Here is my excuse for not writing last week: I was completely unplugged from the Internet and cell service for FOUR WHOLE DAYS!
In today’s modern world, that’s nearly impossible! I enjoyed it very much and took the opportunity to recharge my batteries on one of the few off weekends of the IndyCar Series.
If you are new to the blog, I typically spend my summer weekends on the road working for the Indy Racing League. Racing is exciting, especially the IndyCar Series, but for me, it’s tough to miss out on my favorite time of the year – the summer and quality time with the fam.
About a week ago, I went out “camping” for a few days with a bunch of friends. It’s the best way to go “camping.” For the most part, everyone else sleeps in tents, and I snag a couple of 60-year old bunk beds that have nearly crippled my back.
For much of the first two days, my little guy, dog and two buddies were alone on the farm. We spent most of the time getting everything prepped and ready for “the others” and played on the four-wheelers and motos.
My little guy, Van, is only 22 months or so old, but he looooves machinery. I purchased him a small bit of moto gear – helmet, googles and a chest protector – so that he could learn to wear protection and feel like he was a big boy. The two of us spent most of the time riding around, at a slow pace, watching my buddies Phil and Jeff tear up the farm on the four-wheelers.
It was quite a good time with Van on the four-wheeler.
When everyone else showed up, including my wifey, the moto antics picked up a bit more. With a newbie on the farm, a sport quad and a few dirt bikes and a “baby sitter,” things got a little dirtier! We have video of most of it which I will share as soon as Phil gets the time to upload them somewhere.
Jeff flipped hard and managed to drive up a tree, and Greg flipped even harder on “the widow maker” turn during a five-quad race on the long course. Luckily for him, the quad didn’t squash him like a bug.
Then we went off to the woods…where I did my fair share of falling. If anyone can recall last weekend in Indiana, it was awfully muddy. Can you imagine how swampy it was in the woods?
We were tearing through creeks, mud plains, hopping trees, etc, all on an uncut or groomed trail. It was a lot of fun until I hit the wrong branch at the wrong time that completely took the bike out from underneath me.
Thank you to Aceberis for the excellent handguards!
I did, however, impress myself and do something that I’d never done before. We were all weaving through the woods, and we came across a fallen tree. I’d say that the trunk of the tree was about 2 feet or so high. I’d never truly jumped a tree without a take-off and landing area before. Typically I pop the front wheel off the ground, high-center the bike and then rock it off the other side. To be honest, that was what I was going to try to do.
Instead, I popped the front wheel over the trunk and carried enough speed that my rear wheel hit the trunk and catapulted me over the tree. I pretty much bunny-hopped it!
This trip was also a good time to test out the new pit bike. Not much action on it, but Van and I did spend time cruising around slowly. I did take the pit bike out to the flat track when some of the other guys where on the quads. I nearly got the hole-shot, but I had no chance of survival once we got into the corners. One, it was terrible slick with packed mud, which felt like ice, and two, those guys are crazy on the quads. I wasn’t about to get steamrolled. Finally, three, I was helmet-less. Not smart, so I “pulled up.”
All in all, it was a great weekend. Dirt Days with Van, the Wifey and my friends was a much-needed vacation.
P.S.: I did ride my bike on Monday for National Ride Your Bike to Work Day. The company rolled out to the 500 Grill at the Indianapolis International Airport for lunch. I’d honestly never ridden in a group that large before.
Jarrod
It seems like every time I sit down to write the blog “The Ride,” I’m talking about a new toy.
Last time, it was about a friend’s KTM 690R; that was a blast. This time, it’s the pit bike that I pulled the trigger on. Most neighborhoods allow golf carts so that everyone can roam the neighborhood in a safe and comfortable manner. Not me. My household with with my young son, Van, is pretty destructive, so I opted for an SSR Pit Bike. Extremely reasonably priced — about the cost of a really, really expensive dress.
The bike arrived rather quickly in a box. The assembly time was only a few minutes, and all I had to do was check the oil and put in fuel. The bike fired up on the third kick, and I was off.
Right now, I haven’t had the time to ride it, but I plan to this weekend with a lot of off time. I’ll have pictures to prove it!
Jarrod
I’ve been a terrible blogger lately. To be honest, I hope that I still have an audience! Funny enough, the last couple of weeks have been very busy, and I’ve still had the chance to ride my bikes. I even have pictures and videos to prove it!
My only excuse has been time; the lack of it and my inability to include this blog into time left over. So here is my Shorty version of what you’ve missed.
Last week I went on a moto ride with a few friends and a few others that I hadn’t ridden with before. It was my first time down at Lawrence County Recreation Park, and I didn’t know what to expect. After the “Man Trip 2009,” I had thought that nothing could be as fun as that trip. Slightly overconfident, I was mumbling on the car ride down to Bloomington (about one hour from Indianapolis), the mumbling was something like this … “I’m glad I cut my teeth in the mountains. I can’t imagine the riding down here being near as difficult!”
I was wrong, and I ate my words. It was tough, rainy, slick, muddy and fun. Here are Facebook links to my videos from the trip:
As I’m typing, I am sitting in the Atlanta airport. I’m on my way to St. Petersburg for the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. It’s the first race of the IndyCar Series season, and I’m excited. The last two years, my wife has gone down to this event, and my son is making his second trip, as well.
Now that the little guy is an animal, I didn’t exactly know how he would react on the plane. It could have been assumed that he wouldn’t like to be contained in a row of two seats. At 6 in the morning, I could have only imagined what the other passengers were thinking. I know that I couldn’t have taken it if it wasn’t my kid. Lucky for all of us, he fell asleep when we took off! So here we are, on our journey to Tampa, en route to St. Pete.
Be sure to check out all the action this weekend on indycar.com!!
Jarrod
First off. Find me on Twitter at TheRideIndyGP and find me on Facebook at Jarrod Krisiloff. I do my best to give sneak peaks to my blogs on Facebook and of little snippets of my daily life 140 characters at a time on Twitter. While I’m fairly proficient in the social Web world, I have to say that I am not one who actively participates in it.
Before I get into my life, let’s talk about Stoner and Hayden making the podium at the annual Madonna Di Campiglio press event in northern Italy. The 2009 launch event features Scuderia Ferrari drivers and Ducati Corse riders in a combined press event on the slopes of northern Italy. Stoner won the karting event, F1 championship runner-up Massa was second, and Red Bull Indianapolis GP runner-up Nicky Hayden was third.
Last weekend was a big weekend. Not for riding, but for motorcycles. Well, maybe it wasn’t a big weekend, but I certainly got my moto crave for the year.
Last year I spent at least a day a week on my Tiger throughout the winter. No thanks to this years snowy, figg’n cold and wet winter, I’ve been grounded on four wheels. As I mentioned in my last e-mail, my wife purchased a trip for me and my “bros” on what we are calling “The Man Trip.” The Man Trip is going to take place in early March at RideRoyalBlue.com. She picked up the Redneck Lodge for me and five buddies. So, armed with two motos and two quads, we have a solid group of guys that can’t wait for the trip.
Since the trip is getting close and I’ve been off my bikes for quite awhile, I felt that it was time to take a few minutes to fire them up. My Triumph Tiger started right up. By the way my son, Van, absolutely loves my Tiger. Every time we walk down to the garage, he points and grunts. From what I can tell…That means start it up!
Anyway, so last weekend me, Bobby Wilson (bobbywilsonracing.com) and my buddy Phil went over to our shop and fired up the Scrambler, which took forever. Finally she fired and growled for warm air. Once we cleaned the Scrambler, it was on to the dirt bikes.
Phil’s Honda 230F fired up pretty easily - it has an electric start - and my Suzuki 250 took a little time. I swear I kicked 50 times before I finally got it running. Once it was fired up, it was a wheelie machine! So cold (20F), yet so much fun. The three of us wheeled the bikes on to our trailer and headed over to Dreyer for a little 2009 tune-up. Both Phil and I had a list of items that needed to be done so that we could be sure that we got to enjoy every bit of the 430 miles of trails at Ride Royal Blue.
Here is my list:
1. New rear tire…no wonder I can do donuts on any surface!
2. New rear brakes…I never really examined my brakes considering the bike is still new to me, but I had about a Band Aid’s worth of pad left. Time for a change.
3. Bark Busters…OK, I’m not the strongest guy or the best dirt rider yet so I figured that bark busters would be a good idea in case I drop or crash my bike.
4. Overall tune-up…fluids, air filter, etc., because I’m too lazy to do it.
5. Flywheel weight…I have the RMZ 250, and I’m not the best rider YET! So its really important to not stall my bike through slow-moving trails. Do you know how tiring it is to kick-start your bike every five minutes? The flywheel weight essentially helps the flywheel rotate at low RPM. This is key when trail riding since you are stopping and going, grabbing controls, putting your foot down, etc.
I have to also give a plug to Chelsea at Dreyer. She’s always helpful and knows her stuff. The entire time Bobby was trying to act like he knew what I should do because he is a karting genius. Yo, driver, I have a dirt bike, not a go-kart. When I got out of the shop, I told him that Chelsea was a bad-ass dirt biker and has more hardware in her body then he could ever dream of (broken arms, pelvis, etc.). She’s pretty much a bad ass on two wheels.
Well, that’s the update. March can’t come quick enough! Tomorrow we have a meeting with Red Bull to discuss this year’s Red Bull Indianapolis GP. Of course, I can’t tell you everything, but I will slip a few insider comments for next week’s blog.
Stay tuned, stay warm.
P.S.: I had great customer service at mxsouth.com.
Jarrod
‘Tis the season! Unfortunately for those riders in the Midwest, ‘tis the season to be depressed…
A brisk 25 degrees and icy conditions surround the Indianapolis area, which means my motos are locked up in the garage. In fact, they have been locked up for weeks now. Last Saturday I thought that I was going to get at least a few minutes on a sunny, 49-degree day. I missed out only to wake up to a snowy, sleety Sunday morning. Grrr.
So anyway, let’s take a look at what to buy yourself or somebody else for the spring motorcycle season. I am going to take a crack at just about every category for guys and gals. If there is something that I missed, please write in, and I will be sure to cover it in the next blog.
Helmets: I’m an Arai guy, so I always suggest an Arai. Arai makes their helmets in three or four different head shapes so that just about anyone can find a perfect-fitting helmet. I know that they typically aren’t the flashiest helmets on the market but, safety first!
If you must have a flashy helmet, I suggest the ICON helmets.
Jackets: I picked a jacket for the guys and for the ladies. Both Alpinestars and ICON can live happily ever after on a single bike with these two designs. Both are a bit radical, perhaps geared toward a street rider, but they have a normal usage appeal. Meaning: They have a bit of style to them, too.
Men’s Jacket (left): Alpinestars Sniper Jacket: $169.95
Women’s Jacket (right): ICON Team Merc Stage 3: $190
Pants: Two approaches here. For the guys, usable comfort while staying functional to escape road rash, and for the women, dead sexy gear! For the guys, I picked the Scorpion Awe Leather pant. They aren’t too tight, yet they still have character. You wouldn’t feel odd wearing these around into a restaurant. For the women, it’s the ICON Bombshell Kitty Chaps. Every motorcycle girl should be wearing chaps; it’s just fun. This particular pair struts all the fun stuff; flames, stars, fringe, laces and, of course, a pair of pistols…
Men’s Pants (left): Scorpion Awe Leather Pant: $249
Women’s Pants (right): ICON Bombshell Kitty Chaps: $100
Boots: Often I see riders cruising around with flip-flops and trainer shoes. That’s just not smart riding. The last thing you want to do is get some grease on your newest pair of Nikes. So here are a couple of nicely styled riding boots. Women need heels at all times so ICON creates the Bombshell boots equipped with grip rubber soles and buckles to ensure a snug fit. Puma carries a line of fashionable boots as well as full competition boots ready for the track. The Desmo is the perfect fit for the all-around rider that wants a some function. The Desmo boots have a built-in toe puck in case dragging your foot or knee is a habit.
Men’s Boots (left): Puma Desmo Boots: $249
Women’s Boots (right): ICON Bombshell Boots $170
Happy shopping.
Jarrod
A couple of weeks ago I went up for a ride on my dirt bike at my best friend’s parents’ place. It was really only the second time that I had been on a dirt bike since probably around 1990. I’ve spent a lot of time on dirt in four-wheelers and go-karts but not motorcycles. It was so much fun. I have a clip in the blog of Phil shooting me riding around his course with his vholdr. Unfortunately, this is the only video that I am able to show because the others were corrupted!!
http://www.vholdr.com/node/5515
You can check around my profile and see a little bit of other footage, but it really isn’t that great because the clips freeze up.
Kind of a bummer, but I promise that I will show a few other vids before the winter sneaks up on us. A quick, funny story, though.
The day before we loaded the bikes up, we were screwing around, without gear on, popping wheelies and getting excited for the next morning. Well, I have a 2004 RMZ 250, and Phil has a CRF 230. My bike has a bit more torque than his, so it’s much easier to pop wheelies. Well, I got off my bike and let him take a crack at the Suzuki. By the time I turned around, he was doing a wheel stand and fell of the back of the bike. I cried it was so funny. Thankfully he didn’t get hurt, because I really wanted to ride the next day.
So the next morning, we arrived at his parents bright and early. The ground was still covered in dew, and the trail or track that he had created was covered in grass, which makes it awfully slippery.
After about an hour of riding, we finally burned enough of the grass away so that we had some decent grip.
Another joy of having a race bike is that I get to kick-start it rather than pushing the starter like Phil. Let’s just say I learned my lesson when we went trail riding in a river bed. It’s no fun kick-starting every time you stall going through big rocks, loose boulders and sharp inclines. I am just not experienced enough on my dirt bike to have that much control. I am not at the point where I can anticipate what all of my controls are going to do before I do them.
Regardless, I had a lot of fun! This Saturday we are heading south for a long ride. We’ll be sure to have the camera on …
Jarrod
It’s getting close to the big two-wheeled extravaganza at IMS — the Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Sept. 12-14. If you have any concerns about parking for your bike, let me assure you that there will be plenty!
But one important thing to note is that you will not be able to ride in the big gate on 16th Street, Gate 2. So be prepared to enter on 30th street at Gate 10.
Here’s how to ride to the track and park your bike, riding in from the Crawfordsville Road exit on Interstate 465 (keep clicking on the map to magnify the view):
Here’s how to get to the Brickyard from I-65 (keep clicking on the map to magnify the view):
Finally, here’s how to get to IMS coming from downtown (keep clicking on the map to magnify the view):
There is plenty of parking. Be smart and get a pass so that you don’t have to hassle with trying to find a spot.
Cheers,
Jarrod
First, a quick picture of me and the lady on your trip down to Kentucky for the IndyCar Series race. We left with two others on Saturday morning, Aug. 9. It was Megan’s first long trip on the bike, and it turned out to be a great trip. Here is a picture of our stop in Madison, Ind., where we stayed the night after the race.
Our route only took us about four hours, considering we took several breaks. Thanks to my top box on the Tiger, Megan was able to sit back and enjoy the ride. This also made it a lot easier on the driver since I didn’t get head butted every time I shifted! Here is the route.
Marker A: Was Megan’s Parents, That’s were Van was dropped off.
Marker D: First stop at BP in Nashville.
Marker E: Lunch at Mikey D’s
Marker K: Stop at the Broadway Tavern & Inn to pick up our room keys.
Marker O: Kentucky Speedway.
Back to the Scrambler…Here is the “Before” picture
Not sure if anyone caught my appearance on the 3-2-1 video blog with Jana Strange or not. In that episode, I went over the Scrambler and mentioned that I still wanted to eliminate the fender. Well, over the past couple of nights, I did just that.
The reason why I combined two kits is to get the ideal setup. The kit from British Customs (BC) has a license plate with a built in LED tail light. The kit from Newbonneville.com (NB) has a better bracket system for the rear blinkers and has OEM connectors for both the front and rear blinkers. The nice thing about the brackets for the rear blinkers on the NB kit is that they provide screws that go directly into the back side of the shock mount. The BC kit requires you to remove the shock mounts and place the blinkers on the outside of the shock. This is not only less attractive, but it causes much more work and makes the signals stick out farther then desired.
The other disappointing thing about the BC kit is that it doesn’t come with completed OEM connectors like the NB kit.
So here is how the kit was combined. The BC taillight was used with the rear signal/taillight harness that was provided by NB.
Here is how the process went. I went ahead and took off the headlight and attached the new front signals and connected them. Checked the function, and they seemed to work properly. At the same time, Matt was working on the rear taillight, and Phil was drinking beer and eating pizza.
Once Matt started to troubleshoot why this light wasn’t working or the tail blinkers weren’t working and etc., we blew a fuse or two, and I had to take the rear window washer fuse out of my FJ Cruiser to finally get all the pieces working. So after about an hour of incomplete circuits, we decided to take the front headlight apart again and switch the front signals. Magically, it made everything better, and the system was working.
It’s done. Just waiting on my artist to finish up my pin-up girl, and I am set!!!
Jarrod
So I missed by blog last week. I really just didn’t have anything nice to say, so I kept my thoughts to myself.
Last weekend was a full weekend of riding. The weather was outstanding, and everyone had the weekend off after the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard and a bare weekend with the IndyCar Series taking their first weekend off in six weeks!
At the home front, it was busy – busy riding, that is. On Saturday morning, a group of us met downtown across from the new Dunkin Donuts. Our original plan was to meet on the Circle, but there was a Lotus Car show that had the area blocked off.
The group consisted of six total riders on two Triumphs, three Suzukis and a Ducati. Paul Riley and Phil Sparks were the other to IMS employees that made the trip, along with Paul’s son, friend and Matt, a buddy of Phil and I.
Everyone was roughly on time, and we left downtown at 9 a.m.
We typically take the same routes when we ride down to Brown County. For the first leg of our trip, take a look at this route:
This route took us down Highway 37 until old 37, which is an nice warm-up road. You really don’t get into anything crazy. The one thing that kind of sucked was the fact that the road was slightly damp in a lot of the areas. Old 37 then runs into Bloomington. You then hop on 45, shoot around the north side of the town and head northeast on 45, which is probably my favorite road in central Indiana.
Be sure to turn the volume down on your computer. The audio isn’t the best, but you can see me leading the pack:
That stretch took us about 1.5 hours, and we stopped in Nashville, Ind., for some BBQ. Once we filled up with food and gas, we hit the road for our second stretch. Here is the route. We ride south on 135 around Brown County Park through Story, Ind. From there, we continue on 135 to IN-58:
We took a break at the 446 intersection and lined up the bikes. I’m on the far left, and Paul is on the far right in his orange Hayabusa.
Once we took a quick break and chatted with an ‘ol timer on his Harley Sportster, we rode up 446 across Lake Monroe. Once we got to Bloomington, the group split up. Matt and I headed for 45 again on our way home and the others went straight to 37 and went home.
Here is the ride home Matt and I took:
The ride was excellent. We started around 9 a.m., and I was at home by 3:30 p.m. I had plenty of time to relax before my family got home. That night, Megan went out for a wedding shower, so it was just me and the boys. Van and dog Rex hung out and watched a movie and called it a early night.
The next morning, I had baby duty since Mommy was out all night with her friends. It was fun; Van is in a great stage right now. I bet he will be walking on his own on my next blog.
In the afternoon, Megan had another baby shower that required her to take Van; this one was with the mothers and grandparents. I took the opportunity to hop back on my bike and take it over to storage and get my Scrambler out. I met up with Ron Pitman, another IMS employee, and we took a Sunday cruise around west Indianapolis. Here is our route, which I think is a great on if you want to stay close to the city:
From here we pretty much back tracked our route back to a parking lot at Raceway and 56th Street, parked for a few minutes and talked MotoGP. Buy tickets, ride to the track – it’s going to be a blast!
See you next week.
Jarrod
This was the week, the week that I finally was able to pick my “almost” completed Scrambler.
It looks amazing, and over the past two days I have been riding it to and from work. I have to say that the Scrambler is a great city bike.
Back when I was debating over rebuilding the Scrambler or purchasing a small, quick supermoto, I really didn’t consider the agility as one of the Scrambler’s strong attributes. While it is still nothing like the Hypermotard, it’s great for commuting. A relatively low ride height, great at low speeds and a super-duper-smooth throttle delivery. It’s an effortless ride to work in the morning. I even popped on the open-face helmet for this ride.
Here are a few pictures. Like I said, I have a few more items to polish up on the bike, which may take a few months.
I got an e-mail from newbonneville.com that my parts were a few weeks behind.
Oh, well, check it out. It’s bad!
Jarrod