Anyone else going to attempt represent Husky at the Paris to Darce in 2012? I will be on team Live Free or Die with 2 other NH guy's. This will be my first attempt and we are hoping just to finish. The event is held every two years and it is broken up into two stages with 30 way points. The first stage is 450KM and the second is 260KM. Which if you finish puts you at just over 440 miles for the day. Don't ask I have no idea what I was thinking when I entered. Now it's time to start the planning!
My TE 310 might not be the bike of choice but it's all I have right now. One of the other guys is riding a DRZ and the other a KTM 990
The 310 will be fine. I did it on a TE250.(although I watered out 2/3rds thru) The smaller bikes are a big advantage offroad. Some suggestions- Use 15-47 gearing- that will allow you to cruise at about 100kmh on the roads without stressing the motor. You will need auxiliary lighting. Have at least 220-250km of fuel range. That will allow you to only have to fuel up at mandatory checkpoints & at lunch, saving time(some checks are at gas stops). You will get good road fuel mileage with the above gearing suggestion, probably close to 70mpg - cruising at 95-100kmh. Do some longer test rides to find out for sure. Depending on what size your stock tank is you'll likely need additional fuel capacity. I used a 4liter MSR dromedary bag filled with about 2.5liters carried in my Wolfman tank bag. Have a support truck carry extra gas, snacks, water, gatorade etc & meet you at fuel stops/checkpoints. That will allow you to deal with issues quickly and make your fuel stops more efficient. Have the driver pay for fuel at gas stations so you guys can get going. Use a fullface street helmet with ear plugs - at least until lunch. A small windshield will make your life a lot more pleasant. I used a 'spitfire' which worked great. Have some kind of soft seat- you'll need it. Anything to reduce/prevent fatigue is key. Be prepared for deep water crossings, especially if it rains, ie. the front fender plowing thru the water. There is one that is 2km long that may be on the route After your bike is all setup, go on a couple 1-200km test rides to evaluate everything. Do this a week or two before the event so you have time to make any changes. Have your crew agree to cruise at about 95-100kmh on the roads- you won't make up much time by trying to speed on the roads, but you can make up tons in the offroad sections by riding a good steady brisk pace. And there will be cops pulling (dumb)guys over that day. They get called every year by some grouchy local. Ride smart and they won't bug you.
Thanks for the advice I have done quite a few large and long water holes and never liked them. I am always concerned about sucking stuff in and having to do a trail side tare down. If it rain's the whole thing is gonna suck! From the video's that I have seen it doesn't appear to be a very difficult event just a long event. We are planning on doing the New England Charity Classic June 9-10 which will be two 100 mile days so i'll feel pretty confident that my bike will fully sorted after that. I am sure i'll have more questions as the ride get's closer. Any reason why your not doing it this year?
It rained very heavily in 2010 for several hours in the morning- That wasn't much fun, really slowed guys down, created lots of mud, new water holes and made existing ones deeper. I wouldn't have watered out if it had stayed sunny (which was what was forcasted )& we could have really cruised thru the afternoon section. I sold the bike I'd use for that event (TE250) & may be out of the country for the month of May, so wouldn't have much time to prep for it anyways. The big KTM may be an issue for you guys unless the guy is very competent with it off road. He'll likely want to ride fast on the roads(& you can't), but will be much slower offroad(unless he's a very,very good rider with lots of strength and stamina- he'll really need it in the Afternoon) In the AM we were 7th team off the line and got passed by about 10 big bikes by 6:30-7am on road sections. In the first offroad section (a wet rocky road allowance), we blew past all those guys and a whole bunch more big bikes that left ahead of us. I literally passed about 20 guys mired in one wet rocky section, just by the advantage of being on a light nimble bike. 1/2 hour later on a long straight road several of them passed us again. We re-passed all of them again in the next offroad sections up in the Creemore area. They gained nothing by riding fast on the roads & their big bikes proved to be a big liability in tough sections.
It's coming up this weekend and I'm helping out so I'll look for the husky and try to say hi. I won't be riding my TE 250 but it'll be there as a backup sweep bike. My boyfriend will be sweeping on his KLX 450. I pre-rode about 400km of the route and there are some really awesome off road, challenging stuff. I can't imagine riding the whole thing on my 250, specially with the stock (dirt) gearing and seat. I'd be so pooped, not to mention the engine revving on the road. Let's hope for good weather and no rain. Should be a great event this year.
Glad to hear you don't mind your boyfriend sweeping around on you (he hee ha haa).. P.S. I will be sweeping from check one to Washago.. Maybe to Kinmount if I feel up to it..
Ha, I probably know you.... Who is this? I'll be driving a support truck, helping with lunch among other duties. Did you just give away part of the location !! ) uh oh. Ralley Connex might by peeved at you ! LOL.
I was just thinking about gearing I currently have the 13/50 stock dirt set up mounted but curious to know if any of you would recomend running the other stock set up that came with the bike I think it's a 13/40. Might be better for high speed but would certainly give up some in the dirt section's. Just curious to know thoughts
Tessier, I would go with the road gearing as opposed to the dirt since there is a lot of road and or high speed dirt. Without giving away too much inside information... I think you would find that more comfortable at higher speeds. I'll look for your group on the weekend and say hi...
Well that was wild! Hats off to who ever came up with this crazy wild concept! Going in this I had no expectations I had only ridden about 50 miles with my teammates and wasn't expecting how slow our pace would be. My internal clock kept telling me they needed to step it up and pick up the pace. In the end we dropped on team member out after he lost the nut holding his sprocket on and we misse the last check by like 15 min so we got cut off. The bike wasn't nearly the best choice. I had no where near the top speed on the roads as the other teams. Gearing was as good as it was gonna get with my limited CC's. Thanks so much Laura, it was great to meet you too! hopefully next time I'll have my own team that will be much faster and well get to roll on through as finishers!
Great to meet you guys too. It was fun working the event and meeting a bunch of riders and seeing how the even was organized. The only Gal in the competition was on a TE 250 (2010). Overall there were about 4 or 5 husqvarnas. Good for you guys for attempting this, only 40% actually finished the whole thing without taking a bail. I guess "Laura's Hole" was unsuccessful in swallowing up any riders this year.. Ha Ha... The results should be posted soon on the Rally Connex website... http://www.rallyconnex.com/ The guys who won were two hours ahead of the next guys.. it's no wonder they were so fast.. they did Red Bull Romaniacs last year and finished the hobby class.. (Good for Them)..
Actually, they did the Romaniacs this year(2/3rds of them anyways- Rome and Barry), as in; finished the Romaniacs, flew back to ON, showed up at Orangeville the next day and did the P-D. Crazy!
