As most of you already know my first shot at the ISDE went down the tubes when what KTM calls the locking lever that engages the shift drum broke on the first day. In the end locking up the engine in fifth gear. What follows is a first hand report from the International Six Days Enduro from both a riders and a spectator/worker’s point of view.
First let me say thank you to all of you who helped give me the opportunity to give it a shot by buying t-shirts, giving a donation or just wishing me luck. You guys rock!!!
When I got on the plane in Memphis early one Tuesday morning heading to the most prestigious motorcycle event in the world I had several things on my mind. First I was leaving my wife and son behind. This would be the longest our small family had been apart. Secondly I had a determination to succeed. I wanted to get there and get to it. I had never been on a commercial airliner before. So I figured for my first I would fly across the Atlantic! Once I got to New York and met up with the rest of the team I began to really get excited about going. I had lunch with Andy Gutish and Bill Hamilton. Andy was riding but Bill was going just to help out. He had been to the ISDE before and clued us in on some things we were unsure about. The plane ride was uneventful. The only problem I had were the monitors that told us how much longer the flight was. I would go to sleep and then wake up thinking we have to be there. Then those monitors would light up saying 4 more hours.
Upon landing we were told that the directions we were given on how to get out of Prague and to our final destination were no good because some of the roads were closed because of damage sustained during the recent flooding. We were given a map and told good luck. I was sharing a car with Lars Valin from St Louis. He and I teamed up with Tom Huber and Steve Underwood also from Missouri and figured we would follow each other to Harrachov where we were staying. Right of the bat we hit a major traffic jam. We all blew by our exit but Lars pulled some amazing driving and shoved our way into the rest of the cars on the off ramp. We were the first ones to get to the hotel and check in. On the way there I kept smelling the most foul smell I think I have ever smelled. It kind of stuck with you. I would later find out it was the coal burning in the homes for heat. Air pollution is pretty bad yet they are more concerned with dirtbikes riding through the woods than emissions. All the buildings are very old. Even the new buildings look old. The communist influence is still very visible. But at the same time the area we were in was a very nice area. Reminded me a lot of the Ozarks in north Arkansas.
The first day was spent sleeping and trying to get used to the time difference. The second day we were there which was Thursday we had to get our bikes ready because our impound was Friday morning. After making our way to the Paddock myself and a few others who were getting their bikes from KTM headed off looking for our bikes. We found them about a mile from the Paddock. Like a bonehead I did not carry a helmet with me and along with a few others went ahead and rode my bike back to the paddock. Just before the entrance I hopped off my bike and pushed it around the corner where the Policie were. A few Americans were stopped and were issued citations for riding with no helmets. They just looked at me knowing not fifty yards before I was riding my bike and they could not do anything because they did not see me. The rest of the day was spent getting our bikes ready for impound and getting signed up. Sign up had a few surprises in store for us. First they were not letting us get by with the copies of the bike titles KTM gave us. The KTM guy showed up with the originals so problem solved. The next hurdle was the promoters were requiring everyone have an International Drivers License. Not everyone had one because they thought they only needed one to drive the rental cars. Once I signed up and they did not look at mine. I handed it to John Wells who did not have one and he went through just fine. So we just started shuffling them between riders. The biggest snafu in signing up was that Tom Huber and Chilly White had been entered in the wrong class. Tom in the 175+ two stroke class and Chilly in the 400 four stroke class. In Tom’s case he had ridden every qualifier on a 250 four stroke and that’s what he brought. Chilly rented a 300 Gas Gas two stroke. It was apparantely a mistake at the AMA. Hugh Flemming was going to try and get it straightened out so they were told to go get there bikes ready and it would be straightened out the next day before impound. That night we had a team meeting where we were all given our helmets. Too freakin cool!!!!! I sat and stared at it in my room. I was ready to ride.
The next morning we woke up early and headed to the paddock. We were told impound was at 8:15am. But when it closed no one really knew it seemed like. It was turning colder. I had read the average high was in the 60’s with lows in the 40’s. It had dipped into the 30’s where it would stay for most of out stay. Before impound Steve Underwood and I headed out to the practice track about five miles out of town. The Policie were at the exit from the paddock checking for International Driver Licenses. We headed out there and man was it cold riding down the road. The practice track was a big grass track loop. My 250 seemed to be running well so after a few loops we headed back to get impounded. In looking back we had all day to get impounded so I should have ridden the bike more. Oh well. When I got to impound the KTM guy was there with all the documents we needed and I went right through, until they checked my tires. It seem as though the Trelleborg rear tires did not have a DOT stamp on them. The guy came down and showed the officials the paper work where they were legal tires but because the stamp was not on there we had to change them. After changing the tire I went through just fine. Some of the other Americans were not so lucky. Lars Valin caught some grief over his pink slip. In Europe they stamp everything. His pink slip was not stamped. He and Connie Flemming tried to explain that in Missouri they just give them a duplicate. In the end he switched lines and another inspector did not say a word about it. A few guys were given grief because they were on converted motocross bikes and some had to install real kick stands. Not the angle iron ones they had made. Tom and Chilly were told they were not going to be able to switch to the right class. Luckily there was one 400 four stroke left at KTM because Pat Schmitt of the Missouri Mudders team did not make the trip due to a sudden illness. So Chilly got his bike and Tom got Chilly’s Gas Gas. Both rushed to get them ready to impound. Meanwhile Greg Gillan of the US trophy team was not having any luck getting his YZ 250F to start. About an hour before impound closed he went to KTM with all the money he could raise and rented a 250 four stroke. In the end we all got impounded and had till Tuesday to walk the tests and do some sight seeing.
The next few days were spent walking special tests and finding restaurants with food that resembled American food. The grass track were huge. They were laid out in big fields. The enduro tests were really grass tracks. One was on a motcross track and the others were pretty wide open grass tracks. There was one to be run on day 3 and 4 that was on a black diamond ski slope. You wound your way down it then would your way back up it. It was so steep that at some points when walking if you stuck your hands out you could touch the ground you were walking on. It about wore us out just walking it. We had just about reached the end when we happened upon a British guy doing his business on the side of the trail. Tom Huber got a picture of him. The guy didn’t seem to mind! His buddies were making fun of him. It was pretty funny. The rest of the days leading up to the start were pretty uneventful. Some folks discovered a Disco near the hotel and were enjoying the local night life. I ventured down there one night with Paul Krause, his wife, Jeff Fredette and a few others. On the way back Krause who was driving pulled the parking brake and did a 180. He got some grief over it being pretty weak so he turned back down the road to try it again. I remember hearing the car being wound out, he got to the turn cut the wheel and pitched it sideways. Somewhere in all this a tire decided to come off the rim. Fredette tried to talk him into fixing it and see if we could get it to go all the way around but in the end it was decided against.
Sunday night was the opening ceremonies. All the Americans were there in their Team USA jackets. Some of the other countries were in matching riding jackets and looked pretty sharp. The US team by far had the largest number of people there with exception of maybe the Czechs. All the countries were introduced and then walked around part of the track then across to the bleachers. When the US team was introduced the place came alive. With the exceptions of the home team we got the most cheers. It helped that we were giving out stickers and stuff to the crowd. It was pretty awesome. Monday was spent getting all our stuff ready then getting to bed trying to get some sleep.
We were up bright and early Tuesday morning and I was ready to ride. The first rider was out at 7:30am and my minute came up a little after nine. I rolled my bike into the work area and just kind of stood around till my start time. I was on a row with a British fellow and an Aussie, Hayden Fenwick, who lives in Colorado. When we took off we rode around the track on a tarp then out on the street down the highway. We jumped off the road onto some really muddy badly rutted two track. The trail was not too bad. It was chewed up pretty good. I got to the first special test. My bike was not yet broken on so I was riding pretty bad. I could not get used to the tires. It seemed I could not find traction and the suspension was beating me to death. The tests were real choppy. I fell once in the test and was glad when it was over. After that it was a good 30 miles till the next test and the bike began to work better and I figured out the tires. I had written down the first check should be at 31 kilometers. It came and no check. I finally came to the check at 37 kilometers with a few minutes to spare. I checked through on my minute. The trail to the next test consisted of a lot of wide open fields and back roads. The only remotely difficult obstacle came at a stair case they went out of there way to send us down in the middle of nowhere. It was almost straight up and down with a spot halfway down that leveled off then went down again. At the bottom there was a rock wall about five feet from the last step. Couple that with all the steps were packed with mud and it was tricky. I rode off it and did not have any problems. I rode the rest of the course to the next check and was having a blast. I made the check and had a little less than ten minutes to spare. The Americans working the checks were the real heroes of the ISDE. They stood out there in the cold and wind shoving food down our throats and making sure we kept going. Many of these people came over and spent their hard earned money to work their tails off for team USA. Some were family of riders competing and rather than chase their rider around they helped everybody. Somewhere after check two my bike jumped from third to neutral. This became more frequent and by the time I got to the next test it just would not stay in gear. I finished the test and there was a lot of road before the next check. You really had to hang it out on the roads and take some chances in traffic to stay on time. But if you sped on the roads you took a risk of getting a speeding ticket from one of the many Policie running radar. And if you get a ticket you are excluded. I pulled into the check late and was told that everyone was late so I went ahead and gassed up. They eventually threw this check out. I assumed a new minute and made the next check with a few minutes to spare. I told them I was having bike problems and need to change my oil. They had some trouble finding a container to drain my oil into and we finally used a tool box tray. When I pulled out my drain plug there was a washer stuck to it. Everyone just looked at it like oh no! Nobody said anything and I finally said well I will just ride it till it blows up. I dropped another minute at that check. I made it back to the paddock where we headed out to do the loop again. I changed my oil and was glad to see no parts stuck to the drain plug this time. I took off hopeful that it would stay together. It was constantly jumping out of gear and caused me a few problems in some spots jumping out of gear on hill climbs. I had already come to the decision that I would just live with it and if I had to go six days with the problem then so be it. I was hauling across a corn field and I hit a mud bog and when I went to shift down I discovered it was stuck in fifth gear. I stopped and started kicking the bike thinking I might knock something loose. A kid that was stuck in the field to discourage cheaters came down and offered me the use of his cell phone. I thought about calling my wife and saying guess where I am. But I thought better of it and did not do that to the poor kid. I got pointed in the direction of Jablonec and headed that way stuck in fifth gear. Wide open through these small towns doing 5 miles per hour. I found my way back and headed to the KTM truck. They took it apart tried to fix it but it was too late. I could have re-impounded and rode to finish but I figured with no chance of getting a medal I would not wear out a bike I would have to buy. And that was the end of my Six Days. All in all I made it about 100 miles.
I was not the only casualty on day one. Ryan Dean, Gabe Reos and Bill Radecky all had mechanical DNF’s on day one. At the end of the day we also found out the Policie had a list of people who had to see them for speeding. I was on the list. Needless to say I did not go. Ryan Dean and I kicked back a few beers and talked about our misfortune. At one point we were going to strap my KTM to the hood of the car and head to Austria to talk with the KTM folks but cooler heads prevailed. On day 2 the organizers gave a little extra time on the schedule and it eased up some of the danger of the road racing. I hung out and watched some special test and took some pictures. On day three I went to the ski slope test to watch and help any Americans who had trouble. They all made it ok. Each day I made it back to the pits to help however I could with the last pit of the day. The night before day four the wind really kicked up. Wind like I have never seen. Then it started to snow and sleet. The next day I went out to see what was going on and a lot of Americans were houring out. Most all with bike problems. They wound up on the second loop not even running the tests. Amanda Mastin went out with a destroyed clutch. Her brother Cody had an oil line come loose and he blew up his bike. Not a good day for a lot of people. Over half the riders entered went out on day four.
Day five was the same as day one and two so the riders were in for a little easier day. Most were welcoming the road race they had complained about. Day five saw two trophy team members retired. Brian Sperle was excluded for supposedly gassing his bike with it running. A pretty bogus claim when all the facts are explained. Day five also claimed Greg Gillan. He had the ignition go out in his rented KTM. I felt bad for him. Super nice guy. We took him to the disco that night and kind of forced him to have a good time.
I went and took in the final motocross. Pretty awesome. They shut down a major highway to set up the impound and parking. People standing for hours on end to watch their country compete. They take it very seriously over there. It was then that I posed the question how can anyone go over there and not want to get better and go back and kick some Euro butt!!! I mean I want to go back so bad I can taste it. When it was all over we loaded up the container, packed our bags and came home.
For me the Six Days did not turn out the way I expected it but, I met a lot of new people I I now consider friends. Saw things most people will never see and I have stories I will be telling for a long time. There are a lot of people faster than me on a dirt bike. But to me the ISDE is about more than being able to go fast on a dirt bike. You have to be a mechanic, a self motivator and a few classes in crisis management would not hurt.
First let me say thank you to all of you who helped give me the opportunity to give it a shot by buying t-shirts, giving a donation or just wishing me luck. You guys rock!!!
When I got on the plane in Memphis early one Tuesday morning heading to the most prestigious motorcycle event in the world I had several things on my mind. First I was leaving my wife and son behind. This would be the longest our small family had been apart. Secondly I had a determination to succeed. I wanted to get there and get to it. I had never been on a commercial airliner before. So I figured for my first I would fly across the Atlantic! Once I got to New York and met up with the rest of the team I began to really get excited about going. I had lunch with Andy Gutish and Bill Hamilton. Andy was riding but Bill was going just to help out. He had been to the ISDE before and clued us in on some things we were unsure about. The plane ride was uneventful. The only problem I had were the monitors that told us how much longer the flight was. I would go to sleep and then wake up thinking we have to be there. Then those monitors would light up saying 4 more hours.
Upon landing we were told that the directions we were given on how to get out of Prague and to our final destination were no good because some of the roads were closed because of damage sustained during the recent flooding. We were given a map and told good luck. I was sharing a car with Lars Valin from St Louis. He and I teamed up with Tom Huber and Steve Underwood also from Missouri and figured we would follow each other to Harrachov where we were staying. Right of the bat we hit a major traffic jam. We all blew by our exit but Lars pulled some amazing driving and shoved our way into the rest of the cars on the off ramp. We were the first ones to get to the hotel and check in. On the way there I kept smelling the most foul smell I think I have ever smelled. It kind of stuck with you. I would later find out it was the coal burning in the homes for heat. Air pollution is pretty bad yet they are more concerned with dirtbikes riding through the woods than emissions. All the buildings are very old. Even the new buildings look old. The communist influence is still very visible. But at the same time the area we were in was a very nice area. Reminded me a lot of the Ozarks in north Arkansas.
The first day was spent sleeping and trying to get used to the time difference. The second day we were there which was Thursday we had to get our bikes ready because our impound was Friday morning. After making our way to the Paddock myself and a few others who were getting their bikes from KTM headed off looking for our bikes. We found them about a mile from the Paddock. Like a bonehead I did not carry a helmet with me and along with a few others went ahead and rode my bike back to the paddock. Just before the entrance I hopped off my bike and pushed it around the corner where the Policie were. A few Americans were stopped and were issued citations for riding with no helmets. They just looked at me knowing not fifty yards before I was riding my bike and they could not do anything because they did not see me. The rest of the day was spent getting our bikes ready for impound and getting signed up. Sign up had a few surprises in store for us. First they were not letting us get by with the copies of the bike titles KTM gave us. The KTM guy showed up with the originals so problem solved. The next hurdle was the promoters were requiring everyone have an International Drivers License. Not everyone had one because they thought they only needed one to drive the rental cars. Once I signed up and they did not look at mine. I handed it to John Wells who did not have one and he went through just fine. So we just started shuffling them between riders. The biggest snafu in signing up was that Tom Huber and Chilly White had been entered in the wrong class. Tom in the 175+ two stroke class and Chilly in the 400 four stroke class. In Tom’s case he had ridden every qualifier on a 250 four stroke and that’s what he brought. Chilly rented a 300 Gas Gas two stroke. It was apparantely a mistake at the AMA. Hugh Flemming was going to try and get it straightened out so they were told to go get there bikes ready and it would be straightened out the next day before impound. That night we had a team meeting where we were all given our helmets. Too freakin cool!!!!! I sat and stared at it in my room. I was ready to ride.
The next morning we woke up early and headed to the paddock. We were told impound was at 8:15am. But when it closed no one really knew it seemed like. It was turning colder. I had read the average high was in the 60’s with lows in the 40’s. It had dipped into the 30’s where it would stay for most of out stay. Before impound Steve Underwood and I headed out to the practice track about five miles out of town. The Policie were at the exit from the paddock checking for International Driver Licenses. We headed out there and man was it cold riding down the road. The practice track was a big grass track loop. My 250 seemed to be running well so after a few loops we headed back to get impounded. In looking back we had all day to get impounded so I should have ridden the bike more. Oh well. When I got to impound the KTM guy was there with all the documents we needed and I went right through, until they checked my tires. It seem as though the Trelleborg rear tires did not have a DOT stamp on them. The guy came down and showed the officials the paper work where they were legal tires but because the stamp was not on there we had to change them. After changing the tire I went through just fine. Some of the other Americans were not so lucky. Lars Valin caught some grief over his pink slip. In Europe they stamp everything. His pink slip was not stamped. He and Connie Flemming tried to explain that in Missouri they just give them a duplicate. In the end he switched lines and another inspector did not say a word about it. A few guys were given grief because they were on converted motocross bikes and some had to install real kick stands. Not the angle iron ones they had made. Tom and Chilly were told they were not going to be able to switch to the right class. Luckily there was one 400 four stroke left at KTM because Pat Schmitt of the Missouri Mudders team did not make the trip due to a sudden illness. So Chilly got his bike and Tom got Chilly’s Gas Gas. Both rushed to get them ready to impound. Meanwhile Greg Gillan of the US trophy team was not having any luck getting his YZ 250F to start. About an hour before impound closed he went to KTM with all the money he could raise and rented a 250 four stroke. In the end we all got impounded and had till Tuesday to walk the tests and do some sight seeing.
The next few days were spent walking special tests and finding restaurants with food that resembled American food. The grass track were huge. They were laid out in big fields. The enduro tests were really grass tracks. One was on a motcross track and the others were pretty wide open grass tracks. There was one to be run on day 3 and 4 that was on a black diamond ski slope. You wound your way down it then would your way back up it. It was so steep that at some points when walking if you stuck your hands out you could touch the ground you were walking on. It about wore us out just walking it. We had just about reached the end when we happened upon a British guy doing his business on the side of the trail. Tom Huber got a picture of him. The guy didn’t seem to mind! His buddies were making fun of him. It was pretty funny. The rest of the days leading up to the start were pretty uneventful. Some folks discovered a Disco near the hotel and were enjoying the local night life. I ventured down there one night with Paul Krause, his wife, Jeff Fredette and a few others. On the way back Krause who was driving pulled the parking brake and did a 180. He got some grief over it being pretty weak so he turned back down the road to try it again. I remember hearing the car being wound out, he got to the turn cut the wheel and pitched it sideways. Somewhere in all this a tire decided to come off the rim. Fredette tried to talk him into fixing it and see if we could get it to go all the way around but in the end it was decided against.
Sunday night was the opening ceremonies. All the Americans were there in their Team USA jackets. Some of the other countries were in matching riding jackets and looked pretty sharp. The US team by far had the largest number of people there with exception of maybe the Czechs. All the countries were introduced and then walked around part of the track then across to the bleachers. When the US team was introduced the place came alive. With the exceptions of the home team we got the most cheers. It helped that we were giving out stickers and stuff to the crowd. It was pretty awesome. Monday was spent getting all our stuff ready then getting to bed trying to get some sleep.
We were up bright and early Tuesday morning and I was ready to ride. The first rider was out at 7:30am and my minute came up a little after nine. I rolled my bike into the work area and just kind of stood around till my start time. I was on a row with a British fellow and an Aussie, Hayden Fenwick, who lives in Colorado. When we took off we rode around the track on a tarp then out on the street down the highway. We jumped off the road onto some really muddy badly rutted two track. The trail was not too bad. It was chewed up pretty good. I got to the first special test. My bike was not yet broken on so I was riding pretty bad. I could not get used to the tires. It seemed I could not find traction and the suspension was beating me to death. The tests were real choppy. I fell once in the test and was glad when it was over. After that it was a good 30 miles till the next test and the bike began to work better and I figured out the tires. I had written down the first check should be at 31 kilometers. It came and no check. I finally came to the check at 37 kilometers with a few minutes to spare. I checked through on my minute. The trail to the next test consisted of a lot of wide open fields and back roads. The only remotely difficult obstacle came at a stair case they went out of there way to send us down in the middle of nowhere. It was almost straight up and down with a spot halfway down that leveled off then went down again. At the bottom there was a rock wall about five feet from the last step. Couple that with all the steps were packed with mud and it was tricky. I rode off it and did not have any problems. I rode the rest of the course to the next check and was having a blast. I made the check and had a little less than ten minutes to spare. The Americans working the checks were the real heroes of the ISDE. They stood out there in the cold and wind shoving food down our throats and making sure we kept going. Many of these people came over and spent their hard earned money to work their tails off for team USA. Some were family of riders competing and rather than chase their rider around they helped everybody. Somewhere after check two my bike jumped from third to neutral. This became more frequent and by the time I got to the next test it just would not stay in gear. I finished the test and there was a lot of road before the next check. You really had to hang it out on the roads and take some chances in traffic to stay on time. But if you sped on the roads you took a risk of getting a speeding ticket from one of the many Policie running radar. And if you get a ticket you are excluded. I pulled into the check late and was told that everyone was late so I went ahead and gassed up. They eventually threw this check out. I assumed a new minute and made the next check with a few minutes to spare. I told them I was having bike problems and need to change my oil. They had some trouble finding a container to drain my oil into and we finally used a tool box tray. When I pulled out my drain plug there was a washer stuck to it. Everyone just looked at it like oh no! Nobody said anything and I finally said well I will just ride it till it blows up. I dropped another minute at that check. I made it back to the paddock where we headed out to do the loop again. I changed my oil and was glad to see no parts stuck to the drain plug this time. I took off hopeful that it would stay together. It was constantly jumping out of gear and caused me a few problems in some spots jumping out of gear on hill climbs. I had already come to the decision that I would just live with it and if I had to go six days with the problem then so be it. I was hauling across a corn field and I hit a mud bog and when I went to shift down I discovered it was stuck in fifth gear. I stopped and started kicking the bike thinking I might knock something loose. A kid that was stuck in the field to discourage cheaters came down and offered me the use of his cell phone. I thought about calling my wife and saying guess where I am. But I thought better of it and did not do that to the poor kid. I got pointed in the direction of Jablonec and headed that way stuck in fifth gear. Wide open through these small towns doing 5 miles per hour. I found my way back and headed to the KTM truck. They took it apart tried to fix it but it was too late. I could have re-impounded and rode to finish but I figured with no chance of getting a medal I would not wear out a bike I would have to buy. And that was the end of my Six Days. All in all I made it about 100 miles.
I was not the only casualty on day one. Ryan Dean, Gabe Reos and Bill Radecky all had mechanical DNF’s on day one. At the end of the day we also found out the Policie had a list of people who had to see them for speeding. I was on the list. Needless to say I did not go. Ryan Dean and I kicked back a few beers and talked about our misfortune. At one point we were going to strap my KTM to the hood of the car and head to Austria to talk with the KTM folks but cooler heads prevailed. On day 2 the organizers gave a little extra time on the schedule and it eased up some of the danger of the road racing. I hung out and watched some special test and took some pictures. On day three I went to the ski slope test to watch and help any Americans who had trouble. They all made it ok. Each day I made it back to the pits to help however I could with the last pit of the day. The night before day four the wind really kicked up. Wind like I have never seen. Then it started to snow and sleet. The next day I went out to see what was going on and a lot of Americans were houring out. Most all with bike problems. They wound up on the second loop not even running the tests. Amanda Mastin went out with a destroyed clutch. Her brother Cody had an oil line come loose and he blew up his bike. Not a good day for a lot of people. Over half the riders entered went out on day four.
Day five was the same as day one and two so the riders were in for a little easier day. Most were welcoming the road race they had complained about. Day five saw two trophy team members retired. Brian Sperle was excluded for supposedly gassing his bike with it running. A pretty bogus claim when all the facts are explained. Day five also claimed Greg Gillan. He had the ignition go out in his rented KTM. I felt bad for him. Super nice guy. We took him to the disco that night and kind of forced him to have a good time.
I went and took in the final motocross. Pretty awesome. They shut down a major highway to set up the impound and parking. People standing for hours on end to watch their country compete. They take it very seriously over there. It was then that I posed the question how can anyone go over there and not want to get better and go back and kick some Euro butt!!! I mean I want to go back so bad I can taste it. When it was all over we loaded up the container, packed our bags and came home.
For me the Six Days did not turn out the way I expected it but, I met a lot of new people I I now consider friends. Saw things most people will never see and I have stories I will be telling for a long time. There are a lot of people faster than me on a dirt bike. But to me the ISDE is about more than being able to go fast on a dirt bike. You have to be a mechanic, a self motivator and a few classes in crisis management would not hurt.
