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2013 Annual Colo-RAD-o Summer Vacation

Here are some photos from our recent trip to Colorado this past August.  Three white 15 passenger vans 7 dudes, 1 chick, and a dog.  Sounds like a bad sitcom.  Turned out to be a great vacation even with 7 man-children.

On the way to Spring Creek Reservoir, CO

The Quagmires-Van Life

                             

A view of Spring Creek from our camp

The Quagmires' "love birds"

 Bob bought a brand new 2013 Chevy Express 15-passenger van a week before we were to leave for Colorado.  We loaded her up after work friday evening and pinned it up to Salida, Colorado, where we met up with our buddies from Texas that had left earlier in the day.

Rare RJ sighting.  I think he only came out once the whole trip.

Clay Clark, Martin Howell, Billy Chedsey, Bobby Whitmire and I rode all day.  This was the creek at the end of Dr. Park Gulch.  After this pitstop we hit Lilly Pond Trail and then hit the gnarliest section of Star Trail ever.  My poor linkage got a little banged up.  We eventually had to turn around and head back out because the trail kept getting harder and harder.  We were already gassed by the time we got to that section anyway.  It turned out to be great enduro training though.  Clay and Martin took the pro lines all the way to the top of Star Trail.  

About to hit Star Trail.  

After a full day of riding we ran into the rest of our group right as we cam back out of Star Trail.  It was a good thing they saw us when they did or they would have been stuck on that trail for sometime.  Right after this picture was taken Rafael wadded it up pretty dang bad on a wooden bridge crossing a creek.  He almost broke his neck when he hit the side of the bridge.  He is such a tough Croatian dude though!

Always keep a positive attitude and it will take you where you need to go.

Summer trip to Colorado

whole motor top/bottom

pitted worn rod

This summer we took a two week trip to Colorado instead of a 1 week trip.  Before we left we had to completely rebuild the bottom end on my KTM 250XCF b/c it was knocking real bad.  After tearing down the whole top end and not finding a thing we tore into the bottom end and found the crankshaft was worn and needed to be rebuilt.  I took the crankshaft up to a badass dude know as Cooksey in the Dallas/Fort Worth TX area to have it rebuilt. COOKSEY CRANKS, http://www.cookseycrank.com finished my crank in the same day and shipped it out the next.  I highly recommend him no matter where you live if you are in need of a camshaft rebuild.  I ordered all the rest of the bearings, new OEM piston, honed the cylinder, lapped the valves, got a new cam chain and tensioner, and a new chain and sprockets.  We found a service manual online and put the entire bike back together in a matter of days.


                             

fully rebuilt

250F gutted

   

















Like I say every year, "this is the best trip ever", this one definitely was our best trip.  We camped out for 16 days in 8 different towns.  Only having access to bathe with a solar shower or in the frigid creeks I washed my hair 3 times in a 16 day span.  We were stinky and dirty most of the time, but we didn't care b/c we rode either dirt bikes, downhill, or BMX everyday.
The first week we camped up at Spring Creek Reservoir near Almont, CO.  Here is a picture of our camp spot on the map.





After we packed up camp at Spring Creek we headed to Cottonwood Springs near Buena vista for some relaxation and dinner at the Coyote Cantina.  They had John Denver's 1970's Kawasaki Green Streak hanging in the ceiling.

Needless to say, Billy's head eventually fell off!

   

After Buena Vista we went north to Breckenridge and camped out 

there for a night and did some dirt biking that morning.

I will post more photos and finish the rest of the story soon.

Race Season Is Back!

Summer break is over and race season is back in swing for the TORCS series.  Our first race back was supposed to be September 15th, but was cancelled due to rain.  Rain date for this race is scheduled for December 1st!  

 Looks like we have 4 more races until the season is over.  Hopefully I can bring in some more wins to clench the championship this year.

Silverdollar Ranch-Rockdale TX

The opening round of the TORCS series was this past weekend in Rockdale, TX.  It was all sand with 3 creek crossings, mini moto track, and a tractor double tire crossing.  We got 5" of rain the week before so it was an epic round for the first race.  I had a decent drive on the start, headed towards the woods and cross rutted in the creek taking out a girl. We got back up and she took off first putting me dead last.  I moved from 5th place to 2nd on the first lap and battled with 1st for a bit before moving into 1st place on the 2nd lap.  I was able to get into a zone and find my groove, so I just kept my eyes focused ahead of me instead of right in front of the front tire.  I ended up getting 1st place in the Women's A class and for the first time placing 3rd overall for the race.

2011 TORCS Banquet

Women's A podium

On Saturday I attended the TORCS banquet to get my awards and first place wall hanger!  It was a long event but none the less it was an all out good time reminiscing with the fellow racers.  I managed to snag an msr helmet bag, 50% off fmf pipe award, glove liners, and $75 toward new bars.

My old man Bob
Mens open A podium

X-MAS IN MEXICO

Turns out going to Cozumel, Mexico for X-Mas is a blast!  Here are some photos from our most recent trip there.  We rented a scooter the whole 4 days and took that thing everywhere.  The 2nd day we were there we did a booze scooter cruise and went to every bar on the beach on south part of the island.
We got a badass all inclusive package deal with unlimited food and drinks with an ocean front room at the Sabor Resort and Spa.  With that being said it kind of kept us close to the resort b/c we had everything we needed there-even a couple of bars!
http://rockettesauce.shutterfly.com

the splicing of the photo isn't the best but you can get the idea

Rad Mexi-Santa