Ride for 24 hours.....at night! Are You Crazy?

How would you like to ride the 24hrs of Glen Helen?

That was the question I was asked about a week before the race, but before the sentence was finished I had already opened my mouth and said “Yes”.

So now I was committed and didn’t even know who I was riding with or what kind of bike we would be riding. It sounded like a good idea at the time! Especially when I get to ride someone else’s bike, use up their tires, spare parts and they have all the equipment/logistics prearranged. Or so it seemed………

I was glad to find out we were going to ride a CRF 450X with Precision Concepts suspension, Yoshimura motor work and exhaust. I have never used any Yoshimura products before but they worked perfectly. I have had the opportunity to use Precision Concepts suspension before and was very impressed with their work on more than one brand of bike. It was every bit as good as I expected and kept us from being pummeled for 24 hrs.

When It got to be the day before the event I found out that 3 of the 6 riders scheduled to ride this 24 hr marathon wouldn’t be able to make it. One was out with an injury from riding the day before, the second one was out due to a son being seriously injured 2 days prior and the third I think was smarter than me and said he couldn’t make it either, I think he found out about the other two. Hmmmm, I wonder if he was scared or just smart. Oh well, I was not going to waste a perfectly good ride!

So when I found out we are down to 50% strength I start to think maybe we should look for some help. We got very lucky and recruited a young man named Connor. He is the son of former world champion speedway rider Bruce Penhall. Bruce called me and said he heard we were in need of help for our team and offered to have his son come ride for us to help out. It turned out to be the answer to the prayer (cussing, bitching, swearing) I had been saying the night before the event.

You see Connor races on teams in Baja Mexico and was looking to get some night practice in for his upcoming night ride in the Baja 1000. Connor was going to get his share of night riding, as we were down to 5 riders and most of us are hovering around the +50 yr old mark.

Connor is 20 yrs old and rides a lot by what I observed during his rides, he is a very fast, strong rider. As an added bonus he is a very nice young man and very polite, which was a pleasant surprise from the average 20 something kids we see today.

I was personally thrilled to have him as a team mate and he lived up to his promise to ride as much as we needed, especially at night.

Riding or racing at night puts a whole new perspective on your skills as a rider.

The funny thing about a 24 hr race is that in the middle of the night people sometimes seem to disappear!  One guy rode a total of 4 laps having to go help out in a couple of reroutes of the track.  Another told us he was not much of a night rider and if we could do a few extra laps at night he would really appreciate it. At around 11pm he got in his van, closed the door and got a good night’s sleep. We banged on the door at around 6am and told him to get up because Connor and I were really starting to get tired. At around midnight everyone disappeared so Connor and I passed the bike back and forth a couple of times, riding about 1 ½ hrs each time. So we made it until 6am and then we got a little help and made it to the finish at 10am. Thanks Connor.

It was a good time even though we had to scramble to fill the roster and had to clean and reinstall the air filter in the middle of the night, but that is another story……

We broke spokes in the rear wheel and had to replace the wheel. I happened to be on the bike when it broke, but I think Connor really broke it and gave it to me that way! Smart kid.

After all a 140 lb kid going fast is more likely to break it than a 200 lb old guy, right? Ok, so I owe the team some spokes.

When it was all said and done it was a fun ride. I would recommend you give it a try if you ever get the chance, it is quite an experience and a much bigger undertaking than most people imagine. Calculating lap times for each rider, amount of gas, having food to keep riders going, putting the lighting system for the bike on and off, sleeping arrangements, extra riding gear (it gets nasty and sweaty), pit lighting to fuel and work on the bike at night. Plus all the spares needed from simple things like shifters and brake levers to extra wheels/tires and tubes. Even if everything works out you will learn things you will do differently or better the next time.

I got to meet some great people and be part of a last minute team that did a good job of making it to the finish while finishing a respectable 2^nd in class.

Thanks to everyone on the team, my wife Cheryl for keeping track of everything and everyone, and a big Thanks to Connor for helping us out and doing such a great job. I never heard him complain even though he had to ride with a bunch of “old guys” that had to take naps!

Start thinking about a 24 hr/night ride. Give it a try and you will have a good time!

#33

Life should be treasured!

THE  CLEBRATION RIDE

Ever wonder when you get up in the morning how much time you have left to enjoy life or just ride your motorcycle?

If you are like me and most other people you probably don’t. I always look forward to the next ride, but seldom think about what if this were my last one.

I had the good fortune to go on a weeklong off road ride with a man named CRAIG that is recovering from cancer. He told me during one of the rides that he didn’t think he would ever get to do this again. He was so thankful for the opportunity to be healthy enough to be out on his dirt bike and enjoying whatever time he is given.

It was a pleasure to watch him ride and a real eye opener on what is important in life when you have gone through something most of us can’t imagine. It kind of makes an old bike, a flat tire or even a rained out ride seem like not such a big deal.

This was Craig’s first ride back since being sick and undergoing months of treatment. There was a small group of us, Craig, Frank, Larry and myself.  We rode in the higher elevations in Nevada, which means really rocky and dry. Slick conditions and sometimes very dusty. As I said, it was a pleasure to watch Craig as he seemed to enjoy every minute whether it was riding, stopping to look, getting stuck, take pictures, explore abandoned mines or rest and eat lunch.

I enjoyed seeing Craig tackle a few slippery, loose, rocky, rutted hills that he didn’t make throughout the day, because he didn’t get mad and start cussing, he just tried a couple of more times. More often than not we all tried a couple of times. Then when he was tired he simply put him bike on the side stand or leaned it on a tree and started walking to the top. It was perfect, he didn’t need to say a word. I got my bike to the top and walked back down the hill to get his bike up to him. It was great to watch him walk up a hill with a big smile on his face while catching his breath. He was having a great time just because he was there! It was an honor to get that bike for a man that had just recovered from his treatments and was out there tackling those kinds of conditions.

We rode in some of the most varying type of terrain you can imagine. On one single day we went from riding in the desert to riding through creeks

with tight trees to riding on what looked like the moon with nothing but barren landscape with only the rocks under your tires. I am not sure I have ever ridden in a place with such a contrast of riding

conditions in such a short span of time. It really was amazing. I really enjoyed this ride and the guys I rode with.

I am calling this the “Celebration Ride” in honor of Craig and his commitment to getting back on his bike and enjoying life. May he have many more rides and as much fun on each and every one!

Enjoy your next ride and don’t take it for granted……….

#33

MX Skills meet the Real Off Road World!

We all know that the military uses Humvee’s and Tanks as part of their arsenal of vehicles. What I never knew was how many different types of vehicles were included that we never hear about.

I recently had the opportunity to observe some of our Special Forces attending a school on proper use and driver training for the side by side vehicle we know as the Kawasaki Teryx. I was allowed to take a few pictures as long as I didn’t show any faces or identifying features, or they said they would come back to hunt me down and kill me!

It was a pleasure to watch some of our troops participate in training. They were truly eager to learn and practice what they were exposed to by the instructors.

I learned from watching and really enjoyed listening to some of the stories that were shared concerning field experiences in countries like Afghanistan and Iraq. I was both amused and appalled at some of the things I learned about what takes place in those countries that we never hear about. I am so thankful that these guys are willing to return and do the things they do in places that I have absolutely no desire to visit in this lifetime! They will never receive enough credit for the situations they participate in on a regular basis.

I know from now on whenever I have the chance I will give them a quick wave, salute or a simple thumbs up to let them know how much I appreciate them and the U.S.A.

Thanks guys and God Bless you,

#33

CRF 450 Sputtering?

2009-2010 Honda CRF 450 cutting out on acceleration or intermittently?

I encountered this problem on my bike and was ready to purchase a new fuel pump at a cost of well over $200. Fortunately I had a sharp parts guy (Thanks Jody) that asked if I had replaced the fuel filter yet. You may need to find a good parts guy that is willing to look it up, but it is available, I bought and installed it.

There is a small fuel filter inside the fuel pump that looks like it would be used to filter coffee grounds. It is very small and has a plastic connector attached to it. When I removed and disassembled my fuel pump, being very careful not to break any tabs I found my filter to be almost black in color. I tried to blow through it and it seemed to be restricted. The new one flowed air with no resistance and was white in color.

The cost of the new filter was around $18, my time and labor and it cured my cutting out during acceleration problem.

Pay attention to how the two wires in the fuel pump are connected in case you disconnect them by accident. This is easy to do but easy to put back as long as you know which order to put them.

Good luck and Happy Wrenching,

#33

Pilot Jet Riding

Recently, I had the opportunity to go trail riding with a guy named Dave up in Idaho. Dave has been riding all over the state of Idaho for over 20 years and is an encyclopedia of trail knowledge. We spent a week riding trails that I have never seen before and would have taken a lifetime to explore. I experienced some of the most incredible trails I have ever been fortunate enough to ride on. The riding was awesome, the views spectacular and the week seemed to fly by before I knew it.

I believe I have now been to Disneyland on a motorcycle!

We rode a wide range of trails from challenging to moderately easy, all of which provided some of the most beautiful views you can imagine. One of the most memorable days on this week long extravaganza included another rider. His name was Cecil and he rode a GAS GAS with a rekluse clutch. Cecil amazed me during our day long adventure simply because he was not as fast on the trail as Dave and I, but never complained or asked anyone to slow down or wait. On this day we covered 91 miles and encountered some difficult sections that were very technical and rocky.

A few places had trails that used just the side of the mountain as a place to put your tire. We encountered several creek crossings from short and shallow to fairly wide and engine cases deep. Cecil fell in one of the deeper creek crossings and submerged his bike. I never heard him cuss, or complain once. He just picked it up, pushed it out of the water and proceeded to remove the air filter to dry it out. We tipped the bike up to make sure there was no water in the exhaust. He put everything back in place and fired the bike up, all the time smiling and talking as if this were another day on the trail.

Oh, I may have forgotten to mention that Cecil is a retired engineer and is 71 years old! This guy is an off road hero! Especially since during our conversations he was discussing his next new bike. So obviously he has no intention of giving it up any time soon.

By the end of the day we had ridden 91 miles of mostly single track, with some dirt road commutes to link trails together. We passed by staging areas on a couple of trailheads that had us encounter hikers, horses, mountain bikers, plus a dad and his son on motorcycles out for a ride to the local fishing hole. We also passed several areas that had natural Hot Springs that had been channeled by local users into pools made of rocks at the edge of some of the creeks. So here are these natural hot tubs on our trail ride that are always open! I think next time I will carry a towel in my backpack and visit one of these stops. Can you remember the last time you soaked in a hot tub during the middle of your off road ride? Me neither, but I will be more prepared next time!

I never thought I could have so much fun riding on the pilot jet!

Get out there and explore,

Or if you have a good local guide take advantage of it!

#33

See more great pictures of our ride in our Gallery



Update on Monday, August 16, 2010 at 11:23PM by mx43

Hold on and enjoy this 4 part video of the Pilot Jet Ride.