Good Work...NCWR

A friend of mine and I were catching up the other day and I was telling him about what I’d been doing the past three weeks and even though he’s a motorcyclist he had no idea that a motorcycle club was doing the kinds of things this club is.

NCWR stands for Nevada County Woods Riders and I dare say most people don’t  know clubs like this exist. There are a lot of riders out there who take the trail systems we ride on for granted and don’t give it much thought about who helps maintain the trails, the Forest Service can’t do it all.

I joined the club last year for a number of reasons. A lot of my riding friends belong to the club, I trail ride up in the Tahoe National Forest at Burlington north of Nevada City. The club has a very close working relationship with US Forest Service around Northern CA and is contracted with the Forest Service to help provide trail maintenance for the Burlington trail system as well helping in the Foresthill trail system and other locations.

We just spent the last three weekends clearing the trails in Burlington as well as the Foresthill trails so the riding areas could be reopened. The club keeps track of volunteers’ hours and turns them into the Forest Service who gets reimbursed from the Federal Government for our time. That helps the Forest Service as well as us in the long run.

The turnout of volunteers the past three weekends has been amazing, fourteen the first weekend, twenty one the second week and twenty four the third weekend, well over 700 volunteer hours this year already, that is amazing. I think we’ve removed over 150 downed trees from the trails in that time and that doesn’t count all the limbs and other trash. We’ve cut up fallen trees from three inches up thirty inches. They also help in keeping the Pioneer trail clear in the area that inter twines with the trail system. The pioneer trail is used by horseback and mountain bike riders.

Because of the work the club does, a couple of years ago they received a grant from Yamaha which allowed the club to purchase an enclosed  two axle trailer as well as the equipment  needed to outfit the interior with chain saws and other tools to clear the forest. They work with an equestrian club in the Nevada County area along with a couple of mountain bike clubs to help promote unity. 

They put on events during the year, a yearly dual sport ride in Nevada County for family, friends and members. When the weather is good usually once a month there will be a dual sport ride during the week called “The retirees ride” and then on weekends another ride for those who still have to work. Every month or so there will be an organized trail ride, not always at Burlington. They occasionally have joint events usually around trail work but not always with the equestrian group and the mountain bike clubs, plus some charity events during the year. They have volunteered for years to help with the parking of motor homes and trailers for the annual Hangtown National Motocross event held at Prairie City.

We have monthly meetings that are usually standing room only. The club continues to grow and grow which shows there are a lot of good people out there who are willing to be part of what this club stands for. Below is taken off the front page of the club’s website.

The Nevada County Woods Riders (NCWR) brings together off-road motorcycle enthusiasts to enjoy trail rides and fun activities. NCWR promotes responsible trail use, advocates for off-road vehicle (OHV) access rights and fosters trail improvement programs with the Tahoe National forest Service.

NCWR is a not-for profit motorcycle club based in Grass Valley. And is a Chartered member of the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) and dist 36.

They have an excellent Website with a general discussion section where lots of communication happens. I’ve received as many as 20 general discussion Email’s in a day, a lot of back and forth about various subjects, it’s great.

For me its chance to give back and be part of a very worthy cause, the fellowship and camaraderie with like minded people is priceless these days. Don’t get me wrong it’s far from all work and no play; it’s a great group of men and women and I’m very proud to be a part of it.

A little history of the club, it was sort of formed in 1973 and was at first primarily a competition only club, by that I mean most of the members rode Dist 36 enduro’s and cross country events, but over the years it has morphed into what it is today.

The early trails were created in the greenhorn area and slowly moved north over the years toward the Burlington area. In the eighties and nineties there were a handful of riders who opened riding trails in the Burlington area which is part of the Tahoe National Forest. The Pioneer trail was for horses originally but is now also used by mountain bikers. Whenever necessary these trail blazers would create new trails to make sure they stayed off the Pioneer trails. 

During the Clinton administration a decision was made to close as much of the forests as they could get away with and at some point the woods riders discovered notices posted on the trails they had created saying they were part of the Pioneer Trail. The club reached out to the local horsemen’s club to find out why and was told any trails previously marked would not be closed according to the Federal Government that was a sign of early cooperation between the horsemen and the club. That started a spirited debate within the club about what to do to make sure all the trails they had created wouldn’t be taken away. Eventually the club partnered with the Forest Service to turn the Burlington trails into an OHV area. The club was given a grant to create a staging area and a bathroom at the beginning of the trail system. Over the years many more miles have been added to the trail system by the Forest Service and the club.

If you want more information about the club you can go to woodsriders.clubexpress.com

Doug 21J

PS There’s another organization I’m sure nobody’s heard of its called the Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship their focus is primarily in the Tahoe, Plumas and Lassen National forests. They are dedicated to the restoration, preservation and enhancement of recreational trails of the lost Sierras. They have created over nine hundred miles of trail and help maintain a total of over eleven hundred. Their long term vision is to connect fifteen mountain communities with trails. Trails that can be used by hikers, bicycle and motorcycle enthusiasts to help provide these small communities some much needed revenue opportunities who have struggled since the timber industry shut down. You can contact them at sierratrails.org 

Doug's Thoughts On Mammoth Bar OHV

Many years ago now the river rafters were successful in closing down the park to the current days it’s opened. This was a compromise; they wanted it shut down completely. They complained about the noise as they drifted by the short distance where the park is. This park has been under attack by various groups for many years. The Mammoth Bar area has been used by motorcyclists for probably well over sixty years. I’m not sure when it became part of Auburn Recreational Dist.

Because it’s a State run OHV park someone, not sure if it’s Auburn Recreational Dist receive funds from the State OHV fund to operate Mammoth Bar. I was told by a very reliable source they (Someone) receive well over four hundred thousand a year to operate Mammoth Bar. In the last three years alone all I’ve seen done is they have put up fences and gates to make sure riders can’t use some of the trails and pile up dirt from where the old track was. The trails that are left consist mostly of a lower two track road that goes about two miles and currently dead ends so you have to turn around and ride back the same way. A very rocky road that goes up and meets a single track trail that goes about another two miles and dead ends and you have to turn around and ride back against riders coming the other way, you get the picture. 

The OHV money is supposed to be used for Mammoth Bar only and I’d like to know what all that money (Well over a million dollars) has been spent on the past three years alone, certainly not to improve the experience there.

As I said there are a number of well organized groups in the area who have their own agenda’s which do not include the motorcyclist’s interests.

Sadly, I would be very surprised if anything every moves forward there, I think there are enough other influences to keep anything of any real substance from ever happening there. Problem is if they shut it down completely there goes the money they (someone) receive from the State OHV fund.

So the real question is what is all that OHV money being spent on?

I, along with my fellow motorcyclists don’t know how to get our voices really heard, don’t know if you would be interested in investigating this for those of us who have no voice at all?

Doug McCaleb

PS you have my permission to print this if you wish.

21J’s 217th and latest new project

Well I did it again got myself a new bike. Now hear me out, I have perfectly good reasons for doing this, in my mind of course.

If you remember last summer after I was hurt at the Sierra Old Timers MX race at the Hangtown track and had too much time on my hands, I decided I wanted a 2020 Husky 300 TPi two stroke and I made it happen by selling my perfectly good 2017 KTM 250 XCW two stroke, I also sold my perfectly good 2017 Husky FC450 I used for racing MX. Plus a small loan from my personal banker (My wife) I didn’t ride it much as I was still recovering from my big ass crash at Hangtown. But as fall turned into winter and when we finally had some rain, I thought well I don’t want to ride my new bike in the mud so I need to buy some sort of mud bike that I won’t have to feel obligated to clean after every ride. I know, don’t say it, it made perfect sense to me and since I’m only concerned in pleasing me it made perfect sense.

I found a 2009 KTM 250XCFW with a 290cc kit installed on Craigslist, it looked crappy and the price was right, perfect. When I went to look at it, it looked just as bad in person. But it had everything on it you could imagine I wouldn’t need to add a thing except tires. The guy bought it brand new and kept records of every oil and filter change and valve checks. Plus receipts for every part he bought for it and the date installed. I thought his record keeping didn’t match the look of the bike. When I got it home and started cleaning it up I discovered it was not only in excellent mechanical condition it was very clean under all the dried mud. It looked so clean I started thinking I can’t ride this in the mud.

Well I did and enjoyed riding it to the point I didn’t ride the 300 very often. Don’t get me wrong the 250/290 couldn’t compare to the 300 but I did enjoy riding the 4 stroke. So now I start thinking (Dangerous) I prefer riding a four stroke over a two stroke at this point I should have taken a long, cold shower.

So I sold the 2020 300 TPi with 16hrs on it and naturally took a big bath but had almost enough money to buy the four stroke along with another small loan from my wife. You getting the picture my wife has money and I don’t, you would be right, I do pay the loans back, my wife is not that easy.

So I bought a 2020 Husky FE350. The main reason for buying the Husky over a KTM was the Explor forks I prefer them and do not trust air forks for trail riding, or at least that’s my story. The other factors were the Husky came with head and tail lights, odo/speedo, a skid plate, cooling fan and a muffler spark arrestor. The Rekluse I had taken out of the 300 would work in the 350 with some small additions. I also had the left handed operated rear brake I’d taken off the 300 as well, along with the steering damper. I only needed about $300 total to outfit the Husky instead of the usual $1000 to $2000 normally needed.

So while I’m picking up the bike I find out this bike is a Green Sticker bike. It’s the same bike as the FE350s street model, except for the turn signals, horn and street tires etc. So in other words it’s choked down. The good news on the Husky’s is it actually has very little smog equipment on it. A fuel evap system that has nothing to do with horsepower and an O2 sensor system that controls everything else, no smog pump device etc.

The bike is naturally very, very quiet which makes it feel as though it’s very slow. The only place I’ve able to ride it so far is at Moon Rocks outside of Reno. I’m not a big desert riding fan, but when that’s all that’s available right now Moon Rocks it is. I was kind of disappointed in my first ride I thought it was kind of low on power later I find out map 1 is the dumbed down power version. Map 2 is much better. I won’t really know how the power feels until I can ride it somewhere else like the forest.

But in order to ride it at Moon Rocks I had to turn the compression all the way in on the forks and shock. It was ok, but if I primarily rode desert I’d have to put stiffer springs on it at the least. Before the second ride at Moon rocks I pushed the fork tubes down to the first ring, thinking that would make it more stable for the desert, I also put two rounds in on the shock spring. I also cut the spark arrestor it came with off because it is very restrictive, installed a Dr. D. spark arrestor screen. The second ride started out bad I felt totally uncomfortable. I stopped and pushed the tubes up to the second ring, it was much better. Before the third ride I replaced the front tire (AT81) with an oversized Shinko tire I like for the woods. Well the power was now better in map 2 with the less restrictive S/A screen, but I again I struggled, I felt very uncomfortable with the front end and my balance wasn’t good that day so I was all over the place.

The other thing I’m not yet comfortable with is climbing hills; three times now I’ve gotten almost to the top of some of the steeper hills and didn’t make it. Each time it was because I didn’t shift into first fast enough. I was expecting to be able to climb most of the hills in second. Part of the problem is the rear wheel spin the rest is me I believe, but again I thought it would have more lower end grunt than it seemed to have. I totally forgot about the Traction Control feature on the map switch. I haven’t tried it yet.

So for the 4^th ride I’ve made more changes, I put a gummy tire on the rear, I put the front AT81 tire back on for the desert, changed out the 52 rear sprocket for a 51 and I gutted the rest of the muffler, Husky 4 strokes have what they call an all world muffler besides the restrictive spark arrester they have what looks like two tall dunce or tall witches hats installed butt to butt in the muffler tube. It’s definitely louder now therefore it must have more power, right. Now I need an electronic fuel regulator so I can add more fuel throughout RPM range which should also give the bike more power. So it’s off to Moon Rocks tomorrow to try out the latest changes.

Well 45+ miles later and some of the changes worked out and some not so much. The AT81 didn’t solve the knifing issue, at slow speeds the front end feels unstable and the tire didn’t help. I demonstrated that by falling twice on the first twisting, loose, steep downhill, it knifed in and down I went. Certainly my fault I think I applied to much front brake along with the bikes desire to knife in. I must say the bike is stable once you get going and handles great, a little twitchy but I think all bikes move around in the sand. I had several of the other riders ride my bike to see if they got the same impression and the answer was yes. That was a good thing and puzzling, because each rider had their answers as to what I should do and of course they were totally different. So I tried a little of each of their suggestions, some helped and some didn’t. When we got back to the truck I started making changes to front then the back and so forth. I found some things just before I loaded up to leave, after 45 miles I was pooped. Oh and yes it had a lot more power, but was definitely running lean and yes I did use the TC (Traction control) it helped a lot. But I think I now have a better idea where to start suspension wise the next time I ride in the desert. I stopped in Truckee on the way back and picked up an electronic fuel tuner from a guy. I installed it the next day and set the new fuel requirements. It’s been amazing to feel the difference from when I first got this bike to now it’s night and day.

It’s interesting to note The 2020 TE 300 TPi I had I was paranoid about getting it dirty, even bought the mud bike, but with this bike I don’t feel the same. I’ve boony crashed this one I’ve scrapped up some of the plastic already and seem to be ok with it.

Need to ride it in the woods now.

Doug 21J

Doug's ISDE Adventure Part 2!

2019 ISDE Portimao Portugal Part 2

I’m going to tell this story as it unfolded sort of a day by day.

I couldn’t get any of my friends to go with me so I ended up going by myself. My wife wasn’t interested in spending all of her time involved in something to do with motorcycles, so she didn’t want to go either. In retrospect it would have been much better if someone had gone with me.

My flying schedule was Sacramento to Dallas, Dallas to Madrid Spain, and Madrid to Lisbon Portugal, about eighteen plus hour’s worth. The first thing I did was piss off a great big man at the airport. I could tell he was going to be on my flight to Dallas and I says to him “It would be just my luck that I’ll have to sit next to you on our flight” he didn’t like that, he didn’t say anything but I could just feel he didn’t like that I said that. So as the universe often does be careful what you do not wish for in this case because instead of me sitting next to the really, really big man I ended up  sitting next to me another big man this one a much smaller version only about 6’4” and 260 lbs. We ended up having a great conversation on our way to Dallas. I did luck out on my flight to Madrid I had a small woman next to me. The rest of my flight to Lisbon was uneventful. I picked up my rental car which was supposed to be a small sedan with an automatic transmission for $15 a day. By this time its dark 4:30PM local time I’m rummy from the long day and about to insert myself into downtown Lisbon traffic and when I get to my car it’s a full sized BMW 420 Turbo charged Diesel. I had to have someone show me how to drive it. They didn’t have anything else at the time so I was stuck with it. Thinking that by looking at a map I should be able to find my way to the hotel, should be no problem. Holly shit was I wrong, turns out Portugal along with most of Europe is full of round-a-bout’s downtown Lisbon did not have any real street signs and most of the street’s names are made up of somebody who was someone and they apparently all have really, really long names. First of all I had a hard time finding my way out of the airport and when I did, found myself faced with Roundy bout’s with as many as five lanes going around and around and had as many as four exits out of them with a least three lanes of one way traffic coming at you, there were even stop lights involved, with cars merging from different angles it was downright scary. After getting completely lost and as it turned out headed in the wrong direction I found a semi safe place to be and fired up my phones GPS. So much for me looking at a map and thinking no problem, I can find my way; dumb. Finally I get to my Hotel and decide to use the underground parking at the hotel. Holly shit it was designed for a Model “A” not a full sized BMW. I put a nice scrape on the front bumper of the black Beamer because I couldn’t make one of the corners without backing up first. 

After a good night’s sleep I decided no way was I going to venture out in my big Beamer to look around downtown Lisbon. If I had someone to help with the navigation it would have been doable. So I wasted the day walking around the area, worried about how I was going to get out of there and headed to Portimao. Armed with some input from the people at the Hotel and my new friend Goggle Maps I ventured out the next day. In the daylight things didn’t seem quite as scary especially when I got out of Lisbon. The freeways I was on were toll roads and were great with plenty of signs to tell you where you were going. Finally Saturday afternoon after having made an unscheduled trip through Portimao, my fault not Google Maps I made it to the hotel.

I spent Sunday with Anson and his entourage walking special tests. We walked both of the sand tracks which were used twice a day on Monday and Tuesday that means in two days two thousand riders ran on those two tests you can imagine how rough they got.

The third test we walked was in the mountains and was what I had anticipated most of the tests would look like. It was a very hilly grass track that was very technical and fast, part of it went up into the eucalyptus trees which were terraced and made for some difficult up and downs. Most of the test was on a farmer’s land which by look of the droppings he grazed sheep and cows on it. And in the middle of all this was a shelter and a great big dog that was named by the entourage Kugo. (After the movie Kugo) He was I think a Great Peranize and was mostly black and about 150 lbs. He did not like anyone being there and the course ran right next to him just out reach when chain was fully extended. I understand they rerouted the track a little so it wasn’t as close to him. We couldn’t get over to see him it was very muddy and slick. If they did just re routed the course around him that means the dog was still there the whole time, interesting. I talked with one of the USA women’s trophy team members about that test and the ladies had named it the “Sheep shit test”

Parts of Saturday and Sunday were spent trying to find out about the wrist bands that were needed by most of us to get into the paddock area. The place we were supposed to get them was moved several times. By late Sunday afternoon we were told the cart track was it, so we headed over and were able to buy our purple wrist bands.

So early Monday morning with my purple wrist band driving my big black BMV I drove my ass right up to the tunnel entrance to the paddock and was promptly told my purple wrist band didn’t mean shit. A few minutes later I was able to catch a ride with Anson’s folks who were also going drive into the paddock via the tunnel it didn’t work for them either. So they called Anson who was already in the Paddock, Anson had Anthony one of the entourage people run down the tunnel with a big blue dot placard for the front windshield that would allow us to drive in. Well the guard saw all this and still wouldn’t let us drive in and not only that wouldn’t allow Anthony to go back into the paddock. Well that stirred things up a bit and it got pretty ugly between Dennis (Anson’s dad) and the guard. Bottom line is we didn’t get in and had to wait until 8:00 AM for the peasant’s gate to open so we could walk in. Think about that, we were unable to get into the paddock until 8:00 AM on the first day of the ISDE by this time all the Trophy team riders had left the paddock. By the next day they had fixed that and some other issues and the peasant’s gate now opened at 6:00AM. If you read some of the media reports there were a lot of issues the organizers had. It smoothed out a little bit as the week went on. Communication was a big issue and I know the USA team sometimes did not get the information they needed for the following day until long after the sun had gone down.

For us (Dennis and Catherina) we could now drive right in and past the same guard who the day before would not let us in. It was very tempting to show him what his IQ was.

We spent Monday and Tuesday racing back and forth between test 1, 2 and the paddock, that’s me Dennis and Catharina Anson’ folks. We were in the paddock when the Trophy riders came in, which they did every day and had time to have their bikes refueled only, they aren’t allowed to work on them. Most riders took this time to sit down rest drink and eat little PP and J sandwiches eat a banana etc.

I’ve read stories about what a character Steward Baylor is, so into the pits he rides puts his bike on a stand drops his fanny pack and water pack lays his helmet down and out of nowhere produces a big chew and packs his lower lip with it, then I see him drinking Red Bull. He never sat down during this time either. Later that week I ride down the elevator with him, he’s on his way to a USA team meeting and has in his hand a great big beer.

Monday and Tuesday we saw the Vintage bikes starting to show up, I think their races started on Thursday. It was amazing to walk around and see some great old bikes, some I had never heard of no doubt because they never made it to the US. Out on the special tests some of those bikes looked very capable and the sounds some made were fantastic. One in particular was a twin two stroke Moto Guzzi and sounded a little like an F1 car it wasn’t very fast but sounded good.

Wednesday some new special tests were added a great big wide open field that I believe was the longest test of the event. As a side note Joseph Garcia a Trophy rider for Spain was the first rider to go out on this test and as he was making his way toward the finish and in full view of everyone was suddenly yanked off his bike, he had to scramble to catch up to it and finish the test. When he passed the timing line he threw his bike down and started screaming at the test officials and kicking at the banners in other words throwing a fit. A couple of days later we learned he had a piece of wire imbedded in the ground catch his boot and yank him off the bike. The whole area around there had wire lying around. They rerouted the course around that particular area. They also were going to use the Kugo test that morning but the weather was such like rain and no visibility they canceled it, but then at the last minute they went head with it. The first time through was very, very muddy and slick. The second time around it was better. It was fun to watch people trying to navigate the slick off camber grass parking lot in their vehicles at this check. Even saw a bunch of guys jump out of a van and push on the right side to keep it from sliding into parked cars.

Sometime early Wednesday afternoon on one of the transfer sections a rocky uphill, club riders starting getting stuck which created a huge bottleneck and eventually the FIM made the decision to stop the day’s event and return all the club riders to the paddock. All the Trophy riders had made it and continued through the rest of the tests.

This made for a huge cluster you know what at the entrance to the paddock. And on top of that the decision was made they couldn’t enter the paddock area to work on their bikes until all the trophy team riders had finished the rest of their tests and had changed tires etc. and had re impounded their bikes. Hours later the club riders were finally allowed into the pits in groups because that would have caused another cluster you know what. Wednesday ended up being a very long day.

I worked test 7 again on Wednesday but this time only the Trophy teams went through because of the bottleneck. I was standing amongst the USA Trophy and JR Trophy riders (How about that) waiting for them to be allowed to start test 7. I asked the riders what they thought about Daniel Sanders (Australia) performance so far (Who had by this time established himself as the dominant rider) they all agreed they didn’t know how he was getting such great traction while they were struggling to get it. He was riding a Husky 501 and seemed to be able put the power and traction of that bike to the ground everywhere I saw him. He was visibly faster than anyone else with perhaps the exception of Joseph Garcia who was riding a 250 and just carried a lot of speed everywhere. Through the first four days the last test, test 7 was across the street from the racing facility and the paddock.

On Thursday we went back out to the big open field again this time as we made the long uphill walk it was windy as usual but started sprinkling as we were waiting for the first Trophy team riders to come in, it started pouring along with the wind it was miserable, some of those waiting took over the row of out houses and stood in the doorways to stay out of the weather. After all the Trophy riders had gone through and before the club riders arrived an ambulance parked next to the out houses took off headed in the direction the club riders would come from. Time goes on and on and no club riders, then all of a sudden about 200 of them show up all at once which made for a very chaotic entrance to the test. Turns out the ambulance turned over and blocked the trail. Another cluster you know what.

Back in the pits that afternoon I’m watching all the Trophy riders changing tires and I happened to be standing near Steward Baylor who seems to ride and work on his bike at a nice steady pace. His brother Grant who was riding on the JR Trophy team and always are a few minutes behind the Trophy riders came in and was obviously upset about something Stewart was trying to calm him down while working on a tire. Finally Steward stopped working on his tire and walked over to Grant who was about three bikes away talking to him in an effort to calm him down, that’s brotherly love, right there. Later that evening I’m going down the elevator along with Steward Baylor who was on his way to a Team USA meeting with a great big beer in his hand. This sort of confirmed the Stewart Baylor stories. 

Friday I was supposed to work test 8 which was a long way away and I wasn’t sure how I was going to get there, the BMW would not have been up to the task, but in the morning they canceled the test which made the day much shorter than normal. We had gotten the word by then there would be a final motocross at the cart track which we all walked late that afternoon.

Friday evening at dinner which would be our last evening meal together the reality of the long week and event had begun to sink in, it was kind of sad, seemed like the week had just started and now so quickly we were at the end. I had the chance to say goodbye to a lot of those whom I had met during the week. During the week I had the chance to sit eat and have conversations with a lot of very, very nice people. Not one person was rude or in considerate, all the riders I met and talked with were very humble and open just as you would hope they would be. And I was surprised at the height of a lot of the riders they were much taller than I expected. Example, I’ve seen interviews with Rick Russell and I always thought he looked like a little guy and wondered how he could ride a 450, well turns out he’s like 6’ 4” and a blade.

Late Saturday afternoon after the last motocross test I walked down pit row and by this time it was becoming a ghost town. A lot of the riders had already cleaned their bike dismantled them and repacked them into their shipping crates. It was kind of sad. Saturday night after the final event I could hear one of those groups or a mixture of them smashing up one of the hotel rooms in celebration, that’s going to cost someone a lot of money

The Algarve facility had a world class road race course and the same for the cart track. When not raining super bikes and cars were on the road race circuit, all day and into the night, the sounds were amazing. I could watch in the distance the bikes and cars from my balcony at night that was really amazing the sounds and with their headlights on darting around the track in the dark. Although I’m sure there were a lot of those who didn’t enjoy it.

On another note I realized that week just how far behind I am in the world of phone technology, compared to everyone I was around I’m still in the party line era.

Before I end this there were a number of things I saw that are worth mentioning like, the purple helmeted Isle of Man Sheepskull Enduro Riders. They all wore World War II British full length brown trench coats; all were very, very worn and tattered. They rode a variety of piece of shit bikes and never missed an opportunity to have a pint of ale, a bunch of good fellas they were. They apparently travel to every ISDE they can. Then there were the dozen or so scoter riders all young guys wearing skull cap helmets having a great time and  were absolutely crazy riders. The first three or four days you would see them everywhere. Didn’t see them the last couple of days, I wondered if one or more of them had crashed and it had dampened their enthusiasm.

As I said in part 1 most of the riders changed a front and rear tire each day. Toward the end of the week people from other countries would line up to buy the only used once tires. The USA stored the tires on top of one of the containers and one night someone got into the paddock and stole 31 rear tires.

Oh and I finally got the hang of driving my Black Beauty BMW, a little bit, enjoyed driving it back to Lisbon where I promptly got lost trying to return it at the airport. It took me five trips around to finally pick the right exit to the rental car returns.

Doug21J

Doug's ISDE Adventure!

2019 ISDE Portimao, Portugal Part 1

I decided to make this story in two parts. The first will be sort of a nuts and bolts version for those who want a bottom line story the second will be more about the stories and the people. I was gone for 14 days in that time a lot can happen and did happen.

This was one of those life time experiences. I’ve wanted to go to an ISDE six days event for many, many years. So this year was the year, one of these years I will no longer able to go. This year’s event was in Portugal a country I’ve wanted to visit for some time.

This is one of those events that going to could easily become addictive in wanting to go every year. I’ve been able to experience other events like this and found them to be mesmerizing and addictive. I’ve been to the all three of the events that comprise the Baja series, even participated as a rider in the San Felipe 250 a number of years ago. There’s nothing quite like waiting for your rider in the pits in the middle of the night. Quarter mile long pits with bond fires and sporadic fireworks going off and having trophy trucks, bikes or quads flying through the pits. Or the same kind of story at the 24 hours of Glen Helen, no bond fires or fireworks but the sound of generators in the middle of the night humming providing lights in an eerily quiet scene interrupted only by a rider coming and leaving the pits. 

A lot time and money are needed to commit to participating in or just spectating year after year in one on these kinds of events.

I’ve been able to watch very good even great riders over the years doing their thing and the ISDE is full of very good even great riders. But for me in the end the shear enormity and complexity of the event to a degree over shadowed the riders themselves. It took me about three days into the event before I began to understand what was really going on around me. Most of us have watched highlights and have an idea how things work but when your are there things happen in a hurry and it’s difficult to keep track of what’s going on, or what needs to go on.

I helped man USA’s test seven three times during the week and that gets very, very chaotic. We (The volunteers) will when a USA rider comes into any test section test seven in my case we will meet them before they enter the test and if they want will hand us their fanny pack and or water packs so they won’t have them on when going through a test. At the end of the test and as they leave the test area someone will hand their stuff back to them. One of the volunteers will write down their test times and many times will show them the sheet so they can see their time as well as their teammate’s times. In the case of the Trophy riders they would often tell them what some of the top competitors did in that test. We would do this for all the USA Trophy riders and club team riders. The one thing all the riders had in common when they came into a test section was complete focus, when you looked into the opening in their helmets you could see they were locked in, in a zone barely noticing you or what’s around them, amazing. But most would take a moment to thank you, either on their way into or most times on their way out of a test as well, much appreciated by us volunteers.

The start of a test section is always on the right side and the finish on the left and they are virtually side by side. When a rider presents himself at the start they will move onto a steel grate, there is a 20 second clock that will start they can leave anytime during that 20 seconds and must leave before it hits zero. They will usually wait until the clock is almost zero; especially when it’s dusty, they want as much space as possible between themselves and the rider in front of them. If there is a line of riders that 20 second clock will start right away sometimes before a rider can get set in the gate by then maybe half the time will be gone, so they don’t always get a full 20 seconds and must leave before zero. The end of a test can be wild; riders trying to get every millisecond they can makes for some crazy finishes.

We’ve all heard about only riders can work on their bikes people can hand them tools etc. The exception to this is someone can take the gas cap off and put gas in the bike, the exception to that would be a Yamaha which has as part of the seat a cover that covers the fuel cap, the rider must take that off and put it back on. You aren’t supposed to even touch a rider when he’s on the bike because he’s now part of the bike and you can’t touch the bike, interesting. All though I saw people all week helping riders put their fanny and water packs back on at the end of special tests.

The paddock/pits were enormous with country after country represented from the big rigs like you’d see at national events here in this country down to individuals with the pop ups and working out of the back of a van or in some cases a car pulling a trailer. Within each country you could see many different bike manufactures represented. The vast majority were KTM and Husky’s. Gas Gas, Sherico, TM, Honda, Yamaha comprised most of the other manufactures. I made several trips up and down the pits it was an incredible sight to see. There were venders spread out amongst everyone as well. 

The USA pits were manned by volunteers mostly from Ohio where the AMA is located. One of the men who was considered a new guy was volunteering for his third ISDE along with his wife. A lot of these men and women have been doing this for years, Iike I said it becomes addictive. When a rider entered the paddock area at the end of the day they had 17 minutes to make their way to the pits in the USA’s case they had ride all the way to the end of the pits then back up to the USA pits. Basically the pits were one way. The Trophy team’s riders all had volunteer mechanics that helped guide them when they needed to change some parts like brakes and placed in front of them whatever they needed to help service the bike. They also assisted in handing the tire tools to the riders. Each rider normally changed a front and rear tire once a day and an air filter at least once a day, lubed the chain and if time they would clean the forks with a solvent and wipe them down or perform anything else they needed to do. There was always one person who told them how much time they had left before they needed to re impound their bike. The club riders either had their own mechanic who helped them or one of the pit crew would help. No one was left to fend for themselves. Anson Maloney a local rider and the current District 36 Cross Country champion whom I went to help support in any way I could, one day changed two tires, air filter, lubed the chain and replaced a set of rear brakes all in in ten minutes. No one was any faster than Anson in changing tires; it was a thing of beauty to watch.

There is an enormous amount of work that goes into organizing our effort and the shear logistics of this is daunting. There were enough spare parts to outfit dozens of bikes. To watch these people working when the riders came in was pure magic. It’s like total chaos but organized, it was like a chaotic dance. These people worked their ass off. I ended up with so much respect for what they did. That goes for all the other teams up and down the pits they all worked their assess off.

Most all of you have looked at video highlights of the event so no need to describe them other than to say a couple of the tests were really nasty, rocky, off camber ups and downs and were extremely dusty and you can’t really see that in the videos.

Speaking of dusty, the weather was very weird all week the only consistent thing was the wind, it blew all week. Sometimes it was a light wind sometimes a gusting wind. Sometimes it was misting then would sprinkle then rain then sun. It never really rained enough to keep the dust down not when 500 hundred riders pounded a test twice a day. The exception to that was the test in the mountains the only real grass track, it was a very technical and very fast test and wet even muddy.

The facility where we were, the Algarve Racing and Resort was huge. I stayed in the same hotel as the USA riders and the Swedes the Italians and Norway. We all ate in a big dining room together, buffet style and that gave me a chance to mingle and get acquainted with people. I was lucky enough to meet a lot of different people including some of the Trophy riders men and women and their significant others. I was standing with Taylor Robert’s wife when he bit it in one of the tests. All the people I met including the riders were great. And a big plus, all the food I ate in Portugal was great.

We didn’t know until Friday if they were going to have the final Saturday motocross event. Just before the event started the organizers lost the rights to use a GP class motocross track some forty miles from the main venue. With very short notice the organizers set up what was basically an old fashion flat track motocross track laid out on the infield of the cart track they built one table top that riders could easily over jump. Parts of the track had gravel and could inflect some serious damage if it hit a rider just right. Anson had a rock hit his boot and put a big hurt on his shin. The last part of the track was a slight right hand turn and a fairly long straight away all on pavement. It actually made for very entertaining racing. From my angle I could see a lot of riders drifting the rear tire on the pavement coming through the right hander before the straight away then watch them trying to slow down to make a right hand turn back on to the dirt. It was spectacular to see ISDE bikes after five days of pounding away on special test drifting through that turn with a little tire smoke coming off the rear wheel.

 There were a number of riders who impressed during the week but the three who stood out above the rest were Daniel Sanders, Australia, Joseph Garcia, Spain Dante Olivera, Hollister CA. Dante scrapped all week with Antoine Meo, France in the C2 class of Club riders. Dante is only 19 and a bright star. Antoine is a former Trophy rider for France he’s a five time world champion and I believe has won the ISDE as an individual rider. Meo beat Dante overall for the week by thirty seconds or so.  

Doug 21J