truespode
Moderator / Wheelie King
- Jun 30, 1999
- 7,984
- 251
You can see pics at http://www.truespode.net/pics/24hrpics/thumbs/index.html
I don't know if we are stupid, crazy or just love dirtbikes. Whatever our affliction we got a 6 man team together for the 24 Hour Challenge on Perry Mountain (www.24hourchallenge.com).
The members were:
Pat
Keith
Lee
Tim
Jim
Ivan
We decided to use Jim's KTM 300 MXC. However, 2 weeks prior to the race it blew a seal and a head gasket so we spent the weekend prior to the race doing some mechanix type things. While putting it back together we also installed the S-12 tire that Proline KTM gave us for the event (thanks).
I had to work in Alabama that day so I drove up there by myself. I was the first person there and roped off the pits. Then I found a spot near the road to pull over and wait for the rest of the crew.
Tim drove down early Saturday morning but the rest were in Gomer's RV (thanks a lot Gomer-dude!) and they arrived about 2am.
After getting situated we all crawled into our sleeping spots about 3am only to rise a little after 6am to get some things ready and go to sign up.
This was our first ever event like this and we had absolutely no idea what we were doing. Fortunately, the promoters knew exactly what they were doing and had things in control so well that all our questions were answered before we asked them.
I was very impressed with how well the entire show was ran.
After getting the bikes ready and situating our backup bike in impound we got ready for the start.
Pat is the first victim... I mean racer for the team. He gets a good start and puts in 2 solid laps. He is also responsible for our fastest lap time (33 minutes, pro's were in the 26 minute range).
Keith goes second and does some good laps. Then Lee, Tim, Jim and then I go.
The first lap was pretty slow as I was expecting some really tight stuff after hearing Keith's review of the course. There were some tight stuff but none of it lasted that long. The longest and tightest they named "Candy Land" b/c of all the colors they painted the trees.
There were steel grates in some of the really wet and muddy areas that you could ride over. On one of those sections the steel grate was on the left part of the mud-hole. The right part was deep and soggy.
As I go over the steel grate I hear a 4-stroke coming by. I look to my left and wheeling past me through the muck was Barry Hawk. Wow! He went by me extremely quick and smooth.
That's the closest I've ever seen a pro race :)
I put in 2 of the slowest laps up to that point but had a good time. The course was still in fair condition.
We re-started our order and as Lee got up we noticed the sun settling in behind the mountain. It started to get dark quickly.
We tried to re-wire the bulbs to give us a brighter light by only using one of them. Unfortunately, we blew the bulbs out. Then we put the Honda XR400 light on and blew that bulb. We used a spare bulb from one of the Ironmen running the event but blew that bulb too.
That left us with almost no light at all.
Lee and I go over to the Niterider vendor trailer (www.niterider.com) and ask about their systems. They had some HID systems for $400 but the cheapest was a Halogen system for $80. The guy, Shannon, said that he would not recommend the Halogen as our only light source but seeing the dejection on our face he let us borrow his personal unit (one of the $400 setups).
I couldn't believe it. I was speechless. I'm still amazed by his generosity. I'll definately buy something from him where I can. Since I ride bicycle's too I know I'll find good enough reasons to spend some $$ on a setup.
Lee did the first night lap and after our problems I'm sure he was wondering when the lights would go out.
Keith went after Lee and did 1 lap before the Niterider battery went dead... ooops... my fault for not changing it out when he came back in. A quick fix with changing the battery and he was on his way again.
Keith did 3 night laps. That was plenty of time for Pat to take a nap. I tried to wake him when Keith started his 3rd lap but I could not rouse the beast.
I decided to go in his place and by the time I got my gear on guess who wakes up... Pat.
I get off and start riding. I keep playing with the lighting position of the Niterider and end up pulling it off the helmet. DOH!
The light was dangling downward at my side and I was at the bottom of a hill in a tight section.
Not wanting to get ran over I held the light with my left forfinger and thumb while fanning the clutch with my other 3 fingers and a lot of pressure on my palm.
Once at the top I was able to get in a safe place and put the light back on.
The course was really rough at this point. Lots of whoops, ruts and roots. The KTM300 handled it all well though. Plenty of low end grunt on the hills... 4-stroke tractor like.
I thought I did ok in the tight stuff but the open stuff I went really slow b/c of the lack of light and b/c I rode the rear brake hard in the tight stuff and boiled over the rear brake fluid several times.
I ended up only doing one lap but it took about an hour and forty-five minutes!
Pat ran off two 45 minute lap times in the dark after me. I'm not sure who went after that b/c I crawled into the truck and took a nap.
I did see when I woke up that we had a skull and cross-bones sign on our pit sign. That means someone was caught speeding down the pits. Turned out Lee got near the end and goosed it a little early. We got penalized 5 minutes for that.
We took that time to look at the bike and see what was what. By this time we had lost 2 front fenders, the kickstand, the lights and had broken the rear brake fin.
Tim took the last 2 laps and brought us in just a shade over 24 hours. He came by near the start with less than 2 minutes to go before the end of the race so we had him stop for a moment to make sure the checkers were coming out so we would not have to do another lap.
All in all I can say this was the toughest thing I have ever done mentally. Physically I have ridden tougher events that took more of a toll on me but the mental aspect was taxing b/c I worried about riding at night, worried about the bike lasting 24 hours and worried about making sure everyone else has fun and gets as much riding in that they want but not tire themself out and get hurt.
This is definately something all dirtbike enthusiasts should try at least once in their life. I want to do it again just so we have the opportunity to do it right.
The best part of everything was the group of guys that were there. We all have distinctly different personalities but we seemed to gel pretty well, even when there were differences of opinion. I have a lot of respect and appreciation for my team. Thank you guys!
Ivan
I don't know if we are stupid, crazy or just love dirtbikes. Whatever our affliction we got a 6 man team together for the 24 Hour Challenge on Perry Mountain (www.24hourchallenge.com).
The members were:
Pat
Keith
Lee
Tim
Jim
Ivan
We decided to use Jim's KTM 300 MXC. However, 2 weeks prior to the race it blew a seal and a head gasket so we spent the weekend prior to the race doing some mechanix type things. While putting it back together we also installed the S-12 tire that Proline KTM gave us for the event (thanks).
I had to work in Alabama that day so I drove up there by myself. I was the first person there and roped off the pits. Then I found a spot near the road to pull over and wait for the rest of the crew.
Tim drove down early Saturday morning but the rest were in Gomer's RV (thanks a lot Gomer-dude!) and they arrived about 2am.
After getting situated we all crawled into our sleeping spots about 3am only to rise a little after 6am to get some things ready and go to sign up.
This was our first ever event like this and we had absolutely no idea what we were doing. Fortunately, the promoters knew exactly what they were doing and had things in control so well that all our questions were answered before we asked them.
I was very impressed with how well the entire show was ran.
After getting the bikes ready and situating our backup bike in impound we got ready for the start.
Pat is the first victim... I mean racer for the team. He gets a good start and puts in 2 solid laps. He is also responsible for our fastest lap time (33 minutes, pro's were in the 26 minute range).
Keith goes second and does some good laps. Then Lee, Tim, Jim and then I go.
The first lap was pretty slow as I was expecting some really tight stuff after hearing Keith's review of the course. There were some tight stuff but none of it lasted that long. The longest and tightest they named "Candy Land" b/c of all the colors they painted the trees.
There were steel grates in some of the really wet and muddy areas that you could ride over. On one of those sections the steel grate was on the left part of the mud-hole. The right part was deep and soggy.
As I go over the steel grate I hear a 4-stroke coming by. I look to my left and wheeling past me through the muck was Barry Hawk. Wow! He went by me extremely quick and smooth.
That's the closest I've ever seen a pro race :)
I put in 2 of the slowest laps up to that point but had a good time. The course was still in fair condition.
We re-started our order and as Lee got up we noticed the sun settling in behind the mountain. It started to get dark quickly.
We tried to re-wire the bulbs to give us a brighter light by only using one of them. Unfortunately, we blew the bulbs out. Then we put the Honda XR400 light on and blew that bulb. We used a spare bulb from one of the Ironmen running the event but blew that bulb too.
That left us with almost no light at all.
Lee and I go over to the Niterider vendor trailer (www.niterider.com) and ask about their systems. They had some HID systems for $400 but the cheapest was a Halogen system for $80. The guy, Shannon, said that he would not recommend the Halogen as our only light source but seeing the dejection on our face he let us borrow his personal unit (one of the $400 setups).
I couldn't believe it. I was speechless. I'm still amazed by his generosity. I'll definately buy something from him where I can. Since I ride bicycle's too I know I'll find good enough reasons to spend some $$ on a setup.
Lee did the first night lap and after our problems I'm sure he was wondering when the lights would go out.
Keith went after Lee and did 1 lap before the Niterider battery went dead... ooops... my fault for not changing it out when he came back in. A quick fix with changing the battery and he was on his way again.
Keith did 3 night laps. That was plenty of time for Pat to take a nap. I tried to wake him when Keith started his 3rd lap but I could not rouse the beast.
I decided to go in his place and by the time I got my gear on guess who wakes up... Pat.
I get off and start riding. I keep playing with the lighting position of the Niterider and end up pulling it off the helmet. DOH!
The light was dangling downward at my side and I was at the bottom of a hill in a tight section.
Not wanting to get ran over I held the light with my left forfinger and thumb while fanning the clutch with my other 3 fingers and a lot of pressure on my palm.
Once at the top I was able to get in a safe place and put the light back on.
The course was really rough at this point. Lots of whoops, ruts and roots. The KTM300 handled it all well though. Plenty of low end grunt on the hills... 4-stroke tractor like.
I thought I did ok in the tight stuff but the open stuff I went really slow b/c of the lack of light and b/c I rode the rear brake hard in the tight stuff and boiled over the rear brake fluid several times.
I ended up only doing one lap but it took about an hour and forty-five minutes!
Pat ran off two 45 minute lap times in the dark after me. I'm not sure who went after that b/c I crawled into the truck and took a nap.
I did see when I woke up that we had a skull and cross-bones sign on our pit sign. That means someone was caught speeding down the pits. Turned out Lee got near the end and goosed it a little early. We got penalized 5 minutes for that.
We took that time to look at the bike and see what was what. By this time we had lost 2 front fenders, the kickstand, the lights and had broken the rear brake fin.
Tim took the last 2 laps and brought us in just a shade over 24 hours. He came by near the start with less than 2 minutes to go before the end of the race so we had him stop for a moment to make sure the checkers were coming out so we would not have to do another lap.
All in all I can say this was the toughest thing I have ever done mentally. Physically I have ridden tougher events that took more of a toll on me but the mental aspect was taxing b/c I worried about riding at night, worried about the bike lasting 24 hours and worried about making sure everyone else has fun and gets as much riding in that they want but not tire themself out and get hurt.
This is definately something all dirtbike enthusiasts should try at least once in their life. I want to do it again just so we have the opportunity to do it right.
The best part of everything was the group of guys that were there. We all have distinctly different personalities but we seemed to gel pretty well, even when there were differences of opinion. I have a lot of respect and appreciation for my team. Thank you guys!
Ivan
