Unadilla MX Rewind - a TooClose Racing tale

[tooclose racing]

Oh the silence! What happened this year? Well, make yourself an Irish Coffee and read on:

Friday/Vint XC  - what a beautiful sight when I pulled up to find my new MC5 175 sitting under the Michigan Mafia (2.0) tent that morning.  But there was no time to waste as it was less than an hour from Vint XC start. Final prepped Jackie Blue, asked my neighbors to please mount my spare Ascerbis handguards on the MC5 while I was gone (they didn't....too hungover), and headed out for sighting lap on the Jackpiner.  Neat looking course, reversed a couple of sections, some new stuff, some familiar stuff, ya-da, ya-da, ya-da.  Actually get kind of a slow start and follow a lot of people on my 3rd row into the woods.  Which means I'm immediately...feeling like the fast boys are getting away in my class.  Attempt passes in bad sections, kinda cursing myself/telling myself to calm down and then..I'm behind Joe Cole from my region on his Husky. He's a fast tree-banger, he'll get me to the front By Gawd! Follow him up the only real hillclimb and HE FREAKING STOPS.  I'm screaming (to no one in particular) at my frustration - this is Lap 1 and that NOT BE the lap to have these kind of things happen.  We get going and start re-passing everyone that went by us on the hill.  And...I'll just say that I had one or two more incidents during the race (including throwing my chain on the MX track while wide open!) where a lot of people went by and then I re-passed them.  Interestingly Joe and I rode together a lot, including right to the finish, where I passed a fellow Vint 200 Int rider on the MX track leading to the checkers.  For whatever reason, the tent flashed FIRST (there were no transponders mind you) at the end of the fifth and final lap and I could only think two things - "No way" and "Groundhog Day".  And it turns there was no way -I was handed a 2nd place piece of wood later that day (out of 10 guys - actually a pretty large sign up in the scheme of things).

Friday/Post Vint XC - remember the Ascerbis hand guards? Like I said, they weren't mounted when I got back so I kinda obsessed with that detail for 20 minutes of my one hour of rest between races.  Checked and lubed chain on the new MC5.  Topped off gas, took her for a little spin in camping area and pronounced myself ready.  Except I wasn't.  200 yards into my 2nd race (after another fairly mediocre start - GEEZ!) and I thought - "OMG- what are my tire pressures?".  300 yards and I thought "Oh boy, shifter is a tad low" as I bumped the KTM motor into higher gear by accident.  In the scheme of things, I stayed on task pretty well AND I gotta tell you - it's always fun to do the first lap in the 2nd race because you know the course so well.  Suspension felt great (Zoke forks and rebuilt Zoke piggybacks) and the Rubber Vee gumball tires were just forgiving enough in the (now slick and tricky) woods in their way over-inflated state to save my butt like a half dozen times in the race.  By Lap 2 I realized that this 77-78 "short" 6 fin motor with the Lectron was a completely different animal than my (ported) Jackpiner/Bing motor. Strong mid-range (like a 250!)but it absolutely stopped pulling on the top in its current tune.  I started short-shifting it - which seemed kinda crazy for a 175 - and figured out how to stay in the sweet band of the motor. BUT - I also bogged it (twice) when my fat foot caught the gear shifter and I ended up in a first gear turn in - I dunno - third!  Interesting.  Now - in the scheme of things this all did not matter.  Why?  Two words - James Liebniewski.  This fellow Historic 200 Int class rider came by me on Lap 3 like I was standing still.  Very good speed, looked effortless, I knew I was doomed. I tried to follow him for a bit and quickly recognized that I was riding at 110% and I did not have the energy/focus left to do that pace(due to my not-so-excellent training regimen leading up to Unadilla).  And so I backed off and got myself into a "learn the bike" groove.  A bit humbling was that the first Experts caught me by Lap 4 and a lot caught me during Lap 5 (and 6?), which is something I've noticed about PV versus Vint XC racing.  In the Vint XC, maybe 2 or 3 Experts caught me by the final lap. In the PV race - hourdes passed me.  In fact, I was laughing in my helmet on the final lap as I thought "Wow - I have REALLY improved on my Get Out Of The Way" riding technique!  Of course, I'm semi-delirious by the last lap in my 2nd XC races and prone to such thoughts.  Result: 2nd out of three sign-ups.  Wierdly - James was only a couple minutes in front of me timing-wise, but I'm not sure I believe that.  After sucking down two Genny Cremes and three Ibuprofen, I grabbed the tire gauge and (drum roll) - 30 pounds in each tire!!  Hilarious! I had already missed a call and had a couple of texts from Gary Ellis, so I called him to relate sad, but entertaining tale. He had used the "big air" to  - of course - seat the new tire beads.  And  I thought the most important bike-prep thing was to mount my handguards on a GNCC-style track where the only tree I was gonna hit was gonna be at 30 mph and the handguards would not have even mattered.

Love my 175s.  Got some tweaks to do to the new MC5 175, with maybe gearing and the Lectron tuning.  All in all, I cannot complain about this Life of Bob, where my beautiful wife lets me indulge in my race craft, and hang out with excellent people talking about how fast we used to be!

Sunday MX racing - I'm gonna keep this short and sweet.  I holeshot my first 250 Historic Int Moto (and whatever other classes were on line), led for two glorious turns and was swallowed whole by a deep Unadilla rut. Crash.   Sure - caught a bunch of folks (of course not JAMES L...), got a fifth.  Forgettable 50+ PV Int moto for reasons I will not share today.  2nd Historic Moto I kept it upright (and in 4th place) until I followed a guy on the same line into the hairpin and he STOPPED.  I ran into him, down I go.  And all I can do at the point is Dream of Genny Creme.  The fire is lost.  Put my laps in, did NOT go out for 2nd 50+ Intermediate moto/carnage (it was a 32 bike gate).  

That's it. Next up  - Allen's Farm (AHRMA XC races) on 6/27 and then I'm pretty sure I'm heading to Mid-O this year.

[skiracer]

Hey Bob!  Sorry to put a damper on your weekend......  I too had a good time up there.  Bikes were running really well.  I even rode my 79 KTM 175GS in the 250 Grand Prix class....  That was funny..  The bike didn't pull too well up the hills, and through the dense loam....  Finished mid pack on that bike.... But, overall, it was a fun weekend......  Perfect riding conditions!

1976 MC 5 Original Owner
1982 Suzuki PE 175
1976 Penton 175 XC
1979 KTM 175 GS

[Lew Mayer]

It was a perfect weekend. Couldn't have been better. It was great to see old and meet new Penton buddies. There must have been some of you guys I missed up there. Cross country was great and I finally rode MX at Unadilla. Boy, do I suck at motocross.

Lew Mayer