That is what the local papers are saying about this past winter. Today being the first day of spring and all. I guess that we had a kick butt snow season in December, and then winter gave up. It was still damn cold all winter though. It is still cold and wintry feeling today.
In fact, as I sit here writing this on March 20, it is just 38 degrees outside. Of course, that is not stopping the boys across the street from playing basketball in shorts and Tshirts. Youth.
Spring is a time for youth though. I saw some green grass poking up through a soaked farmers field today on the way home. The sun is out a bunch more. I rode home on my bicycle from my cycling class the other night at 7pm. No lights, no darkness, just pedaling home like it was always like that. How quickly we forget.
Forgetting winter is what I want to do right now. 10 days from now is the first local race for the year. The MXC series, put on by the same group that puts on the OMA races, is up and going down in Illinois. They are generally not super hard races. They are just 1.5 hours, half of a GNCC race. You can usually do them on an MX bike with a small tank even. But, they are put on by Bill Gusse. Bill likes to put logs and tough uphills in any race that he puts on. He loves tight trees and he abhors GNCC races with the wide fast trails. Even though I love GNCC races, I have got to love Bill. He is unique.
Scott cannot make the race next weekend. He was out of the country all week, and needs to get caught up at home. I will be heading down with a couple of other friends, Joe Bauer and John Buechner. Two enduro fiends from the local group. They will probably destroy me in the tight woods. I will be ready by the time the real local season comes along, but right now my tight woods skills are pretty rusty. It will be fun to kick the bike over in a start line though. God I love the chaos of the first lap of a race.
My bikes are all ready for the season. Still waiting for some new graphics for the year, and that is why the photo’s are not updated. They will be soon. Along with our graphics, Pirelli tires are the last things to arrive. Everything else is ready – Factory Connection prepped suspension, Cycra plastic and hand guards, Magura clutches all rebuilt and dialed in, GPR steering dampers rebuilt and ready to go, G2 throttle tubes mounted and lubed, Vortex drive parts all fresh and ready, Moose gear ready for the season, new Bell helmets all fresh shinny and not stinky etc… Wow it is a pretty sight.
The word from Suzuki is that there will be new RMZ250’s showing up for Scott and I. Since Suzuki is done with the 2 stroke, I guess that this is our last year on 2 strokes. I will spend the year on the RM250 still (the best bike ever made), and spend the season in development on the 250F. Hopefully by next year I will be comfortable and ready to give up my 2 stroke. We will see. But that effort is going to provide a lot of blog fodder.
See you soon at a race.
Good luck Mat, at this weekends GNCC in North Carolina. It is a hard one.
Out
Joe
303 Off-road 