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Monthly Archives: March 2009

Desert near Cherry Creek and Tintic

March 28

Invited myself to go riding with Tim Wolford (…and those guys) racingâ„¢.  Thanks for letting me tag along!  Conditions were awesome, the weather was beautiful, and the singletrack riding was “off the chart”.  Doesn’t get better than that for spring fever riding.  Jordan and Keston ripped it up with the big guys.  We had kind of a rough start, Cort was attacked by a monster section of barb-wire that wound him up with a vengeance… wound 4-5 times on the front wheel and totally wrapped up around the back wheel, brakes, fender, etc… it was nasty.  We ended up having to take off the back wheel to get it all out and fortunately it didn’t do any major damage, some scratches on the plastic and a broken rotor guard were the sacrifices I believe.  Right after that, Brock had problems with his spark plug and had to double-up with Ian to go back and get the truck for his spare.  Cort and I split off to check out some single-track and hit the jackpot, we sessioned a loop and went back for lunch.  After lunch and bb-gun shenanigans we all went out to the west to explore and found more and more singletrack.

Crew: Keston, Jordan, Ian, Brock, Wally, Tim, Cort and me.

Full photo album here: http://picasaweb.google.com/alhill/20090328Moto_Desert

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Posted by on March 28, 2009 in Trails

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Pocatello – Enduro-X race

March 14

I’ve been really itching to ride since getting my bike all put together and ready to go, as I was trying to drum up interest to go hit Cherry Creek or the Knolls word came in that our friends up in Pocatello were helping put together an “Enduro-X” race at the Pocatello Motocross Park.  I’ve never been interested in racing and I’m pathetic on a track, but Zac and Nate talked me into going up to “just ride”.  I had a ton of excuses not to go (out of shape, haven’t ridden since October, never ridden my new bike, never raced, etc. etc.) but I was just too excited to try out my new moto and had no other options.  Anyway, it ended up being a ton of fun, I was definitely in the wrong class, they talked us into racing the Intermediate/Expert class so we could all “ride together” (haha), but I wouldn’t have done very well in the Novice class either.  I think I was the only “racer” out there that would pull over and take pictures when I got too tired to hang on to my bike anymore.

The race format was pretty cool.  There were four sections to the 3.1 mile loop: 1) Track 2) Slick greasy field with a couple of ditches 3) Single-track technical rock gardens, climbs, and a snow drift 4) Back to track with log/rock jam section.  They started the race at 11:30 and ended it at 1:00, the goal was to complete as many loops as you can in that amount of time.  I was so happy to see that checkered flag when I did, I was getting ready to call it quits.  There were quite a few riders that didn’t finish, so I was happy to at least be one of the ones who did, even though I was at the back of the pack… I was just going to ride, remember?  We had a good showing from the rest of the guys though, CJ Hymas won it, Brock Buttars came in 3rd with Brandon Wallin hot on his tail in 4th.  Zac Andreason was in the middle of the pack and Levi (works for Brandon) was seriously rockin’ the novice class.  Nate’s bike sprung a water leak out of the pump seal, so he didn’t even get off the starting line unfortunately.  We didn’t stick around to see how Keston did…?

So, would I do it again?  Hmmm… ask me next week when my body stops hurting.  *Hey babe, where’d you put the vitamin-I?*

Click here for the full photo album

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Posted by on March 14, 2009 in race

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Can’t wait… this is going to be a fun year for riding!

March 08

Sorry, this isn’t a real ride report yet, but I’m getting super excited to go ride.  I didn’t end up getting the bike that I was thinking about, but I’m stoked for my new one nonetheless.  I ended up buying another hand-me-down from Cort (I bought my ’05 CRF450X from him too and that bike worked out well), thanks Cort!  It’s an ’08 Yamaha YZ450F.

Right now, my bike is in a bunch of pieces in the garage, but it should be ready to go by tomorrow afternoon.  Here are the things I’m doing to get it trail ready: sent the suspension to Factory Connection with instructions to make it trail worthy for a fat guy, greasing all the swingarm and shock link bearings, install Cycra pro-bend hand guards, Richochet skid plate, and some cheap steel sprockets for right now.  Thanks to Andy at Northstar’s Ultimate Outdoors for hooking me up with the suspension deal and Cycra hand guards.  Would still like to get a stabilizer before too long…

So, anybody up for a ride later this week?  I’ve got a few days off :/

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I’d hate to leave you unsatisfied with my lack of web-riding, so here are some of the videos that have kept me entertained this winter:

 

Posted by on March 8, 2009 in fun

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