Tag: Motocross

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

 

Leaf River Enduro……….

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The morning started with me causing issues on my bike.  I had forgotten that when the bike was last in at the dealer, they neglected to torque the shift lever to an appropriate spec, leaving it a bit jiggly.  No problem I figured and busted out the tools to get it locked in properly.  Bike leaned over, skid plate off, wrenches out.  Spin Spin Spin SNAP!  There went the shifter bolt.  Go figure, it snapped in a spot where it was still holding the shifter onto the shift shaft.  A little bit of pit area wrenching, and the old & mildly stripped shifter were removed; replaced with a modified YZ250 shifter.  Problem solved.

I’ve never done an Enduro, and spent the prior week stressing over having to keep time, navigate myself, and do all those things that make riding even more confusing & difficult.  Much to my surprise, I found that this enduro was run in the national\restart format.  Simpley put, it’s a couple mini harescrambles (test sections), grouped together by un-timed connector routes.  You are required to start each test section at a specific time.  If you’re really fast, you can arrive at the end of these sections ahead of schedule, and get docked points.  Or you can arrive late, and get docked points as well.  The connector routes are good for a couple things.  If you were late on your test section, you can make up time to get yourself back on time for the following test section, or it could be a great time to catch your breath and relax a bit, or use it as a time to have even more fun ripping around on your bike :-D.

So there I was, lined up on row 15 with a group of Kawasaki riders (great guys btw!).  Mildly nervous, but ready for what the day would bring.  Get to the start point, 5 seconds…..Off we roll.  WFO down and across a corn field, finally dipping into some woods.  I do my best to stay on the gas as much as possible, stand, let the bike bounce and float beneath me.  I royally mess up just before a short & steep climb.  I try to start right at the bottom and get myself up the climb, only to not stand up in time and watch my bike launch away from me into the air.  It was quite impressive, just about as impressive that nothing really broke.  After a few wrong turns, and bobbles, I manage to get to the first check-out point, unfortunately 7 minutes late.  I made it though, and roosted my way on over to the next start point.

The day continued on in a similar fashion.  Come lunch time, I was ready to eat.  Luckily, with the time we made, I had about 30-35 minutes to wolf down my sandwich, fuel up the bike, and get myself refocused for the second loop.  Second loop was essentially a better version of the first go around.  The first and second test sections I was still doing pretty well (energy wise), but by the final section, I could feel myself getting tired.  Understandable, as the day totaled almost 4 hours of ride time.

Overall, I was stoked on how I rode.  I knew that I could have ridden better, and pushed harder in quite a few sections.  Hindsight is 20/20, and I feel I should be better next go-around.  I couldn’t have been happier with how the 450 powered through everything.  Sure I could have pushed for some more front grip, but that was my fault for not dropping tire pressure as I should have.  All that being said, I’ve heard (unofficial) that I pulled a 3rd place in the B group.  I definitely can’t complain with that!

Now I must prepare myself for Fox Valley Off-Road GP race this Sunday.

Andrew

Please give my sponsors a visit.  They make these events happen for me!

YZ144 Ramblings (some continuations from ThumperTalk)

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What you’ll see here are some postings I’ve made up on the site ThumperTalk.  You can see the full thread HERE Here is some of the latest:

Well the issue proned YZ has to a degree been maintaining it’s evil ways. I was spending some time bleeding another bikes brakes, so figured I’d re-bleed the YZ rear brake as it was getting spongy the last time I rode it. Power bleed, all clear, no bubbles. Thought I was golden. About 30-45 minutes into my last ride, I got no rear brake  So I sat there in the parking lot, bleeding away. I could see no bubbles, and fresh fluid was pouring out, but alas, no pressure. I noticed that each time I’d add fluid to the “reservoir” that there would be an odd swirl of colors in there, so it dawned on me. Clean that out, and re-fill completely fresh. 2 minutes later and I’m working with a whole new brake. 

I didn’t realize how much I had altered my riding to compensate for a rear brake that had always been a bit on the squishy side. I chocked it up to old lines, and slightly worn components. After having properly bled brake, I really had to work on my braking points, as my rear was locking up much quicker\easier than I had been accustomed to. Couple laps around a track and I was back in action. How sweet it was!

I have been really enjoying my woods suspension, other than for the fact that every time I have ridden the dang thing, it has been on tracks instead of trails, but what can you do. I haven’t really even bothered touching the clickers, as I feel they are so far pretty solid; although I feel I may end up clicking them a bit more stiff in the future.

I am finding that the ATV High bars are….well, too high. It’s not terrible, but really I need to switch to a CR-Hi bend, with 0.5″ cut off each end. That will be the best setup.

I also had the joy of a friend hooking me up with a spare Michelin MS3 110/100-19 rear tire. I know, it’s a bit larger than normally on a 125, but I tell yah what. The larger profile gives that much more grip & also acts as if I am rocking an 18″ rear tire. I’m hooked. I will be switching from the Shinko 520 tires (thought I thought they performed quite well for as long as they did).

That’s about it for now. Was supposed to race a GP with it last Sunday, but the club wussed out because of some light rain in the AM (oddball MX guys ). I’m taking the 450 out for an Enduro this Sunday, and then the following weekend, there is another GP race that the YZ144 will be back at.

Some parting pics from the riding we did since the GP was canceled:
Been “attempting” to scrub a bit on the jumps. They’re so short that I flat land if I gas too much:

Scootin away from my buddy on his ktm:

Enjoying some small air:

Explaining to MR. KTM how to stay up front 

Happy Thursday!

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.