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26 Miles of paridise or hell.

Friends and I took off today for a ride. I heard about this ride all week long. "It's technical" was one of the descriptions. Others mentioned some recon work for later rides. Breakfast at the casino, and off the the trail head which leads to Death Valley National Park. Having driven this back road in, it has been a desire of mine to do, well until 2:45 pm today. The opening trail was great. I was warned that there were going to be some rocks. I didnt pay much attention to that. Some rocks became many rocks which became all rocks 4 miles out. I felt some rock training was in order so I jumped in with both feet and a hand on the gas. We saw some of the most beautiful single track all at 10 mph. Rocks tend to slow you down. Now Im not talking about pebbles or river stones. Imagine the small being 35lb loose shale and boulders. I was warned before I left to fill my tires to 20 psi as to avoid flats. Funny thing about air in tires. The more of it, the less control you have. 16 miles of beautiful single track with smatterings of two track. All filled with rocks.

The road home
All was going famously, I was on my game and heading down a beautiful river bed that criss crossed the landscape and was a natural flow. Still no sign of dirt or sand yet, I am beginning to wonder if dirt or sand exists in this part of the world. I motor on. Getting into the swing of things, I find myself at the top of second (seriously there are a lot of rocks) and heading down this river bed. This is when talent ran out, ego left and I was on my head. Separated shoulder, mangled head pipe and plastic that looks like Swiss cheese, I find myself looking over my feet at my bike which is still running. As I stand I look down the valley to see the next town. It's a long, long way off. I pick up the bike, which starts first kick and motor on. Later I would get my shoulder back in the socket with full range of painful motion but motion none the less. Finally make it to the truck, load up, home for three wonderful beers and a new respect for riding in rocks.

I found the ride has become all that much cooler the further away I am from it. I suspect by this time next year - Remember that super cool ride we went on last year?
Motrin is a wonderful pain killer.

WORCS Glen Helen: ride report

Brief ride report: I was only able to race then I returned home. This is what I got from my visit. Another successful WORCS race has come and gone. Friday afternoon, I loaded the scooter and headed towards Southern California. I got into the track about 7:30 all the while in an air conditioned truck. A quick phone call to locate my friends camp and I parked. Whoa! The humidity and heat hit me like a wave. September in Southern California is a bit muggy. Think tropical but with heavier smog air. Mull around the camp, bench race over many bottles of water then quick to bed. Saturday morning came with a bright sunrise. It was on everyone's mind. Friday's temperatures were breaking 100, weather report was; it was to be hotter on Saturday. Optimism was there but the early morning heat had everyone thinking what is it going to be like later when we race?

The morning unclassified race - like a sighting lap or four to get your bearings of the track you are going to be racing later with one change. Everyone can ride it. Mayhem was the best way to describe it. The course wasnt hard, just for some people they werent prepared for some of the obstacles. I think they were more motocross people then off road. If a track isnt eight feet wide, they just dont know what to do. In this case they locked it up, went over the bars, stalled it and fell on their buddy. I was looking around for Warren Miller or Candid camera, it was a cluster of people. Now this didn't happen once, about every time the track narrowed or changed from dirt, they just lost their minds and their bikes. Being a good off road mind, I chose to cut to the chase and cut the course with the other errant riders. Around the pack and whoa! Glen Helen Amphitheater? This is in the course? We all turned around to find the Officials are now out guiding traffic back on course.

Once back on course things are looking up. Wait. Stop. A tunnel. OK everyone. One bike at a time. Three can not fit, though it was tried. After that mayhem I am beginning to wonder what will the race be like? Are we going to be fighting like Los Angeles Traffic? After all where better to do this then the Los Angeles stop?

Through the tunnel things are moving again and being recorded for memory. OK, big drop here, lay on the gas here, be ready for the quick turn here, dusty area here. All stop! A bridge? Looks like fun, lets give it a go? But first lets wait for the crowd to stop looping it out up the stairs. Scratch that, cut the bridge I got course to see. The rest of the course was more moto then trail, though it was to my benefit, it seemed many in my class didnt like the river rock and it opened much passing opportunity. This brought us back to the famous National track and Talladega Turn. There is nothing like it. Flat out as fast as you can go, like a rollercoaster. The mayhem had cleared up and the full course was able to be ridden. Two more laps and back to the truck.

The waiting is the hardest part - Thank you Tom Petty. I was able to sit in the shade and the breeze was nice but it was still 90 degrees. My race was to go off at 2:30. Not the hottest part of the day but pretty close. The WORCS people are pretty nice people. They were nice to let the pros practice for an hour before my race. They left the track in the best condition anyone could want, if you are like me and like square edge bumps, 10 wide ruts with g-outs and bomb holes out of the ruts up hills. It was heaven when we got to the track. All those nice lines already pointed out! The race is an hour long. Honestly with the track as long as it is, you dont notice the time pass. Just laps and how many can you get in. The bike ran great, I did better then I expected, mostly I came off the track with a smile as wide as they come and loaded with hours of bench racing; which started as soon as the jersey came off and beer in hand. If you ever get the chance to ride in one of these, dont pass it up, they are great fun.

Thanks to:
Rocks Racing Service, wife and my clients whom without I wouldn't be able to do this.

Mammoth Motocross Vet Weekend.

I was entered in the Sandbagger class (Jr) and I had the best weekend for bad starts. You couldn't have done any better then I. I went 4 for 4 for crappy cement starts. Yeah I was too cautious. I was more concerend with getting home and work on Monday (which I was late to...) then a five inch wooden trophy. More practice, I should be good.

Aside from that I put in 20 great laps around the mile long track. Enjoyed the constant watering, loam and gravel (which has now developed since they are no longer to add topsoil.) Took a baseball size stone to my neck in my first heat on Sunday. It's amazing how when the adrenaline is racing, you don't really feel it. The staff did an excellent job at running motos, getting the track groomed each night, making sure everyone got a parking spot. Fortunately I couldn't tell you how good the medics were, since most of them are friends I will just say they are good.

The pro race was unreal. The gossip was Ryno was talking smack about MC. I don't know if this was true or not but McGrath held a School on how to ride motocross both days. Star pupils were Ryan Hughes, Dowd and Ty Davis. All of them tried to keep Jeremy honest but it didn't last too long. A typical moto for McGrath was; turn the throttle at the starting line, burp it at the finish line, rinse and repeat 10 times over. If Ryan was talking smack it was quelled quickly buy the shower of roost MC was throwing off his tires.

Early mornings, late nights, sleep deprivation, cement starts and sandbaggers only mean one thing.
One hell of a great time.

Boot to the head

Forever on the boot search last weekend I got to see first hand two new boots. One I was really excited to see was the Scott Genius. While a neat looking boot, perhaps the name was set a we bit high. I'm sure the people at Scott know what's up with the boot now, and the next version should be good. But if you have tried them, the toe box is HUGE. Little too big to be shifting a motocross bike with. Meanwhile on the large toe box subject, the Carmichael Berik boot. Who let this boot leave the factory. ONE ride from my friend on stock foot pegs and the left boot sole has a hole in it. You can get the Brick on eBay for a hundred and a half, don't expect them to be the greatest MX boot. The name is where the greatness seems to have left it. The neat part about the scots is the sensitive areas on the boot. For positive feeling on the shifter and brake. As for the toe box, a new shift lever will solve the problem, but that's $50 more added to the $500 boots.

The boot companies gotta realize fashion needs to follow function, not the other way around. I am very happy with my Oxtar boots and the old Alpinestars, These companies figured it out right.

She’s like a old girlfriend

Today I had a fight. A tear down all full on brawl with the woman. Ok the Other woman. The bike. I hate you! I love you, take me back. No I hate you! The track hasn’t seen moisture since summer rains. And that was back in July. The dirt is super slick, slity and hard underneath. All the suspension settings I was using back in July are useless now. So back to messing with the suspension. This is a task  I don’t enjoy. So there I am screaming at my bike. Five laps later, new settings. I hate those even more! Five more laps. I don’t know if the bike is better or just fatigue? I’m not calling her until Monday, let her figure this all out and get back to me!

Oldschool expression session

Went to the local track for a fun ride, did some laps then I was working on turning speed. Just practicing getting the bike into the rut looking forward then accelerating. For many of you this is easy. For me I am having a breakthrough. I am stoked about riding. Like 24 hours a day stoked. So there I am slotting these three bermed up turns. Various obstales between the three soon a YZ 125 jumps in, then a few minutes later a thumper, then an XR 400, then some kids on trail bikes. An impromptu session for 30 minutes no one did anything but run these turns. I don’t remember who stopped but smiles were all around.

Rolling the bike into the garage looking up at the setting sun over the Sierra. Today was a great day!

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  Camp332 Posted:

  9/11/2009 11:53 AM

  The kid is laughing at you, Tiki, cuz your SX skills are weak at Untamed.
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  mxchika Posted:

  8/1/2008 11:04 PM

  wow sounds like you are having an awesome night!! wanna trade?? lol im just sittin here bored!! what made your day so good?? just wondering...
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  mxchika Posted:

  8/1/2008 4:34 PM

  Hello!! how are you doing on this fine evening??
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  sarahmo92 Posted:

  7/31/2008 11:27 PM

  hey thanks for the help on starting out :]
  I really hope I jump start this whole 'learning to ride mx' soon.. haha.