Speedsville enduro was this Sunday. My record is now officially 0 for 3 in New York races. That is, I've never had decent weather for a race way the F... out there in New York. Both the Newark and Speedsville enduros could be the most fun on the circuit if the weather would ever cooperate.
Ended up driving all the way out there alone and hooked up with Jim D., Ed, Brett, and John S out there. Lots of the other NETRA typical guys made the drive as well. Went to the start area on Saturday to check in with the thought of picking up the spectator sheet in order to find Gas Available for the next morning. Well, the club didn't have the directions ready yet. So that was an extra 40 miles of driving for nothing. The course had 130 routesheet miles and 88 ground miles with 58 of those after official gas. So, Gas Available was not optional. This left a bunch of us looking for a friendly face to get to the GA. Luckily, Pat Timothy's dad was there and saved all of us NETRA guys from running out of fuel. All I can say is I'm glad that NETRA trailbosses don't set up things like this.
By this point in my life, I should be smart enough to know that you never test new equipment at an enduro. But, against this wisdom, I tried to make this my first-ever ride on an autoclutch. I felt uncomfortable right off the bat. The engagement was at too high of an rpm which put the motor above my favorite range. I couldn't lug it for the torque of the motor the way I really like to ride. Some things were nice, like being able to keep all four fingers and a thumb on the left grip at all times...especially in the creekbeds full of loose shale. It was also fun on some of the uphills where I could just upshift and let the torque motor on up.
Unfortunately, I haven't gotten the autoclutch set up properly yet. I started the day with it functioning properly. But, it slowly lost override at the lever meaning that shifting was very notchy and required a lot of deliberate effort...so much so that I was avoiding shifts that were necessary and I could not disengage engine braking on downhills. Coming into corners it felt like the motor was always pushing me wide and keeping the bike vertical.
Alan at Revloc has been very good with support so far so I'm going to give him another call and try to get these glitches worked out. Even if they do get worked out, I'm not sure if I'm an autoclutch kind of guy. Kind of like the trials tire, seems like a solution to a problem that I don't have.....wheel spin. I can see how it would be very advantageous in the gnarliest rock gardens, though.
The race was very fun....while it lasted. Early on, conditions were perfect. Even though it was lightly raining, the trails were still dry...even a little dusty. The course was typical NY, twisty, lots of elevation changes, barely any rocks. Lots of fun rhythm stuff. As the rain got heavier, more and more slick spots came up. Some of the field crossings were treacherous. Any root that was not perfectly perpendicular to the trail instantly had the front tire jumping out. You just had to go for it and wait for it to catch again on the other side.
Going out of official gas, my computer was a little off. Later, Ed guessed that this was because I didn't correct for the drive across the parking lot. He's probably right. I barely made it to the line for my flip on the start control. I was following Ed when he had a little bobble and he followed me to the next road crossing. I looked down and my computer showed that we were about 40 seconds hot so I slowed down. Ed motored by and kept riding at speed. This section went in, along, and out of a creek bed a bunch of times. After a couple miles there was a check right in the creek bed and I got a zero there. Saw Ed at the next road and asked "Did you burn that check?" He said "What check?" He had ridden right through it without stopping. I told him to ride back and go through it. He did and he made it to the next check in on time. Instead of a burn, he dropped 8...but it kept him in the game and allowed him not to DQ.
The next section was the A/B section and it included two very steep and very slippery ramps over barbed-wire fences into fields. I rode OK, still struggling with the autoclutch. Waited a little too long to see if Ed would come out at the end but he didn't. It cost me one point on the next check in. One more long section and we were at Gas Available. Ed was there in street clothes. He'd busted a radiator. I really thought about quitting there, but tried to push on. Rode the next section as fast as I could which ended up to be very, very, very slowly. By now there was absolutely NO override left in the clutch and the bike was riding me rather than the other way around. I quit there, which was not a timed section anyway. Not sure where I ended up. Would have been more fun with a stock clutch. I'll be back next year....hoping for dry conditions.
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