Madhatter wants a dirt bike….

[Madhatter]

damn cold , how do you stand the cold up in them northern states ? I know its a regional thing one is accustomed to mostly ...... but we we have those who are northern natives that flee the north each year (snow birds is what we call them ) and then some stay here permanently . so even the die hard I'm a tough Yankee (some one told me I was to capitalize Yankee ) get enough of freezing their butts off. this arctic blast started Wednesday and will not end till Wednesday is more than enough winter for us here in central Texas . the heat does get hard to bare at times in the summer . but we have lakes and rivers and shade trees to get us through .
I keep my dirt bike on a trickle charger , but im going to need to put it on the Tenere later today (I ride the Tenere at least once a week but by the time this cold spell ends it will be almost 2 weeks ) as cold weather is hard on a battery .
tomorrows forecast is a high of 34 , so as cabin fever tries to set in im going to carrots place and we are going to work on the trails (maybe ) . so brutal temperatures right down the middle of the country and us less accustomed will have to endure . next Saturdays forecast of the 20th of February is a high of 65 . I will be at the races.

 

[ballisticexchris]

I used to ride and tent camp in the desert where it was a nice crisp 60 deg in the day. As soon as the sun wen down it would plummet to 18 deg. Wake up and go riding and just freeze for the first few hours. We would duct tape big pieces of cardboard in front of the hand guards to block the wind. For us guys that are used to mild weather it's hard.

I remember a freezing cold, wet and muddy desert race my club sponsored. It was a very fast Hare and Hound. Us guys in the West are used to doing everything we can to get out of the dust. Having the throttle pinned in the bomb run going 50 mph+ for novice (experts are in the 75mph to 100 mph range) and not seeing past the front fender is the norm. This race was icy in the morning with zero dust at the start.

It started off great all the guys were just flying. Then the sun came up and the course turned to deep sloppy mud. The guys from back East were in their element. Western boys got flogged and were humbled. To watch guys just fly and slide through quagmire at eye watering speeds was amazing. The only thing that slowed them down were the checkpoints where we had to wipe the number plates just to identify the rider.

 

[Madhatter]

Awesome , mud is more treacherous than sand. But I’ve only crashed in sand, so maybe not as bad as sand . Did I say I hate sand ... sounds like you are feeling better.

 

[ballisticexchris]

Yes I'm feeling better. And I like the sand. It's not that hard when you get used to it. Plus it helps to have a 10 paddle mounted on the Beta!! LOL

 

[Madhatter]

Probably not going to buy that tire .

 

[ballisticexchris]

Probably not going to buy that tire .

You can always borrow mine:



In all seriousness running paddles in the sand or even full days in the sand dunes on knobby's is very hard on the bike. You do not want to run pump gas unless you are willing to jet super rich. I go up one or two on the main jet and run VP C12 or similar. Run some premix 60:1 or so along with your oil injection. Down one on the countershaft, get a spare mud flap behind the shock and cut a V into it. Might have to lengthen chain also. With your bike and the Rekluse, you want to tune out the auto clutch with at least double "Freeplay Gain". This tire combo will make you king of the hill and bowls!! The front tire will slice into the bowls like a hot knife and grab.

So I have ran this paddle on my Honda 650R, KTM 300EXC, and my Beta 498. By far the most wicked bike was my 650R Honda. The only other bikes that could beat me up "Competition Hill" in Dumont were alcohol fueled Banshees, CR 500's and KX500 2T's.

Video does no justice of how steep and tall it is. It takes every bit of HP throttle pinned to make it up. You have to let off the throttle at just the right time at the top or go flying over a razorback on the other side. If you notice he does not go straight down. You can end up over the bars if you're not careful.

 

[Madhatter]

there is always someone just crazy enough to try anything , that's not me .... I was at my Beta dealer Friday and he actually has a paddle tire for a bike sitting there .... no sand dunes anywhere near here ...... we have a sandy loam soil in a lot of the riding areas and with a little moisture has great traction and hook up . but this being Texas it does not take long to dry out the top and it gets a little loose with the sand content of the soil. and if you are west of i35 it gets to be rocky with ledges and sharp edges .
its 915 am and its 25 degrees F . snow tonight with a possibility of a blizzard upgrade in the winter storm . so home bound as roads are a little icy this morning. don't need anything so no need to risk a vehicle or ones self on the roads . this storm will finally go away Thursday with a high by Saturday of 58 , come on heat wave. if the TORCS race is not cancelled carrot and myself will be there Saturday . he is planning to enter a race , D class as this is his first race . so possible pictures later this week .
any of you guys who ride winter dirt please post up ,we who have cabin fever might enjoy your post.
Stay warm.

 

[Mak10]

We have Sand dunes within an hour’s drive. I’ve ridden there quite a bit in my youth. It’s ok once in a while, but pounding the same hill over and over gets boring quick. The scenery doesn’t change much.

 

[ballisticexchris]

We have Sand dunes within an hour’s drive. I’ve ridden there quite a bit in my youth. It’s ok once in a while, but pounding the same hill over and over gets boring quick. The scenery doesn’t change much.

What I like about Dumont is how diversified it is. I usually bring an extra wheel set with knobby's mounted when I go. The Dune field is only about 1 mile x 4 miles. Then you have all the trails that lead to Death Valley and Amargossa river and mines. I'm still a sucker for the dunes. Glams is downright spooky. You can end up in Mexico if you get lost.

Any kind of riding is not boring for me as long as I'm riding. I'm happy to just hang out around camp riding around in slow circles doing balancing drills. Or just a few friends putting on mellow trails.

There is only one type of riding I have made a decision to limit myself on when I heal up from my injuries. I'm pretty much done with the extreme endurance/rock crawling rides that just beat the crap out of your bike. I used to enjoy bulldogging blipping over huge rocks and nasty hiking/animal trails. Those are for the young folk.

I was doing that kind of riding right up until my mid 50's. That's just like guys that are 60+ years old that are still catching air and mixing it up on a motocross track. The risk vs joy is just not there. Ask anyone who has came up short on a double how it feels. Or getting landed on by another rider.

 

[AVGeek]

You can no longer cross the border in the Imperial Sand Dunes, there is actually a fence that looks like an iron centipede. It's been there for a while now. Dumont is great, and you have a good shot of the razor back nature of most of the dunes as you make the turn at the top. My very first dune trip was to Dumont...it was 1974 and I was all of 3 years old! I've been hooked on the dunes ever since.

I have also been to St Anthony's Dunes up in Idaho on 3 different trips. I had just my sand rail on the first trip, both my rail and my quad on the 2nd trip, and just the quad on the 3rd trip. My rail had a 2276 turbo VW motor set up in a mid engine configuration. Running it at Glamis was mostly 2nd gear with an occasional jump into 3rd. The dunes and bowls are so big in Idaho that I was running mostly 3rd and 4th gear there. My quad is a YFZ450; stock gearing on flat land gets me just shy of 70mph; on the last trip to Idaho I clocked a legitimate 85mph, thanks to a full throttle run downhill in a bowl...

 

[ballisticexchris]

You can no longer cross the border in the Imperial Sand Dunes, there is actually a fence that looks like an iron centipede. It's been there for a while now.

Really? I had no idea. I know back in 2008 it was open. I imagine they put it there to prevent all the deaths of illegal crossings.

 

[Madhatter]

We woke to this this morning.

 

[Mak10]

Nice. We are supposed to get 8-15” here today. We’ve had snow on the ground since Dec 8th

 

[Madhatter]

7 degrees at 5 this morning. About as common for this area as 90 for say anchorage am. Sun is out now , pretty. Temp is now 10 . The high for today is 17 . Rolling power outages around the area . So the Democrats want to get rid of fossil fuel that heats our homes . And it can’t keep up so solar and wind aught to do a great job of powering our homes . Idiots.

 

[Madhatter]

I actually own a parka , finally got to wear it . Very nice . All my neighbors are not to be seen .

 

[Madhatter]

The forecast for tonight is 4 degrees to minus 1

 

[Sierra1]

All of the rolling brown outs are causing the water companies' pumps to burn out, or fail. So. . . . now. . . . no water to go along with "sometimes" heat.

 

[Madhatter]

it is a nightmare added to the already crappy crap that's been going on for a year now. I laughed a a laugh of derision of those who said "2021" has to be better ..... the same idiots are still in charge . and the world does not work that way . read an article that said part of Texas rolling black out problem is that the wind generators were frozen (that's the answer for the future along with solar ) and the ones that were working were working at twice the design speed ( prone to failure) as for solar till yesterday there has been no sunshine for over a week .
there are homes in this area that have been without power for 36 hours . the majority at 18 to 24 hours no power no heat . here at my house they have turned off the power 3 times over night. Texas has to do better than this .... add one more round of snow tomorrow night ,then we start acting like Texas again come Saturday ...... going to be a lot of frozen pipe repair around here come the thaw .
there is just nothing to do but be bored , no riding ,restaurants closed , stores closed ,no work for those of us that have jobs , mother natures lock down is impressive .
but this to shall pass in its own time . economic extra added bonus its going to make things worse is working very well.
just want to ride but my frustration with this crap and the weather is rising to the top.

 

[thughes317]

Hang in there Texas......

 

[ballisticexchris]

Hang in there Texas......

And Oklahoma!! This is crazy. Even Oklahoma City is having record breaking freezing temps. So much for these freaks that believe in the "Global Warming" theory.