Author Archives: daubert

The photo of my pulped hands isn’t that positive but I really enjoyed racing at Loretta Lynn’s yesterday. The hilly terrain and fast pace catered to my riding style and my positive mind set and confidence I had in my bike setup made for a good day.

There were only 8 guys on the Senior A (40+) row. That’s a small field but that’s really only half of what matters to me. I like to do well in class but I’m really looking at an overall placing. I finished 2nd in class and 64th out of 201 finishers. I was shooting for top 50 overall so there’s a little disappointment. But I gave it my all so I’m good with that.

The evening before the race I saw the Factory Connection support truck and thought about having my fork redone. When I checked my bike I saw fork oil on the lowers so I quickly pulled everything apart and ran down to see Zack at the FC truck. He set me up. With how rough the course was I was glad I made the effort. Thanks Zack!

Loretta’s hills are different than the hills at the Ironman round. At Loretta’s you have a chance of getting going again if you mess up whereas at Ironman you’re screwed if you slow halfway up. And there are lots of longish hills at Loretta’s. I was loving the 300′s power up those hills, so much so that my hands took a fair beating from hanging on. The soil is loose at Loretta’s but there’s always grip. Not so at Ironman.

I only had one dingle during the race that cost me a place. Early in the race I saw a line that I wanted way too late and still tried to get to it and ended up straddling a tree. The bike stalled and I had to lift it up to get going again. Otherwise I didn’t fall down all race.

I had planned to employ what I was calling a fast trail pace. That meant that I’d get as good of a start as I could then find a pace that was smooth and steady without any risk or extreme energy expense. Aside from distracting arm pump for most of the opening lap my pace was pretty consistent. Most of my lap times were within a minute of each other.

Despite not falling down I had two mechanics issues that are a bit of a mystery to me. My left hand guard came loose and was dangling for a lap. It stayed in place but had the potential to fall into the radiator or mess with my ability to turn the handlebars so when I stopped for fuel I had help taking it off. Thanks to Russell Schneider for the quick tool digging.

The other issue was my throttle cable got kinked. It happened within the opening 2 minutes of the race and I have no idea how. The kink is near the throttle housing and it made the throttle action feel heavy for the rest of the race but it didn’t affect my results.

All in all a good day of racing. That’s the last race I’ll do for the year and it feels good to have had a solid outing. It’s a ways away but I’m looking forward to next year already.

Here’s a shot of Joe pre-riding the course.

There are a few off-road motorcycle venues that stand out as historic and legendary. Carlsbad and Unadilla make the list without dispute. Loretta Lynn’s has similar credo although in a slightly different way. Carlsbad and Unadilla was where you raced when you’d made the big time and Loretta’s is one of the places that makes pros become pros. I’ve raced at both Carlsbad and Unadilla. Ricky Johnson was in the Christmas GP I did in 1994 and the 2008 GNCC Unadilla round was one of the muddiest races ever. Joe and I are on our way to Loretta’s right now. I’m pretty exited to ride my motorcycle on the same dirt as my childhood and current moto heroes. Check back for a full report.

Did the Saturday portion of the double here in Rhinelander WI today. I hadn’t raced here for a long time but have always liked it. My results have often been mediocre here because of a tight tree section and buried rock section towards the end of each lap. But I felt good in those bits today.

We drove up Joe’s new trailer. Loading and unloading is a breeze and there’s room enough to stand or make a mess. Digging it.

Not sure how long the laps were distance wise but my lap times were just over 15 minutes. That usually messes with me because I often arrive at the scoring tent at 2:01 and don’t get to finish on the lead lap. Happened to me again today.

The Rhinelander loop has a little of everything which is probably why I like it. Sand, forgiving MX track, grassy fields, top gear dirt roads, buried bowling ball rocks, flowy single track, and tight rooty single track.

I got to the first turn in the lead but the young bucks passed be on the MX track before we got to a field section. I couldn’t see through their dust so I had to back it way down. I wouldn’t have kept up with them if there was no dust but it sucked to get gapped so early in the race.

I had ridden my mountain bike around the loop before the race but I still made a few wrong turns on the opening lap. I need to do a better job of remembering the loop if I’m going to spend the energy pre-riding it.

By the end of lap 2 I’d found a groove and felt smoothish and safe. Laps 3 through 5.5 were fun for me. I knew the course, made few mistakes, and tried putting new habits into effect. On lap 6 I snagged my drink hose on a branch and broke it so I had no water. I had to pee pretty badly by then so I wasn’t too concerned about drying up. Also on lap 6 I started to really felt fatigued and had a few moments of whiskey throttle that put me in check. My last lap was a mixed bag. I knew I had to do a scorcher to finish on the same lap as the leaders (and to get to do another) but I also needed to be a responsible dad and make it home in one piece. Had I tried to go fast I would have been more at risk of falling because of the fatigue so I stayed steady and finished 3rd in class and 3rd overall.

Mixed feelings abut my results. I’m foolishly thinking I can still go fast and should be closer to the front of the race so when I get gapped early in the race or see that I was several minutes down on the winner, I get bummed. On the other hand I beat a few former fast guys, I’m 44 (almost twice as old as the winner), and finished the race with no bumps or bruises.

Joe and I opted to stay and race here again. There’s a D16 race on tomorrow that’s only 3 hours away so perhaps the right thing to do is do that race so we show support of both WI race series this weekend. Various factors have us staying here but I’m conscious of the D16 event tomorrow.

What’s the plan for tomorrow’s race? It will be the same course as today so I may make a settings change to get a bit more stability on the high speed roads. Fork tubes down in the clamps or more sag in the rear? We’ll see.

I did a WIXC race near Shawano, WI last weekend. I haven’t done races in that series for a long time but that’s where I started doing off-road racing back in 2005. Things have changed lots since then but racing motorcycles in the woods is no less fun.

The course was at the same place they used to have AMA Pro Supermoto rounds. The WIXC guys put some pavement into our race loop. It’s been a while since I’d ridden aggressively with knobbies on pavement but looked forward to the potential rear end slides.

There were also two long sections of peat that by our race’s mid point had lengthy, bottomless ruts. There wasn’t much moisture in the ground so nothing stuck to the bike but the holes and trenches were deep enough to occasionally hit the shifter or push my feet off the pegs.

There were about 60 riders lined up on five start waves. That’s not bad for a local race. Even more impressive to me was the 10 85cc bikes in the morning race. Great to see so many kids on the line.

There were 10 bikes in the first wave in my race. Half of them were 30+ riders and the other half were AA. I was second to the first turn and slid to third when I was passed by eventual race winner Brandon Houts when he cleared a triple jump that I rolled. That’s where I stayed for the race but a few notables happened along the way.

The pavement was dangerous but pretty fun. I had a few full gas wheel spin moments that made me smile. I also backed it into the last paved turn a few times. I destroyed a Kenda Millville there but feel that was the best tire for the peat in the woods. I’m guessing top speed was close to 70mph. Despite my attempts to balance my wheels with lead weights prior to the race there was a pretty massive vibration at whatever speed I was hitting. Need to check that.

I was close enough to the leaders when we hit the peat to get a face full of dark dirt. I was surprised at how heavy it was when it hit me and fell into my lap. I lost contact with those guys right then because I couldn’t see and I was so distracted. To be fair I wasn’t going to keep up with the two guys in front of me so if I didn’t lose them in the peat it would have been on the MX track later that opening lap.

By mid race I had figured out how to read the peaty sections and they got to be fun. It took a lot of energy to keep the bike pointed in the right direction and the front end light. I was usually winded by the time I got clear.

It also used a ton of fuel as I learned when I ran out with about 200 yards to go. I tipped my 300XC over to see if by chance any fuel was still left on the right side of the tank but there wasn’t. I pushed to the finish line but didn’t lose any places in class or overall.

The drive home was somber for me. My results and feeling about the race confirmed that I can’t keep thinking I can go as fast as the local kids. I am old and should probably accept it. My fitness was good in Shawano (was hardly sore the day after) but these days my brain goes into conservation or survival or responsibility mode when the gun goes off. Good thing theres a 40+ class at GNCC races. That will be the place I will fit in as a fast-ish old guy.

There are many ways to measure success. Sometimes not ending up in the hospital is successful. That’s a little of how Joe and I approached this year’s Perry Mountain 24hr Challenge. We didn’t do so well last year because we didn’t ride all night (and the heat put me in the local ER). We would consider this year’s Perry Mountain 24hr Challenge a success if we rode all night.

To help make that happen a million things had to fall into place. We learned from last year what needed to be done and set out to do it.

I’d like to post a blow by blow account of how the race went down for me but it’s difficult to remember every detail. Here is what I do remember:

- we had a stellar crew of people helping us. Joe’s wife Liz cooked and kept us nutritionally sound, Chris ran the pit, Russell kept track of race information, and Noah kept our KTMs running.
- it was 70f at the start. The race goes from 10am to 10am so it was going to get hotter before it got cooler. No rain was forecast but there were insignificant sprinkles the night before.
- I started. Noah helped me streamline my Le Mans starts procedure. I pulled the holeshot but didnt know how important that was until I caught a rider from a class that started in front of me. The dust was dangerous and frustrating. No one in my class could follow me closely because of the dust so I eked out a small lead.
- we did 3 lap, 1.5 hour stints. Longer than that and you slow down too much in the last few minutes and shorter than that and the guy off the bike doesn’t get enough of a break.
- the heat between 2 and 6pm was pretty draining. I could drink enough but food was hard to pallet. Liz was great at offering up a variety of foods and Chris’ rule about downing 20oz of water as soon as I got off the bike was key.
- in the early afternoon we were passed by a duo team of 25ish year olds from Florida. They had nearly lapped us before the gap started coming back down. We trailed them by as much as 27 minutes at one point but Joe and I believed they were going too fast and that the hardest part of the race – 3am – would determine the winners. It could have easily gone against us as well if you consider that last year’s winners were circulating in 4th place several minutes behind 3rd. They might have saying we were going too fast, too.
- the course was hard on tires. My Kenda Washougals lost a few knobs and the edges were gone long before I expected. This might have been a good thing because if made the bike more forgiving and easier to ride. Last year I flatted on the last lap because the tube had chafed so Noah put on my spare wheels at around midnight this year.
- I did the first night laps. I started the stint lights-on but it was light enough to see without them. But the wood sections at the end of that lap were too dark to ride without them. Joe and I struggled big time last year with lights but the Cyclops Orion lights were great this year. The yellow hue cut through the dust and the broad beam lit more than just the trail. No vertigo for me this year!
- when the pros passed us they kicked up so much dust that we were forced to slow down and wait for it to settle. It was way too dangerous to feel your way down the trail and way smarter to have a slow lap time.
- we switched to 2 lap stints in the dark for the same reasons we do 3 laps in the day. Night laps are fatiguing so get up to speed, make no mistake, and get off the bike for a breather was our approach.
- somewhere around 2am (14 hours in) I caught and passed the leading duo team. We put several minutes into them that stint and focused on our measure of success: keep a bike on the course at all times. Joe extended our lead and by day break we had over 20 minutes on them. My concern became that they were faster than us in the light so we could be chased down in the 5 hours of daylight between 5 and 10 am.
- the brutal 3am suffering that can fall on your body and mind didn’t happened to me. I remember looking for something to pep me up (5hr Energy did!) but I never felt liked wanted the race to go away or to quit or like I wanted to go to sleep. We just soldiered on, possibly motivated by stacking as much time as we could on the Florida kids before daybreak.
- I also got to do the first daylight laps. It was an awesome treat to pull out of the woods halfway around the lap and see everything without man-made lights. I immediately stepped up the pace.
- Noah kept my 300 in top shape. It was a little weird handing him the bike and walking away when I got off at the end of my stint because it’s my bike and I usually do all the upkeep. It was equally strange to simply saddle up on a clean, fresh, running bike when my stint started. Huge thanks to Noah. His efforts allowed me to have more fun.
- around 8am on Sunday we started to worry about getting caught. It wasn’t the Florida kids. It another team we hadn’t taken much note of. They were only 15 minutes behind us so any mistake on our part could sway the finish order. We continued to stick to our guns but fatigue and a really beat up course made our laps several minutes slower than the previous afternoon. We continued with 2 laps stints because it was so much easier to manage.
- halfway around one of my morning laps the rear of my bike acted up. Felt like I had a flat. I assumed it did and finished the stint. When I got off the bike I told Noah but learned I didn’t have a flat. All the nuts and bolts were good on the bike so we assume something in the shock signed off. The bike felt like it had no rebound in the rear end so I backed the adjuster out 3 clicks but that didn’t help. Factory Connection will know what to do!
- Joe went out a 8:30 to do 2 laps. That would put him in around 9:36 and I’d do the final lap to seal the deal. But we were all tired and Joe wasn’t sure he could do 2 laps fast enough to keeps second at bay. Before I came in at 8:30 the crew and Joe made a plan. We’d send Russell up the course with information on the gap between us and 2nd. If Joe felt okay then he’d ride past the pit and do his second lap and I’d do the last lap. If Joe felt slow he’d pull into the pit and I’d be ready to go and need to do 2 laps to close out the race. Joe gave Russell the sign that he’d pit and hand it to me but that was misinterpreted. We were all standing on the side of the trail when Joe pitted and we had to run back to the pit to make the handoff.
- my second to last lap was quick and mistake-free. I made it so I that was at risk of needing to do yet another lap if I got to scoring before 12. Noah told me to go slow when I came through the scoring area.
- I did. I rode wheels on the ground (except the MX track where there were a set of doubles that we’re too much fun to roll). At the end I the lap I caught a group of riders from other classes. We all puttered along in a train to the checkered flag.

We finished 1st in the Duo class and 7th overall (out of 108 teams). I’m over the moon about our overall result.

Joe and I worked hard to be ready for this race. We planned and brainstormed and considered options and in the end it worked for us. But not enough can be said about the crew. I am very proud of them and they deserve credit for our success.

We’ve already been asked if we will be back to defend next year. Not sure yet but I’d say not. We conquered that race and we’re pretty motivated to put on a race like it closer to where we live. But never say never.

Here are some of my favorite shots from the race we did a few weeks ago.

Ready set go

sandy climb

navigating the sand track

JD at speed

fast downhill

Marquette fast guy Ben Bernard

Teammate Joe

sand jump

race winner Brandon Houts

OMA superstar Chuck Garritson

fellow Trek employee and veteran racer Roger Bird

Thanks to Brian Terry for posting these on Smugmug for all to see!

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

Holy cow I’ve been busy and out of the moto scene. I haven’t ridden my RM-Z or RM since Lakewood – more than five weeks ago. But I’m back and plan to be hitting my weekly routine hard in preparation for some September and October events!

My bike is completely in pieces this week as I prepare for the opening round of the D16 season. I’m bolting on new top end, clutch and Cycra plastic as well as Pirelli tires, grips and miscellaneous bits that will make the bike feel like new. I’m super excited to see the local guys again and have enjoyed racing at Arkansaw in the past. Woohoo!

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.

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.

AJ at Victory Circle is a magician.  Check out the cool graphics he sent to Joe and me for our bikes this year.

Race ready

Joe and I gave AJ some suggestions on what we were looking for but it was AJ that came up with the design and colors. It’s a little reto looking with the Suzuki 3-tone blue scheme and I really dig the clean and simple look.  Thanks AJ!

Why number 8?  That’s where I finished in District 16 last year.

Now that the bikes are all decaled up it time to go racing.  Unfortunately we were pummeled with 5 inches of spring snow overnight so that’s put drying riding off for several more weeks.  We were so close to getting out and not having 3 hour clean up sessions after every ride.

I did get over to Homann’s place last weekend for a quick look at our old stomping grounds.  Had I made plans to ride that day it would have been perfect.  It wasn’t wet then but now it surely is after the snow we had last night. But Homann’s looked good and I plan to get over there a ton this summer.

Homann’s is what we call our somewhat unusual riding place.  It’s owned by 83 year old Marvin Homann.  Marv has only left the state of Wisconsin once in his life when he enlisted in the army just after World War II.  He’s a farmer’s farmer and owns 300 acres about 2 miles from my house and severl more hundreds of acres elsewhere in the county.  He lets us ride on his place as long as we don’t get hurt.  Marv’s hearing is going and he often forgets who I am so I end up talking loudly while I’m explaining why I’ve just beat a trail around his property.

Only six weeks until my first race of the year.  I’d feel better about my fitness if I wasn’t sick.  The kids and I have been passing a cold back and forth for a week or two.  I’m confident I can be going good for my season’s opener in Arkansaw, WI on May 10th. Hope to see you there.

Thanks to our sponsors!

Third week of March here in south-central Wisconsin and it’s finally getting to the point where I’m ready to try riding outdoors.  Studding up and riding the local trails sounded like a good idea at one point but I never got my act in gear and gumption up to actually pull it off.  At least now the woods are free of snow and ice and might be somewhat dry.  I’m getting soft in my old age.  Just four years ago I would have already been in the woods a dozen times.  Too much clean up and wear and tear for me these days.

Pete Semerak – the friendly guy that bought my ’07 RM250 last fall – wrote me saying the track on his 10 acres is nearly dry enough to ride.  I bet he and his friends are down there in Oregon, WI this weekend rearranging the dirt.  I’ve just returned from a week in Europe so I will be home with family; no riding for me.

I might get the Montesa out for a few minutes this weekend (again, if the weather holds).  That would be a good way to get my season started.  Keep you posted.

Let the fun begin. It's 28 degrees but I can hardly wait to give the 144 a trashing.

Last ride for a while today so we made the best of it.  We’re heading back north for a few more months of winter and don’t expect to be back on dry dirt for far too long.  St Joe was a hoot and we’re both glad we drove all that way, despite the cold temps and wind.

Another cold day greeted us this morning so we took our time getting over to the trailhead.  We grabbed Joe some coffee and did breakfast at a diner chain of some sort, gassed up and headed over.
We were not the first ones to arrive today as several eager quad riders beat us to it.  Our ride start was further delayed because of some bike work we did.  Joe jetted his bike again and I swapped back to the stock 38mm Mikuni carb.  The bike ran much better when I fired it back up to check my work so we suited up and a hit the trail.

Joe wanted to evaluate his jetting changes so we did a few laps on the loop we made yesterday.  The cold temperatures made my hands uncomfortable and the gloves I chose were moving around on the grip so much that my arms were pumping up.  I left Joe to do his laps and I went back to the van for a glove swap.
When I came back I couldn’t find Joe so I did laps on a technical loop that had a short and narrow rock section.  The ground was frozen so the grip was unpredictable and slick.  It took me several laps to learn the approach but I rarely could get up with out paddling some of the way. This problem spot is at the tail end of this video:

I still couldn’t find Joe so I did a counter-clockwise perimeter lap of the 8000 acre space.  I stayed on the trails that kept the boundary fence just on my right so I’d get the longest lap I could out of it.  The trail dips and bobs around gullies and rock formations all the way around so you’re rarely going that fast. The eastern half of the lap is rocky and loose with some tricky but doable climbs.  I enjoyed trying to keep my momentum up and look up the trial as far as my grip would let me.  Occasionally the shortest line was composed of dried leaves and fist sized rocks and was relatively treacherous if your concentration lapsed.  A lap took me about 35 minutes.

Riding in the woods;sheltered from the wind and loving the dirt

I found Joe at the van afterwards.  We were both feeling the affects of the past two days and agreed on one last outing before loading up.  I grabbed the cameras and we shot a few stills and some video just for fun.

One thing that stands out from my time at St Joe is that I never fell – not in 7 hours of riding.  That’s unheard of for me.  Have I matured or was I going way too slow?  No matter; I’ll savor the fact that I have all the skin I started with.

The news some of you have been waiting for:  The 144 stays.  For months now I’ve been on questioning if the little engine could but I’m convinced it can.  Besides, the thing is so light and fun to flick around in the wood I don’t think I can let it go.

Our next outing?  Not sure.  I suppose we should somehow get over to Homann’s farm and cut a new lap.  Dyracuse opens in a month but half of that place is usually under water until the middle of May.  We’ll probably head up that way anyhow just to get time on the bike before our first races.  More later.

Put in a good 4 hours of riding today.  It was superb to be back
on the bike, dodging trees and navigating ruts.  Smiles all the
way around.

And the 144 has some poop after all.  The Fatty pipe made the
biggest improvement of the parts I had on hand to compare but the
flywheel helped a little as did some jetting changes.
As I suspected, but failed to mention here previous to now, was how much different the smaller, higher revving engine would be to me in the woods.
Everything revolves around anticipating the next trail challenge
and carrying momentum the best you can. It took me half the day to
shake the cobwebs out of my skillset but then I grew comfy enough
with the terrain and my fitness to up the pace and pay attention
to my momentum.  I think putting some time on this bike will help me ride the RM250 better.

After a speedy breakfast we gassed up and drove the back roads
over to the St Joe park. Three bucks is all it takes to get in the
gate (a bargain price we joked about the rest of the day) then we
made our way down to a huge dirt parking lot and found our spot.
The wind was howling and it was cold so we parked with our backs
to the wind and used the van as a windbreak.

We were both shivering by the time we got on the bikes having
stood in the cold to change into our ride gear. Our hands were the
worst part of the deal and we both dealt with the pain of being cold then warming back up.

To get up to speed as fast as we could and generate some heat we
B-lined it to the short loop we pieced together here last year. It
took a while to get it sorted out but we did. Someone else had
made a loop in the same area so we adopted parts of that.  That
someone was a talented rider and they had been on the gas hard.
I figure they were on a big bike and the soil that day was either
super dry or very, very wet.  The ruts and holes in that loop were
GNCC like.

I did several laps on the course to get a feel for things then
headed back to the van to make a parts change.  This was when I
put on the new pipe.  It made an immediate improvement to the
mid-range power and took some revs out of the top end.  I liked
the changes and stuck with it for several more laps.

After lunch I slipped in the carb splitter.  I couldn’t feel
a benefit in the mid-range but there was a little more punch right
at the crack of the throttle that I liked.  But the high end power
sacrifice was not worth the trouble.  I’ll try it again someday on
trails closer to home.

Late in the day I swapped to the smaller 36mm Keihin carb from the
stock 38mm Mikuni. The bike started right up but had an
unavoidable bog when the engine was under load.  I figured it was
too lean so I ran it with the choke on and that helped.  Despite
fiddling with the jetting I couldn’t tune out that bog before the
end of the day. I would have liked to continue to tinker with it
but the cold and long day was too much for us.  We packed it in
while we still had daylight and energy enough to load the bikes
back into the van.

I hope to get more tinker time with that Keihin carb tomorrow but
I should probably put the stock Mikuni back on since that worked
right from the get go.

The rest of the bike really shines. I can’t say enough about Factory Connection and the set up they deliver. The settings keep me on the trail and in control, even when I probably don’t deserve it.

I didn’t bother changing out of my ride gear after loading the
bikes.  I was cold and hungry and asked if Joe wanted to drive
back to the hotel so I could sit shotgun in my boots and Moose
gear. The long, hot shower was a treat.

There’s a Mexican restaurant here in Farmington, MO that measures
up. We found it last year and hit it again tonight. El Tapatio it’s
called.

My shoulders are fatigued and my throat is sore from the remnants
of the cold I had last week and chilled air today but I’ll manage
to get several hours of riding in tomorrow before we head home.
Now it’s time to put my feet up and rest.

PS – we saw on Twitter that Team 414 made it to Florida!  Good job
guys and enjoy that sunshine!

After some back and forth about how the weather might adversely affect our riding, we opted to drive 7 hours south anyhow. The forecast is for 32F and snow accumulations of up to an inch.  That doesn’t sound like much, especially when you compare it to the ice and mud in central Wisconsin right now, but it’s a far cry from what we hoped for.  It was 70F at St Joe yesterday. Dammit.

That’s where we are headed - St Joe.  We were here about this same time last year and concluded that although it’s a long haul, the soil, climate and terrain all make it worth the effort. Joe and I mapped this weekend out months ago because this is a busy time of year for us both at work and home. We’d certainly opt for a weekend with better weather but we don’t have another weekend to make the trip, so here we are.  Earlier this week the forecast was for 50s down this way – that’s why 32 and snow is disappointing.

Last year at this time we were prepping for our assault on the GNCC series. How time flies.  Joe and I reminisced about that on our drive down.  We were so very green heading into that adventure.  Huge fun but not without occasional drama (see my previous 60 posts about those fun times).

Since we are doing the local D16 races Joe and I will be cheering from afar this year and wish Mat and team 414 a good opening round in FL! Follow them on twitter.

Anyhow, despite the cold temps, I hope to make some headway on the 144 set up. There has to be some low-end and mid-range power in there some where.  Or maybe I only think it’s missing when its been there the whole time and being that I’ve only ridden it once on an indoor SX track I just don’t know it yet. Wishful thinking.

I have a pile of 144 set up options to explore over the next two days.  I have 3 different pipes, a flywheel weight, a carb splitter, 2 differnet carbs, a handful of jets and needles and a few sprocket options.  If I don’t get it where I want then I’ll consider selling it and moving back to the RM250 full time.

Joe has a few options he’s evaluating, too.  He has two RM250 bikes built up but only brought his hare scramble rig.  His other RM has an Enduro set up and I don’t think he’s racing that bike as much this year so his time is better spent dialing in the hare scramble bike. Read more about Joe on his blog and twitter page.

We’ve landed at a Super 8 in Farmington, Missoura just a few miles from the St Joe rec area.  Our plan in the morning, if we can contain our excitement, is to find Joe some coffee, shovel in some breakfast then hit a local supermarket for the day’s provisions. The park opens at 7:30am and if it were 70F I guarantee we would be at the gate when it opened.  But with the forecast calling for chilly – at best – temps, we’ll get there when we get there. My jetting might be off a little but that won’t take long to sort. Then I can get started on learning about this little engine!

On a somewhat related note, Joe and I texted with Suzuki’s Shane Nalley on the drive down.  We bantered on about who would be on the podium this Tuesday at the Florida GNCC opener.  Joe has Paul Whibley pinned to win it, I think Josh Strang is going to get it done and Shane thinks Charlie Mullins can pull it off.  We’ll see.

Early last week I was invited to race with a team at the 12th annual 3 hour ice race on Fox Lake, about 1 hour north of here.  I’ve ridden on the ice but never raced but I have raced Supermoto and I just spent a summer having to learn how to navigate high-speed corn fields at GNCC races so I was up for the challenge.

There’s a group of local dirt track racers that I loosely know and that’s how my name was tossed into the ring as an available rider.  I negotiated time away from family and make contact with the guys organizing the team.  Over the course of our discussions I learned of an second team that was looking for a fill in rider.  It was suggested I could ride for both teams if we coordinated well enough.

I put every bit of warm clothing I own in my biggest gear back and headed north.  It was forecast to get up to 7 degrees F at 3pm but when I arrived it was -4.  And there’s little shelter on  a frozen lake so factor in the wind and you see why I brought every bit of my warm clothing.  It was damn cold.

They say the ice was 18" thick where we were parked. Good thing because that's a lot of hardware to support.

I got hooked up with the initial team organizer – Thomas Baker – right away and we drove a lap of the course in his car.  I was shocked at how long the lap was (3.4 miles) and at how many turns there were.  The ice was super hard because of the low humidity and low temperatures but that would turn out to be a good thing.  the bummer was that there wasn’t much ice showing.  Blowing snow and that the pick-up truck plows couldn’t scape all the snow off made it so that about 80% of the loop had more than a dusting on the ice.  Normally that would be a good thing – snow has to have more grip than ice, you’d think, but the heavily studded tires don’t grip on snow.  But they bite with heroic grip on ice.

Thomas introduced me to the other riders and to the bike.  It was a 2005 YZ125 that was bone stock except for the 18″ rear wheel, fenders and ice tires. I was stoked to get time on a 125 since I’ve been working so much on Project 144.  My teammates were super cool and laid back; it was going to be a fun time.

The troubled 125

Then I made my way down to the other team’s camp.  It was polar opposite of Thomas’ crew.  The second team had a heated 24′ trailer, D16 championship riders and a very, very heavily modified motorcycle. I stepped into the trailer but got the impression that the only way I would be on the ice with these guys was if proved to be fast rider.  Fair enough; they are obviously serious and the bike is worth something and they might be here to win.  The bike was a YZ250 that had been punched out to a 285 but that’s only the beginning of the mods this bike had.

The 3.4 mile course was so big you couldn't see the far side. Practice looked like complete chaos with bikes going every direction.

Practice started and I got two laps in on the 125.  It was very difficult to change from naturally avoiding hard and shiny surfaces to actually aiming for them.  The glare blue ice had Velcro-like grip and the “fluff” had nothing.  And there are no course markers out there on the ice – you just stay between the snow banks.  The 125 was a handful for me.  The ergonomics were fine and my hands were relatively warm but the suspension was pretty stiff and I was concerned about how choppy the ice would become.  I didn’t look forward to the battering the race would deliver.  My practice laps were fine other than finding the limit of traction once and low-siding at low speed.

I walked back down to the Trim Tex sponsored “factory” team for my chance to earn a spot as  a guest rider.  I was warm from just doing laps on the 125 and I understood the whole ice=grip thing now so I hoped to get in a clean lap or two.  I was drawn to the bike and wanted to spend time on it.  Over the course of the day I met a guy named Diesel Joe.  He’d obviously been involved with motorsports in the WI area for some time and knew about the team and the bike I was about to mount.  He suggested the bike was the best ice weapon at the race that day.  At first I was skeptical of those high praises but I would later learn that he might have been right.

Here’s a vid clip of the bike when it was a 250:

Hey! The grips are heated on the 285! Actually, the whole handlebar is heated.  The engine’s coolant is routed through the bar and your hands slip into tidy sleeves mounted on brake and clutch perches.  Fantastic.  I ended up racing in my Moose XCR gloves (even tho it was just above zero degrees F). Next, the bike as a Rekluse clutch.  I knew how this thing worked in theory but never put time on one.  It was pure magic.  The bike was running in gear when mounted.  All I did from then on was move the shifter with my foot and twist the heated throttle with my hand.

Handlebar plumbing.

The ride on the 285 was nearly as harsh as the 125 but my speed was up now so the bike skittered across the bumps rather than deflect off every one.  And the power delivery was much more friendly becuase of a broad and meaty power band, as opposed to the light switch characteristics of the 125.  Plus the auto clutch made it easy to recover from bad gear choices.  Just roll on the gas and point it in the right direction.

In the two laps on the 285 and only fell once – same as before with a mistake in the soft stuff at slow speed.  The course was quickly becoming one, narrow fast line with everything else just fluff and totally without grip.  Being somewhat precise and staying on line was the difference between a fast lap and falling down.  It also made it impossible to pass or be passed.  I did manage to get in a good enough time to impress the bike’s owner and they asked me to check back after my stint on the 125.  A good lap time for me was sub 6 minutes.

I drew the short straw for the start and brought her around to the start line.  I was chilled  but excited to get things rolling.  There might have been 60 bikes on the line and more than 100 rider being that most teams were relays.  My start sucked because I was on a 125 and totally uncomfortable in a field of dirt trackers armed with viciously studded tires.  I slowly lost positions on those opening laps because 1) I prefer to to keep the wheels in line with each other, 2) the ice dust was intense.  Those dirt track guys can really back it in and still maintain speed.  Really cool to be tailing someone into a turn and watch them drop the bike on its side, spraying a huge roost of ice.  But the ice dust killed my confidence and it stung on my cold face.

We planned on me doing 6-7 laps to open the race.  That would be about 45 minutes worth of racing before the next guy would take over.  I got a few spots back after the field spread out but for sure I was at the back end of the field.  As I passed the pit before my pit-in lap I signaled to the crew and put my head down for one last lap.  About 2/3rds around that last lap the bike bogged then died, rear wheel locked up and skidded me to a stop.  I didn’t even try to kick it because I feared I had just seized the bike and therefore ended the race for us all.

A rescue trailer was nearby so we loaded the bike and headed for the pits.  When I was on the trailer I got curious and kicked the bike just to see.  It started but sounded like the engine was full of gumballs.  Rattled something horrible.  Bummer.  I appologied profusely and made it clear that I’d pay for whatever it takes to put it back together.  Those guys were so nice about but I felt rotten.

Still, I had the other bike to ride if I could get over feeling bad about the 125.  I made my way down to the heated trailer to check in.  Within a few minutes it was my turn and I headed out.  I was back on song and catching riders every so often.  I only got passed a handful of times so I guessed that my pace wasn’t all that bad.

At home in the "fluff"

The ice was super choppy by mid race and had a few spots that had whooped out to the point of rattling your teeth out if you weren’t careful.  Good thing the bike had a steering damper.  I later asked the owner about the suspension settings and he preferred the front of the bike stay up high under braking.  I guess this is to keep the geometry sound for backing the bike into turns.  Perhaps if I were willing or able to ride tailend out I would have liked it more.  But the way I saw it was softer = control and with a high-speed course that was bound to deteriorate, several clicks backed out on the compression damping would have helped.  However, not my bike, and I’m happy to be invited and thrilled to be riding on the ice.

I had a few slow speed falls that were more frustrating than anything else.  It was difficult to tell what had grip and what didnt’ after the course fell apart.  I did manage one big get off that happened slow enough for me to process the events as they unfolded.  I hooked the front end on the edge of an ice rut and that knocked me off balance on the bike.  I was hard on the gas and the rear end let loose and ducked out from under me.  My left foot was sliding on the ice and started to put lateral loads on my knee.  That was about the time I jumped off.  The bike pirouetted off into the snow on the side of the course and I slid along beside it hoping no one was going to hit me from behind.  A deadman switch is required for AMA ice races so the bike was dead when I got back to it.  I remounted, kicked it to life and rolled on the gas.  It was in 3rd or 4th gear but it didn’t matter because of the Rekluse clutch.  Cool.

Cutting back across the course after the race. If my face wasn't so frozen you could probably see the smile. That as fun!

We finished 8th in the middleweight relay class.  I never intended to have great results but I’m happy with how it turned out.  Saddened that the 125 died under me and as a result of the bike breaking that team didn’t finish.  I think I raced for about 2 hours if I added up the time I spent on both bikes.  I’m pretty sore and tired today, the day after.

Good times and the experience makes me want to build up a bike and do it again next year.  How about it, Mark?

Vesrah Suzuki’s Mark Junge helped me dyno my RM144 project bike this afternoon. I’m trying to get more mid-range power out of an engine that’s designed to make power at high rpms. Why more mid-range? So it’s better in the woods. The challenge might be insurmountable but it’s been fun trying to change the way the engine performs, none the less.

Test Protocol: carbs, venturi splitters, jets, pipes and wishful thinking

We had time for 6 test runs.  I was playing hooky from work and I could only stand so much guilt before I had to bug out.  We ran a baseline that gave us a decent looking power curve and 27.5 peak horsepower but as we suspected, all the power was above 10,000rpm.  It’s impossible for me to ride this thing in the woods in that range.  That’s why we’re here; move that usable power down in the rpm range!

The engine’s displacement has been punched out to 144cc from 125 and the porting had been massaged but the compression ratio and carb are stock. I’ve put an FMF SST pipe on to eek more power across the range and that seems to be working, based on the limited ride time I have on the bike so far.

Mark had to calibrate the rpms the bike was making with the dyno and then get the computer set up to collect data. When it was time to start the bike, Mark grabbed the kickstarter with his hand and gave it a push. It started. I laughed because who would have though you could do that but I was also very embarrassed; why am I trying to make a beast out of this teddy bear?

After the baseline we inserted a Power Now venturi splitter.  It’s said to increase low- and mid-range power by increasing air velocity and decreasing turbulence in the bell opening of the carb.  With the splitter in place we fired it up and got ready to take data. The bike revved up to 9,000 rpm or so then totally died. I immediately jumped to the conclusion that we’d blown it up. False alarm – it was out of gas.

Here’s a video of what a few test runs look and sound like:

The Power Now slip-in splitter

After fueling up, the Power Now splitter made some unfortunate results. It did nothing but decrease both mid-range and peak power.  Bummer – I had high hopes for that thing!

Carburator swap

Mark called the helpful people at Sudco for some carb options. They sent us a 36mm Keihin carb that bolts right onto this bike. The stock carb is a 38mm Mikuni. Our thinking was that the smaller venturi would have a higher intake velocity and give more mid-range power. This is similar to what the Power Now splitter was supposed to do.

One of the best things about single, two-stroke engines (other than you can start them with your hand) is their relatively simply design. The Keihin bolted right into place and used all the same hardware as the Mikuni – same throttle cable and reed block and air box boots. But ultimately the best thing was that the bike started first kick after the carb swap!

The dyno / repair stand

Then the head scratching started. The smaller carb didn’t enhance the midrange at all but it carried the peak horsepower about 500 rpm farther down the line. It didn’t make more HP but it made it for longer. That wasn’t supposed to happen.

This got us going down the jetting road. Tony Pogue is Mark’s full-time mechanic. Tony has been doing race bikes forever and had lots of two-stroke knowledge to share with us. We pulled the plug on my bike and got Tony to “read” it. It was a lovely golden brown but, according to Tony, we could lean it out a little. He took a long look at the thing and pointed out that where the colors were and what the colors were was indicative of both jetting and timing.

Tony (right) reads the plug

Looks perfect to me but Tony says, "lean 'er out!"

Chasing jetting can take forever. I was going to run out of time, if I didn’t run out of premix first. We did change the main and raised the needle and got more peak power out of it but still didn’t increase the mid-range.

Mark called a friend about the jetting issue and why the smaller carb didn’t help the mid-range more. He learned that the stock carb has a throttle position sensor that we had bypassed. That might have been hindering the timing somehow so we plugged the electric solenoid from the stock carb into the wiring harness but ran the bike with the smaller aftermarket carb. Still no increase in midrange.

Singing along at 67mph and 12,000rpm

So what did we learn?  First off, there’s something the smaller carb doesn’t account for in the electronics.  The solenoid influences the throttle position somehow which in turn affects the ignition timing.  Second, there’s lots of performance to be had in the jetting.  This isn’t really new to me, just a reminder that the more you know, the more there is to know.  Thirdly, Suzuki has the thing pretty dialed with that stock 38mm Mikuni carb.  It’s going to be difficult to improve on how the bike is out of the box.

In the end, it might take some trail riding to get the best combination of parts and jetting. Have to wait until St Joe in late February for those experiments. I think there’s more to learn by fiddling with the jetting and I also think an adjustment to the timing could be good. I also think that becuase we were doing wide-open throttle runs the benefits of the splitter and smaller carb aren’t as obvious as they might be at 1/3rd or 1/2 throttle.  Riding the bike in the woods is the only way to know for sure.

It was a fun day of trial and error for me, although I didn’t walk away with a better performing engine. I haven’t lost hope and think there’s still a lot to benefit from with the lighter RM125 chassis. Next stop: St Joe Recreation Area in St Louis, MO.

Joe and I made it to Waterman, IL yesterday.  Waterman is about 2 hours south of Madison and about the only place within a reasonable drive that has winter riding.  Its a converted warehouse that has poor lighting, ineffective ventilation and relatively high cost of entry.  But when you haven’t ridden for months and you have a new motorcycle you want to try, you put up with Waterman’s quirks.  Here’s a video I stole off YouTube to help describe what I’m talking about.  I have no idea who these guys are.

We got an early jump and nearly had the place to our selves for the first few hours but by late afternoon all the local kids had flooded in and taken over.  There were a few local hotshots that act as if they own the place but for the most part the crowd is friendly.  The track owners divide the riders into groups of big bikes, little bikes and quads.  Luckily there were no quads so we split time on the track with a herd of PWs and RM85s. 

The RM144 had some jetting issues at first but I got those sorted.   After I got the jetting working better I could focus on learning where the motor makes power and how to keep it there.  I’ve never spent much time on a smaller bike so this is all new to me.  I understand the basics of keeping corner speed up and not making mistakes that require power to recover from.  An indoor MX track is a far cry from weaving through the woods so I don’t really have a feel for if the 144 is going to pull me around to my satisfaction or not.  Jury is still out on if this thing will be the right tool for woods riding.

That might be the last time Joe and I ride until we do our late February trip to St Joe.  Looking forward to it but its a long way off and we have a ton of winter to get through between now and then.

Much to my delight and amazement, my Project 144 bike started on the 3rd kick.  My amazement is born from the fact that the piston, cylinder, port work and my limited engine knowledge all came from their own origins yet the combination functions as if, magically, there were all mashed from the same piece of clay.

You can see there’s a perceivable difference in piston size between the 125 and 144.  I’m optimistic that the 13% increase in displacement equates to a 13% increase in rear wheel poop.  I weigh 155lb most Junes; that’s heavy for a 125 rider.  Perhaps 144cc will be enough to satisfy. Don’t ask me what I weigh in December.

If nothing else the Project has been stimulating.  I met some knowledgeable people along the way and did much of the work myself.  If it stays together and becomes a valued race too, I’ll be more than happy.

Joe and I plan to hit the Waterman indoor place this weekend.  That will be a good place to come to terms with the power and chassis, even if there are no trees, rocks, ruts or mud holes to navigate past.  I’ll need to do some jetting research between now and then so I don’t burn anything up.  Stay tuned.

I’m not sure I can pin down the day or event that coaxed me into thinking that a lighter bike with less power was the way to go but somehow that combination has stuck in my head.  Months ago I started hunting for an RM125 to build into a tight woods weapon.  It might not be too big of an ordeal for most to build a better tool out of an existing tool but for logical reasons I’ve been questioning the legitimacy of my efforts. It’s a little expensive and a little risky but so far the potential rewards have outweighed the potential pitfalls.  Or at least that what I’ve been telling myself.

Anyway, I’m committed now.  I bought a 2005 RM125 from a 16-year old kid in northern Illinois.  He had financed it and was asking way more than it was worth so we had a lengthy negotiating process but I finally got him to where I could deal with handing the cash over.  Ends up the thing had hardly been ridden – the stock tires were relatively fresh, the air filter and oil had never been freshened and the chain had that shipping wax goop on it from the factory.  He has owned it for neary 2 years but rarely rode it.  I was elated, then I tore it apart.

It took me months to find a decent bike.  I had called and quizzed 10 different sellers and scoured Craigslist for bikes that were 500 miles from my home.  Most were junk.  Most were young kids that were selling there 2-strokes in hopes of buying a 250F.  Some adults that were selling acted like they had the last 125 on the planet and wouldn’t budge on the price.  I suppose there is some reasoning to this in that Japanese 125s are no longer sold new from dealers and MX race organizations are welcoming back the 125 class (they are in demand).  I’m glad I found what I was looking for.

During the time I was hunting for a bike I did some research into what the bump from 125ccs to 144 was going to cost – time and dollars.  Ends up there’s a world-renowned 2-stroke tuner just 20 minutes from my house so he was the first I quizzed.  I learned a ton during a fact seeking visit to his shop long before I had bought a bike.  The porting changes are relatively simple to execute but knowing what to do is best done by an expert.  And finding 144 pistons is a challenge and expensive but I found a source on-line. 

2008 GNCC RM250 race bike.

Back to my orginial thinking.  I love my RM250.  It makes managable power and has power to spare.  It turns like its an extension of me and thanks to Factory Connection, it soakes up every bit of the trail with aplomb.  But I come from the bicycle world where lightweight is king.  On paper a stock RM125 weighs 25lbs less than a 250.  The ride-ready weights I got from my 250 and 125 differed by 17lbs (ride-ready is all fluids except gas).  Seventeen pounds is nothing to sneer at – image having to carry that weight around for 3 hours and you understand what I’m getting to.  Now I need to get that 144 to sing and we’ll be in business.

So after months of looking for a bike and doing research, I found a bike and tore it apart.  I actually only rode it to the end of my street and back as a 125 before I disassembled it and started sending parts all over the country to be modified.  In fact, I can only remember ever having ridden a 125 two other times in all my moto days.  I’m optimistic that the larger 144 displacement will make enough power to keep me moving in the right direction but I still have my doubts.  At least if my project fails to meet my expectations it will be easy to sell.

The last parts I had to special order will arrive by mail tomorrow.  I can assemble the engine tomorrow night.  I’ve gone through the rest of the bike already so I should be able to button it up and make noise pretty soon.

I’m hoping to get some indoor time on it this weekend at the Sandbox riding arena near Minneapolis.  I’ve never ridden there.  I’ll take my 250 just in case there are issues with Project 144.  Fingers crossed it kicks butt.

Project 144 in progress and my 2008 GNCC RM250 is in the background

Mark Junge at Vesrah Suzuki invited Joe and me to a day on the track at Autobahn Country Club in Joliet, IL.  Unfortunately Joe is in Asia on business but I got to go.

Mark brought along a Supersport 600, a Superstock 1000 and an SV1000 as samples of his road racing world.  He also rented a BMW135i for the day so we could spend time abusing 4 tires at once instead of just 2.

Jacobi and the Vesrah line up.

We were on the north track which is the faster of the two circuits at Autobahn.  It has only 3 left-hand turns and strings of double apex rights.  The left front tire of the Bimmer took a beating.

Autobahn is pretty much another planet for those of us that don’t have money like the club members do.  The place is overflowing with toys that disposable income can buy. Many club members buy trackside land and build multi-story garage/apartment just so they have a place to relax between track sessions or track days.

One of the mega garage/apartments surrounding the track.

And the cars. A gaggle of $120,000 Porsche GT3s did lap after lap after lap in between our moto sessions.  There was also a Viper ACS and several race prepped Z06 Vetts along side some a Mazda-powered open and closed wheel racers.  Cool stuff.

Mazdo power.

Porsche money.

I did 33 laps on the Suzuki GSX-R600 and 3 laps on Mark’s GSX-R1000.  The 600 had plenty of poop but was docile no matter where I was on the track.  The 1000 was a beast and had me on the ropes no matter what I did.

Mark is doing some engine maping for me. I don't know the difference but I dig the technology.

Mark weighs more than me so the suspension might not have been optimal on either bike.  But the 1000 was really sure footed and gave great feedback.  I’ve never felt as if I had enough track time to be able to distinguish what I liked in a road race bike and what I didn’t but I liked the ergonomics and feedback on the 1000 a ton. 

Mark’s 1000 doesn’t have a sophisticate engine management system like the World and AMA Superbikes do so its 185 rear wheel horsepower runs rampant.  I did a 100 meter long, 6 inch high wheelie totally on accident down one straight.  That was pretty scary but because the bike has so much feedback you can feel your way through the scary stuff.

Can you see the smile on my face? Even being a passenger was a good time.

Back to the BMW.  Mark’s teammate John Jacobi spent the day peeling the rubber off the tires.  The 135i had lots of go but it was difficult to predict when it would go because of the automatic transmission, engine management and direction management.  The tranny didn’t know you wanted to be in 2nd gear coming out of turns and even if you put it there on purpose the lag was so great it slowed you down and killed the thrill. The traction control definitely saved me from looping out but it also damped the fun.  The real show stopper but ass saver was how active the direction management stuff was.  I don’t know exactly what the system is called but it knows when you’ve stepped out of line and does its best to shut the car down and straighten it out. 

Half way. By the end the cords were showing.

The really fun and fast laps came from not only hitting every turn just so but also from keeping the electronics from kicking in.  Jacobi had it wired by the end of the day and was putting the hurt on the less experienced but far out powered GT3 drivers.

Thanks, Mark for the great experience!

The 600

End of a long season today.  Luckily we are only 5 hours from home.  I’m pretty tired and ready for some down time, in the big picture of things.  Didn’t realize that until half way through the race today, but it’s true.

Did the normal course recon during the morning race. Spent sometime watching the AM guys go up and down some hills that I figured would be giving me fits during my race so at least I could get a feel for pace and problem spots. 

I made a carb adjustment and ate some lunch and got a little behind my normal routine and had to hustle to the start.  The weather shaped up nicely so sitting on the line for 20 minutes before the start was easy.  Imagine that – I was late to the start and I still sat on the line for 20 minutes. Eleven guys on the 30+ Vet A row with Phil Smith way to my left and Scott Summers way to my right.  I was thinking 3rd was within reach although I didn’t recognize most of the guys on my row.  No way of knowing how fast they were before the race.

Joe found an ancient Coke bottle crate that we both used as our starting block.  The plan was that after I took off, Liz (Joe’s wife) would run it back for Joe to use. That thing was magic.  I launched a near perfect start and got the holeshot – second race in a row.  Summers passed me just as we entered the woods and Smith got by a few turns later. 

I diced with three other guys in my class for the first few laps.  It was super fun riding with other guys that were my speed and looking to do well in the race.  That hasn’t happened at all this year until today.

Something was up with my fork.  I noticed it on the starting line when I was able to leverage my weight over the front end before the race started.  Just for fun I compressed the fork but it was sticking or pumped up.  Bad news.  I’ve since realized I was just too lax on service and maintenance.  I needed to get it back to Factory Connection weeks ago but never made the effort.  My bad.  So for the first half of the race I had to learn what the front end of the bike would do and what it wouldn’t.  It rode differently enough that I felt uneasy; I’m sure it slowed me down.

Two laps in and I was in 3rd but at least one other guy in my class was right behind me.  He was on a 250F and  I was hoping he would have to stop for fuel and I also hoped my quick drop can was faster than his would be.  I’ll never know what his set up was but in the end I didn’t make up any time on him and we rode together for a long time, usually me trailing him.

There’s a hill at the Ironman GNCC that has my number.  I’ve struggled up that thing in both of the other times I’ve raced at Crawfordsville and I did it again this year, right when it mattered most.  There isn’t much of a run at the hill and most of the topsoil has long been roosted off and the stony base doesn’t offer up much grip.  On top of that there are ledges that are just big enough to get you airborne and kill momentum.  It was one of those ledges that was my undoing.  I squided out and end up sideways on the hill, engine dead and my co-racer buddy leaving me in the dust.
I had to go back down and take the slow, easy route around the hill.  Although I wasn’t beating up on the guy I had been racing against, I was hoping to somehow take advantage of a mistake he made or out last him in the closing laps.  But with my downtime that all went out the window.
Come to think of it, when I came around that next lap and learned I was 5th in class was when I started thinking about the season ending.  I was tired and ready to call it a year.
I fought the best I could but it was hard to overcome the fatigue and my bad fork.  I closed within 15 seconds of the 4th place guy but that was it.  I finished 5th.

Aside from the anxiety related to that hill, I thoroughly enjoyed the course.  The dirt was super, the creek crossings (notoriously frequent at the Ironman) were mellow and the corn field sections weren’t too bad.  The corn fields have given me fits in other years and probably pained me earlier this year at other GNCC races but today I had a good time ripping across the field and railing the bermed turns.
Aside from my hill issue, I had no stalls or major falls.  I have a bruise on the back of my leg from something but no harm done.  My hands and arms ache but that’s because I’m old.

I did fall over one time while entering a creek. The bank was pretty steep so the fast guys were launching in and the slow guys were skidding in.  Both techniques made a deep rut that caught me by surprise and tipped me over while I was skidding in.  My leg got pinned by the bike and I had no way of getting tipped back up with out help.  There was an 8 year old boy standing with his dad next to where I fell and I panicked and demanded they pick me up.  The worried look on the boy’s face said it all.  He wanted to do what he was told but couldn’t reach me and his dad was holding him back, I suspect because it was a dangerous situation for the boy and he wasn’t really going to be able to do much for me anyhow.  The dad did eventually reach over and pull on my bar enough for me to get my leg out and right myself.  I thanked them but regretted the way I spoke to that boy for the rest of the race.  I saw him again in the same spot on another pass through there and wanted to say I was sorry but didn’t.

After the race Joe and I loaded the van Liz went and found a tractor to help us get out of the parking lot.  We all meet just as the van doors shut and got a yank out.  Dreamy.

We did it.  Joe and I did the GNCC series.  We missed a few but we did the majority of the season.  That was our goal more than a year ago when we schemed up this whacky plan of ours and we just pulled it off.  We are 30 miles from home late on a Sunday night while I write this news.  It will be good to get home and be able to say that we went GNCC racing.  Whew.

At about 10pm last night while I was trying to ignore the loud campers to our west a shower blew through and totally saturated the parking lot.  Just after that happened several redneck fired up their pickups and jeeps and whatnot and drove in uncontrollable circles in the middle of the huge parking expanse here.  The once farm field turned into an enormous quagmire of muddy mess.  And the roaring engines and cheering drunks kept me awake for hours.

Good ole boys.

Hard to tell from the photo but that's a slightly downward slope that would eventually take you to where we parked. The mud was relentless.

Actually, to be fair, I did venture out to see the action for a few minutes.  It was dark enough that my camera wouldn’t capture a decent shot but I still got a feel for things.  Chaos.  Redneck chaos.

His cab was full of 6 packs he'd taken on as payment.

Then today it was cold from the start and the daylight showed us just how much damage all the hooliganism had done.  Campers and haulers and trucks on the perimeter of the muddy playground were splattered with globs of mud.  It was very difficult to walk from our campsite to the toilets with the rutted and squishy mud.  There was no possible way – absolutely no way – we could have driven the van out at that time.

Camo quad, Carhartt pants, camo jacket and a pink boa. Dig it.

Joe and Joe’s wife Liz and I watched the start of the quad races.  David Knight competed in the pro race on KTM450 whatever it’s called so we were keen to see him do well.  He had a crummy start and ended up in the 20s somewhere.  I bet he had fun but still he’s probably not exceedingly happy with finishing so far back. 

The Knighter setting the sag on his quad. The Ohlins tech helping him is just out of the picture.

I decided I’d walk a bunch of the course at this GNCC round.  I donned my mud boots and did about 6 of the 9+ mile loop.  It was fun and gave me some idea of what’s coming tomorrow.  The trail was much drier than the parking lot.  I’ve had good results at the mud races this year so I was looking forward to some mud  but the mud is so hard on the bike it will be nice to have it a little drier.
Same mental approach for tomorrow.  Ride my own race, enjoy the trail and challenges, keep my head up, eat, drink and above all stay safe.

The crowd at the bottom of Ironman hill during the pro quad race.

Joe, Liz and I are seated in front of what’s left of a raging campfire watching quad racer’s trucks and trailers get towed out of the parking lot by the local farmer’s tractors.  The fire feels good.  We are in for a cold one again tonight.  Looking forward to the race tomorrow.

You know you’re a redneck when you blow up your air mattress by holding it up to the exhaust pipe of your quad and revving the engine.  Make that an innovative redneck.

It’s now 9:30pm here and we’ve shut ourselves inside for the night.  The rest of the parking lots is abuzz with hooting, hollering, beer swilling and hopped up diesel trucks doing circles and throwing mud everywhere.  It’s quite a scene. I remember the huge number of uncorked Cummins and PowerStroke trucks here from last year.  Some have 4” pipes running up out of the bed behind the cab and all blow huge plumes of black smoke. Testosterone run amuck. 

We managed to get the van stuck again.  Third year in a row at this event and who knows how many times we’ve done it this year all together.  Kinda funny but still a little sad.  Best part was that Joe and I knew it was mired beyond hope the instant it happened and we both reached for the door handles to jump out and go for help simultaneously.  Didn’t even try to get out on our own.  Just looked to the horizon for help.

Luckily there were 20 something-year-olds with a beater Chevy 4×4 right next door.  They were happy to tug us out and even hooked their rig up to the camper and backed it into the spot we chose.  Thanks guys.

Not sure what to say about this thing. At least there wasn't a confederate flag on the front side.

Great front row course position at this race.  Having been here before we had an idea of where to park and as soon as we saw the course direction headed to a spot just past the scoring tent.  Joe has a plan to help him get that last lap in and it involves a non-stop race strategy and 40+ A start row.  I wish him luck.  You need to read his blog to learn the details.

Ive been a bit under the weather this last week with a little stomach bug.  Don’t expect that to hinder my race much but it might.  I’ll take it easy over the next day or two.

My bike is ready to go and we are here a day early so that makes tomorrow free to experience more GNCC than we normally do.  Quad rides is what I’m thinking.

My wife (and coach) says my van is a money pit and not worth having.  This was spurred on after a pulley wheel on the serpentine belt tensioner crapped out and cost me several evenings and $90 to repair.  The pulley had been making noise for months but I never considered it to be on the brink of failure.  It was just noisy is all.

That was dumb thinking on my part.  When I took it apart (which meant draining 5 gallons of radiator fluid and removing the radiator all together) the pulley’s bearing was all but gone.  The only part remaining was the outer race.  The pulley had been spinning on its mounting post for who knows how long.  I know that generated a ton of heat because of the discolored hoses and other engine parts near the tensioner.

But now the van is quiet again.  Joe noticed it right away.

From left to right: the bad pulley, the bad post, the good post and a good pulley