Monster Motorcycle Videos to Check out.

A buddy hooked me up with the Fuel TV, "The Great Ride Open" on Hulu.com. These online TV shows are a bunch of X games riders who get together and hit some of the best and biggest Sand Dunes in the west. The group brings a big caravan of 3-4 motor homes, semis, bikes, helicopters and all the extras to really have a good time. The crew did get a chance to head to Little Sahara in Southern Utah. Which is way cool, as I have been there hundreds of times. Watching them at the Dunes in Southern Utah makes me really want to load up and go for some winter fun riding.

These guys know how to find the monster big jumps in the dunes. It's fun to see these guys out in the wild country hitting the jumps vs. just in a stadium hitting the same jump over and over. If you can ride out in the Sand Dunes and deal with everything the various terrain throws at you then you have my respect. These guys are not without fear, or fault, they are just like all the rest of us, they can crash and they can have close calls.

Beginner tips for Motocross Track riding.

This picture is of me doing a bit of warm up on the medium level track. I am trying to put the bike into a corner and make it stick. In the back ground you can see the pay station and class room at the Jordan River Motocross Track.

So now for a few beginner tips for Motocross Track riding. I was riding with some track pros yesterday. I learned a few things about the track I did not know, the first time I went out I was clueless but careful, now I know how to be careful and not so clueless.

Riding in Track Traffic. I am and was scared to death of the "Big Boys" on the track, I want to ride my own pace and let them go, I don't want to be in the way and I don't want anyone to get hurt. So how do you let someone pass you so that it's safe and you "Get out of the Way" It's different than you would first think. The first reaction is slow down move over, get outta the way and let em go buy.

This is not correct, it is almost correct, but the true answer is. "Hold your position" you can slow a bit if you want, but stay in your line. If you are running right smack in the middle of the track at medium speed, and two racer come up on your. They have a plan, you don't. You are in the middle, they will pass you on each side, or both on the left, or right. They are making the pass and the play happen. They are skilled and going faster than you. so stay in the middle and ride in control, then hold on as they wiz by. It's that easy. If you get outta the way, by going right or left, they may smack into you and run you over, they have the plan and appreciate you being predictable.

Jumping Jimminie, I had some fun today.

I skipped out of work for the last half of the day, or the afternoon, if I was trying to make sense. A group of my new best friends convinced me to hit the Jordan River Parkway Motocross Track in North Salt Lake again. SWEET JUMPING MULLET BATMAN I had fun. I am now very comfortable with the weight, power and feel of the WR-450F. Yamaha has done what they needed to getting the power up and weight down as much as possible for a big 4 stroke engine with a head light, tail light, battery, and electric start. I know this is a 2006 Yamaha and the 2008 WR-450s are probably even better but this is what I have and I do like it.

Well anyway, I got some serious fun riding time in. I was able to warm up on the medium track and take about 5 laps all by myself. Then when all the other jumpers showed up we played on the small track for a few laps, then we hit the big track big time. On the first lap I was getting a feel for things and trying to remember which jump was safe to case the up hill side if I didn't make the double and which one I needed to be careful of. Then I got to the very last big jump. I was confident I remember it from last time, I wrapped it up in 3rd maybe 4th and I was off, man I was flying, this was a big jump for me. Yippee, then, um, well, um, double flat tire landing on the uphill side, I missed clearing the monster double by about one bike length. I came down on the bike hard. I stayed on my wheels, which is good. But my face and helmet went into the handle bars with a thump. Ding Dong, Ring goes the bell in my head. So like every proud dork who just about crashed I rode over to my new best friends and said, "Did you see that?" Yup they all did, wow. As I collected myself my left ankle started to hurt a bit. Don't know maybe it will hurt in the morning.

This picture is me on the famous jump that eat my helmet. I lived to jump it again, and again. I like it, I think I need more. This pictures is on one of my more conservative attempts. I love Motorcycle, and love trail riding, camping getting dirt and the sand. The Track is new to me. I had a motto for a lot of years. If I don't jump I don't get hurt. This motto goes out the window when you hit the track. 1.7 miles of tight turns and 10+ jumps. These are also big jumps, not little sand dune bumps with a nice soft sandy landing if you crash.

Here are a few more Dunes Riding and Jumping Pictures.

Here are three more note worthy pictures of me jumping and zipping around on the Dunes. I am not a huge Jumper but I was sure having fun.


I am not sure what to say about the jumping stance and technique. I guess I am doing OK, the Bike is under me, I am still holding on the ahndle bars, I think my feet are still on the pegs, and the bike is up in the front a bit. This is all very good compared to being off the seat, flying W style, with the bike doing a major run away from me move. Don't get me wrong what I just described would be very cool if I am intending to do it. But I am not an X games jumper, I really need to stay on the bike and keep it under me.

Holy Expensive Oil Batman, and now it's all burned up.

Here is my best picture of a nice Sand Dune Jump, Here I get the WR in the air about 3 feet at the rear tire. I was jumping and traveling about 20 feet and hitting the jump at the top end of the speed revs in 3rd gear. The sand was soft and the landing was pretty good, a bit flat but it was also a small table top, build naturally by the sand and wind.

So my big fancy oil change I made in my WR450F last week, well I burned it all up at the Sand Dunes, I rode 180 kilometers, which turns into 120 American miles. This was equal to about 10 hours on my buddies hour meter on his YZ250F. We spent 4 days out at the Jericho Dunes and really burned it up. We rode and rode and rode and jumped and jumped and jumped. I started to really get a feel for the 450's power and weight. It definitely feels heaver than the YZ250F counterpart. I have not compared it to a YZ450F, but I am thinking the YZ450 must feel a lot lighter without the electric start, battery, and lights, and super hard seat. Oh ya did I mention the seat on the WR450 is way too hard for my soft and squishy bottom. I am still sore and it's been 4 days since I got off the bike and went back to captaining a office chair at work. AT least complaining about being sore and tired is better than complaining about not being able to go for a ride at all.

Holy Expensive Oil Change Batman!!

WOW, I just changed the oil on the WR-450F for the first time last weekend. I have been thinking about this for the past couple of days. First off it only take 1 quart of oil and the filters are small, so whats the big deal. Good Hell Batman a single quart of Oil is $10.06, yup 10 dollars and six cents. Lets think about that for a minute, I know oil was over 120 a barrel, now its 79 bucks a Barrel. People cried, our economy died, the Great second depression is setting in. Oh my!

So from Wikipedia I see that:
The standard barrel of crude oil or other petroleum product (abbreviated bbl) is 42 US gallons (34.972 Imperial gallons or 158.987 L). This measurement originated in the early Pennsylvania oil fields, and permitted both British and American merchants to refer to the same unit, based on the old English wine measure, the tierce.

4 quarts in a gallon, 42 gallons in a Barrel, 4 * 42 = 168 quarts.

So at 79 dollars a barrel the cost of the oil is, $79.00/ 168 = .47 cents per quart bought as light sweet Texas Crude.

Holy Hell Batman, the Oil I just bought to a Local Motorcycle Store is:
168 quarts at $10.06 so that is 168 * 10.06 = $1690.08 Dollars per Barrel.

HOLY SHEEP DIP BATMAN, some one is getting the squeeze, and I now see it is me.

Now on to the filter, the filter is about the size of a half roll of half dollar coins and just as expensive. $11.99 for a Yamaha WR-450 oil filter, Genuine Yamaha Part Number 5D3-13440-00. Yikes, a Fram for the Jeep is 4 bucks at auto parts are us.

Wow now it's a good thing I only have to change the oil on this Yamaha every five hours and the filter every 10. Ten hours that is about 400 miles if I ride it hard at 40 miles per hour for 10 straight hours. Every other Car, Truck or Harley in the world runs thousands if not more miles on an oil change.

So I went with a semi blend of 50 percent oil and 50 percent fake oil, I was thinking this may help extend the life cycle of the oil and the transmission.

I also know about all the other Yabuts, Yabut if the motor blow, yabut it good protection, yabut.... I'm just saying this might get old and expensive.

Next up I will bitch about the Exhaust pipe placement and how it makes the oil change a lot more fun.

New WR450F video available.

Ok, so I was playing with my photo and Movie editor and with some simple footage I got of the first day I took the WR450F out to the Jordan River Race Track. I made a short video basically making fun of myself. I was able to make a bit of jump off the final double, but I was nothing compared to the 4 guys who could really jump it. The video shows the real jumpers then little old me coming by. Then the real jumpers then me messing around again. It's hard to see it but I was able to clear the initial small double once I leave the stopped position. This is the first day I ever roade this Bike and this track so I think I was able to do Ok, I am certainly not a pro track racer, but I had fun.



Well anyway be nice and happy riding, pop a wheelie for me.