18 Jun
Posted by Graham as Baja 1000, Cars, Gadgets, Motorcycle, Sports, Training, Travel
Just ran across this footage of trucks dealing with the silt during the 2007 Baja 1000. It’s the best video I’ve seen that illustrates the insanity of those sections. Also has some crashes that make a brother say “awoooooogah” – enjoy!
We’re fresh back from the Laconia Motorcycle Rally in New Hampshire. After a weekend of riding, wrenching and communing with Gilford Girls, one’s thoughts naturally revolve around the simpler things in life. I don’t know about you, but I love a nice fire. I have fond memories of a friend’s farm in Virginia where we’d spend the day clearing dead wood with a tractor and building enormous bonfires. Today, I’m lucky enough to have a house in the country where I can stack a few cords of wood and indulge my inner pyromaniac. I ran across a great article on 9 ways to start a fire without using matches. They put it best “There is a primal link between man and fire. Every man should know how to start one. A manly man knows how to start one without matches”.
I was down in Baja doing a 1,230 mile training run from Ensenada to Cabo San Lucas, and quickly came to terms with how brutal the terrain is on both yourself and your motorcycle. One minute you are blazing along and the next minute you’re changing a flat in the middle of nowhere under a 100 degree sun.
It takes about 30 minutes to change a front tube and about 45 minutes to change a rear one, and that is by someone who really knows their stuff. The Baja 1000 is a timed race where the possibility of not finishing is quite real. In fact, only about 35% of teams finish the race each year. Each second is precious so you want to avoid flats at all costs.
One thing I heard repeatedly in Baja was that you should run a Michelin Bib Mousse on your front tire and a heavy duty tube on your rear tire. I would nod in accordance all the time thinking to myself, what the hell does a Bull Moose have to do with any of this?
Once I got the spelling right, I found out that it’s “a foam insert that can replace conventional inner tubes in off road motorcycle tires. It is a ring of butyl honeycomb foam with its cells filled with nitrogen. It has a smooth-molded outer skin that is designed to slip into specific size off-road motorcycle tire. Bib-Mousse have a considerable advantage over normal inner-tubes, as they do not and cannot be punctured or burst.”
I have never ridden on this type of tube, but was told that it rides differently than a regular tube. It feels heavier and carries more momentum which can take some getting used to, especially as you come into corners. I have seen some disclaimers that it shouldn’t be ridden on hard surfaces for more than 20 miles at high speed which presents a bit of a dilemma since the Baja 1000 contains longer sections of pavement that connect parts of the course. I guess you grin and bear it. Certainly beats a flat…
23 May
Posted by Birch as Baja 1000, BBQ, Cars, Electronics, Food, Gadgets, Misc, Motorcycle, Music, NYC, Run, Sailing, Sports, Surfing, Training, Travel, Uncategorized
Sometimes a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do and, I guess, this is one of those times for our beloved admin, erstwhile coach, training partner extraordinaire and certified master of the grill Jeff. He’s packed up the shop, loaded what’s important and is redeploying to the left coast in search of fortune, adventure and cracked crab. As we all navigate the fog caused by last night’s sayonara wumpus, I’d just like to pause for the cause and give a hearty HUZZAH to our partner in crime.
Fare thee well sir. You’ll be sorely missed but we’ve every confidence you’ll quickly get to holdin’ it down out there and swelling the ranks of the Dukes West Coast Chapter. Write when you get work and we’ll come inspect your beachhead.
Vaya con dios y un gato en tu pantalones Amigo.
-mismanagement
Here are my initial thoughts and a quick review of the Garmin Forerunner 405 with HRM. This is my first Garmin Forerunner so I cannot compare usage against previous generations on usage but……..
The Garmin 405 is way smaller than the 305 or other previous generations. I do not have a big wrist and this watch felt “normal” on my wrist as opposed to an alarm clock on my wrist, which is how I would describe the previous generations when I tried them on. You can wear this watch on a daily basis and not notice it.
Now comes the interesting part, figuring out how this works:
Setup – The Garmin walks you through a menu set up and is very simple to get set up. Piece of cake
Satellites - I am not sure if it is NYC or this watch, but acquiring satellites for the first time took a few minutes. Once acquired I think I lost the signal a few times as the time on the watch showed a half hour before actual time. It took about 25 minutes for the correct time to appear
Screen – I have not gone through many screen, but viewing the screen was easy. I know there were worries that the screen size would be too small but I could see all readouts simply. The other cool thing is if you touch both sides of the bezel at the same time the backlight will go on, super simple and easy. This is a great feature when running at night.
Bezel – I am still working out how the bezel works and it is not that simple. The first thing I did was shut off the beeps for each touch of the bezel, it will drive you insane. Going through the menus is simple but figuring out what to do next and programming is not easy, but a few days with the manual and I think it will be OK.
Heart Rate Monitor – I have not tried this part out yet, so TBD
Pace Accuracy – I ran a route that I know is 5 miles and the Garmin came back with 5.01 miles, so pretty good there. I felt a ran a solid 7:40/mile pace and the Garmin told me I was running a 7:37. Unfortunately the pace was not accurate the whole way through as the satellites went in and out.
Overall I am a big fan of the Garmin 405 and if you do not mind spending (it is pricey) then pick one up if you can find it
As many of you have read here multiple times, I never run with music and really believe nobody running outdoors should run with music. It throws off your balance, keeps you from focusing on your stride and is technically illegal in most local racing events.
Now to step off my preachers box and explain why this new product from Nike makes me happy, which is strange since I really do not like most Nike running gear.
The Nike + Sportband is the first product that allows runners to use the Nike + system without having to use their Ipod Nano at the same time . So this means you can use all the cool Nike systems without having to listen to music while you run.
Below is the info from Nike and their marketing wizards:
Nike+ SportBand allows runners to see their distance, pace, time and calories burned when they run, in addition to gaining access to all of the features and tools on nikeplus.com. Designed for runners who choose not to run with music and for those times when you can’t use music, the Nike+ SportBand provides all the benefits of Nike+ technology, but opens up the Nike+ experience to a broader audience of runners. Runners who enjoy that extra motivation, or who are music fans, can continue to hear their run details through an iPod nano system.
Although you can only wear one helmet at a time, most motorcycle owners end up with a collection of helmets over the years. I’ve somehow ended up with 5. Two are for highway riding, one is for motocross, and the other two offer little protection, but are just flat out cool – the move for short trips. A friend just sent me a link to check out Ruby Motorcycle helmets which are made in Paris, France. All I can say is WOW. These helmets are an aphrodisiac for the opposite sex – helpful in running game and closing deals.
In the beginning of this year I was very excited to hear Garmin would be releasing the new Garmin 405 and I promptly placed my order with delivery dates expected February 21st and a late date of end of Q1 2008.
Well now Garmin has delayed the release date to the mysterious Q2 2008. It seems they are pushing back the release date to coincide with the 2008 Boston Marathon. Great for marketing, terrible for us early adopters who need to receive the first shipment of running gear.
Garmin has decided to appease us with new shots of the display of the Garmin 405 and this did not help. It only made me wish I had this yesterday.
UPDATE ON 04/29/08 – See my post on delivery
Check these out:
The Dukes of Flatbush planned to use a SPOT Satellite Messenger in their bid for the 2008 Baja 1000, but just learned that another device with the same capabilities has been mandated by SCORE. It’s called IriTrack and was already mandatory equipment in the Paris Dakar rally.
Here’s a description of the unit from that site:
“IriTrack satellite monitoring is a new system which enables you to benefit from enhanced safety and is a real communication tool. It enables real-time monitoring of positions and tracking of competitors, thereby making it easier to follow the race.
The system responds to most situations which require vehicles or participants to be monitored in all parts of the world, including those not covered by telephone networks as in the desert. Clearing any doubt by voice phone questioning, alert following a violent shock, automatic transmission of alarms to the PC, satellite telephone, etc… a host of options making the system an indispensable tool.
IRITRACK and your safety
IriTrack enables you to transmit qualified information to the race PC in real time. If you come up against a problem, you can be pinpointed by the organization whom you can speak with remotely.
Fields of application are as follows:
* Triggering or requesting emergency help in case of a serious incident (you or another competitor).
* Signal a distress situation which might prevent you from continuing / or compromise your health.
With two possible modes:
* Transmission of an alarm and/or telephone contact with the race PC
* Automatic: if a brutal shock or a prolonged halt of the vehicle is detected, the system transmits an alarm message to the race PC indicating the competitor’s GPS position. With the telephone function, the race PC may contact him without any action on his part (automatic receiver pick-up and inbuilt microphone) to establish dialogue.”
This device will also allow SCORE to monitor a team’s speed on paved sections of the Baja 1000 course which is limited to 60mph.If you exceed that speed, your team receives a time penalty which could affect your standing or worse, your ability to complete the race in the alloted time.
These units are available for rental and for sale – I guess we’ll figure out what option makes the most sense. One big question: where the hell does this thing go on a bike?
Good discussions about this issue on baja.net forums – read the thread.
One thing I learned on our recent training run in Utah is that not all chest protection is created equal. I was wearing a pretty typical Roost Deflector along with elbow guards.
We were headed due West into a blinding, setting sun. I couldn’t see and slipped out of the rut I was driving in. When things go wrong, they go wrong quickly. In a split second, the bike was down and I was lying on my right side. I was only going around 20 MPH, but the impact was intense. I took the force of it on my right shoulder and head. My head was fine, but my shoulder was seriously bruised. It’s been a week and I feel like I was in a car accident. My shoulder is incredibly weak and sore. The long and the short of it: typical chest protection does very little to protect your sides or shoulders.
That was all I needed to explore other options. I’ve settled on a more comprehensive solution by Thor called an Impact SE Rig. It has chest protection and an articulated spine, along with shoulder caps, elbow guards and forearm guards. It even has a built in kidney belt which is a must when riding whoops.
There are a number of these systems out there by great manufacturers like Fox, Axo, EVS and Six Six One.
We plan to use my 2007 FJ Cruiser as a support vehicle in our bid for the 2008 Baja 1000. I’m particularly excited because it affords the perfect opportunity to turn the truck into something out of Mad Max. Make it so mean, it’d make a freight train take a dirt road.
I decided to start with a K&N 77 Series High-Flow Air Intake System. It’s a cheap way to add 10hp to the truck and the design is resistant to dirt and sand. Let’s all take a deep breath together.
06 Mar
Posted by Graham as Baja 1000, Electronics, Gadgets, Motorcycle, Travel
One of the pieces of gear we’ll bring to Mexico for the 2008 Baja 1000 is a SPOT Satellite Messenger. This device can alert your team and send GPS coordinates if you run into problems, but a really cool feature is something called ‘spotcasting’. SPOT can acquire and send your GPS coordinates to your account every 10 minutes. This information can be ported to Google Maps so everyone with access to the Internet can keep up with your progress.
I tried this functionality out for the first time on our Utah training run. My biggest mistake was putting the unit in a padded pocket deep inside of my Camelbak. Without a clear line of sight, this unit only works intermittently. I expected to see hundreds of waypoints, but only clocked 37 over the course of three days. Stupid is as stupid does. On our next training run, I’ll affix the unit to the outside of the backpack. I expect this will solve the problem and I’ll be able to see an accurate reflection of the course I travelled. It was cool to check out the waypoints we did capture in Google Earth. Take a gander…
For those of you that are car enthusiasts, you must know of the UK series Top Gear. It started in 1977 and has exploded to become the most watched car show in the world with an estimated 350 million worldwide viewers.
Well the “new” season began airing in the USA last night, which means we are watching slightly stale episodes (about 4 months behind), but I highly recommend you set your DVR’s for Monday nights to record Top Gear.
One of the best parts of Top Gear is the host Jeremy Clarkson, whose one liners are abusive, racist, mean and hysterical. To celebrate the new season and to give you an idea of what Clarkson is like I found a list of Top 10 Jeremy Clarkson quotes, I think you will enjoy
1. About the Porsche Cayman S: “There are many things I’d rather be doing than driving it, including waiting for Bernard Manning to come off stage in a sweaty nightclub, and then licking his back clean.”
2. “The Suzuki Wagon R should be avoided like unprotected sex with an Ethiopian transvestite.”
3. “I’m sorry, but having a DB9 on the drive and not driving it is a bit like having Keira Knightley in your bed and sleeping on the couch.”
4. “The Maserati 3500 GT. Now this for me, when I was little, was like kind of like Jordan and Cameron Diaz in a bath together playing with lots of jelly.”
5. “Much more of a hoot to drive than you might imagine. Think of it if you like, as a librarian with a G-string under her tweed pants. I do, and it helps.”
6. “Tonight, the new Viper, which is the American equivalent of a sports car… in the same way, I guess, that George Bush is the equivalent of a President.”
7. On the Lotus Elise: “This car is more fun than the entire French air force crashing into a firework factory.”
8. On the Porsche Cayenne: “Honestly, I have seen more attractive gangrenous wounds than this. It has the sex appeal of a camel with gingivitis.”
9. “Koenigsegg are saying that the CCX is more comfortable. More comfortable than what… BEING STABBED?”
10. On the Vauxhall Vectra VXR: “there is a word to describe this car: it begins with ‘s’ and ends with ‘t’ and it isn’t soot.
And a few more…
Illustrating the lack of power of a Boxster: “It couldn’t pull a greased stick out of a pig’s bottom.”
“This is the Renault Espace, probably the best of the people carriers. Not that that’s much to shout about. That’s like saying ‘Ooh good I’ve got syphilis, the BEST of the sexually transmitted diseases.’”
On the Mercedes CLs55: “Braking in this car is so brutal, it would be less painful to actually hit the tree you were trying to miss.”
“Now as you can see, I lost the battle to have two engines on the back because of three very important reasons. One – weight. This is 600 Lbs and that’s the same as having a whole American sitting on the tailgate…”
“In the olden days, I always got the impression that TVR built a car, put it on sale, and then found out how it handled. Usually when one of their customers wrote to the factory complaining about how dead he was.”
“Sure it’s quiet, for a diesel. But that’s like being well-behaved… for a murderer.”
On my long flight back from Delhi, I had to look through Skymall magazine, for the latest innovations in bird feeders and dog beds. While looking through the pages I actually found something interesting from Hammacher Schlemmer that I may purchase, see for yourself
I would normally try and be witty and write a description of the product, but I think it is almost impossible to beat Skymall when it comes to product descriptions so here you go:
The barbecue starter that ignites charcoal in 60 seconds without requiring the use of lighter fluid, allowing you to start grilling in five minutes. Similar to the heat-focusing technology used in paint-stripping hot-air guns, the charcoal starter emits hot air at 1,290° F, providing a constant, precise flow of heat from the tip of the unit. Simply plug the device into a standard wall outlet, place the metal tip into the charcoal and hold down the button. When the charcoal sparks, remove the tip from the coals, but continue to point the unit at the charcoal for sixty seconds. Also ideal for lighting a wood-burning fireplace, the device has a cool-touch handle and an integrated stand.
Retail Price is $79.95 and does include an integrated stand.
19 Feb
Posted by Graham as Baja 1000, Gadgets, Misc, Motorcycle, Travel
The more you learn about the Baja 1000, the more trouble you’re in. Although we have signed up for Honda / JCR Pit Services during the race, we’ll pre-run the course for 3-4 days leading up to the race without any outside help. That will involve a purpose-built race bike that will be used solely for pre-running along with one or two support vehicles. Although there won’t be as much time pressure, we’ll be out in the middle of the desert with limited access to supplies. One thing I’ve been concerned about is our access to fuel or water. And we’re talking about fuel for multiple vehicles and water for a decent size support staff. We’ve been tossing around the idea of mounting a fuel drum to the top of the roof rack, but I came across a less costly option, albeit one with limited capacity. These can holders mount to a roof rack and accept standard 5 gallon Wedco gas and water cans. Might be the ticket…
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