Greetings All,
Thought I'd post a short missive about the Enduro I attended last weekend.
UMC, united motorcycle club held their Not So Tuff Enuff Enduro at Anderson Dry Lake, just east of Victorville California. This enduro is supposed to part of the fun 5 Enduro series here in District 37.
I got to sign up at 0700 in the morning and the temperature was a brisk 20 degree's F, or about -6C. On the way out, about 10 miles west of the staging area, I past through an area where the temperature was 16F. Sign up was a breeze as I had downloaded and filled out an application from the district site the night before, and most people had pre entered and saved themselves $15 bucks so the line was not too long. My mates who had gone out the day before had reserved a spot for me on minute 45.
After sign up it was off to find my minute partners, they weren't far away and neither was the first drama of the day. A friend of mine had just bought a new 505 XCW, you know, the electric start only model. Well, with ice all over everything, his bike refused to start on the button and he had to get pull started by another KTM, a 200. Even after pull starting with the choke on, the bike would barely run. The bike died and had to pull started again, and this scenario repeated itself several times all the way up to when we were leaving for the start. He did let the bike idle for sometime, but, it just overheated, and was still running crappy. I couldn't get to the fuel screw as it is right next to the electric starter.
I was trying to help as much as I could through all of this, eventually providing a few pull starts with the blue and yellow tractor. But, I had to get over to tech and get sound checked which was a breeze. When I came back from tech got ready to go and we were already to split, and the 505 died again, panic, find a strap that wasn't put away and get it fired. Consequently, we got to the start after our minute was called, and we got away just before minute 46 was started.
This resulted in me not being able to start my timer when they counted down, and this being the first time I had ever used a roll chart and an odometer, and a clock together did not help my comfort level very much. Soon, we were cruising along and I could see that the roll chart, which I made myself with some help of Chris Blais Dad, was working great with the odometer and timer. Unfortunately, the Husaberg odometer does not display a trip odometer, or odometer for that matter and any kind of timing device at the same time, like the KTM one that looks just like it does. So that meant I had to keep scrolling through a few different displays every time I wanted to check my location. I disabled several of the functions to keep the scrolling to a minimum, however, next time I'm just going to get a cheap LCD clock and put it on my bar pad so that I can see my odometer, the time, and the roll chart at the same time so I won't have to mess with my trip master switch.
I was two minutes late to the first check, dang, didn't see that coming, thought I was on time. At the next check I rolled in on what I thought was perfect time with my 505 buddy right on my fender and as I came into the check I heard the timer shout out 45 and thought I was in the chips, but, they wrote down 44 on my card, and 45 on my buddies. Got to the reset and checked time with another fellow and found I was off by about 20 seconds on my timer, so tried to keep that in mind for the rest of the first loop. I don't remember what I got at the next check, but, was right on time for the known finish. This first loop was supposed to be a family fun loop, but, it was pretty fast and whooped out in a lot of places, and several hills and technical sections would have proved very difficult for the true beginner or green novice. The course was marked really well, and the mileage was spot on @ 41.6, including the 2 mile reset.
Since it was several miles back to the truck from the finish, by the time we got back we had used up 8 minutes of the 25 minute break between our first and second loop. It's amazing how little 17 minutes is when you have to refuel, the bike and the body, and then try and be a few minutes early to make sure of the whole timing thing.
We started right on time for the second loop, and got my timer started on time as well so my confidence level was good from the start. The second loop started out a bit like the first, kind of fast and whooped out, but, quickly turned up into the rocky hills and stayed there for most of the 35 or so miles. The hills were hard pack with loose rocks on top, like riding on ball bearings most of the time. Again the course was marked well, or at least I thought. My minute partners were in front of me, and pretty soon they were gone from sight. I thought I was really sucking hard in the harder terrain, just couldn't find a rhythm no matter how I tried. I later figured out that while I was helping my buddy with his drama, I had forgot to set my tire pressures down and was running 25 front and rear. No wonder I was skidding all over the place.
After a while I came to the "10 minutes free time", a reset without a reset so to speak and was glad as there was a rock lodged between my boot and my shin, it had been there for several miles and was really becoming annoying to say the least. While I was sitting down emptying my boot, my minute partners showed up, well at least two of them did. The other fella on the 200 had flatted and had taken a road straight back to camp.
At the end of the free time the three of us were off again, speed averages for both loops ranged between 18-27mph, which in some cases was really moving, if you know what I mean. The course started to become more varied with some steep off camber hills and tight little sand washes where the sand just below the surface was damp and there was some great berms in the corners. By this time I had got myself to go faster by slowing down and was finding a good rhythm. I came into a check and was 4 minutes late, having found my rhythm I started pushing hard to make up some time. As it turns out, I never would make up that time, but I had fun trying. Now I was able to ride much more aggressively, and was really enjoying the point and squirt nature of the course. The last several miles were pretty fast and open, and I was using mainly 5th and 6th gear still trying to make up some time before the known finish.
My two partners had stayed with me for some time until I got comfortable and I gradually pulled away, 5 minutes ahead of one, and 8 ahead of the other. I ended up 5 minutes late at the known finish.
The day had turned out nice with temps rising to the mid 50's by noon, and there was a little wind of about 15 mph.
It was a great learning experience and I am really looking forward to the next one and hope to do much better there.
Thought I'd post a short missive about the Enduro I attended last weekend.
UMC, united motorcycle club held their Not So Tuff Enuff Enduro at Anderson Dry Lake, just east of Victorville California. This enduro is supposed to part of the fun 5 Enduro series here in District 37.
I got to sign up at 0700 in the morning and the temperature was a brisk 20 degree's F, or about -6C. On the way out, about 10 miles west of the staging area, I past through an area where the temperature was 16F. Sign up was a breeze as I had downloaded and filled out an application from the district site the night before, and most people had pre entered and saved themselves $15 bucks so the line was not too long. My mates who had gone out the day before had reserved a spot for me on minute 45.
After sign up it was off to find my minute partners, they weren't far away and neither was the first drama of the day. A friend of mine had just bought a new 505 XCW, you know, the electric start only model. Well, with ice all over everything, his bike refused to start on the button and he had to get pull started by another KTM, a 200. Even after pull starting with the choke on, the bike would barely run. The bike died and had to pull started again, and this scenario repeated itself several times all the way up to when we were leaving for the start. He did let the bike idle for sometime, but, it just overheated, and was still running crappy. I couldn't get to the fuel screw as it is right next to the electric starter.
I was trying to help as much as I could through all of this, eventually providing a few pull starts with the blue and yellow tractor. But, I had to get over to tech and get sound checked which was a breeze. When I came back from tech got ready to go and we were already to split, and the 505 died again, panic, find a strap that wasn't put away and get it fired. Consequently, we got to the start after our minute was called, and we got away just before minute 46 was started.
This resulted in me not being able to start my timer when they counted down, and this being the first time I had ever used a roll chart and an odometer, and a clock together did not help my comfort level very much. Soon, we were cruising along and I could see that the roll chart, which I made myself with some help of Chris Blais Dad, was working great with the odometer and timer. Unfortunately, the Husaberg odometer does not display a trip odometer, or odometer for that matter and any kind of timing device at the same time, like the KTM one that looks just like it does. So that meant I had to keep scrolling through a few different displays every time I wanted to check my location. I disabled several of the functions to keep the scrolling to a minimum, however, next time I'm just going to get a cheap LCD clock and put it on my bar pad so that I can see my odometer, the time, and the roll chart at the same time so I won't have to mess with my trip master switch.
I was two minutes late to the first check, dang, didn't see that coming, thought I was on time. At the next check I rolled in on what I thought was perfect time with my 505 buddy right on my fender and as I came into the check I heard the timer shout out 45 and thought I was in the chips, but, they wrote down 44 on my card, and 45 on my buddies. Got to the reset and checked time with another fellow and found I was off by about 20 seconds on my timer, so tried to keep that in mind for the rest of the first loop. I don't remember what I got at the next check, but, was right on time for the known finish. This first loop was supposed to be a family fun loop, but, it was pretty fast and whooped out in a lot of places, and several hills and technical sections would have proved very difficult for the true beginner or green novice. The course was marked really well, and the mileage was spot on @ 41.6, including the 2 mile reset.
Since it was several miles back to the truck from the finish, by the time we got back we had used up 8 minutes of the 25 minute break between our first and second loop. It's amazing how little 17 minutes is when you have to refuel, the bike and the body, and then try and be a few minutes early to make sure of the whole timing thing.
We started right on time for the second loop, and got my timer started on time as well so my confidence level was good from the start. The second loop started out a bit like the first, kind of fast and whooped out, but, quickly turned up into the rocky hills and stayed there for most of the 35 or so miles. The hills were hard pack with loose rocks on top, like riding on ball bearings most of the time. Again the course was marked well, or at least I thought. My minute partners were in front of me, and pretty soon they were gone from sight. I thought I was really sucking hard in the harder terrain, just couldn't find a rhythm no matter how I tried. I later figured out that while I was helping my buddy with his drama, I had forgot to set my tire pressures down and was running 25 front and rear. No wonder I was skidding all over the place.
After a while I came to the "10 minutes free time", a reset without a reset so to speak and was glad as there was a rock lodged between my boot and my shin, it had been there for several miles and was really becoming annoying to say the least. While I was sitting down emptying my boot, my minute partners showed up, well at least two of them did. The other fella on the 200 had flatted and had taken a road straight back to camp.
At the end of the free time the three of us were off again, speed averages for both loops ranged between 18-27mph, which in some cases was really moving, if you know what I mean. The course started to become more varied with some steep off camber hills and tight little sand washes where the sand just below the surface was damp and there was some great berms in the corners. By this time I had got myself to go faster by slowing down and was finding a good rhythm. I came into a check and was 4 minutes late, having found my rhythm I started pushing hard to make up some time. As it turns out, I never would make up that time, but I had fun trying. Now I was able to ride much more aggressively, and was really enjoying the point and squirt nature of the course. The last several miles were pretty fast and open, and I was using mainly 5th and 6th gear still trying to make up some time before the known finish.
My two partners had stayed with me for some time until I got comfortable and I gradually pulled away, 5 minutes ahead of one, and 8 ahead of the other. I ended up 5 minutes late at the known finish.
The day had turned out nice with temps rising to the mid 50's by noon, and there was a little wind of about 15 mph.
It was a great learning experience and I am really looking forward to the next one and hope to do much better there.
