Posts Tagged ‘KTM 450 exc’
Being a novice again. 2009 Wilseyville Hare Scramble
2009 Wilseyville Hare Scramble write up, pics and video here.
The entry form says AMA championship series, so maybe it was a big race? All I know is I was as green as it gets. The newness of this unfamiliar sport opened my eyes to what athletes new to triathlon and XTERRA experience. Nervous, excited, clueless, scared of the unknown, scared of being last, scared of the mass start, and yes, just plain scared.
I grew up riding a little Yamaha PW 80 on our farm in South Africa, later a YZ 100, but when I got really serious about triathlon, (age 15) I sold the dirt bike in order to fund this new triathlon passion thing. I always promised myself, “the day I retire from triathlon I’m buying a dirt bike.” After winning XTERRA Worlds in 07 I thought “screw that, its been 18 years, I cant wait anymore”, so bought a used Honda CRF450 in South Africa. Click for one of my fave blog posts. This summer I bought a new KTM 450 EXC in the US. (my 1st new motorized vehicle ever) Could someone please explain to me how a new top end dirt bike costs the same as a top end mountain bike? How does a huge, knobbly, 30 pound dirt bike rear tire cost the same as a 500g mountain bike tire?
Anyway, Wilseyville is in the scenic Sierra Nevada mountains. Yellow trees everywhere and beautiful country side made for an amazing course on private land. No pre riding allowed, which was quite intimidating.
The C and Ladies class was HUGE. I guess 350+ riders in 7 starts 1 min apart. Apparently in this sport I’m an old dude, (Vet plus) so I was in the 6th row. I thought the C class is the hack class, but I didnt see a single jean pant! Shiny pimped bikes, custom what what, new tires. – I was the only guy with indicators and a cute license plate. At least I could honk the horn to overtake. Mostly people on the ground, and a fat guy cramping.
Rest day fun activity- Caveman style
When it snows outside, you have to stay sane somehow!
For the past 11 years, Friday is my day off. Usually I’m quite broken by then and I’ll be dragging most of Friday- till energy slowly returns in the late afternoon. I try to use the rest day to catch up on admin, get a massage, run errands, work on my bike, dress normally (ie not lycra) and importantly- do something really fun. Like taking the new puppy (KTM 450 exc) for a spin in the snow!
Of course I justify it as “skills training…” I found the dirt bike makes you concentrate 110% all the time. If you dont- you’ll get really hurt, really quickly. I treat this thing with more respect than a loaded gun. With XTERRA racing, you only have to concentrate (even with lactate coming out of your ears) during parts of the race. Single track, technical run sections, turn buoys in the swim… The rest of the time you just take the hurt while your brain freewheels. Mine anyway.
Apart from the mental training it really makes me feel alive. My cousin Johan has a KTM 360 – a gnarly 2 stroke beast- and Johan is only 130lbs and cant reach the ground! He did his PhD on blood parasites on reptiles- (ie catching snakes all day) a hard job. When he gets frustrated, he takes his KTM out and thrashes it- even if its just up and down the track – and comes back with a big smile and pressing with his forefinger on his chest, say: “it feels like my “refresh button” has been pressed!”
Ice Head pressing his “refresh button…”
