Tag: Woods

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

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

 

Finally a ride on the new scoot

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Finally got a chance to take the new Husqvarna out for a test ride (video uploading shortly).  We had a good 3 mile loop to really push ourselves and our bikes.  There was a great mix of high speed open sections, mixed in with some plenty technical & extremely rough terrain.  Overall I felt really positive about the bike.  The ergonomics fit me really well.  The bike has plenty of power, though the jetting down low in the RPM’s is a little on the rich side.  Minor details, and really the jetting can be solved with me running a bit faster.

I had a lack of confidence in the front end of the bike, though I feel this will be solved with a fresh front tire & possibly some toying with the front forks a bit, get a bit more feeling out of things.  My only real gripe with the bike is the wonky kick start.  The lever is about 3″ further forward than any other bike I’ve ridden & it has a super short sweep.  Extremely annoying if I killed the engine in a rough spot and as I noted while washing my boots, it ripped apart the center of the sole on my Tech 8’s.

All in all, a very positive day riding.  Heck, I even got to test the 85′ XR350R & what a fun bike.  Great 6 speed gear box.  Just the right amount of power, super plush suspension, and my goodness a lazy-boy seat.  Great combo for a fun vintage machine.

-Andrew

The new trusty steed.

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As posted prior, I’ve decided to update my race bike.  I’ve gone simpler, cheaper, and hopefully faster.  Scratch that.  I KNOW I’ll be faster.  I can base that on the new bike being 20+ pounds lighter.  I’m stoked about what is to come in the upcoming weeks here.   First I’ll put the beast up on display here:

 

I’m excited with what I’ll be able to do on this thing.  In the little I’ve tested it so far, it just feels right.  Thursday I will be setting up a new grueling 3 mile test loop with full on practice Sunday.  I’m unfortunately missing a Harescramble to get this practice in, but I’m trying to keep my focus on the upcoming Enduro season (using Harescrambles to keep me in race form).  The weekend won’t be here soon enough.  I’ll have video up soon enough of what I can do on this bike.  I’m ready!

-Andrew