On vacation this week and today was probably the last day of good weather for a while. After lunch decided to head out to Pachaug to try some settings adjustments on jetting and suspension. I rode the same trail repeatedly out of the campground area. Good singletrack with lots of planted rocks and roots. Did about 10 miles of testing.
First I worked on the jetting/air screw. There's still a little bobble just off idle. I went another quarter turn out...that means it's now all the way out: 4 turns. I'll need to go to a smaller pilot jet.
Suspension: Looking to get things just a little softer without losing the "athletic" feel the bike has now. First I tried the front. I thought that slowing down the rebound would calm things down like it did on the rear. I went 3 clicks slower and immediately noticed packing that almost threw me off the trail when the front bounced off a few medium-sized rocks. Went back to the prior setting. Next I tried the compression. I lightened the compression by 2 clicks. This felt better in the front but it didn't seem balanced with the rear. The rear was noticeably stiffer then the front and this made it feel like the front was riding the rocks while the rear was skipping. So, I went one click stiffer.
Next, the rear: Both the low- and high-speed compression are already on full soft, so nowhere to go with those. A few rides ago I slowed the rear rebound down by 2 clicks and it made the rear feel calmer. I decided to try 3 more clicks. In the less gnarly stuff it felt good but in the tougher stuff you could feel the rear grabbing the rocks and slowing the bike down. I went back out two turns to end up just one stiffer then prior.
In general, the settings from Gilles were pretty darn close.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
Sandy Lane 2010
We had a great time.
4 of us got down there by 4:30 and got through reg. and tech no problem.
The hotel was really empty compared to past years.
The race:
The first section was not timed and had a big reset in it. This was the stuff that everybody loves behind the gun club. Fast, flowing, fun.
Another couple really fun sections before the first gas. I get the foot-in-mouth award for next year's banquet. Sat. night I made fun of Shawn for doing the routesheet minutes by hand, but when I set up my computer off by 1 minute, his sheet came in handy. A little later I got it straightened out and everything was good.
Shawn and I rode on 12 and it was a good day to be on an early line. The first and second sections were wet. Sometimes the best line was right through the middle and sometimes you had to bushwhack 30-50' off the side. 4 other PFMC guys were on row 46 and theirs was a very different race.
After the first gas was the section that was called "the meat grinder" last year....except longer. This year it was 10miles of the really, really, tight stuff.....the kind of stuff that makes you wonder why you bother doing that race. Somewhere in this section, Shawn had a real issue. The manifold on his EFI came off and spewed gas all over his engine. Luckily he was able to get it fixed, but not before he houred out.
The second section after gas was a little more open, but not much. There was a reset after the previous section but not enough for me to get back on time. This section was a little more flowing but also somewhat whooped out with braking bumps. At the end of this section there was an innocent-looking little swamp with a blue bike pointed toward the sky and the back buried. Lucky break, because I probably would have taken that line. More bushwhacking to get around spots like this.
Thanks to a long woods-road section at 12mph I got back to the 2nd gas on time and had the full 25 minutes to rest. Right after that there was another 14 minute reset....seemed like they lost some trail or it was not usable due to the huge rains they'd had the week before.
The last section was only about 3 miles of moderately tight stuff, then a very long tar ride back to parking. I would guess that there were probably 15 fewer miles of trail this year compared to last year's ride.
By the time we left I was in 7th, B-vet and it looked like most of the scoring was done. I was pretty happy with how I rode. Felt like I was faster than usual on the faster, flowing stuff. The tight stuff is just not a place that a 6'4", 230lb guy should be....very, very tough just getting my legs and shoulders through some of that. Need to work on getting smother in the tight stuff.
On the long, baby-powder sand roads I felt like my training on the balance board was very helpful. I felt a lot more confident looking far ahead and trusting my body to keep the bike going and upright.
Kudos to Scott F. for zeroing a few check in his first-ever enduro.
The day after Sandy Lane is when you ask yourself "Why do I go to that race?", but next February I'll be looking forward to it.
4 of us got down there by 4:30 and got through reg. and tech no problem.
The hotel was really empty compared to past years.
The race:
The first section was not timed and had a big reset in it. This was the stuff that everybody loves behind the gun club. Fast, flowing, fun.
Another couple really fun sections before the first gas. I get the foot-in-mouth award for next year's banquet. Sat. night I made fun of Shawn for doing the routesheet minutes by hand, but when I set up my computer off by 1 minute, his sheet came in handy. A little later I got it straightened out and everything was good.
Shawn and I rode on 12 and it was a good day to be on an early line. The first and second sections were wet. Sometimes the best line was right through the middle and sometimes you had to bushwhack 30-50' off the side. 4 other PFMC guys were on row 46 and theirs was a very different race.
After the first gas was the section that was called "the meat grinder" last year....except longer. This year it was 10miles of the really, really, tight stuff.....the kind of stuff that makes you wonder why you bother doing that race. Somewhere in this section, Shawn had a real issue. The manifold on his EFI came off and spewed gas all over his engine. Luckily he was able to get it fixed, but not before he houred out.
The second section after gas was a little more open, but not much. There was a reset after the previous section but not enough for me to get back on time. This section was a little more flowing but also somewhat whooped out with braking bumps. At the end of this section there was an innocent-looking little swamp with a blue bike pointed toward the sky and the back buried. Lucky break, because I probably would have taken that line. More bushwhacking to get around spots like this.
Thanks to a long woods-road section at 12mph I got back to the 2nd gas on time and had the full 25 minutes to rest. Right after that there was another 14 minute reset....seemed like they lost some trail or it was not usable due to the huge rains they'd had the week before.
The last section was only about 3 miles of moderately tight stuff, then a very long tar ride back to parking. I would guess that there were probably 15 fewer miles of trail this year compared to last year's ride.
By the time we left I was in 7th, B-vet and it looked like most of the scoring was done. I was pretty happy with how I rode. Felt like I was faster than usual on the faster, flowing stuff. The tight stuff is just not a place that a 6'4", 230lb guy should be....very, very tough just getting my legs and shoulders through some of that. Need to work on getting smother in the tight stuff.
On the long, baby-powder sand roads I felt like my training on the balance board was very helpful. I felt a lot more confident looking far ahead and trusting my body to keep the bike going and upright.
Kudos to Scott F. for zeroing a few check in his first-ever enduro.
The day after Sandy Lane is when you ask yourself "Why do I go to that race?", but next February I'll be looking forward to it.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Big, big vacation plans
School vacation this week and man, do I have some big plans........nothing. It will just be me and Calla the Dog here all week. So, it will be a good time to spend some quality hours out in the garage making the bike perfect. I started safety wiring a few things and it's kind of addictive. I haven't been able to keep the shifter tight since the bike was new. Blue loctite just isn't strong enough. So, safety wire that, the exhaust mounts, and whatever else I can get to. Added a brake snake to the shifter and will do the brake too. I'd like to come up with a better way to mount the Watchdog, but don't really have a good idea for that. Quite the exciting life I lead....
Friday, February 12, 2010
Snow Run
The NETRA Snow Run was this past weekend. Perhaps one of the most fun NETRA enduros I've done. Right off the bat you could see that the routesheet was fairly short so we knew there was no need to save energy. The start went to the right out of the parking to a familiar section from many Ramblers runs. Even though I had the deflectors, grip heaters, and thicker gloves, my right hand got numb in the first section. Speeds were very high. The Ramblers pretty much only used cart road for this event. This would have been a necessary move if the snow was deep. In the thin snow cover we had, most of the day we were riding the brown stripe of frozen ground.
Traction initially was great. The front stayed strong all day but the rear started losing side lugs during the run. It got tough to accelerate hard out of turns. I don't think I ever used 4th and 5th gear so much in an enduro.
Ed was on a tear and ended up 1st in his class. He got me by 1 in a bunch of sections. I did not leave anything on the trail. That was as hard as I could run on that day. I made a couple errors and checked into a section late in my minute. I ended up 3rd C-vet. Really fun day.
Pics:
ONE
TWO
THREE
FOUR
FIVE
Steve E.'s bike wouldn't start in the morning so we put it in my trailer and pointed the Mr. Heater at it. Got a little too close and melted his shroud. Any longer and we could have had a huge fire. Pretty funny but could have turned out different.
Traction initially was great. The front stayed strong all day but the rear started losing side lugs during the run. It got tough to accelerate hard out of turns. I don't think I ever used 4th and 5th gear so much in an enduro.
Ed was on a tear and ended up 1st in his class. He got me by 1 in a bunch of sections. I did not leave anything on the trail. That was as hard as I could run on that day. I made a couple errors and checked into a section late in my minute. I ended up 3rd C-vet. Really fun day.
Pics:
ONE
TWO
THREE
FOUR
FIVE
Steve E.'s bike wouldn't start in the morning so we put it in my trailer and pointed the Mr. Heater at it. Got a little too close and melted his shroud. Any longer and we could have had a huge fire. Pretty funny but could have turned out different.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Sumter National
Got back from Sumter around 10:00 last night. All in all, it was a great time.
Ed and I left here around 5:00 Friday afternoon. We drove a few hours and got a hotel in northern Maryland for the night with the plan to finish the drive to SC on Sat....just about 8 hours left of drive time. We screwed up because neither one of us looked ahead on the weather forecast. When we got up they were predicting 8-12" across VA and ice in NC. Well, the forecasts were exactly correct. By the time we got to VA, there was 4" on the highway and piling up fast. Southerners DON'T know how to drive in the snow and the southern states don't seem to own many plows. Before lunch we spent 3-4 hours going no faster than 30mph. In NC the snow changed to ice and the pace was a little faster but not much.
We got to Sumter and got checked in to the Wyndham hotel. Went across the street for dinner and bumped into Gilles T. and Adam V. Good luck to talk with the guy who built your suspension the night before a race. Gilles suggested that I go up 5 clicks on compression and leave rebound alone. I did that plus added one round of low-speed compression.
We got to the start area early got checked in. Everything went really smoothly, the club seemed to to have everything well organized. Lots of cool people to see there including the pros with their huge haulers. Biggest enduro that I've seen. 600 riders were registered, but 500 ran...probably because of the tough weather. 5 or 6 times bigger than a NETRA enduro.
Ed and I left on row 94, more than an hour and a half after the first riders. We had time to watch the first few pros in the first trail. Awesome. Probably doing 30-35mph in very tight trees. There were 120 rows total - five per line. I purposely left last off of our line. Other than Ed, the other three guys were all A riders. After about a mile, Ed let me by and I was feeling pretty good. Lots of fun rhythm riding. I pulled over about 1/4 of the way through the section because I was really hot under the enduro jacket. Opened it up and was good. The front suspension felt perfect, but the rear was just a little jarring on the roots and sharp acceleration bumps. Traction was awesome and I had a blast catching back up to and passing Ed. Unfortunately he got back passed me when I missed a turn because I fixated on another rider that I was trying to pass. That cost me about 2-3 minutes. Pic from section 1 here: SECTION 1 PIC
I found Ed at the Section 2 check in just about 1 minute before our minute flipped. No time to adjust the suspension, just take a few sips from the Camelbak. Ed was right on my rear for the first couple miles, but I was able to pull away just a little. Then I didn't hear him after that....he'd gotten stuck in a mud hole where I saw another guy up to his seat. I really pushed hard in this section and had a lot of fun. There were just a couple sections that were super tight....narrower than the bars. But they were less than a 1/4 mile in length. Lots of fun.
At the first gas stop, Ed and I talked about how well the Dunlop 756's were working. I took 2 clicks out of the rear compression. When Ed got there I told him we had 21 minutes before we had to leave. He told me I was crazy and that the reset was 50 minutes long. I was pretty sure that I was right, but listened to him anyway. He walked over and found a check-out point where guys that were 60 minutes ahead of us were checking out and told me about it. The logic didn't match up, but by then it was too late. We left gas 6 minutes late....depressing but it didn't really matter in the results.
Two more sections before the official gas stop. Sections 3 and 4 were a blast and just the right level of challenge. There was one big swamp section but I made it through in good time. 3 was really tight and I pushed hard and did lots of bar-banging. The rear suspension was now perfect. Section 4 started off tight and then opened up into longer straights of sand whoops....lots of them. Ed came past me and I pushed but could not keep with him. Started to get dejected and those enduro-type negative thoughts started to creep in, telling me that it was OK to take it easy. I was proud of myself that I took control of that mindset, pushed it out and and pushed my pace. I finished the section strong. The picture AT THIS LINK was taken just after I'd bounced off of the trees on either side of me.
Gas was after section 4 and Ed looked ready to quit when he got there. I talked him into going back out. Pretty early in the section I got stuck really deep in a whole that was the only line available. The seat was so deep it was lower than my knees. Luckily, it didn't get vacuumed in like it would here in New England so I was able to pull it out and get going without holding up Ed and a couple other guys too badly. He really kicked butt in that 5th section (last one for us B's) and beat me by 27 seconds there. This section was more really fun rhythm riding: awesome traction on the wet sand.
In the end, my results were pretty weak: 30th out of 37 in B-Vet but it was the best I had on that day. I definitely did not leave anything on the trail! I'm still very sore two days later and my left hand is a mess. I enjoyed the national format and can't wait to go back next year. Really fun riding and worth all the hassle of the drive down.
Ed and I left here around 5:00 Friday afternoon. We drove a few hours and got a hotel in northern Maryland for the night with the plan to finish the drive to SC on Sat....just about 8 hours left of drive time. We screwed up because neither one of us looked ahead on the weather forecast. When we got up they were predicting 8-12" across VA and ice in NC. Well, the forecasts were exactly correct. By the time we got to VA, there was 4" on the highway and piling up fast. Southerners DON'T know how to drive in the snow and the southern states don't seem to own many plows. Before lunch we spent 3-4 hours going no faster than 30mph. In NC the snow changed to ice and the pace was a little faster but not much.
We got to the start area early got checked in. Everything went really smoothly, the club seemed to to have everything well organized. Lots of cool people to see there including the pros with their huge haulers. Biggest enduro that I've seen. 600 riders were registered, but 500 ran...probably because of the tough weather. 5 or 6 times bigger than a NETRA enduro.
Ed and I left on row 94, more than an hour and a half after the first riders. We had time to watch the first few pros in the first trail. Awesome. Probably doing 30-35mph in very tight trees. There were 120 rows total - five per line. I purposely left last off of our line. Other than Ed, the other three guys were all A riders. After about a mile, Ed let me by and I was feeling pretty good. Lots of fun rhythm riding. I pulled over about 1/4 of the way through the section because I was really hot under the enduro jacket. Opened it up and was good. The front suspension felt perfect, but the rear was just a little jarring on the roots and sharp acceleration bumps. Traction was awesome and I had a blast catching back up to and passing Ed. Unfortunately he got back passed me when I missed a turn because I fixated on another rider that I was trying to pass. That cost me about 2-3 minutes. Pic from section 1 here: SECTION 1 PIC
I found Ed at the Section 2 check in just about 1 minute before our minute flipped. No time to adjust the suspension, just take a few sips from the Camelbak. Ed was right on my rear for the first couple miles, but I was able to pull away just a little. Then I didn't hear him after that....he'd gotten stuck in a mud hole where I saw another guy up to his seat. I really pushed hard in this section and had a lot of fun. There were just a couple sections that were super tight....narrower than the bars. But they were less than a 1/4 mile in length. Lots of fun.
At the first gas stop, Ed and I talked about how well the Dunlop 756's were working. I took 2 clicks out of the rear compression. When Ed got there I told him we had 21 minutes before we had to leave. He told me I was crazy and that the reset was 50 minutes long. I was pretty sure that I was right, but listened to him anyway. He walked over and found a check-out point where guys that were 60 minutes ahead of us were checking out and told me about it. The logic didn't match up, but by then it was too late. We left gas 6 minutes late....depressing but it didn't really matter in the results.
Two more sections before the official gas stop. Sections 3 and 4 were a blast and just the right level of challenge. There was one big swamp section but I made it through in good time. 3 was really tight and I pushed hard and did lots of bar-banging. The rear suspension was now perfect. Section 4 started off tight and then opened up into longer straights of sand whoops....lots of them. Ed came past me and I pushed but could not keep with him. Started to get dejected and those enduro-type negative thoughts started to creep in, telling me that it was OK to take it easy. I was proud of myself that I took control of that mindset, pushed it out and and pushed my pace. I finished the section strong. The picture AT THIS LINK was taken just after I'd bounced off of the trees on either side of me.
Gas was after section 4 and Ed looked ready to quit when he got there. I talked him into going back out. Pretty early in the section I got stuck really deep in a whole that was the only line available. The seat was so deep it was lower than my knees. Luckily, it didn't get vacuumed in like it would here in New England so I was able to pull it out and get going without holding up Ed and a couple other guys too badly. He really kicked butt in that 5th section (last one for us B's) and beat me by 27 seconds there. This section was more really fun rhythm riding: awesome traction on the wet sand.
In the end, my results were pretty weak: 30th out of 37 in B-Vet but it was the best I had on that day. I definitely did not leave anything on the trail! I'm still very sore two days later and my left hand is a mess. I enjoyed the national format and can't wait to go back next year. Really fun riding and worth all the hassle of the drive down.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Sumter Prep
This Friday, Ed V. and I'll head for South Carolina and the Sumter National Enduro. I'm pretty excited for my first national.
Spent the last two days getting the truck ready for the haul. Yesterday I put the new rear shocks on and spent all of today on the struts. I had a real tough time with the passenger side until I got it figured out that the sway bar links had to be detached on both sides....can't just do one side at a time. I also finally installed the iPod2car adapter for tunes for the drive.
The trailer was prepped last week and the week before that. Greased the wheel bearings and ramp hinges. Last weekend I put new tires on it.
I'll spend most of tomorrow getting the bike ready. I bought a used set of wheels in good shape from Mark P. I'll put the soft-terrain Dunlop 756s on the new rims and leave my rallye studs on the stock wheels for the Snow Run the week after Sumter. The FMF Q arrived this week so I'll mount that (good deal through the new sponsorship). Then all the typical stuff: change oil, air filter, drain gas, etc.
Spent the last two days getting the truck ready for the haul. Yesterday I put the new rear shocks on and spent all of today on the struts. I had a real tough time with the passenger side until I got it figured out that the sway bar links had to be detached on both sides....can't just do one side at a time. I also finally installed the iPod2car adapter for tunes for the drive.
The trailer was prepped last week and the week before that. Greased the wheel bearings and ramp hinges. Last weekend I put new tires on it.
I'll spend most of tomorrow getting the bike ready. I bought a used set of wheels in good shape from Mark P. I'll put the soft-terrain Dunlop 756s on the new rims and leave my rallye studs on the stock wheels for the Snow Run the week after Sumter. The FMF Q arrived this week so I'll mount that (good deal through the new sponsorship). Then all the typical stuff: change oil, air filter, drain gas, etc.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Walden Mud & Snow Scramble
Went out to the MX track in Walden, NY today for the scramble. Had a great time. Rick B. and Kevin O. also raced. I didn't change my suspension or my jetting. Didn't seem to need to.
There was no snow to be found. I rode with the rallye spikes on the bike. I'm still pretty impressed with how this tire is holding up. Cheng Shin 755 with 22mm rallye studs, Gorilla Glue on each. Conditions today were the toughest possible for the studs and I think I only lost 10 or so on the rear...none on the front.
I felt good in the small woods sections and had a decent pace there. The many sections where we used the MX track were tough. Lots of frozen mud ruts.
I feel OK about the way I rode, but whenever I do a scramble I forget about the shorter length and hold back a little...like I'm riding an enduro. Gotta learn to just cut it loose. Not really sore or tired.
This guy was moving. Passed me from a line behind (at least I wasn't the first guy he passed). Had a big Suzuki and regular digital camera taped to the chin bar of his helmet.
YouTube Video
There was no snow to be found. I rode with the rallye spikes on the bike. I'm still pretty impressed with how this tire is holding up. Cheng Shin 755 with 22mm rallye studs, Gorilla Glue on each. Conditions today were the toughest possible for the studs and I think I only lost 10 or so on the rear...none on the front.
I felt good in the small woods sections and had a decent pace there. The many sections where we used the MX track were tough. Lots of frozen mud ruts.
I feel OK about the way I rode, but whenever I do a scramble I forget about the shorter length and hold back a little...like I'm riding an enduro. Gotta learn to just cut it loose. Not really sore or tired.
This guy was moving. Passed me from a line behind (at least I wasn't the first guy he passed). Had a big Suzuki and regular digital camera taped to the chin bar of his helmet.
YouTube Video
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Pachaug ride today.
Shawn B., Steve E., and I rode at Pachaug today. It was a great time. Most trails had 3-5" of virgin powder on them. It was definitely easier to make your own track when there was a track already there. It was about 20 degrees but still sweaty under the enduro jacket. We did the second part of the loop backwards and forward back to the trucks.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Snow "warm" up
It was a good reminder of just how fast you build up body heat. It was 17 degrees with a fierce wind but I was soaked in sweat after just 2 miles.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Lots of work on the bike today
Used today today to do a lot of work to the bike.
- Mounted the spikes
- Rerouted the vent tubes to the airbox
- Installed the radiator guards
- Installed the grip heaters.
Thinking about doing the Winter Scramble with Ed V. this weekend. Someone just posted a video of the terrain, looked pretty sweet. Not too much snow there. Could be a fun time.
ALSO: Got another couple sponsorships this week. I applied to FMF directly and KSR Wheels on MXSponsor.com. Not sure if I'll accept the KSR one, they didn't give a specific discount in the offer. Seems a little shady.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Backyard first laps
Got in two laps on the backyard loop today. It was pretty tough on the frozen ground without studs of any kind. I think it's going to be a good little practice loop. Obviously it's very tight. It'll be a mix of 1st and 2nd gear. I left in a any log crossings that were there and I see a couple other trees that are ready to go that I'm going to try to get to fall onto the loop. One log crossing requires a 90-degree wheelie. When run backwards it will be a turn immediately after the log.
15" of snow coming in tonight, so probably won't get much time in on the lap. Still trying to decide if I'll put studs on the bike or leave regular tires on for Mototown.
ALSO: Went to Steve's shop in Avon today and he was nice enough to mount up the Timbren bump stops on the Tacoma's rear suspension. They should make towing more comfortable.
15" of snow coming in tonight, so probably won't get much time in on the lap. Still trying to decide if I'll put studs on the bike or leave regular tires on for Mototown.
ALSO: Went to Steve's shop in Avon today and he was nice enough to mount up the Timbren bump stops on the Tacoma's rear suspension. They should make towing more comfortable.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Backyard Single-track
Took out the gas hedge trimmer today and started cutting some singletrack in the back yard. I had a very small loop (about 0.2 mi) before, but it was pretty hard to get any kind of rhythm going or to get out of first gear. This is going to be around 0.7 I hope. I looked onto the property behind us, but I found a new-looking hunter's tree stand, right near the property line, so I assume that some one is back there pretty often.
The hedge trimmer isn't quite the right tool. What I really need is the brush cutter attachment for my machine. Off to Home Depot to try to find one.
The hedge trimmer isn't quite the right tool. What I really need is the brush cutter attachment for my machine. Off to Home Depot to try to find one.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
2010 Events
Ed, Steve, and I went to the Comp/Sanction meeting today. An 8 hour meeting. There were several rule change proposals to make big changes to enduros - basically taking away timekeeping. All of them failed. As a fan of timekeeping, I'm glad. We already have a hare scramble series, we don't need another one.
12 Enduros on the schedule for next year, with a string of 3 that will require long travel all in a row. I'm looking forward to next season
Link to the CALENDAR.
12 Enduros on the schedule for next year, with a string of 3 that will require long travel all in a row. I'm looking forward to next season
Link to the CALENDAR.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Season's-end fun ride
Well, the enduro season's over with the Gypsy Moth/Dan Salamone ride. It was a good time and a real, classic enduro. I'll end up with 2nd in B-vet on the season. The rider in first place did 10 runs with 2 DNFs, and I did 8 runs with zero DNFs. He beat me by 15 points, I think. I did the math. He averaged about 12 points per race and I averaged about 18, but it wasn't enough to get by him. I feel pretty good about my chances for next year. I'll get in better shape over the winter and try to get some practice in on tougher terrain.
Tomorrow I'm going to Meriden for their Poker Run. Should be a good time. Last year it was snowy. This year it looks like good weather. We'll see if I get anything decent at the raffle.
Tomorrow I'm going to Meriden for their Poker Run. Should be a good time. Last year it was snowy. This year it looks like good weather. We'll see if I get anything decent at the raffle.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Gypsy Moth Enduro
This year's Gypsy Moth was in honor of Dan Salamone and the SRCR club raised over $4k to support Dan's family.
First the prep: Yesterday accidentally ended up being full of bike prep. Took a ridiculous amount of time to get the spark plug in. Don't know how KTM expects anyone to get their fingers in there. I messed up the master link while doing the chain to that was an extra 2 hours while I drove to every shop between here and Manchester looking for a Regina m.l. Should have just driven to Manchester in the first place. While I was finishing, my neighbor Ted came over and had a package for me that had gone to his door. It was the post for my GPR, so that was another hour of work.
The race: Terrain was very, very challenging today. Mike D., Mark P., and I were on line 5, and with line 1 being held open in honor of Salamone, that didn't leave a lot of guys in front of us to burn in a line. Mike passed me within a quarter mile of the start and I didn't see him again until gas. He was going well. Never saw Mark P., at all. The wet leaves on top of slippery rocks and off-cambers made for some really tough riding. All this was made tougher by my worn tires. After gas we doubled back on a couple of the same sections that we'd done earlier. I guess the club didn't put in enough turn-around time because some of the late-minute riders were coming at us!
I pushed as hard as I could but it was hard to be very aggressive with the slippery conditions. We hit some of the same sections for a third time at the end of the day in the A-B section. Conditions were worse and very slippery again. I kept pushing. Mark W. and I swapped places a few times in the last sections. Right after he passed me within 2 miles of the end, he went into a puddle before and and swamped his bike. I probably would have taken the same line if I were in front.. I made my way around him.
I ended up 3rd B-Vet on the day. Two guys that beat me don't run the series. I ended up a little better than some of the guys that usually beat me. Just one of those days. Jim D. came away with B-HP. Great ride by him.
The suspension: The bike felt pretty good today, just a little harsh in the slower stuff. Talked to Gilles and this is probably just a clicker setting. Both ends felt very balanced. I haven't touched the clickers since I went 3 softer on both ends from Gilles's stock settings.
Thanks to Jay Chittenden for the pics:
First section: Not too muddy yet.
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LOOK AHEAD YOU IDIOT!
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First the prep: Yesterday accidentally ended up being full of bike prep. Took a ridiculous amount of time to get the spark plug in. Don't know how KTM expects anyone to get their fingers in there. I messed up the master link while doing the chain to that was an extra 2 hours while I drove to every shop between here and Manchester looking for a Regina m.l. Should have just driven to Manchester in the first place. While I was finishing, my neighbor Ted came over and had a package for me that had gone to his door. It was the post for my GPR, so that was another hour of work.
The race: Terrain was very, very challenging today. Mike D., Mark P., and I were on line 5, and with line 1 being held open in honor of Salamone, that didn't leave a lot of guys in front of us to burn in a line. Mike passed me within a quarter mile of the start and I didn't see him again until gas. He was going well. Never saw Mark P., at all. The wet leaves on top of slippery rocks and off-cambers made for some really tough riding. All this was made tougher by my worn tires. After gas we doubled back on a couple of the same sections that we'd done earlier. I guess the club didn't put in enough turn-around time because some of the late-minute riders were coming at us!
I pushed as hard as I could but it was hard to be very aggressive with the slippery conditions. We hit some of the same sections for a third time at the end of the day in the A-B section. Conditions were worse and very slippery again. I kept pushing. Mark W. and I swapped places a few times in the last sections. Right after he passed me within 2 miles of the end, he went into a puddle before and and swamped his bike. I probably would have taken the same line if I were in front.. I made my way around him.
I ended up 3rd B-Vet on the day. Two guys that beat me don't run the series. I ended up a little better than some of the guys that usually beat me. Just one of those days. Jim D. came away with B-HP. Great ride by him.
The suspension: The bike felt pretty good today, just a little harsh in the slower stuff. Talked to Gilles and this is probably just a clicker setting. Both ends felt very balanced. I haven't touched the clickers since I went 3 softer on both ends from Gilles's stock settings.
Thanks to Jay Chittenden for the pics:
First section: Not too muddy yet.
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I think Jay was expecting me to be in the air much longer on this log jump.
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