Exploded Yamaha!!!

So My bike decided to let me down on my last race day at Hollister hills. With a big backfire and little pressure n the kickstarter this piece of the engine case decided to exit the place it was suppose to be at to make my bike operate properly.

Here is the area of the case where the piece is missing. Right behind the kickstarter shaft. It is part of the Right Case Engine half.

Here is another view of the case where the shaft would have met with the outer shaft housing. The housing has a 'cup' in it to hold the shaft end.
More on this later...

Protect Our Riding Areas

These are the local riding areas in Northern California, as you can see theres a mix of Public and Private riding areas. We are very lucky to have so many choices to ride around this area. There have been measures taken at some of the local SVRA and OHV parks to limit our riding access. Two places that are closed right now are Foresthill SVRA and Mammoth Bar SVRA. Both of these areas are closed due to trail destruction and their are no monies at this time to repair and maintain the riding trails according to the National Forest Service which manges these sites.

A Senate Bill (SB742) has also surfaced that is going to possibly mandate that all RED STICKER bikes not be allowed onto PUBLIC PROPERTY after January 1, 2008. This includes 2-strokes and 4-stroke bikes. It is also redirecting funding of the GREEN STICKER program to other areas that are not part of the original OHV plan. We need your help to fight this battle against taking away our right to ride on PUBLIC TAXPAYER OWNED property.

Please write to your State Assembly person and Senator and let them know (respectively) how you feel and how how this affects your family. Thank You.

If you need more information on how to go about doing all this (locating your Senator and Assembly person and letter writing) you can find this at the NCMX Land Use/Legislative section.

Thank for your help, Keep California Riding Trails, Parks, Tracks OPEN!!!!

CMA Round #2 Hollister

March 10th was the CMA Spring Series Round #2 at the Hollister Gran Prix Course in Hollister, CA. I hadnt been racing at Hollister for about 30 years...

This event was actually promoted by UMA and they were a bit under the gun in organizing this event in most peoples opinion it seems. We arrived for the first practices of the day and the track appeared to be pretty well prepped, groomed and watered. But it was apparent by about the third group of bikes out there that the hard pack had not been ripped correctly and it was simply turning into a concrete pad with some dirt layed across the top of it. This makes for some very slippery racing conditions. It was very dusty and although they tried to make some of it work, there were areas that they just ignored.

The track itself is a good design with many elevation changes, high banked sweeper turns, some very easy tabletops and even some off-camber turns that will surprise you if you aren't careful. The track is very fast and the slick turns made for some good 'flat-tracking' moments but most MX riders aren't looking for that. The hillside turnarounds rutted out just a bit but not real well and the lines were deceiving.

The OTHG moto's were setup with all Beginner Classes running together which included all 30+, 38+ and 45+ year olds at the starting gate together. The 30+ and 45+ would start in Gate 1 and the 38+ would start in Gate 2 about a half track behind us. So my first moto was alot of fun, I got out of the starting gate and went very wide, I came around the outside of the main group of bikes on the power when alot of them had to slow way down to make the turn. I went into Turn #1 making up all but about 5 places. There were I think 14 guys at the start gate. I battled it out for places in that first lap and remember rubbing wheels with a Kawasaki 2-smoker in front of me and thought I was going down at one point but saved it into one of the tables. I passed him finally and kept on going for the ones in front of me. They must have been some younger guys cause they were movin'!!! I settled into I think 3rd place overall and thats where I finished out the race. Found out later that it was 1st Place in my 45+ Class !!!!! so that was really good for me. So all those guys in front of me were 30+ and they finished 1st and 2nd overall and in Class.

By the time Moto #2 came around, the tractor was out there and ripped the turns up where it was hard packed and re-watered the whole track. This made it so much better then the first round. The turns werent as slippery and you could really get on the throttle even with the big 450's.... without sliding completely sideways thru the turns.

I started from the same position at the gate and did the same exact thing as I did in the first moto and ended up about the same in 5th place coming out of Turn #1. This time I kept up with the group and kept the battle going on the entire time during the race. There were 2 other bikes and myself hooked up in a wheel to wheel race. I went past the first guy and then gave up the position again to him, and then getting it back again right at the start/finish line on lap #3 and then went after the guy in front of him. I caught him entering turn #1 of the final lap and went inside of him down low and then we were going through the tabletops side by side into about Turn #3 where I went around on the outside of the turn and passed him for good at that point and ran to the finish line. This was some great racing and the guys ran clean and gave room to race and thats what its all about. I gave them both a big thumbs up as we left the track. Our finishes were good for 4th, 5th and 6th Overall against the other guys. I got 2nd in class for this race. I never saw the guy in first.... So we did pretty good.

So I ended the event with a FIRST PLACE Overall in the 45+ Beginner Class for the first time since starting to race again. COOL!!! I know that its just the beginner class but we all gotta start someplace...

Hollister is a beautiful setting for racing and the track can be very competitve. It requires some good care and no matter what the conditions are, its good to be out there racing and enjoying this awesome sport. Its good to be back there after all these years.

E Street Final Round

March 4 was the Final Round of the WINTER SERIES at E Street MX. This is the day after my 2nd Place Win down at LaGrange and about 200 miles of driving roundabout. The whole family went out to this one, both Scott and I were gonna be racing this day. Myself in the 45+ Beginner OTHG and Scott in the 85cc Beginner class.

It was a beautiful day out and there was a pretty decent turnout, but nothing quite as close to what was at LaGrange. Maybe people were tired, who knows. They missed a great event.

I finished 4th place in both my motos on this day and got 4th overall so it wasn't as grand as my day before winnings, but the racing was just as fun. The track was nicely setup in its mostly original configuration, it was pretty fast and technical and I didnt crash, so that makes for an awesome day overall.

Scott had a pretty decent day too, I think he went down one time in his second moto, but he finished up before the last bike got off the track, so thats better then what he did at Carnegie.

As this was the final round of the E Street Winter Series, the final points standings placed me in 8th Place overall of 22 Riders for 4 events. I rode in 3 of the 4 events and had a great time.

Thanks to E Street MX, Scott and Lyndsey Davis and all the crew out there for making it a great series. Also thanks goes out to Roseville Yamaha for supporitng the series too.

CMA Round #1 LaGrange

March 3 we were out at the LaGrange SVRA track in LaGrange, CA located down near Modesto. This was Round #1 of the 10th Annual Pacific Coast Pro-Am Spring Series put on by CMA and the Bay Chapter OTHG. First time for me at this track and it was very well setup. I was competing now as a Beginner in the 45+ Class and the turnout for this weekend was phenominal. These are setup with practice in the mornings and then racing in the afternoon, so you dont get much time to figure out the track before the moto's start.

Practice was pretty good, but the track was a bit hard to remember with all the turns and technical portions to try and master all in the course of about 2 hours. After my first practice I really didnt know if this was gonna be a good idea or not. But I overcame by inhibitions and headed out again and again.

When Moto 1 started I was ready as I would ever be and just figured on doing my best. There were 22 guys out there at the starting gate and the track was gonna be fun. I think there was about 12 guys just in my class and I got a bad start off the gate. That was short lived because on the uphill to the first turn I made up alot of ground and ended back up in about 5th place overall.

I worked my way into 4th and then found a racer that I was pretty much equal to as we went around the track at least twice wheel to wheel and I couldn't find a clean passing area to get by. A faster rider came by us both on the downhill jump and wiped out in the bottom turn causing the 3rd place rider in front of me to go off course also. I inherited 3rd place at that point and finished in that position. I was scored in 1st place because the front two riders were actually moved up into other classes. So Whooo Hoooo, A 'technical' first place, but I will take it.

My second moto of the day was about the same, My start was a come from behind to the top of the hill and made up all but the front 4 spots and then it was just a workout to try and run the front guys down. I kept up with 3rd place and finally passed him and then tried to save some energy for second place but it wasnt to be. He was still about 20 yards ahead of me at the finish line and I couldnt make it up. So that was an honest 3rd place finish giving me a Second Place Overall for the day!!!! My First Podium as an Old Guy!....

I am so glad I stayed and put my fears behind me because I had a great time out there. We have another event out there at the end of March again. Im looking forward to it!

Magura Hydraulic Clutch Kit

I just installed a Magura Hydraulic clutch kit on my 2003 YZ450F. The Magura "Jack" kit I purchased from Motosport is pretty nicely setup with everything you need to do the job for about $199.00. First of all make sure to get the right kit. They sell 2 different ones. Kit #0120529 is the right kit and #0120490-20 is the WRONG kit. The tubing is too short in the wrong kit and it won’t reach to the clutch arm.The Magura perch comes with a hot start lever integrated into it and connects right up to the stock cable with no issues. I had a Works Connection perch originally with the hot start cable end and it had a plastic cover on the end tab that I had to remove to fit into the new one.You have 4 parts at the engine end to deal with: The actuator cylinder, the clutch retaining bracket, the actuator rod retainer and the clutch arm. Installing the actuator cylinder at the clutch arm is just a little difficult in that you have to get the tubing routed away from the exhaust and keep it there. Get it into the retaining bracket and then get the rod retainer for the arm installed all in one step...

Read this and practice this a few times before cranking everything down... Oh yea and the retainer didn’t quite fit onto the rod so I had to file it down a bit with a jewelers file until it did.
Read all the directions supplied by Magura closely. This is what I did:

1. Take off your front number plate, right side plastic shroud, plastic air flow vent for the radiator and loosen the right radiator from the frame. You do not need to remove the tank.

2. Remove your old perch, disconnect the clutch cable and hot start cable.

3. Disconnect the clutch cable from the clutch arm at the engine by using a long screw driver to operate the clutch arm and release the cable end from its seat. Then remove the cable from the retaining bracket.

4. Now you can remove the cable from the bike, make sure that the cable is out of the mount near the carburetor. Pull the cable from the engine end and watch as it goes through the holders and other cables along the frame that it doesn’t get caught on anything.

5. To install the new perch; fit the hot start cable to the new lever with it removed and then re-mount it. Mount the perch on the handlebar and adjust to fit your hand. DO NOT Disconnect the line from the actuator cylinder, but run it through the forks behind the number plate area and down to where it will go along the right frame side. The cylinder will actually fit through the frame brackets if you just loosen the banjo bolt slightly and adjust the tubing so it’s straight and then re-tighten. (You don’t want to get any air in the line or you will have to bleed it afterwards) Fit the tubing behind the radiator and run the actuator cylinder down into the area of the clutch arm.

6. Get the actuator cylinder into place near the retaining bracket, this is where you will have to adjust the tubing by loosening the banjo bolt again and getting it straightened out so the banjo bolt/bleeder valve faces upwards and the rod is facing the clutch arm. Retighten the banjo bolt.

7. Pull the rod out of the actuator cylinder as far as it will come and see if it lines up with the bracket and the arm. Loosen the retaining bracket and insert the actuator cylinder into the retaining bracket. Attach the rod retainer that comes with the kit onto the rod end. Leave everything loose at this point.

8. Using the long screwdriver operate the arm to move it into place to fit the rod end into place at the clutch arm. Be very careful not to BEND THE ROD or the cylinder will leak. The retainer should drop into the arm and then release the arm slowly and let the actuator cylinder fall into place. Check your ‘play’ at this point per instructions. Retighten the retaining bracket.

9. Follow the instructions to have at least 2-4mm play in the retainer.

10. Reassemble all of the plastics, radiators and numbers plate parts you removed, check again where that tubing is routed and then check the clutch with the wheel off the ground on first startup. If it doesn’t disengage then you’ll have to bleed any air out of it.
Once on mine worked nicely, it’s pre-filled with fluid from the factory so if you don’t break any connections and lose fluid you will not have to bleed anything. It’s self adjusting so no need to make any adjustments. It uses mineral oil not DOT fluid so it will not absorb moisture. No need to change any fluids annually. That’s it!

Round #4 Racing At E-Street

Round #4 of the E-Street Winter Series was hosted at their home track February 3-4, 2007 and it was a good showing with the Bay and Sierra OTHG having had their Round #2 Races here also. I missed that race but was going to be ready to run this one. This would be my first time out at E-Street for any event or practice. So it was going to be a learning session for me overall again.

E-Street MX Racetrack is located in Marysville, California and ran by ex-pro racer Scott Davis. He is well known in the area for his impeccable track preparation and design and people come from all around to enjoy what has become best known as "Estreet". The track is sandy loam which gets most of its content from the Yuba River which runs right through the area. "It is a great track" as testified by many pro-riders and amateurs alike that come out and ride here.

This being my first time at Estreet I was asked quite a few times by other people if I thought it was a hard track? And although I don’t think of it as a 'hard' track I do think it is pretty technical and you have to do allot of thinking about what you are doing out there. The sandy soil also adds a certain technical aspect to your riding demeanor and thought process. In the turns (that are ever changing) this is really apparent.

Saturday morning practice was really nice, not many riders at first and the track was prepped great. Thanks to Hoss at FactoryPhoto.com for the photos. He takes some great shots.

During my first "Checkout lap" I ran into the berm at the front jump near the main grandstand cutting too close to the inside edge. No big deal just scrubbed it and got back going and it was all good. Then again in a later practice I hit the berm again... this time was allot harder. I dont remember the exact HIT!, but was quickly made aware of it as I bounced off the berm and felt a searing pain in my knee. My head hit the ground pretty good and I was clearing my vision as people were coming around to help me out.

It started when I came around the first turn leading to the double and single jump right in front of the grandstands and a kid went down head first and his bike was upended rolling over him; I almost ran over him as I passed by so I waved at the flagger and was pointing backwards when I went over the jump... I went into a verticle standup position and when the bike hit the ground I must have hit the throttle and it launched me into that berm on the righthand side..... AGAIN!

Roseville Pete said all he saw was my bike doing a cartwheel in midair with nobody on it!!!! My knee was barely working but I walked it off. I went out for my next practice but I couldnt really make anything work, both my legs, my back and my arms were hurting. I packed it in and went home.

The knee was puffed into a grapefruit by then and so I iced it up. The Next morning.... Race-Day, wasnt much better. Needless to say I didnt make it back to the track to run my motos on this weekend. My left knee, right ankle, right thigh, right ribcage were all not feeling in top form.
Overall I like E-Street, there’s allot of jumps maybe 15 total but a mixture of tabletops and doubles and a couple that some could maybe triple...(?) Not me. But for me with all the jumps it makes it allot more work then something like Carnegie was. I don’t have allot of experience on tracks in recent years and I have probably forgotten more about riding techniques than I can remember at this point in my life. I had a real hard time with the slushy right hand turn down by the river before the whoops, too much sand; I just couldn’t find the right throttle, gear or speed thru there. That was probably my worst turn on the whole track. Most everywhere else I could manage to keep the front wheel under control and keep it coming around.

This place is a work out most definitely!.... I see some physical training in my future and probably some lessons from you guys that know better.

E-Street Winter Series @ Carnegie

Races for the SIERRA OTHG started the weekend of January 21st out at Carnegie OHV Park in Tracy, CA. The series is being put on by E-Street MX and it's a 6 race series of which only 4 of them will be part of the OTHG races. I will be trying my hand at MX Racing again after almost 30 years from being away from it. It's perhaps one of the most exhaustive of all competive motorsports but I have been needing a little cardio workout lately (so the wife says!) Maybe this will do it for me. After car racing for many years and being very comfortable (and competitive) doing that, this may not come so easy though. We'll have to just wait and see.

The latest image I found of the actual track layout at Carnegie with the race layout 'painted' in. It was more of a Novice to Intermediate Class track so it wasn't too tough. The starting gate was up on the left corner and ran across the main tack into a small tabletop between the first two turns. Down a straight into turn #3, a left hand bank into a short tabletop to turn #4 turnaround, a big banked turn. Another straight with a small tabletop and then into an uphill climb to the first horseshow turn #5. Downhill again onto a short jump and into turn#6 a big bank heading out onto a flat out run up the next hillside to turn#7. Run across the top of the hill and back down at turn #8 into a high bank turn #9, over a small double jump into turn #10 and then onto turn #11 that leads you into the front straight areas with the large tabletops. Turn #12 and #13 are the "S" turn right before the start finish tabletop. Turn #14 is the dogleg left which is also a jump into a straight and jump again into turn #15 and then into an uphill double before the bowl turn #16, down a short hill and another double and into the #17 turn that leads you back into the startgate point.

The E-Street MX Winter Series was a great success at Carnegie Racetrack and we had a really good time. Brianna and Scott finished both of their motos on the largest track that they have ever been on in their lives. They did a really good job. Both of them were in the 85cc Beginner class. I ran with the 45+ Beginner class with the OTHG group of guys. I did decent in my first moto and blew the start on my second moto and didn't even get going after that. So that was unfortunate for me.

This is the starting gate with the 85cc group; Brianna is at the

near end of the pic, She is #9. Scott is at the far end.

Scott on His BBR 100

Brianna on her XR80

Photos by Mike Subocz Photgraphy, Thanks Mike! Over all it was a great time, it was a really fun track and prep was phenominal by Scott Davis and crew. They worked on it at all times. I met both Scott and Roseville Pete for the first time at this event. Nice guys and dedicated to the sport!

Ride Day at CLUB MOTO

Club Moto is a privately owned MX track in the Livermore, CA area that attracts many riders of all skill levels. We had a chance to finally go out there and visit with Kirk Smith, the owner and his group of guys that keep this track prepped for all to enjoy. Kirk has been involved in Motocross in the Bay Area for more than 20 years and has a great respect for the riders and the sport. He still rides himself when he's not watering down the track, running the tractor or doing his day job also...

Norcal Motocross website founder Joey Washburn was at the event of which the folks decided to get together and meet face-to-face finally after having many decent (and some not so decent) conversations on the web forum that is provided there. The web is something that is good in that it can bring people together with like-minded interests and they can make of that what they will. There's always another side of the coin and those people just tend to stay away from reality like this so its better for all that way.

The day started out COLD!!! and it was one of the coldest winter days so far this year. It was only 28 degrees overnight and that morning couldn't have been much above 30. I think the day topped out at 48 degrees and started going back down again by 2pm. There was a good turnout of NCMX'ers, we had our own little area preserved for us with signs that said "DONT FEED THE ANIMALS" (no just kidding). But the animals did get fed good... Kirk and Mike put on some good grub that included Tri-tip steak, Italian sausage, Cheeseburgers and grilled corn on the cob cooked to your delight. Everything was on the house, and it was a great incentive to go out and ride to warm up and work up a hunger.

John Connelly from JCMX.com was providing some of the photography at the site and he came up with some awesome shots of everyone. Including Scott and myself. Scott was riding his new BBR 100 this weekend for only the second time and he did a great job out on the big track. I was still nursing a broken left wrist as you can see in the pics... Please no doctors look at the photos!

All in all it turned out to be a great day meeting new friends and other riders in the region. I hope the comraderie continues to grow within Norcal and more riders show up to future events like this one.

OTHG - No That is not WEB PHONICS!

OTHG stands for "OVER THE HILL GANG" and it is a group of good 'ol boys that enjoy motocross racing and can compete with others within their 'elder' age groups. You have to be at least 30 years old to join the club (men) and only 25 years old for women... Hmmm I guess women get over the hill faster then us guys do... OK anyway, You kinda get the picture.

This group has been around for many years and there are 3 local chapters in the Norcal Area which include (click on the name to visit their site);

Sierra Chapter
Bay Area Chapter
Reno Chapter

There are other chapters down in Southern California too. Im just getting started with these guys and I hope that there will be lots of fun to be had by all. They have a great season lined up for 2007 with races being held at E-Street, Carnegie and Hollister Hills. There is also the National Races that they will put on this year at Hangtown Raceway (Prairie City SVRA)

So looks like Im goin' racing again, only this time it isnt going to be in some comfy racecar, Im gonna actually have to work to win these races.... see ya at the track!

MX Crashes

Being that I have been 'layed-up' with my broken wrist I have been able to spend some time just looking at motocrossing rather then actually riding it lately. I am really missing being able to just go out and ride, the locations we go to have all been watered down pretty well now and the conditions are pristine.

So anyway I have been looking thru the internet a bit at CRASHES by Moto-X, Super-X and Freestyle guys. Some are pretty radical and some are just plain funny!Crashes:

Marysville Riverfront Park

I had the opportunity to go out and visit the Marysville Track on Sunday with my kids. It was a great day out there and not too many people for the size of tracks and areas for parking. There are parking areas under a grove of trees with shade to cover whatever you like and full facilities for those that need that kind of thing.

My daughter found her way right to the 80cc track where she finds comfort just jumping and running and I went with my son to what I call the "BACK-40" track which is for anyone to go out and play on mostly, it's a nice warm up track for bigger bikes too. He's on a 200 so he can't hang around on the little bike tracks, people get annoyed with that and he's not experienced enough be out on the big track. So we went over there, I needed to get a warm up also. I attacked this track like it was second nature to me, mostly because it was curvy and had allot of flats with burmed turns that made it pretty easy to get around. It wasn't muddy or wet so there was decent traction. There's a wide open flat track section leading to the back straightaway along the river that was a blast with the big 450. More about that later...

I decided to go check out the main track, (after all that's what I was there for yes?) so I head out onto the main stretch and took the first jump (tabletop) landed short, almost biffed it and figured I better just take it a little easy and figure this track out before I end up in over my head. So I made it through 1 lap trying to stay out of peoples way while still trying to just get a feel for the different turns and lots of tabletop jumps. These I needed to time my throttle and get it up and over them to make it right. About my fourth lap I was feeling pretty goooooood about it and started running it a little harder and faster. The front straight had 3 tabletops in a row and I landed all 3 perfect on the landing side both wheels grounding at the same time, it felt good. The last jump though I landed and my throttle hand slid off the grip and that was a little scary. I took a break after that.

I went back over to the Back-40 track to check on the kids and found myself in a group of guys running laps around there pretty good. I passed most of them and went to the lead with another kid (maybe 18-20) on a Suzuki 250(?) 2 stroker, and we went into that long flat track turn section onto the main straight and I went inside for the pass. We went into that turn at maybe 20-25 mph, came out and I hit the throttle, front wheel coming up and I started sliding outwards.... I knew he was right there next to me and I wanted to give him room to race so I set the front back down to steer away from him, but by that time I was doing maybe 40 mph now and running into some washboard ruts. That immediately set my front end into a speed wobble that I would not be able to recover from and in that instant the bike went sideways, high-sided and tossed me like a rag doll right over the front (wish I had some video of that). I felt like I was sliding into home plate on my stomach!.... Oh yea! But that's just racing... actually just fooling around. If I had been racing I wouldn't have probably given him that 'room to race' and I would have made it through OK and in front.

Anyway it was just allot of fun, I didn't really feel any pain in my leg until we started loading up to leave and I noticed my thigh was pretty swollen. That's probably what hit the handlebar on the way over it. It still smarts today a bit.

In a different altercation... (that didn't include me) there was a life flight extrication from the park also that day. Seems a guy was racing, possibly over his limit or was run off the track (different stories) and left the track at one of the high burm turns and landed in a gully next to the track. He was unconscious for quite awhile and I dont know if he regained consciouness before leaving the site. They cut all his gear off him and strapped him in for the ride to the hospital somewhere. We can only hope he is alright and will be telling us stories soon.

Prairie City

Well my youngest daughter and I ventured out to Prairie City this past weekend to see how things are out there since the closing of Red Sticker season. Needless to say without any rains lately in the greater Sacramento area it's very dry and very dusting everywhere. My daughter wanted to continue her practice on the 125cc track and she went off to join the other kids running around over there while I ran a few laps on the Motocross Practice track, not the Hangtown Course.

It looks like they just added a bunch of sand to this course in fact so MUCH sand that its like you almost need a paddle tire to get through it if you slow down too much, spin spin spin! I ran it a few times and got off and then met up with a friend from work that finally brought out his KX250. During that time they had watered down the track and we were ready for some more in hopes thats the water packed down the sand a bit. Well it did make the mud a whole lot slippery as I would soon find out coming out of the second jump at the top of the course. I ended up coming into that downhill section with my rear tire passing up my front as I was in a two wheel drift going down the chute until the bike went right out from under me. If the front could of only turned a foot further I would have saved it! uh huh...

2 kicks and I was back underway and catching back up to the KX, made the 1st jump and then into the second jump again and hit the turn and guess what? Same exact thing!!!, I was down again!!!! Just carrying too much speed into that messy slippery turn and trying to take it too tight. I finally figured it out and started my jump on the outside and that helped me to take my turn wider and with less speed at the apex. Then I could hit the throttle once I was pointed downhill and it worked really good. The sand in the bottom section of whoops was the worst, and you had to carry some speed to get across the top of them into another short jump. Then be on the throttle right into another turn. All on pretty deep sand. It was fun though and definately tiring as the day wore on. It must have got up to 85 degrees F because we were all sweating up a storm out there. We had to keep coming back for water.

Brianna had a couple "competitive run-ins" with some quirky kids on the 125cc track but she found her way around them just fine. I went over and watched her for the last bit of the day. She is jumping and enjoying it more and more.

Cant wait for the rains!!!

Bush Signs Protection Act

Well here it is folks, the President has signed into law a protection act that allows for 275,000 acres to be protected as non-use areas by motor vehicles. Why? well lots of reasons but we managed to keep some land for ourselves.

From Contra Costa Times: Tuesday's law began with a bill introduced by Sen. Barbara Boxer nearly five years ago. It sought to establish more than 2 million acres of wilderness but ran into controversy from rural landowners, loggers and off-road enthusiasts. After several years of discussions with Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, the chairman of the House Resources Committee, the log-jam was broken this year when it was scaled back roughly 80 percent!

A compromise allowed a 51,000-acre area of BLM land near Cow Mountain in Lake County where motorcycles and other off-road vehicles are used to permanently be guaranteed such access.

Despite the compromises, a fine legacy remains, said Derek Chernow, a spokesman for the California Wilderness Coalition, in Oakland. "As our population grows, the need for areas to hike, fish, hunt, backpack, birdwatch and stargaze in becomes increasingly important," he said. "This bill protects these areas not just for us but for future generations."

Hmmmm, funny that he didnt mention anything about 'off-road enthusiasts' in his listing of outdoor enjoying people.

Keep up the good fight people!!!

Foresthill OHV Park

I experienced Foresthill OHV Park for the first time this past weekend, 10/15/2006. With no rain and no wetness for the past 6 months I don't need to explain to anyone about how DRY it was out there and that made for alot of dust. But anyway, being the 'enduro-ist' that I am I still went on about the ride. There were 4 of us up there; my neighbor and his son and me and mine. The trails we rode were very technical so it was very good for the kids to experience this as part of their overall training. This is the type of stuff I really enjoy only I wish that the trails were all one way so there was less worry about someone coming the other way when your powering through a blind curve... Kinda takes the fun out of it when you have to swerve off track to avoid wayward ATV's and other riders coming at you. This didn't happen to often but the thought was always in the back of my mind. The trails are marked really well so getting lost should not be an excuse for work on a Monday morning. They have camping and toilet facilities located at most of the staging areas up there so just in case you do stay over you can rest comfortably (if you came prepared for that).

We rode Loop#1, Loop#3 and Loop#4. We have personally named Loop #4 "The Rock Garden" in total admiration of all the rocks that are on this trail. I mean there are so many rocks that there is no dirt to ride on, it is loose rock, it is jagged rock sticking out of the ground, it is round rock from riverbeds and it was definately a work-out. "BENT RIM" was all I kept thinking about the whole time through there. All for not, with the exception of a couple of slow falls for my son we all made it through there without a scratch. Loop #3 is a nice twisty trail through the forest with an abundance of ferns covering the hillsides and wildlife close by. NO ATV's on this trail- too thin for them. Found a nice wide and long Jeep trail with jumps spread out about 50 feet apart to catch some nice air off of. Had to check out my new rebuilt and revalved fork job by Dicks Racing located up in Roseville, CA. It worked like a dream! Thanks Dick!

We found some really loose stuff up on one of the upper trails toward China Wall (We're going there next). This dirt was so fine and dusty you could hardly see anything, both the young boys did headers running down this one and it looked like a mushroom cloud when they hit... This is when I needed a Helmet Cam. This would be some fun family time video moments. They all got up and brushed themselves off and kept on going. I can't wait for the first rains that are gonna come and turn all that dust to muck and mire to play in. Should be even more fun! (gotta get that helmet cam)

Anwyays Great Place to ride, We barely got a chance to see it all in one day but we will return for more. I will let you know more when I do.

Girls Racing MX

Photo of Brooklyn McClendon

I think its pretty cool to see girls getting involved with motocross and being out there racing with the guys. I figure if they have a talent why not have them take it out and make the best of it. Any guy that knows the enjoyment of running a track or scrambling through backwood mountain trails can probably appreciate the fact that it is just plain fun and girls like to have fun too!

I have two daughters myself that are having alot of fun with dirtbiking right now and I hope that they would find some enjoyment in the competition part of it also. I know I would certainly find enjoyment in helping them with their bikes, their experience and their goals to achieve some sort of racing ability. That would be fun.

I have found that there are many outlets on the web for women of all ages to find information, education and motivational support from some of these groups. One is Moxie Racing which is a local Sacramento group that helps within the local ranks. Another is MX Girls which is listed as a "Home Base for Women Motocrossers" and has been on the web for about 7 years. There is also WMA which covers it all. Some of these girls are Pro riders like Kadie Garrett and Jessica Patterson. Amazing arent they? You can bet that these women and girls are making a strong impression in the dirt out there and you guys better beware. These girls will be kickin some booty on you if you arent lookin' Good Luck Girls!

NorCal MX

NorCal Motocross is another dirtbiking website that offers all kinds of information exclusively for the Northern California dirtbike enthusiast. It has everything from information and reviews on riding places, track pictures, race results and reports. The forums there are very informative and friendly unlike some other places I have been to and the forum administrator is a straight shooter and keeps things inline. Its a family kind of forum that offers help to all ages of riders, young and old, girls and boys and without bad attitudes. I'll have more to talk about with them as we have more time and opportunity to get to know the different groups of people there better. Looks like a great place!!! Check it out. Also Joey Washburn the admin for the site is a fantastic photographer and has a website with his awesome motocrossing galleries. Check them out at his site also.

CLUB MOTO

Club Moto is a really cool privately owned track in the Northern California Bay Area. It is located on the outskirts of Livermore, California off Highway 580 heading towards the Altamont Pass. This park is a local favorite of many people that volunteer their time, money and efforts to keep the place open and safe for riders of all ages. Many of the Norcal MX people are familiar with the Owner; Kirk and have good things to say about the place. They have a ClubMoto Gallery of the riders that use this track, some very talented people! The photography is awesome and all the photos are for sale online if you like what you see.

The club offers weekend and one weeknight riding and they have events there once in awhile. I havent made it there yet myself, But I plan to very soon. I'll let you know how it goes. If you're a local then go check them out.

A Word About Private Property

I probably wont be divulging too many of my private property locations on this blog site mainly due to not having permissions from the land owners to just advertise their properties for use. Not that I can blame them for not giving permission, I think it's only fair to say that "people can be jerks" sometimes and that's typically why landowners will not let just anybody ride their property. This mostly comes from a fear of being sued when some idiot rider (beginner or expert) with half-a-brain scatters it all over their soil and then wants to blame them because he ran into a rock that he didn't see in his way. Now that's just plain BS! It's irresponsible and it hurts only the people that do take responsibility for their own actions. If you're going to get on a dirtbike and go out and ride on terrain that is absolutely unforgivable to stupidity then YOU and only YOU have to be the person to be the responsible party and no one else. If you have kids that you are letting ride on private property, then YOU are responsible for their welfare also and not the property owner. IF you are the type of person that will try to collect from someone else that is trying to provide a place for your enjoyment due to your own incompetence then you are a DIRTBAG and certainly not a DIRTBIKER...

A Word About Public Property

In the State of California laws are really becoming literally constrictive to off-road users due to encroachment of our rights by other groups which I will leave nameless, for uses of their own. I mean why can't we all just be happy using the areas together? They can look at their flowers and their dirt and rocks and we can just use them as pylons or obstacles on our enduro and motocross courses... yes? Everyone's happy!

But seriously folks, these groups are rallying to the powers that be that we are raping the lands by destroying them with our bikes, atvs, cars, trucks, buggies or whatever motorized vehicle they can come up with and leaving them unclean with all our garbage. I would only have to say that I have seen evidence of this by people in our sport that really don't give a damn about others and ruin it for everyone. We have to be at least as strong as these other groups in our solidarity and ban together and do the right thing. If that means staying on trails and packing up your own garbage and taking it out or picking up a little extra then so be it.

If you catch one of these punks that IS NOT doing the right thing while they are taking advantage of our OHV system within this state (or any other) then EDUCATE THEM!... Give them a LESSON in RESPECT if you know what I mean. We ultimately have to be the caretakers of the areas that we ride in. Respect the areas you ride in and we as a group (Offroaders) will be respected. We only hurt each others right to ride when we dont protect the things we care for.