21J Deep Thoughts

Sometimes in order for me to truly understand what I’m thinking or feeling I need to verbalize it or write it down. I wrote this for me, but my hope would be in reading this you might find something that resonates with you. If you did nothing could make me happier. 

I’ve always believed throughout my life I’m lucky and unlucky at the same time. During my life time I’ve had things happen to me and I could say that was unlucky but, at the same time I could also always say yes that was unlucky but it could have been so much worse.

Most of my life I considered a lot of the good things that happened to me as being lucky. As I’ve gotten older I no longer think some of those good things were just being lucky. I use to always say things like I’m lucky, things like I’ve been pretty healthy my whole life. I’ve been lucky. I’ve been able to race and ride dirt bikes for all these years.

Well yes, I have been lucky in that way, but I no longer believe it’s been just luck. Somewhere during these past years I started realizing, this isn’t just luck. I’ve never been religious, never really been exposed to organized religion. If someone asked about my views or beliefs regarding religion I would usually say something like I consider myself to be a spiritual person and not much more. Interesting though for many years, say after a day of trail riding on my way home, I would sort of look up and out of my windshield and say thank you, thank you for allowing me to do this again even if I had tweaked myself a little that day.  I also started saying this was the best ride ever (Thanks Eric), especially if someone asked how my ride was, because it could actually have been my last ride.

My views on spirituality have changed and continue to evolve. One of those changes was recognizing I am blessed. I can’t say I feel them around me as some people do, but I do believe there are sprits (Some people call them angels and spirit guides) who have looked out for me all my life and there are forces at play in my life if I listen to will help me along the way.

I spent nearly fifteen years as a Hospice volunteer, I found it to be very rewarding and my views on death and dying have changed. If you know you have made a difference at the end of someone’s life and if you’re lucky (That word again) they made a difference in yours and if you are willing to let that happen, it can be one of the finer moments in your life. And, at that moment, you will know what it means to be a human being operating at your very best. There are unlimited things we can do to feel we have given ourselves to something greater expecting nothing in return other than the inner feeling of just being a human being in the best possible way.  

But, I am a human being and I don’t always do the right thing for the right reasons. I’ve had many times in my life when it didn’t go my way perhaps at some else’s expense or at my own. I’ve had times when l felt like I’ve had more failures than successes, but I’ve learned when I’m am truly being the best possible human being I can be, I know I’m being successful. 

I spent most of my life thinking of myself as primarily a physical person. That’s who I was. I put no value on myself as being anything else. Certainly not as an intellectual person, I didn’t begin to think of myself in that way until later in my life, thankfully I did.  At about the same time I began to realize someday I will begin to lose this physicality, then what? Fortunately I was also discovering I had other things to offer and as time has marched on and my physicality has begun to diminish those other attributes I discovered began to supplement the physical me.

I had two years of dealing with neck issues that sort of started preparing me for the day I could no longer ride. Intellectually I knew that day was coming for years, but not today, right. Well when it finally happened I was still hoping for a fix, still am to a degree, but my sights are a lot more realistic now.

I’ve sold most of my bikes and surprisingly when I sold the dirt bike I had bought, but never got the chance to ride it was a relief and in many ways brought closure to that part of my life.

Again I’ve been blessed. I’m now over eighty and complaining that I have just recently lost my ability to do what I did for nearly fifty years. I’m also blessed in that I’m still able to form complete sentences and like many others do struggle with CRS but as long as I can continue writing things like this I’m doing alright.

Now I find myself at another crossroads the one extreme physical and mental activity (motorcycle racing) I had done for nearly fifty years is suddenly gone. I have had the time and been able to develop my other skills and now my other skills are taking the place of all that physicality. One of the things that has been very important to me all my life is daydreaming. I’ve done it my whole life.  I’m very good at it and practice doing it all the time. When day dreaming I can do anything, be anything, be anyone, go anywhere, I can have good endings or bad ones, I can be a good guy or a bad guy and I have done all those things. If I’m someplace and I feel comfortable and I am left alone I can close my eyes and daydream. Even if I’m someplace where I’m uncomfortable if I’m alone with my thoughts I can close my eyes and daydream. I can take myself anywhere and be anyone. Still those physical abilities are diminishing and for someone who has relied on, depended on those abilities it is freighting.

But I am adapting and I am better equipped to handle the inevitable changes coming in my life. 

Doug - 21J

NCWR Giving Back!

Nevada City CA

The second annual NCWR (Nevada County Woods Riders) Awards Banquet / Meeting was held in Nevada City, CA on February 1^st this year. And this wasn’t just another motorcycle club meeting.

Besides enjoying the trails and back roads of Nevada, Placer and El Dorado Counties and the surrounding Sierra mountain forests and the vast Nevada deserts, the NCWR is very involved in promoting responsible trail use, advocates off-road vehicle OHV access rights and fosters trail improvement programs with the Tahoe National Forest Service. They are a charter member of the AMA (American Motorcycle Association) and District 36 (The AMA’s regional motorcycle competition arm) 

The club works very closely with the National Forest Service in that the club helps maintain existing trails by clearing overgrowth and fallen trees, they help in laying out and the clearing of new trails. (That’s right new trails) They also work with the Equestrian clubs in helping clear fallen trees on the trails that run through the existing OHV trails in Nevada County. By helping the Equestrians we also help the bicycle riders who also use the Equestrian trails. Yes it’s a very delicate balance and can be very challenging but it’s worth the effort. The club also works very closely with the Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship which is a Non Profit Organization that builds and maintains hundreds of miles of trails in the Sierra’s. They are also working on a project called Connected Communities (through trails) There are a lot of small communities in the Sierra’s that suffered greatly when logging in those communities all but disappeared. This project will connect fifteen of these communities by creating multi use single track trails to and through each of them, when this project is complete it will add an additional six hundred miles of trails in the Sierra’s. And this project is not a dream it is in fact very much underway.

The club easily donates 1000 plus hours per year to the Forest Service and many additional hours to the Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship. The special part of the clubs volunteer work is The Forest Service and the Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship receive funds from the Government based on an hourly rate for the volunteer hours, a huge win for everyone.

A brief history of the club, back in the late seventies there were a lot of trail riders from Nevada and surrounding Counties who also rode Dist 36 Enduro’s, one of those riders Pete wanted to put a club affiliation name on the entry form, so He started putting down Western Nevada County Dirt Riders (WNCDR) eventually others started doing the same until one of the riders Doug thought the name was too long and they changed it Nevada County Woods Riders (NCWR) Doug also had some T shirts made with the new Nevada County map as a logo and the new name and a club was born. Eventually the club became more organized and at first the club was basically an Enduro riders only club, but as the years went on  and more riders joined it became more like it is today, primarily focused on trail riding and maintenance but Dual Sport and Adventure bike rides are also part of what the club does.

As the club has become better known for what it does the membership has also grown and today has over two hundred fifty members. It’s very gratifying to know the vast majority of the members are members because they want to give back, help and be part of something where what they do matters, is very rewarding and positive.

The club has been drawing increased attention from other clubs and organizations from a regional to the national level, because of its success in working hand in hand with the US Forest Service and other local groups and organizations that have a shared interest in what happens in the forest. There are few if any other clubs who have this kind of success and commitment and other clubs and organizations want to know how the club does it, well one thing is certain it has taken years of hard work, flexibility and continued commitment is a key.

This meeting drew some 200 members and family plus key note speakers from the Deputy Director of the CA state OHV (CA State off Highway Program) who brought us up to date on what’s going on in the OHV world. They also announced a new program whereby they are looking for input on opportunities to expand current OHV locations or where there might be new opportunities to create new OHV sites.  The US Forest Service brought us up to date on current and future projects in the Tahoe National Forest.  And a long time advocate for the rights to off highway recreation also spoke to us about the progress this club has made and continues to make and what a difference they have made and has become and inspiration for other clubs to follow. The director of the Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship spoke to us about the continued commitment to maintaining a vast network of single track trails and their current and future plans of expanding the trails. There were regional as well as national representatives from a number of manufactures who have supported the club for years and several others who have expressed an interest in supporting the club in its efforts.

Awards were given out to members for reaching twenty plus and forty plus hours of volunteer service for 2022. Special Service Award and Volunteer of the Year awards were presented to two of the NCWR club members by the AMA (American Motorcyclists Association) along with a few surprise awards and gifts. And one of the big surprises of the evening was the NCWR (Nevada County Woods Riders) a nonprofit club presented to the Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship also a nonprofit org. a check for $5000 to help in their continued efforts to create trail systems in the Sierra’s.

All in all it was a great evening and it’s amazing what can happen when you bring together a large group of diverse but like minded people who share in a common goal. 

Doug 21J

21J's 2nd Hangtown Adventure

From a different prospective part 2

 

At last year’s HangTown National I was an “Event Security” volunteer assigned to the Husqvarna Factory pits, my choice. I was looking forward to seeing Zac Osborne who was at the time the defending 450 outdoor champion and Dean Wilson with whom I wanted to talk about grandpa Earl. They also had some fast young 250 riders. Well, that didn’t work out so well Osborne retired, Wilson was hurt and the only healthy 250 rider was RJ Hampshire.

Well, I had my choice again this year and I chose the Husky pits and again it didn’t work out so well. I still wanted to talk with Dean Wilson about Grandpa Earl but he poked a huge hole in his butt and was out again. I was also looking forward to meeting Malcolm Stewart; I’m a fan of his. Was never a fan of his brother though? Well he’s out with an injured knee. At least this year there was a full complement of 250 riders. And RJ Hampshire is one of my favorite 250 riders, he’s tough, he never gives up and he’s fast enough to compete, but he falls down a lot. There was also Jalek Swool and Stilez Robertson. Swool was banged up from the first round at Fox Raceway. The other reason I chose Husky again was the people most of the same mechanics were there as last year as well as other personnel. And I like the way they work, if something needs to be done they just do it. And their pit area is at least as clean as any other factory team. Although Honda’s pits are pretty dam clean.

I may have mentioned Paul last year he’s the one who politely told me to get my parked Kawasaki motorcycle out of their pits, duh on my part. He turned out to be a really nice person. He was there again this year. I don’t know what his last name is but I know he was in the past a team manager. But he enjoys his current roll which is a team hauler driver and the resident chef. I call him a chef because man oh man can he cook. It’s as good as any food I’ve had anywhere. I felt a little more comfortable this year and actually begged for a little food.

I did things a little differently this year. After the pits were closed to the public without the proper creds, I walked around the pits and checked out all the other teams. I went to the starting line with the riders and mechanics and after the gate drop went with the mechanics to the mechanics area where I watched the races. With my wrist ban color I could go anywhere that was cool. After each moto I’d go back to the pits and do it all over again there was only one 450 rider on the team Shane McElrath who was filling in for Dean Wilson.

I need to say something about the team riders. RJ Hampshire and his wife both actually remembered me from last year as did some of the mechanics and other personnel that was very cool. Shane was very friendly and easy to talk with. Jalek Swool was also easy to talk with, his longtime girlfriend came over and introduced herself, she had a great personality, I told Jalek she was a keeper and he agreed. I did not talk with Stilez Robertson he pretty much kept to himself with what looked like his folks, but I think was probably a nice young man. (Turns out he has signed with Star Yamaha for 2023)

As I did last year I really enjoy watching the mechanics working, repeating over and over after each practice and moto. Cleaning the bikes, changing out certain of parts on the bikes, doing whatever needed to be done so they always looked brand new the next time they went to the line. The mechanic for Stilez Robertson was chasing an issue with the engine after both practices and finally got it fixed just before the first moto. Electronic issue can be the worst, after the first practice he checked certain things after the second practice he changed out the wiring harness and finally at the last minute changed the ECU and solved the problem literally five minutes before they had to line up, a little stressful to say the least. 

The weather was about as good as it gets, it was overcast all day so the temp was mild, and it  sprinkled a little bit. The racing was from my perspective anyway very good.

I had told RJ in the morning I thought he was one of the few who could give the Lawrence brothers a battle. In the first moto he was hanging right in there but went off the course and down the side of a steep hill. He  ran into Austin Forkner’s mechanic who hurt his leg. RJ got back up fairly early in the moto and finished sixteenth. By the time I got back to the pits he had left for a checkup at the hospital. His wife was gathering up their stuff I assume go to the hospital. Her demeanor indicated to me he wasn’t too bad. But I as well as she found out later a stick had broken off and punctured and collapsed a lung and had broken some ribs. They operated on him later that night for something and he was expected to stay in the hospital for a couple of days. I’ve always admired RJ because he was tough and never ever gives up, but man oh man this goes way beyond that. He is my hero.

Before the first 450 moto Alex Martin was sitting on his bike in the start gate with his helmet off, I went up to him and said, “When I first saw you this morning sitting in your pits you didn’t disappoint me you, were eating” He looked at me sort of weird I could tell he didn’t get it, but for those who watch his vlog. “Troll Train” he’s always eating. The look on his face told me he doesn’t realize he’s always eating on his volg.

There were a few other riders who impressed me that day, but for me the one who stood out the most was Chase Sexton. Sure he was caught and passed by two of the best 450 riders today, but they didn’t leave him, he no doubt studied their lines and came back to finish right behind them. He is so smooth it was interesting to watch him and Roczen who is also very smooth out front. Then in the first moto along comes Anderson who is not smooth but also fun to watch catch and pass them both. I watched an interview with Tomac and he said he was very surprised Sexton stayed with him in the second moto, says a lot about Sexton.

Back to the first 250 Jalek Swool hung in there with a sore shoulder and finished very well in the first race. Unfortunately, in the second moto he fell on his injured right shoulder and couldn’t finish. I heard them say he thought he had separated it and it had pooped back in, I wouldn’t expect to see him or RJ next weekend.

Shane had an ok weekend I could tell he wasn’t happy with his performance. I had asked him earlier if he was riding the 2021 KTM’s at Rocky Mountain or 2022’s He was on 2021’s and said the 2022’s were much, much better but he was still trying to adapt to the 2022. I think he’s a much better rider than he’s given credit to be, I hope he figures it out and can put in some good results a little later. I think he deserves it.

Stilez Robertson had a very quiet day and ended up I believe 7^th in the 250 class.

While I was standing next to the rails in the mechanics area literally feet away from the riders as they went by towards the finish line the speed they were carrying was impressive and downright scary.

I had a great time, but this old man was totally wiped and slept off and on all day Sunday.

Don’t know if I will have the opportunity to do it again time will tell.

Doug 21J

Too much time!

All of February and most of March I was dealing with long term COVID even spent a week in the COVID ward, which means total isolation. On top of that a couple of those days my TV didn’t work, well it worked but didn’t have sound. When you’re sick like that you try and find things to think about. Your topics can be somewhat limited based on how you feel. You may already know where I’m going after all this web site is about motorcycles.

First of all I’ve been totally happy with my current collection of motorcycles haven’t bought anything since about this time last year. I bought a Husky FE250S last year which is a 250cc dual sport bike to primarily use as a trail bike, problem was by the time I ended up with all the goodies on it, it felt too heavy, in my mind anyway.  Besides that I found I really enjoyed riding it as a Dual Sport bike. I enjoyed riding it more than the FE350 Dual sport. I don’t understand why the 250 dual sports didn’t sell, it actually has all the power I need. But they didn’t sell and KTM and Husky stopped bringing them in after 2019. Horse power is king I guess. Now I wouldn’t feel real comfortable riding in the sand in the desert, power IS king there.

Some of you know that I have a 2021 Husky TE300i which is all tricked out and only has 31 hrs on it and I don’t ride it. And I don’t have a really good reason except I just don’t ride it.

My first thought was I’ll take my 2020 Yamaha YZ250F t hat I bought for MX practice which I haven’t done much of and use it for trail riding. I had ridden it on the more open trails in Foresthill and it worked great. But there are a couple of things that bug me about the Yamaha, they don’t have much lock to lock steering and on tight trails or switch backs that bothers me a lot. I’m old and my balance isn’t as good as it once was. I’ll also have to soften up the suspension for trail riding.

So at the end of March when I started feeling better and had some energy I started working on transforming the Yamaha. I soften the suspension and took an 1/8” off each side of the bottom triple clamp steering stops, that made a big difference in the lock to lock and I still have a little more room to spare if needed. But doing slow almost lock to lock turns around my house I still didn’t feel quite comfortable. So one day I rode the Yamaha and my Husky FE250 back to back and immediately felt more comfortable on the FE250.

So now that I had convinced myself the Yamaha wouldn’t do I started thinking about what to get. Husky does not bring into CA at least a FE250E, which would be like the KTM 250XCF. If I wanted the Husky it would have to be the MX version FC250. Which would be ok, but I kind of wanted a six speed a bigger tank and softer suspension. I thought about a Sherco 250SEF or a Gas Gas EX250F. Trying to find a 2021 Red Sticker bike turned out to be a problem I spent weeks looking on FaceBook marketplace and Craigslist. The other problem here in CA is in 2022 they eliminated the Red Sticker program on all new 2022 dirt bikes which means they can be ridden on private property only, or just take a chance you won’t get caught riding on the trails. Most of last year new/used Red Sticker bikes were being sold at premium prices. They are still very high and the demand is not there now. I found a Gas Gas that was priced very well in Reno.

The owner told me he was a good skier and his skiing buddies also rode dirt bikes, so he buys a brand new 2021 Gas Gas EX250F, which is like the KTM250XCF. He was a good skier but a brand new dirt bike rider. He says it didn’t take long before his buddies quit calling him to go riding. The Gas Gas bikes don’t come with an hour meter but he thought he had maybe thirty hours on it. He ended up riding up and down Toll road which in a few miles from his house turned into dirt and you could ride it all the way to Carson City. He would ride it to the top of the hill before you rode down into Carson City and back. The tires were so over inflated only the center knobs had any wear the rest still had the tits of them. When I took it apart I could tell he had never been ridden it in any real mud. I’d say the fenders and the skid plate was about it. I don’t believe the bike had anywhere near thirty hours.

Since it was a dirt bike it wasn’t a hassle getting it registered in CA with a Red Sticker.

So what goodies did I decide to put on it? A Rekluse of course, but only had two choices for the bike which would be the same choices for a KTM or Husky 250cc four stroke and like everything else the price was way up there at $1200, gulp. A graphics kit, Fast Way pegs, a mapping switch, Hour meter, XC gear rubber mounted bar clamps, a Trail Tech speed odometer etc, OX 2.0 Hydro Left Hand rear brake. Some of this stuff I already had, like the tubliss rear tire setup I had on my TE300i which also gave me one black rim. I ordered a black rim with a blue center hub which I put on my FE250 which already had a blue hub on the rear. I then put the black wheel on the front of the Gas Gas, etc.

The EX250F comes with air forks and is much softer than the MX bikes. I also installed a set of my tried and true Air Cells on both forks. I haven’t been able to ride it in the dirt yet so I don’t know how well the suspension will work. So for now it just sits there waiting. There are differences between the KTM, Husky and Gas Gas, especially the Gas Gas they use parts from both KTM and Husky, so I’m anxious to ride it. I’m still having a nerve problem in my Occipital lob area that won’t allow me to wear a helmet; hopefully this will be resolved soon. Until then this was just a project to keep me busy.

When I can finally ride I’ll let you what I think.

Doug 21J

2022 Prairie City Grand Prix

Went to the first Dist 36 Cross Country race of 2022 at Prairie City, the weather was good the course 8.5 miles, was a little dusty in places but a far cry from totally dusty or a total mudder in recent years.

As you can see by the picture the first bike race had some 250 mostly C riders plus about the same number family and friends all hanging out on the starting line plus four riders in the 70 + Pioneer Class. I took a couple of pictures of two perennial riders; Pete is 75+ and Fred who has to be 82+ whom I used to ride against all the time. They are still doing it and I’m taking pictures. In the row right in front of the Pioneer class was the Jr. Sportsman class which had uh; let’s see if I can get this straight my wife’s niece’s 17 year old son Alex, whom I also took a picture of.  

I forgot to take a picture of Larry whose job today was to start each row with shot gun blast. Actually I didn’t forget, Larry scared me, he looked a little scary standing their cradling that shot gun. As I walked up I was trying to remember if Larry and I were on good terms.

As has been the case the past quite a few years now the C 200 riders are usually at least the first three or four overall, those kids are fast. I’d say they all ride KTM or Husky 150’s.

The second bike race was the AA, A and B race which had I believe had seventeen rows, two more than the first race, seems to me in years past this race always had between 500 and 700 hundred riders so this year’s event was 602.

On one hand I’d have to say I’ve have been disappointed with the number of AA riders at the races that I have attended the past few years. There are still a few of the younger AA riders who are now getting their chance at the front. For me gone are the grizzled guys I watched come up through the ranks and dominate the AA class for quite a few years? They’ve all moved on, most probably married now some with kids now. I would expect at some point in the future they will show up again as Vet’s or Senior riders. But when you look at the number of riders that are coming up, all’s well, it won’t be long and the AA row will be full of riders whom I also won’t their names.

It was a good day; it’s always good to see some old friends, if some of my aches and pains disappeared I just might get inspired again and line up in the Pioneer class, maybe.

Doug 21J

PS Turns out I can’t even take pictures, of the dozen pictures I took only two came out and they are of the AA, A and B riders lining up. With today’s technology taking pictures should be pretty fool proof, apparently not so. But at least you can see it was a nice day.