First of all, my thoughts are with those who lost their lives and loved ones during the Six Days in Poland. A lot of soul searching and confusion could be seen around parc ferme last Wednesday evening as the news spread and emotions were fueled.
The ISDE for me started on the 4th when I flew to Warsawsa and arrived at our hotel in Kielce with Clint and Connie Riviere on Monday. We had clean but very small accomodations about 30 minutes from parc ferme, which was in Miedziana Gora at their auto race track. Our bikes did not arrive until Wednesday afternoon, so we were left with plenty of time to check out the town, and special tests, prepare tires and mousses, find the atms and grocery stores. Poland is very commerciallized and while done in a different way than here in NA, all luxuries could be found in abundance, except for the John Wayne paper!! Rough as sandpaper and won't take $#!^ from no one. Some dedicated shopping was needed there!
Preping the bikes was a bit of a scramble as impound was Friday at 9 am and sometime was needed on Thursday for administration signup etc. Tech went without a hitch, almost too painless, they were very loose and one of teammates swears that his headlight was turned off during the whole process, but he was passed!! I guess we had better take the good and easy ones.
Test riding the bike before I impounded was a joke, as the 25 second long test track turned into monster sandy/silty whoops, 3 - 4 ft deep. This mountain rider just isn't all that good at sand, so besides heavier springs which installed by the WP guys, the suspension would be tuned on day 1.
Unfortunately day 1 welcomed us to very dry dusty conditions. All loops would start and end at parc ferme, so the trail leaving Miedziana Gora had 5 ft whoops in it. Unfortunately this is where my six days end would begin. I crashed one km from camp in the whoops, which are laced with hords of 3 inch roots, and landed with my RH ribs on the top of the next whoop. Just a bruise, no problem.
We had been warned that the course was poorly marked and so I found about one minute after cleaned up my yard sale. I missed a turn marker and followed a chase rider for a couple of road km until I realized my mistake. I found the course and got to the first check with plenty of time to spare.
The course was easy with nothing to challenge ones skill except for the dust. Because of its sandy silty compostion the course broke down quickly and became not only dusty, but whooped and rutted. No monkey but here, not time to sit when you have rail whoops and ruts standing. Oh poor hands, which were pretty tender by the end of the day. My tape job lasted five minutes and sweaty palmes lifted the tape in minutes and it all balled up immediately. So the day was ridden bare, but no blisters appeared. The rear tire, engine oil and air filter was changed at impound at the end of the day. I finished the day in the low 50 s my class, typically 125 to 130th overall in special tests. The tests were either hard dry packed fields with smalled square edged rocks or the silty sand. My hard pack tests were ok, the sand I sucked, REALLY BAD!!!
Early day one greeted me with my first mechanical challenge when rear shock went the way of the doe doe bird. Road sections were an endless pogo ride. By chance and great fluke I found Thomas Gustufssen at the end of test #3. He arranged to have a new shock for me at the work area at check 5. I arrived with 12 minutes so the shock was easily, thanks in most part to the simple design of the Husaberg. Roland found "contamination" in the form of metal flakes in the valving. Hats off to Roland and Thomas for their much appreciated help.
I started day 2 by changing the front tire and mousse in 5 minutes and checked the bikeover in the remainder of my alloted 10 minutes. Now day 2 was going to be a challenge. The 3.5 hr course had already been riden twice and we were about ride it again, twice. So line selection was key, avoid ruts, bumps and roots. Alternate lines were everywhere. Oh did I mention that there are football sized rocks on the trail as well. Nice!! The day was harder due to the dust, which hung in the air in the special tests, making passing and being passed an experience. This time the tape held until midday, so blisters were avoided again. My special tests improved to low 120s so I was happier there as well.
Day two brought the end of Clint's ISDE experince when a gear in his starter drive piled up. One unhappy camper!
The localls were a little mischievious at times by forcing riders into bogs by obstructing good lines with stumps etc. Well, my 550 paid a little redemption in one bog. When I idled into the mud slowly, they started to gather to offer "assistance", at which time 2nd gear was clutched WOT and they scurried like mice!! HE HE HE, I'm sure they were covered! and I smiled for a long time in the dust.
Day 3, fresh course, fresh mind after a good night sleep and RAIN!!! Little to no dust on a much nicer route. I ran the same set of tires as day day 2 and found no difficulties with traction. For my skill level fresh tires everyday would be a luxury but not neccesity. However mousse failure is another topic. As my weight and the Polish rocks took its toll on the rear bib and by midmorning the mousse was starting to fail, so line selection was key in avoiding as many rocks as possible to save it. I changed the bib after the first lap with no trouble and rode the rest of the day uneventfull. The test were awesome, although quite Euro. Slick and grassy, this is what six days grass tests are about. The slick did stretch my groin out some more, I had pulled it originally sometime during day one in the sand. My test times were good and solid, for me that is, and changed the rear tire, engine oil and airfilter at the end of the day.
Day 4 am, changed front tire and masterlink and off we went. The day was same as day 3 with no rain and a small amount of dust. I fell in a test and really stretched my groin so I think I got 137th or something rude. So I calmed down in the tests, tried to cleanly rail the ruts with feet on the pegs, stretching the inside leg out always resulted in a dragged foot and consequential pain. Funny thing was, at the end of the "trail ridden" tests, I wasn't winded and only sacrificed a few spots as my results fared mid 120s and my best test of the six days was at the end of the day at 116th. Lesson learned about conserving energy. At the end of the day I changed the rear tire to install a fresh mousse that would last through day 5 and 6. But this is when it all went down hill. While hunched over changing the tire my rh ribs gave away with a pop and LITTLE bit of pain. I impounded early and would have to run an extra day on old oil, my rib hurt and exertion took great concentration and control. It felt much better later in the evening after some antinflamitories and supper.
Day 5, stiff and determined and a "new" rehashed course of old and new . The first section went ok but I was being very carefull to avoid sudden impacts. Right after check 1 was a special test, reused from day 1/2 with 3 big ski jumps in it. The first 2 took its toll and the third I decided to roll with self preservation in mind. Bad idea, as the downslope was littered with loose rock and I did no have the strength to control the twisting bars. So I crashed and winced with riders flying over my head. This really sucked and so did riding after that. Muscle spasms and bla ba bla I quit at the next check.
It was very disappointing but those are the fruits of competition. I spent the rest of the day stripping my bike of my stuff and returned it the the KTM boys.
Saturday was a complete piss off. Awesome grass track for the final moto, just no water. Dumb dumb dumb, with years to prepare and no thoughts about watering the track. They raced the first three motos, all E1 or 125 2t/2504t. It was very dusty and the E2's refused to ride. One of the Knight brothers from the UK rode a lap, unknown if it was in protest or just a sighting lap, but he was attacked by the Spanish JR team who was brandishing wooden stakes. He was knocked down and bruised by the beating and the Jr team was disquailified for their stupidy.
So the cancelled the rest of the day and we went home very disappointed. Everyone wanted to see the Meeriman, Sala, Salhuman battle in the E2 or 250 2t/4504t class.
So Merriman won by a bunch. The Fins won both the World and JR trophies. Due to the Spanish teams exclusion, Kurt Casselli moved into 3rd spot in the E2 class!! That young man hauls!!!
I could babble much more about stuff that I saw and heard, but you are already bored so I will stop. Thankyou to all who supported my effort, BMG and Dave at A&E primarily, and to those of you here at UHE who had kind words and thoughts.
Fryguy
The ISDE for me started on the 4th when I flew to Warsawsa and arrived at our hotel in Kielce with Clint and Connie Riviere on Monday. We had clean but very small accomodations about 30 minutes from parc ferme, which was in Miedziana Gora at their auto race track. Our bikes did not arrive until Wednesday afternoon, so we were left with plenty of time to check out the town, and special tests, prepare tires and mousses, find the atms and grocery stores. Poland is very commerciallized and while done in a different way than here in NA, all luxuries could be found in abundance, except for the John Wayne paper!! Rough as sandpaper and won't take $#!^ from no one. Some dedicated shopping was needed there!
Preping the bikes was a bit of a scramble as impound was Friday at 9 am and sometime was needed on Thursday for administration signup etc. Tech went without a hitch, almost too painless, they were very loose and one of teammates swears that his headlight was turned off during the whole process, but he was passed!! I guess we had better take the good and easy ones.
Test riding the bike before I impounded was a joke, as the 25 second long test track turned into monster sandy/silty whoops, 3 - 4 ft deep. This mountain rider just isn't all that good at sand, so besides heavier springs which installed by the WP guys, the suspension would be tuned on day 1.
Unfortunately day 1 welcomed us to very dry dusty conditions. All loops would start and end at parc ferme, so the trail leaving Miedziana Gora had 5 ft whoops in it. Unfortunately this is where my six days end would begin. I crashed one km from camp in the whoops, which are laced with hords of 3 inch roots, and landed with my RH ribs on the top of the next whoop. Just a bruise, no problem.
We had been warned that the course was poorly marked and so I found about one minute after cleaned up my yard sale. I missed a turn marker and followed a chase rider for a couple of road km until I realized my mistake. I found the course and got to the first check with plenty of time to spare.
The course was easy with nothing to challenge ones skill except for the dust. Because of its sandy silty compostion the course broke down quickly and became not only dusty, but whooped and rutted. No monkey but here, not time to sit when you have rail whoops and ruts standing. Oh poor hands, which were pretty tender by the end of the day. My tape job lasted five minutes and sweaty palmes lifted the tape in minutes and it all balled up immediately. So the day was ridden bare, but no blisters appeared. The rear tire, engine oil and air filter was changed at impound at the end of the day. I finished the day in the low 50 s my class, typically 125 to 130th overall in special tests. The tests were either hard dry packed fields with smalled square edged rocks or the silty sand. My hard pack tests were ok, the sand I sucked, REALLY BAD!!!
Early day one greeted me with my first mechanical challenge when rear shock went the way of the doe doe bird. Road sections were an endless pogo ride. By chance and great fluke I found Thomas Gustufssen at the end of test #3. He arranged to have a new shock for me at the work area at check 5. I arrived with 12 minutes so the shock was easily, thanks in most part to the simple design of the Husaberg. Roland found "contamination" in the form of metal flakes in the valving. Hats off to Roland and Thomas for their much appreciated help.
I started day 2 by changing the front tire and mousse in 5 minutes and checked the bikeover in the remainder of my alloted 10 minutes. Now day 2 was going to be a challenge. The 3.5 hr course had already been riden twice and we were about ride it again, twice. So line selection was key, avoid ruts, bumps and roots. Alternate lines were everywhere. Oh did I mention that there are football sized rocks on the trail as well. Nice!! The day was harder due to the dust, which hung in the air in the special tests, making passing and being passed an experience. This time the tape held until midday, so blisters were avoided again. My special tests improved to low 120s so I was happier there as well.
Day two brought the end of Clint's ISDE experince when a gear in his starter drive piled up. One unhappy camper!
The localls were a little mischievious at times by forcing riders into bogs by obstructing good lines with stumps etc. Well, my 550 paid a little redemption in one bog. When I idled into the mud slowly, they started to gather to offer "assistance", at which time 2nd gear was clutched WOT and they scurried like mice!! HE HE HE, I'm sure they were covered! and I smiled for a long time in the dust.
Day 3, fresh course, fresh mind after a good night sleep and RAIN!!! Little to no dust on a much nicer route. I ran the same set of tires as day day 2 and found no difficulties with traction. For my skill level fresh tires everyday would be a luxury but not neccesity. However mousse failure is another topic. As my weight and the Polish rocks took its toll on the rear bib and by midmorning the mousse was starting to fail, so line selection was key in avoiding as many rocks as possible to save it. I changed the bib after the first lap with no trouble and rode the rest of the day uneventfull. The test were awesome, although quite Euro. Slick and grassy, this is what six days grass tests are about. The slick did stretch my groin out some more, I had pulled it originally sometime during day one in the sand. My test times were good and solid, for me that is, and changed the rear tire, engine oil and airfilter at the end of the day.
Day 4 am, changed front tire and masterlink and off we went. The day was same as day 3 with no rain and a small amount of dust. I fell in a test and really stretched my groin so I think I got 137th or something rude. So I calmed down in the tests, tried to cleanly rail the ruts with feet on the pegs, stretching the inside leg out always resulted in a dragged foot and consequential pain. Funny thing was, at the end of the "trail ridden" tests, I wasn't winded and only sacrificed a few spots as my results fared mid 120s and my best test of the six days was at the end of the day at 116th. Lesson learned about conserving energy. At the end of the day I changed the rear tire to install a fresh mousse that would last through day 5 and 6. But this is when it all went down hill. While hunched over changing the tire my rh ribs gave away with a pop and LITTLE bit of pain. I impounded early and would have to run an extra day on old oil, my rib hurt and exertion took great concentration and control. It felt much better later in the evening after some antinflamitories and supper.
Day 5, stiff and determined and a "new" rehashed course of old and new . The first section went ok but I was being very carefull to avoid sudden impacts. Right after check 1 was a special test, reused from day 1/2 with 3 big ski jumps in it. The first 2 took its toll and the third I decided to roll with self preservation in mind. Bad idea, as the downslope was littered with loose rock and I did no have the strength to control the twisting bars. So I crashed and winced with riders flying over my head. This really sucked and so did riding after that. Muscle spasms and bla ba bla I quit at the next check.
It was very disappointing but those are the fruits of competition. I spent the rest of the day stripping my bike of my stuff and returned it the the KTM boys.
Saturday was a complete piss off. Awesome grass track for the final moto, just no water. Dumb dumb dumb, with years to prepare and no thoughts about watering the track. They raced the first three motos, all E1 or 125 2t/2504t. It was very dusty and the E2's refused to ride. One of the Knight brothers from the UK rode a lap, unknown if it was in protest or just a sighting lap, but he was attacked by the Spanish JR team who was brandishing wooden stakes. He was knocked down and bruised by the beating and the Jr team was disquailified for their stupidy.
So the cancelled the rest of the day and we went home very disappointed. Everyone wanted to see the Meeriman, Sala, Salhuman battle in the E2 or 250 2t/4504t class.
So Merriman won by a bunch. The Fins won both the World and JR trophies. Due to the Spanish teams exclusion, Kurt Casselli moved into 3rd spot in the E2 class!! That young man hauls!!!
I could babble much more about stuff that I saw and heard, but you are already bored so I will stop. Thankyou to all who supported my effort, BMG and Dave at A&E primarily, and to those of you here at UHE who had kind words and thoughts.
Fryguy
