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