Dual-Sporters/Adventurers of Maryland and Nearby
https://www.damnriders.org/
juddspaintballs wrote: Mon Sep 25, 2017 9:54 pm I spotted Wingfixer in Bob's Tire today. I guess his flats aren't exclusive to dirt bikes alone.
I'll bet WF can get a flat in a solid rubber tire 
He got that flat before the first test. Would have made for a long and miserable day. He did have tubliss so a pile of plugs and he was rolling again.dirtygrunt wrote: Tue Sep 26, 2017 6:10 am
Are you tubeless? Why plug the tire?
Forgive my ignorance, I don't get flats, I just bounce off rocks.
Skinny-J convinced me to keep going and I'm glad I did.Kinda reminds me my day. Also tried to keep moderate speed, but soon realized I'm miserably slow :D. Except that I didn't drop my bike once, just came close to it couple of times. Tried to stand up, but at one moment I was so exhaustedMarylander wrote: Tue Sep 26, 2017 9:15 am Here's my assessment of this enduro and how it went for me. The short version: I finished and that was enough this time. I'm really sore now.
The long version: this was just my 3rd time on the dirt bike this year (been kind of a traumatic year personally) so I knew I was out of shape for riding. My goal for the day was solely to get to the final check/to finish. I tend to get myself worked up for things like this so it was a relief to find that the first section was a transfer section and not a test. Turns out that's all I needed to mostly keep it together for the day, nerves-wise. Oh, also, I now know what transfer and test mean in the enduro context.
Although I usually ride standing up I stayed seated most of the day thinking that would help with fatigue. After the fact I'm not sure if that was a good idea or not (and not just because of my mild monkey butt). I'm not a great rider standing and I'm worse when sitting. I'm still pretty sore all over today and my hip flexors are particularly sore from lifting my feet/boots on and off the pegs all day (made worse by the low seat). I need to do a long rocky ride standing up to compare. Most of my rides tend to be about half the distance of the moonshine where I got something over 70 miles by my computer. I'm sure I'll at least be sore in a different way compared to sitting most of the time. I'm half thinking of getting another mountain bike as it's a lot closer to riding the dirt bike than the running I'm doing now and I could do that more frequently than riding the dirt bike.
With the goal of just finishing in mind I tried to keep my pace moderate to avoid wearing myself out too much. In spite of that I still screwed up a few times, including once where I managed to go off the trail and get the rear end of the bike stuck in some big rocks, the front wheel down in a hole, and the bars wedged up against a tree. That ended up requiring me to lift the whole bike then drag it across the rocks to get back on the trail. I think this was on the 2nd test. Once I got through the check for that I was seriously considering packing it in as I was pretty exhausted already. This was only around 20 miles.
I think it was in the 3rd test section that there was a taskers-like hill climb (easy hill climb with some loose rocks on it). Towards the beginning of it I spun the rear end around a bit and was sitting sideways on the trail with the front end again wedged into a tree with the tree holding the throttle wide open. I got a bit excited at that point while rushing to get the bike out of the way of anyone coming behind. That set me up for screwing up a couple more times on that hill. At least I was able to get myself together once I was over the top. I think that was my last significant screw up of the day. From then on I moderated my pace even more. I did drop the bike a few additional times but at least I had no actual crashes all day and never had my body on the ground.
As far as the course it's really not too different from the stuff we normally ride around here. There are rocks everywhere but no real hardcore rock gardens. The tight tree sections are pretty similar to the tight tree sections at Shade, which would be a great place to practice. I sure wish it was closer though. There was one test (4th or 5th?) with a long, smooth, flowing section. I enjoyed that section a lot as it was like an oasis in the desert.
Anyway, I'm glad I did this and particularly glad that I pushed through to the end. There's a certain disappointment in looking at my pitiful score card but I met my only real goal of the day in making it to the finish. So, I'd call that success. Next time I'll be more prepared and will adjust my goals higher. Thanks to Joe and Jay for the help and encouragement along the way.
that I could stand only for a few seconds when it looked like I will crash otherwise. Kept sitting and bouncing on the bike :D. Those tight turns with trees on inside were really wearing me out - I have no idea how to do it like a boss. Other guys just passed me sitting all the time and were gone in 10 sec 
. Didn't help much with the score card, but I rested enough to ride again and after that never got that exhausted, still was sitting more than I would want, but I could stand up where it was easier (no accel and uphill) or where hillclimbs looked like they will challenge me too much if I would sit. except a small portion that went out other way 
I dk what did I hit, but it was on the road right before the first check braking pretty hard for a turn to a trail. It was sunny with plenty of shadows from leaves and I never saw what was that, but it was a hard hit and after few seconds when I turned in to a trail I immediately felt that front felt funny - wouldn't turn easy. Looked at it and flat it was. A couple hundred ft further there were all waiting for their row so I rolled in and realized I have only half of needed things to fix my flat, luckily there were more experienced guys (WFdirtygrunt wrote: Tue Sep 26, 2017 6:10 am Are you tubeless? Why plug the tire?
Forgive my ignorance, I don't get flats, I just bounce off rocks.
) around and I got the glue and pump.
You should tread lightly, it was your former tire that exploded on him on I-81.....Rut Row wrote: Tue Sep 26, 2017 7:18 amjuddspaintballs wrote: Mon Sep 25, 2017 9:54 pm I spotted Wingfixer in Bob's Tire today. I guess his flats aren't exclusive to dirt bikes alone.
don't tell me he mounted the spare with the dry rot and huge sidewall tearSkinny-J wrote: Tue Sep 26, 2017 1:02 pmYou should tread lightly, it was your former tire that exploded on him on I-81.....Rut Row wrote: Tue Sep 26, 2017 7:18 amjuddspaintballs wrote: Mon Sep 25, 2017 9:54 pm I spotted Wingfixer in Bob's Tire today. I guess his flats aren't exclusive to dirt bikes alone.
Nobody wrote: Tue Sep 26, 2017 11:59 am On this ride I was just "wtf - how they can ride so fast here". Or is it just
That's like every time I ride.