At Suzuki Mark’s place

On our way down to Crawfordsville, we needed to stop off at Suzuki Mark’s.  Thats what we call him anyway.

Mark and I standing in front of the trailer INSIDE his shop!

His real name is Mark Junge.  Mark and his wife Nancy run Vesrah Suzuki racing.  Mark is 8 time national endurance racing champion.  8 times!  Holy crap.  That is some skill  But on top of that, he and Nancy are just really good people.  They are super to be around.  I always love going to their shop.

A few Youtube videos for you from Mark’s racing.

Pit stop

Facebook page

Looking into Mark's shop. That is the semi pulled into the shop and those are STACKS of race tires! Yow!

The shop is huge!  It is big enough that the full semi for the race team just pulls right into the shop.  Stacked on one end of the shop are at least 20 stacks of race tires in stacks shoulder high.  Stuffed into corners all over the shop are various race bikes.  Mark runs a full compliment of GSXR1000’s and a team of GSXR600’s.  There are what appears to me to be about 25 motorcycles in various states of race prep around the shop.

A few of the many many bikes around the shop. They are all for sale at the end of the season, btw.

Nancy showed me some of the archive bikes that Mark has around the shop.  He is trying to rebuild race bikes from all of the 9 seasons of championship racing.  Wow.

We wound our way back to the bowels of the shop, where Mark had stacks and stacks of race gas.  He gave us a bunch of the stinky stuff and we were just giddy to get it.  Something about having “race gas” makes it all seem that much more real.  That much more serious and sort of famous some how.  “I have race gas in my tank”, I had better go fast!

As much as we are moto freaks, Mark is a bicycle freak.

You can't really see it up there, but on the loft above the dyno room, there are at least 20 bicycles.

What is it with motorcycle guys loving bicycles?  I think it is really cool.

So, we got going from there and Candi told us that we had about 4 hours drive from there to get to Crawfordsville.  We had to make it through Chicago (The city of 24/7 traffic) and then through Gary Indiana (you know how nice that is) and then south in Indiana.  Indiana is actually a pretty nice place.  A lot like Illinois, ony better I think.

We had dinner in West Lafayette, the home of Purdue University.  It seems like a pretty good town.

After an uneventful drive, we are here in Crawfordsville.  We are in the lap of luxury is what it feels like.  We are in the Ramada Limited.  Doesn’t feel anything like our full season of GNCC.  During that season we were right in the thick of things.  We camped in the camper at the race site of each race.  We were there for all of the Quad race saturdays.  We walked the track on Saturday.  We worked on motorcycles.  We made lunch at the campsite.  We went to talk to Shane at Suzuki.  We found Jason Weigand and others.  We got signed up on Saturday.  We were regulars.  Now we are just 2 guys in a hotel room, doing a motorcycle race the next day.

I miss the full GNCC thing.  We will at least get a little bit of it tomorrow.

I will post up from the race site and twitter etc…  Wish us luck.

Joe

3+ hours at dyracuse.

Absolutely perfect dirt today! Rode with Mat Herrington. Damn he is fast.  We did 3+ hours.  We did the first hour together, and my pace.  Then switched and of course I cannot keep up with Mat. We strung up the loop from the race 2 weeks ago. But, it was really good and I had good form. Too bad that I did not ride this well at the race there.

Stopped at 2 hours and splashed gas, ate 2 gu packs and then headed out for another hour.  In that hour, I really rode well.  Mat did lap me near the end of that 3rd hour, but he was not going that much faster than me then.  I suppose we were both on auto pilot at that point.

Mark did a superb rebuild on my motor, and OMG! Wow is it super.  It has tons of power now, and is really smooth. Temperature was 40 at the start, probably 50 at the finish.  I have only raised the needle one clip.  Otherwise the jetting is stock.  It was pretty perfect.

I cannot wait for Crawfordsville now!  7 days to go!

Woohoo!

Dyracuse World Championships

The Dyracuse World Championship of Wisconsin offroad racing!  That is what Scott and I have been billing it as.

Dyracuse is where both the WIXC series and the D16 AMA series was going to come together and race the last race of the season together.  It was held at Dyracuse riding area, on trails that Scott and I knew pretty well.  And, it was not without it’s share of Drama – mostly in the AA class, so I will let you read about that on Scott’s blog.

Dry, Dry, Dry! That was the order of the day.  We knew it was going to be dusty and we knew it was going to be dry and hard to see.  Sure enough, it was.  Huge clouds of dust.  During the week before, it rained cats and dogs in Madison.  Madison is just an hour and a half drive south of Dyracuse.  We were pretty excited during the week, that there could be perfect dirt at Dyracuse.  But, a check of the actual weather in the days before showed less than .5inch of rain during the week before.  Ugh.

The course is long at Dyracuse, so Scott and I decided to leave at 5am so that we would have time to ride the whole course on our mountain bikes before the race.  Scott had brought with him a Gary Fisher 29’er, but all I had at home was a Trek Jack dirt jumping bike.  Scotts bike worked perfectly in the sand, but mine with indoor tires set up left a lot to be desired.  So, Scott made it all the way around and I made it just a little bit.  Oh well.

turned out there was quite a bit of unused trail that they found for the race.

Ahhhhh!

There was also quite a bit of virgin trail, and that will play in Scott's story!

Yep! We are dorks.

Turned out to be a huge crowd on the line.  I think for sure the biggest crowd of the year here in Wisconsin.  I guess that is what it is like when we bring both race series together and kind of proves my point that we have enough racers here in the state for 1 series, but not for 2.

There were 18 guys on the line for the +40 race.  Wow.  This was going to be fun.  The gun went off and I did not get a good start.  I knew that I needed to be near the front at the beginning of the race or the dust was going to be impossible.  I pushed really hard to get by people on the track before we headed into the woods.  On the 4th turn, I chose to go under a rider and when I did I must have been too close as he fell over on top of me.  Literally on top of me.  His bike was on mine, and he was on me.  But, my bike was laying there under his – still running.  Damn that Rekluse clutch is amazing.  I got my bike untangled and got going, and when I came off the track, Brian told me that I was 2nd to last.  So, I had my work cut out for me.

I caught up to Rob really quickly, who was on a new 450.  Yow.  That is too much bike for me, but he claims to love it.  But, I knifed through him pretty fast and kept going.  In the woods, just because you are on a 450, that doesn’t mean that a 250F cannot leave you behind.  When we came through after the first lap, I was in 3rd.  I assumed that Jim and John were ahead of me.  I was right on Jim, but it turned out I was wrong on John.  I caught Jim and another guy and worked my way through them on the 2nd lap.

At the end of the 2nd lap, I was in 1st.  Not bad for the start that I had and getting off the Motocross track.  I do really well in the opening laps, especially when I have a deficit to make up.  I rode the next 4 laps in 1st place, and probably got a little bit complacent.  I think I settled into a mellow trail pace, thinking that I had it in the bag.

Unfortunately, Jim and John had a different idea.  They caught me on lap 6 and had a good freight train going.  They went right through me.  Ugh.  How could I let my early part of the race pace, fall off.  I got mad again, and that is when I ride much better.  I decided this wasn’t going to happen and put my head down again.  On the MX track, I came over a rise only to discover Jim on the ground.  I could not see him until to late, and unfortunately I ran right into his back wheel when he was picking his bike up – knocking his bike back down.  I felt really bad for that and apologized like crazy.  But, I did not want to wait for him as I really wanted to see if I could catch John.

On the 7th lap, I completely fell apart – again!  I have problems.  I threw away another race.  Another time that I should have won, but did not.

So, the District 16 series is over.  John won the overall.  He deserved it  He was the most consistent of us all.  I took a credible 2nd overall, but I have some consistency issues that I need to work on for next year.  Fitness and being able to hold that pace for the 2nd hour as well.

That is it for today.  More observations to come.

out!

Joe

The barn cometh – Crystal Falls

Crystal Falls
August 23, 2009

The barn cometh.
Crystal Falls has an old barn, that we ran right through.  It was really cool.  Kinda alarming.  You would go right into it from the sun, it would go completely dark and the only thing you would see is the light of the doorway on the other side.  Yow.  But, it was really really fun.

It is also about the most awesome course in the entire district.

This was the 2nd time I had raced here.  This time it was more than 7 miles around.  We did the whole MX track of a really great old school outdoor MX track.  A couple of doubles, but mostly big hills table tops and great berms.  Then into the woods, then out to a great grass track, then back into the woods, then out to another grass track, then through the barn, then out to another grass track, then back into the woods, then back on the MX track to finish the lap.  Very GNCC like, but much tighter in the woods sections.

It took me 2 kicks to get my bike started, so I was last into the 1st turn, but when we left the MX track Jim was in 1st, John right on him in 2nd and me right on John in 3rd.  Perfect.  The next 3 laps were a huge huge amount of fun.  The lead changed about 12 times per lap.  We were all 3 right on each other.  No one could get an advantage on anyone it seemed.

Unfortunately John and Jim got into a little tussle on the 1st lap.  Jim got frustrated with John passing him and Jim cut through the middle of a turn and knocked John down to the ground.  I slowed enough to make sure everyone was ok, but then went off on my own.  A guy on an old KDX somehow appeared out of nowhere at that time and jumped in front of me.  I was ok with that, except he was riding about 11 feet wide.  He was impossible to pass.  I finally did get around him when he chose a crummy line through the mud hole.

Jim and John made it back to me and as I noted earlier, we traded the lead for the 1st 3 laps.  On the 4th lap, John got a front flat and I moved clear of Jim by 1.5 minutes.  That is how we finished.

I managed 11th overall, but had lap times of the 7th place guy, but we started 4 minutes behind.  Not too shabby.

–    My RMZ 250 is the perfect motorcycle.  I am convinced.  I know the 2010 is fuel injected, and I am looking forward to one of   those somehow.  But for now, I cannot imagine a better motorcycle.  Wow.
–    I ran shinny new Pirelli Scorpian mid hards.  They were incredible.  So much better than the stock Dunlops that came on the bike, which I ran for a bit as I did not have any new Pirelli’s.  But OMG.
–    I still have about an inch of gas in the bottom of the tank.  That is the stock tank, for 2 hours and 1 minute.  That thing just does not use much gas.
–    The Rekluse clutch is incredible.  No stalls, no arm pump (at least from the clutch operation).
–    Looking forward to getting my suspension back from Factory Connection.  The stock stuff is good, but the rough trail made it tough today.
–    The race gas the Mark at Vesrah provided make the RMZ super clean running.  No bog, no hesitation, just sewing machine like response from the right wrist.
–    After the race, I was showering off with the sun shower, when this little kid asks me “what are you doing?”  Washing off.  “Why?”, I am dirty.  “Are you leaving?”…   What is up with that?

Enjoy the photo’s.

Out.

Joe

We’re Back!

Summer break is a long time.  A lot has changed, so let’s get started.

During the break, I did some bicycle racing and some decent training, but mostly I just felt like I got fat.  Fat is not good.  Makes you feel fat.  Not like “Hey I am Phat!”, but more like oh god my pants feel tight.  I always have wondered what it was like to wear really tight girl pants, now I know.

Time to get back after it all.

A few things have happened

– I sold one of my RM250’s.

– I have been riding the RMZ, and that thing kicks butt.  I am going to rebuild the other RM250 as the Ricky Carmichael replica that it started life as, and sell it off.  I do not think I will be riding anything but that RMZ – it is that good.  Also means that I will have a bunch of RM parts to get rid of on here and on Ebay.

– I am adicted to FRS.  If you haven’t tried it, do.  OMG!

– I am listening right now to David Lee Roth, minus Van Halen.  I know that is wonked, but I am doing it anyway.

– I finished my garage.  It rocks.  If it is empty later today, I will post up some photo’s.

– The coffee is good this morning.

So, yesterday… Scott and I got off our butts and rode.

Me behind the wheel of the trusty steed. Getting us there!

No Candi, as we know the way. Scott’s new Sirrius unit rocked us there. She was pissed.

A beautiful sight, but no premix!

We slid up to Dyracuse in the rain.  The skies parted as we arrived and it turned out to be the most epic day of dirt ever.  I suppose it has been super dry there all summer, and the sand became the really dense loam that added up to being the most fun you can have.

I mean, you could not have designed better dirt.  That place is great and all, but sometimes when you show up it is just powdery sand.  This is the time that you dream about.  The dirt that keeps you coming back hoping to find it again.

2 shots.

That is the MX track when we were leaving even.  mmm…

cock your head sideways, and you will see what I am talking about. Oh ya!

Suited up like the nervous dorks that we are.  15 minutes after arriving, we were taking a look at the loop.  Dyracuse park has purchased another 300+ acres adjacent to the park.  We added a ton of new singletrack in that new area to our loop.  The loop if now over 20 minutes long.  Holy Cow!  20 minutes!  You still get to know it and it can become redundant.  But, when you say to yourself “Ok, one more.”  You better mean it.

I felt really good.  I would say that I am ready to roll.  The second half of the season is here.

– Crystal Falls D16 race.

– Valders WIXC race.

– Long Lake D16 race.

– Dresser D16 race.

– Rhinelander WIXC race.

– Dyracuse D16/WIXC race.

– Crawfordsville GNCC

– OMA “The Race”

Not a bad way to kick the season to the curb.  Not ready for this one to be over, but ready to get back to racing.

I love the chaos of the first turn.

Joe

Wow – What a weekend!

This was a huge weekend!
Saturday – 12 hour solo MTB race.
Sunday – District 16 Aztalan Harescrambles

Saturday’s MTB race was at Wausau, 9mile forest. I had originally planned to ride the race with Liz.  But, I could not make up my mind about what I was going to do, and she got tired of waiting for me to make up my mind.  She decided to ride with her friend Kathy, and left me to do it solo.  I have never done a solo 12, so why not?

Liz and I went up on Friday with the trailer.  We met Kathy there, and set up our camp.  I needed to instruct Liz and Kathy about tearing down the trailer at the end of the race, as I would not be staying the 2nd night.

We set up camp and found our friends that were doing the race as well.  We all sat around the campfire drinking beer and telling stories.  Great fun.

Race morning dawned a nice day.  That would stick around for quite some time, but the weather would not stay nice for the whole day.

The course was 14 miles around, with about 2/3 of it being singletrack and the rest double track.  There we really just 3 really technical sections and 4 significant climbs.  On your first lap, the technical sections were not too tough and the climbs were all taken out of the saddle attacking in the middle ring.  Later in the race, the climbs were just something to get through.  Sort of a milestone along the way “one climb down, 3 to go.  Only 2 more rock sections – and so on.”

My first 2 laps were going fine.  I had a good pace and felt like I could keep going at that.  My first lap was a 1”19”, my second was a 1’10”.  But, after my 2nd lap, my camelbak was really low so I decided to pull in and refill.  I ate a cliff bar and a gu pack and went straight back out.

My 3rd lap was still pretty good, but I came across Liz late in the lap so rode with her for the rest of the lap.  She was going well, but complained of falling down and hurting her knee.  I ate a banana at the end of that lap and went back out.  It is now about 4+ hours into the race.  Right away on the 4th lap, my hamstring and quads on both legs began to cramp.  The 4th lap was an effort in not pushing on the pedals.  I made it around, but I was really slow.

Back at the camper, I ate the left over oatmeal from breakfast and drank a bunch and laid down to rest my legs.  After about an hour I went back out and did my 5th lap, I am now in my 6th-7th hour of riding and 8-9hours into the race.  After the food and drink, I felt much better.  I also went back to Cytomax as my drink of choice and the difference was amazing.

That was it for me as it was getting dark at about 10 hours into the race when I finished that lap.  I had hoped to get 6 laps in, but the cramping episode killed that.  So, I loaded up and drove home, leaving Liz and Kathy to stay over night in the camper and then to bring it all home with them.

I am on to the next lap of the weekend.

Sunday – Aztalan Harescrambles race

Earlier in the week I had prepped my new RMZ to race.  I did not truly know how well I would go on that bike, as I had not done any real back to back lap time comparison.  I also had never raced Aztalan, as normally I would set up that course.  It had always looked fun, and now I would finally get a chance to do it.

I loaded up my stuff, along with some really stinky race gas that Mark Junge had given us and headed over  in the morning.  Right away when we got there, I headed out to ride the course.  I knew right away that it was going to be a tough day.  My legs were hurting just walking up the first hill, and it was getting really hot.

The course used most of the Motocross track, but some of it was backwards making the jumps not really work in those backwards sections.  The woods sections were mostly quite tight and had a bunch of really steep up  hills and down hills.  There was one hill in the track walk that I knew was going to be tough.  It left from the MX track right up the side of a huge hill.  It had a stump in the middle and a hump in the hillside halfway up, with a really steep face at the top.

The gun went off on our race, just a few minutes late.  I got a decent start in about 5th, but when we hit that tough hill, the guy in front of me fell over and I had no where to go.  I ended up sliding back down the hill and having to restart my bike…ugh.  Everyone else went around the hill and headed down the trail.  John and Jim (class rivals) were checking out, the rest of the group was around the hill and I was kicking my bike.  Damn…  It was going to be a long effort.

I got going and caught the back markers right away.  There were 13 guys on my line.  I finished the first lap in 6th.  I finished the 2nd lap in 4th.  I finished the 3rd lap in 3rd.  I was now up to Jim who was in 2nd.  It took me 2 laps to get around him.  But I did, when he bobbled in a turn.  I put my head down again and a lap later caught John in the lead.  I battled with John for more than 8 laps.  I could not get by him.  I was faster, but he was riding really smart and covering all the shorter lines and insides of turns, leaving me the long way only.  I tried tons of different lines etc… But just could not get by him.  I tried a different line on the turn into the whoops, but fell over and just had to chase back up to him.

Finally, late in the race he fell over in a turn and I went by.  But, by then I was done.  I just could not get myself back up to the pace that I had used to catch him earlier in the race.  It was like all the fluid in my internal tank had run completely out at that point.  I just could not go.  John got back around me on the entrance to a flat turn that I just did not have the energy to late brake into.  On the next turn I got tangled up with a tree and ended up on the ground.  My bike was wrapped around a tree and it took an unbelievable amount of energy to get it untangled and get going again.  I was not completely cooked and rode around like a fleeb for a lap till the end of the race.  2nd.  Not bad for the weekend.

Some notes.
– The RMZ 250 is incredible.  That is it for me, the RM250 2stroke will get cleaned up now and sold.  It was a great bike, but the chassis is stuck in 2001.  The RMZ handles so much better.
– I can ride the RMZ so much more aggressively than the 2stroke.  It just begs to be ridden hard.  I think the 2stroke has way more power, and that is what makes it harder to ride.  It is much easier to ride a slow bike fast, than it is to ride a fast bike slow.
– The connection of your right wrist to the ground is incredible on this bike.  You just have to kind of telepathy yourself forward and you go.
– The race gas stinks and makes you kind of sick to your stomach to use it, but I think Scott is right that it makes the motor just a bit more responsive.  I mixed it 50/50 with pump and it was very nice.  (Does make the garage stink though.)
– There were a bunch of off camber turns with loose dirt and rocks.  The RMZ will flat track right through that stuff.  Fun.
– The RMZ flies much better than the RM250.  Jumps that are doable for me on this bike are not necessarily doable for me on the 2stroke.
– I had really good pace in the race.  I was much faster than Jim and a bit faster than John.  John would gap me in around a lapper or something and I would have no problem bringing him back.
– The singletrack was very tight.  The course was really fun, because it had 5th gear tapped out straightaways and 1st gear tight woods sections and the toughest uphills and downhills that I have seen since GNCC races last year.
– I am running a 13t countershaft sprocket(stock is a 12) and stock rear gearing.  It was perfect for this weekend.
– I am just running the stock gas tank, but had plenty of gas left after the race.  I think I could have gone another lap or maybe even 2 more.  In a longer race or a race with a really long lap that I could end up much closer to 2.5 hours, I could need to refuel.  At a GNCC, I will need to fuel for sure.

Joe

That new bike smell!

So you get a new bike.  It is all shinny.  All crisp feeling.

The fasteners do not have marks on them yet.  There is no duct tape holding on a graphic yet.  There are no zipties holding panels together yet.  There are no dents in the rims.  There are no boot rub marks on the cases or frame yet.  The teeth on the footpegs are not worn.  It is a fantastic time in a dirt bikes life, and in a dirt bikers life.

You get to change the oil without having to scrape dirt off the drainplug first.  The air box is so shinny inside.  You get to torque all the bolts for the first time, marking them painstakingly with a sharpie to show that they have been done.  You get to lube up all the bearings without having to clean gunk off them first.

After you are done prepping it for the first time, but before you have really ridden it yet, you go out to the garage just to stare at it and admire it.  You start it just for the heck of it.  You invite your friends over to see it.  Your wife comes out to look at it and says “looks just like the other one.”  (But she doesn’t really count in this, and who asked her anyway?)

Then the first ride day comes and your almost sad about tarnishing that new bike smell.  Almost.

You take it out and absolutely thrash it.

The Victim!

Scott and I took shinny new 2009 Suzuki RMZ 250F’s to Dyracuse and rode the crap out of them.

The dirt was perfect, the trails were completely empty.

2hours on a new bike.  No steering damper on the bike yet, so it was hard to stay on the trail in the 2nd hour.  But damn a new bike is fun.

I think that my riding has adapted to a Suzuki.  I get a new Suzuki, and within a few laps on it, I am completely comfortable.  I don’t really think I want to switch brands ever, as I think I would have to learn to ride all over again.

I love my RM250 2 strokes, but I have to admit that this new bike seemed really good right away.  I am excited, because if it this good right away, it could be REALLY good after I live with it for a while.

The aftermath! It was so shinny before!

Out.

Joe

WIXC race at Silver Cliff!

You may recall that I tried to tell the story of Glaciers one other time. I think in reality, I have discovered a devious Canadian plot. You see, the glaciers did their thing a few years ago. They picked up some rocks, and slowly over time brought them south. I mean it took a while. It isn’t like they loaded up the car and brought the rocks south. The glaciers took their damn time at it.

So, now we all go to Pearson and say, “oh, how cute. Look at what the glaciers did!” But, in the mean time the Canadians have been loading up their trains and sending all the Canadian rocks to Silver Cliff. I figured it out. I was sitting at a train crossing watching a Canadian Pacific train go by. Then it dawned on me, that the Canadians are sending their rocks to the Harescrambles location of the race that I did today. All the Canadian rocks are there. I mean they are THERE. Stuck in the ground, covered in slime and just waiting to flat your tires, ding your rims and break your ribs.

Silver Cliff WIXC race story!

The WIXC race is generally a 2 race weekend. But, because of the State soccer tournament, I could not make the Saturday race. I knew I would be at a disadvantage, because everyone else was there the day before and would know the course. But, I loaded up early and headed out.

Since I got there very early, I was able to head out and look at the course.  I thought I should do that, as everyone else was getting up and making breakfast and just moving around.  Remember, they had the opportunity to see the course the day before, so did not need to see it today.

It had rained the night before, so I soon learned that what we were going to see in the race was slippery mud and even slipperier rocks.  Ugh…  It was going to be a day of slow and steady was going to win the day.

This is pretty much what all of the course looked like. Mud, rocks and roots!

In addition to rocks and roots, there was also mud and wet trees and branches. Yum.

The start went straight up a big sandy and rocky hill, one line wide, only about 50 yards from the start line.  There was an alternate line around the hill, that I contemplated instead of dealing with the hill.  I watched someone select that alternate line in a wave ahead of mine, but he inspite of a good start and charging up that line, he was still only 2nd into the woods.

My wave went off, and I kicked, but no forward motion.  Damn, I did not get it lit.  It started on the 2nd try, but I was now last going into the woods.  I had some weird numbing of my hands and a bit of arm pump right away.  I struggled to get past a couple of people in the first lap.  I did finally settle down and start to work on riding smooth, though the course was so rough and rocky that it was hard to settle down.

By the 3rd or so lap, I did catch Jim who was leading as he was getting up from a fall.  I passed him right away, but he passed me right back.  I was completely comfortable with the pace, so I decided to sit on him for a while to see how he was riding.  We were just 45 or so minutes into the race so I had plenty of time to see it unfold.  I sat on Jim for 2 or so laps and he was just bouncing off of things right and left.  Finally he struggled out of the line on a big hill, and I motored past.  Once past, I put my head down and went hard.

I had one bobble along the way, and aparantley Jim got sight of me as I was off my bike trying to get up a big hill.  But, I never saw him after I went past him.  I rode pretty well.  Slow and steady was the order of the day.  The rocks reward smooth standing riding style.  I managed to have a few minutes on Jim at the finish and won my class.  I was also 8th overall on the day.

My RM 250 worked perfectly for that.  My Factory Connection soft tuned suspension was magic.

Early Start!

The new WIXC races start at 11am. That is fantastic, as you can race and still be home for dinner. But, when you are trying to get to the race in the morning, it is a bit daunting. Google maps said it was a 5 hour drive to the race. So, I jumped in the truck at 5am, intending to get to the race by 9am.  Candi, who knows me and my driving habits better, knew it was only really going to take 4 hours to get there.  Unfortunately, she chose to keep that from me until we were already inroute to the race.  Sometimes, I think she has a mind of her own.  I’m just sayin!

It was kind of cool to be out driving already at 4am.  No one is out, and when you go through a town it is completely quiet except the birds.  Neat.  It is also kind of gross though.  The amount of HUGE bugs that were splattering on the windshield was pretty bad.  Large splats of bug.  Yuck.

On the way home, it rained big on me.  Unfortunately, it was not enough rain to clean off the mud on the bike.  I did see a really cool Volkswagen bus on the road.  Dang they are cool.

Cool old VW with bikes on the back. Always like seeing those.

Hixton Photo’s

Brian Terry took these photo’s during the Hixton race on May 31.

Eric Muth’s RM250

Eric found our website this past winter.  He has become a Suzuki fan as a result and has just built up his own RM 250 and is pretty psyched.

Scott and I are both super psyched that someone else out there has discovered how good a Suzuki RM250 is. We are happy that we could help out Eric in some way as he was building his bike.  If you have any questions that Scott or Joe can answer about your RM250 and using it as a woods bike, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Joe – joe@vesrahsuzukioffroad.com

Scott- scott@vesrahsuzukioffroad.com

Here is a photo of Eric’s bike.

Eric Muth's RM 250

See you in the woods somewhere.

Joe

Link to Dirt Bike Magazine results for Rhinelander National Harescrambles

http://blogs.dirtrider.com/6544212/industry-buzz/raines-3-peats-in-wisconsin/index.html

Check out Scott in 5th overall!

AMA National Harescrambles – Rhinelander

Once a year, we get to race on what is the best course in the state. Rhinelander – Sugar Camp. The only bad thing about Rhinelander is that it is just on the edge of being too far to drive for the day. We can do it, but just barely. It is 4ish hours away, and if it was 30 minutes farther, I would say that it is too far to drive for the day. It requires that we get out of my driveway at about 5am.

Candi making the first of her many mistakes on the day.

If you have read my blog before, then you know that I own the one and only navigation unit with a voice stolen from a stripper named Candi. Candi normally speaks with you in a voice that makes you think you are the best driver in the world. She speaks slowly, precisely and accurately. She can direct you to things that are close and things that are many days drive away. She just needs to know where you need to go, and a few seconds to calculate a route and presto. She also can be told up front if you want to stick to main highways, avoid main highways, avoid tollways, avoid ferries etc…

But lately, I have been noticing more and more attitude from Candi. She seems to get upset when you make detours or wrong turns. She does not like it when you stop to go to the bathroom. She does not like it if you get hungry and have to get off the route she has chosen. I have also noticed that she has decided to try different routes to the same places we have been together. I don’t always need the navigation to get somewhere, especially if I have been there before. But, I like to use her even still, because she can tell me what time I will most probably arrive. But is it possible that she is bored with our relationship and needs to spice it up a bit with different routes? Think about it.

So you are probably wanting to hear a bit about the race. The race was good. I was 4th in the +40A class and 19th overall. If that was all you wanted to know, you would stop now and go back to reading about Swine Flu, or following Lance Armstrong’s Twitter or seeing what goofy photos your friends have put up on Facebook. But of course if you decide to stay, there is much more to this story than that.

It is a weird spring. The weather patterns have been interesting this year. The spring started off with a bunch of rain. We looked to be on par with one of the wettest springs in memory. But, crazy patterns have emerged. It seems that spring has let up for a few days in advance of a race and then started up again the day after the race. In other words, races have been dry and even cool. Then it either warms up in between races or it rains for 4 days straight in between.

Rhinelander was dusty. Can you believe it? Dusty! Not just the little bit of dust that you get on a windy day. I am talking black air filter after the race, cannot see the trail dusty.

Dust during the morning race! Nothing campared to the afternoon dust fest!

We parked along the course, just before the start finish area. Nice little stretch of straight trail that allowed us to set up our pit area and take on gas etc… without worry about wasting time that you did not have before the finish of the race.

I had what turned out to be the perfect bike set up for the race.

– 06 RM250, super soft suspension from my Enduro bike, big tank etc…

I think that is going to be my set up for the year on the race bike.

Last year I discovered some stuff called Brave Soldier. You put it on your hands before you put them into your gloves. It is magic. I used to get huge blisters on my hands, and now nothing. Even at at super rough race like this, it works wonders. Try it.

Applying the magic stuff.

That will do it.

There were 13 people on my line. I got a good start in the race, 4th off the MX track. But, even that proved to be too far back – the dust was so bad. You could not see a thing going down the open straights. It was much better in the woods, but even there it was tough. Especially tough were the transitions from the open areas to the woods. It took a couple of seconds for your eyes to adjust when you made that transition. But during those seconds when your eyes were adjusting, you just hoped that it was not too rough.

Decent start.

Speaking of rough. We have had a race on this course for a few years now. The course is getting pretty beat. It has huge holes in it and square edge bumps and rocks and tons of roots. Good thing I had the soft suspension on the bike.

Rick Anschutz came by me right away, going much faster than I was comfortable going in that limited visibility. He was pretty fearless in the dust. There was also some AA guy from Minnesota there, racing in our class. He checked out right away, and we never saw him again. Rob and I battled for the first 2/3 of the race. He had me at the first half of that, and I caught him and passed him for the 2nd half of that. But, then he managed to get ahead of me for the last 2 laps and put 2 minutes into me. Damn.

It was fun to do a 3 hour race again. My fitness is much better than last year, as I am writing this the next morning and do not have any of the fatigue that I experienced from the GNCC races last year. This course was just as hard as those, I am just not nearly as beat up feeling.

I learned I cannot do a 2 hour race on a stock size tank. At the rate that I burned fuel at this race, I can only make 114 minutes on a small tank. That ends that debate.

Next weekend, Hixton D16 race.

Out

Our pits, right by the start finish.

Artsy photo!

Rhinelander National bike set up

Ok. Here is the dealeo. I am trying to decide which bike set up I should ride for the National HS race in Rhinelander this weekend.

I know I want to ride the 06 motor and frame. That one starts the easiest and the frame seems to feel the best. Don’t ask me why, the 2 bikes are exactly the same.

1.  I am thinking that I will want to use the softer suspension from the 07. That stuff feels like magic over chop and roots and rocks. It also gives the bike amazing traction.  But, at higher speeds and on an MX track the firmer HS suspension feels better.  But, the race is 3 hours long, so preserving yourself is a big deal.

2.  I like the feel of the power with the Qmuffler. It tones it all down and makes the bike super easy to ride. Sometimes less power is faster than more power. Plus, it is super quiet. I like that.  the only problem is that it is harder to lift the bike if you get it stuck.  the Q sticks out the back a bit and you loose your grab spot on the fender.

Need to mount up some new grips, and I think I will just go with the tires and wheels that I have set up already.

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions.

See you up there on Sunday.  It is going to be great fun.

God I love the race season.

Out.

Joe

Glaciers

A long time ago, the earth was covered with glaciers. Huge slabs of ice, many many meters thick. They stretched from what is the North Pole today all the way down past Canada and into Wisconsin. They moved really slowly. I mean really slowly, hence the term “glacial”.

The glaciers weighed tons and tons. They pressed down on the earth, and scraped the top layer of rocks and topsoil off and carried them south as they progressed. They progressed south for centuries. They marched south without stopping, continuously. All the while, they were picking up rocks and earth. They loaded up on tons and tons of rocks and dirt.

Then, the weather patterns changed, and the glaciers began to recede. The Earth climate warmed, it was the end of the ice age, and if you have seen the movie you know that the little squirrel guy will get his prize nut. But, the glaciers didn’t really just recede. They melted. And when they did melt, they left all the rocks and dirt they had picked up for centuries right where they were. In actuality, the rocks and dirt were all left specifically in north central Wisconsin. I guess that explains why I like Canada and Northern Wisconsin so much, they are actually the same place. They probably don’t like us so much though, we have all their rocks and soil. There are so many rocks there, that there cannot be any rocks left in Canada, they are all in central Wisconsin.

So why the history of the earth lesson? Why do you need to know all of this? You need to know, because DAMN – IT IS ROCKY UP THERE!

I think I saw all the Canada rocks myself. They are all on the HS and Enduro trail at Pearson.

Sunday was the D16 Pearson Enduro. There were 3 loops for the B and C group. I rode +40 B, because I am still trying to figure out this Enduro thing. This one was a “no-timekeeping” event. That means that it was a bit like a bunch of short HS races.

I rode my soft suspension bike. It was spectacular. The trail was tough for the first section. It is hard to jump right into a technical section, from a standstill.

John Buechner is the fast man these days. I held my own, but John is the class of our group right now.

I got lost on the trail. I fell over a few times. I rode like a pud in the first section. I rode really well in the 3rd section. I ended up 4th.

Out.

Pearson D16 HS race

If you look up in a dictionary what the definition of rocks is, it shows a picture of the woods in Pearson. Specifically, the area near the quarry is littered with rocks. There are so many rocks, that there sometimes is just a bit of dirt between the rocks. Rocks, rocks rocks. I am talking lots of rocks. I cannot believe how many rocks there are.

This is what most of the trails looked like before our race. Epic!

I used to think the definition of Rocky was Snowshoe WV. Now I know what the real definition of rocky is. Pearson, Wi. Rocks everywhere.

I drove up today in Scotts van. That felt right. I mean, I was in the van, pulling the trailer, listening to music, heading to a race at a distance. But, unfortunately Scott was not there. Feels weird. Scott and I have been racing together for so long, that it just doesn’t really feel right without him there also. We have a routine. We are an old married couple. We know who is responsible for what. We know who is going to set up the tents, we know who is going to unload the bikes. We trust that when the other one loads the bikes it will be done right. So, to go to a race without him, but being in the van is a bit odd.

Remember that last year we drove the trusty Ford Econoline all around the country to races. Florida to North Carolina to New York state, to Ohio, to Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Tennessee… The van can tell many many stories of races and being stuck in a field somewhere. There is no vehicle that can be stuck like the van can.

Through all of that Candi the stripper navigation unit was with us. She is right there on the dashboard barking out commands. She was with me on the drive north.

The Pearson D16 HS race is an epic event. The loop is more than 15 miles around. Brian Terry, D16 HS rep, billed it to us all as about a 30 minute lap. Because of all the rocks that I mentioned earlier, it turned out to be 45 minutes plus for the 1st place AA riders. Most people in later waves were struggling to be under 1 hour. It was really really technical and really really rocky.

Alot of the tails were virgin trails that were just suggestions through the woods.

Yep!

Did I mention it was rocky?

So, the start area was just a short little stretch with a 180 degree turn and a short stretch back to the woods and in. That was it, and then the abuse started. John Buechner took the holeshot. He starts really well. I muscled my way to 2nd before we hit the woods. I followed John, and we had a good pace going. John rides tight technical stuff really well. We had our heads down, and we put a gap into everyone else pretty quickly.

Typical grass track area at the finish point.

Fun!

But, then about 15 minutes into the lap, I ricochet of a tree and into another tree. I had my bell rung and ended up on the ground. But, more importantly, my bike was upside down on a rock and the banjo bolt that holds the hose onto the master cylinder was bent down and was letting fluid out underneath it. I jumped up, started my bike and took off. As I went into the first turn after that and grabbed the front brake the line split and I spugged out all of the fluid. That was it, my race was over. No front brake.

Now, I would rather ride a bike that doesn’t even have a rear brake lever than to ride even for one race without a front brake. I believe that I rely on the front brake for about 80% of my braking. So, I went from 80% to zero front brake. It was tough for me just to ride. With how technical things were there at Pearson, I was effectively just trail riding for the rest of the day.

I faded back from fighting for the lead. That wasn’t going to happen. I ended up 5th, which wasn’t too bad for no front brake, I am happy with that.

Tomorrow, we are doing an Enduro on many of the same trails. It should be fun. 4+ hours of riding is always a good thing.

I will let you know how that goes tomorrow.

Race day – it’s finally here!

May 10.  Arkansaw Cycle Park. The first D16 race.

Wow.  It seemed like winter would never end.  But then I went on a long business trip, and when I returned it is spring.  The leaves are coming out on the trees, the grass is green and more importantly – we are racing!

Scott picked me up at an oh so early o’clock – 5 minutes before 5am to be exact.  Scott and I have a thing about, when you say we are leaving at 5am, that means driving off at 5am.  It was dark in the driveway, we both had to be up at about 4am to get going, but we were both giddy.  I mean there is always something special about the first spring race day.  The air is crisp, there was a forecast for rain, it is dark out when you drive out of the driveway… yowza!

You can see that Candi is having a hard time figuring out where we are going at this hour!

Arkansaw Cycle park is way over on the west side of the state.  The event is a shared event with the D23(Minnesota) crowd.  They have a big district over there and this will promise to be a big event.  Arkansaw Cycle park is a big piece of property with fantastic dirt, lots of rocks in the soil and big hills.  The loop is a great mix of MX track, tight woods, big hills and GP type course on the fields.  The loop is about 8.5 miles around and is about 20 minutes long.

That is what I am talking about. Loading up the van and going racing!

We had a 3rd person with us in the van today.  Our friend Roger Bird is back racing with us again.  Roger has had a series of injuries, and is now healthy again and looking to finish out a season with us in the van.  It will be fun to have him along.  He races the same class that I do, but we have been friends a long time.  In fact, Roger is the one that got me into all of this in the first place.  Good to have him back with us, too bad he rides the wrong brand of bike.

On the way to Arkansaw, the skies opened up on us.  I was thinking, “ugh… a mud race!”  But, as we got closer the rain stopped and the fields on that side of the state are not underwater like they are on our side of the state.  It was going to be a good race.

We set up our pits, sort of an abbreviated version of what we did at all the GNCC races last year.  We did not have the camper, and we did not need the full set up for just a day race.  But, I think as usual we look to represent.

Flying the colors for one of our sponsors!

There were at least 140 people on the start.  The +40 wave was 20 people deep.  That is a big field.  Almost the size of the afternoon race at a GNCC.  Pretty much the same size of the+40 line.

The gun went off for the AA line, and Scott actually took the holeshot.  I watched him zoom off up the hill into the woods with JD in hot pursuit.  But, I will let him tell that story elsewhere.

For our start, things were interesting.  JD’s dad had warned me that there was a huge puddle in the 2nd turn.  Stay to the outside.    John Buechner got the start, I came out of the first turn 4th.  Not bad, but in that 2nd turn I went outside as I was advised, but the guy in front of me went right into the lake of water and coated me all across the front with mud.  I pulled a tear off and got my vision back and was pleased to see that I had not lost any places.  We tore off up the hill and into the first woods section in that order.

In that first woods section, the guy in front of me tagged a tree and went down fast in front of me.  Too fast for me to avoid his bike.  I wedged my front wheel between his rear fender and his tire and was stuck there.  At least 5 riders dodged around us before I could get going again.  So, the chase was on.

I chased hard for most of the race, but for the first 2 laps it was basically just follow the leader.  One line in the woods and 150ish riders equals single file and difficulty passing.  Eventually it opened up and I could ride hard.  The middle part of the race I put on a charge.  At one point at about the 1.5 hour point, I was in site of John Buechner, but my body ran out of gas.  I fizzled and did not make it all the way up to John.  I made it back up to 4th, but could not get any higher.  Turned out that I was only 1.5 minutes out of 1st, but I could not get there.  John was actually 2nd on the day.  Don’t know the guy who won, and it turns out there was actually someone in between John and I that I did not see.  Roger was a very credible 6th.  Not bad for his 1st race back in a few years.

Some facts.

– The course turned into one big long rut in the woods.  The dirt was soft, and a lot of the trail was virgin singletrack on a side hill.  That makes for one big long rut.

– That rut killed my clutch. (Actually, the rut is just a trail condition, I killed the clutch because I was dragging it so much while paddling through that rut)  I need new plates, new basket, new clevis arm, new push rod, new springs…  Hopefully our big parts order is in at Vesrah.

– I was jetted a little on the lean side.  It was only 55 degrees, and I was jetted for 65-70.  That was what it was all week, so that is what I assumed we would have for race day. The bike was a bit challenging to ride when I was tired.  I am better with a bit richer jetting, especially when I am knackered.

– The grip in the fields was incredible.  I was pulling 3rd and 4th gear long wheelies out of turns.  The berm around the outside of the turn was crazy fast.  You could just hook into the berm, roll on the throttle and sit back.  The bike would just grab a ton of traction and rocket towards the next turn.  wow.

Looks a little bit like last year. New graphics for the team on our RM250's, underneath Suzuki tents.

So now, I move onto next weekend.  The Pearson Harescrambles on Saturday and the Pearson Enduro on Sunday.  A big weekend.

You can only have 1 first race of the year.

Out.

Joe

5 days till race day – china mussings

Ok.  Just 5 days to go!  5 days, and the curtain goes up on another race season.  This is about my 6th now, and I can never get enough of it.  I wait and wait and wait, and then it finally gets here.  Then we race a ton, and travel and race some more.  The beginning of the year always starts off cold and wet.  Then, one day it is hero dirt.  Then, it is dusty for what feels like forever.  Then, you show up at a race somewhere and it is cold and wet again.  Then, you are back at Crawfordsville in the mud at a GNCC race.  Then, on the way home from Crawfordsville it is starting to spit snow.  And, all of a sudden it is winter again and the long season of waiting starts over again.

But enough of that.  Before that happens, there will be racing to be done on many many weekends.

But, before that happens, I have to go home from China.  I am in Shanghai now, and will be making my way toward home tomorrow.  Getting home takes 2 days from here.  There is the flight to Taipei, then the flight to Los Angeles.  That combination takes about 22 hours.  Unfortunately, I arrive in LA too late to get home that same day.  So, I stay over night in LA and then have to fly home early the next day.  In the end, the travel home takes about 40 hours all together.  Ugh…

So, I am going to end this trip with a bunch of photos that I took today in China.

Sign in my hotel elevator. "Man is that Dental Institute Ever Good".

Bob Dog, could be related to Cat Dog!

How high can you stack up containers?

Be quiet back there. Just pay attention to where we have been!

The corner bike shop. Literally, ON the corner!

Containers at a factory, sometimes are stacked as high as you can stack them!

That is pretty much it for this trip.  Next update – Race day!

Out,

Joe

Taiwan bike rides

Been in Taiwan all week.  Heading to China next week.  Big work weeks.  Lots of stress, loads of work time, loads of hotel time etc…  Never a lot of fun.  People ask me all the time what it is like to be in Taiwan.  I usually say, drive by the dump in your part of the world and smell the air, that is what it is like most of the time.  Not always pleasant.  But, the people are really nice and it is not a bad place to do business.  Not sure I could live there, but I don’t really mind so much  going there for work – other than the week or 2 that it takes out of your life.

I also know that I could not live there as there is zero possibility for riding an offroad motorcycle.  Couldn’t tolerate that.

But, I have figured out a way to get out for a bike ride while I am there.  In fact, the island is really mountainous and there are little roads into the mountains all over the place.  There are also a bunch of bike industry expats there, and they want to get out and ride.  So, after working our tails off for 3 days, we had a couple of bike rides planned.  One for early morning before work on Friday and a long one for Saturday morning.  This the story of those.

Fridays ride consisted of battling our way out of Taichung city center, to the edge of town where the riding gets much better.  When I say battling, I really mean it.  You have to fight for your space among all the scooters and crazy drivers and small delivery trucks, cars going the wrong way on one way streets etc…

This is actually one of the quieter moments getting out of town. It is a national holiday after all.

Friday is a national holiday here (May day weekend), so we figured that the streets would be much lighter traffic than normal, and we were going out at 7am.  The traffic was lighter than normal, but in 100 miles of ride at home I am certain that you see fewer cars there than you do in 2-3 miles here, even on a holiday.

At every intersection, you are sure to be way outnumbered by scooters.

We made our way on this ride out of town, and then the riding gets much better.  We rode along a closed road by a river heading towards the mountains for 10 or so miles.  It was nice, more like riding at home, no cars, no scooters etc…  Then, we bumped back onto the normal roads in a small village outside of Taichung and turned right, and faced a wall of a climb.  The climbs are not super long here (you can see the tops of the mountains from the bottom), but they can be really steep.  This climb pitched up pretty quick.  It went on for 3-4 miles then tops out with a nice view.

That is me and Mark Pippin, at the top of the biggest climb on Friday.

We then came down the other side, and it was just as steep.  I am talking both brakes on, crummy pavement, tight and twisty, blind corner type descending.  I always like descending, but I must say that on a road I have never been on, on a borrowed bike with the brakes set up wrong way around for me (being an admitted motohead, I ride with my right hand running the front brake), I am not as fearless as I would normally be.  Preservation gene kicking in and all.

We got to the bottom of that valley and turned up another climb.  At the top of that we descended back down to the same little village and then we were back on the closed river road pounding along in our big chainrings.  It was good fun.  We stopped at a Starbucks (I know, corporate coffee) on the way down, and I know we make a scene there with our cycling gear.  It is pretty funny hearing the Chinese barrista say “Grande Latte”with her Chinese accent.

The round trip on that Friday ride was about 50kilometers.  Not too bad for a morning ride before being in the office for the rest of the day.

Saturday’s ride will be twice as long and with even more climbing.

When you get out early on Saturday, it is actually pretty quiet on the streets.

My friends there have a morning text message system that alerts everyone to the ride time and the start location.  So, the bike bell sound on my phone went off in the middle of the night, confirming a 7am start at a spot 2 blocks from the hotel I stay at.  Sweet!  That means I can roll out at 7am, and still be within the international standard 5 minute rule to the start of a ride.  I rolled up with a banana in my mouth and no coffee in me.  That is ok, because it is also an international standard that a weekend morning ride ends at the Starbucks.

The corner meeting spot. Right in front of Love World.

We headed out the same basic direction from the city center that we did the previous day.  From Taichung, the China straight is one way, and the mountains inland the other way.  That means that all rides pretty much take the same road out of town, and the road home for the last couple of miles is also the same.  The island of Taiwan has gone cycling crazy it seems, as we saw at least 200 cyclists heading out in that direction as we were heading out.  It goes slightly uphill from the center of town, so it gives you a great warmup on the way out and a whip it up section on the way back in.

We headed up the first climb, and the temperature was already getting up to around 75.  The sun was beating down on us, and the humidity was up so you could feel the sweat starting to come out of your pores already.  We all settled into a climbing rhythm and it was not long until we were all silent and spread out up and down the climb.  One of the things that is really weird is how much clothes the locals wear when they are riding.  They seem to want to stay out of the sun completely.  They will even have a bandanna over their face that isn’t covered by their sunglasses.  It is a little bit strange, makes them all look like they are going to rob a bank or head across a desert or something.

This guy didn't have his face covered, but he is covering the rest of himself up in spite of the heat.

They also ride these little wheel bikes and folding bikes.  You do want to tell them that they would go a ton faster if they would ride a real road bike.  But, it isn’t just a few of them on bikes like the one above.  A LOT of them are on those.  hmmm.

So we headed up a 2nd long climb and then a 3rd climb and finally the 4th climb was the biggest.  It went on for a good 10-12k, had a bunch of really tough sections, the pavement quality varied and there were a ton of blind corners.  All of that is not so bad going up, but the same conditions exist on the descents as well.  Makes the riding exciting.

Sometimes the road is like this, but not always.

More often than not, the road is more like this. Narrow, and blind. Pretty cool scenery though.

There is another weird thing that is true in Taiwan.  Dogs are street savvy on the one hand, and on the other hand really really casual about the road.  They get out of the way of traffic, they seem to understand that the road is dangerous.  You do see lots of dogs with just one leg etc…  I guess they either learn, or they are not around.  But, at the same time they seem really not worried at all about the traffic.

This dog has decided that the side of the road is his. He didn't even move when we rode by.

This dog is just sitting in the road and not concerned. I guess he just figures the trucks will go around him. Or not.

We made our way down one last descent back into the village outside of Taichung, and then rode the big ring all the way back to the meeting place and then around the corner to the Starbucks.  100km ride, 4 climbs, one of them really respectable.  I feel pretty good.

Gotta end the ride at Starbucks. Doesn't matter where you are in the world, some things are just accepted as the way it is done.

Artsy riding shot.

The local collector, and his trailer of "goods". You cannot forget you are in Taiwan, after all!

Tomorrow is Sunday, heading to China, no more riding on this trip.

Out.

Joe

it is coming!

I am in the middle of 10 days in Taiwan and China. We are just a little bit less than 2 weeks until the season starts in earnest. The first HS race is on the weekend of May 9 in Arkansaw, Wi. Then we are into the race season pretty much from there. The next weekend is another HS race on Sat, and then an Enduro on Sunday, the weekend after that is the National HS race in Rhinelander, and on and on from there.

Yippeee!

Tuesday 4/7

Still hurting from Saturday’s ride. Damn, this getting old thing sucks. My back, shoulders, arms and legs all still feel it. Riding my bicycle to work this morning, to a meeting in Cottage Grove (15 miles away). That should loosen everything up. But, it is just 29 degrees out so have to bundle up.

Tonight I will prep my HS bike from the weekend. Needs to have oil changed, tires mounted up, new grips etc… I might end up going to Aztalan MX track to ride on Wed or Thur eve. I just got my new key in the mail, and it is finally going to be up in the 50’s on those days.

I also need to prep my Enduro bike. I am planning to go back up to Dyracuse to ride this Saturday on that bike, and it needs the sand front tire and a few other things to be ready for that.

Just 10 days till the Enduro in Indiana.

Joe

Damn weather gods!

Wisconsin can be a wacked place.

It is March 29, and we woke up today to 6 inches of snow on the ground. March 29! They held a golf tournament here 2 weeks ago, for crying out loud. It is bad enough that it snows like this at stupid times, but to have it be that way on the morning of what was supposed to be the first race of the year for me, really sucks.

This is what it looked like out the window when I got up! March 29!

I know that I am supposed to stop talking about the weather. After all, grousing about it doesn’t do anything.  In fact, it doesn’t even make me feel any better.  I am having a hard time just “dealing with it”. Someone is out to get me, or at least that is the way that I feel some times.  That feeling is what makes me want to “Damn the weather gods!”

I guess I actually have it pretty good. I have bikes, I have a riding area.  I am pretty fit, and I am ready to go.  Maybe this weekends race was just not to be.  Sure wanted to kick my bike over on a starting line though.

Oh well.  On to some other rants.

Can someone tell me what the hell is up with James Stewart? He is by far the fastest man on the planet. I don’t think that even Ricky Carmichal could keep up with him on his best days. Yet, Chad Reed has a good chance of beating him for the overall in the AMA SX series. Chad is fast, and a classy rider. But, come on, this is James Stewart we are talking about. Chad Reed?

But, I guess the races have been fun to watch.

What about that GNCC series, eh? We have had so many years with a guest superstar, that we had all forgotten what GNCC racing is really like. The races are tough, and there really is not guarantee from one race to the next.  There really are only a couple of people that can dominate the racing the way that Juha and David Knight did, and they are not here this year. Jeez it has been exciting. 3 winners in 3 races. I am still waiting for Paul Whibley to solidify things at the top, but for now it is damn exciting. I fear that Paul will put it together sometime soon, and we will go back to runaway wins by one rider again.  I am disappointed that my man Nathan Kanney has not put it together yet.  It is a long season, and we will see what happens next.

Next weekend is the opening weekend of our biggest riding area.  I suspect that we will be fighting our way through the snow.  But, I will not be missing that for anything.  Dyracuse riding area.

Our for now.

Joe

2009 graphics!

So I have to post up.  Today, I got one of my bikes completely ready to go.  The season is here, and we needed to get our act in gear.  AJ, from Victory Graphix sent us our new graphics for the year, and man does it look boss!

Wow.

My bike with the small tank!

Detail of the rear fender with sponsor logos.

coming at you!

I don't even want to go and get it dirty!

I am going to go down to Illinois and race it on Sunday, in the snow and sandy mud.  Seems a shame to shred it like that, but that is what it is for.

Show time.

Joe

Photo’s from St. Joe Riding weekend

Here are some photos that I found from our weekend at St. Joe, back in February.

Looks like fun, eh?

Back in the saddle again!

Back In The Saddle Again

Scott and I went down to Waterman indoor MX track on Friday to ride. Waterman is a really safe little indoor MX track. Not very fast, with only small little jumps. No impossible doubles, and one tough SX style whoops section. It is not my real cup of tea, but it is December with feet of snow on the ground and we are riding. Cannot really complain.

After a year of GNCC racing, it did not feel too bad. As I said, it is pretty slow. But, GNCC racing is pretty fast and has taught me not to be afraid of speed or even medium jumping. Scott and I both talked on our way home about how the jumps seemed more manageable than they did in past trips here.

Getting ready to ride!

Waterman is a little bit on the dark side and the air can get pretty bad, but as I noted – it is hard for guys from way up north to argue with riding in December with feet of snow on the ground.

The whoop section took it’s toll on me. There really is no way to get through them other than to hit them hard and try to stay up on top. They are too tight to double through them and if you go to slow you do the “bucking horse” thing – not good. The crowds were not too big, so we got a bunch of riding. At about the 2 hour riding point, my arms/shoulders/back gave up the ghost and turned to rubber. (amazing how your fitness goes away when you are not riding)

preview of my HS bike for 2009 season

I did a bunch of geeky calculations about my fuel usage during the ride session at Waterman. You see, I have a goal of racing my HS bike in 2 hour events with a small tank. I think I can. I definitely am faster with the small tank, at least in my head I am. Based on Friday’s ride I am calculating that I can go just over 2 hours with the small tank at race pace outdoors. I will be spending a bunch of time this spring experimenting.

I have found a few articles talking about punching out a stock tank with a heat gun and a few PSI from a bicycle pump. If I can get a quarter to half a gallon more from the stock tank I am pretty sure I will not have a problem.

So, it was almost 2 months since my last ride. I think it will be another 2 months till we are able to ride next. Lot’s of bike work and gear work to be done before then.

Stay tuned.

Joe

All uphill from here!

Ok. Here it is. December 21. The shortest day of the year. The Winter Solstice. And, man from where I am sitting it is still a long steep uphill.

Here in the Upper Midwest, it is the absolute depths of winter. Today the actual outside temperature was a balmy comfy -3 degrees. That alone will make most people tremble. When you walk out into that kind of temperature, your nose hairs freeze and your exposed skin feels it immediately. But, as if that was not enough we had gusting 30-40 mile per hour winds. That put the windchill at minus 35. That is downright rude.

To top things off, we had 12 inches of snow fall 2 days ago, and then 4 more inches of snow last night. The plows have been by the house multiple times, but the wind keeps blowing all the snow right back over the road.

But, I am trying to be optimistic. It is the shortest day of daylight of the year, afterall. That means tomorrow will be light just a little bit longer, and the day after that a little bit longer again. If you multiply that out, it means we are on our way back to April 1. April is when you can count on starting to be outside riding your bicycle and even more importantly riding your motorcycle. The ground will be wet and muddy at that point, but we will be riding.

Even before that though, we will be riding.

• Scott and I are going to Waterman indoor MX track on Dec 26.
• We will be going up to the Sandbox to ride in January.
• We will be going down to St. Joe Missouri to ride at the end of February.
• Then, with any luck we will be racing on March 8 in Bill Gusse’s MXC races in Illinois.

So, it is coming, not quickly – but it will get here. 69 days till our first real outdoor riding time, 77 days till the first practice race, 88 days till the first AMA upper midwest enduro and 99 days till the first Harescrambles race. When it is all written out like that, it does not seem like it is that far off. But, it is.

There is still a ton of work to be done before then.

• My Harescrambles bike is getting near done. The suspension will be back this week. The motor will be finished being rebuilt in the next couple of weeks. The chasis has been stripped cleaned and all bearing surfaces prepped and properly lubricated etc…
• My Enduro bike is another matter. I have not even started on that yet. It needs all of the above and more. That bike was my GNCC race bike the past year. It had a hard year, so it is being relegated to back up bike/enduro bike status. It is getting a Baja Designs light kit and Factory Connection will do up the suspension super soft for me.

My gear from Moose will be here after the first of the year. There is a huge stack of Pirelli tires just arriving now. Many more things will still need to be stacked up to make our season complete. Although we are not traveling so much to race this season, I have many more races planned for this year than this past year.

But until then, there is still much more winter to endure. Some skiing here and there, but mostly just counting the days till winter is over.

Ugh… Winter.

Out

Joe

New WIXC series

I am super excited about the new WIXC series we have here for next year.

Rick Anschutz, former D16 AMA Harescrambles rep, has changed his role to race promoter. Rick did a fantastic job as the AMA rep here in the District for a long time. He helped organize races, he kept all of us honest by being the hardnosed rule enforcer, he and his wife Paula and his daughter spent considerable time money and effort for every racing day of each year and he always pushed for more races every year. We all have him to thank for the positive state of racing here in Wisconsin now.

I wrote a post earlier that as I go back and read it now, did not sound like I was very supportive of the new WIXC series. On the contrary, I am really confident that everything will work out for Rick. I am hopeful that my schedule works out so that I can do the majority of the WIXC races this season. I WILL be doing a bunch of the WIXC races to show my support for Rick, acknowledging his efforts in the past and his series for the future!

Rick – sorry that I did not sound supportive of your future series. I know that you were the driving force behind all of our racing here for the past years, and I know if anyone can make another series work here in Wisconsin – you can. I, along with everyone else in the state, really thank you.

You might have read in earlier posts that we have a ton of racing opportunities here in Wisconsin next year. Rick Anschutz will bring his considerable experience to the new WIXC series, Brian Terry (all around good guy) has taken over the AMA district and looks to have a bunch of races on the calendar, there is an AMA Eastern Harescrambles race here (also promoted and organized by Rick Anschutz), there are a couple of National Enduro’s nearby, Ryan Moss’s great MidwestEnduros.com website keeps us informed of a lot of opportunities for Enduro racing, of course there are OMA races and MXC races put on by Bill Gusse and then maybe a couple of GNCC races are not too far away.

Joe

Thanksgiving – Arkansas – Update

As usual, my brother and his family, my sister and her family and my family all descended upon my mother’s house for Thanksgiving. She lives in Hot Springs Arkansas. My brother and sister live in Texas, so it is sort of a central meeting spot for all of us. We have been doing this since my mother moved there about 13 years ago. We ride mountain bikes, burn things in the back yard (she lives in the woods) and drink our share of beer (not the kids, although some of them are getting old enough). Basically, it is mayhem for 5 days. Kids running everywhere, we have built a little piece of singletrack in the woods by her house, we have built a whole bunch of freeride features there also. We all refer to it as our redneck Thanksgiving.

We rode ourselves silly for the week. Every day we did some riding at either the XC race course in town, or at 2 different trail networks. We also found a freeride area at Burns park in Little Rock and a dirt jump park. We only had XC bikes, but we made due.

All I had was my 69'er. Not the best jump park bike, bu we made due!

Hanna reaching for the back side. Her bike is better, but not really the right gear.

Ali putting it together with the right bike, and pretty much the right gear.

So, the week before we left for Arkansas, Scott and I met with Mark Junge from Vesrah and discussed our season for next year. Scott and I both need a year of focusing on local races after our adventure this past year. Mark is completely into that. Mark is still working out his overall deal for the Vesrah Suzuki endurance road racing team, so how we fit into that is up in the air a bit. But regardless, Scott and I will still be on Suzuki’s for next year and running our little offroad wing of Vesrah Suzuki.

There is a huge season available to us for next year. 12 or so D16 Harescrambles races, 12 or so races in the new Wisconsin XC series, there are 3-4 OMA races that are close to Wisconsin, 2 National Enduro’s that are in the Upper midwest, 1 National Harescrambles in the upper midwest, 6-8 D16 Enduro races and of course Crawfordsville GNCC. Before I even add mountain bike racees, I could cover my schedule with more than 20 motorcycle races next year.

I hope you like the new look of our website. There are a few more new things that will be coming in the next month or so as well. We have combined the 2 websites from last year into 1 site. For the time being, you can still get here from the old sites, but you should update your saved URL to http://www.vesrahsuzukioffroad.com. We wanted to have one site where all of our sponsors would be represented, our individual blogs could be found, our schedule and results can be found and profiles of our bikes. This year we will be campaigning a few different bikes. Scott is going to be running a 144 project bike, an RM 250 and hopefully and RMZ250. I will be running an RM250 dedicated to Harescrambles and and RM250 set up for Enduro racing. It is going to be a fun year.

We have a new sponsor for both Scott and I for next year. Moose clothing has stepped in to provide us with the best gear for our pursuits. I have always loved their stuff. I am pretty excited to be riding in the best gear for next year.

It is time for buckling down on a training program. Scott’s wife Mary, runs a business called Up and Over Fitness. She was a Olympic level mountain bike racer in a previous life, and knows more about fitness than most anyone. I have stacks of programs here from my prep last season that I need to organize into a program for this season. I don’t really look forward to all the time in the gym, but I know it pays off when hour 2 of a Harescrambles race comes along or that last timed section of an Enduro.

Joe