Category: General

1/26/16 Update

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Haven’t been able to get in much practice or gym time due mainly to the injuries sustained in my dumber-than-dumb November crash. Although my ribs had healed up well enough to ride after 3 weeks or so, the shoulder injury is still not healed. It’s getting better, but progress has been super slow. On top of that, I’ve been varying degrees of sick for the past week, so the bottom line is that I’m physically still a good ways away from being race-ready.

I did get out a couple of times though – once on January 10th for about 10 minutes or so just to test out some changes I had made to the KTM’s front suspension, and again on the 16th for around an hour and a half. The shoulder was much, much better the second trip, so I can’t imagine it being more than another couple of weeks before it’s healed to the point I can start training in earnest.

In the mean time though, I’ve had to back out of the Burnt Gin hare scramble and will instead be racing a SORCS Iron Man race in Georgia on Feb 20-21 if ready, with rain dates being VXCS race on 3/6 in Dillwyn, VA, or the VCHSS season opener in Chatham, Va on 3/20.

Stay tuned….

 

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12/23/15 – Dem Bones…..

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You know, I had just gotten done commenting to someone how it had been several years since I’d broken any bones on the bike. Me and my big mouth.

A few weeks back on November 29th, I was at NCMP trying to get some practice in and start getting in some kind of shape for the upcoming race season. The woods were closed, but desperately needing seat time, I spent the afternoon turning laps on the newly reconfigured intermediate track. I was riding ok, a little slow and rusty, but since I can count the number of times I’ve been riding over the last two years quite literally on one hand with room to spare, it was to be expected.

Maybe an hour and a half in, I was starting to pick up some speed and was hitting the jumps with a lot more confidence (except for the big single – I roll that one if there’s no flagger on it, and today there was no flagger). Anyway, I’m on a section of track that’s essentially a straightaway with a small rise in the middle. You can carry some good speed through here as you set up for the next turn. Everything was fine – bike was good, I wasn’t tired or distracted or anything… I’m coming up over this rise and am just a little too far inside, I start to ease back to the left, and bang…front wheel breaks out in some loose stuff and tucks under, and before I could correct, down I go.

Got the wind knocked out of me, but once I shook that off and kind of regained my bearings, did a quick assessment and determined I was just a little banged up – road rash, some bruises, etc…, but nothing serious. Bike was a mess though – bars and front forks were tweaked pretty bad – so I figured this was probably a good time to call it a day.

By the time I got home though, things were starting to really hurt and I couldn’t lift my right arm. Long story short, final verdict is 2, possibly 3 fractured ribs, indeterminate ligament and/or muscle damage in my right shoulder, sprained left thumb and some road rash. Of course the nurse practitioner who saw me in the ER (you would think that for $1900 dollars, you’d get to see an actual doctor. You would be wrong) starts talking about possible broken collarbone, possible broken hip, etc etc… but since all I could envision were the greenbacks flying out of my wallet into the tender loving arms of the Wakemed billing department, I held off until my regular doc could see me.

So, it’s been a few weeks now. Ribs are great. Still a little sore but not enough to slow me down anymore. The shoulder seemed to heal about 80% in a matter of days, but this last 20% is taking forever and is what’s keeping me off the bike. I’m supposed to race Jan 31, so this needs to finish healing like yesterday.

March 2012 Update

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Been a while since my last post. Haven’t been feeling very, I dunno, literary  lately I guess. That said, lots going on these days. Race season is one day away and I’m sitting here just counting the minutes.

Ran a couple of races in the off-season. First up was the Hangover Harescramble @ Virginia Motorsports Park back on New Years day. FUN race, despite the complete and total clusterfuck that was the start. No starting rows were marked out which meant a large portion of the field left off with the wrong class. But, the mood was light on this day and everyone, including yours truly, just took it in stride. Of course, when the gate dropped, everyone’s gate dropped except mine. So there I sat, watching the last of the field disappear in a cloud of dust while trying to back my bike up enough to get around the stuck gate when it finally dropped. I was on the gas from that point forward and made up a ton of positions by the time it was all said and done. I don’t remember my finishing position….it wasn’t spectacular, but it was a good time all the same.

Next up was the Burnt Gin race down in Sumter. This was a national, and I blame nobody but myself for the disaster that of a race it turned out to be. Got a great start and hung with my class (those local boys are f-a-s-t), but about 15 miles in started getting lapped by the pros. You know, Mullins, Bakken, Raines, etc…, and it got to the point that I had to spend so much concentration on what was coming up behind me (do YOU want to be the guy who holds up Charlie Mullins? me neither…) that it totally blew my ability to focus on what was in front of me. After several stupid and otherwise totally avoidable crashes, I decided the rest of the afternoon might be better spent watching these guys and maybe learning a thing or two rather than continuing to hammer the living shit out of my knee for nothing but the privilege of being a rolling roadblock.

I did come home with a really cool orange t-shirt though.

Otherwise, not much seat time since Pipsico but I’ve been spending a lot of time in the gym, as in every single day. Originally my goal was to lose weight but I screwed up nutritionally and ended feeling weak and tired much of the time, losing a bit of muscle along with the fat I was trying to target. So, after getting the nutrition thing sorted out, I started wandering from the elliptical machines over to the weight area from time to time and messing around a bit, which evolved into some minor weight training being incorporated into my workout, which has since evolved into a full-on weight training program along with my already fairly intense cardio program. My weight as of this morning is @ 167 (down from 202 in August) and I feel great. The real test came last weekend though when I took the bike out for the first time in about a month. I don’t know if I was any faster but the level of control I had over the bike was massively improved, as was my stamina. Took a half day off from work and went out again yesterday to make sure all the kinks were worked out for Sunday’s VCHSS season opener, and it was all good.

On the down side, the knee has been starting to hurt again. I don’t know if the CTI unloader brace is doing what I’d hoped it would, and may have to go back the the less riding-appropriate but more effective Ossur unloader for the first couple of races and see how that works out. In any event, I will be approaching this season as though it’s my last and giving it everything I’ve got for as long as I’m able.

So, it’s on to South Hill! Race report to follow…

-Bob

SKF Seals and another fork rebuild

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The new SKF fork seals came in a couple of days ago, been trying to clear some time to get them installed and get the bike back together. These seals are supposed to be the hot setup for 48mm WP forks, as the stiction from stock KTM seals, as well as many aftermarket seals like the pure crap All Balls.Moose.MSR seals on there now, is well known.

Upon disassembly of the forks, I checked the upper and lower bushings. Both looked good, and really as though they may have recently been replaced by the previous owner. Cool. I also took the opportunity to do a little more work to the compression and mid-valve shim stacks (my mods are based on the ’07 Trail Tricks stack as found in the ktmtalk.com forums). Gave everything a final cleaning and inspection and started reassembly.

One tool I sprung for was an actual purpose-built seal driver (instead of half-assing it with an improvised tool made out of PVC). I bought the Cycle Gear house brand ‘universal’ seal driver that’s supposed to be good for forks from 30-something to 50mm. While it did work, I found it to be awkward, as the two halves did not mate up properly on the 48mm fork. Also, the part that actually contacts the seal doesn’t look like it’ll hold up for the long haul. If you can afford it, I would skip the ‘universal’ route and spend your money on the correct sized Motion Pro driver.

Anyway, reassembled with the new seals and dust wiper, and just like in the video, the improvement was dramatic. I filled each leg to 140mm with Mobil1 synthetic ATF, put the front wheel back on, lowered the bike back on the ground and gave the forks a push. Man, they were like a new, different, better set of forks. Where before they were jerky and stiff, they were now buttery smooth and supple. If they perform on the trail like they seem to promise here in my garage, we’re back in business. I hope so, getting tired of pulling these forks apart (have I said that already??).