Birthday Ride

Having a birthday is usually a good thing with all the attention, presents, day off work or school, etc.

Since I am retired I didn’t have to work on getting the day off. I bought myself the birthday present in the form of a slightly used 2011 YZ 450 F. So all that was left was the attention part and that is where my buddies Brian and Chuck-e came in. They invited me to go riding on their personal off road loop in their neck of the woods so to speak. I should emphasize the WOODS part! It had all the great makings of an epic off road ride. I love to ride off road every bit as much as I enjoy the motocross track and the desert. When I do, I usually ride an off road bike like a CRF-X Honda or a KTM XC. Since neither bike was available  I rode the YZ-F 450.  My buddies’ rode their off road KTM’s and took me on what I believe were KTM only trails. I am pretty sure I saw a couple of signs out on the trail edges that said “KTM Parking Only”.  I was beginning to worry that maybe something was not quite right. But away we went and it started out perfectly with some of the best descending singletrack I have seen in months. The trail was moist and perfect traction. No problem this should be a ton of fun!

We hit the bottom of the trail with me trying to keep these two in sight and took a short break. They told me this particular trail was an out and back. So now we were headed back up the off camber, moist, rocky in spots with needles and leaves blanketed trail. What was so much fun coming down on the MX oriented Yamaha was now a complete challenge with the tall 1^st gear, no flywheel to speak of and abrupt power of the big YZ. By the time we got to the top of that trail I think I had stalled the bike 5 or 6 times in tight turns and rocky climbs. The boys were nowhere to be seen and I presume having the time of their lives on this awesome singletrack with their low end bikes that made my 450 seem like a 125. Brian was kind enough to wait at the turn offs for each trail we rode for the next 3 hours to make sure I didn’t become critter bait. So this “fun” kept up for the next 3 hours. I am pretty sure I stalled my bike and crashed more in this half day of riding than I have in the past 5 years! We negotiated side hill trails with less than a foot of trail, Uphill U turns with rocks to make it more challenging and rock faces with moisture to keep me from riding up without pushing! I survived the ordeal, I mean ride, and had a great time and a much better work out than I expected from a “trail ride”. I kickstarted the YZ more times than I want to admit and did more dead lifts after falling over than I would do in a full day at the Gym!  At one point it took me 3 tries to get up one nasty section that was rutted, rocky and moist. I took my goggles off to keep them from fogging and put them on my helmet. Seemed like a good idea at the time. I finally get up with a bit of pushing, cussing and clutch abusing to ride up the trail quite a ways until I could stop to put my goggles back on now that they wouldn’t fog up. I reached up and guess what……Yup, no goggles!  Did I mention the tree branches and brush on this excursion?  So sitting on this singletrack side hill trail I am weighing the value of those goggles that are somewhere back down the trail. Since I have no idea how many more miles we have to go and see nothing but trees in my immediate future I decide to man handle my bike around to get it faced back down the trail. Next time you want to challenge yourself find a side hill singletrack and turn around just for fun. I go back down and find them in the middle of the trail. So now with the goggles recovered I need to turn around once again to get going to catch up with my “buddies”. I thought there was no way I was going to dead lift my bike a second time so I decide to continue down and find a spot to turn around. Good call because there was that one spot that widened out on a U-turn. I turn around and make it to the top to find Chuck-e and Brian there with their helmets off and fully rested up so we can get going back to the truck. Glad they got a short break so they wouldn’t be too tired to open a beer when they got back!

The rest of the ride back was pretty uneventful and more great trail with some spectacular views. We got back to the trucks, loaded the bikes and headed for the barn. I had a great time, got a really good workout dead lifting a YZ 450 and rode with a couple of the best guys you could be invited to ride with. I realized after the ride that I had made the mistake of bringing a knife to a gunfight!  But it seemed like a good idea at the time. Thanks Chuck-e and Brian, give me a call on the next one but only if I have a gun.

#33

About WPS

Established in 1960, Boise, Idaho, based WPS (Western Power Sports, Inc.) distributes over 85,000 products 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 in service, product, and delivery. For more information about WPS, visit www.wps-inc.com

Baylor Makes it Two in a Row

Photo: Krista Shaw/Digitaloffroad.comFly Racing's Reigning Grand National Cross Country series XC2 Champion Steward Baylor has positioned himself as the rider to beat so far in 2012, as he ran away with his second straight National Enduro win at a rain soaked and muddy Cherokee National in Greensboro, Georgia. 17-year old Baylor had already made history at the first round by becoming the youngest-ever overall winner of a National Enduro, and any doubts that he was a “lucky winner” at round one have been erased by his dominant round two win in conditions quite the opposite of round one. With his second win in a row, Baylor has already opened 14-point lead over second place.

Younger brother, Grant Baylor, also impressed, as the 14-year old finished an amazing 14th overall, winning the 250A class as well as overall top amateur. Even more impressive, he now sits 11th overall in the entire series points standing!

Other notable FLY Racing finishers included Team F.A.R. Husqvarna rider Jason Thomas in 8th and Factory Beta Offroad’s Chris Bach in 10th. Both riders continue to improve in a series that is new to both riders.

Next up for the FLY offroad team, is round three of the National Enduro series, the Sandlapper, which takes place in Salley, South Carolina; followed by round one of the GNCC series for both bike and ATV at the Westgate River Ranch in Florida. Look for FLY Racing riders at the front of the pack at both races!
FLY Racing Cherokee National Enduro Rider Finishes

1st – Steward Baylor | Fly/RidePG/WP Racing USA/Leatt/KTM
8th – Jason Thomas | F.A.R. Husqvarna
10th – Chris Bach | Factory Beta Offroad
12th – Brad Bakken | Obermeyer Yamaha/Raines Riding Univ/OffRoadViking.com
14th – Grant Baylor | Fly/RidePG/WP Racing USA/Leatt/KTM
15th – Zach Klamfoth | Privateer
17th – Jason Greer | Privateer

FlyRacing.com

Bruce Young - Unplugged

A few months back we ran into an old friend at the races in Boise ID. Mr. Bruce Young came out to the track to visit. Bruce goes way back, he was there in the very early days of motocross in the US. As the sales manager at Hi Point Bruce interfaced with a who's who of American motocross/off road stars. Cranke, Hannah, Magoo, Schultz, Ogilvie and hundreds of others all came to Hi Point for support. Bruce was always there to help, listen, advise …. whatever a rider needed.

What many don't know about Bruce is he not only helped support riders he was also there in the beginning helping the AMA organize motocross in N. California.

Many of the early rules for District 36 were hashed out around Bruce's kitchen table. The district's logo, still used today, was designed by Bruce.

He also spent many years involved with the Hangtown National MX as a member of the Dirt Diggers North MC. First at the old Plymouth track and later at Prairie City OHV Bruce was there to help.

Today Bruce handles a sales role for Western Power Sports/Fly Racing but only for a few more weeks. After many years Bruce is finally retiring the old Hi Point boots and taking his boat to the nearest lake for a long overdue fishing trip.

All of us here at MX43.com want to say Thanks Bruce for all of your help and friendship thru the years. You have been a true asset to our sport!

Dual Sport Fund (Fun) Raiser!

#33(Eric), Dale McKenzie, and I rode the RUTS (Racers Under the Sun) fund raiser two day Dual Sport ride late this past summer.  We rolled out at 8:30 Saturday morning from Sopiago Springs Resort which is near the corner of Hwy 88 and Omo Ranch road and 170 miles later ended up at Topaz Lake off Hwy 395 in Nevada. Our overnight bags were waiting for us at the motel when we arrived at 5:00 PM. Dale was relieved because he said he wouldn’t be able to sleep without his jammies.  I didn’t have the guts to ask him if he had a teddy bear in that bag as well.

I’m not sure if the 170 miles was the correct mileage or not as we got lost a few times and may have ridden a few miles out of our way. Actually I didn’t get lost at all and that’s because I just followed Eric and Dale, they did all the roll chart eyeballing  (No stinking GPS for these guys) they don’t need reading glass (Yet) like I do. As expected we road over around and through some absolutely beautiful country and ended up at Kyburz on Hwy 50 for gas and lunch.  Oh did I mention the weather was perfect, except for the dust which at this time of year you expect.

The route sheet provided bail outs for those whose bikes, or rider skill level wouldn’t allow them to tackle the A/B loops. I’ve ridden a lot of nasty sections in enduros over the years but some of the A/B sections were right up there with the best of them. So in some of the really gnarly sections I struggled. I do have my excuses ready and here they are, I was riding a basically stock Suzuki DRZ 400S, its heavy especially when it falls over on you or you have to pick it up or push it. Low gear just wasn’t low enough at times, I’m spoiled because I’m used to the Rekluse’s (Auto clutch) in my other real dirt bikes, so I wasn’t used to using the clutch lever and it showed. I do have a few more excuses but that’s enough, besides Dale was riding and old 90’s something Honda 650L and he loved those sections as did #33 of course. That’s why I mentioned Dale and his jammies because he spanked me in those gnarly sections. Whinny aside it was all good.

Sunday morning we left the motel around 8:00 AM and doubled back on some of Saturday’s course until we went through Markleeville again. Where we turned left instead of right and road up and over Ebbetts pass and 8730 foot altitude, that area is just spectacular. It seemed to me that Sunday’s route had more A/B loops than Saturday, I didn’t count them, and maybe I was just more intimidated or tired on Sunday than Saturday. Did I mention the weather was perfect?  The club had a nice lunch waiting for us lake side at Silver Lake; the club did an excellent job of support throughout the weekend.

After lunch we went down the road and up a gnarly 4x4 jeep trail, past a few 4x4’s clawing their way up the hill, saw more spectacular sites and Dale and Eric got lost a couple more times, they were mumbling something about mileages not being right. Again I wouldn’t know I was just riding taking in all the beauty.(Sometimes it’s good to be far sighted)  It’s interesting in the two days of riding we saw a lot of obvious trails and more than a few OHV trails but most (If not all) were posted no OHV’s allowed. We know why they’ve been closed but it makes you wonder just where and on what our OHV funds are being spent? (As a side note Eric and I rode the Georgetown OHV trails recently and they certainly aren’t spending OHV money on maintaining that very popular trail system)

Our Sunday ride ended at 130 miles and at about 3:00pm. Our bags were there waiting for us, the three of us had no mechanical issues, we got along well, all of our fellow riders we encountered were also great.

Overall the ride and scenery were as advertised we saw some wild life, a white dog guarding a donkey with a bell around its neck out in the middle of nowhere, some cattle and at times a lot of fly fisherman, oh and we also road over a snow pack. And again the club did a great job and we thanked them. And did I mention the weather was great.

Doug 21J

FLY Racing and Jason Raines Partner Up

Offroad racing legend Jason Raines talks about his new partnership with FLY Racing and the products he will use and endorse at his Raines Riding University schools in 2012, as well as at the new FLY demo program.

FlyRacing.com

Mystery Ride

Recently I was invited to a very unique event, unique in many ways. First of all it’s a secret, getting invited to it is rather difficult you probably have a better chance of scoring season tickets for the Green Bay Packers games. It’s been going on annually for decades and I can’t tell you the name of it either, or where it’s held although it is moved around every year.

A couple of guys I know who know a couple guys who know these guys who’ve been hosting it for years now and I was invited to help ride sweep.  It’s basically a sort of poker run but with a few twists.  And it is and isn’t a speed contest. There is a course and it’s marked with certain kinds of ribbon, you need to find this certain kind of ribbon in order to stay on the course. There’s also another kind of ribbon, if you find that ribbon you’re going the wrong way. Oh and by the way that certain kind of ribbon you need to find to stay on the course headed in the right direction, it must always be on your right only.

If you find it and it’s on your left you’re heading the wrong way. And of course the ribbons aren’t exactly close together. This year’s course was about twenty seven miles and we (The sweep riders) left about fifteen minutes after the event started and got back to the start area about four and a half hours later. Speaking of the start everyone was gathered around and shown the different kinds ribbons just before they were told to GO. Along the course there were checks that were marked with yet other kind of ribbon. At those checks is where you picked up a sealed envelope with your poker card.

The course was in some spots very challenging but a lot of fun none the less. There was only one rider who didn’t make it back to the start area; somehow he managed to run out of fuel on a twenty seven mile course riding a two stroke with a two and a half gallon tank. He was being rescued as the sun was setting.  While he was being rescued all manner of prizes were be given out for things like first to finish, first in class and best poker hands etc. I’m glad I was invited and was able to participate in this year’s event who knows if or when I’ll ever be invited back, to this secret event, the one I can’t tell you where it was or the name of it.

Doug 21J

The New Year is here….2012

Let’s Go Racin!

Watch for upcoming schedules for OTHG and IOTMX

Merry Christmas To All! 2011

Merry Christmas from the team at mx43.com. We wish each of  you  Happy Holiday Season. We hope 2012 is a healthy, prosperous year for all.

Art & Marti                         Eric & Cheryl                                     Joe

Johnny Campbell & WPS/FLY Racing Announce Partnership

Johnny Campbell Racing, Inc. (JCR) and Western Power Sports, Inc. (WPS) are pleased to announce a multi-year partnership to promote the FLY Racing brand, as well as to design, develop and distribute Johnny Campbell signature branded FLY riding gear and Off-Road products.

FLY Racing is making dramatic moves to further its growth into the Off-Road world with the signing of Off-Road racing legend Johnny Campbell and his team to promote the FLY Racing brand and develop signature Johnny Campbell branded products to hit the marketplace by 2013. All of the products will offer the durability, quality and functionality that Johnny Campbell and FLY Racing are known for.

Johnny Campbell is synonymous with durability, speed and class, so he is the perfect partner for FLY Racing to expand its presence in the Off-Road market. Starting in 2012, the entire JCR/Honda team will wear FLY Racing exclusively, and as the signature line develops, will look at adding additional riders.

“We are very excited about our new partnership with Johnny Campbell and the entire JCR program. As FLY Racing makes a bold expansion into the Off-Road market, Johnny's input, experience and exposure will be an important part of the program. FLY Racing welcomes Johnny and we look forward to many exciting things on the horizon,” said FLY Racing’s Terry Baisley

“I’m excited about the opportunity to work with FLY Racing and WPS. They have a great distribution network and are committed to excellence. We race through the harshest terrain on the planet and put products to the ultimate test. I need to work with the companies that can provide the durability and performance to withstand whatever we encounter and I am confident in FLY Racing products to get the job done. I have a long history with Terry Baisley of FLY Racing and look forward to what the future brings” – Johnny Campbell

JCR website: www.JCRHonda.com
FLY Racing website: www.flyracing.com

About FLY Racing

Established in 1996, FLY Racing began as a manufacturer of motorcycle handlebars and helmets. The brand has quickly developed into one of the fastest growing off road motorcycle riding apparel and hard part brands in the powersports industry. FLY Racing develops high quality products for the competitive and demanding North American market and is distributed in 40+ countries. FLY Racing products are distributed exclusively in the United States by WPS (Western Power Sports).