2009 Race Schedule

Here is a tentative schedule for 2009. I will be doing the entire Canadian Enduro Championship in the A class.

March:
15 - Spring Mud Fling - Spokane, WA - 3rd Heavyweight, 4th overall

April:
4/5 - Desert 100 - Odessa, WA - 17th 250, 73rd overall
26 - Cat Scratch Harescrambles - Squamish, BC - 3rd Expert, 9th overall

May:
9 - Endurocross - Orofino, ID - crashed out of qualifying
16 - Night Pig Harescrambles - Vernon, BC - 3rd Expert
17 - Big Rooster Cross-country - Vernon, BC - 5th Expert

June:
21 - Piston Run - Chilliwack, BC - Crash/10th Expert
27/28 - AMA National Enduro - Cascade, MT - 8th 250A, 59th Overall

July:
4/5 - Canadian Enduro Championship Round 1 - Blairmore, AB
11/12 - CEC Round 2 - Penticton (Apex Ski Hill), BC
19 - Bear Creek Trials - Deer Park, WA, USA

August:
1/2 - Endurocross - Sandpoint, ID, USA
or
1/2 - Trout Lake Alpine Ride - Trout Lake, BC
29 - Endurocross - Lewiston, ID, USA

September:
5/6 - MRP Endurocross Round 3/4 - St. Maries, ID
or
6 - Squeal'n Pig Harescrambles - Naramata, BC
12/13 - CEC Round 3 - Labelle, QC
19/20 - CEC Round 4 - Parry Sound, ON
27 - Three Worlds Cross-country - Kamloops, BC

October:
4 - Tree Hugger Harescrambles - Castlegar, BC
10 - Outback Bushwack Harescrambles - Quesnel, BC
11 - Overlander Cross Country - Williams Lake, BC
25 - Scarescrambles - Spokane, WA

November:
21 - AMA Endurocross - Las Vegas, NV

Cat Scratch Fever Harescrambles Race Report

I'm now back home after 4 days on the road. I took Friday and Monday off work so I could race the Cat Scratch Fever Harescrambles in Squamish, BC. The race is part of the Pacific Northwest Motorcycle Association's Offroad series (PN) and was my first PN race of the year. I spent Thursday night prepping my bike and packing all my gear and tools. Friday morning came way too early but nevertheless, I dragged myself out of bed to hit the road. A little over 3 short hours later I arrived in Cawston, just east of Keremeos, BC. I met my friends Victoria (Champ) Hett and Malcolm Hett. Champ is a running nickname after Tory won the women's class at the Desert 100 earlier this year. She's not overly fond of the nickname so Malcolm and I enjoy bugging her. I left my truck at Tory's house and packed my bike and gear in with Tory and Malcolm for the drive to Squamish. We hit the road around 12:30pm from Cawston and made short time down to the lower mainland. After a stop at Gnarly Parts (www.gnarlyparts.ca) for some Rekluse clutch plates we continued on to Squamish, but not before getting stuck in Friday afternoon traffic in Surrey which resulted in us switching drivers on the fly to amuse ourselves as we crawled across the lower mainland. Eventually we made it over to North Vancouver where we stopped for dinner (Subway) then continued up to Squamish. After a quick stop at the local dirt bike dealer for directions we headed up to the race site to set up camp before it got dark. Once setup we hung around the camp fire with some new and old faces until it was time for bed.

Saturday we awoke not so bright and not so early to do some pre-riding and check out the GasGas demo ride. After a big breakfast (bacon, eggs, hashbrowns - thanks Champ!) we headed off for a lap. The A course was about 10km of some of the nastiest singletrack this side of Erzberg. Roots, rocks and slimey uphills littered the treacherous course. I tested out a trials tire for my first lap to see how it was. The trials tire worked well but my clutch has been on the way out for a few weeks now so things weren't perfect. Once back from the first lap I headed over to see Dave from GasGas Pacific who had brought me new plates for my clutch. I installed new plates in my Rekluse clutch while Malcolm and Victoria demoed the new Gassers. I've been a fanatic of GasGas bikes since 2005 when I got my EC200 so I was eager to hear their opinions of the new bikes. Both Malcolm and Tory came back with huge grins on their faces after testing out the bikes. Malcolm loved the smooth power and quick handling of the EC300 while Tory fell in love with the EC250, its plush suspension and perfect power output. Poor Victoria was also upset as she just bought a 2008 KTM250XC-W last summer. Looks like the KTM will be for sale sometime soon! After the clutch install and demo rides it was time to fuel the beast (aka eat lunch). Some hot dogs, sandwiches and bananas were on the menu and promptly scarfed down. After lunch I mounted a Maxxis IT knobby tire to go for another lap. This time I rode with Malcolm, Jarrett (May) and Eric Demoulin, all of which race in the Masters (AA) class while I race Expert (A). The knobby definitely didn't work as well as the trials tire on the slippery rocks and roots, but my clutch was much better. About 2/3rds through the lap Eric hit a hidden rock and punched a hole in his clutch cover. He nursed it out to a logging road and back to the pits while Malcolm, Jarrett and I finished our lap. The knobby definitely worked better on the long downhills and the few sections with loamy dirt, but it was less than ideal on the rocky uphills and big roots that littered the course. Once back at camp I decided to give a new GasGas EC300 a demo ride as I will be racing one this fall at the eastern rounds of the Canadian Enduro Championship. All I can say is WOW. While I love my 2007 EC250 Six Days edition, the EC300 is the perfect enduro machine. The bike I rode was bone stock save for some hand guards and a skid plate. The 300 had typical GasGas suspension and handling (ie. perfect for me) and the 300 engine is a torque monster. I've never been a revver and prefer to ride my bikes a gear high and torque it through obstacles. The 250 does a decent job of this but the 300 absolutely excels at it. Even without a Rekluse clutch, it's pretty much impossible to stall the 300 (and this one had the 2k-2 ignition, not the heavy 2k-3 one). For technical enduro riding the 300 is the bike and I can see why they're so popular. I'm now planning on buying one either this year, or at the end of the year for next race season. I'll be getting the racing edition EC300 as I want the slightly stiffer suspension and a few other goodies. Who knows, maybe I'll get a Nambotin replica if I can get the money together. Anyone want to buy a 2007 EC250 Six Days edition with Ohlins suspension? Anyways, after the demo ride it was dinner time followed by bike, gear and body prep for Sunday. I mounted up the trials tire on the back wheel again too.

Sunday morning came early but I was excited to be racing the PN series again. I made myself a big breakfast - bacon, eggs, toast and a banana before heading off to sign-up. Through my Six Days experience, I've learned that if I want to race hard, I need to fuel both the bike and body. I always eat a big breakfast the morning of a race (especially if it's an all day enduro) then eat some more food just before the start. During the race I'll again try to scarf down some food when I'm pitting for gas to keep the energy reserves up. Anyways, after breakfast, I went through sign-up and technical inspection before gearing up for a pre-ride. I always try to squeeze in a 15 minute warm-up ride before the race start to get the blood flowing, muscles warm and hopefully get rid of any arm pump. After the pre-ride I waited what seemed like forever for the riders' meeting and then the start.

We finally got started around 11:30am - a full half hour later than planned. This resulted in my body cooling off and not being totally ready to race. Off the start I slipped on my first kick so it took me two kicks to finally get going. I was last to the first corner but quickly caught up to the pack on the first endurocross section. Then on a small uphill while pressuring the guy infront of me I accidentally hit neutral, losing my momentum and getting stuck on the hill. I eventually got going but by this time I was over 30 seconds down on the rest of my class and Vet Expert (which started a row behind me) was hot on my heels. I pinned it and started making ground on the rest of the expert class until an ill-fated rock knocked my chain off. I quickly got it back on the sprockets and continued on my way battling with a few vet experts as I closed in on my class. I started pushing way too hard early on and my arms started pumping up something fierce. It got so bad I could barely hang on and felt slow, though I was starting to catch guys in my class. Once I got to the really tough hills I caught some more guys, including some of the pros. Over the course of 3 hills, I passed 2-3 guys in the Masters class, and was playing cat and mouse with two more. My arms were still pumped up really bad so I eventually fell back a little bit trying to loosen my grip.

On the second lap I started to loosen up and lapped a ton of intermediates on some of the tough climbs. Bikes were scattered everywhere on the technical rocky climbs but my GasGas EC250 with rekluse clutch and trials tire worked flawlessly. I climbed up the hills with relative ease compared to the those with knobbies and never had any boiling over issues. One the third lap I finally started riding like myself as my arms relaxed and I settled into a good pace. I started passing more people though my chain again fell off when I hit another rock. After lap 3 I was sitting around 4-5th place in the expert class and just outside of the top 10 overall. On lap 4 I put in a really smooth

lap and passed 3 experts and 2 pros in the process. I came into the finish of the lap to find a huge lineup of people waiting for the 3 hour cut-off, but when I asked how long, there was still 30 minutes until cut-off. I gassed up and headed out for another lap in 2nd place in the expert class and up around 6th overall. About a third of the way through the lap I took a bad line choice trying to pass a lapper and got stuck on a nasty up hill. I had to turn around, then got stuck again on my 2nd attempt. By this time all the guys I had passed on the previous lap were passing me back so I finally found line up it and gave chase. I managed to catch 2 of the experts and one vet expert, but there was still a few other guys that eluded me. I finally crossed the finish line sometime later to find out that 2nd place in the expert class was less than 2 minutes ahead of me. After spending well over 5 minutes getting up one hill I was really annoyed by this since I would've had 2nd expert in the bag. My final result was 3rd place expert and around 9th overall on the day. Not too shabby for one of the toughest PN races of the year, and my first time back racing the technical PN circuit since October last year.

Once the race was over we packed up everything, headed to awards to collect some hardware (I got my 3rd place trophy and Tory won the womens class) then hit the road. We arrived back in Cawston just before midnight where I crashed at Tory's place for the night. In the morning I packed all my stuff back in my truck and drove home to Rossland where I was greeted by cold weather and snow. Ugh.

I'd like to thank GasGas Pacific for all their help, including pitting for me and giving me some fresh riding gear. I'd also like to thank Fasstco again for their continued support and the best bars on the market. The Squamish Dirt Bike Association deserves a big round of applause for putting on a gnarly race that challenged even the best riders in the country. Finally, I really need to thank Malcolm and Victoria Hett for letting me hitch a ride with them and stay in their trailer. It was a great weekend that I won't soon forget.

Welcome to the Dirt Bike Chronicles!

Hello, and welcome!

My name is Steve and this is my blog. I'm a 23 year old mechanical engineer living in Rossland, British Columbia. My passion is riding and racing my dirt bike. I've started this blog as a way to keep people posted on my adventures as I ride, race and train in my little slice of paradise.

So, before I delve into what I'm currently doing, I guess I'll give you a little background info. My dad has had a motorcycle my entire life. For most of my life, the bike (a 1978 Honda XL250S) has tucked away in the corner of the garage but my dad did take me for a ride up the nearby railgrade back in the day. My first real foray into dirt biking was in September 1999. I was dropping off my friend after a camping trip. His sisters were out riding an old Honda CT90 around their yard and offered to let me try. I jumped at the chance, promptly crashed off a retaining wall and was hooked. I spent all winter saving my pennies and in June of 2000 (age 14) became the proud owner of a 1985 XR100R. I learned to ride it on the powerline behind my parents' house, then progressed on to the various old logging roads and trails around Trail and Rossland. That fall the cam chain let go, trashing the top end in the bike. Riding came to a brupt halt, but over the winter I helped my dad rebuild the engine and get it ready to rip! The following year I rode the bike all over the place. Then, in November of 2001 on my last ride of the season I crashed and broke my hand. Ouch.

At age 16, the XR100R was too small. In March of 2002 I (with the help of my parents) bought a 1999 Honda XR200R. It was a bit of step up from the old 100 but I had a lot of fun. That May, I entered my first race - the 2002 Ogopogo Cross-country in Kelowna, BC. The Ogopogo was quite the eye opener. There was over 250 entries that year and the whole thing was a completely new experience. I ended up crashing lots but eventually finished 15th out of 20. Not exactly setting the race world on fire, but I was hooked.

In 2003 I managed to get 3 races in but in the fall I moved to Edmonton to start university. Over the next few years I didn't get much racing in and it took me a long time to progress my riding. In 2005 I bought a 2001 GasGas EC200. That year I finished 3rd in the Junior class at our local harescramble and started gaining some confidence. In 2006 I managed to fit in 4 or 5 races and moved up to the Intermediate class. I also started riding with the local fast guys who raced in the A and AA classes. One of them, Trent Burgiss, even attended the 2006 International Six Day Enduro (ISDE) in New Zealand. He finished with a silver medal.

While I was in my 4th (and final) year of my mechanical engineering degree, I heard that Trent had finished the six days with a silver medal. That lit a fire inside of me. I was thinking about moving up to the Expert (A) class for 2007, so I decided to go for broke and sent in an application to race the 2007 ISDE in Chile. I moved back home to BC at the end of April and immediately started riding and training as much as possible while working full time. In late June I got confirmation that I was going to Chile and kicked my training into high gear. The local media ran a couple stories on me and with the help of some sponsors and a line of credit, I managed to scrape together the funds to head to Chile.

Even the best intentions can be thwarted by something simple. After 10 months of training, I finally arrived in Chile. Bike impound went smooth and when day 1 started, I felt great. I rode well and stayed on my minute all day long. Then, disaster struck. After spending close to 7 hours on the bike, the top end seized less than 7km from impound while cruising up the beach. So that ended my first attempt at the International Six Days Enduro.

The 2008 season started with a splat that was the Spring Mud Fling in Spokane, WA. After 3 hours of battling ice, snow and mud I came home with a big first place trophy. After such a disappointment in Chile, it felt great to start off 2008 with a win. I had again put in an application to race the ISDE, though this year it was in Greece. Luckily, I was accepted on a club team along with Craig Murray and Regis Plante. After a frustrating summer full of bike problems, injuries and just plain bad luck I headed off to Greece for redemption. Day 1 again proved to be a challenge - this time my tire balls all went flat in the front tire before the half way point. I was unprepared for this and was forced to ride the rest of the day on a front flat. The rocks hammered me and the bike but luckily the front wheel stayed together. I lost 23 minutes that day but fortunately the bike held together. After 6 days of some of the rockiest terrain imaginable, I overcame a nasty flu and a broken foot to earn a bronze medal. It wasn't the colour I hoped for, but at least I had finished.

Here is a two page spread of me that appeared in the December 2008 issue of Inside Motorcycles. There was also a multiple page article on Team Canada's experience at the 2008 ISDE.

That pretty much sums up my racing career to this point. I've had a great time racing so far and am really looking forward to many more races in the future. For 2009, my race schedule will keep me planted on the North American continent. I really want to give the six days another shot but unfortunately I have loans to pay off and the ISDE won't fit into my budget this year. In 2010 the six days is in Mexico so that one I will probably do. I will be contesting the new Canadian Enduro Championship, select PNWMA events plus various other races around the pacific northwest on my GasGas EC250. I will be racing in the A/Expert class for 2009 then moving up to Pro/Masters/AA for 2010.

I'd like to thank my 2009 sponsors: GasGas Pacific and Fasst Company. I will also add that I'm always looking for more support in my racing career and if you'd like to sponsor me, please contact me.

There's a video from last Sunday attached below. This was taken at a local riding area near Trail, BC, Canada. I hope you enjoy my adventures and thanks for reading!

Steve Shannon