Walker Valley Scottish Trials/poker run

Its not a pure trials course, it's designed for offroad bikes, your xr400 will be fine, last year in the snow it was a good workout. You'll definantly want to ride the expert loop to savor the full experience. There is nothing like it.

The format last year was like a poker run with test sections. You are timed through the sections and penalized for dabs, stalls, etc. If you like the area you'll love the event. I won't be able to make it as I have a wedding anniversary to attend and my wife will be insanly jealous if I spend it with K.T.eMma. ;)

It sounds like a lot of fun! When is it?

Jeremy

This sunday at the Walker valley ORV parking area 8am sign up first rider out at 9:00 and last rider out at 10:00

:yeehaw: good fun :yeehaw:

So, anyone make it?

How was it?

Originally posted by Highbeam
What else would you want to do on a spring Sunday?

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Learn how to ride trials in Tennessee!! ;) Only problem with that is now we are hooked and our vintage trials bikes just won't do!!! Maybe we should have stayed on our trail bikes like you did Highbeam. I was wondering where you were trials riding from your post in the Enduro School thread.

:yeehaw: plenty-o-fun :yeehaw:

"all skill levels" poker run

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Sure hope the flyer didn't say that. It definately wasn't and that's why I didn't bring my daughter.
It wasn't bad as one of the first bikes out, but after the second time through the "poker racers" had left their mark and after the event was done a lot of trail was less than pretty. Once again plently of repair work for the Skagit MC.

too hard

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Don't feel bad, the legendary Malcolm Smith said the same thing.

177 riders maxed out Walker Valley's trailhead, where did you park?
I got there a 5:45am and still had to park acrossed the road from the trailhead.

Overall, the special sections were classic Walker Valley :p

tested at 97 Db at the spark plug enduro and blew a 104 at the trials event.

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Someone's blowin' somethin' fer sure.

They did send six riders home home for being too loud.

If the Skagit Motorcycle Club let him participate he was very close to 98.
That gang is on top of the noise issue and he may have started out too loud and they might have helped him get it quieted down. I know the had muffler packing and some expert help readily available.

The results were posted. I didn't get a spreadsheat this year yet. Aaron Wilson won the overall, wuppin' the trials bikers. Beth Neff won the short course and I got (possible sandbagger) second. I rode the expert sections and a second loop anyway and that was way more fun, even on an old XR.


The parking issue is a real sore spot for me. I was on the committee created to design a new trailhead three years ago and put a buttload of hours into reseach and design. The DNR spent thousands on planning and what did they do? Your tax dollars at work once again (sore subject, I won't start tonight . . .)

104 is honkin loud if he blew a 97 at the Plug, Did he ride Shelton?

The comments on the sound issue piqued my interest since I get some pretty wide variances on my sound tests but I'm well within the parameters, 86 - 92 db depending on who does the test. the 6 db doesn't sound like much but since the db scale is logrithmic every 3 db doubles the sound pressure or loudness.

I noticed that the events use a vibratach and a sound meter with an A and C weighted scale. Potential erroneous readings can and will occurr If the tach checker runs the rpm above the test rpm, which is easy to do, and as the rpm drops tells the person monitoring the db meter OK! The results are skewed because the db meter is averaging the sound at the higher rpm. on three consecutive tests I got a 92, 90 and 87. I blew a 92 at the plug, 86 at the run on saturday and 90 on sunday morning, same packing, jetting etc. Four strokes have a more defined exhaust note so the results are skewed higher with sloppy testing than with the 2 strokes. To get an accurate reading the rpm has to be held at the specified rpm till the time weighted average is nullified. This will take up to several seconds depending on the scale seleted. The scale selected also selects which frequencies are targeted or weighted by the meter.

Practicle considerations are that most checkers are volunteering to do a thankless job and don't have a lot of understanding on what those lever positions on the sound meter control. They are likely told ' don't touch them" but you can't be sure. You also notice the length of the lines for sound checks and how eager checkers are to get a bunch of people through as fast as possible. In addition, uncorked yz/wr's have come under a lot of scrutiny because of some bad publicity and the attitude of a few riders.

If you have good reason to believe the bike should pass you might ask the checker for future reference what scale the meter is set at, "A" or "C" and if the Time Weighted Average is on and request a retest with the sound test taken after the specifed rpm is held for 5 seconds.

The NMA has adopted some industry standards for the test so the info will probably be available. I'll do a little digging and see what I can find. For now I think its risky to be close to the limit.

Sound tests are going to be around foe a long time and the forest sevice recently adopted more stringent regs on sound so the Quiet series of exhausts are going to be more popular.

The sound tests will cause a bit of controversy till things get sorted out. Unfortunantly many people aren't aware of how different frequencies resonate in different enviorments and the 4 strokes will be the hardest hit as the lower frequencies resonate in much larger areas with much more amplification than higher frequencies. My highest reading was taken under a popup which will amplify certain frequencies. :think: If a side or two is added by being next to a truck or trailer then you are in effect testing in a horn or sound box.

white bros e-series with 12 discs that my XR had.

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I blow between an 82 and an 85.

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same bike?

Under current MNA rules you are allowed 2 retests before a DQ. Walker was not an NMA event so it's the the clubs choice how they enforce the sound limits pursuant to their NMA charter requirements. They are required to enforce sound rules in order to keep their NMA Club status.

Doug and I are going to pull the sound meter and equipment out and try to isolate the offending frequencies by conducting some tests. Once we know what frequencies are dominant and what the test criteria is we will have a good idea of things that would adversly affect test results. For example, a 100 cycle sound wave is 11ft long and will readily couple with objects to amplify the sound pressure with 2nd,3rd and 4th order harmonics. Flat surfaces at angles close to 90 degress and tighter are most efficient reflectors of sound energy. Longer waves tend to couple with objects more readily than short waves and they tend to travel much farther. You might have noticed that you can hear the four strokes from farther away than the 2 strokes when you're riding and that it's not always easy to tell if their in front of you or behind you. This is the unidirectional characteristic of the lower frequecy sound waves.

The irony is that the same energy that is harnessed in the exhaust system to tune the exhaust for the desired power is whats causing the uproar once it gets outside the pipe. The manufactures have the most resources and recently have made some great strides in pipe/silencer design that have less compromise as Highbeam noted on his XR.

Just a hint that a long turn 90 elbow on a WR/YZ will direct sound energy toward the ground where it will have a more difficult time coupling with other objects and reflections will be directed toward free air. ;) This might be worth a couple or three db. :thumb: That might help get those cheater bikes past the tech and keep the ground pounders happy.