Best Week Ever!

Best Week Ever!

I am just finishing up a week of riding and shooting with a couple of buddies, Recon and Jason, aka “J-Can”.  Jason is a Canadian visitor and ended up with the J-Can handle so as to not be mixed in with regular ole’ American Jasons we know. 

Recon and I did the Monday Taco ride the day after a rain and had the time of our lives!  We were riding every trail we could find on the way to tacos and laughing like loons all day! Wheel to wheel without a hint of dust. There was even a dusting of snow on the mountains in the desert. We hardly stopped and when we did we were both laughing trying to catch breaths in between. We rode singletrack, blasted damp and sometimes muddy sand washes at speeds that just about got us into trouble a couple of times. Recon said he wasn’t ready for the ditch I lofted the front wheel over, so I didn’t tell him, neither was I. It kinda came out of the blue, I don’t remember a ditch there before. Oh yeah, it rained hard and there were a few new washouts. We survived and when we pulled into our next stop to climb a few big sand hills, Recon said, “Hey your nose is bleeding”. I looked and sure enough there was a pretty good gouge on the end of my nose from some of the bushy and barbed trees we blew by at about 50mph. So I borrowed a line from Jesse Ventura in the movie Predator and said, “I ain’t got time to bleed!”  “Let’s Ride!!!”

We finished our ride and planned our assault on the next day’s activities. It was going to be a shooting day at the range with a bunch of geezers we know and our buddy J-Can. Now remember J-Can is the Canadian where it seems firearms are bordering taboo. So I ask if he was very well versed in firearms safety. He admitted he was a complete novice around firearms so we planned to go it alone away from the rest of the group until we got him up to speed on firearms safety with a few drills and some practice. So we used a range stall next to our regular shooting group for our orientation.

Having been a former firearms instructor for a large government agency, I found it very satisfying instructing someone that was willing to listen and eager to learn, as opposed to students that were required to be there due to work requirements.

J-Can was the ideal student and is a very intelligent guy so he learned things easily and quickly. He picked up the operation and especially the safety part of firearms very quickly and easily. Sharp, attentive student. In short order I was comfortable enough to let him operate on his own with me side by side on the firing line. Recon had already gotten bored and was over shooting with the regular crew, with an occasional jaunt back over to shoot with us for a minute.

We had set up a metal gong system about 10 yds. out to run some drills without having to stop every few minutes to repair targets. While Recon was there I took some practice shots at the gong system. Lo and behold I felt something hit me in the cheek just below my safety glasses. A ricochet had come directly back from my target. I ceased fire and let the fellas know something had hit me. I holstered my Glock and turned toward J-Can, he said, “There is something stuck in your cheek and its bleeding”.  J-Can came over to look and said it was a piece of metal and asked if he should pull it out. I had him pull it out, it was deep enough to pull my skin out about a quarter inch before it came loose, according to Recon. Recon tossed me a rag to slow the slow trickle of blood and went back to shooting. You gotta love guys out doing guy things, sit down and be quiet until we get done. Awesome! Two days in a row and I end up being the one bleeding. I don’t think that has ever happened, so this is obviously the Best Week Ever!

J-Can now has first-hand knowledge of why we covered range safety and safety equipment before we ever began shooting.

By the the end of the day J-Can was almost a seasoned shooter, since his range day had been taken up with basic safety, safety equipment, shooting drills, malfunction clearing drills and a little first aid. I think he is looking forward to shooting next week. I am too but maybe I should take my full coverage helmet.

Ride safe, Shoot safe!

#33

“Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal”

“In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the Life in your years!”

Happy New Year!

As Pancho, the Cisco Kid’s sidekick used to say, Holy Schmokers!!!  Here we are starting a brand new year in 2019. I am looking forward to it because I have decided it is time to get back to the moto tracks and do some OTMX racing.

I can’t believe I have not raced a motocross in 5 years! That was when I seriously injured my left hand at the Baja 1000. It also was the same day Kurt Caselli died as a result of a crash in that same race. Godspeed Kurt. It definitely puts things in perspective.

My left hand was injured very badly to the point it required a couple of surgeries and most of a year to get it working satisfactory enough to start riding again. The doctor was skeptical when he first spoke to me about the reparation, but I told him not to patch anything. Fix it correctly because I was going to ride and race again!  He was a very good Orthopedic surgeon, Dr Schaub, and told me he was not a motorcycle fan because of all the injuries he has fixed over the years. He said that he understood and would do his best. That was all I could ask for.

So here we are 5 years later on New Year’s Day and I am spending the day wrenching on my motorcycle and mountain bike so I can bust out some track time when it warms up!  Today was too cold for a cold weather sissy to get out and ride. 37* is just not cuttin’ it for this cold blooded geezer. It was 58* degrees in my garage with the little heater on. But I was able to re-lace a rear wheel on my KX 450. Turned a 19” rear into an 18” wheel for off road.

Then I moved on to my Cannondale mountain bike in an attempt to fix something I screwed up last week. While trying to locate a creaking noise I overtightened a crank bolt and broke the head off. Damn recycled aluminum beer can bicycle! I guess I need to get a torque wrench for working on aluminum bicycles. I did get the Cannondale patched and can now ride it until I order the clean new parts to fix it properly.

So I hope your New Year starts out as well as mine. I am looking forward to riding and racing this year. If you need a riding partner for either one, give me a holler!

#33

“In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the Life in your years!”

Just One of Those Nights!

Now I know you guys have all had more than one of those nights. You know when you go to bed but there is No Way you are going to sleep. Too many things on your mind, which tire am I going to run next, does my air filter need service since I rode last time, gotta get the bike out of the van so I can use it to haul body parts to the painter, will I have time to bust out a bicycle ride before I have to go out to dinner with friends and on and on. Well it is only 2 am so I guess I may as well change the oil in my primary ride. My 500 xcw.

I am so glad I am retired and don’t have to go to work tomorrow or I would be exhausted with no sleep and all these worries! So to help me relax and tire myself out I just went out to the garage to change the oil in my 500 xcw. Wow, that sucker has 24 hours on it since the last oil change, last week!  Showing 16,010 miles and 652 hrs.  Obviously I need a couple more bikes so I don’t put so much time on this one, lol.

Almost 3 am now so maybe a little tv will help put me to sleep………………..

#33

“How pleasant is the day when we give up striving to be young—or slender.  Just Ride!”

Stabilizer or just Good Suspension?

SBB Ride

I did a ride yesterday by myself so I had lots of time to explore and think along the way. That sometimes is dangerous in itself!  My thoughts turned to my suspension and how happy I was with it on my KTM 500 XCW. This is my second 500 and it has about 636 hrs. on it now.

I had someone ask me a while back why I don’t run a steering stabilizer. Since I ride this bike everywhere from tight singletrack in Idaho to fast open desert sections in Baja. I had to think for a minute and remembered I did have a stabilizer and took it off to fine tune my suspension when I started working with Buck at SBB.

I had ridden someone else’s bike a few years’ prior that had a stabilizer and a very impressive set of forks. Then I rode the same bike a few months later without the stabilizer and was less than impressed with the fork. I asked the owner what he had changed on his suspension and he said, “nothing”. Then he told me the only change was the removal of the stabilizer. Wow, what a band aid!

So now all my testing is done without a stabilizer, for better results. It just occurred to me that my forks were so good I never felt the need to put my stabilizer back on! I wonder where that thing is, somewhere in my garage I hope!  Oh well, who needs it. I got SBB forks!!!

#33

‘learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t make them all yourself’

Can You Hear Me Now!?

Can You Hear Me Now!?

As the #33 rolling summer circus made a stop in Middleton Idaho at my buddy Rocky Mountain Dave’s place we got another visitor, Don, aka Recon.  It seemed Recon was in the area providing support for his wife, Laura, who was involved with a Cancer charity fundraiser on bicycles from Oregon to Idaho as one of the legs while traveling from coast to coast. We were recruited to provide roadside support and a Tour de France type cheering section on the side of the road as the cyclist and sag vehicles rolled by. We were able to set up our cheering section complete with spectators clapping, signs and chalk on the road to welcome the cyclists. It was a surprise to the riders which made it all that much more fun. It was the final leg of the ride for Laura so Recon was able to hang out to do a little mountain biking and shooting with Dave and I.  Once Laura hopped on a plane and headed home Recon caught up with us for a few days of riding and shooting.

First on the list was a bike ride. Recon was down for this because Dave and I ride mountain bikes about as often as Recon practices with his handgun.  Sporadically and spastically, lol.  We planned to ride a loop Dave knew and should have been part cross-country and part downhill. It started out great on the cross-country loop and got more interesting as we headed for the downhill. Mr. mountain bike, Recon, was leading the charge on his $5,000 bike and stopped to take a few pictures on some of the features of the trail.  Rock sections, log crossings, small jumps and the like. Then it happened. As I came into view Recon was standing there but was not taking any pictures with his phone. He was cussing, “I can’t find my &#%$* phone”.  Apparently he had put it in a pocket and failed to zip it closed. Oops, since we are rolling along about 12 to 22 mph downhill it could be anywhere back uphill 2 to 6 miles! So when Dave rolls up and after Dave and I quit laughing at Recon we begin to formulate a plan. We can ride back uphill, my least favorite option or we can continue downhill, get our shuttle back to the top and slowly ride it again while looking for an $800 phone. Then Recon says he can call Laura and have her go on the computer and track his phone to see if we can zero in on where to start looking. I think this tracking feature was Laura’s idea which shows where the brains of the family are!

Recon asks Dave to use his phone so he can call Laura to start our search. Dave gives it to Recon but I am almost certain I heard him mumble something about getting a deposit first. Fortunately, mine can’t be lost, I mean borrowed, I left it at home on the charger!  Dave informs Recon that his phone is at about 50% on the battery.  This could get interesting.  Recon calla Laura, she goes on the computer and tracks the lost phone to somewhere near a road. By this time the battery is down to about 25%.  We decide it is a long way back up the hill and opt for the ride down and truck shuttle back up to retrace the route. On our way down we decide to try an escape road that leads out to the hiway. It turns out this ‘escape’ is about 3 miles out and seemingly mostly uphill. By the time we get out to the road Dave and my butts are dragging. Recon is waiting at the road and ready to roll. I guess if it was my $800 phone I would be a bit more fired up too!  We find our ride and head back to the top to start lap #2.  Just about the time we start down the trail Laura calls, on one of the phones we do have and says a kid named Benjamin found Recon’s phone and answered it when she called it. We get Benjamin’s number and start calling to see if we can meet up with him somewhere.

We talk to Benjamin and find out he has crashed and hurt his wrist! It just keeps getting better and better!  We set up a meeting spot on the hiway and wait for Benjamin. He finally arrives with his buddy whose face is all scraped up from a crash also. Between these two kids I re-evaluate our predicament and decide we are on the winning team today.  We are not gouged, scraped and tweaked like these two youngsters!  Life is good!  So now we have Recon’s phone back, are a few hours behind our planned ride, hungry, thirsty and have two injured kids.  We call Benjamins mom to see if it is ok if we give them a ride down the mountain since we are a bunch of geezers offering a couple of youngsters a ride. She lets Benjamin make the decision and he immediately says, Heck yeah!  His wrist is hurting and his buddy’s face is scraped up. So we all pile in and head down the hill to a burger stand at the bottom for some much needed food and drinks. Everyone is hungry and thirsty. Besides it has been decided Recon is buying! Our 3 hr. mtn bike ride turned into a 6 hr. marathon.

Benjamin’s dad meets us at the burger stand where we eat and then say our Thank You’s and goodbyes. We are on our way back to Dave house and I can hardly wait for tomorrows shooting day at the range.

#33

‘If you’re not sure where you are going, you’ll probably end up somewhere else’