Welcome to the 2003 5th Annual Rat Dog Dualsport ride!   Here's the Pre-ride Poop Sheet!

We hope you will enjoy this event!  Please read the following info before embarking on your ride.

Reminder: This year's event is being staged (like last year) at the Trask County Park, NOT the Flying M Ranch, due to land closure issues from Weyerhaeuser!  

NOTE: You MUST BRING YOUR OWN GAS TO RUN THE ENTIRE EVENT!  The course consists of three different loops and you will be coming back to the staging area after each loop, where you will have an opportunity to top off your tank.  THERE ARE NO GAS STATIONS ON THIS YEAR’S COURSE!

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 or use black tape.  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.

Camping: The Trask County Park will be the staging area.  It is located just East of Tillamook, Oregon, up the Trask River after mile marker 12.  Per their website, there are 60 tent sites @$10 per night, dump station, toilets, boat launch, river access, and camp host.  If you want to motel it, contact the Tillamook Chamber of Commerce at: 503-842-7525 for a listing of motels, or check our website for their link.

No free rides:  Nobody will be allowed to just show up and ride without paying.  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.   The cost to ride the event is cheap compared to events on the East Coast, so you're getting a bargain. 

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.  Keep your bike quiet and slow around other people and rural areas!  No bikes above 94db!  Be courteous, smile and wave.  The course consists almost entirely of ODF, BLM (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. 

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 and torques off everyone else.  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 that 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.  We have great repoir with the ODF and local landowners thus far and we don’t want to ruin it.  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!  There will be a sound test at the event.

Emergencies: You can call my cell phone of: 503-803-7837 if it’s in range, but reception is poor in this mountainous area.  So we will also have ham radio folks available with the sweep crew and various points on the course. 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 (that you wrote down) 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 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:  The weather guessers are finally saying great weather.  There is a threat of fire danger though, so if we are under those restrictions, the course will be changed.  Same if it’s raining. At this point, we are planning on a regular course though.  As usual, there has been an incredible amount of tree windfalls on the entire course, so making a course for you all to enjoy has not been easy.  Expect all flavors of traction (specifically on the “A” and “AA” courses): luscious loam, rocks, roots, trees, uphills, downhills, water crossings, and killer trails.  The main “easy” or “B” course could, of course, be traversable by a Jeep, although some trailriding experience is required.  There will also be a “C” route that is basically easy gravel road for the huge bikes and sidecars.  Plenty of good experiences to keep you all yapping, benchracing and lying when you get to the finish! The courses consist almost entirely of ODF (and some private) land and your cooperation is required to allow future dualsport rides.   If you've never used a roll chart at a dualsport event before, just let us know sometime BEFORE you embark on your ride, so we can give you a quick, easy Rollchart 101 lesson. 

            Course descriptions: Note: this is assuming dry weather conditions.  Inclement weather (or level 3 fire danger) will dictate probably running only B or C courses, so as not to damage trails.  Course letter designations are in key with typical AMA enduro class descriptions. 

Course Marking: Bring a roll chart holder (enduro type) and believe in the roll chart.  These 2” wide 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!  In the past few weeks, as usual, 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 course was 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 flyer said, there will be speedometer resets about every 10 miles or so 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.  Follow YOUR selected course only.  If you elect to ride the easier route and end up just following someone else (who 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 10 feet to around 4,000 feet, so prepare for possible carburetor jetting, temperature and clothing changes.  There may be last minute course changes, due to land closure issues, fire danger, weather or people thinking we’re Hell’s Angels.  We’ll let you know what the changes are at sign-up.  Lunch will be provided for you at Trask River Store.

                We prefer (and the landowners requested) riders to go out in segments of two bikes per group.  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 with your name on it (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 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 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 log truck.  Don’t lose your scorecard.  Don’t ride on the banks of roads!  At least not where non-motorcyclists can see the tracks.  It’s fun, but looks ugly.  Also remember, it’s bow-hunting season, so they’re enjoying the forest too!

·        Schedule: We are implementing a change in signup this year so read carefully.  Signup will open on Friday night and Saturday morn too for those last-minute folks.  Don’t forget we’re having a simple, short, night-time ride on Friday night (no charge) and riders can embark on the ride around dusk.  You may leave after the rider's meeting any time after 7:30am – 8:30am on Saturday morning.  This should makes things easier for the pre-entered riders and not such a bottleneck in the morning.  We plan on having rollcharts available Friday night too (barring any last-minute emergency changes)

·         Friday, 6pm – 8pm: Signup and sound test

·         Friday, dusk – Night-time fun ride

·         Saturday, 6am - Signup and sound test reopens

·         Saturday, 7am - Rider's Meeting

·         Saturday, 7:30am – 8:30am: Riders can embark on their ride anytime during this period.

·         Saturday, cut-off time 5pm: Prizes and $100 cash prize awarded

·         Saturday evening: Social and benchracing session!

Also, be sure to check out the NWT&T website for more info and last-minute updates at: www.blackdogdualsport.com  

You’re gonna love this ride!

    ride on!

Tom Niemela and the Gang of NW Tour & Trail