I feel each time I come on here and write something, that I’m opening some sort of floodgates to my inner racing confessional (does such a thing exist?). There seems to be this constant feeling of “not enough” when it comes to me and riding (motor) bikes. It appears that despite getting a lot of seat time on my bikes, it still doesn’t seem to mean much. Don’t get me wrong in what I’m saying. I enjoy all the time on the bike; this is true. It’s evident in how my demeanor improves after riding (I’m sure someone out there could elaborate on the chemicals in my brain doing their thing). My body feels better, my psyche seems to be improved. Unfortunately it seems that “just riding” is lacking. I need some Competition.
1. The act of competing; rivalry for supremacy, a prize, etc.:The competition between the two teams was bitter.
I’m not particularly looking for supremacy here*, nor could I care about prizes. And in all honesty I know in woods racing, my greatest competitor is my brain. The thing is, there is something downright intoxicating about being a winner. Sorting out a line to get around a slower racer, managing to hold onto the bike up after an hour and a half of bouncing off trees, logs, rocks, and random obstacles. It’s a feeling that is just not had while in a play ride\practice. The intensity isn’t as high. The focus isn’t as sharp.
All this to say that I am getting bored of “just riding”. Sounds terrible when I love riding as a whole, but dang. I need some competition. Two weeks tops and I’m at a race. It couldn’t be here any sooner.
-Andrew
*Ok, I would gladly take being known as one of the best. 😉
A rather successful “practice” day at Rocky Glen OHV was had this past Sunday. Saturday night I tossed the YZ back together, installed the oversized Acerbis tank, and crossed my fingers that my jetting for 30-40 Degrees F would work in the 80+ Degrees we were due to get. Much to my surprise, the bike went together as easy as expected. I had confidence in the little 144 and opted to not start the bike (nor wake my wife) at 11pm.
Loaded up and ready to roll Sunday AM, John & I took off for Rocky Glen. Clear skies, warm temperatures, and most importantly: fresh grippy track awaited us at Rocky Glen. The YZ as expected fired up immediately. Unfortunately the CR belonging to John decided to foul a plug 30 seconds after starting up. Fresh spark and we were both off riding. As the day progressed and the sun shone down upon us a few things became clear.
1. The Shinko 520 tires were hooking up like mad. I’ve noticed them to be the slightest bit slippery on harder pack surfaces, but anything remotely soft and they just dig in and grip.
2. I’m still having minor confidence issues on longer higher speed turns. My ability to keep the bike pinned through these sections needs to be improved. This is especially highlighted when the section is followed by a jump. Which leads me to revelation 3.
3. I need to learn more bike control in the air. I understand that bike movement in the air is also started by bike manipulation while on the jump take-off, but I need to sort out mid air corrections\movements a bit better. I believe this also ties in a bit with my suspension, which is the final 4.
4. Suspension setup is slowly becoming a stumbling block in my overall speed improvement.
Now, allow me to elaborate mildly on the suspension setup. I have almost always been a rider who has believed that I should be able to ride around most suspension\bike setup issues. I most always keep my suspension clickers at stock settings, and usually don’t even bother with tire pressure (ok, I’ll usually set tire pressure once, and then leave it there). I’ve tended to just roll with how the bike feels, and have gone back to the mindset that I can improve my riding if I can find ways to work around my bike setup. Up until now, I’ve known that YES, I could improve the bike setup, but felt that I haven’t been at that speed yet. I’ve known that I’m fast, but have felt that personal improvements can be made before changing\improving my machine.
Things were different this Sunday. John was at the track with me, and was able to offer up critical input on how my bike and I looked while on the track. Things I normally can’t see on my own. I know a lot can be seen through a GoPro, unfortunately I’d need about 10 of them setup all over me and the bike just to provide the input that one persons set of eyes could. John put things quite bluntly for me, which is what I need while riding. John explained that when comparing my bikes suspension to the other faster guys on the track, that mine appeared to be in the bottom end of it’s stroke throughout most of the track and also appeared to be bottoming out on the face of most jumps, on the landings, and even on bumpy sections of track.
In all honesty, I knew that the suspension would bottom out if I overshot some of the landings, but to me the bike felt just fine throughout the rest of the track. My stubbornness & laziness led me to explaining to John that while I completely agree with his statements about my suspension, that the reality is, that I while out riding won’t mess with my bike setup. It sounds completely stupid I know, but it’s just how I am. I’m usually either focused on a competition, or just having fun messing around on the bike that I don’t mess with the bike. Up until now it hasn’t been an issue.
John wasn’t satisfied with my laxidasical feelings towards my suspension and promptly grabbed a screwdriver from his tool bag. He spun a few clickers and said ride and come back, then tell him how things felt. I found the front end to become more and more planted through turns, which felt good. Jumps were less draining (this was also in lieu of John saying that I wasn’t completely gapping all the jumps, but coming up just shy of landing on the downside).
In light of these rather simple and obvious changes, I found it easier and less draining to press harder and ride faster. With properly gapping jumps, I had less overall body fatigue, and was able to push through rutted up high speed sections easier. With the suspension feeling more planted, I was able to worry less about tires washing out on me. It all made me feel good. Unfortunately shortly thereafter, my body was feeling the drain of 4 hours at the track under the mid 80’s sun beaming down on us. On top of that, it was becoming sadly apparent that my fork seals are blown causing my fork oil to seep out.
And so it is. John has graciously offered himself up as official “Track Mechanic”. I will be putting my bike in his hands while we’re out riding. This should help me boost not only my confidence in my bike, but in my overall riding. I’m excited for things to come here. Now if only it were the weekend!
-Andrew
PS. If anyone out there would like to teach me how to do whips\scrubs on jumps, I honestly feel it’d be a good skill to have in my pocket. 🙂
About a month and a half ago (maybe 2) I was reminded that I would be going down to MotoGP in Indianapolis. It just so happened that I stumbled upon the website www.Endurocross.com. I saw that I could register, so I figured…what the heck, let’s do it. What could possibly be the worst that could happen? I competed in Trials and won competitions. I rip while riding off-road. What could possibly be different or more difficult about this?
I would like to admit here before anything else that I made one fatal error before doing this event. I changed bikes about 2 weeks before the race. Not only was I switching brands, but I switched from a 300cc 2-stroke Woods bike to a 250cc 4-Stroke MX bike. HUGE difference in the 2. Like switching from riding on a bed of pillows (300) to ride on well…rocks or something really hard.
This was not all bad however. I kicked out some great riding at Rocky Glen the weekend before Endurocross and gained a confidence on the bike that I didn’t think I’d get. I felt I can push faster through turns, be on the gas sooner, be off the gas later. I can push jumps and rough terrain at least 5-10x harder than before. I just feel downright comfortable on the bike (no..not while sitting, that seat is a freaking 2×4). It is as I’ve said…Magical. Downside I’ve felt so far had been the front tire. Right now wishing I coulda swapped it before the race, but what could I do?
So back to the race at hand. It was about a week before the event, and I had really no idea what was going on. I was getting the feeling that this race was a bit of a publicity thing. I had no idea when anything was, where I needed to be, or any of the information that seemed essential. I managed to get ahold of Beth (iirc) who was running registration and all that, and got the vitals. Noted to myself….be there before 7pm Thursday for registration (and forget that Indiana is 1 hour ahead of Illinois).
I arrive with plenty of time to spare, get my riders packet, and am greeted with the following:
I take a walk around the track via the stadium, and think about how it shouldn’t be “too bad”. My thoughts go like this:
Logs, I’ve ridden over those…that’ll be easy.
Rocks, I’ve ridden over all that asphalt rubble….those should be easy.
Whoops, I like riding those, off camber, but should be able to stay on the gas throughout.
Concrete Pipes, Those should be…fun, about a bikes length of gaps. Keep the front tire up?
Fire Wood Pile, WTF? Stay on the gas? uhhhh yeah we’ll see how first practice goes. haha
Logs V2, Hit the corners? Jump through?
Tires, HA! I practiced these. Cake walk, Aim for the gaps and slip through. Easy.
Rocks V2, Oh this should get interesting….Find lines during track walk. Stay on the gas, and keep your feet UP!!!
Sand, Shouldn’t be too bad..assuming it’s not too loamy. Keep on the gas.
Tires V2, OK, I’ve ridden over ones like this before. Easy. Stay on gas and let’r rip.
Simple. Right……?
Failure admittance #2. Thinking that I was properly prepared. I was not (still not?).
I quickly found during practice #1 that A. I needed food. B. I had been training in an entirely wrong way. I quickly realized that I had been prepping myself for racing for almost 2 hours straight. This race was gonna be less than 10 minutes and I needed to be able to go 110% for that entire time. No letting up, no breaks, no nothing. Just a full on onslaught of bike bucking, body jarring, intense riding.
My practices seemed to progressively get better, and better. Despite a bit of a doozy of a crash, I got back up and was rolling at the same or even faster pace. I was gaining confidence in me, the track, the bike, everything. I was feeling positive. I was ready for the main event. This is where I realized things would be….interesting. haha
I realized as I pulled up to the line for the main event, that it had been hours since I last rode. My body was not fully “awake”, and I could just feel that I did not have the same intensity that I had during practice and the heat race. I went into the race with the wrong mindset. I thought “let’s just make it through”. Anyone who competes will tell you this is not good. I won’t lament too far on the wrong as I’ve already changed that thought process. On top of that, I most definitely realized that it had been over 10 years since I had done a gate start. Luckily that was the easiest part of the race.
I made an early mistake of taking a risky line that proved to not pay. I went down in the first lap. I proceeded to sap all of my energy in a matter of moments, causing me to get sloppy in short order. I went down a couple more times, but did my best to keep my head up and push until the end. I managed an 11 out of 11. Last Place. Depressing to say the least.
Despite my feelings of defeat and loss, I knew one thing. I wanted more. I know I can be faster. The desire to win is about 100 times higher than it was before. Now if only they would have more of these events locally, we’d be set. I would go and do another one of these in a heart beat. No questions asked, I would be there pushing myself…..and that’s where I’m now.
I am pushing myself to be like the Six Million Dollar Man….Light, Faster, Stronger. I’ve also picked up a new motto for my riding. RLAW – TLAS. I’ll keep it at that. It’ll help keep me pushing. See you all at the next race!
n] 
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