World Trials and AMA National to East Tn in 2013!

 

 MARK YOUR CALENDERS NOW!!   2013 is going to be a GREAT year for watching top level motorcycle competition in East Tenn. It has just been announced that a round of the FIM World Trials Championship will be returning to the Trials Training Center in Sequatchie Tn (just outside Chattanooga) on May 25th and 26th. I was able to attend the last time the world guys came here in 2006, and can tell you first hand this is one of the absolute coolest things you can go watch. Bring the kids, and stand back and try to figure out how these guys did the things you just saw them do. The Trials Training Center is an easy drive from Knoxville, and just right for a day trip. Their website www.trialstrainingcenter.com will have more details on tickets and schedules as they develop.

The next great announcement is that East Tennessee is going to get an AMA OUTDOOR NATIONAL!!  The NEXT WEEKEND! June 1st will be a new round of the AMA Series, called the "Bristol National", held at Muddy Creek Raceway in Blountville. My prediction is that this race will have an incredible turnout. For years me and riding buddies have wondered why their weren't any AMA outdoor races in the South, or at least within reasonable driving distance. Now we have one! Finally! An opportunity to see the fast guys go real fast on a big track.  No information yet on tickets or camping, but my guess is this will be an event where you either get there very early in the morning, or camp the night before. 

 **Yeah, I know these are Supercross photos. It's because I've never been to an outdoor National!

I guess the only way 2013 could be looking better is if we can get another Flat Track National back to Bulls Gap. Let's keep our fingers crossed!

Garage Tip - Shotgun Brushes

Recently I was helping a friend do some loooong overdue maintenance on a dirt bike that had evidently lived its whole life without getting near a tube of grease or a can of WD-40. The front axle was stuck in the wheel, which meant we had to take the fork tubes loose to get the wheel off, but after a good soaking with Liquid Wrench, and some gentle persuasion with a hammer, we got the axle out.The next issue was how to clean out the light rust from inside the wheel. It turns out that a 12 Gauge Shotgun barrel cleaning brush works great!. Fits right in, tough enough to get the grime out, and cheap.

2012 Hollerpalooza Vintage Show Results

 For the past two years the Happy Hollerpalooza Street Street Fair has been blessed with unbelievably perfect weather. This years event was blessed by a lack of rain. It was also blessed with cool temperatures, so nobody got too hot, and steady winds, so the old air cooled bikes ran good. The threat of rain and less than perfect riding conditions kept a few people away, but there was still a very good turnout. There were several new people and new bikes this year. In fact, the variety may have been better than ever. We had more customs and more choppers than ever before. Just as in previous years, the voting was extremely close. The American class was won by just 2 votes, and the British class by 1 vote. As always the show was judged by the participants. The challenge is picking 1 bike out of so many that are so close to perfect.
Here are pictures of this years winners and their bikes.

 The winner of both the Best British bike AND the Peoples Choice Award, was Bobby Knight and his freshly restored 1956 Triumph Thunderbird. This is the first time a bike has taken two awards.

The Old Dirt Class was won by the really slick 1975 Yamaha TY175 Trials bike owned by Kenny Hayes. I've actually ridden this bike, and it runs as good as it looks. It's not just a looker, it's a rider.

 First place in the American Class was Marlow Johnson's beautiful1946 Harley WL

 

The European Class was the only one that wasn't close. George Brown's 1974 Benelli Tornado won in a landslide!

 The Japanese Class is always hotly contested and this year was no different. The winner was Charles Gault's pristine 1969 Bridgestone 350 GTR

 

Thanks to:

• The Time Warp Vintage Motorcycle Club for supporting the show every year
• Thermocopy for donating printing and graphic art design (Brooke is the best!)
• Martin Shafer for engraving the trophies
• Dan Moriarty for the Hot Dogs for the participants
• Everyone who took a chance on the weather and brought their bikes out.
• All the people who came out to check out the show and vote for their favorite.
• Most of all, my wife Kelly for helping put on the show, and putting up with me and all my motorcycle friends!

Happy Hollerpalooza Vintage Show Oct.27th

Once again it's time for the Annual Happy Hollerpalooza Street Fair, and once again Cycleblend.com and the Time Warp Vintage Motorcycle Club will be putting on the Vintage Motorcycle show. Each year the show has been a huge part of the fair, and we hope that this year will be no different. As always, it doesn't cost anything to show your bike, and if you do bring down your 25 year or older bike, you'll even get a free Hotdog and drink! How can you beat that!
Show up between 10:30 and 1:00 to get registered. For those who trailer their bikes down there is parking behind the Time Warp Tea Room.
Each class (American, British, European, Japanese, and Old Dirt) will be participant judged, and there will be the Peoples Choice Award, voted on by the public. The coveted Sprocket Trophies will be given out at 3:00pm.

Dual Sport Riding - It's all about the exploring

I've had an extra set of wheels mounted with some dual sport tires for my KTM for a long time, but most of the miles I had on them, which weren't many, were on asphalt and gravel. This past weekend we decided to go out and try to find some new trails, so armed with a map and a GPS we started off on trails and roads unknown, somewhere in Scott County near the Kentucky state line. After starting on asphalt, we turned on a freshly cut dirt road (evidently made for a gas line), and after about 4 miles we spotted an unmarked, but apparently somewhat used, trail. Hey, we came to explore. "Lets see were it goes" was said more than once, often followed by, "I guess we should go the other way"
Here is what I have learned about dual sport tires. If its dry, anything works pretty good, when the trail gets a little slimy, you'll pray to find a set of worn out knobbies on the side of the trail. I was able to get by with the tires I had, and the rear IRC actually did a lot better than I thought it would. I only fell once.

After several miles of some pretty tough trails things started opening up a little bit. We actually found some really neat mountain top fields (old reclaimed strip mines I believe), and the map and GPS combination kept us from feeling completely lost. I never felt like we couldn't find our way back out, or at least to a gravel road. Keep in mind that most of the mining roads aren't on maps, or on your GPS.

 
Out in the middle of nowhere we ran across a young guy on a 140cc Kawasaki who was out doing what any 13 year old who lives in the mountains and owns a dirt bike would do, ride the wheels off of it. Here I was whining and crying about being on Dual Sport tires and then I looked at his. They were so bald you could see the air inside! I shut up and just rode from that point on.

 

 It had been a while since I had been out riding trails and roads that I had never been on, and didn't know where they went, and it made for a fun day. It also made me realize that there are a lot of places to ride that I have never thought about before.

17th Annual WIngs Across Tennessee Sept 14th 15th

This Friday the "Wings Across Tennessee" motorcycle ride will be starting their 500 mile ride in Bristol Tennessee and riding all the way to St. Judes Childrens research hospital in Memphis to deliver yet another huge donation. This is an annual event hosted by the Tri-Cities Wings chapter of the GoldWing RoadRiders Association (GWRRA). They hold various fund raisers throughout the year, and present their donation at this ride every year. 
The ride is open to all motorcycles, and everyone is invited to ride along as far as they wish. The ride will stop in Knoxville for lunch on Friday at "The Cove" park in Farragut. People can feel free to come by and make donations that the riders will deliver.  For more information on the ride go to www.stjudeswingsacrosstn.com (look under "events) , or call Tom Jarrell 423-383-0339 

The Southern Dozen - 12 Great Rides

 

 I stumbled across the "Southern Dozen" motorcycle rides while in Johnson City, Tn on business. As I opened the flier I found a really simple, well put together, group of maps showing day rides based out of Johnson City.  The flier has "Johnson City Convention and Visitors Bureau" on the back, so I'm assuming that's who puts it out. I also suspect that the creation of this booklet has some help by some serious motorcyclist. Johnson City has recently been host to the BMW National Event, and the Motorcyclist Sport Touring Association's annual ride. There are lots of great day trips out of Johnson City, and if I compared my maps that I saved from the two previous mentioned events with this flier I bet many of the routes are the similar.

The flier that I picked up was very well done. It shows the 12 mentioned rides, and has easy to read maps and directions. All of the rides start in Johnson City and range from 30 to 151 miles. Some of the rides include, the rapidly becoming famous "Snake" through Shady Valley, a ride up Roan Mountain, and a ride to the Natural Tunnel, a rock formation just north of Kingsport Tn. The flier also includes a list of Johnson City hotels that offer discounted rates for motorcyclist.
 Personally, I think this is super cool! How often is it that a city realizes the value of promoting motorcycling tourism. I picked up my flier out of one of those racks of fliers that advertises everything from wax museums to area chitlin restaurants, that was at the Holiday Inn Express in Johnson City. You can also go to their website, www.southerndozen.com