How I became a snow bird for the weekend.

Very simple I loaded up my bike and gear and drove to Arizona for the first International Old Timer race of the year, held in a pit behind the back of an Arizona State prison near Buckeye which is near Phoenix Arizona.

I, like a lot of us was both grateful and now sick and tired of all the rain we’ve been having. I had some mold starting to grow on places that don’t see the sun, so off to Arizona for lots of sunshine, or so I thought.

I stopped by Havasu to spend a day trail riding in the desert with Eric #33. We rode on Thursday with Mark. Because I was going to practice at the track on Friday then race Saturday and Sunday. Eric took it easy on me and we only did 68 miles. His normal rides are a 95 mile and 120 mile ride. This was my first time riding in the Havasu desert area and I can tell you its kind of shitty. There are some great views just not the best of trails to get to them. But I will say that I enjoyed the ride and would mostly consider it a place to train, in that you would get to practice you’re riding skills.

If you look at one of the photos you can see I was not very successful in avoiding brush and branches on the inside corners. I couldn’t make myself move to the outside of those corners to avoid the brush and branches. (More practice needed) Friday morning I was off to the track about a three hour drive from Eric’s. 

I spent Friday afternoon practicing on the Vet track. Arizona Cycle Park has two main tracks the so called National track and the Vet track. Which in reality would make a good vintage track, (See the pictures) all the jumps were safe and the whoops tame. The track didn’t get real rough and became hard packed as the day went on, but it was fun. It was a fairly short layout and we ended up doing  9-10 lap motos.

After about two laps of Saturday morning’s practice before the first race my 350 Husky made a very large sound when landing off a jump. I limped back to the pits and discovered the rear shock had failed allowing the spring to become loose. Fortunately I had my 500 EXC with me, I pulled it out the trailer took the mirror off and went back out and finished practice. Before my race I put the old fashion pie plates on it, reset the suspension, checked the tire pressure etc. and rolled to the line. It actually worked very well and I enjoyed riding it. On Saturday anyway by Sunday the fun factor had worn off and I wanted my Husky back. Fortunately as I said the track didn’t get real rough if it had the fun factor would have left on Saturday. I did honk the horn a few times just for giggles and on Sunday a friend gave me a buck to ride the last moto with the right turn signal on, half way I changed it to the left turn signal.

A couple of friends of mine who were parked next to each other and were riding in the same class had a chance to test that friendship. One of them (Duane) had won the first two motos on Saturday and found himself behind his friend (Kerry) in moto one on Sunday, feeling a little pressure to get around him because the guy who had finished second to him on Saturday was in a couple of riders ahead of him, he picked a not so good place to try and pass Kerry and as a result they touched and Duane went down effectively losing any chance to win the moto. So in the heat of the moment he of course blamed his friend for knocking him down. His friend on the other hand didn’t know he was behind him and only felt a little bump and was unaware he had knocked Duane down. He of course found out when he got back to the pits. Friendship prevailed and he (Duane) still had a chance to win the overall if he won the final moto. Luck can be fleeting and as luck would have it in the last moto of the day Duane stalled his bike just as the gate dropped ending any chance of winning the overall. He finished third overall for the weekend.

The weather for the weekend was good, a thin cloud layer kept the sun’s rays at bay keeping the temperature cool. The club did a good job, they had a good turnout of about 100 riders. No doubt partly because of all the rain everywhere else and the fact they advertised the race would be held on the vet track. I was there a couple of years ago when the race was held on the national track (which was for the most part very good) but had a few places that turned out to be dangerous for us old guys and they got quite a few riders hurt. They had Mexican food for dinner, a nice raffle and they showed the supercross on Saturday night.

Just as the last races were starting the wind came up and started blowing dust. It was time to pack up and head home. Going home for me was the 10 to San Bernardino via the 215 to the 15 to hwy 395 to hwy 58 to the 99. About forty five miles from Riverside a traffic alert said heavy traffic ahead expect delays. After fighting the wind all the way the traffic came to a virtual halt just as the rain started and it took me over two hours to go those forty five miles. When I reached the Tehachapi Mountains it started snowing and only got worse the further up I went. It started blowing snow across the freeway and was starting to stick even on the road. Me, my pickup and camper pulling my trailer got behind a big rig and made it over to Bakersfield where it was dry. It took me fifteen and a half hours to get home. Speaking of my trailer while driving to Havasu Wednesday night I stopped for fuel and decided to eat so I drove around the station looking for a place to park. I turned down a parking lot looking for a place or a way out so I could continue looking somewhere else. Well I went about two hundred feet then turned right for another hundred feet only to discover there wasn’t a way out nor a way to turn around. Which meant I had to back my trailer out and in doing so I jack knifed the trailer into the corner of the camper putting a nice crease, dent and hole into the front of the trailer, shit, of course I didn’t discover this until I was at the track unhooking the trailer, shit.

All in all it was a good trip and I’m glad I went. Next race will be at Fernley in April.

Doug 21J