Welcome to
the 2002
11th Annual
Black Dog AMA/Suzuki
National Dualsport Ride!
Pre-ride Poop Sheet
We
hope you will enjoy this event! Please
read the following info before embarking on your ride. All info can be found
on our website.
Registration: If your name is listed in the "Current Entries Thus Far" section of the website, then you ARE registered. If your name is not listed there, then we did not receive your entry. Also, you MUST have your legible rider number on the front of your bike, if not, we will write it on the front with a permanent marker. Check the website to confirm your number. We will offer sign up at the event starting Friday evening and will also have it open early in the morning on Saturday and Sunday.
Camping:
Sounds like Mt. Hood Village is under new management (again). So now
when calling in to Mt. Hood Village [(503)622-4011], contact Linda
(Tom and Laura no longer work there) and say you’re with the Black Dog Dualsport group and that
you want to camp in the “Hemlock Meadows” area, or close to it.
If you reserved from last year – reconfirm with Linda! Sometimes
they are 'challenged' with our event and have gotten confused in the past, so
we urge you to double check your reservations, etc. with them. Also, bring your family, since this entire area has a plethora of
things to do, like golf, mountain biking, hiking, alpine sledding, swimming, go
karting,
etc., etc…
Directions:
From Portland, Oregon, take Highway #26 East towards the town of Zig Zag.
Start is at the Mt. Hood Village Campground (after milepost 38 on the
right). Amenities include
camping, RV, pool, sauna, hot tub, etc.
Spaces go fast. You
must call, reserve and pay for your own camping/RV space ahead of time and ask
for LINDA. Call early for
available motels (they fill up fast): Shamrock: (503)622-4911, Resort At The
Mountain: (800)669-7666, Mountain Air Motel: (503)622-3169, Ark Motel:
(503)622-3121. If in doubt, call
the local Chamber of Commerce at: (503)622-4822.
No Street bike
road course this year: No
time and we have our hands full with just the dualsport bikes.
Maybe we’ll do it again in the future.
No free rides: Nobody will be allowed anymore to just show up and ride without paying, unless they have our approval. This is considered stealing to us, since we’ve gone to monumental monetary and personal efforts to make this event happen and we would like to stay in the black. These people are also considered an insurance liability. If someone is caught riding the event without paying, necessary actions will be taken. Due to this, only one roll chart will be handed out to each paid entry.
--DAY OF EVENT--
Friday-night Ride: Due to the overwhelming popularity of this at last year's event, we plan on making this an option each year now. This will be a very simple putsy to the top of the mountain (starting just before dusk), ride up to the top of Mt. Hood Ski Bowl, do the obligatory Kodak Moment and drink a soda, and take an easy ride back down the mountain. Simple gravel road going up and pavement coming back. If you've never ridden like this at night, we urge you to try it - it's altogether different and a fun experience.
Responsibilities:
You are
responsible for your actions. Don't
race around public places! People
who don't understand our sport see it as noisy and dirty.
They also vote. Set an
example of a fun, enjoyable & acceptable family sport that doesn't
interfere with anyone's space. Be
courteous, smile and wave.
Loud exhausts: Noisy
bikes will not be tolerated.
Those of you that have been around know that a loud bike is not
necessarily faster, it’s just emotional horsepower.
Plus, loud bikes don’t save lives, they lose rights.
Less sound equals more ground! In fact, if your
bike is loud, don’t bother to show up.
We are dead serious about this!
We urge you to do everything possible to make your bike quieter.
Convince your friends that quiet pipes can only improve our opportunities as a
sport. Do not support the aftermarket companies than continue to produce loud
exhausts. Contact us if you have questions or concerns about this issue.
In fact, we may dock points for louder bikes at the checkpoints and add
bonus points for the stealthier bikes. No
bikes above 94db (per USFS). We
have great repoir with the US Forest Service thus far and we don’t want to
ruin it. They are threatening to run a
mid-course sound check, so be forewarned. All it takes is one
noisy Supertrapp riding by a wilderness area for the eco extremists to start
making more efforts to boot us out. Noise
and speeding (around non-riders) are our biggest concerns from the landowners
every year and it gets more and more difficult to host an event due to this.
Be a part of the solution and not a part of the problem, therefore
allowing this event to continue. While
on the courses, keep your bike quiet and slow around other people and rural
areas!
Emergencies: If
you have any problems along the way and need to contact someone, you can call
the Mt. Hood Village at 503-622-4011 and they can deliver a message to the
Start/Finish club members. You can also call my cell phone of: 503-803-7837 if it’s in
range. If you break down, a piece of
your score card will double as a message sheet to hand to a passing rider, who
can then take it with them and hand it off at the next checkpoint. Your
exact location can then be relayed by the checkpoint people to the home base.
Be prepared for your
adventure. Have your scoot
properly adjusted, tightened, and lubed.
Carry the proper tools to make repairs and a spare front tube (which
can also be used for the back tire also) with appropriate tire repair equipment in
case of a flat tire. Be ready to
fix your own repairs. Our
friendly sweep crew will be armed with only items they can be trusted with:
duct tape, bailing wire and a butter knife.
However, though they may not be Mr. Goodwrench, their word is final: if
a rider argues with them, that rider will automatically be disqualified.
Bring more clothing than you would expect: better to shed a jacket than
wish you had one. If it starts to
rain, you will really like yourself by bringing raingear with you.
Our motto is: If you bring it, you probably won’t need it!
The Course:
Past years have
been hot dawgs, wet dawgs, good dawgs, killer dawgs, yapper dawgs and this year
will probably go down as the snow dog! It's
amazing the amount of snow we received this last Winter.
Should be lots to talk about afterwards!
The weather guessers are saying great weather so far.
As usual, there has been an incredible amount of tree windfalls (big
ones!) on the
entire course, so making a course for you all to enjoy has not been easy.
So expect all flavors of traction (specifically on the “A” or
“Advanced” course and the “AA” sections): luscious loam, rocks, roots,
trees, uphills, downhills, water crossings, killer trails, and probably some
snow. The “A” riders should have some sort of bumps on their
tires, since they will need all the traction they can muster.
The main “easy” or “B” course could, of course, be traversable
by an aggressive Jeep (gravel, and occasional easy trail).
We will also have a “C” course that will only consist of gravel and
pavement. Plenty of good
experiences to keep you all yapping, benchracing and lying when you get to the
finish! Oh, and some of the views
are nothing short of stellar! As
usual, we have some new sections that we’ve opened up or rerouted.
We have some killer new single track for the A and AA riders.
The courses consist almost entirely of US Forest Service (and some
private) land and your cooperation is required to allow future dualsport
rides. Don't litter.
If you carry it in - pack it out.
Course Marking:
Bring
a roll chart holder (enduro type) and believe
in the roll chart. We 'may' have a few
for sale at the event, but don't plan on it - get one now at your local
dealer! You will install our roll charts into your holder, which is
mounted on the left side of your bars. These 2”
wide roll charts will be your bible. We
have also provided maps, but our roll charts are much more exact.
We have painstakingly described and included every significant turn and
intersection of the course on the roll chart.
We have put up confirmation ribbons out on the back country dirt roads
and trails where road signs may not be obvious.
These ribbons are attached (when possible) to the right side of the
course slightly after an intersection, confirming the proper turn.
There are no other markers. The
ribbons that we used are attached to clothes
pins only! Other ribbons may
be lurking on the course, but they are not ours!
As usual, in the past few weeks, we have noticed that some of our
ribbons have been taken down. We
will go out a few days before the event to confirm that they are still up
and/or re-install them, but there is always a possibility that some
unscrupulous person may take down or relocate them, hence, believe in the roll
chart.
The courses were mapped from an electronic A-Loop Pacemaker Enduro
Computer that displays to 1/100th of a mile.
It has been calibrated to within a few feet of an exact mile.
It doesn’t get more exact than that!
(Nothing but the best for you riders!)
As the flier said, there will be speedometer resets about every 10-15
miles to accommodate speedometer error, should your speedo happen to be
slightly off. Throughout the
ride, if you are ever in doubt: stay
on the main course. The
sweep crew can't find you if you're not on the course. Follow
YOUR selected course only. If
you elect to ride the easier route and end up just following someone else
(who, unknown to you, is a more advanced rider and may be riding the A
course), you may end up on the advanced sections and would really hate life.
The same goes for the advanced riders - you might be bored on the
easier sections. Elevations range
from about 500 feet to around 6,000 feet, so prepare for possible carburetor
jetting, temperature and clothing changes.
There may be last minute course changes, due to land closure issues,
weather or people thinking we’re Hell’s Angels.
We’ll let you know what the changes are at sign-up.
Lunches will be provided for you on both days, but you can also
purchase other eats. Lunches will be provided.
We prefer (and the Forest Service requested) riders to go out in
segments of two bikes per group, that way the bikes trickle throughout the
course. Two
bikes allow one rider to help the other if there is a break down or if one
rider gets stuck. More than three
bikes tends to create a long accordion effect, intimidates non-motorcyclists
and makes a large amount of dust on the dirt roads (if the weather is dry).
If you come by yourself, we can assign you with a riding buddy. Let us know. If
you break down, stay on the course!
Our friendly sweep crew will be happy to assist you if they can find you!
They will be out on the course about a half hour after the last rider
leaves the start. You will be required to leave something of
value (like an AMA card, Costco card, AA card, etc.) before you can leave the start of the
event. If it’s not something of
value (like a business card), you will NOT be allowed to leave. This way if you bail out early halfway through the event and
don’t tell anyone, you will check in at the finish to pick up what you left
and we will know you made it. If
an emergency dictates that you must take a shortcut back, tell someone the
route you are going first & turn in your scorecard at a checkpoint or
at the finish! If we spend all
night looking for you (since we don't know if you came in or not) and we find
out later that you came in without turning in your card, the club will
personally put your name in as many junk mail lists as possible and publicly
flog you!
We
recommend riding with your high-beam light on, instead of low-beam.
It’s a little brighter, but at least you are seen by oncoming
vehicles.
Treat the back roads the same as a highway: stay to the right around
all turns. Always assume
someone is coming at you on blind turns.
You never know when a log truck, other riders, etc., will be coming the
other way. Don’t be a hood
ornament for a Kenworth truck. Don’t lose your scorecard.
Two-day riders will use the same one for both days.
Don’t ride on the banks of roads!
At least not where non-motorcyclists can see the tracks.
It’s fun, but looks ugly. Enough
lecturing - you’re gonna love this ride!
Festivities: Cut-off time for Saturday's ride is 6pm.
At this point, we will hand out a few prizes for the Saturday only
riders. We then plan on having an
evening get together/banquet party with some films (Doug Bragg will hopefully
have some helmet-cam footage!), a tasty dinner by Top-O-Hill RV cooking again,
camaraderie, etc.
Cut-off time for Sunday is 4pm. After
that, we will hand out a few prizes for the Sunday only riders and then
commence to the big prizes for the 2-day riders and the big $300 cash prize
handout.
Unfortunately, due to racing schedules, famous fast guys will probably
not show up this year, we're trying to get the likes of Rodney Smith, Scott
Summers, etc. though. FYI, the NOHVCC big rig and team will
again be
present (www.nohvcc.org), and licensed massage therapist, Ilse Schoffstoll
will once again offer a soothing massage after a long day’s ride for a
modest fee. Also, don’t forget
that ISDE USA Team Manager (and Godlike sweep crew member) Gunny Claypoole will have Team USA apparel for sale to
support our racing team in Europe!
Final requirement: Having
fun – plan on it!
Be sure to check out the NWT&T website for
last-minute info at: www.blackdogdualsport.com
Ride on and see ya there!
Tom Niemela
and the gang of NW Tour & Trail