You dont want to miss this

[Mikeb]

Dirtweek 01. You REALLY should try to attend this event. Not only can you ride for 4 days on a fresh groomed track and over 200 acres of trails, but you will get to meet 100 of THE nicest people you will ever get to meet. Here is the prelimary list of events going on and you can see the price of admision is nothing compared to the clinics and the prizes to be given away. I cant remeber a person last year that didnt win something.

Wednesday
=======
open riding

Thursday
======
8:00...Riders Meeting with AJ Waggoner (flagger sign-up for MX races)
9:00...Eric Gorr Seminar (with Eric & Rich)
Open Riding
1:30...Langtown East: Mini Battle
Open Riding
4:30..Poker Run

Friday
====
8:00 ..Riders Meeting with AJ
10:00.. Wardy's MX School
12:30...North-South Grudge Match
1:30.. Ladies Only MX (Grand Prix track) (Pokie)
2:30.. Junior Class MX (Oldguy & Patman)
3:30.. Team Hare Scramble (OffRoadr, Mully & Fredette)
6:00.. Prize Give-away Drawing
8:00..Poker Run - Night Time (Offroadr)

Saturday
======
8:00 ....Riders Meeting with AJ
9:00....Suspender Show with Jeremy
11:00..Fredette's Off-Road Riding Clinic
1:30... MX - C-class
2:00... MX - A/B class
2:30... MX Lighted Bikes
4:00...Big Prize Give-away Drawing
6:00...Trophies, speeches

Sunday
=====
departures... PP (PostPartem depressions)
D-17 racing opportunity

I look forward to meeting all of you KDX'ers that attend and we are DEFINTELY gonna get a KDX only photo for the Webpage.

 

[smb_racing]

ah shoot, I'm going to miss the thurday poker run, I should be out there late thursday evening, I'm going to show my spodeness in the headlight class MX race though :)
can we order copies of the KDX only photo?

 

[Canadian Dave]

Very well said Mike. Lets get your registrations in. Todays the day guys and gals.

David

 

[MADisher]

I'm still workin it on the home front, but it doesn't look good.

Miracles do happen though ;0

 

[Mikeb]

OK OK you got another week

Looks like Okie has extended the deadline by a week so you have until Sept 7th to get your registration forms in. It was fun last year and this year looks like it is much more organized and the prizes just keep getting bigger and bigger.

Plano Honda Gift Certificates, (1- $500 and 1- $250)
MX South Gift Certificates (2- $75)
MX-Tech: Complete Custom Suspension!
Asterisk Cell Knee Braces (1 pair)
Boyesen Gift Certs, 14 in all, Water pump covers and "Flex-Grips"
Twin-Air filters, Twin Air filter oil ( "Liquid Power" hi-tack)
Eric Gorr Gift Certs ($25) for EVERYONE attending
Midwest Moto: Smith Goggles, Videos, Grips, etc.
MX-South: We're going to keep some of this stuff a surprise, but here is the short list of names: MSR,Acerbis,Answer,Dunlop,Pro Grip,Scott Grips,HRP
Oakley: Sun Glasses, Goggles
Sidi T's & Gift Certs
BBR T's,
DRN T's and Hats

Last year it seems like EVERYBODY won something in the drawings and this year it seems like the swag list is even bigger.

Get those forms in. Cant wait to meet ya'll in Sept.

 

[Canadian Dave]

All that and you'll get to see some tall goofy guy on a KDX . . . ME :)

David

 

[KDX2]

Where is this being held city and state??

 

[KC_BigDog_51]

Casey, IL.

 

[Timr]

WHAT YOU WILL MISS:

Here's my post from last year's event:

DRN Mid-West Spode Fest
Casey, Illinois
September 14-16

This is The SpodeFest saga according to me. If you don’t want to read every detail about every mud hole, rock, tree root, beer drank, people meet, stories told and so on, then this post is not for you.

Now that the disclaimer is over, where should I start? Oh, BTW, “the activity of Off-Road motorcycling is inherently dangerous. This is an AMA event, but that does not mean that the AMA has inspected the track. You should participate at your own risk. You are encouraged to have health insurance…” or something like that.

A few of us, myself included, would become aquatinted with the inherently dangerous part of AJ’s AMA speech. Fortunately, no one suffered any serious injuries and a great time was had by all.

Lemming and I were excited to leave Birmingham by 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon. We had a relatively uneventful drive up the Casey. It did take us about an hour and a half longer than we had anticipated, but so what. We spent much of our time in the car speculating about what the event would be like and what each DRN person would be like based on their posts on DRN.

About 10:30 p.m. (8.5 hours after leaving Birmingham), we pulled up to the DRN campfire. There was already a group of about 25 people hangin’ out and telling stories around the fire. Lemming and I set off to set up our camp so we could return to the campfire for a few beers and join in telling stories (lies). Smitty came over to keep us company as we set up my tent. What a great guy! He was a lot of fun to hang out with all week. Our only regret was that he had to leave before the Hare Scramble on Saturday morning.

Lemming and I got my mongo tent put up in about an hour. People referred to our tent as the M*A*S*H tent through out the event because it was big and green. One person said that we needed to put a big Red Cross on the top of the tent.

Around 11:30, Lemming and I grab our chairs and our beer and head back over to the main camp fire located between Okie’s rig, and Offroader’s rig. When we get there, the place looks like a ghost town. No one is sitting there around the now dying campfire. Oh well. Lemming and I go back to our tent and sit under the awning. We drink a toast to the SpodeFest, and go to bed.

The next morning, as we emerge from M*A*S*H, we find over cast skies and cool weather. Lemming and I went through the process of becoming official SF participants. We first went up to the gate to check in with the track owners. Then, we went over the scoring booth to have AJ scan our AMA cards. About 15 minutes later, AJ conducts the riders meeting and things start to get under way.

Another 15-20 minutes after that and the rain starts coming down. Okie’s starting to get a really disgusted look on his face. Like a proud parent, he’s concerned that the rain is going to ruin the event. We all do our best to assure him that the rain is no problem and that it won’t last. Jay (Offroader) keeps telling Okie that it’s just dust control.

While the rain’s coming down, Lemming and I hop into Casey for some Ice and gas. Shortly after we return, the rain starts to taper off. By 11:30, the rain was gone, and it was time to suit up and ride. First ride of the day was on the GP course. It was in awesome condition albeit a little slippery.

On my fourth lap around the track, I almost got pitched off on the high side in the wet grass. Whoa, I decide to take it easy for a while. No since breaking bike or body in the first 45 minutes. Spodes continue to trickle into the facility and then make their way out to the GP course. We had a great time cutting laps around the track and then hangin out in the infield of the track while other’s continued to ride.

Lemming and I wanted to check out the woods trails, so someone hooked us up with Monkey Butt since he was a local. ‘Butt’s real name is Neal Harmon and it says so on the back of his chest protector. However, when viewed from a distance, it looks like “Not Hannah” on the back of his chest protector and I thought that was kinda cool. Neal thought that it was a funny joke, and the not Hannah part was definitely a true assessment of his riding abilities (Neal’s still fast in the woods even though he doesn’t think he’s Bob Hannah). Thanks for the guided tour through the woods Neal!

On my next woods outing, MikeB (of the Just KDX website) and I were out exploring some of the orange arrow trail. We ran into a group of about 5 riders at the base of the big hill section. This group turned out to be Shane and Matt from Plano Honda, Gomer and a couple of other guys whose names I can’t remember. They decided to follow us since Mike and I appear to know where we’re going (we really don’t know, and I prove this by going the wrong way up the hill immediately after we set out.) So, we’re all riding along at a really good pace when we end up in the bottom of this ravine with a steep hill climb on the other side of the creek. Mike goes first up a slimy technical line and makes it OK. Gomer goes next. He’s doing OK until his back wheel starts to slide into a big rut. Gomer tries to save it and ends up doing a full loop out just like the guys trying to cross the Black Water River at the famous Black Water 100. Of course, all of us still waiting our chance at the hill scream and holler at Gomer for being a true Spode.

After doing a few more laps around the GP course, and one really muddy lap around the Moto Cross track, we all head back to the camp on our mud caked bikes and call it a day. Near the end of the day, we were all entertained as Wardy and AJ cut hot laps on their CR 500 AF s in the thick mud that still coated the MX Track.

Thursday night around the campfire was great! This is where I got to meet some really great people. And, the entertainment was excellent. As you can probably deduce from the previous posts, we watched a really cool helmet cam video of Jeff Fredette racing in an enduro. It was interesting to have Jeff there while we watched it so he could comment on things that were happening in the race. Many of the non-enduro educated people were asking questions about the format of enduro racing and the video turned out to be a great teaching device.

Around 11:30-12:00, people started to head back to their campsites and hit the sack. I fell into bed around midnight, and went to sleep shortly after 4 freight trains went by honking their horns.

Out of M*A*S*H again the next morning around 8:00 and it’s SUNNY outside. The LTM folks are already grooming the track and it looks like it’s going to be great. See, Okie was worried about nothing. During the night, more people had come in and set up camp. IT’S ALIVE!!! The event keeps growing before our very eyes.

Lemming and I gear up and set out to find more of the orange arrow trail in the woods. We run into MikeB again out there and after about 3 hours of exploring, we’ve gotten the whole trail loop figured out. While we were plonking around in the woods, Jeff Fredette, Offroader, and Woodsrider were putting the finishing touches on the Hare Scramble course for Saturday morning’s event.

Let me say that Jeff Fredette is one of the nicest guys to hang out with and can really move on his KDX! He was flying around the GP track on Thursday afternoon. At one point, Lemming and I pulled out onto the GP track to run 5 or 6 laps. Lemming knew that I was behind him on my KDX. What he didn’t know, was that I pulled off into the infield after about 2 laps. After seeing Shane from Plano doing is goon rider impression, I was too self-conscious to keep doing laps. You see, Shane was demonstrating all of the spode riding techniques. The difference between Shane and myself was, he was doing them on purpose and I incorporate the spode techniques into my riding and I can’t control it. So anyway, Lemming thinks I’m behind him, but I’m not, it’s Fredette. Jeff F. goes blowing by Lemming on the backside downhill. At first, Lemming thinks that I’m really getting on the gas, but then he sees “FREDETTE” on the back of the Jersey and realizes that it’s not me. Oh well. After seeing Jeff ride his KDX, I can’t say that my KDX is holding me back. It’s not the bike; so, it’s got to be the rider.

On Friday afternoon after lunch, Lemming and Ivan and I go out for a great off road loop. Ivan was staying right there with us and we had a great time. When we get back to the camp, MX school is about to start. I’m not much of an MX guy and the woods were just too perfect at the time so I decide to skip MX school.
I hooked up with Offroader, Woodsrider, KevinB4strk, Bwest (sp?) for a couple of fast loops through the woods. What a blast!! I got to ride with these guys a couple of times and we had a great time riding nose to tail through the woods. We need to hook up and go riding again. By now, great friendships have already formed and I feel like I’ve known these guys for a long time.

On my way back into camp, I do a lap around the MX track and then join up with AJ’s MX class to learn about cornering techniques. Thanks AJ, I immediately put that information to good use and practiced cornering at higher speeds during the Nighttime Poker run.

Lemming is an excellent chef and he whipped up a great feast of steak grilled over an open fire, along with baked potatoes, and garlic bread for dinner on Friday night. We were dying to have a beer with dinner, but we instead chose Gator Aid since we were about to ride in the Nighttime Poker Run.

The NightTime Poker run had a big turn out. I was one of many, who had never ridden before in the dark (on purpose), even though I’ve always had bikes that had working headlights. Shane (MX221) was a trip with his big flash light duct taped to his helmet. Smitty’s bike also featured a Mag Flashlight taped to the front fender. There were others with partial effective but certainly creative lighting set-ups.

After the parade lap, we took off in-groups of five for the first of five laps around the 2.4 mile poker run track. The course had a little bit of everything and was certainly interesting in the dark. The course started out on the GP track and then took a left into onto an old Hare Scramble course that wound around the edges of a large cornfield. From there, you went down a rocky power line type trail and took a right onto a jeep trail that ran along side of the creek. There were a number of mud holes to go around or through down in this section. After crossing the creek twice, the course came out of the woods on the backside of the GP track and after going around the rest of the GP track your lap was complete.

Who knew that you could ride that fast in the woods with the light projected from a stock KDX headlight? As the event went on, many of us gained confidence and began to pick up the pace. I passed a number of riders who were plonking along and having a great time. In fact, at one point, I was riding all by myself, so I decided to pull over and wait on the next group of riders. What I realized, was that if I pulled over and shut off my bike, no one would be able to see me sitting in the woods. Cool!

The next group to come around turned out to be Smitty and TTRGuy. I followed them for about half a lap and passed them on the last part of the GP track. I didn’t realize that Smitty was following TTRGuy in an attempt to mooch off of his TTR’s headlight. Apparently Smitty’s taped on flashlight was running out of battery power.

On the fourth lap, I was cooking down a trail next to the cornfield. I had been down this trail a number of times in the daylight and so far, I’d remembered that there was a big rut down the middle. However, on lap number four, in the dust, I forgot about the rut. Randall was riding right behind me when the KDX started to get out of shape. I can only imagine what Randall saw as I attempted to run along side my KDX in fourth gear. I put my left foot down first and it was immediately yanked out behind me, then the right leg came down with the same results. Now, I’m doing a fourth gear super man with my chest lying on the seat! Somehow, I managed to ride it out and didn’t crash. That was close call number two of the ‘fest. Randall and I had a few good laughs after the ride talking about my near crash.

Discussion around the campfire on Friday night was very enthusiastic coming on the heals of such a great nighttime event. Thanks to Tuner, Gomer, Offroader and all those who helped put on the nighttime poker run. It was one of the best events at the Spodefest.

Oh yeah, DRZETIM did 7 laps instead of 5 during the event. He was flying on the DR. That guy can ride very fast, and the DR has a very bright head light due to the battery on board for the electric start.

Everyone, be sure to bring some kind of lighting system with you for your bike to the next Spode fest. Everyone will want to participate in this event. I heard many MX riders talking about light coils for their bike. It was just too much fun.
Saturday morning, the last day of the big event. I was sure that it was going to be a good one. The weather once again was awesome. Even more riders continued to file into the LTM facility. I’m not much of a morning person, and fortunately for me, we had a couple of hours before we needed to line up for the team Hare Scramble.

Lemming and I had decided to team up and called ourselves the Birmingham Bubbas. Around 10:00 48 riders (24 teams) headed out on the parade lap to look at the course. I had spent the better part of the previous two days in the woods, so I had seen most of the Hare Scramble course before. The course was 2.4 miles long (I think) and that made for many rider switches. The format was perfect.

The Bham Bubbas race strategy was for me to ride the first lap since I’m a little faster than Lemming and because my 2-Stroke KDX was more likely to start on the first kick than his KLX 300 was.

Jay dropped the helmet signaling the start of the race, and KDX came to life on the first kick. I roared off into the first left-hand turn on the GP track in about 10th place. That was OK with me since I figured that I would pass guys in the woods. Also, it was a long race, and you can’t win it on the first lap.

We cross the creek (the one that MikeB got stuck in on the parade lap) and head for the first woods section. I passed a couple of guys in the woods and then went through the OB check. I later heard that the OB check was in the wrong location, and that makes sense to me since I didn’t see how the location would keep you from cutting the course. Turns out that the OB was probably not needed. Who was going to cheat at a fun SpodeFest Hare Scramble? Larry accidentally missed part of the course and Dqed himself from the event.

Anyway, we went across a short field and then up and down a small valley and into the fresh woods section. I was just getting going in the tight woods (where I feel the most comfortable) and was thinking about hollering to the guys in front of me to get out of the way when all of a sudden, my bike came to a complete stop and rotated on the front wheel 180 degrees. I don’t know what caused this, but I was immediatey pile driven into the ground headfirst and the bike came over on top of me. Matt from Plano was riding behind me and he said that it looked pretty ugly. He thought that my back wheel hit a stump.

I’m not sure that something didn’t end up in the spokes of the front wheel or something caught and activated the front brake. I had no warning whatsoever that I was going to crash. And, I had no opportunity to break my fall with my hands.

After being somewhat dazed, I realized that the bike was still lying on my leg. After everyone went by, I picked up the bike to assess the damage. The headlight and front numberplate were cracked, but other than that, everything looked fine.

I rode the rest of the lap and came into the rider exchange area. I’m sure that Tim (Lemming) was wondering why I was in last or next to last place. I was still feeling a bit groggy and wasn’t sure if I could go on. After a few minutes, I started to feel better and decided to give the next lap a try.

Lemming came in after passing a bunch of rider and out I went. I got hung up on a tricky up hill and I just couldn’t seem to get back in the groove. Apparently, the crash was still effecting me. I completed my second lap without incident.

While waiting for Lemming to complete his second lap, I felt a popping sensation in my right ribs. I hurt like hell! But, I decided to go out for another lap. Lemming came in and I was off again. AJ and I took off at about the same time. I passed him going down a fast two track the creek. He can ride that TTR 125 fast, but it’s no match for a big bike on a fast two track. I pop down into the woods and bend my body as I duck around a tree. OOOUUUCCCHHHHH! My ribs popped again, and it hurt so badly that I had to pull over to recover. Fortunately, I didn’t fall. AJ and the TTR go chugging by as I sit on the side of the trail in pain.

I finish my third lap and decide that my race is over. Lemming will have to iron man it for the rest of the “team” Hare Scramble. Okie, Scooter, Jay, and Woodsrider are really concerned that I’m hurt. I still don’t think that it’s too bad, but just to be sure, I decide to walk over to the Ambulance and get checked out.

The paramedics are super nice, and I joke with them about how they aren’t going to cut off any of my riding gear. I take off my chest protector so they can lift up my riding jersey. They poke and prod for a while, then they listen to my lungs to make sure there’s no fluid and tell me that everything seems fine. I’m instructed to go to the hospital if I start to have a hard time breathing or if I feel dizzy or light headed.

I go back down and watch the end of the race. Thanks to MotoxSparx for helping me with my bike. I’m telling you, there’s not a nicer group of people than those who showed up for this event. Mucho thanks to Jay, Woodsrider, Okie, Scooter and all those guys who helped out with the team Hare Scramble. There were people out in the woods spotting and that crew at the OB check. It was another great event.

After my injury, it was time to park the KDX and go into spectator mode for the rest of the day. I really wanted to ride the Enduro class in the afternoon MX. The races were great fun to watch though. Georgia Boy (Broken Ribs) and I hobbled around the pits for the rest of the day. We capped off the event with the rest of the giveaways and another great night of campfire visiting.

It was great to meet everyone. Thanks to OKIE and Scooter and their family for being such great hosts. Thanks to LTM for a great facility. Many thanks to all the others who helped make this a great event.

I met so many nice people that there’s too many to name. It seems like almost everyone won something in the giveaways. I ended up with some cool shirts.

It was such a tremendous event. I won’t miss the next one, and neither should you. See ya next year!

 

[RADMAN]

When?? What is the cost??? How do we register??

Thanks

 

[Timr]

http://dirtweek.com

 

[RADMAN]

Thanks...I should looked a little before i posted the question..Sounds like a blast...