Saturday March 31 offroad practice day

[Lee Bruns]

This Saturday there will be a practice day at the GLMC Offroad Trail Area 1 mile East of South Shore SD. Folks will be arriving around 11AM and should be hanging around, practicing till 3 or 4 pm. Good time to get in some practice before the annual GLMC Offroad Poker run on April 22.

[Hank]

I showed up about 10:30 and stuck around until noon or so.  I brought the whole family, and Cara wasn't up on riding the 225 out there.. it's a bit much for a rookie.  It was my first time at the riding area and I was really impressed.  An MX track, lots of loose hill climbs, a short bit of woods riding, water crossing, a really a nice cross section of riding.

I will do my best to make the poker run.  I made a video of a partial lap of the area too and can post it to youtube if anyone wants to see it.

For anyone within even a somewhat reasonable driving distance, I'd highly recommend making it to the poker run!

[Lee Bruns]

PLEASE load that to YOutube!! I'd love to have a link to show folks the riding area.
I got to ride Jeffs DRZ400. It feels JUST like my 250, but with three times the HP.

[JoniJo]

I'd like to come up for the Poker Run!

Compare the difficulty to let's say ....... Camp 5.         

You know my riding skills (or lack thereof). How do you think I would fare? 

P.S. Broken leg all healed!!!!!!                         JoniJo   

[Lee Bruns]

don't come thinking you are going to get in teh most laps. There are pro level MX guys that will get in nearly 20 laps. Aim for 5 lap increments for best odds of drawing good cards.  I am old and fat and ride a DRZ250 and will get in 10 laps. Jack  on his KLR650, in his 60;s will also get in 10 laps. He's a vastly better rider on a vastly inferior bike. So we're even.  if you're pretty good, aim for 15 laps. If you're old and fat, aim for 10. Do NOT show up with street biased tires (Looking at you, Trailwings) unless you are a top notch rider and can carry a lot of speed up the hills.  My biggest tip is to NOT go on the parade lap. That parade lap is misserable, no speed. Parade lap is a LOT harder than the laps on the clock.

[JoniJo]

I don't care about the number of laps or how many cards I get. I just want to have a fun day on the XR!    JoniJo   

[Hank]

It's not like camp 5.  There are some loose gravel and rocky areas that are similar, but they are short.  No massive fields of baby head boulders.  Some of the hills climbs are loose, almost sandy.    I got stuck once and had to back it down.

The MX track is as easy or hard as you want to make it.. all depends on speed.  You can poke through as slow as you want.

Joni - you're a good rider and would have no problem.   I think 15 laps would be pretty tiring.

I will definitely be putting on better tires before it.. at least a front.  Every time I've ridden the DRZ in low traction stuff I tell myself get rid of this POS "golden boy" semi knobby and get a 606 on this thing... then I never do.   I am going to now though!   Hopefully.

[Hank]

Here is the video. I was just putting.. like usual.   I also had my camera go all whacky and aim at the sky for the first hill climb.. so I edited that out.

Had to fix the camera in a second spot too.

Like all videos it does a crappy job of showing the elevations etc.    So, in short, its a really terrible bit of video.. but at least it gives you a little idea of what's up.

[Lee Bruns]

Just freaky how it makes the area look flat on video. Completely loses the elevation changes in the video. Thanks for posting that, I'll post it to The Barn next.

[The Yeti]

Here is the video. I was just putting.. like usual.   I also had my camera go all whacky and aim at the sky for the first hill climb.. so I edited that out.

Had to fix the camera in a second spot too.

Like all videos it does a crappy job of showing the elevations etc.    So, in short, its a really terrible bit of video.. but at least it gives you a little idea of what's up.

Awesome! You seemed to be hauling ass through most of that - good job!

[JoniJo]

Thanks for video!!!
I'd really like to ride this event on the 22nd.
Could I get a head count of who might be going?? I'd like to ride with my Black Hills friends.           JoniJo

[Lee Bruns]

you'll ride with them for about half a lap, then everyone spreads out. It loops back to the parking area so at each lap you can stop for a rest, or drink, or snack, or repairs if you like. On the last half hour, I'll do entire laps and not see anyone else. Total attendance is usually about 40 riders.