Malcom Smith Invitational Soboba Ride Feb 27, 2011

[HuskyT]

Anyone else riding this? Robertaccio...are you in? I got my confirmation for this back in November... been looking forward to it for months now....

I'm going with a group of a total of eight riders... with rain again and snow in the higher elevations all weekend this may turn out to be quite the mudfest... first loop is approx 40 miles of challenging but fun riding... second forty mile loop is supposed to be an asskicker.... eight guys start... eight guys finish is what we are shooting for...

http://www.irs-media.net/sobobarides/

http://www.irs-media.net/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/str2010miniposter.pdf

If you finish.... you get a decal......

T

 

[HuskyT]

I know it has been raining ( and snowing) a lot but am I really the only CH member riding the Malcolm Smith Invitational....?

T

 

[Coffee]

Well I am certainly not going. Let us know how you like it.

 

[Dirtdame]

Been there, done that.....don't need to do it again.

 

[robertaccio]

ride report, please.

re: also been there,done that. fun but waaaaay to many riders.

 

[HuskyT]

1000 riders is to many? Ride report to follow... We were around 120th off the line... no bottlenecks for us... we finished about 70th...

 

[Dirtdame]

1000 riders is to many? Ride report to follow... We were around 120th off the line... no bottlenecks for us... we finished about 70th...

Wow, no bottlenecks? You are lucky. the year that I went there were about 700 riders, and it seemed that I spent more time sitting in one of those slot canyons with the motor off than I did actually riding. It was so late by the time that I finished the first loop, that I didn't bother with the second one, although I hear that the second one is the one to ride because everybody dropped out during the first loop.

 

[HuskyT]

1000 Plus riders on first loop... we purposely got there early... the guy I went with rides the WORCS series every now and then... very fast technical rider... he wanted us to get started fast and did not slow down the pace until about 10 or 12 miles in...we passed a lot of bikes in the first 10 miles or so...

Ys - in some of those slotted chappararal canyons that crap is nasty... at the most, we had three or four bikes to deal with in those canyons...not bad at all.

Bikes were crashed out everywhere - very technical steep course with lots of uphill and technical downhill Three riders injured for the day.. one guy went over a 12 foot cliff into the river below.... all made it out

Did not get to do the second loop myself due to clutch issues...crashed and went over the bars on a steep downhill section about 6 miles from the end of the first 31 mile loop. Rode the balance of first loop without a clutch...

Sat out the second loop due to no clutch...

Loop # 2... It had nine gnarly river crossings. Snow melt coming down was incredible...

more to follow..

T

 

[robertaccio]

nice!! good place to start,
my soboba was very DD like, but I did step outside my placid self and get a little hard on my passes especially on the down hills,,man , alot guys so slow on downhills and bulldogging in ridiculous places.also lots of single track hogs that would not give way when caught up to, I know its not a race but ya gotta flow to go especially in the tech sections.

 

[HuskyT]

I had no choice but to go fast with these guys!!! I was hemmed in with three others ... one fast guy in front of me and two even faster guys behind me pushing me... amazing how watching the lines of fast guys really helps you in the technical stuff... my single track "A" game is much the better for it... mind you I also went down a total of five time in thirty one miles.. twice over the bars on super steep downhills... they just cheered me on ****************************************

T

 

[robertaccio]

those are good crew members!!! your clutch it was a crash damage issue or a mechanical fail? Gearing was good trail gearing I am sure with that lower OA set up. Glad your falls were get up and go get offs.

 

[HuskyT]

Good question on the clutch... I'm still not sure... all I know is this... I endo'd the bike on a steep descent.. bike was running still but laying upside down on the bars and seat for a while until i kicked it over on its side.. after I got back on at the bottom of the hill the clutch would not work..nothing there at all... had worked fine up until that point. pulled cover on reservoir and it was low not out.....??????maybe low enough that I got an airbubble in it when the bike was upside down...? just guessing... You have thoughts...? I topped it off but it still does not work right... thinking I may need to bleed it?

T

 

[HuskyT]

running the 51/15 was definitely the right thing here.. tractored up the hills like it was nothing...

 

[Coffee]

Good question on the clutch... I'm still not sure... all I know is this... I endo'd the bike on a steep descent.. bike was running still but laying upside down on the bars and seat for a while until i kicked it over on its side.. after I got back on at the bottom of the hill the clutch would not work..nothing there at all... had worked fine up until that point. pulled cover on reservoir and it was low not out.....??????maybe low enough that I got an airbubble in it when the bike was upside down...? just guessing... You have thoughts...? I topped it off but it still does not work right... thinking I may need to bleed it?

T

I believe your theory is correct.. when those bikes get lazy and take a nap on their back, fluids & air can flow to the wrong places..

 

[robertaccio]

sound like an air pocket, I agree, bottom bleed it. The best and easist way is with the magura bleed kit. It has a syringe, a tube with open slave bleed valve (KTM dealers usually have these as an accessory). sounds like you simply got air in it for sure. Be sure that your rubber master cylinder piece is deep angle over the cylinder inlet this helps keep the air pocket away from the inlet. But when you are totally upside down its a tough issue. If this ever happens again when out a ride, at every opportunity keep on flicking your clutch lever it can get the air out as you bounce along the trail and cycle the lever, but kind of let it slam back out with little flicks (hard to explain) this has saved me before a bunch of times. Just think about whats going on in there and get that air up to the top at the master and get it out into the reservior, the little flicks keep from pushing a full load of fluid in behind the air pocket.

 

[robertaccio]

photos? hcam? vids?

 

[Dirtdame]

photos? hcam? vids?

Probably somebody got pictures, but the Soboba never struck me as the kind of trail ride that is so leisure that there is much time for snapping shots off.

 

[HuskyT]

pics from the beginning and at the end later tonight.... DD is right... not the kind of ride where you snap pics along the way****************************************!

 

[HuskyT]

Here are some pics...

It was a cold morning... 27 degrees with plenty of frost and lower elevation snow;

Started real early before sun came up... sunrise:

unloaded new YZF250 and my Husky:

the bikes start lining up:

the starting gate banner:

more bike line up:

my bike in line:

Picture perfect of the hills where we were destined to ride:

My riding crew and me:

broken radiator shroud after the race:

looking out on the loop:

Malcolm brought this Husky TE310 for a static demo:

and the sticker... proff of the ride!!

one other Husky ... myself and this TE450 with Idaho Plates !

Wow... over a thousand bikes show up... two Bergs, Two Husky's and 800 or so KTM's

It was a great ride... definitely going again next year!

T