And if you are bored…

I shot a few new helmet-cam videos recently, here they are:

This is a full, top-to-bottom descent of Workout Wash. It’s definitely easier going downhill!

And here is a full ascent of the switchbacks near my house. I tanked the first wheelie-turn a bit, and another later on, but overall it went pretty smoothly. The view from the top of the trail is nice. My neighborhood is just visible in the distance to the far left.

Current status

Things are coming along!

Travel plans are becoming more concrete. After much puzzling over european train schedules, I think we have finally figured the railway travel out. It should be nearly ideal – get on a train at basically 8:00pm, go to bed and wake up in our next city. That aspect should be really perfect. Perhaps a bit expensive, but nice. It seems that it will be cheaper to buy point-to-point tickets rather than a Eurail pass as we originally planned. The three-country Eurail pass was going to cost us $850, I THINK the individual tickets will be around $650 round-trip.

As far as the bike rental situation, I’ve been on hold for the last two weeks waiting to hear from Angelo, the KTM dealer in Sibiu. After my initial email he said:

Sorry. I was on a motorcycle exibition. I will come back later with a offer

Two weeks passed with no word from Angelo. I decided to check in and see if anything had turned up. He just replied “No 300 yet.” Another week slipped by and I asked him if I should start looking somewhere else for a bike. He said:

I think you should search somewhere else also. This i was writing you already 2 weeks ago. Didn’t you got that mail?

No, I didn’t…

I asked Cristina what other options are available, she got right back to me with this:

Hi 🙂
I have 2 suggestions….
If you want a 400 or 450 KTM i have the right contact 1200 euro, including service…
For the 300 KTM, i am still waiting..KTM Austria will not participate this year, but KTM Romania wants to get involved but we are still in discussions with them.
We will find a bike for you.
Stay in contact.
All the best from Sibiu,
Cristina

So, for the moment I’ll just trust that Cristina knows what is going on and that a 300 will come up for me. She seems pretty confident about it, and she has done this whole “Romaniacs” thing before… I guess I could just ride a four-stroke – for reasonably cheap – but I’d rather hold out for a 300, since that is definitely what I am accustomed to at the moment.

Fun with my front caliper

Once again, I was out for a training ride the other day. I rode up the switchback trail near my home, wound through the hills a bit and descended “Workout Wash” then I headed up to the construction site dump area which I have found to be an excellent practice ground for trials-type riding.

All was well until I popped my front end up over a set of boulders and heaved the bike across. I grabbed the front brake lever and was greeted with mushy, squishy uselessness! A quick survey of the front caliper revealed the problem: I had located a rock that fit perfectly up along side the wheel where it could nail the fitting connecting the hydraulic line to the back of the front brake caliper. The hollow bolt that fits through the line and into the caliper had been ripped right out and brake fluid was drizzling onto the ground. Ride over.

When I got back to the garage, I pulled the caliper and discovered this:

The threads were ripped right out of the hole and the hole itself was wallowed out to a slightly oval shape. “Hmmm,” I thought, “this looks expensive…” Surprisingly, it wasn’t ALL that bad. $150 for a new caliper and $10 for other parts needed. I expected it to be a lot worse.

Since I was planning to ride over the next few days, I splurged on overnight shipping. The next afternoon a new caliper was in my hot little hands.

Installation took about fifteen minutes, and I began bleeding the system. This took considerably longer.

Normally, it takes me about five minutes tops to bleed a brake, but an hour into this job and I was still struggling to get the front skids to pressure up. I had flushed fluid all the way through the system, so that a healthy squirt flew out of the bleed fitting each time I pulled the lever, and I could no longer suck air out with a syringe. But it still wouldn’t pressure up. I poured what seemed like gallons of brake fluid into the reservoir and pumped it through – into the waste-oil pan sitting on the floor. No more bubbles, but still no pressure. Needless to say, I became a bit frustrated.

At long last, I noticed that when I pulled the brake lever, a tiny air bubble appeared at the intake hole in the bottom of the reservoir – Aha! I rapped my knuckles firmly and repeatedly on the bottom of the master cylinder casting while pumping the lever – several big bubbles popped out and like magic, pressure returned!

Ok, I won’t make that mistake again!

Here’s a little perspective

So the first picture is me yesterday, after riding for two and a half hours (that’s two and a half hours “on the pegs”) coming home and following it up with a 750 kcal elliptical routine. Next to that is a photo of me at work about two years ago. Finally, a shot of me shortly after I got my first dirt bike – about four years ago.

Can you see any differences?

Kind of cool

I just looked at the starting list on the Romaniacs website – yeah I’m on it…

Yet another fine ride

I returned to Moon Rocks this afternoon for about 2.5 more hours of riding. I went up the fine singletrack again and ran into a group of five guys who had pulled off to the side of the trail for a breather. I stopped to say hello and ask if I could ride along with them. It turns out that they were all here from California and are getting warmed up for the Virginia City Grand Prix. I mentioned that I will be starting on row 33. Their jaws dropped – turns out they are all starting on row 33 as well! What are the odds of that? I checked the starting list on VCGP.com, and yes they are there!

We had a great ride together, and I’ll be seeing them again in a few weeks!

Fabulous training ride

Its saturday and at 6:15AM, my wife and kids drove off to visit family for the week. I get to stay behind and work… AND RIDE!!

I headed out to Moon Rocks, arriving at about noon, and hitting the trails by about 12:30. It has snowed lightly for the past 24 hours, and the dirt was in pretty good condition, especially higher up the mountains. I decided to hit some singletrack that we tried to ride a week ago, but were rejected by the snow-choked trails. I easily surmounted the approach hill that denied me last time, and made my way into the fine, rocky, technical paradise that lies beyond. There were two sets of fresh tracks going apparently in the same direction, so I felt pretty confident that somebody else was up there – normally I wouldn’t stray so far off the beaten tracks by myself, especially with fresh snow on the ground.

I eventually caught up with the guys ahead of me, as they pondered what to do when the trail vanished into a field of snow. We quickly decided to team up and see if we could push through to the section of trail we could just make out across the saddle where we were perched. Fortunately, there was just a skiff of fresh snow on top of a hard crust of old snow and we got across without incident. From there we enjoyed slippery technical riding over the snow-covered rocks. One of the guys dropped his bike and snapped his clutch lever right off, so we were obliged to take the next gully down toward the main road.

After I got them headed back in the right direction, I peeled off and rode some singletrack that runs parallel to the road, and eventually made my way back to my vehicle. The guy whom I had parked next to, and who was riding a YZ 250, arrived a few minutes after I did. We struck up a conversation and decided to head out for another loop together. It turns out that he is a AA rider – meaning he races for money, and is very good. We took off in the opposite direction from before and rode some very technical, rocky washes with big waterfalls to tackle. We tore it up for about two hours before he noticed that his rear tire had gone flat, and we headed back to the vehicles.

By this time, I had been riding hard for about four hours, and I decided that it was time to call it a day. It was really a fine training session. I pushed my limits quite bit on both loops. I feel like this was EXACTLY the kind of work-out ride I need to prepare me for Romania. Hopefully I can repeat this success again and again before July rolls around.

Cool mass email

I just got this from Romania:

Red Bull Romaniacs 2011

Red Bull Romaniacs – 99 days till launch

New tracks and better than ever: Edition 8 will excite as one of the world`s last real off-road adventures

Sibiu, Romania, April 7th, 2011 – Xventure, the organizers of the world`s toughest Enduro race, launch the official countdown for the 8th edition of the Red Bull Romaniacs. In 99 days from now, the Enduro mayhem will unleash in the mountains around Sibiu, Romania. Riders from 32 nations already signed in, Chris Birch (NZL), Graham Jarvis (ENG) & Andreas Lettenbichler (GER) confirmed participation for the July 16-20/2011 event.

The 2011 race aims to create an unforgettable Enduro experience and become one of the last real off-road adventures. Seeing no need to top past event`s brutal and creative challenges, the team currently focuses on adding breathtaking trails trough amazingly beautiful mountain-rages, perfectioning safety and support for riders and carefully balancing fun with challenge for each of the different classes. New, untouched trails await riders with a 150km loop to the overnight bivouac at Arsenal Park in Orastie, amazing mountain climbs, downhills and fantastic single trails are setting a new bar for off-road fun. Similar to the last editions, the hefty prolog will again concentrate on serious enduro-action in front of thousands of enthusiastic spectators in downtown Sibiu and redefine the phrase “urban warfare”.

We would like to encourage journalists and bloggers to sign in and contact us for accreditation. With only 100 days left to prepare, it is recommended to start early with booking for travel, accommodation and logistics. We appreciate your support and will do our best to help you with travel planning and/or first hand information from the race. The 250 slots for participants are almost booked out, please provide your readers a chance to snatch one of the remaining slots or visit as spectator by adding the Red Bull Romaniacs to your event calendar.

Enduro enthusiasts who travel to Berlin around June 02-04/2011 can get an early taste of the race at the “Red Bull Romaniacs 2011 warm-up Deutschland”. Next to valuable tips about navigation and riding technique, participants can get some quality riding action. The organizers of the Red Bull Romaniacs will be present and happy to answer questions about the race. For more details, visit
http://www.redbullromaniacs.com/2011-edition/news/

Team-Update: The Red Bull Romaniacs team is growing: we have won Volker Jacob to support the team as press officer. He will be our main contact for press- and social media-communication. Volker is a Public Relations expert with a background of journalism and more than 10 years of PR experience, in which he has influenced and shaped the communication of numerous companies. Next to his dog „Camots”, his passion is Enduro riding. Living in Switzerland, Volker is a “die-hard” 2-stroke fan (GasGas EC 300) but is going to have a go at the Husaberg FE 390 this year. More info: Air7.ch

About:
Red Bull Romaniacs is a registered Trademark of Red Bull GmbH, Fuschl Austria and Xventure SRL, based in Sibiu, Romania. Xventure Freinademetz Offroad tours is the managing company of the Red Bull Romaniacs hard enduro rallye. The rallye is considered one of the world`s toughest enduro races with a maximum of 250 contestants. World class riders like Andreas Lettenbichler, Chris Birch and Graham Jarvis regularly participate and dominate the race – in front of thousands of spectators from all over the world. Xventure SRL is founded and fully owned by former multiple World & European snowboard Champion and now hard-enduro aficionado Martin Freinademetz, who also offers recreational and training tours on the steep trails of the Carpathian Mountains.

Press contact: Volker Jacob, +41 79 327 8357, redbullromaniacsmedia@xventure.net
General inquiries: Cristina Badiu, + 40 731 270 887, cristinab@xventure.net
More info: http://www.redbullromaniacs.com
Facebook: Romaniacs on facebook

Things are happening!

Yes my friends, real, tangible progress is being made! Yesterday I wired my entry fee to Romania! I am now a 100% official participant in this year’s rally! Airfare has been purchased. We are making various hotel reservations. Cristina emailed me this morning with contact info for Angelo the KTM dealer in Sibiu who hopefully will have a bike that I can rent for the event. (I thought that I had a bike semi-nailed down before, but apparently not). I shot off a message to him just a minute ago – I probably won’t hear back from him until tomorrow (since it’s 6:00pm over there right now). But contrary to all reason the gears are turning. It’s like a real thing now! Incredible!

And a few other details:

I went riding with a couple of guys on Friday. It was great! We hit a bunch of fresh single-track that has been cut in out at Moon Rocks. It was really perfect! The dirt is damp, there are few if any whoops, the trails are fun to ride! What could I complain about?

Well, I had decided to take my GPS along for a little fiddling around (I’m planning to get some real navigation practice underway soon). About halfway through the ride I stopped to wait for the other guys (heh heh heh…) and looked down at my GPS – and it wasn’t there! The mount, cradle and wiring harness were all right where they were supposed to be, but the unit was GONE! Major bummer!

We backtracked to all the likely spots where it may have been bounced out of the cradle (which involved dropping down a steep, waterfall – off the bikes, bulldogging) but to no avail. My trusty old 60c is probably sitting under a bit of sagebrush along the trail somewhere, and will be until the end of time.

So, I had to buy a new one (darn…) I ordered up a Garmin Oregon 450t and a Ram Mount set up that should hold the damn thing in place! I’m going to wrap a zip-tie around it or something and make sure this one doesn’t part company with me.

Training schedule

With roughly 100 days of training to go, I’m really trying to step everything up a few notches as I truly am into the “meat” of my preparations for the rally.

For the last couple of weeks I have been doing an hour-long workout before work each morning. My work schedule varies enough that there has to be some flexibility in what I plan out, but generally I am doing weight training Monday, Wednesday, and Friday with Cardio on the elliptical Tuesday and Thursday. On cardio days I do a half-marathon hill program (I don’t finish the whole 13.1km – it’s just a nice, long program – I pull the plug after an hour, usually right around 9.5km) where I try to keep my heart rate between 160-165bpm on the hilly sections and drop to about 135bpm on the one-minute sections between hills. Over the course of an hour my average HR is usually about 150bpm and I burn about 900 kCal.

For weight training I have been doing a number of different things – integrating our weight machine, dumbells,”exercise balls”, etc. And now I’m experimenting with some DVD workouts my wife bought. Specifically, the P90X DVD’s. I’m not really doing any 90-day program here, but the workouts seem to be really good, and they last an hour, which is perfect for my current schedule. We’ll see how it goes!

All this is in addition to riding as often as I can. I’ve been getting about two two-hour rides a week lately. But the weather seems to be turning nice here in Northern Nevada, so hopefully I can step that up a bit. Of course when I’m riding it is NOT buzzing around on fire-roads! I really try to ride hard and work on challenging terrain. I think its coming along well! My confidence on the bike is really increasing!

I truly feel like I’m on track for Romaniacs in July. If I can keep up this intensity I think I’ll be well prepared. The Virginia City Grand Prix is the 30th of this month, and I’m hoping that it will serve as a useful yardstick to gauge how things are coming along. On the other hand I’m a little nervous about this event too. I know guys who have crashed out of this race and gotten pretty badly hurt. The terrain is tricky enough to make that a real (though remote) possibility. It would be a crying shame to get hurt and put a big kink in my training schedule or miss Romania altogether. So, I’m planning to ride hard, but not hard enough to get myself wrapped around a rock!