Tag: Andrew

Club57MX GP Race…….Epic BUST

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John T & I arrived at Byron Motorsports Park promptly at 7:30am Sunday for registration.  Both of us quite excited despite the somewhat dreary skies.  As we pulled into the facilities, we were both a bit confused at the lack of gate attendant collecting gate fee, and the apparent lack of additional vehicles in the pits.  This was to be a race at a MotoCross facility, surely they would not cancel due to a few light showers in the AM.  We rolled on over towards the bathrooms and struck up conversation with another racer.  Oddly enough, our fears were confirmed.  the Club57MX GP Race had been canceled.

Weather forecast showed light rain until 830-9am.  Not bad, considering racing was to start at 9am (practice).  But alas, we were screwed.  We drove our hour and a half to be informed that MX has gone full NASCAR and was afraid of some rain.  So onto Plan B, or so we thought.  KI Tracks was just a few miles away and surely they would be open.  A handful of other riders discussed heading out there as well to get some riding in.  After doing some quick driving & quick Facebook investigation, we found that KI Tracks too was afraid of the rain and would not be open.

So what to do.  We all knew that Rocky Glen was just up the road, despite not really wanting to ride there.  It was the last and final option for us, so we figured what the heck.  They had just finished the week before, their “new” B Track.  It’s short, it was a bit sloppy, and had not been maintained one bit since the week before.  On the upside, Rocky Glen is open rain or shine and so off to riding there it was.

Like I said, Rocky Glen had done basically 0 maintenance on the track they had just finished creating.  The park manager (from all the times I’ve been there) doesn’t usually show up until sometime around noon, at which point, it’s unclear of what he is actually accomplishing.  The park seems to have a lack of ability in keeping riders informed.  It’s a heavy dose of “sign this, give us your money, peace out” sort of deal.  I’ve yet to hear any riders told that certain areas are one way, UTV’s are NOT supposed to be on the track (are they supposed to even be there in the first place?), Utility ATV’s are NOT meant for the main “MX” tracks.  Just a general lack of common sense things being relayed to the riders.

Yes, it’s easy for me as a paying customer to find things like that to complain about.  I’ve no idea what the operation actually runs like, I’ve no idea who actually owns the place, and how they feel things are operating there.  I do know though that as a rider on the tracks, it is annoying dealing with riders who apparently have no clue as to how anything works.  In the rare occasion  that someone is doing maintenance (I’m using this term loosely here) on a given track, people feel the need to continue riding while there is a big machine in the way.  Not only does this make things a royal PITA for the individual working on the track, but the safety issue is just huge.  On top of that, you have riders that feel the need to ride on\off the track at whatever area they see fit.  Now that is not really an issue, until you have riders that feel as though they can cut across a track at any point in time.  I can’t even count the number of times on my hands that I have had riders cut in front of me, or worse being going the opposite direction as I come around a turn, or landing from a jump.  Completely unacceptable actions that unfortunately can be tied to riders having NO clue about anything, and the staff not even remotely saying anything to them.

But hey, this wasn’t meant to be a rant on things I feel are wrong with Rocky Glen (though I feel they need some SERIOUS improvement).  The 5 of us got to put in a good amount of laps, and by noon, the track was getting plenty tacky and allowed for some good riding fun between Jam0 and I.  I got to roost Jameson plenty good, so that was a nice positive end to the day.  My bike felt great, and it has left me for wanting to push myself more and get even faster.  Can’t really complain about that.

-Andrew

ps – I failed at tossing the gopro on my helmet Sunday.  Jam0 has some pictures, so I’ll relay those when I can.

Will I regret this? Maybe.

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I suppose I should know that the answer to the question is more than likely a definite “Yes”. I’ve probably regretted selling every bike I’ve owned. That is how things roll I suppose. I’m feeling though that it’s that time to move on from the beloved YZ144. Make it like a band-aid. One motion: Right off! Now don’t get me wrong, I like owning 2 amazing bikes, but my brain just wants to move on. I’m thinking it’s time.

Listed –

Here’s to you YZ:

Andrew

New Mechanic

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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. 🙂

Crickets a chirping

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My apologies for lack of updates.  I’ll blame it on being out riding, but, unfortunately I don’t actually get to ride every single day.  Yadda yadda yadda.  I have been riding though, unfortunately no racing at this point.  I have been putting time in on the new ride:

I’m sure it’s a piss poor excuse, but it is what it is.  I’m bummed to a certain degree that I haven’t been at a race yet.  My entire goal this year was to win some sort of race series….and well, that’s going out the window quick.  I know I’ve been getting good “practice” in, but still just not the same.  Nonetheless, I’m excited about getting to a race here shortly.

I’ve lost my train of thought, so I’ll wrap things up.  This Saturday AM I plan on (assuming they’re open) riding at Rocky Glen again.  I want to do a couple solid 30+ minute sessions to help my body get in proper shape.  Stay tuned.

Andrew

PS I’m updating my gopro mounting.  Tired of crappy footage.  haha.

Background on bike….an ongoing saga.

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Got back into racing dirt last year after coming from Trials. Went from a 2001 KTM 300exc that was a great “open area” bike. Not so great for our tighter Harescrambles (my opinion). Swapped that for a 2004 YZ250F thinking the 4T power would be great for racing. Raced Indy Endurocross on that and then decided that I wanted to go back to 2T. I wanted something that felt like my trials bike. Something I didn’t think twice about what I was doing in the woods. 125 2T it was. Unfortunately I traded my bike for a POS 2004 YZ125. Would have been fine had the original owner(s) taken care of it, but alas…..they did not. I’ll post up here what I’ve done\will do to make it my competitive machine. I’ll be competing in D17 Harescramble Series B class.

Be forewarned that while I do occasionally take pictures of what I do on the bike….I don’t always, and when doing general maintenance\things like that….I generally don’t take pictures due to not wanting to get grease\crap on my camera. I also find that while out riding I do a horrible job of taking pictures. I now have my own GoPro, so there will be testing\tuning\practice video.

Enough chit-chat; onto things.

The bike I got rid of for the 125:

The 125 after a bit of elbow grease:

Everything seems fine, but right off the bat, I notice some issues.  For one, the forks aren’t in the greatest shape, the steering feels notchy, the tires are shot, and the frame is unusually rusty.  WTF have I gotten myself into?  And why the crap did I trade an essentially pristine YZ250F for this thing? (I’ll spare the 4T vs 2T battle for the track)

Day before my first time out on the bike, I decide to pull the triples and am greeted with the following:

Ok.  No biggy.  Needed to ride that weekend, so went to a local dealer and swapped them out.  Killed some hearing in my left ear while pounding the races out.  Wear hearing protection kids!

Finally got to do a real shakedown of the bike @ KI Tracks in Oregon, IL.  Oddly enough, I don’t have any pictures of me there.  I do have this brief video ( hopefully ya’ll can see the thing) from my buddies cam.  He’s on a KTM 250SX.  I show up around the 2:30 mark. VIDEO.

Things I learned from that ride:  1.Forks were toast.  2. Don’t ride in muddyish conditions with a half-assed rear fender…spend the 25$ on a new one!

Now I know that I’m a bit big for stock suspension @ 190 pounds without my gear, but I know the bike shouldn’t so easily bottom out purely under breaking.  The power of the bike felt quite nice, and the Shinko 520 tires hooked up very well in the tacky soil.  Unfortunately towards the end of the day, I heard what I presumed to be piston slap.  I shook it off as me “hearing things.

Enter suspension rebuild.  Pulled fork tubes and found the following:

Both fork tubes pitting nicely.  From what I gather, it’s rust from beneath the coating coming out, because it wasn’t localized to where rocks would hit the tubes.  I busted out some fine grit sand paper, smoothed them out, and got on with the project:

I got the bike all put back together, and it was time for a shakedown at some local trails.  Again, I don’t have pictures of this, but the bike felt incredibly planted while riding.  I was able to ride all out with complete ease, and was able to take greater hits on the front without bottoming out the fork.  The bike felt like a complete winner (in a good sense) after that shakedown.  Unfortunately, I was for sure hearing piston slap and decided to pull the top-end.

Big surprise, the cylinder was out of round.  More so at the bottom of the bore than the top.  I figured why risk things….Lets get a big bore!

Enter Eric Gorr.  Eric is about an hour and a half North of me, so I pulled the engine and loaded up that and the wife and headed north!

Dropped off the motor and went to do some mall browsing with my Wife and kill some time before picking up the fresh engine from Eric.  I headed back to pick up the engine, to be informed of the bad news.  Mr. Crank was Mr. Toasted!  haha.  Well I wanted to ride in 2 days, so it was time for some over-nighting of parts (from Japan?) and some quick handy rebuild work. (Sorry, not a single pic of the rebuild.  I guess I was focused. haha)  At this point, I also tossed on a 14T front sprocket as suggested on Thumpertalk.  Apparently the 144 has the extra giddyup to take care of the taller sprocket, so I did it to it.

Things were looking great.  Bike got back together in very little time.  Engine rebuild was super smooth.  I felt confident that the bike would kick right over….sure enough it did.  All the better, I was ready to ride for that Saturday.  Originally had planned to go back to KI Tracks when my neighbor walked over while I was loading up the bikes.  Would I like to ride at their track 5 minutes from my house…..Why yes I would!  Off to the track!

The bike needed proper breaking in.  So MotoMan Break-in it was.  If you think he’s wrong…I don’t care.  He know’s what’s up, and that lil 144 had some scoot.  Unfortunately I decided to man-up and hit one of the doubles on the track.  Now don’t get me wrong.  I’ve jumped plenty of jumps that were longer in distance than this one, but the track was more SX style with steeper\taller face that was a bit intimidating.  I decided to not wait for my friend to get on his bike to “pull me” through the jump and instead pegged the bike in 2nd.  Sigh.  I didn’t slip the clutch enough coming out of the turn and part way in the air knew that I was doomed.

Obviously I came up a bit short on the jump.  I didn’t have 100% commitment and just didn’t do things right.  Thankfully I didn’t get hurt from this.  I didn’t fall.  Just came up short, cased, and exploded my rear shock & linkage into quite a few pieces:

Earlier that day, I managed to tweak my knee.  I had messed it up practicing on the YZ250F earlier in the year, but apparently this day just aggravated things and I ended up not being able to walk by the end of the night.  I’ll spare you the racy photos of my bare legs and just share the link to the following MRI\x-Rays of my knee.  Doctor drained plenty of blood & gave me a piece of crap “knee brace”.  Thank goodness for having Insurance!

Fubard Knee

I managed to score a replacement shock\linkage off eBay for a handsomely 40$.  Not a bad gig.  Unfortunately, I was still on the edge of “being able to ride”.  Winter decided to set in, and I figured that to help protect myself even more, I would pull my bike apart, sand blast the frame, powder coat it white, and toss the darn thing back together.  I did this for a couple reasons.  My frame was rusty.  I have a large enough sand blaster to blast my frame.  And I have a friend who can Powder Coat stuff the size of a car who happens to be storing a bike in my garage…..So it cost all of Free99 + my time.

So my frame went from looking like this rust bucket:

To looking like this work de art (disregard the pile of CR below the frame):

And as such the bike went back together ever so nicely:


I will continue on this later, but figured I would give a precursor.  I’ll list out the things I have done, things I’m doing, and attempt to put whatever full specs I can up about my rig.  In the meantime, feel free to check my site for other info: www.AndrewGore.net

Andrew

tbc