do that again. But, I did.
I got a good start, probably 3rd into the woods and then out of the woods into the grass track. Unfortunately, I slid into the 3rd turn on the grass track and stalled my motor. Stalling allowed everyone to go past me. Unfortunately I stalled my bike 2 more times on that same lap and struggled to get myself up to speed.
I got passed Rob in the 2nd lap, when he went down. Unfortunately my last glimpse of Jim was on the grass track that 2nd lap, when I saw him leaving the grass track just as I was entering it. Later that 2nd lap, I fell for my first time.
I came across a root section that was just complete spaghetti roots. The roots were super slippery and they just grabbed my front wheel and sent me sideways. That was the first time. That happened a few more times. I also had a couple of tip overs in the sand. Jeeze, what a day.
I rode ok, but I had a hard time keeping it upright.
I have always had a hard time in the super muddy conditions. This was no different.
Good on you to Jim. He had a super race.
Oh well. On to the GNCC race. The scene of the crime, so to speak.
Before every movement, there is a moment.
Out.
Joe
There are a fair number of people voicing their opinions on-line and at WI hare scramble events about how the racing has been this past season. Its my opinion that two clear topics of discussion have surfaced throughout the year – that the races are poorly attended and that the two series don’t get along.
There are several bi-products of the low race attendance – it makes it look like the sport is dying, the venues hosting and the people promoting the races don’t make any money, the racers don’t compete against all of the riders in the region and rider’s sponsors don’t get the return on their investment that they should. These points are the same for both series; it makes sense to me that there needs to be a better game plan for 2010 so that no one suffers as they have in 2009.
The reason two series don’t get along is beyond me. Seems to me that WIXC would benefit from the structure and power of the AMA and the D16 series would be better off using the WIXC venue connections. The reason they are now separate is a matter of ego, and the riders (and in my case, my sponsors) are the victims.
While I agree that multiple series can exist, I believe that we don’t have enough woods riders in WI, the UP and neighboring states that regularly compete in hare scramble events to have parallel series. If we had 300 rider lines like IL has or a series with the maturity of the OMA, it would be a different story. D16 and WIXC need to remember that without the riders, they don’t exist. Thinking that you can run a successful series with half the number or participants that you had in 2008 isn’t great business sense.
Judging by the timing of when the race schedules needs to be set, this might be preventing better cooperation between the two series. This is a perfect example of how the main players need to put egos and politics aside and map out a schedule of events that makes sense for the riders and promoters. Firming up a WI hare scramble calendar of events probably has more leeway than we are lead to believe. Discussing options on an open table is the best way to find out.
So, although the economy might improve enough to get some riders and their families back and the D16 organizers will have a year under their belt to have learned from and the WIXC series will have located new venues to race at, 2010 will again be a bust if something isn’t done. The root of the issue is that WIXC doesn’t like the politics of D16. There may be no way to get one series back in WI because of this but there certainly can be a better way of doing things than how it is now. Perhaps the two series can have more shared venues/events rather than trying hard to not overlap? The series should share the resource we have rather than hoard them.
Here is my suggestion: we invite any and all – riders, organizers, sponsors, race venue owners, D16 reps, WIXC reps, etc – to attend a meeting at a venue in central WI (hotel, casino, where ever). We listen to the issues that everyone has and we work to finding a solution for 2010. I think the meeting could be too heated to be productive so I think we should have a person to mediate; a person that has no invested interest in our situation. (It would be easy to find a local law student that wants debate practice.)
I’m all ears and willing to help organize a meeting. SOON!
Scott – (920) 390-9136
Posted in Scott's blog
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