XR100

The XR100 is going to be back on the race track! It has been a long time, probably 8 years anyway, since this bike has actually been raced. It hasn't been idle...no, not at all; ice bike, guest bike, yard bike, pit bike, mini-moto bike. It's been ridden every year we've had it. In fact it was due for an overhaul, which it won't really get, but at least the engine will get freshened up. Here's how it looked Sunday morning, exactly one week before race day.



I got a BBR 120cc kit for the engine; new cylinder and piston, cam, rockers and valve springs. Pulled the engine, got the new piston and cylinder on with some help from Sandy, got the new valve springs installed with some help from Hannah. (Finally got to use the valve spring compressor that Scott got me for Christmas about 5 or 6 years ago!)



I was about ready to install the rockers and cam. I got the cam drive sprocket out of the plastic bag I'd put it in, took a closer look at it and realized it was shot. The gear teeth look like saw teeth.




Now I have to order up a new gear and chain, I should probably replace the valves while I'm at it. And I still need a rear tire. I was going to change the fork oil too.

The Great Santini

This isn't totally unrelated to motorcycles. This past Sunday, Sandy, Hannah and I drove down to Brooklyn in the Ranger (ugh) to visit Scott and deliver his VFR and the TS100. He's got plans for both bikes, short range cafe/city mission for the TS100, long range interceptor mission for the um...interceptor.

We met up with Scott, dropped the bikes off at his rental space, collected my CL450 wheel from Geeto67 (thanks dude), and proceeded to check out a little bit of Brooklyn/NYC. Some of that included shopping, riding the Subway, walking and birding through Prospect Park (saw lots of warblers and other songbirds), and had some great meals.

Scott and I stopped in at 6th Street Specials and visited with Hugh for a while, great bench racing there with the promise of some real seat time for Scott later this summer.

Anyway, long story longer, we went to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden on Tuesday morning. Walked around, enjoying the trees and shrubs. Took a detour through a semi crowded side entrance, Hannah and Sandy were leading the way and a nice man stood aside to let them through. I glanced at him and instantly recognised him. Robert Duval, looking pretty much like any other tourist, taking his time cruising through the place. I'm a big fan, but I realized he wouldn't want to be mobbed by me or anyone else. I did ask him how he was doing as I walked past, and he replied "Alright", so I guess he's alright.

We didn't go...

To the Turkey Run in Rhode Island. The weather forecast was kind of iffy, so Seamus and I decided to not spend two tanks of gas plus entry fees plus 10 hours of driving to run in the rain. Instead we ran a few laps on the (newly) extended single-track on my neighbor's land, then we went to his place and worked on his track. I didn't think to bring the camera to his place. The track is coming along nicely, we built a pallet bridge over a particularly muddy bog. I'll get vids next time.

Anyway, here's the birdhouse turn on my track, looking like it should.



And here's a nice section of single-track, you drop in from a downhill over pine needles, roll through and gas the little rise to a couple more just like it, but different...

More Richmond vids

Another Thursday ride and some new sections open on the Richmond track. I got off the bike long enough to shoot these while there was still some light.

A new section of singletrack in the upper woods, I'm pretty sure these guys are faster than me...



and I know this dude is faster than me!



This is a long side-hill that turns into a tricky hillclimb with some nasty roots at the bottom. I'll get some footage from the bottom next week.



Couple guys pushing each other.

Thursday at Richmond

Thursday rides are on. Another great evening at Richmond. I went early to help open up some new singletrack loops. We've added some great new sections, I'll try to get some vids next time out. For now, here are some shorts of the sand sections;

The upper section starts from a lower woods loop;


The lower section starts from the main woods trail;




Seamus, digging his plush new suspension!




Jason stashed the snowboard, brought out the KDX.

Plastic Riders

There's more where these came from...



A typical sample of competition trophies, mostly 2nds 3rds and 4ths, but a few 1sts in there. We've got boxes of 'em from about 10+ years of racing.
"No Grapes, No Glory"

April 5th...

We woke up to this...



Fact is it's been raining since Friday, and I wouldn't have been able to ride today anyway but this sealed the deal. Maybe I'll do some track prep somewhere. I should be working on one of the three bikes in the garage right now, the Triumph, the KTM or the YZ, but I'm not inspired. Cold, dark and damp.

Beyond the pines you can see, I've laid out a nice singletrack course that I can't wait to try, but it will probably have to wait another month to dry. We'll see...