Best and Worst of 2012 – Old guys offroad!

Best and Worst of 2012 – Moto season

“Best and Worst!” Yes I am seated, so I can call that game.

I started this game at my family dinner table when my kids were young. It started as just a way to get everyone talking and for me to stay in touch with my kids when they were growing up. The game was that you had to say out loud what the best part of your day was and worst part. The rules were pretty simple at first, you had to have answers and could not pass.

It worked. We all talked, we all knew something about each other and we got a sense of who we were as a family and who we were becoming as individuals. And, we learned that we really liked each other.

But, the really great part is that the game has taken on a level of mythology that is truly impressive. The rules evolved along the way. The first evolution of the rules was that you could not say the same thing as someone else. That meant that if you had spent the whole day with someone, you really wanted to be able to go before them, as it was hard sometimes to not have the same answers as the person before you. That pushed the next evolution of the game and that was, the person that called the game got to decide the order. Calling the game could only be done when everyone was seated. That led to a mad dash to call the game the moment the last bum touched a seat. This would set off a bout of competitiveness, and anything you can compete at in our family is a good thing.

Of course calling the game meant you got to penalize someone into going last, making it difficult for them to come up with an acceptable offer on the game that had not already been spoken by someone else.

The next evolution on the rules was a complete ban on anything cheesy. One could not ever ever ever say something like “My best is that we are all here together for dinner.” – Cheesy. This rule has been particularly difficult for guests to understand. Grandparents in particular have difficulty with this rule.

The next evolution was that the person who called the game could decide to change the rules at any point in the game. Most people do this as they really just want to penalize Ali (at least that is what she assumes, “No one in this family ever listens”) I like to be able to change the rules midstride, just to exert my authority over the game. Somewhere along the way Liz is going to say “Your not the boss of me…” Given that, I need to find ways to be in charge.

The last evolution of the rules is that I can change the game rules anytime I want, even if I did not call the game. I am sort of a dictator. Most people are fine with this, Hanna has just resigned herself to it, but it mostly just irks Chris – which is the real reason that I created the rule in the first place.

The funny part is the lore of the game. It was fun even when the kids were in college, as their friends would come to the table and say “Ooo, I have heard about this game.”

It is pretty much the best family game ever.

Which brings me to the point of this blog entry. I am going to give you my version in relation to the moto season this past year. I know the rules are that there has to be just one best and one worst, but since I make the rules, here goes…

Worst of this past season.

1. Our D16 series has pretty much fallen apart. It is not really worth racing any longer. The races have only 40 or so riders on the line, they never start on time, the electronic scoring never works, the results are not up forever after the race, the website for the series is pathetic, the results are never up on line with an regularity, the courses are so poorly marked that cheating (either purposeful or mistakenly) is rampant…

When Rick Anschutz was managing the series, it grew into a 13/14/15 race series. After he left, it has slowly devolved into what I have described above. Fortunately, Rick has his own series now (see Best point below). This is all too bad, as it would be great to have seen the series continue to grow.

3. I did not do a whole series this past year, so the fun of chasing an overall season result was not there. I hit a few D16 races, a few WIXC races a few GNCC races etc… They are all fun, but a couple of years ago when I was chasing the D16 series, it was always fun to race the same group every weekend.

Best of this moto season (I like to save good stuff till last)

1. Vesrah Offroad is the 2012 Perry Mountain 24hr champion. The Perry Mountain 24hr race has been a couple of year focus for Scott and I. Last year we crumbled while leading during the night and finished 5^th place duo team. This year we felt we understood the race better and built what we hoped was a bullet proof plan to success there. Our plan worked flawlessly. We had 2 full time people at the pits, one full time person to give us status during the race, an air conditioned RV and a full time RV camp manager and cook. The only thing Scott and I had to do once we were there was ride. We managed to finish 1^st place Duo team and 7^th overall team. We were the very first duo team to break the top 10 overall at the race in the history of the race. You can read all about it on the link above at Perry Mountain.

2. My new Vesrah Offroad KTM 250F from Fun Mart. Wow is all I can say. For my riding and skill level, it is by far the best bike I have ever ridden. I am sure that there are plenty of riders out there that would feel it needs more power, but damn can I ride the thing. Love it.

3. Our new team trailer. I have always wanted to have a great trailer. This thing is aluminum and 7’X14”. The really great part is that everything just goes with you to the races. Spare wheels, extra gear etc… And, no matter how hard the race is it is not so hard to load up afterward (not like loading a 50 additional mud lb’s heavy motorcycle up the ramp and into the back of a 4X4 pick up).
4. The WIXC series. Rick Anschutz has put together a really nice 14 race series for next year. It covers most of the state of Wisconsin. We are missing another race or 2 in southern Wisconsin, but it has been growing really nicely and those will come over time. The races are great, they are fast and feel very much like GNCC races, they use electronic scoring, they start on time, the results are posted by the time you are loaded to go. Great stuff. Good on you Rick.

5. Our sponsors. Scott and I have worked really hard to build a responsible and visible offroad team effort. We try hard to look professional, to put up a nice little website that we are proud of, and to have great looking motorcycles and gear at every race. That effort has resonated with our sponsor list, and we are proud that we have a solid list of sponsors that have stayed with us over the years.

Vesrah, Fun Mart, VCGraphix, Factory Connection, Moose Racing, Kenda, Maxima, Bell Helmets, Honey Stinger, Rekluse, Oakley, EVS, GPR

Really looking forward to this season. I am ready for the calendar to turn over a bit quicker, but before that happens I have a couple of months of serious fitness work to put in. I plan to race most of the WIXC races and chase the overall, about half of the MAXC races in Indiana and a few GNCC races this year.

I am pretty psyched for my new 2013 KTM 250XC-F. Nicholas from Fun Mart says he will have it for me at end of January.

woot.

Hi, my name is joe… I am an offroad junkie.