CROSS TRAINING.....WITH A .45

When was the last time you did some Cross-Training?

We hear about it all the time but rarely take the time to really think about it or actually do it. Cross-Training (for riding your motorcycle) can be anything from golf to bicycling to archery to shooting.

I recently picked up a 9mm Beretta that I have owned for years but had not shot for a few years. I was lucky enough to meet a few guys (read Geezers) that shoot on a regular basis and they invited me out to shoot with them. What a surprise! These guys could shoot and none of them were under 60 years old! The Super-Geezer of the group is named Bill and he is just short of his 83^rd  birthday. Simply amazing.

Then there is Tony, Terry and Tom, all excellent shooters with Tony being exceptional in his weapons handling and quickness with a firearm. I am learning to watch Tony closely because I see things he is doing that I should be doing if I want to improve my shooting proficiency.

These guys are all very enthusiastic about shooting and enjoy being out doing what they do. I doubt they will ever be sitting on the couch complaining of having nothing to do. Truly an inspiration for kids like me.

So what I learned from these guys is to stay motivated, stay involved in something you enjoy and get off the couch no matter what birthday you are about to celebrate.

I also learned from them that I need to work on my concentration, focus and consistency, no matter what sport I am engaged in at the time. In other words, I sucked when I first shot with them until I did these things and put the pieces of the puzzle together. I will continue to shoot with them and hopefully they will continue to teach along the way.

Thanks guys, but know that I am gunnin’ for you!

#33

Trail Ride...Or Wood Cutting?

Be careful the next time you get invited to an EXCLUSIVE trail ride!

I was invited to go on a trail ride with a couple of buddies and that there would only be 3 of us. They said we would be riding seldom used trails that would provide us with hours of adventure.

Now I am not sure, but I am thinking when you go on an adventure of any kind on a motorcycle it means some really excellent riding. What I didn’t realize was that my “buddies” invited me because they needed help clearing the trails they wanted to ride on their little adventure!

We spent half of our time riding on some of the best hidden, underused, pristine trails I have seen in many years.

The other half of our time was spent moving downed winter logs, negotiating snow, sawing logs and cutting limbs and branches to make some of these seldom used trails passable. The riding half of our time was getting from work point to work point. Of course this did include riding some of the coolest and most beautiful trails that took us from one trail clearing place to the next.

We rode on trails that I am not sure I could find again and had to follow my ride leaders Frank and Larry in order to find them at all.

I had a great time and would be first in line to go again, it was such good riding and the clearing became a game and a challenge to figure out how to move the downed timber. Just imagine riding your motorcycle and throwing in a circuit training exercise course for a little extra exercise. I am pretty sure I worked harder and sweated more using the hand saw than I did riding the bike.

I had a smile on my face at the end of the adventure. Good times!

Thanks guys,

#33

Honey Lake... A Good Old Time MX

Let me start out by apologizing if you missed the Honey Lake Old Timer MX this first weekend in May. It must have been my fault for not getting information out to you or surely you would have attended!

Then let me say Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Nah!!!

You missed an awesome track, cool personalized trophies, a fantastic dinner, a great entertainer at dinner, just about perfect track weather, a raffle courtesy of MTA West and some of the best racing in 2011.

I have to mention that the raffle alone was worth the trip. There were a dozen or so tires, riding gear, helmet, many sets of goggles, a bunch of sweatshirts, and a bazillion small items. Things like mud scrapers, overflow hoses, hats, grips and on and on.

Sad to say that the turnout was smaller than expected, but we did have high expectations. However, the riders that took the opportunity to ride the legendary Honey Lake track were treated to a condensed program. That meant bigger than average gates and a program that didn’t have you waiting around for hours to ride your next moto. It also meant that the racing was completed in a timely fashion with plenty of daylight left to spare to prepare for dinner without hurrying or watching the food line form as you went to the line for your final moto. I have been riding my final moto on more than one occasion at other tracks while others were being served dinner.

I observed people strolling around after doing their bike prep for the next day with clean clothes and their beverage of choice in hand (mostly beer!) visiting their friends and neighbors while they had a little time before heading up the hill to dinner.

The dinner was catered and the main course was Tri-Tip, with the trimmings, beans, veggies, baked potato and desert. Good stuff, I thought about trying to sneak back for seconds on that Tri-Tip but was afraid of Larry’s wife Lise. Just kidding!

Lise is a sweetheart and does such a fantastic job of running the program in sign-up and scoring that I don’t know how she maintains that sunny disposition all the time and the smile that seems to never leave her face.

Larry is busy running the outdoor part of the operation and obviously has learned a great deal about running a world class facility along the way. He seems to never stop moving, is always doing something, making something happen around the track like driving a water truck, dealing with issues that pop up all day long and never gives the appearance of being annoyed with people. During all of this never ending commotion over three days of running the track and crew he still took the time to stop to see Lise and the kids and made sure to give the little ones a hug while he was there. Amazing man really.

The weekend was just about as good as a rider could ask for with some sunshine, some clouds that kept the track from drying too quickly and a minimum of injuries throughout the weekend. I believe the worst being a broken collarbone, but no ambulance rides which is a very good thing for a bunch of Geezers!

So if you were one of the unfortunate ones that didn’t make it to Honey Lake for the OTMX you will have to wait for next year. But my advice to you is to put it on your calendar so as not to make the same mistake twice. Only now you have to show up and ride against a bunch of your friends that have one up on you. They have ridden one of the best tracks in the Motocross world and will use that experience to their advantage.  Bring it on!!

See you there next year!

#33

Whose Faster? A Policeman or a Fireman?

2011  Fire/Police MX

Have you ever been to a race that you felt really safe?

I recently attended the Opening round of the 2011 Fire/Police MX, put on by a Fireman named Ed Wilson. Ed has been putting on motocross events since 1989 in the Southern California motocross community. But the biggest difference in the races Ed promotes is that you must be with a badge carrying Police or Fire agency. So the fact that you are in the pits, lining up with and racing against guys that most people hold in such high regard gives you a really good feeling.  Actually I would have to go one step further and say that it makes you feel proud to be associated with a group of this caliber.  

These guys obviously put a lot of time and effort into their chosen profession and it definitely carries over into their recreational activities. Some of them are riding at the Expert level of competition which shows the kind of commitment they are willing to put out just in the name of friendly competition. There are no purses, paychecks or big time sponsorships on the line. Only the Gold, Silver or Bronze medal awarded in each class, and the fact that they performed to the best of their ability at the end of the day.

A couple of very fast and talented riders in the Open Expert class were Ryan Chapin and Alex Zapata. They put on quite a show with Ryan Chapin mounted on a Yamaha being the big winner over the two days of racing at the Cahuilla Creek facility. That must be why Chapin is the 2011 #1 plate holder for the FPMX series.

The Cahuilla Creek track was very well prepped with overnight rains to make sure there was no dust anywhere on the track. Track workers did a fantastic job of keeping the track in good condition throughout the 2 days of racing. It was an excellent layout with high speed sections, fast down hills, uphill jumps, table tops, hill top flyover jumps  and a couple of rhythm sections to incorporate almost any kind of obstacle you could imagine. The lap times were running close to the three minute mark.

If you ever get a chance to go to a FPMX you should take it. Ed also has civilian classes and support classes to give husbands, wives, kids and friends or family a class to ride.

Check out their schedule of events at firepolicemx.com

Team MX43.com Wins Opening Round of Baja Series!

The 2011 San Felipe 250 was the first race of the Baja 250/500/1000 racing series in B.C., Mexico.  The class 50 winners, riders over 50 yrs of age, were the MX43.com supported team consisting of Jim Dizney, Doug Smith, Steve Williams, Paul Doebereiner and Eric McKenna. They were mounted on Jim “Big Chief” Dizney’s Honda CRF-X 450.

The race seemed to fly by but the week leading up

to the race was quite an interesting one. It produced a couple of mishaps that slowed the team but still couldn’t derail the effort everyone put out for this event.

My personal challenge seemed to being able to keep a bike running without a problem for more than 2 days in a row. My first problem reared its ugly head when I couldn’t keep my bike running at lower rpm’s about 50 miles out into my section. It seems the valves had reached their time for adjustment and became very tight on the tolerances. I had them checked that afternoon and found that they were too tight to adjust back to specs. Bike #1 down. So I loaded it up and made a Banzai run back to Arizona to get another bike! Back the next day with bike #2 and  back on the trail to finish my pre running.

Everything goes well for the first day and I decide to change oil in the big KTM. No problem, drain the old oil put in some fresh and I should be on my way. While waiting for the oil to drain I do a little checking over on the bike, air filter dirty, change it, done.

Spokes checked, oops. I find a couple of broken spokes in the rear wheel. Fortunately I am carrying a few spares in the tool box for just such an occasion. I start taking the rear wheel off and we get company.

 The 600-X team shows up on their way to a Checkers motorcycle club sponsored barbeque and proceed to visit a while first. These guys are all over 60 yrs old to ride in this class. They have learned a few things in their years of going to the races. The first rule seems to be to always have Tecates and Coronas available whenever you go to Mexico to race your motorcycle. They definitely had that! The more they drank the more I laughed while I worked on my bike.

It took me twice as long to finish but it was well worth it! Some of the things these guys have done during their trips to race in Baja are great stories but not really what you want to put into print. So I will just say that I had almost as much fun working on my bike that evening as I did riding it that day. I finally finished the bike and decided to fire it up to check the oil after the service. It ran for a minute when Steve looked over and says, “What’s leaking?”  We trace the leak and discover the water pump is dripping water from the weep hole.

So now bike #2 has a water pump seal that needs to be replaced. I don’t have an extra one of these so now I have to go to my second back up plan ………….…uhhhhhhh………………… which is to try to figure out where I can steal, beg or borrow someone’s bike. Steve says Doug is not using his bike, (more on that in a minute) you could make a loop on his bike. Great idea! I unload his bike since he is gone and take off to ride my loop a couple of times. I have never ridden this bike before and figure I will take it easy since it is not my bike and I am not familiar with it. I head out and the bike works very well up until about 14 miles before the end of my loop. The bike just stopped. I was worried maybe I had put down bike #3. But after taking a look in the gas tank I realize his bike doesn’t get very good gas mileage! I am out of gas with 14 miles to go. It is an 80 mile loop with a fair amount of deep sand throughout the section. I take off my helmet and start to push figuring I can be back in a few hours. I must have done something right because after pushing for only about ¼ of a mile along comes a guy on a quad that is pre running the section too. He stopped and asked what was wrong. I told him I was just out of gas. He says he has 2 one liter bottles of gas in his back pack. I offer to buy the gas and he says don’t worry about it and leaves me the bottles. That was enough to get me back. When I get back to the truck my phone gets cell service and Doug has left me a message and wants to know where his bike is. I told him I used it to make a loop but never mentioned that it ran out of gas and he almost didn’t get it back until after dark. I figure why worry him.

During all of this Steve’s bike has a cam chain tensioner go bad and is making an awful sound. But one becomes available when Jim “Big Chief” Dizney runs into trouble and then recruits Doug as a chauffeur. So that’s how Doug’s bike became available for me to steal, I mean borrow.

So now on to the rest of the story.

The biggest obstacle to overcome was that “Big Chief”, who by the way is the rider of record, broke his right lower leg during his pre run of his section. Now as rider of record he must either start or finish the race for the team to get credit. That happened on Wednesday and the race was on Saturday. So what would you do if you found yourself in that situation? Well, Big Chief decided to have Doug drive him home to San Diego, have his leg checked out, get it put in a cast and drive him back to San Felipe in time for the start.

 Why, you ask? Because Big Chief surmised he would get on the bike, cast and crutches in tow, get the green flag, ride across the line and hand the bike off to the next rider! Great plan on paper, but it becomes slightly more difficult when he realized he couldn’t put his right leg down even to help balance the bike. So he is trying to figure out how to get his running bike in gear with his left foot while maintaining his balance with that same left foot.

Ok, race officials to the rescue. They are going to “help” him put his bike in gear but don’t just click it into gear for him. Instead they will help balance him while he puts his bike in gear. The next few seconds are either hilarious or a nail biter depending on who you are while watching this whole mess unfold. “Big Chief Lefty”, remember his right leg is in a cast, brings his left foot up to click the bike into gear and begins to tip to the right side where the well meaning officials are supposed to provide support and make sure he doesn’t fall on his bad leg. They are either not paying attention to the weight shift or just not strong enough to support him and the bike, rider and an official end up on the ground when the green flag is waved! You hear a gasp from the crowd all around the starting area and start seeing flashes from cameras going off everywhere! I wouldn’t be surprised if this was the first crash on the starting line of any Baja race in history! Several people run over to help pick them all up and get the 501-X bike on its way. Big Chief and his bike make it the 25 feet or so to where the rider is waiting and make the switch without any further incident and the team is on its way.

 The rest of the race goes according to plan without anyone else crashing the bike or having any real mishaps the whole day. No mechanicals, no flats, no problems. Our 501-X bike crosses the finish in 9^th place overall and first in the 50+ class by 35 minutes! Everyone did a fantastic job in their sections and had a good day blessed with good luck after such a rough week.

Good job guys and heal up quick Big Chief!

#33