Doug's ISDE Adventure!

2019 ISDE Portimao, Portugal Part 1

I decided to make this story in two parts. The first will be sort of a nuts and bolts version for those who want a bottom line story the second will be more about the stories and the people. I was gone for 14 days in that time a lot can happen and did happen.

This was one of those life time experiences. I’ve wanted to go to an ISDE six days event for many, many years. So this year was the year, one of these years I will no longer able to go. This year’s event was in Portugal a country I’ve wanted to visit for some time.

This is one of those events that going to could easily become addictive in wanting to go every year. I’ve been able to experience other events like this and found them to be mesmerizing and addictive. I’ve been to the all three of the events that comprise the Baja series, even participated as a rider in the San Felipe 250 a number of years ago. There’s nothing quite like waiting for your rider in the pits in the middle of the night. Quarter mile long pits with bond fires and sporadic fireworks going off and having trophy trucks, bikes or quads flying through the pits. Or the same kind of story at the 24 hours of Glen Helen, no bond fires or fireworks but the sound of generators in the middle of the night humming providing lights in an eerily quiet scene interrupted only by a rider coming and leaving the pits. 

A lot time and money are needed to commit to participating in or just spectating year after year in one on these kinds of events.

I’ve been able to watch very good even great riders over the years doing their thing and the ISDE is full of very good even great riders. But for me in the end the shear enormity and complexity of the event to a degree over shadowed the riders themselves. It took me about three days into the event before I began to understand what was really going on around me. Most of us have watched highlights and have an idea how things work but when your are there things happen in a hurry and it’s difficult to keep track of what’s going on, or what needs to go on.

I helped man USA’s test seven three times during the week and that gets very, very chaotic. We (The volunteers) will when a USA rider comes into any test section test seven in my case we will meet them before they enter the test and if they want will hand us their fanny pack and or water packs so they won’t have them on when going through a test. At the end of the test and as they leave the test area someone will hand their stuff back to them. One of the volunteers will write down their test times and many times will show them the sheet so they can see their time as well as their teammate’s times. In the case of the Trophy riders they would often tell them what some of the top competitors did in that test. We would do this for all the USA Trophy riders and club team riders. The one thing all the riders had in common when they came into a test section was complete focus, when you looked into the opening in their helmets you could see they were locked in, in a zone barely noticing you or what’s around them, amazing. But most would take a moment to thank you, either on their way into or most times on their way out of a test as well, much appreciated by us volunteers.

The start of a test section is always on the right side and the finish on the left and they are virtually side by side. When a rider presents himself at the start they will move onto a steel grate, there is a 20 second clock that will start they can leave anytime during that 20 seconds and must leave before it hits zero. They will usually wait until the clock is almost zero; especially when it’s dusty, they want as much space as possible between themselves and the rider in front of them. If there is a line of riders that 20 second clock will start right away sometimes before a rider can get set in the gate by then maybe half the time will be gone, so they don’t always get a full 20 seconds and must leave before zero. The end of a test can be wild; riders trying to get every millisecond they can makes for some crazy finishes.

We’ve all heard about only riders can work on their bikes people can hand them tools etc. The exception to this is someone can take the gas cap off and put gas in the bike, the exception to that would be a Yamaha which has as part of the seat a cover that covers the fuel cap, the rider must take that off and put it back on. You aren’t supposed to even touch a rider when he’s on the bike because he’s now part of the bike and you can’t touch the bike, interesting. All though I saw people all week helping riders put their fanny and water packs back on at the end of special tests.

The paddock/pits were enormous with country after country represented from the big rigs like you’d see at national events here in this country down to individuals with the pop ups and working out of the back of a van or in some cases a car pulling a trailer. Within each country you could see many different bike manufactures represented. The vast majority were KTM and Husky’s. Gas Gas, Sherico, TM, Honda, Yamaha comprised most of the other manufactures. I made several trips up and down the pits it was an incredible sight to see. There were venders spread out amongst everyone as well. 

The USA pits were manned by volunteers mostly from Ohio where the AMA is located. One of the men who was considered a new guy was volunteering for his third ISDE along with his wife. A lot of these men and women have been doing this for years, Iike I said it becomes addictive. When a rider entered the paddock area at the end of the day they had 17 minutes to make their way to the pits in the USA’s case they had ride all the way to the end of the pits then back up to the USA pits. Basically the pits were one way. The Trophy team’s riders all had volunteer mechanics that helped guide them when they needed to change some parts like brakes and placed in front of them whatever they needed to help service the bike. They also assisted in handing the tire tools to the riders. Each rider normally changed a front and rear tire once a day and an air filter at least once a day, lubed the chain and if time they would clean the forks with a solvent and wipe them down or perform anything else they needed to do. There was always one person who told them how much time they had left before they needed to re impound their bike. The club riders either had their own mechanic who helped them or one of the pit crew would help. No one was left to fend for themselves. Anson Maloney a local rider and the current District 36 Cross Country champion whom I went to help support in any way I could, one day changed two tires, air filter, lubed the chain and replaced a set of rear brakes all in in ten minutes. No one was any faster than Anson in changing tires; it was a thing of beauty to watch.

There is an enormous amount of work that goes into organizing our effort and the shear logistics of this is daunting. There were enough spare parts to outfit dozens of bikes. To watch these people working when the riders came in was pure magic. It’s like total chaos but organized, it was like a chaotic dance. These people worked their ass off. I ended up with so much respect for what they did. That goes for all the other teams up and down the pits they all worked their assess off.

Most all of you have looked at video highlights of the event so no need to describe them other than to say a couple of the tests were really nasty, rocky, off camber ups and downs and were extremely dusty and you can’t really see that in the videos.

Speaking of dusty, the weather was very weird all week the only consistent thing was the wind, it blew all week. Sometimes it was a light wind sometimes a gusting wind. Sometimes it was misting then would sprinkle then rain then sun. It never really rained enough to keep the dust down not when 500 hundred riders pounded a test twice a day. The exception to that was the test in the mountains the only real grass track, it was a very technical and very fast test and wet even muddy.

The facility where we were, the Algarve Racing and Resort was huge. I stayed in the same hotel as the USA riders and the Swedes the Italians and Norway. We all ate in a big dining room together, buffet style and that gave me a chance to mingle and get acquainted with people. I was lucky enough to meet a lot of different people including some of the Trophy riders men and women and their significant others. I was standing with Taylor Robert’s wife when he bit it in one of the tests. All the people I met including the riders were great. And a big plus, all the food I ate in Portugal was great.

We didn’t know until Friday if they were going to have the final Saturday motocross event. Just before the event started the organizers lost the rights to use a GP class motocross track some forty miles from the main venue. With very short notice the organizers set up what was basically an old fashion flat track motocross track laid out on the infield of the cart track they built one table top that riders could easily over jump. Parts of the track had gravel and could inflect some serious damage if it hit a rider just right. Anson had a rock hit his boot and put a big hurt on his shin. The last part of the track was a slight right hand turn and a fairly long straight away all on pavement. It actually made for very entertaining racing. From my angle I could see a lot of riders drifting the rear tire on the pavement coming through the right hander before the straight away then watch them trying to slow down to make a right hand turn back on to the dirt. It was spectacular to see ISDE bikes after five days of pounding away on special test drifting through that turn with a little tire smoke coming off the rear wheel.

 There were a number of riders who impressed during the week but the three who stood out above the rest were Daniel Sanders, Australia, Joseph Garcia, Spain Dante Olivera, Hollister CA. Dante scrapped all week with Antoine Meo, France in the C2 class of Club riders. Dante is only 19 and a bright star. Antoine is a former Trophy rider for France he’s a five time world champion and I believe has won the ISDE as an individual rider. Meo beat Dante overall for the week by thirty seconds or so.  

Doug 21J

Doug and Fred visit Mark

Hospital Journey

Fred and I went to visit our friend Mark who just had a four way by by-pass and heart valve surgery. He was in the Sutter General Hospital located in downtown Sacramento. It was a big hospital ten years ago but they added another big building next to the old one. They have multiple skyways that go from one building to the other crossing over the street below. It’s now a huge complex with the new building on one side of the street and old building on the other.

From what I understood Mark was in the new building and the first mistake I made was I parked in the underground parking of the old building. We ended up in the P2 section of parking and found our way to a 2^nd floor skyway and crossed over into the new building. Just because you were on one floor in one building didn’t mean we were still on the same floor when you crossed over into the other building. We stopped and asked many people how we could get to the Cardiac ICU unit. After a short period it became very clear all of the employees we talked with knew how to get to their particular section but couldn’t help us get to where we wanted to go. Finally a very nice lady helped us get to a security check point so we could get our visitors badges. When we came directly from the parking lot in the old building and across into the new building we missed the security check point. When we were given our visitors passes we also found out Mark had been moved from the Cardiac ICU into a private room located in the opposite direction we had been trying to get to. Armed with our visitor passes and new directions we made it to Marks room.

We had a very nice visit with Mark and when it came time to leave we asked a couple of nurses at the nurse’s station how we got out of there and back to the parking lot. No one could explain how we could do that. Finally one on the nurse’s took pity on the two of us and led us back to the same security check point we had gotten our passes from. There were four people at that station and none of them could tell us how to get back to that particular parking lot. In fact a couple of them didn’t even know there was a parking lot under the old building. Finally they called a young man who took us back to where we need to go, along the way he was telling us that this was the most complex hospital he’d ever been in, especially after they built the new wing. After what seemed like a long, long walk and with a big sigh of relief Fred and I finally made it back to the truck.

Fred and I have decided we won’t be going back to visit Mark before he gets out. I think it was just too much for a couple of old farts who got lost in a big ass hospital. I also think the two of us had all the walking we needed for one day.

Doug 21J

Doug's 2018 KTM 350EXCF

      When I first bought this bike in February 2019 I didn’t do my usual new project for 21J for a couple of reasons. I wasn’t able to ride at that time and I didn’t think of it as a project. I bought it as a replacement to my 2012 KTM 500EXCF which I had sold. I wanted something a little lighter and smaller motor displacement. The motor makes it feel lighter than it actually is, the ole motor inertia thing.

I was looking for a deal on a 2018, at that time there were no deals on 19’s and I couldn’t find any 18’s around either, I finally found a very good deal on new one at a Scottsdale AZ dealership that made it worth the drive. 

My first rides around my area told me the stock gearing was to low it had no real top end cruising speed so I changed to a 48 tooth rear sprocket. I installed a skid plate a Rekluse and small rear blinkers etc. My first real ride was a 100 mile dual sport ride above Nevada City. I found out a couple of more things, the stock seat was too hard for my ass the stock front tire did not work well on gravel roads the rear brake was to sensitive and it vibrated through the handle bars on long road sections. The 2018’s have solid mounted handle bars. I also felt it was a little under powered because I was used to the 500 power, especially on the roads. Other than those things the bike worked very well.

Before my second dual sport ride I installed a tall Seat Concepts seat and changed the front tire, installed a different set of rear brake pads and a set of Flex Bars I borrowed from a friend. I did a couple of short rides and found I was not comfortable at all with the Seat Concepts seat. It was wide in spots that made it difficult for me to get comfortable when riding especially in single track; it wreaked havoc with my balance. I think it would be would be fine say riding in Baja. So I bought a KTM soft seat.

So after all that on my second dual sport ride a 145 miler I found the Flex Bars took care of the vibration plus absorbed some of the hits, the new front tire worked better and the brake pads weren’t as touchy and the new soft seat worked great. And I changed the rear tire after this ride I found it didn’t work so well after all.

Now the only real problem was the Rekluse, I like engine braking and the set up I was using created very little engine braking. So before the next ride I tried a different set up. The next dual sport ride a 155 mile ride it worked better but still didn’t have enough engine braking for me. On a long downhill say fourth gear just sort of coasting it wanted to free wheel. But other than that this was a great ride I’m now getting use to the 350 motor and beginning to really like it. 

Before the next ride (92 miles) I tried some different spring combos in the Rekluse and it worked great except that in order to satisfy the higher idle required for the 350’s fuel ignition (2000 RPM) the bike creeps while in gear and the clutch is out was significant, brakes will hold it but it’s a pain, so I’m still working on that.  

I’m still playing with the clickers but the stock suspension works pretty well for me. I drilled the out the end cap on the muffler to let it breathy a little better and have taken out the reed cage in the air box for better air flow. It does create a little more power and it’s still quiet. Actually I’m not sure removing the reed cage makes it run better off idle, so I’m still playing with that. I’m not planning on doing anything else to the engine, the bike has really all the power I need for the type of riding I’m doing. Actually I’ve been riding this bike more on the single track trails lately than my 300 so it works well for that kind of riding. No it’s not better than my 300.

I have just under 1000 miles on the bike now and everything is pretty much dialed in don’t feel like I need to do much of anything else except continue to enjoy riding it.  

So in the end it did turn into a bit of a project bike. This is a great all round bike and if I only had one bike to do everything I do, this would be the one. Yes it is heavier than a KTM 350SXF or 350XCF it doesn’t make as much power either, but it handles well and only feels real heavy when you need to pick it up.

Doug 21J

PS  I’ve taken the he reed cage in and out several times, but I’m still not sure if it’s that much better with it out. I changed the TPS setting from a stock .54 to .68 which fools the ECU and richens the fuel mixture; this also helps eliminate pop lean backfiring. The last thing I did was remove the solid (Domed shaped) end on the end of the spark arrestor screen on the stock muffler and replaced it with the end of a Dr. D spark arrestor screen. This increased the motors ability to rev out more freely, but it did increase the exhaust noise.

I’ve put my Wolfman saddle bags on the bike now and have filled them with tire changing tools, a tube and a tire pump. I’ve also put a tool bag, spare nuts and bolts etc in the other side.

I just installed a heat shield on the head pipe; unfortunately after riding with new pants I burned several holes on the inside on the leg.

Now I’m just waiting for the next ride. 

Doug's Bucket List Trip!

In little over a week more than five hundred riders from twenty-six nations will compete in the 2019 FIM International Six Days of Enduro (ISDE) to be held in Portimao, Portugal from 11-16 November and 21J will be there. Watching not riding!

New Bike Time!!!

2020 Husky TE300TPi Part 2

So I forgot to mention in my first article that I had installed the Rekluse and Air Cells that were on my KTM 250XCW. Although the 300 motor chugs down to the last stroke I’ve gotten lazier with the clutch in my advanced years. The Air Cells always help the initial few inches in the stroke especially in the slow tight stuff with rocks and roots.

The one of the latest additions was a left hand operated rear brake. I’ve had a cobbled together unit I’ve been transferring from KTM to KTM over the years, but this unit won’t work with a Magura master cylinder so I had to look for another solution. Rekluse is in the process of changing the unit they’ve been selling for years so it’s not available right now.

I ended up with a fairly new on the market product called the OX-Hydra Brake. OX has made a cable operated unit for some time, but this is an entirely new approach. The unit starts at the handle bars with a Hayes Bicycle hydraulic master cylinder, a line that runs down to the rear brake master cylinder area and on the end of the line is a little slave cylinder that replaces the heim joint at the bottom of the master cylinder. It’s a completely separate self contained unit pre bled so all you do is install it which makes it completely separate from the rear master cylinder. You can adjust the pull needed near the lever on the bars. From what I’ve heard it’s at least a hundred dollars cheaper than the soon to be released Rekluse. And I can tell you it works flawlessly you can adjust the pull for the type of terrain your riding. I’m sold on this thing.

So far the Flex Bars I installed to help with the vibration has taken care of that problem plus I’ve come to really appreciate the feeling the Flex Bars provide.

Since I had borrowed the Flex Bars I decided to buy a set, I bought the Enduro version which is 31 inches wide and with a 12 degree sweep and set up for my top mount steering damper. I set them up for soft compression and rebound, they worked great.

I also installed a Tusk fan kit, the price was right and they say the TPi bikes run hotter, so I decided to be pro active about this, don’t think I’ve needed it so far though. Well I was surprised during my Chalk Bluff ride on a moderate heat wise day the fan came on a lot and stayed on for a while. It’s set to come on at 190 degrees which is where most if not all the fans are set to come on. Based on it staying on and for other reasons I’m going to buy a better battery, don’t want the battery running down and having to adjust the Rekluse so I can bump start it.

During our ride at Chalk Bluff for those who don’t know it has very tight trails lots of switch backs, not side of the hill switch backs. This time of the year finding traction is tough, a lot of riders refer to this as like riding in dry mud. At the end of our ride my riding buddy tells me he was having trouble finding traction and I realized it was a non factor for me. The 300’s torque coupled with the Rekluse allowed me to ride most of the time in third gear so spinning the rear tire wasn’t a problem.

I’ve got 9 hrs on the bike now and have ridden it just about everywhere I typically ride, including a return to the scene of my racing accident Prairie City’s Hang Town track. I was very timid for most of the time I spent there, I did become more comfortable on the 300 but it in its self is different than riding my FC450 on a MX track. The AT-81 tires work ok, I noticed the wear on the rear is certainly greater than the same tire that initially came on my 250XCW, power difference no doubt.

I’m going to put more time on it and will report back later.

Doug 21J