ZX-12R or nhbubba... Any idea how many rode in this?
I saw you guys heading east on Rt. 4 Saturday and couldn't believe how many bikes there were. A great weekend for an even better cause!
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ZX-12R or nhbubba... Any idea how many rode in this?
I saw you guys heading east on Rt. 4 Saturday and couldn't believe how many bikes there were. A great weekend for an even better cause!
I'm pretty sure they said there were over 500 registrations.
I heard the number "500" passed around.
I honestly have no idea. There were a shitload, at least. Possibly more.
Rt 4 east on a 200cc 2-stroke was a new experience for me.
I believe they said right around 600 riders registered, and $82,000.00 raised. Great 2 days of riding with Bill and Colin.
Some observations:
- This was a helluva lot of fun. I'm really glad I finally got a chance to ride this event
- It was challenging for me. The biggest problem for me was the variability of the terrain. Bombing along on a hard-back gravel road one minute, rock field the next, sandy dirt berm the next. I'm not skilled enough to transition that quickly
- I had no problems with other riders. I was (mostly) able to ID that another rider was behind me and move right to let him past easily. Most hollered "thanks"
- I was by far one of the slowest riders out there. I was fine with this. My pace improved, but I slowed often as I still have a lot of fear of losing the front and meeting a tree or rock at speed
- The new toy 200 is awesome. Way better bike than I am rider
- As with every other type of motorsports I have ever participated in, I vastly over-estimated the "tech inspection"
- I did not win the DRZ-400 they were raffling away. Which is okay because I already have one
- Speaking of new DRZ, the new graphics are kind of lame
- Dealing with fueling the 2-stroke may have been manageable, but it was annoying. Fuel stops take longer and you have to dedicate precious back-pack space to carrying oil. I brought my measuring container and a half empty bottle of oil. I didn't have time to figure something smarter out
- Bridges in the woods are fookin' slippery! I should know this by now
- Bill (no, the other one) is the man! Mr prepared
- Bill (yes, that one) isn't so bad either. Rides faster nursing a pinch flat than I do with a fully functioning machine
- I was wrecked after day 1, debated bailing on day 2, knew I'd regret. Oddly not that sore after day 2.. figure that one out
- There is an enormous range of types of people who dirt ride
- MVTR organizes a helluva event. This has to be right up there with herding cats
I had many crashes, but no injuries. The KTM held up well. Except my shitty horn. That broke in the 2nd crash on day 1.
I did not have a route sheet holder and pretty much just counted on the kindness of the two Bills to keep me on track.
Enormous thanks to Bill and Bill for being patient with me and letting me tag along. Next year I'm gonna win this one!
You know how I said I felt great after the second day? Well the lactic acid finally kicked in and now I have a funny walk because my quads are on fire!
Colin you already won. No broke bones or broken bike, you went both days and finished. Congrats, it's a marathon and not a sprint.
You do any hero sections? A couple of them were pretty good, didn't do the Sat lunch hero or McGraths. Those were not my favorite in previous years. The wet bridges in McGraths place tried to kill me a few times. My rookies did okay, one made it the other didn't want to limp 12 miles on a flat and missed Sunday afternoon, by far my favorite part of the ride. Oh well.
I heard the total was up to $87k Sunday afternoon. It will go up as the check the online donations over the weekend. Good times for sure and a must do for any dirty peeps.
I totally used the wrong font for that comment. Let me fix that..Quote:
Originally Posted by Yknot
No heros for me. I was game to try the highly recommended one after lunch on Sunday. Unfortunately Bill E got a pinch flat right before lunch. We tried to repair roadside, but pinched the spare tube Bill G had on hand. Bill E did a great job limping it. (He was faster than I, even on the flat!) But we were a ways behind at that point and the sweepers caught us. We bypassed some, b-lining it to lunch and got the fine folks from Freedom to fix Bill's wheel. Unfortunately there were some delays and we were the last ones leaving lunch. We decided to bypass a lot of the afternoon ride to not hold up the sweepers. This included the hero bits. We made it back to NHMS a little before 4 because of this.
Honestly, I may be a little thankful we skipped sections. I have a lot to learn and have to get a lot more comfortable with this machine. I worry I was starting to get tired. And tired => mistakes. Mistakes => pain. I want to do a lot more practice in hop-ev and the like. I got a LOT more comfortable with this schizophrenic beast this weekend. But there is much more to learn.
Next year I will be better prepared. Better equipped. And more experienced.
And yes.. the total raised is staggering.
Fueling during a regular turkey run or enduro is less complicated. Bring a jug of mix, put it on the truck/trailer, go find your jug at the gas stop. Fueling at a gas station is sometimes a pita. I have 2 little bottles I'll fill up with oil. I know they make 1.5gal each. So I just guesstimate off what I pump. Remember to dump the oil in AFTER putting the gas in. You don't want a slug of oil headed straight through your petcock and into your carb.
The rest of the stuff will sort itself out. Who knows, you could end up a slave to it like me. Pin it to win it.
That's a good tip. I added the oil after the fuel simply because I had no idea how much fuel I was going to pump. By dumb luck it was 1 gal to the top of the neck each time, except once when it was almost exactly 2 gal. Made it fairly straightforward. Fortunately.
I'm likely being way more precise with my mix than I need to. As with everything.
How much do you guys usually pre-mix to put on the truck for these events? I've been mixing 2 gal at a time.
I seemed to be getting somewhere in the 25-ish MPG ballpark. By far the smallest and least efficient motorcycle I own.
Yup, a great 2-days. Saturday was awesome for me. Had no spills all day. Sunday, I had a couple minor tip overs, one of them 2 minutes into the first trail. There were some slippery rocks in there. Only a little sore today, not bad for an old guy. Colin, you did way better that you give yourself credit for. We really didn't wait for you that much, and I appreciated the minute or two rest after chasing Bill at what I consider a pretty snappy pace. Can't wait till next year!!!
PS. Rumor is that the Ammonoosuc Turkey Run coming up on Sept 12th & 13th is supposed to be another great ride. Think I'm gonna check it out.
I had a great 2 days and enjoyed riding with both of you. I managed to not hit the ground for the first time ever and narrowly avoided hitting a few trees during an unintended rapid off-trail excursion complements of wet leaves on wet rocks. The trails were particularly good on Sunday so I was bummed that my flat front tire put us in the position of having to skip part of the afternoon portion in order to stay in front of the sweep riders. Next year we will make it through the entire course!
Kale (TripleTaco); I don't know if you are watching this thread but I ran into Greg and his brother Sunday morning and he said you got pretty banged up on Saturday. What's the damage and how are you fairing?
A short video - watch for the disappearing Bill around the :48 mark, and then re-appearing a few seconds later.Quote:
Originally Posted by ZX-12R
https://youtu.be/YIaNCEvWVwI
I had one of those right around that same section. I did a very graceful front flip after I encountered a log on my excursion though. Some of the sections had a lot of leaf cover on the trails which hid some good size roots.Quote:
Originally Posted by No Quarter
I have heard that the Ammonoosuc ride is a good one too. Wish I had caught up with you guys but that may have been too many Bills in one group.
Quota met, move along please.Quote:
Originally Posted by Yknot
Hey Bill, thanks for asking. Damage is minimal and Im in pretty good shape as of now.Quote:
Originally Posted by ZX-12R
I had a run in with an enormous pine tree. The base made a nice radius ramp, such that my bike followed it right up the tree trunk until it was vertical. Im told it was quite spectacular to watch. I was hurting for sure but continued on to finish out the day. It was a tough time though. I had the mental and physical "sting" hanging with me and i never really got back into a good groove. I was absolutely spent by the end of the day and felt pretty miserable with my injuries. I was oh so close to packing it up to go home. I ended up getting a solid nights sleep and felt ok Sunday morning. I'm glad i stuck it out because I ended up having a great time on Sundays ride.
The hero section after lunch up the mountain was WELL worth it. Cant wait to ride this again next year!
http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/u...p%20summit.jpg
That ride up to the top of Rocky Mountain is amazing. 3-4 wfo.
Everybody speaks highly of the ammo run too, in vt. It's on my list of things to try when I retire from "racing".