Tag: ADVRider.com

Dirtwise: A weekend of going back to school.

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I’m working to improve myself as a rider.  If anything, just to be safer as I get faster.  I knew I had to at some point attend a school.  I had been to a Tony Distefano MX School back in 1999 when I was a bit more active in racing MX.  That was a blast & when I had re-entered the dirt world competing in trials, I knew I needed schooling and sought out the experts down at The Trials Training Center in Tennessee.  I really wanted something off-road related, and as soon as I saw a school close by, I jumped at the opportunity.

Shane Watts school opened up close by, so I signed up the day registration opened.  I wasn’t taking any chances.  I signed up and waited the 2 months or whatever it was for the weekend to roll around.  Thankfully I conned a buddy of mine to take the class with me, so we were able to split the fuel for the 5.5 hour drive, hotel, and help keep me occupied while driving.

Saturday AM rolled around, and I’m not sure about anyone else, but I was anxious.  Anxious to ride, anxious to see what we’d be learning, anxious to see just where I was doing things wrong.  The morning began with a short pep-talk from Shane Watts, followed by a quick warmup around a short .5 – 1 mile long loop through the woods down at the Cahokia Creek Dirt Riders facility.  It was a rather simple loop with a couple twisty sections, turns, sand, roots, small ruts, and all the standard stuff you’d see in a race (aside from extreme elevation changes).

Immediately after the warmup, we began in with breaking things down to the basis.  Plain & simple is how Shane does things.  You start with building blocks, stack them up, and apply them all towards the end of the day.  Shane also kept things extremely structured in his overall method of how the “classroom” time went.  Shane discussed what we would be doing, key elements, etc etc.  This was followed up by some demo’s done by Shane, followed by adding in additional key points for us to remember.  After this, we would begin applying what we were taught and were sent to practice in the field.  Shane would watch us all, make comments on what we were doing right or wrong.  After 10 minutes or so of practicing the techniques, we’d pause for a few, discuss things, and then go back out for a little longer; continuing on with practicing what we were just taught.  It was a great process to use to be able to handle the wide range of rider ability throughout the class.

As I said, it was all about building blocks.  Slowly adding things in, finishing with tying it all together.  Saturday began with working on throttle control, brake control, and body position.  We tied these couple skills into a fun drag race\braking exercise.  A line of 4 of us would drag race down a field, click through a gear or two, and then have to brake as quickly as we could at the finish line.  What a great exercise to work on throttle, feeding out the clutch, modulating power and then at the end have to do the exact opposite and work on keeping the rear tire on the ground, not locked up, and keep the front tire gripping as much as possible.  Despite being work, it was a blast.

The day progressed, to where we began working on the Square Drill.  A simple exercise of setting up 4 cones, and basically doing all you can to keep the bike in a constant drift around the 4 cones.  Now in a car, I’d honestly have no issue at all, even a quad.  But hop on a bike and try to do the same and it’s a total PITA.  Despite it being a PITA, like Shane said, it’s an absolute blast.  We all struggled to drift for even 1/4 circle, but we all made progress.  This exercise faded into us doing laps around a grass track.  A grass track that was getting more and more slick as the drizzles that began falling, turned into heavier rain.  The day concluded with us completing more Square Drill exercises.  All of us exhausted, my upper body was being destroyed from fighting the bike, trying to keep it vertical, while keeping the rear end pitched out all while having Shane yell “Go FASTER!!! PICK UP YOUR SPEED!!”.  Our coach knew we needed to wrap things up, so we headed home (er Super 8) to clean up and refill on some much needed food.

Sunday morning I woke up to dark skies and a serious threat of rough rain ahead.  By the time we were ready to go, we rolled out to get some quick breakfast.  While in the health food *cough* mcdonalds *cough* establishment, the rains began.  We sat looking as the sky was pitch black, pouring down an intense rain.  All I could think was: “this is going to be a long day”.  Thankfully by the time we got back to the Cahokia Creek Dirt Riders grounds, the rain had stopped, allowing us to gear up and get ready for more riding.

Just as Saturday began with some warmup laps on the practice loop, so did Sunday.  This time it was much more wet, with large puddles, but a bit more slippery.  Oddly enough, I found myself pressing harder.  I was more confident in placing my wheels in what I’d normally think were slick conditions.  I was on the gas harder and pushing faster than I was even the morning before in the dry.  I felt really positive and prepared myself for the days work ahead.

Things started out with working on corner ruts.  Navigating them, entering properly, looking the correct way, and appropriate throttle on the way out.  This exercise ended and followed by the dreaded Square Drill.  I wasn’t looking forward to this, but knew it had to be done.  As soon as we got out there, things began to click.  I was holding consistent drifts.  I’m sure I looked like a total goofball, floundering around trying everything to keep the bike going, but the more loops I did, the better it was.  I was holding constant circles, I was feeling great, then heard Shane yell to me “GO faster….Push yourself!”.  Not wanting to let the coach down, I did and amazingly enough, I was doing the exact same thing, but at higher and higher speeds.  Not perfect, for sure, but an absolute blast.

The day wound up with us working on a “grinding” technique; riding with wheels on the opposite sides of a downed telephone pole, while riding the length of it, which tied into us putting the techniques into action out on a small ravine climb out in the woods.  Shane again gave us a demo on how it was done, along with several alternate routes up a ravine that left us all smiling, dreaming of being as good of a rider as him.  After the demo it was our turn.  It was a small uphill, that swooped to the right, with a tree root across the thing right at the top of the climb.  Not too major of a climb, but it was slippery, and the climb was well V’d out from the rain running down it.  First time up I got stuck behind the guy in front of me, and didn’t make it non-stop up the hill.  The next attempt, I was more ambitious and pressed a bit harder.  I went in at about 3/4 throttle in 2nd gear and made it up, though had to put a foot down.  I wasn’t happy with that.  Next go at it, I knew I had to just man up, full throttle 2nd gear and just roosted into the climb.  My front tire followed the left side of the climb, with my rear sitting nicely in the middle of the thing.  I came to the root at the top and gave it a touch more gas to really get me up and through.  The root kicked me a good 10-15 feet down the trail.  Unfortunately It also kicked me to the left  onto the side wall dirt.  As I picked up my bike, I heard Shane yelling “YAHHHH AWESOME!!!”.  I couldn’t help but laugh as it just felt great to get up the hill so quickly.  I ran the hill another time, a bit more subdued at the root, and felt like I had made some great headway in my skills.

At this point, Sunday was winding down as we all worked our way out of the woods.  We were tired, the day had gone incredibly well, and it was time for things to come to a close.  Shane gave us some ending inspiring words sending us off to go ride and just enjoy riding.  I know I for sure felt thrilled.  I have no doubt in myself that my skills and confidence have gone through the roof.  I knew I could hold some good speed before this, but the little things I picked up from the class have just helped me take things to a whole new level.  I’m stoked, I’m feeling great, and ready for the races to come this year.  I’m looking forward to putting what I learned into practice in this weekends race.

Pic of the class (I’m bottom right in the red, next to Shane Watts on the end in orange):

-Andrew

To finish first, first you must finish…………..That’s racing.

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As any racer will attest, it seems every race weekend has some sort of drama leading up to it.  Mine (as posted about earlier) was no exception.  Thankfully the planets aligned, bikes got sorted out, and even the weather was looking to be just about perfect.  Truck and trailer got loaded up, I headed up and picked up my buddy John who would be racing his first Enduro.  After spending some time at his house changing his tires, setting up his suspension, and loading his gear, we were on our way out.

We spent the night in fine luxury of a couple camping cots in the back of the trailer.  The mild rain that came in the middle of the night sounded like thousands of shotguns blasts on the roof of the aluminum trailer.  I motivated myself to get up & out of bed around 7 to get registered for the day.  It’s nice walking straight through registration not having to deal with a swarm of other riders.  We really had no line preference for when we started, so we got up on row 10, easy enough for calculating out Key-Time early in the morning.

We didn’t have much time after the riders meeting to get our final gear on & get to the starting line.  They funneled us from the pits down & across a corn field to a gate where the actual start was.  We hopped in behind the Row 9 guys, and saw some of the others who would be joining us on row 10.  My buddy John (despite my yelling) jumped the gun and somehow snuck in with the Row 9 guys right off the start.  Thankfully it was just a .5 mile road section to another start point, and he was able to fall back in line as he should be.

We got up to the line and we were immediately off.  I took the lead of the 4 or 5 of us on our row, and immediately felt extremely confident on my bike.  The terrain was grassy, but had an odd sand base to it.  It was a perfect situation for the Michelin S12XC tires that I run.  I had a few initial bobbles as I was getting reacclamated to running in much tighter tracks than we usually run.  I was running smart though, and running confident.  I began picking up speed where I needed to.  Areas that I normally would have cruised in a constant RPM, I was holding full throttle, and immediately pitching myself fore\aft for upcoming terrain.

I was attacking in a restrained way.  Knowing the race was all day, and it was still early on.  However, I was already pacing myself ahead of the rows ahead of me.  I knew they could all be in totally different classes than me, but it still gives that mental gratification that you passed someone.  It helps, helps me push, helps me keep focused.  I rolled through I believe a check point and motored on.  I came into a tight section that had a fallen tree stump to my left, and some shrubs to my right.  I can only assume I didn’t look far enough ahead, or whatever, cause I immediately felt my foot being smashed between the stump & my foot peg.  I lost my balance, fell to my right and hobbled away from the bike.

It was a sharp pain.  My adrenalin was flowing, and I knew I could work through it.  I looked to my left (behind me) to make sure no one was coming.  I knew I had a good gap from the guys I had passed, but that race instinct says to get back up and going ASAP.  I picked my bike up which was thankfully still running (thank you Rekluse).  I went to turn my bars, and felt some resistance.  I saw the inner radiator shroud had been pushed in, so I yanked it out to toss in my camelbak.  No sooner did I rip the shroud out that the radiator began pissing coolant.

I knew it was over.  As soon as the fluid hit my fender, that was it.  Game Over, See you next credit.  I was pissed and extremely frustrated.  I pulled my bike off the main line and began looking for ways to be resourceful to work around this.  I began pulling for sticks that I could bypass the busted radiator, so I could at least get myself out of there on 1 functioning one.  I searched all around, nothing.  If I had some little tube, maybe I could make it work, but obviously no tube.  Plenty of riders checked to make sure I was OK.  I was grateful, as this never seemed to be the case in the Harescrambles around here.  Somewhere along the way, someone must have mentioned that there was a rider out, because just as I was about to begin the daunting task of pushing my bike out, here comes a truck in the corn field.

It was a long drive back to the pits, so I can only imagine how bad it would have sucked having to push my machine that entire distance.  I had plenty of time to think things over, that’s for sure.  I thought that maybe I could rig something together, but no way was I going to risk getting stuck out there again, only to have to hope for another tow back out.  At this point the race for me was mentally over.

I waited and waited, and my buddy John rolled back into the pits from the first 1/2 of the race around 12-12:30 or so.  He was beat, exhausted and had no desire to do the 2nd half of the race.  I laughed when he told me I’d be riding Enduros alone from here on out.  Which right there makes me laugh.  I’m absolutely pissed that I busted my bike and had to end my race so early.  I was riding solid and knew I had a good finish in me.  But that’s the awesome part of the Enduro’s.  You’ve gotta make everything click.  It’s all day and one early mistake can cost you.  Super frustrated for sure, but now looking forward to the next enduro which is unfortunately not until August.

Until then, I’ll be keeping myself going with Harescrambles & whatever else I can.  Going to be one long summer full of a lot of racing.

-Andrew

 

Enough about me. What about the bike?

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I’ve spent a good deal of time on my mental end of things with my racing.  I figure it’s about time for some info on my weapon of choice.  I hopped all around the board in years prior.  My buddies ride KTM’s and get all giddy just thinking of orange things; just not me.  I thought my KTM was good, but honestly, they pull an extra $1000 premium right now, and there were plenty of other options out there, and I’ll add in a bit of spite as my final reason for not going pumpkin.  I knew that I had to go 2-stroke.  Granted I loved the power of my 450, I knew that I could get similar power out of a 2-stroke & not have to think about valves, yadda yadda yadda.

Much consideration went into the possibility of sorting out a Japanese 250.  I liked this idea, as there are plenty of bikes around, for extremely cheap.  I know how to revalve suspension, so that wasn’t a huge thing, but in the back of my mind, I knew I’d still have to get some lights (even if “not working”), some Enduro parts, and all that nonsense.  My brother, the wise man that he is, asked me a simple question: “Why not buy a bike that is built for what you want to use it for?”  It was at this point I knew I had 1 of 2 choices.  Husqvarna or GasGas.

I’d read mixed reviews on the GasGas bikes, and finding one that appeared in decent condition around me was a bit of a stretch.  The Husky was about the same situation, though I knew that I’d seen plenty at the races, and they sold a 300cc 2Stroke which is really what I wanted to get.  I had a line on a nice 2007 Husky, though a WR250.  It needed some standard items (hand guards, protection, bigger tank for longer rides, etc).  It was then that I recalled a friend had a 2006 Husky WR250.  I had seen it on some rides we did, but hadn’t thought too much about it at the time.  This led to that, which led me to buying the bike off of him.  Mint condition bike, I was in heaven.

Fresh from JZEE

Like I said, the bike was\is mint and ready to rock.  I posted earlier what was my first ride on the bike.  I knew after that first outing, that I needed to scoop up the 1 item that I will refer to as the “ultimate cheater”.  The Rekluse EXP 2.0.  I had an auto clutch on my YZ144 and really enjoyed it, but nothing existed for my G450X.  I’ve found this to be one of the best $ I’ve spent on this bike (almost).  The auto clutch saves me when I miss the clutch going into a turn, or have a bobble somewhere that would normally stall the engine (which really sucked due to the bike having such a goofy kickstarter).

I opted to not spend a dollar on any sort of engine upgrades.  The bike rips pretty well, and had an all around good feeling (slight carb tweaks required, but a given with any carb’d bike).  I decided that despite looking new, I had very little to no confidence in the front.  Before I would dive into suspension valving, I figured a fresh tire would help things out, and I was quite right.  The next time out on the bike, I felt very confident in the front end, and felt I could push the bike much better.  I didn’t have 100% confidence, but that is coming along with the more I get to ride & know the machine.

Just after the Bass Lake Loop

After my last trip to the UP, I felt the bike could handle a little loving’ to the fork valving.  Not much, but a bit.  Thankfully this isn’t the first set of forks I’ve massaged into better handling units.  I revalved my YZ144 & G450X, both with awesome results.  On the Husky, I focused on the base valves, and found that the OEM valving was a bit on the wonky side.  It’s damping curve, despite appearing linear, was far from it.  I added in some shims, smoothed things out, and got fresh oil in there.  I’m ready to ride!

So now I sit and wait for the weekend to arrive.  I’ve got the bike dialed in how I want.  I’m stoked on the machine, and itching to improve my feeling and abilities on the bike.  I’ll have more practice footage.  Any questions, feel free to ask.

 

-Andrew

Past mistakes, future fortunes.

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As stated before, I’ve made some bad choices in the past.  The thing that’s really killed my racing as of late has been my only constant being change.  I’ve tended to keep a bike for a few short months, complain about something on it, and want to change to something “better”.  While it was true that each bike presented itself with it’s own unique issues, I didn’t stick to my “just run it” attitude I had in the past.  I assume this is partially because now I could actually get the bikes I want & choose.  But aside from causing me to lose money, I lost valuable time in learning my machines.

So it all started back with a 2001 KTM 300exc.  I picked this up from another ADVRider member in February of 2010.  Prior to this, I had a BMW G650XCountry that I realized would not be a good race bike.  The KTM had power, suspension, and at the time, I felt it wast the lightest bike on the planet.  I raced 3 races on the bike, and by the 3rd I was thinking it’d help if I had something lighter.  I test rode a Honda CRF250R and felt this was the key for Harescrambles.  I unloaded the 300exc & picked up a 2004 Yamaha YZ250F.  The bike was setup for an A MX rider, far from ideal for the Harescrambles (and the Indy Endurocross I raced it in).  The YZ250F was feeling good, until I rode a 125 2-stroke.

This is about where I really shot myself in the foot.  I ended up trading a perfectly good YZ250F for a YZ125, thinking that it was going to be all that and a bag of chips.  I lost BIG on that deal.  I was jaded by lack of lighting, a crew of hillbillys surrounding me, and the sweet scent of pre-mix.  I got the YZ125 home and began finding all it’s problems.  Steering stem bearings were the least of my worries, and after my first real ride on the bike, found that aside from the top end being worn, the bottom end was as Eric Gorr put it “One of the worst we’ve seen”.  This was the end of October/ beginning of November of 2010, and of course, I needed to rush to get the thing sorted.  1 Eric Gorr 144 big bore & a fresh bottom end rebuild, and I was ready to rock and roll.  Go figure that the day I go to test out the bike, I case a small double at a buddies track, exploding the rear shock, linkage, and along the way, my right knee.  Thankfully it was getting towards winter, so I had time to get things sorted.

I rebuilt the YZ144 over the winter, fresh everything.  I added a Revloc auto clutch & was ready to get down to business racing it.  First race out was awesome.  It was up at Aztalan MX in Wisconsin.  I took 2nd off the start and was positioned well to be competitive throughout the race.  Go figure though that about 30 minutes into the 120 minute race, I flatted my rear tire.  I said screw it & continued on.  On the jumps, I took it easy to not throttle too hard in the air.  By the 90 minute mark, my body was feeling it & I was slowing quickly.  I ended up in 4th or so in the race, which sucked, cause the 3rd place rider was right in front of me, I just had no idea on timing\scoring…..Racing and learning.

I continued to race the YZ144 at a couple more local Harescrambles.  Somewhere along the way in early 2010, I convinced myself to pickup a BMW G450X.  Dealer had a stupid low price & I convinced myself I “needed” one for riding trips in the UP (Michigan).  Plated, dirtbike, yup how can you go wrong?  Unfortunately I was alternating between racing the 450 & the 144 and just wasn’t doing good at all.  I was never confident in the races, and just fudging up where I shouldn’t have been.

At this point, I was really getting down on my abilities in racing.  I knew I could ride faster than my friends when we’d race around.  I knew I could keep up with A riders at times, but it was like I had A skills, with the fitness of a C rider, and the mental lapses of an 80 year old.  Flashes of brilliance while racing, peppered however, with more poor riding.  This is just chalked up to not having raced a whole bunch.  Nerves and the like.  (Un)Fortunately at this point I had a buddy of mine ask me if I wanted to give Supermoto a try.  I was a bit worn out on the off-road riding\racing & more or less just needed a break.  I had a good first weekend in that, really enjoyed having proper brake markers & keypoints on a constant track, but just didn’t “feel” it for the road type racing again.  This brief foray back onto the road racing cost me some valuable off-road race weekends, but I needed to do it to know for sure.

At this point, I was beginning to feel that I should be sticking with the 450 for racing, but was still switching back and forth between it and the 144.  I went down to race a GP on the 144 and was just downright pissed about my performance.  I’ve only myself to blame, as my tires were destroyed and half way into the first race, I lost all rear brake.  I thought I had it fixed for the 2nd moto, but it was all but gone, not my way to ride, but not much I could do.  I was getting to be quite sick of that YZ144, and just fed up with how things were going for me.

It was at this point that I finally decided to finally give an Enduro a go.  I figured there were no other Harescrambles going on at the time and it’d let me see if maybe I’d like the format of these types of races over whatever else.  I loaded up the 450, signed up for Open B class & just figured I’d go and have fun with it.  And fun was had!  These enduro’s actually started on time (pet peeve of mine from Harescrambles), I got to race for all day long, and best of all, I got a great finish in my class.  I had some issues, but I loved how my bike felt, I felt positive with how I rode, and basically went home feeling happy.  At this point, I was dead set on racing the 450 the following season, in the Enduro’s.

This past winter was spent prepping the 450X for a committed D17 Open B Enduro season.  I had scored a great bigger tank for the bike, I revalved the suspension just to my liking, and had it completely fresh for the season.  I got one early ride on the bike and just felt great on it.  Again, my brain began to wander.  Deep down I knew that for 2013, I’d want to be back on a 2-stroke.  One thing led to another, and here I am now on a Husqvarna WR250 2-stroke.  It was a relatively easy decision for me to make.  I had no real complaints with the 450X, but things fell into place, so I rolled with it and am now on a bike that just feels wonderful.

I’ve learned some really key things this past year, and despite how much I had wavered throughout the year, it’s really helped me focus in.  In 2011, I had no set goal.  I had no set plan.  Yes, I wanted to race Harescrambles, but I wasn’t yet at a point to really push to be competitive.  I was jumping around from bike to bike, discipline to discipline  This year I feel renewed and confident.  I’ve got the clear goal to compete in the D17 Open B Enduro class and I feel I’m on the best bike for the job.

This season, I’m going in with confidence! – More to follow!

-Andrew

Not quite a noob, Not quite a Pro, Not quite old man, Not quite boy racer……

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I am at a point in my life finding myself making up for lost\missed time.  Doing my best to get in as much racing before I feel I’m “too old”.  I suppose it’s best to back things up a bit and give some back story.  My name is Andrew Gore.  I’m 26 years old and I race dirtbikes.  I’ve got a lovely wife, slightly spastic dog, and officially work as a Mold Designer\Machinist at my Fathers Injection Molding\Mold Making company.  I have one goal ahead of me: to race national pro enduro by 2015 (or by the time I’m 30).

I began riding bikes when I was in elementary school.  First ride I took, was on a 1974 Kawasaki 175.  From then, I went into racing MX at a local track on a 1985 Yamaha YZ125 that was nothing but issues.  At the same time I was dealing with that bike, I was also forced to deal with the reality that the area I had to practice\ride was being shut down.  It was 1999, I was entering high school & found myself using any free time I had to go skateboarding, with the YZ sitting dormant in my basement.  Through high school I went full blown into skateboarding, was shooting video non stop, and gained a great board sponsor out of Pennsylvania, and even managed my own signature board by the end of high school in 2003.

Unfortunately from there, the board company was going under, and I found myself in a position of owning a paintball company with my brother.  From that point on, I just didn’t get competitive in much of anything.  We had separated ourselves from our fathers manufacturing business to venture out on our own, we were both immersed in work, and at the time I just didn’t feel any draw back to competition or even motorcycles.  This slowly began to change when I moved back in with my parents & back to work with my father.

Summer of 2004 (or maybe 2005?), I don’t remember exactly, but suffice to say, I got the bug to ride again.  I picked up a 1974 RD350 & had all sorts of fun fogging the area on the thing.  One thing led to another, and I found myself road racing a 2004 Yamaha R6.  With the help of my brother coaching me, I was picking up speed at a great pace.  Unfortunately, as my speed increased, as did the spending from my wallet.  A weekend of racing was using up every bit of money I had, especially so after a triple digit crash sent me sliding directly towards my entire family there at the race to watch.  I knew something had to give.  My funds were essentially non-existent, but the desire to compete was extremely high.

At this point, my dad had seen some trials events, and inquired if I’d be interested in giving that a go.  We made a deal that he’d front the money for a trials bike until I sold the R6.  I found a bike (1994 GasGas JT25), and a week or so later, had the R6 sold.  I entered my first event and was sucked in.  The slow methodical approach to riding, with a delicacy that just drew me in.  After my first event, I knew I needed some schooling and in the fall of 2008, I went down to the Trials Training Center in TN.  The following year, I competed in the D-17 Advanced class, and won the overall for the season.

The following year had me feeling the need for a bit more speed.  Early 2010, I competed in a couple trials events at the Sportsmen level, but I was feeling the need for some speed.  Maybe it was me knowing I was getting married in a few months, I don’t really know.  I do know that I needed some speed or change of pace from trials and began giving HareScrambles a go.  I had tried a Harescramble in May of 2009.  I made it 45 minutes into the event on a bone stock DRZ400S (yes, lights blinkers, everything).  I wanted to die, and I was barely half way into the race.  Things weren’t much different when I entered another event on a KTM 300.  I got stuck in a terrible rut, sunk the bike down to its rear axle and just about lost my brain.  It wasn’t until I entered my 3rd race that I even managed to finish.

I’ve spent the past 2 years competing in Harescrambles, dabbled into supermoto (finding I needed to be in the dirt), and finally giving an enduro a go this past fall (2011).  I’ve made a HUGE mistake the past couple years, which has been not focusing on an ultimate goal for each season.  This season is different.  I aim to win the D-17 Open B Enduro class.  I’ll be racing local Harescrambles as well to help keep my brain in race mode, but won’t be so focused on taking the “overall” for that.  Something to keep me in shape and in the spirit of racing.

I’m stoked for what’s to come this year.  I’m on a phenomenal bike (2006 Husqvarna WR250).  I’ve got myself on a tasty diet, and have a workout plan going on.  I’ll post as more comes up here.

-Andrew