Final Report. Baseball has the World Series, NASCAR has the Daytona 500 and Tennis has Wimbledon. For vintage off road riders we have the ISDT Reunion Ride. This is the event where the off road elite (and goobers like me) from all over the world attend to putt around on their old iron. Some attend for their last chance to garner coveted AHRMA Cross Country points, some come to see the old Six Days vets and some come to show off restored bikes. This year’s ISDTRR was hosted by the Tulsa (Oklahoma) Trail Riders and held at the location of the 1994 ISDE; the Zink Ranch in Sand Spring, OK. The 2004/2008 ISDTRR was also held here but both those years I was on my way to Iraq to play in the sand when the ride was going on. Ok prelude. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o> My YZ465 got me through the last 2-day event in Arkansas pretty well but starting remained a big issue. Since then I had been poking around different areas trying to find the culprit(s). I narrowed it down to the timing. The timing was too far advanced making the motor hard to start and when it was running it would be detonate intermittently. I had set the timing with a timing light to Yamaha’s spec (ok, ok, maybe I bumped it up just a little) but this time around I decided to use the ear, boot and seat-of-the-pants method to adjust the timing back to where I need it to be. I also raised the needle to it’s highest (richest) setting as my plug readings were light tan and the weather forecast called for much cooler temperatures for the ride. After three or four tiny-weenie timing adjustments I got the bike to become a 1-3 kick-starter with no noticeable signs of pinging. All I had was a dirt road to test on so putting a heavy load on the motor to get it hot was hard to do. Never the less the starting was much better and the bike had enough power to easily break the rear wheel loose in fifth gear. After these adjustments I went out in the morning three days in a row and started the motor by slowly kicking it through 4-5 times with the kill button pushed, then giving it the big kick. The motor started in 1-2 kicks every time. Sweet. I dumped the old Preston Petty headlight used on my last race in favor of a more “Period Correct” light off my 1980 KTM GS250. The event also required a taillight so I cheaped out and stuck a little blinkly light for joggers/bicycles onto the rear fender. Dumb looking but it filled the requirement. To raise the fun factor at this year’s ISDTRR, my buddies and I formed team “Scuderia Veloce”, (Italian for “Team Speed”. This year there were over 20 teams competing; ye-haw. A look at the entry list showed 17 in my class and this turned out to be the largest class in the event. Cool. This event would be a good benchmark for judging my ability on the YZ. On to Oklahoma Before getting to the Zink Ranch, I made a detour and stopped by Guy Cooper’s place in Stillwater to check out his mini-museum. Guy had opened the doors that day for folks to see his place. When I went inside, the first person I saw was John Penton. How righteous. John was talking about his old race bikes and the virtues of the NSU transmissions. John can talk…a lot. Then I went around the corner and there was Jack Penton chatting with Coop. In case you didn’t know it Guy’s mom and dad ran Cooper Cycles back in the day and were a Penton/Bultaco dealer. Coop has a few older bikes too, sorry about the fuzzy picture. This one was a little unique looking: A few bicycles also hang out here: On to the Ranch! Some of the bikes at this year's ride: Here is a sweet 650 Triumph punched out to a 750ish size. We will see a better picture of this bike in action later. Here is one for all you IT490 fans: The impound area filled up quickly: You can't miss Dwight Rudder, with his old school goggles, wax cotton jacket and big smile. Time to Ride Day 1 As the weatherman promised: temps dropped. Saturday morning greeted us with a layer of frost covering the bikes. Fortunately Key Time was 09:00 a.m. and the sun was up and bright. I was on minute 22 and started slowly kicking the YZ motor over when minute 21 took off. Although the YZ would start great when stone cold in 50-degree weather, it did not like the 30-degree temps and got stubborn, requiring about 10-12 kicks to light off. Ugh! I finally got the old girl fired off and I was gone in a cloud of 2 stroke smoke: After the start, riders were greeted with a fast, fun winding trail to warm up prior to the first Terrain Test (TT). The trail was classic Zink Ranch, meaning it was great but don’t stray off the route because there are rocks EVERYWHERE just waiting to kick the front end of your bike out and put you down; hard. Here is an example of the rocks talking to this Can-Am: Some folks barely got thier bike warm. Sometime classic machines have timeless problems: The Ride As the race developed I found that my class nemesis would be a guy on an XR200. Wait a minute pal; did you say XR200? Yes, an XR200. I know that might sound silly but in a ride like the Zink Ranch an XR 200 is a formable weapon. While bigger bikes have horsepower and speed the little Hondas have lightweight, great cornering and tractable power. They are also Post Vintage class legal up to around the 2003 model year so you can get a pretty good bike with much more fresh/modern pieces to play with. The rider was no slouch either. <o></o> There were test sections where I was just short of wide open in fifth gear (and scared to death) with stuff flying by so quickly I couldn’t compute it fast enough which resulted in me blowing thru more then one corner. Remember those rocks just off the main trail? I found them more than once as I was trying to get the YZ slowed down enough to make a turn. But man, what a rush flying down a 18 inch wide trail in top gear on a open class bike, you quickly learn to start looking waaaaaay ahead for what will be upon you in the next couple of seconds…including slower riders. Oh, and let’s not forget about those cute little Black Jack oak trees. Most on the route stood three to five foot tall and although small in stature, they are tuff as rocks, don’t like to move and that includes the branches. Fortunately these trees were sparse on the course. At the end of the day we get one lap on the grass track for time. It was a tight track. Here I'm just trying to make the best of it: By the end of Day-1 I was in third place in my class. Considering my screw-ups in the test sections, I was elated. My team was in 10<SUP>th</SUP> and holding it’s own. Banquet An ISDTRR tradition is the Saturday evening banquet. This is where awards are presented for achievements and lies are told about past, present and future rides. There were about twenty ISDT/E riders present including Tommy McDermott (first American to win ISDT gold), Drew Smith and of course Jack Penton. Jack Penton and Jeff Debell MC'ed this years banquet which was held at the John Zink lodge. Someone made the mistake of letting me have the mic. Here I am discussing the finer elements of how to ride with Guy Cooper. I don't think he totally bought in on my techniques. Actually we were just having a little impromptu fun with Coop. Day 2 Day-2 was a shorten version of Day-1. We had another great ride and some of the tests were the reverse of Day 1. Riders generally improved their scores as they had a feel for how the course worked. The big event for Day 2 is the grass track race, this is where you get to show your stuff or embarrass yourself in front of everyone...including the cameras. Remember that big Triumph? It REALLY motored! Guy Cooper (number 402) rode a vintage class 400 Penton aganist the rest of the 6 Day riders and pros, most of which were on modern bikes. Even though Guy dogged the motor off the line and the others were on modern bikes it didn't help much as Coop did this: Then this: Then Coop rearanged this corner: Two turns later he had the lead which by the end of 4 laps was 20 -30 seconds over 2nd place. Mommy Make it Stop Hurting! <o></o> The grass track was just short of a mile in length and tight with lots of short straights and turns. There were a few open areas which included a couple of mini gravity cavities where you would drop in and out of a 15 foot deep bowls and a 75 yard sweeping turn that was also part of the start. Ah yes, the start. The first turn was a 180-degree deal about 50-75 yards away from the start line. A two-foot wide tree made sure no one cut the corner. The only thing tighter than the turns was the starting line. It only took ten riders to fill the start line bar to bar and I had seventeen in my race. I lined up right next to my friend on that little XR200; I was kidding him about having a target on his back as he was in first place I was in third. Ha, ha. I figured that I might get a good start but it would be the riders on smaller bikes would have the overall advantage especially in the turns. A flag was used for the start and my class (race 7) got called back due to riders jumping the flag. Crazy fools. Everyone had to line back up and after that the flag dude gave up on us because we were trying to inch up on each other, so he flagged us off. Nothing like going from full speed to an almost zero speed first turn with 17 other riders. Somehow I managed to get thru the first turn in third place: By the second corner I was in second place, GREAT! Now all I had to worry about was my lack of riding ability and the 15 bikes behind me. Then I soon realized another issue I needed to worry about; trying to hold down this damn 465 between corners. Most of the corners were tree lined and often only 25 feet apart. As much as I wanted to use third gear, many of the corners were way too tight and the straights were way too short for third gear. Using third gear would mean having to shift from second gear-to third- and back down to second for almost every corner. So I elected to sit on the gas tank and keep the motor in second gear for all but the longest track sections of which there were about three. Let me tell you going from no throttle into a corner to coming out WFO in second gear and then throwing out the anchor into the next corner on a 465 will flat wear you out. So here I am on this YZ trying to hang on and guess who is right behind me? Yup, that little XR200. I’d pull him out of a corner and he would roll right up behind me going into the next one. I just held the inside line and didn’t give him enough room to get a wheel in. A couple of times I went too wide but the YZ had enough boost to overcome my screw-ups. I think people were laughing their a$$es off watching me trying to hang onto this beast while the little XR was nipping at my heels. Of course, since the two of us were trying so hard to pass each other the first place rider was gone. Anyway, this scenario went on for the four-lap race. When we got to the final lap I kept wondering when/where the guy would try to make his move as I kept closing the door on his lines. Was he just patiently waiting and setting me up for a last lap pass? I'm not sure as I never asked him but on the last part of the last lap the little XR roared to life and made its move. Going into the last drop off the XR stuck its front wheel up against the YZ. I had two choices: Push back which I felt would have put both of us on the ground going down the drop off or give some ground and move to the right. I moved to the right but the little XR rider wasn’t done with me, he just kept pushing me over across the track and into the weeds. I thought: Man, if he wants it this bad he can have it! And so it ended up with the XR taking the lead and finishing 1 second ahead of me . Jeeez. When the dust settled and the scores for both days of riding were tabulated, I found myself in third place out of seventeen entries in my class. Good enough for gold metal. Could I have rode better? Sure, but so could everyone else given another chance. Team“Scuderia Veloce” finished 5<SUP>th</SUP> and garnered a bronze metal out of over 20 team entries. Casualty Count. Ok YZ fans; name this classic 465 mechanical failure: <o></o> My kick-starter return died right after I got the bike started for my grass track race. Whew. Good thing I didn’t stall the bike during the race! Upon tear down the following week it showed a broken return spring, kick starter shaft, gear and to top it off; the case. Right now I’m envisioning building a motor for next year I all ready chatted with Eric Gorr about it. Eric likes old 2 strokes. Thinking about using an IT bottom end mated with an YZ top end. Heavy crank, wide ratio gearing & Eric Gorr motor work. Drooping pegs need some attention too but the M16s are holding up great! Maybe while Eric is working on the motor I should be working on the elliptical machine : Location for next years ISDTRR will be at Dalton, Massachusetts where the 1973 ISDT was held. Should be an epic event. But for now the big YZ is tucked in, back at home safe and sound. The End.
That sounds awesome as all get out. Thanks for the post. Any chance you have more pics & info from your stop at his place?
Here are a couple of video clips one of our team buds (Justin) took of the event. Justin was riding a 250 Penton which was the bike I rode at last year's event. The first clip is the start of the day and includes, trail and some Terrain Test footage. You can see how fast things got. The second clip is of the Grass Track on Day 2. You get an idea of how tight the Grass Track was. My buddy couldn't even fit his bike in on the front row for the start. Of course you never get the full affect from videos but these will give you a pretty good feel of it. Trail: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDZ8OXd0Rkc& Grass Track: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fssMKdifLN4&
:eek1Hi, Pete, Nice YZ !! Can i ride my 1985 TT 600 in this event? Nevt year sounds good. I live about 5 hours away from Dalton Mass. I have ridden there before. Big ED TT600 Fan!!!
BIG ED; Unfortunately AHRMA does not allow bikes equipped with disc brakes (except Rokons) to compete. They feel that is where the Post Vintage bikes get to much like what we ride today. :huh Don't shoot me I didn't make the rulez. Don't worry you still have around 9 months to figure out a ride.
That's some cool video. I'm surprised at how well that Penton goes, looks like quite the rocket & in those tight tree's it really gobbles up the trail. Some good riding for sure. The grass track stuff just looks elbow to elbow tight. Great stuff Does your 465 have the 4 speed trans like my ol' 450? Duh... "wide open in fifth gear"
What a great report and video. I sent in my AHRMA application after seeing this! I also noticed this statement... "Team“Scuderia Veloce” finished 5<SUP>th</SUP> and garnered a bronze metal out of over 20 team entries“ Pete, do you have an Alfa?
Kevin, if you mean a lead dog, then no. We just went about everything in the thought of "Ride smart, preserve bike and body" and let the chips fall where they may.
Wow...sounds so fun. What a great read and really fun photos. I'm in VT and have an '82 Can Am 175 Qualifier. I bought it to run in the Vintage XC at MX Rewind, Unadilla but the Mass event sounds like an amazing time and right down the road. If anyone needs old and steady to round out a team I'm all ears.
