Old farts like me, who have to get up on Monday morning and do physical work all week, know what that stuff is.....
The NW ISDE crew was out doing a FAST 60 mile test run. This is going to be good. This was a talented group with the hammer down and we had a blast. Really looking forward to next weekend.
It was a good day. James Peter Kelly And a blurry picture of Odus... Good group, should be a great time next weekend. Later,
All 2-strokes I see, smart guys! Just curious what size the Orange bikes are? Good luck to all of you at Idaho City. On my bucket list along with the Terra Nova on Vancouver Island, B.C. BTW, looks like a great view down into Parkdale. Love that area.
Gotta love the small bores from Oregon representing at the Qualifier! Really looking forward to a ride report. Go get em!
Not that I know much about racing but practicing some at close to race pace seems like a good idea ... And if you could see some of those fast guys lines it might could later ... --- Good luck to all you guys on this upcoming ride
fail...... Last HS I heard some rattling noise near the end of the race, but bike kept going strong, thought is was another stick in the chain. Crankshaft oil pump gear shattered into tiny little gear tooth bits along with its oil pump side mating gear...... very very strange fail. oil pump assy is fine (not seized) and the filter system kept the bits out of migrating too far. Parts and labor needed. New flywheel, new stator ( a big piece of gear tooth bunced around in there and beat the crap out of both items, but both do function). New oil pump drive gear crank mounted, new oil pump drive gear pump mounted, a super good oil pan flush an magnetic partical removal job......(and yes I do realize that my oil pump was not pumping...I check the cam bearing surface for any no oil pressure scores when we open the top again) Oh the oil change and valve clearance check was the final prep item, we scrambled to swap out parts onto the xxx. I rode the xxx yesterday to sooth my soul, all is OK. we leave on Thurs morn from SD, will deal with the xxx later. (not happy, but after all its just a machine, I work with expensive aircraft that have mechancal fails regularly)
Who wants an update?????? K. Weather and Conditions. Rode Saturday -- been very dry. Course was dry, but not in bad shape. Very slippery just because of all the loose dust and decomposed granite. Rained hard Sunday evening and Monday and into today. Monday was epic. Perfect traction. Weather is supposed to be around 75 both days and sunny. Ground conditions are a bit variable as its still raining today. I would expect the rain to stop soon and the course to begin to dry out by the race. How dry? Only time will tell. I can tell you that the weather system that dumped the rain did a huge favor. Even if it dries out some -- the conditions will be better than just last week. Course. In a word -- Brutal. They are running it on the North East section of the Idaho City area on course they haven't used much since 2007. There are some sections of trail that are a bit on the technical side. To get out to this harder stuff -- you have to pound a fair amount of whoops to get there and spend time on the stuff that gets blown out. Its always tough. This year promises to be a little bit tougher. That being said there are going to be around 40 miles or truly awesome singletrack. Some really really excellent stuff. Good luck guys. Wish I could make it up there but have obligations in town Saturday and will probably go clear trail on Sunday.
The pix do not do justice to this dudes amazing talents. This guy did some stuff that I was like Not that I am the some great rider but he did things i would never even think of doing. Freaking amazing rider. There were 2 4 strokes there, his 350 and a 250 both KTM and both the fastest guys in the group. These guys are near pro level. Fun to watch and be humbled by.
So now y'all know the rest of the story and yea what Kelly said. Shes just a machine and will be fixed. TE is more plush anyway will be comfortable old guy cruiser to get me through those long days!!
