Paxton has really taken to it. He loves it and he hasn't been intimidated by it at all. I thought the bigger bike might have him intimidated, but he hopped right on it and took off around the seller's yard and he rode around our culdesac for about 30 minutes just grinning the whole time. He's doing great and I can't wait to get him on a track and some trails to see how he likes the new ride. Power-, handling-, suspension-, and ergonomics-wise, this is a much better bike for him.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I've had quite a bit of fun putzing around on it too. I was going to keep the XR50 and turn it into a pit bike, but now I'm starting to think that this might make a better pit bike once he outgrows it. We'll see. I'm keeping the XR50 for now, at least.

Last Thursday night, I entered my first race of any kind at Portland International Raceway's Thursday Night Motocross. I have always wanted to race since I started riding when I was three years old. I'm not sure why, but for some reason it never seemed attainable until just recently. Unfortunately, 26 years of wanting to race meant 26 years worth of anxiety to fight through. I decided that I just had to get out there, do it, and get over my anticipation, which, in the end, I'm really glad I did.

The line of trucks and trailers seemed to stretch on forever as I drove to the end of the line as we all waited to get let into PIR. I passed a few friends on the way in and a few more passed me on their way in. A few of the NWDR members had raced the previous week and this was proving to be an even bigger showing for both NWDR racers and spectators.

Once I got into the racetrack infield, I parked near some friends and unloaded my gear. Thankfully, I had some great guides to show me the ropes around the races: go here to register, go here to get your NWMX membership, go here to access the track, etc. After registering, I walked the track with Luigi, and Miss Black, which was rushed, but beneficial.

PIR runs three or so groups of practices and they run multiple instances of those groups. That is, I was in the "big bikes" practice group and they ran 3 to 5 practices of big bikes; I don't recall how many exactly. You only get to practice in one session (in theory) since you have to turn in your practice ticket. I went out with Luigi on the second session for big bikes…along with 90 or so other riders. I don't know that it was 90, but it felt like 600, so I think 90 is a safe bet. The entire track was covered in bikes, fender to fender. It was practically worthless. You couldn't try any lines, get any speed, try any jumps. All you could do was try to not get run over by someone else and try not to run over the riders in front of you. Since PIR doesn't have regular practice days and since the practices prior to the races are like this (and you only get 3 to 4 laps), it makes for a very difficult track that you have to learn as you race.

Once the races got started, I had to do a lot of waiting. My moto was #15 of 19, so I had 14 races to watch before mine, then 4 more, and then we repeat the whole thing over again. I got to see some of my friends race and they all did great and I applaud them for getting out there and doing it. Way to go PC, Luigi, Miss Black, Trackmaster, Quad11, Kraftbagger, Crane, and Dally.

The races started at 6:30PM, but my first moto didn't start until around 8:15. I lined up at the starting gate after a little bit of confusion. (Apparently, if you ride a 250 4-stroke, you're supposed to tell them that you ride a 125…even though there are WAAAAAY more 4-strokes than 2-strokes.) I tried to remember all of the things I had read about starts, specifically on concrete pads. The starter signaled that the gate was about to drop. I brought up the RPMs and slipped the clutch out to where I was nearly lurching toward the gate.

And…it dropped.

My mind went blank as my bike rocketed forward. I forgot all the things I was supposed to remember, but somehow I was out in front. I looked around and panicked a little bit as I wheelied off with the holeshot (video to come later), off the line anyway. I started envisioning 20 riders crashing into the first corner as they all aimed for my spot. I chopped the throttle in fear of getting slammed in the first corner and not being able to finish my first race. That's okay. I got a great start and got to feel what it was like to be out front, even if only for a few seconds. And it was great.

The rest of the first moto was a mix of survival and learning. I wasn't that fast, but that's okay. My goals for the night were as follows, in descending order: 1) Don't get hurt, 2) Finish, 3) Have fun. I didn't set any land-speed records and I got passed a lot in my first moto, but I learned a lot and I accomplished all three of my goals.

I finished 15th out of 20 riders in Moto 1.

My second moto was very similar to my first moto except without the exciting start and with more exhaustion. I was still trying to get comfortable with both the track and racing in general. Unfortunately, my body decided that it was going to stop supplying me with adrenaline as soon as the gate dropped in Moto 2. After the start, I just felt completely drained. I think it's because I knew that I just had to survive that moto in order to complete my goals for the night. My personal finish line was in sight and I knew it was within my reach if I just didn't do anything stupid.

I finished 16th out of 20 riders in Moto 2.

I rode my best, but my best wasn't terribly good. But that's okay. I have a lot of learning, practice, and growing to do as a motocross racer. My speed in the straights and corners was pretty good, but a few of the obstacles really ate up a lot of my speed and time on the track: the whoops, the rhythm section, and a couple of the step-down tables. If I could ride those in the way they are meant to be ridden, even if I wasn't terribly fast, I would be a lot more competitive. That will come with time and confidence on the track.

My overall finish for the night was undetermined as they only published the overall scores for the top 6 racers, which is unfortunate.

I had a great time with some good friends and I learned a lot. One of the things I learned is that I like racing motocross, not matter how good or bad I am at it right now. I can't wait to get back this week and race again!

Incidentally, I was running my hacked-together numbers with #13 for the race since my DeCal Works pre-printed backgrounds/numbers hadn't arrived yet. My current race number is #528 which I will continue to use for at least the rest of the season, unless, of course, if I go pro and have to be issued an AMA-sanctioned number.

Thanks to my Supporters

Thanks to Dena and Paxton and all of my NWDR friends for coming out to support me and my fellow racers. It really does make a difference to have great supporters.

Paxton – XR50 Ride Map: N/A

After getting back from my ride at Brown's Camp with Art, I picked up Dena and Paxton and we headed out to a private riding area that belongs to a friend of ours. His riding area isn't finished yet, but it has some pretty cool jumps and trails, so we spent an hour or so catching some air.

Paxton was very timid at first, like he always is when he first gets on his bike, but he quickly got comfortable and, within 20 minutes, he was looking more comfortable on the bike than ever before. He was cornering great and starting to get used to the idea of jumping. It was really funny that within an hour, he went from barely putzing on the bike, because he was nervous, to jumping higher and farther than he ever had. What a dingdong.

Dena and I didn't ride nearly as much as Pax did, but we had some fun playing on the jumps as well. I had our gracious host take some video of me with our camera while I was hitting some of the jumps. It never ceases to amaze and disappoint me when I see footage of myself. I feel like I'm jumping high or riding fast, but the video seems to tell a different story. It must be a perspective thing. Here's the part that really gets me: if I feel like I'm jumping pretty high and far, but then it looks like nothing on video…what does it feel like for the pros when they hit HUGE jumps that look HUGE on video?!?! *GASP!*

Anyway, it was really good to get to practice my timing and feel for clearing jumps and we thank our undisclosed host for letting us ride at his undisclosed location. We had a lot of now-disclosed fun.

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I got a call from my friend Art to go for a short ride Saturday morning, which worked perfect for me since I needed to be back to take Dena and Pax for an afternoon ride. I picked him up around 8:30 and we headed out to Brown's Camp. We hadn't ridden together before and neither one of us knows Brown's Camp extensively, so I stayed mostly to the South and just hit some of the trails that we knew and were comfortable with.

Good ol' Art loves the mud puddles, which was perfect since there had been some rain earlier in the week and there were plenty of puddles to be had.

We hit Military, Clyde's, Quarry, Powerline, and our loop dubbed "Fish Pond Loop". It was a nice easy morning of riding and we didn't encounter too many people, although we did run into a few no-helmet squids. I'll never understand that.

I have to admit that the more I get comfortable exploring around Brown's Camp, the more it is starting to wear on me. I mean, I still don't like the short trails connected by miles of logging roads and I don't like how heavily trafficked the place is, but it's close and I'm starting to learn the area.

I'm always happy to be able to share knowledge and help people out. Some kid stopped by to ask if we had a tool to adjust his "fuel idle screw" and was pointing to the air fuel mixture screw. After deciphering what he was trying to accomplish, I showed him how to adjust the idle. I was happy to have saved the guy from having to do less-than-convenient carb work that still wouldn't have solved his problem.

Anyway, I had a great time riding with Art. We aren't too far apart in pace or riding attitude and that makes for a good time. I hope to do more riding with him in the future.

Brown's Camp 4/18/09

To comply with racing rules, I needed to remove my kickstand and headlight. Removing my kickstand was easy enough, but I needed to replace the headlight with a number plate. I had purchased a Cycra Stadium front number plate a few months ago for just this reason. To get everything to fit right (I use "fit right" loosely, because it doesn't really fit the way I would like it to because of the crazy CRF250X triple clamps), I chose to remove the odometer, which has left me with an open connection at the right side of the front wheel hub. I could replace this with a different hub spacer, but since I'm not sure if I want to leave the odometer off, used a red (coincidentally, it just happened to be the one that I had that fit) wire nut which threaded right on to the hub connector for the odometer cable.

I also removed my handguards, but used the Fastway barends from the handguards to plug my open-ended grips. These are not ideal solutions, but they are temporary solutions for a multi-purpose bike for someone who is trying motocross for the first time. Here are the pictures of the conversion.

Stay tuned for race results!

The purpose of that switch is to ensure that you don't accidentally hit the starter button when you have the bike in gear but the clutch lever isn't pulled. That is, when the clutch is pulled, it activates a switch in the perch that completes the starter circuit so that the bike can start. (I would have never thought this was a good idea until the two times now that I've accidentally hit the starter button with my hip while loading my bike…which, thankfully, wasn't in gear.) It was essential to find a work around for this so that my bike would start with the new perch that lacked the clutch switch.

I did some research online and found people saying "just short circuit the switch/wires". I'm not much of an electrician, so that didn't mean a whole lot to me, so I had to do some guessing. I figured that if the switch allows the circuit to be completed, then just hardwiring the two leads together should fulfill that.

I removed the old clutch perch and disconnected the leads from the switch. Those leads come out of the same wire wrap that goes to the kill switch. I didn't want to undo that entire wire wrap back to the previous relay and short circuit it there because 1) that's a lot of extra work and 2) I like to easily be able to undo things that I'm uncertain of. I decided, at least for now, that I would just perform the short cicruit right on the bar near the kill switch.

This is where my memory gets a little fuzzy as to what I did and I don't want to undo my work to look at it. I either taped the two leads together with electrical tape so that they were touching or I used a short piece of wire to connect the two leads together. I'm pretty sure that I used the short wire method to ensure a good connection, but I can't remember exactly. I then tightly wrapped the short circuit with electrical tape as snug as I could back to the branch from the main wire wrap. I folded the new connection back along the back side of the handlebar (to protect it as much as possible) and zip-tied it to the bar.

That was back in October and it's still holding and working great. I could undo it and spend the time to fix all the wiring and remove it from the kill switch wiring, but this is working fine for now and it allows me to easily go back to my stock clutch perch if I need to for any reason. I've included as many pictures and diagrams as I can (without tearing my work back apart) for reference. If anyone comes a cross a quicker, easier, reversible, more elegant solution, I'd love to see it. Please comment below with any of your ideas.

Clutch Switch Short Circuit

Clutch Short Circuit Overlay

Clutch Perch Assembly

Electrical System Diagram

Starter System Diagram

Paxton – XR50 Ride Map: Google Maps location

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Today, we headed out to Brown's Camp to try to get some Spring riding in. It had been pretty dry and relatively warm this last week and we were hoping that the weather would hold. Thankfully, it did and we were able to get a few hours of trail riding in.

On our way in, we pulled into Roger's Camp. I had never been there before, but I knew it was just off the highway on the way in to Brown's Camp. There were a ton of vehicles parked there, so we thought that the area would be really busy, but we later found out that Brown's Camp was relatively dead in comparison. We didn't even get out of the truck at Roger's Camp. I just wanted to see the spot and tag it with my GPS unit for later reference.

Brown's Camp (proper) is still closed to parking, so we had to park along the road by the nearby intersection like the last time, which worked out fine. We mostly rode the logging roads and a few small bits of real trails. We rode the logging roads up and around Military Trail and those to the North of Clyde's Trail, which we affectionately called "Fish Pond Road".

This was the first time that all three of us had gone trail riding together. Paxton had mostly ridden in fields and other open play areas, so this was a new experience. In addition to the trail aspect, this is the first time that he's really had to deal with uphills and downhills. He was very nervous with the downhills at first, but we took our time, did some practicing, and once he got the hang of it, he did great, even bombing a few (small) hills that I thought he would have been too nervous to try on his first day of riding hills.

Pax even tackled his first real (non-logging road) trail at the Kids Loop behind Brown's Camp. It was by far the most technical riding he did all day and he executed it great without incident! He really liked it too. I'm so proud!

We also found a little play area called something like "Sand Pile Play Area" not too far from Brown's Camp. While we were loading up the gear and bikes, Paxton practiced some MX-style laps. This would be a fun area for kids to play around in when it's not 1) filled with mud and HUGE puddles and 2) not filled with yayhoos of the quad and bike variety (mostly quads).

It was an easy day of riding for me, but it was a blast. I love getting out to ride with Dena and Pax. Seeing them have fun and learn is at least as much fun for me as a long day pounding trails or track…probably more fun.

This was the first chance I've had to ride my bike since adding my DRD Quiet Core muffler insert and my Fastway F-5 footpegs. The Quiet Core wasn't noticeable in terms of performance loss, but it also didn't seem significantly quieter. But as for the footpegs: AWESOME! I love them. I suspected that I would and I've liked them when I've tried them on other bikes, but I'm extremely happy that I finally spent the money and got them.

Brown's Camp 4/11/09

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We headed out to Diamond Mill today to try to cash in on a rare beautiful day in February. I'd never been to Diamond Mill, but I was quickly impressed. The trails, while sparsely sprinkled across the map, are pretty good. The day started out with a brief mechanical problem, but we resolved it and were under way. Pax and rode around the staging area while Dena watched him and the dogs since she didn't feel like riding today.

We hit snow a few times, but nothing major. The biggest obstacle was running into closed trails. There was a lot–scratch that, a TEXAS BUTT-TON–of downed timber from this winter's storms. We hit probably 5 dead-end trails because of down timber, which sucked because they looked like great trails. Still, we had a great day. Thanks to Paul for leading most of the day and navigating me around this new (to me) area.

This was also my first ride with the new DRD exhaust…and holy crap was it awesome. The bike finally has the power I wanted. It rides more like a 300 or 350, compared to the 250 that it used to be. Or rather, it probably just rides like a properly-breathing 250, more like the CRF250R version. I have no problem lifting the front wheel now and it has the grunt in corners and hills like I want. The DRD and the HotCam stage 1 are an awesome combination.

One thing that I need to remember is to take a photo of my GPS data at the end of the day. There's no way to save the real-time stats, like miles-per-hour, etc., and even though I turned off tracking, the real-time data kept going. Garmin, you should fix this in the next software release. Let us save snapshots of the real-time data, or at least freeze it. Still, I love this thing. I'm really enjoying learning how to use it and mapping my rides.

Hopefully later in the year there will be more open trails. I'm anxious to head back to Diamond Mill when the weather is warmer and I have a full day to explore.

Diamond Mill 2/21/09 Morning

Diamond Mill 2/21/09 Afternoon

Brandon – YZ250 Ride Map: Google Maps location

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To celebrate the anniversary of a friend of mine surviving and recovering from a paralyzing neurological disease, Dave took Brandon and me on his annual "sick day" ride. Dave picked Shotgun Creek in the Cascades, SE of Albany, which was a bit of a drive, but well worth it to ride some new trails that I'd never been on before. I was pretty tired and sore from my crash the previous day at Giles' track, but I couldn't pass up Dave's ride. It was 34 degrees when we got out of the truck and very humid from a lot of recent rain in the area. Still, we bundled up and headed off with Dave as our guide.

Dave rides a Husky TE450, which is technically a dual-sport, but you'd never know that from the way he rides it. Some of the trails were mildly tacky and other trails were downright brownies soaked in chocolate pudding. Hillclimbs were a challenge, but so were steep downhills. It's hard for me to give a good, honest read on the trails since they were so slippery and rutted. I think the place would be a blast in the summer and early fall when it's much drier. Still, it was a great day of riding. We saw some beautiful scenery, including an amazing view from a trail along a cliff. It really walked the line between "wow, this is beautiful" and "holy crap, this is scary".

Toward the end of the day, my bike died on a small hill. At first, I thought I just didn't get enough of a run at it and failed with the clutch, but then the rear end wouldn't roll at all. I dragged the bike the short distance back to the main road (the hill was right off the road) to try to figure out what was wrong with it. With the bike in neutral, I tried to spin the rear wheel, but the chain was locked hard. I could see that the chain was bulging away from it's normal position on the countershaft sprocket. Brandon came back to check on me shortly and he had some tools with him. He pulled my case saver, which gave the chain room to move and I spun the wheel dislodging the rock or stick that was under the chain. The chain had raised up enough that it bit into my case saver and just locked in place. Thanks to Brandon for having tools with him and helping me out!

Throughout the day, we staged some great photos. Dave is an amazing photographer and it was a blast to have him out there with us. (Dave Schelske Photography) You can see some of his photos below the slide show of my pics from the day. At one point, we staged a great photo, but I tipped over right after the awesome shot (see below) and Dave caught me rolling on the ground laughing. It looks like I'm in agony after hitting the tree, but I'm really just laughing at how silly it was to tip over after an awesome shot.

I wore my Leatt Brace all day and fell pretty comfortable with it. I had to adjust the back piece so that I could stand and look far enough up the trail, but that was pretty minor and I needed to do it anyway. I'm still really happy with my Leatt and I definitely feel safer. This was also my first time riding with my new Garmin 60CSX GPS unit and as soon as I figure out how to export the routes, I'll post our morning and afternoon rides here.

It was muddy, slippery, grueling, tiring, and we only went 29 miles in 6 hours…but it was a great day of riding. Thanks, Dave.

Shotgun Creek 2/8/09 Morning

Shotgun Creek 2/8/09 Afternoon