REGISTRATION IS OPEN FOR THE 2011 MTA WORLD VET CHAMPIONSHIP
Online registration for the 2011 MTA World Vet is open (and online sign-ups will get $5 off normal registration fees). Glen Helen Raceway is also pleased to announce that motocross icon David Bailey will be this year’s recipient of the "Edison Dye Lifetime Achievement Award."
As one of the most popular races in the world for racers 25-year-old and up, the MTA World Vet Championships attract riders from a variety of backgrounds and skill levels. Last year featured great racing from the likes of Doug Dubach, Ryan Hughes, Gordon Ward, and legend Ron Lechien. This year’s event is shaping up to be just as good, with riders from all corners of the world – including Ecuador, Spain, England, Germany, Canada, Sweden, New Zealand and Australia – already registered.
The 2011 MTA World Vet Championships will take place on the weekend of November 5-6, 2011. Throughout the course of the weekend, numerous fun fan activities will take place, and free camping spaces will be available. Entry information for the 2011 MTA World Vet Championships can be found at www.glenhelen.com.
August 17, 2011 -The Michelin Man recently stopped by the WPS headquarters in Boise, Idaho to help the WPS team market, sell, and ship Michelin motorcycle tires. The Michelin Man even found time to help at the FLY Racing Track Day held on the WPS motocross track. Thanks, Michelin Man!
For more information about WPS and its expanding list of brands and product offerings, or to become a WPS dealer, visit wps-inc.com.
About WPS
Based in Boise, Idaho, Western Power Sports (WPS) was incorporated in 1960 and distributes over 75,000 products, including offroad and street motorcycle, ATV, snowmobile, and watercraft parts and accessories to thousands of dealers nationwide. WPS is currently the fastest growing nation-wide delivery system of powersports industry products and delivers these products through its regional warehouse network, with locations in Boise, Idaho; Fresno, California; Memphis, Tennessee; Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, and Ashley, Indiana. WPS strives to bring powersports dealers the best service, product, and delivery.
Eric (aka #33) spent a week riding spectular terrain in the mountians of Idaho. He had a great time riding with friends on some very challenging trails. These video clips from our new Liquid Image Sport Camera are just a preview of Eric's adventure.
Many moto guys use road cycling for a training tool. It is a great way to get fit without impact on our bodies. I've been road cycling for years and recently had a experience worth sharing. I believe in letting people know when I come across a company that takes exceptional care of it's customers. I went looking for a new saddle for my Kestrel bicycle. All of the dealers I visited told me I could not get one. They said I would have to buy one of their brands. I found that odd so I called the company. WOW! They were friendly, they listened, they explained they did not sell accessories but the woman said she would see what she could find and would call me back. Yeah we've all heard that before. Well she did call me within the hour and she solved my problem. I have a new Kestrel saddle on my bike today. Professional, friendly, they listened, they took action........you can't really ask for more.
The market is full of bike companies selling some very good bikes. If you in the market for a new training tool or just someting to ride be sure to look at Kestrel. They make a great bike and they not only understand customer service they practice it.
These days it seems everywhere you look guys have a video camera stuck on top of their helmet. I often wonder how those cameras survive the inevitable crashes we all take. Eric is just back from his annual Pilot Jet ride where he used our new toy. The early video is excellent, we will have some up soon. The quality of the pictures is great as well as the sound. He never had to worry about clipping the camera on a low hanging branch. This is a very slick video camera. Click on the link to check it out and watch for the new videos.
Many of you have asked about where to get a set of these goggles. Just click on the link and follow the purchase process. The Impact Series sells for $250 but if you use the discount code listed here you get a 20% discount until the end of August.
BOISE, ID – August 12, 2011 – FLY Racing is pleased to announce it will support Bobby Bonds for the remainder of the 2011 offroad racing season. Bonds, the 2001 AMA Pro "Rookie of the Year" and 2008 WORCS Pro Champion, will debut his 2012 FLY Racing gear and helmets at Round #7 of the 2011 WORCS (World Off-Road Championship Series) next weekend, August 19-21st, in Washougal, Washington.
"I'm proud to be back with FLY Racing,” states Bonds. “VURB Moto/Off-Road Journal's Andrew Campo, and my agent Jason Reed, put this together in a very short time and it was a simple transition. I wore FLY early in my off-road career and it's good to be back now. They carry an awesome line of gear and helmets and I can't thank them enough for stepping in mid-season and helping out my program. I can't wait to represent them and hopefully continue with FLY for years to come."
View FLY Racing’s complete 2012 collection now by visiting FlyRacing.com.
Our erstwhile blogger #33 is currently running around the mountains of Idaho looking for impossibly steep hills to conquer. Fortunately his is using our new toy the Liquid Image Impact Series goggles with the built in video camera. What Eric sees the camera sees, this should be fun. Stay tuned.
It’s amazing, I wrote an article for a friend of mine who published a dirt bike magazine back in the seventies, the article was on the 3rd annual Fools Gold Enduro and in it I said I hoped to be able to ride the 33rd annual event. They were annual events up until a few years ago, but it’s become a lot more difficult to put these events on as time goes by.
This year’s version of the enduro took three tries to finally get it started. The first attempt was canceled by rain the second by way of a freak snow storm; actually it was more than rain and snow that delayed the event. Last year’s event was canceled period because of huge user fee hikes by the Federal Government. (Encouraged and supported by those groups who prefer we not be allowed to step foot in their forest) This year’s event was headed down the same path do to the numerous studies and reports put up as road blocks that were not going to get done in time. And even when it’s a go there’s always the day before the event look see for the Red Legged Frog or Spotted Owl who if found to be near the course or possibly in harm’s way could be cause for cancelling the event.
The club (CERA) who have put this event on for all these years found a way at the eleventh hour to get around all this. It was a FREE ride; if you wanted you could donate to the club. (Hopefully everyone who road did so) This did away with a few of the unfinished reports and allowed the event to go on, for this year anyway. I’m sure they will find a way to close that loop hole by next year.
Originally the event was full (350 riders) and the club had actually started a waiting list, but by the time the twice cancelled event was finally run a lot of riders no doubt had other plans for that weekend. With the amount of riders reduced it made for a lot less dust for some. For me though I ate dust all day, I don’t ride enough enduros anymore to invest in a fancy computer to help time keep. (That’s why I like the National Enduro format, no time keeping) So I decided to ride on the same minute with a few of my fellow class competitors. One didn’t show up, another was behind us when he ran into problems on the trail (He flew off the side of the trail, it took him about a half hour to get back up) the guy I followed has been the champion of my class for the past "umpteen" years so I ate his dust and followed him. Actually he (The class champion) launched his bike off the side of the trail not long after the start and we, the three us hauled it back up. Had this been a Cross Country event and since he is one of my competitors I would have taken great joy in his plight and with a smile on my face simply roosted him and rode off, but not this day I needed his time keeping skills.
It’s frustrating when your late for a check and lose a point (For being a minute late) especially when you are within sight of him (The class champion) we go into a check I lose a point and he loses none because he was just far enough ahead of me that by the time I got into the check the minute changed and I was late. We went through only one check where we were not within sight of each other and at the end of the day he beat me by five points. Five points is a lot in an Enduro but to say I was like five minutes behind him wasn’t true I could see him at every check, except one, if I was five minutes behind him at the end of a Cross country event that would be a lot. The guy who finished third in our class was tied on points with me, but I beat him in the tie breakers. Amazingly ties aren’t all that unusual among competitors in the same class so clubs set up a few of the checks as tie breakers where they not only score you by the minute you come in but by the second. Anyway tie breakers can get very complicated and I ended up beating him by a few seconds, if I was him I’d be pissed, I mean after 83 miles to lose by a few seconds, I’d be pissed.
When you looked at the route sheet you thought this might be a fairly easy six hours and eighteen minute, eighty three mile ride, (If there is such a thing) the club had lots of free time (Rest time) built into the schedule and you thought there might be plenty maybe even to much free time. Well not to worry about all that free time, the trails, speed averages and check placements were such that you magically lost time before one of those free time spots. So when you did get to one of them you had either used up all the free time or perhaps had a little time left so you could take a drink and gather your thoughts for the next section?
The day wasn’t too hot, the dust could have been a lot worse; the course was very good with lots of great single track trails and the company was excellent. One of the best things about any activity like this is doing the thing called bench racing afterward. From the AA rider to the first time racer all of us can relate and share in recalling that branch that almost got you, or that big downhill section with that steep drop off, or whatever. It was another good day to be alive.
Sometimes it is hard to find people to ride with and places where you can ride. One of the ways to solve that problem is to join a motorcycle club. No, not the silly types you see on TV. One that is made of responsible guys that like to ride and race dirt bikes. A group like the Polka Dots MC. Every year they take a fun little trail ride out of Austin, NV. What's it like.......well let Mark the trail boss tell it.
All,
Since my first Austin Moto Ride, I knew we could someday break the 300 mile mark. This weekend we booked 315 miles. I want to thank every rider who showed up ready to get this done. Riding with you all this weekend was a pleasure. You all made this a great ride. It was especially gratifying to take 14 of the 25 on their first Austin ride. I didn’t plan 175 miles of it the first day but we made it.
John and Wayne did a great job on the chase truck and trailer with gas, food, refreshments, gear, bikes and riders. I would also like to send a huge debt of gratitude to Mr. Mike Outerbridge. My bike died a mile from the start of the ride back Sunday and he let me borrow his bike to lead Sunday’s ride. He injured his knee Saturday and wasn’t able to ride. Also, thanks to Duane Groves. My GPS skills only go so far but he has the navigation skills out there that always come through for our rides. Thanks to Bill Fain for managing the task list that is too long to mention. Great job!
I make the commitment to get every rider and their equipment back to Middlegate on Sunday. They don’t always come back arranged the way they left, but they’ve always gotten back. We left Middlegate Saturday with 25 riders and got to Austin with 21 having lost three to injuries and one breakdown. Sunday morning we Left Austin with 12 riders. We lost the rest to injuries, one case of the flu, breakdowns and “attrition.” We booked 140 miles on Sunday and averaged about 35 mph. We sacrificed the morning portion of the ride to get the afternoon run completed which was S-W-E-E-T! The weather cooperated perfectly both days with sunny skies and 75-80 degrees.
Our two hill climbs allowed a few riders to exhibit some pretty serious hill climbing talent. And yes, our Dots President made both hills both days on The Big “H.” Andy “Billy Goat” Rewinkle, well… Steve DeMartin needs to clean his underwear. You just had to be there for that one. How’d you pull that off TWICE? Justin Jensen? Where’d he come from? Our guest Ray Alvarado pulled out a couple of over the top moves on his ’11 KTM 300 that should have come with a bag of popcorn. What a show. Parker and Groves put the 530’s over the top as well.
Opportunities for people to exhibit leadership qualities are sometimes spontaneous events you simply can’t plan. And once in a great while one of our Polka Dot leaders will show all of his fellow members a side we didn’t know before. Such an event took place where several of the Austin 315 Moto Ride participants and Polka Dot members were celebrating the day’s events after dinner – where we were enticed with $1 coupons for our first beverages. Simply, Mr. Mike Fallon took the initiative to support the local economy in Austin and let the matrons at the above establishment know under no uncertain terms that as our leader, absolutely no one was to spend so much as a minute without Mike’s beverage of choice. Orders were given and followed not to let a drop got to waste. And Mike chose a very wide variety of beverages. He had to because they kept running out. Mike’s generosity simply overwhelmed both the matrons of the establishment as well as the other Polka Dots in attendance. So much so, several other Polka Dots felt compelled to support the local economy in like fashion. As the night wore on, even Mr. Fallon seemed to succumb to the frivolity and newfound kinship that he’d nurtured. Our hearts crumbled at the new side of Mike we were seeing.
I had to retire relatively early. But our breakfast and pre-ride discussions divulged that Mr. Fallon’s newfound generosity and leadership earned him a safe escort down the hill to his motel from almost ALL of the remaining Polka Dots. Once back at the motel, Mike evidently felt the urge to further embellish the qualities of his fellow Polka Dots. Even to the degree of waking a few of them up to tell them how important his thoughts were. Someone enjoyed his speech enough to leave Mike some flowers. (See attached)
I applaud Mr. Fallon for taking the initiative to uphold some well-established traditions of our leaders of the past. They would be proud.
Who has the pictures of the cluster&%$# you guys made of the water crossing? Had there been a few more of us, a film of this would have prompted On Any Sunday III. Unbelievable!
My last comment on the ride is of a more serious nature. This was Bret Eckert’s last ride before he goes in for some remodeling on his limbs. I would like to wish Bret well on his operation as I’m sure do all of our past and present members. Bret’s contributions to the PDMC during his membership have benefited many of us. We hope to be banging bars with him again soon.
That’s my take on the weekend. I hope you all got what you came for plus some.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011 at 4:32PM 
