ISDT Reunion

[rob w]

I had the greatest time, for me it was four days of motorcycling at it's very best. The highlights were meeting and being around some of the best people in the world, and of course the ride. The new Penton that I recently finished putting together four days before the event, pulled through without a problem, over 90 miles of some pretty gnarly terrain. I really did'nt know what to expect as far as the difficulty of the ride, but they certainly threw more at me than I thought. It was hilly, heavily wooded, drizzling rain on clay and alot of rocks. On saturday it was all slipping and skating around in the mud and rocks, it was hard for me to relaxe because the trail was pretty tight, I had wide bars and no hand guards, even when it would open up abit where I could pick up speed, there was always some tricky element that would make it much harder than any ride I would typically do. Sunday the weather was better and the route had changed, I could ride much better over-all, but probably did worse points wise because I was going fast enough that my mistakes turned into some costly crashes in a special timed test section. I'm still nursing a possibly broken pinky finger. But after that incident I learned alot about my 400, since I was barely able to pull in my clutch lever, I used my clutch less, shifted less, and lugged the motor around in one or two gears, it would not stall and it pulls down low like I would have never believed. I really like that 400 motor.
 There was a number of times when I would be crusing along, I thought to myself, I can hardly believe I'm riding a Penton, my Penton, it almost seemed like a dream, the bike handles so well, I guess I doubted that it would, but there's no doubt now that those bikes are timeless as far as putting a smile on my face, there's nothing else I'd rather be riding.
 In my 35 years of motorcycling I have never ridden or even seen an enduro event. Now I know I've really been missing something, it is now on "thee" agenda at least once or twice a year for sure.
 I could go on for too long about all the good times had, and all the great people who made it happen, thank you all. I'll just say, one of my favorite parts of the ISDT reunion was watching Ted del Solar earn and recieve his gold medal. He's remarkable.
 As far as a single off-road event to ride, I don't think it gets much better than this one, I'm already looking forward to next year and having a team thing going.
See ya, Bob
"Bronze" (and still very sore)

  need a post from everyone that went

 

[Dwight Rudder]

Yes, It was a great event. I think the club did very well considerint the weather.  I do think they should have stuck with ISDT rules instead of throwing in the ISDE rules. Very different animals. But the Comraderie was great and bike were neat. Thanks to Ron Robolzi and the Mo. Mudders for putting up with us again and hopefully they will host again in near future. See you at Dalton, MA.
Cher'o,

Dwight Rudder
7 time ISDT / E medalist
7 time National Enduro Class Champion.

[LINDEMAN]

The reunion was an incredible expirience for me!Perfect weather and trail for a six-day atmosphere.The presence of the pioneers like Ted McDermet,John Penton,Dick Mann and all the others made it a great event even if I would not have rode.I wanted to see a penton win the 0-200 class prefferably mine,but I had trouble about 30 minutes into day 1 when my clutch actuator malfunctioned.I could not disengage the for the rest of the day.It was like with no cluth lever.If any of you thought I looked a little spastic as times its because I could not let the jackpiner fall off the powerband.My terrain test scores suffered a few seconds and I even stalled out on the acceleration/brake test when I jammed it in gear at the start.I later determined the clutch push rod had broken in half about 10mm from the actuator.I found a sympathetic and smart state parks guy named Tom who drove to the parks shop and made me a push rod out of a screwdriver shaft!I was determined on day 2 to put in a good ride to show what a great bike 175 is.If the terrain test times get posted somewhere check my day 2 terrain test.I was somwhere around 6th overall including the modern bikes!I also won the mx which allowed me to still bring home a gold medal!Thanks to all who gave me advise on my clutch problem,it helped me properly diagnose the problem and find a solution.Dave Lindeman reunion #508 0-200 Sportsman Expert.

 

[Mark Annan]

Just a quick note here.  It was great, really great.  Thanks to the MO MUDDERS and everyone involved with the weekend.  If you want to have a look at the scores they are posted on the Reunion Ride page.

http://reunionride.com/

Mark #803 (3rd in class, Bronze)


 

[metalkfab]

I agree with Rob.The ride was the most fun I ever had on a motorcycle.The friendships and comraderie that was had was the best.All POGGER's should do the ISDTRR at least once in their life and things will be complete.I learned about woods riding and I have a new respect for the people who repersented us at the original ISDT's.Many thanks to all who helped me prepare for this "fun trail ride" and to Mark Annan who kept us posted before hand.I also had some problems on day one,but the good old enduro rubber bands saved the day. See you all again at the next ISDTRR.  #519 Silver medal,0-200 Sportsman Novice

[Dennis Jones]

What a great time! It was nice to put a face with the names I see on the forum. Every row in the impound had Pentons/KTMs in it , how cool. I had a frantic moment having to change a plug on the MX starting line but got it going in time to start. It seems my air screw worked it's way in. Of my four traveling mates I was the only one on a Penton, and the only one to ride the whole event. #512 Bronze 0-200 Novice

Dennis Jones

[tlanders]

The event was great, the people were great, the bikes were great. It was also great to see Bob (Rob W),Karl, Mark, Dave L, Al B and Scott B on such beautiful machines. There were many other beautiful Pentons there also. I think the best part for me was to see Ted DeSolar get a gold metal.

The weekend was hard on me because:
1. I got sick Saturday and I didn't feel like visiting or talking to people much. I was still not well on Monday. I am sorry if I acted wierd.
2. I seized the Piner in the final motocross. Anybody have any Piner pistons?
3. Rosemary wouldn't let me wear my POG shirt to the banquet because I didn't have an unmarked white tee shirt to go under it, so I couldn't sit with the poggers!!!!

The good news is that I did get a gold metal after all. The reason I was awarded a bronze on Sunday was that someone didn't post the fact I started the motocross. Not starting is an automatic bronze. Starting but not finishing adds 1000 points to your score.

PENTONS RULE!!!!

Teddy