James
Staff member
The truth is starting to ooze out Mr. Armstrong.
Just hand it to them on a silver platter. 
Who make a better rider, MX or Off road guy??
- Thread starter MikeinFresno
- Start date
Just hand it to them on a silver platter. Kind of my two cents here. I mostly ride trails with my boy. However, he got the bright idea of wanting to hit a track. A brief summary of my experience I posted on another site back in 2009.
I went to a new track here in San Antonio. Lets just say it was a total a** kicking. I never knew riding trails and MX was so different. Nothing I mean absolutely nothing could have prepared me for today.
I couldn't have been more frustrated. I was all over the place. Couldn't hold a line to save my butt. In and out of ruts, literally, I couldn't stay in one and ride it out for the life of me. And what is up with doubles? Why in the h*ll would you put two jumps that close together? I never did "make" a double. Table tops... Oh yah, nothing like being thrown randomly in the air hoping the landing doesn't resemble a plane missing the runway. Whoops, okay those seem like little doubles to me. I was slow through these too. I think the people walking next to the track passed me. I never got arm pump so quick in my life, had to pull of the track several times. To think I paid to have this "fun" at the ripe old age of 42. I am sure you folks have seen that guy out on the track looking like he had no business being there? That was me to a tee. I am not exagerating at all. It was that kind of day.
Found out two things today. My bike (RMZ250) has reverse. It must, these kids on 85's were going by me like I was going backwards. And I set a track record (this still needs to be validated) by falling in the same damn corner the most times in one day.
Needless to say by the end of the day after falling in the same corner again, I felt like leaving the bike there and picking it up the next day. I was about to find the track owner and shoot him and give up the sport all together.
Oh yah.. Great write up Buck!!! Sums it all up very well.
I went to a new track here in San Antonio. Lets just say it was a total a** kicking. I never knew riding trails and MX was so different. Nothing I mean absolutely nothing could have prepared me for today.
I couldn't have been more frustrated. I was all over the place. Couldn't hold a line to save my butt. In and out of ruts, literally, I couldn't stay in one and ride it out for the life of me. And what is up with doubles? Why in the h*ll would you put two jumps that close together? I never did "make" a double. Table tops... Oh yah, nothing like being thrown randomly in the air hoping the landing doesn't resemble a plane missing the runway. Whoops, okay those seem like little doubles to me. I was slow through these too. I think the people walking next to the track passed me. I never got arm pump so quick in my life, had to pull of the track several times. To think I paid to have this "fun" at the ripe old age of 42. I am sure you folks have seen that guy out on the track looking like he had no business being there? That was me to a tee. I am not exagerating at all. It was that kind of day.
Found out two things today. My bike (RMZ250) has reverse. It must, these kids on 85's were going by me like I was going backwards. And I set a track record (this still needs to be validated) by falling in the same damn corner the most times in one day.
Needless to say by the end of the day after falling in the same corner again, I felt like leaving the bike there and picking it up the next day. I was about to find the track owner and shoot him and give up the sport all together.
Oh yah.. Great write up Buck!!! Sums it all up very well.
its true tho Tracks are a whole new beast. I was expecting the jumping to be different but in no way did i expect the arm pump to come so damm quick. You just got to keep going and it gets better. I really enjoy leaving the ground tho so maybe thats what keeps me coming back to the track every week. I also keep looking at it as a skill builder. For someone like me who jsut got into riding at the age of 33 I feel like its helping me build more and more skill. From the basics all the way to the somewhat advanced stuff like learning to shift in the air and how to really take a corner correct. All these things ARE helping me get faster on the trails as well.
I raced MX and desert as a kid. Now that Im old if I get on a track I go fast as I can, which is slow, and at the end of the second lap Im whipped with arm pump and deep breathing, heart pounding........... I am talking about riding a bike you guys.
You may want to stick to bench racing 
You may still experience arm pump (12oz curls), heavy breathing and a pounding heart...it all depends on the MILF in the pit next to yours! 
FAIL!
In the interest of research I actually hit the track this weekend for my very first time. Actually, truth told I didn’t go out with the intention of riding the track - I went out to ride a closed course comp area used by D37 for a lot of their GPs to practice my cornering…. 
I hit the trails and put in about 30 miles before heading back to the truck for a quick sandwich. It just so happened that I staged in the parking area for the track that was previously privately operated. Apparently the guy who operated the track defaulted on his lease and the State took it over so my regular $5 entry fee now covered the track as well.
Given the discourse as of late I figured what the hell, might as well give it a go!
DISCLAIMER - According to the girl at the gate this is an “expert track” but I call BS – there were no triples or what I would consider to be big jumps, so I’m not sure how it could possibly be an ‘expert’ track…
I managed to get in a full 3 laps and was actually feeling pretty good about myself. I had already warmed up on the trails so I wasn’t having any issues with arm pump or fatigue. I was enjoying riding the ‘loom’ (that’s what they call it, right?) in the corners which was a 1st for me (we don’t get too much of that in the desert). A few of the corners were flat and I was having a tough time judging the traction of the loom and ending up pulling a 180 in one of the corners and stalling out.
There weren’t too many guys out, maybe 15 or so, and I was happy to see that I was keeping pace with a good number of the guys sporting Metal Mullisha gear and bitchin’ looking MX graphics and numbers on my Dual-sport Husky TE450.
One thing I did have an issue with was my suspension and the two doubles on the track. There were jumps leading out of a lot of the coroners, and I ended up carrying a bit more speed into a few of them than I would have liked. The singles & tabletops were no problem (and actually pretty damn fun), but the first double about obliterated my nuts and ripped my head off my shoulders. Luckily this double was fairly obvious and I was able to avoid it on subsequent laps. The second double on the track was a different story.
For some reason this one kept sneaking up on me and I cased it hard twice on the first 3 laps. After the second nut-crusher I pulled off the track to collect myself and talk to a couple of guys that had a front row seat from the bleachers. I was hoping they had seen where my left testicle had landed since I couldn’t seem to locate it…
After some show & tell I headrd back out for some more laps. I re-entered the track right before the double that had just shutdown 50% of my baby-batter factory and BOOM! I landed hard and my bike started making an unholy clatter. Unfortunately this was a clatter I was all too familiar with and I realized that I had busted my chain. I gimped it off to the side of the track to find my chain wedged between my rear-sprocket & hub, my case-saver ripped off my case (along with the mounting posts) and what I thought was motor oil dripping from the case…
Needless to say this kind of screwed up my plans for the rest of the day…
Luckily, having broken down a mere 50 feet or so from my truck, I was able to change into my street clothes, enjoy the rest of my lunch, have a cold beer and push my broken steed over to the truck for the ride home…
Here are my thoughts on my first (and expensive) track session:
Like: Not having to wear a camelback or tool belt
Like: Being able to wheel my broken ass directly to the cooler
Like: Bathrooms with hot running water (REALLY??)
Like: Loom
Not So Much: Doubles and my complete failure to execute
Not So Much: Repetition – I could see this getting pretty boring 100 laps in…
Not So Much: “Your gear sure is purty mister…”
I hit the trails and put in about 30 miles before heading back to the truck for a quick sandwich. It just so happened that I staged in the parking area for the track that was previously privately operated. Apparently the guy who operated the track defaulted on his lease and the State took it over so my regular $5 entry fee now covered the track as well.
Given the discourse as of late I figured what the hell, might as well give it a go!
DISCLAIMER - According to the girl at the gate this is an “expert track” but I call BS – there were no triples or what I would consider to be big jumps, so I’m not sure how it could possibly be an ‘expert’ track…
I managed to get in a full 3 laps and was actually feeling pretty good about myself. I had already warmed up on the trails so I wasn’t having any issues with arm pump or fatigue. I was enjoying riding the ‘loom’ (that’s what they call it, right?) in the corners which was a 1st for me (we don’t get too much of that in the desert). A few of the corners were flat and I was having a tough time judging the traction of the loom and ending up pulling a 180 in one of the corners and stalling out.
There weren’t too many guys out, maybe 15 or so, and I was happy to see that I was keeping pace with a good number of the guys sporting Metal Mullisha gear and bitchin’ looking MX graphics and numbers on my Dual-sport Husky TE450.
One thing I did have an issue with was my suspension and the two doubles on the track. There were jumps leading out of a lot of the coroners, and I ended up carrying a bit more speed into a few of them than I would have liked. The singles & tabletops were no problem (and actually pretty damn fun), but the first double about obliterated my nuts and ripped my head off my shoulders. Luckily this double was fairly obvious and I was able to avoid it on subsequent laps. The second double on the track was a different story.
For some reason this one kept sneaking up on me and I cased it hard twice on the first 3 laps. After the second nut-crusher I pulled off the track to collect myself and talk to a couple of guys that had a front row seat from the bleachers. I was hoping they had seen where my left testicle had landed since I couldn’t seem to locate it…
After some show & tell I headrd back out for some more laps. I re-entered the track right before the double that had just shutdown 50% of my baby-batter factory and BOOM! I landed hard and my bike started making an unholy clatter. Unfortunately this was a clatter I was all too familiar with and I realized that I had busted my chain. I gimped it off to the side of the track to find my chain wedged between my rear-sprocket & hub, my case-saver ripped off my case (along with the mounting posts) and what I thought was motor oil dripping from the case…
Needless to say this kind of screwed up my plans for the rest of the day…
Luckily, having broken down a mere 50 feet or so from my truck, I was able to change into my street clothes, enjoy the rest of my lunch, have a cold beer and push my broken steed over to the truck for the ride home…
Here are my thoughts on my first (and expensive) track session:
Like: Not having to wear a camelback or tool belt
Like: Being able to wheel my broken ass directly to the cooler
Like: Bathrooms with hot running water (REALLY??)
Like: Loom
Not So Much: Doubles and my complete failure to execute
Not So Much: Repetition – I could see this getting pretty boring 100 laps in…
Not So Much: “Your gear sure is purty mister…”
I'm not sure what loom is. If it's a type of dirt, then possibly you mean "loam"?
Main Entry: loam
Pronunciation: \ˈlōm, chiefly Northern & Midland ˈlüm, New England also ˈlu̇m\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English lom, from Old English lām clay, mud; akin to Old English līm lime
Date: 12th century
1 a : a mixture (as for plastering) composed chiefly of moistened clay b : a coarse molding sand used in founding
2 : soil; specifically : a soil consisting of a friable mixture of varying proportions of clay, silt, and sand
— loamy
BTW; Bummer about your bike. Suspension set-ups for MX and desert are totally different, huh?
Main Entry: loam
Pronunciation: \ˈlōm, chiefly Northern & Midland ˈlüm, New England also ˈlu̇m\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English lom, from Old English lām clay, mud; akin to Old English līm lime
Date: 12th century
1 a : a mixture (as for plastering) composed chiefly of moistened clay b : a coarse molding sand used in founding
2 : soil; specifically : a soil consisting of a friable mixture of varying proportions of clay, silt, and sand
— loamy
BTW; Bummer about your bike. Suspension set-ups for MX and desert are totally different, huh?
loom, loam, not sure what it's called. It's not mud, not sand, not dirt... it's like fluffy potting soil
Damn Chad how do you break a chain while casing a jump? Chain a hair too tight perhaps? I don't know, it just seems weird. Better than eating it and having you get broken. That's going to be one expensive track day.
Maybe you can get that welded? It's worth looking into because a new case half isn't going to be cheap. Neither will installing it if you have it done. Good thing you have two bikes, right?
I need a second bike too.
Maybe you can get that welded? It's worth looking into because a new case half isn't going to be cheap. Neither will installing it if you have it done. Good thing you have two bikes, right?
I need a second bike too.
Air time is something that takes some getting use to Chad.
I think you and I are accustomed to having Osteoclast and Osteoblast
in harmony, not something that will stay in sync long if you are
attempting to clear gaps. Then their is that dreaded cast and
missing work, just do not want to deal with that.
I think you and I are accustomed to having Osteoclast and Osteoblast
in harmony, not something that will stay in sync long if you are
attempting to clear gaps. Then their is that dreaded cast and
missing work, just do not want to deal with that.
loom, loam, not sure what it's called. It's not mud, not sand, not dirt... it's like fluffy potting soil
Who let in the spelling police?
If you really want a good describtion, ask James, he's been up close and personal with it.
