Mud or Dust.

We raced in the mud locally this weekend.  So did the GNCC circuit at Loretta’s.  But just 2 weeks ago, the GNCC circuit raced in the dust.  Here is the video from that race.

[Vimeo 11230611]

1st race is in the bag!

Aztalan has left the building.

The first race of the year is always a great thing.  It can be sketchy, because it is April and you just never know what the weather will do.  But, whatever it brings it is always just a great thing to get it going – for crying out loud.

Finally! We get back to racing on this stuff.

It has been super dry around here.  I mean, like mid summer dry.  Last week on Wed, Scott and I went to Dyracuse to ride and it was 75 and almost dusty.  This week, the guys at Aztalan were telling me that it was super dusty out there.  Well of course, a super pile of storms came through and dropped more than an inch of rain.  Aztalan went from being dusty to snotty slimy muddy.

Oh ya. I am going to race this thing! Yep.

That would be me above sporting new Moose Racing gear, and that would be my sweet Vesrah Suzuki hoody that I was warning that I would be wearing.

So the dirt at Aztalan is a mixture of 50% clay, 10% sand and 75% small rocks.  That adds up to more than 100%, because that is what it adds in weight on your bike when you race in the mud there for 2 hours.  There is so much rock jammed into every little nook and cranny of the bike.  I swear my bike weighed 300lbs at the end of the race.  I absolutely could not even lift it up on the stand.

There wasn’t any standing water on the race, but there was everything from pudding mud to snot on glass to the kind of mud that just turns your tires into huge doughnuts of mud.

It really didn’t do much to the mud to have the C class, or the Vintage class or the RGN class, race before us.  Sometimes, that race before us busts up the mud and gets us down to a better racing surface.  Not today.  It was just as mucky for us as it was for the 1st race today.

The RGN class of racing is pretty cool.  They race a bunch of different disciplines of racing during the year.  The key is that they have to do it on the same motorcycle for each discipline.  MX, Supermotard, Road racing, Drag racing, Harescrambles, Enduro, Trials etc…  Most people choose an MX bike, and change the wheels for the other disciplines etc…

There was a guy in the RGN class racing a KTM adventure bike. Seems like a good way to ruin a nice motorcycle.

Our race started at 1:30, as advertised.  It was raining a little bit when we started, and it would keep that up for the whole race.  I got a good start in 3rd at the 1st turn.  But, at the 2nd turn, the 2nd place guy stalled his bike and blocked my line.  I was shuffled back a few spots at that point. Unfortunately, I would not see the front anymore today.

I made my way back up to 2nd place at one point, but as I said I just could not seem to find the front today.  I am not exactly a mud specialist.  Actually, after a year of GNCC racing I really don’t care much for the mud.

I eventually fell back to 3rd, as some local MX’er made good and beat both John and I.

Liz was there and took a bunch of photo’s.  Enjoy.

Scott putting it down

Pretty Muddy

If I was just going a bit faster

I really should open my eyes

Also there was mud

Gratuitous ass shot

Pretty much what everyones bikes looked like after the race.

How I feel about mud racing!

There are a bunch more photos at SpiderwebMX facebook page.  Take a look.

Out.

Joe

New Season – Same old bike!

It is just 1 day till our first local race.  Jeez, it took long enough.  Seems like this winter was at least 380 days long.

But, I did the training.  I did the random offseason race.  I did the training camp in Missouri.  I worked on my bike.  I trained.  I worked on my bike some more.  I trained.

Now, it all pays off tomorrow.  The flag goes up, and the first turn chaos will be there, the mid race slump, the being stuck in the mud, the tip over that just completely taxes you, the choking dust, the picking mud out of your eyes 2 days later, the sore shoulder from smashing it into a tree, the blistered up hands…

I will be there with my new gear from Moose.  Probably XCR since it is cool out tomorrow.

Tomorrows gear

Tomorrows brand spanking new Bell Helmet will kinda match, but maybe not perfectly.  It is pretty sweet though.

Brand new helmet - mmmm, love the smell.

After the race is over, I will be bouncing around the pits in my Vesrah team wear.  You remember that stuff, that is the pretty cool casual stuff that Scott and I put together.

Vesrah team casual gear is here!

It’s a new season, but I will be on the same old trusty bike.  No upgrade yet for me.  I still have a new one coming, but it will be another 2009 just like this one.  2010’s are HARD to come by.  It does have fresh decals and fresh everything else.  Runs like a top – starts easy – handles great – Rekluse Zstart Pro clutch keeps me going down the trail, even when I am too stupid to remember to pull in the clutch lever.

There is a full gallery of my bike here.

Thats it for me.  See you tomorrow.

Joe

More, More, More Video blasts!

Not much to post up this week, but a few videos.

This first one is the reason we all want to live in Vancouver.  It is a Rocky Mountain bicycle video, but get past that and you will see why we all love it there.

The classic DH helmet cam video.  This one I saw a long long time ago, and I have wanted to find this trail forever.

Don’t know this rider, but this is a dynamite video.  Guy has some skills.

Weekend of 2 wheelers!

The weekend turned out really good for 2 wheeling. I always figure that if you can ride 2 wheelers both days on the weekend, then it is a good one.

Saturday – 3 hour road ride from Madison with Chip Camillo and the Pinnacle Health and Fitness team.

Sunday – 2.5 hours on the RMZ at Dyracuse.

Saturday was a bit windy and cold.  Long sleeves, caps, full finger gloves, knee warmers, vests.  But, it warmed during the ride and we ended up peeling most of it by the end of the ride.  60+ miles, 3 hours.  Group of 8 or so, and a decent pace.  On the way back in to Belleville, we were motoring right along at 26 or so.  Fun.

Midway through. Warming, but still cold.

Sunday Moto ride at Dyracuse.  I am a little bit bummed, because I did not go to do the Enduro in Iowa.  I was a bum.  Actually, John bailed on me and it had raining down there overnight.  I assumed it was going to be a mud pit, and I really do not like racing my bike and shredding it in mud bath races.  I know – wimp.  Pete is going to call me later this week and tell me that I made a huge mistake not going.

Anyway, I went to Dyracuse on my own.  I scoped out a 20 minute loop and did 2’15” at race focus.  It went well.  I softened my suspension just a tad from last week and I was really surprised how much better my bike went.  I had gobs of traction everywhere I rode.  I could not believe how good it was.  The sand is drying out up there and getting deeper, but still not powder and dust.  A few more weeks and it will not feel much like the rest of our terrain that we race on.  But that is ok, because at that point we will be racing every weekend.

No photo’s from the moto ride, as I was there alone.

Sunday eve, I watched 3 different 2 wheeler races on Tivo.

Moto GP from Qatar – dang it was disappointing to see Nicky get pipped for the podium at the end like that.

Houston Supercross – Good race, but Villipoto ran away with it so badly that it got boring halfway through.  Chad Reed is definitely not as fast as he was on a Yellow bike.

Paris Roubaix – This was completely worth it.  Cancellara is the man.  Dang that was a good race.  Not as much fun to watch as a muddy race is, those always result in tons of crashes. But, wow is the man fast.

Joe

Friday Video posts – it’s a party!

Here are a few things I have found this week.  In general, I would say Watch26.com is well worth the time.  It will suck time away from your life, but damn is it fun!

I got a little bit ambitious and found way too many this week.  So, at the last minute I decided that I  should have broken this up into a few posts, so I did.  You will get them all, eventually – until then enjoy.

This first one is of Danny MacAskill.  Wow, he has to be the most talented rider of all time.  This video only shows some of his talent.  I do not know what I would do, if I could ride that well.  That’s stupid, of course I know what I would do.  I would ride my bike!

This is the really great DH race through the streets of Rio.  You may have seen this before, I have.  But, I needed to show it again.  Helmet cams are great.

This is not a mountain bike video, but – hey – who said everything on Friday videos had to be mountain bikes.  It is GEORGE for crying out loud.  He is cool.  I wish the Peleton would just let him with this weekend at Paris Roubaix.  I am really tired of the “can he win it”, “will he win it” debates.  Good god people, this is George we are talking about.  GO George, Go!

I do not really know what this one is, and I may have even shown it before.  I like it though.

This one has a cool soundtrack.  Haven’t heard this song in forever.

Ya, so that is it for now.  Next week, probably back on the motorcycle posting.  Only 14 days till the first race.  HOLY CRAP!!!! 14 DAYS!!!!

out.

Joe

Perfect dirt – big crowds – 4 hours!

Yow! If you are a rider, and live in Wisconsin, you were at Dyracuse riding Saturday.

The first day of the local riding season is always a beautiful thing. People come out of the woodwork. I mean it has been a long dormant season. So the first days that Dyracuse is open brings everybody out. The quad riders the freestyle pant cigarette smokers, the serious mxers, the one or two lap blitzers and the serious woods riders.

The parking lot was full yesterday. If you were a rider in Wisconsin, you were riding yesterday.

Some years, the trails are completely dry already.  Some years, the motocross track is perfect and the trails are underwater.  Some years, the trails are partially covered in snow.  Some years, it is a balmy 29 degrees for the high.  Yesterday, the dirt was absolutely perfect.  Perfect moisture to have loads of traction, yet zero mud.  The temperature was a high of 65.  It just does not get any better than that.

It is no secret, that I have been struggling with my bike of late.  I have been trying different things.  I guess it is the season for that.  But, with just a few weeks till the race season, I was starting to get impatient.  So, yesterday I rode with the bike all the way back to where it was last year.

– stock exhaust.

– bars and grips from last year.

– tires I was familiar with

– suspension set up from last year.

– brake levers at the foot

etc…

Everything fell back into place yesterday.  I went from very out of sorts on the bike, to very comfortable again.  It was great.  The bike turned where I wanted it to, it did what I expected it would do on bumps, it had the throttle response I was expecting etc…  My bike was spectacular yesterday.

I put in about 4 hours of riding time.  An hour to get started with, then about 2 hours in the middle and then a break to make some adjustments and then another hour or so.  Felt really great.  The photos below show that even after 4 hours of riding, my bike was in good shape.

Out,

Joe