Sand Mountain Utah has got to be the longest climb there is in the western states... I just got back from there just now, loved it. Labor day weekend, MAN IT WAS PACKED! Nice stuff runnin' down there on Labor day. I did a lot of racing, stomped about 4 Predators pretty bad, but barely beat a modified Predator, was glad to see that cuz my machine is box stock (other than the FMF muffler). Beat up on a bunch of Raptors, but got beat by a couple of Raptors... Beat up on ANY 250cc Honda or Suzuki that I raced, all were modified, And... Why the hell did that YZF450 beat me that bad? Hmmmm.... they run good, maybe it was more modded than I thought. I even stayed even with an old Suzuki LT500r, that felt good cuz I used to own one of those, and I know they run good. (for their day) My stock DS650 Baja did pretty good considering the group of machines on the mountain today. Most every Banshee beat me, except for a bone stock banshee I raced. I took a lot of digital video, never of myself of course... want a copy?

Scott
Ogden, UT
[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

Which one? I was trying some different gearing and was way to high to begin the day, but found mix I could live with @ about 9:30 a.m. and ran that 'til noon - when I left.

Some guy on a Z400 said there was a 700 something DS beating up on everyone, but I never saw it. There was a guy running a 690 Raptor (so I'm told) that was doing quite well - in fact, I couldn't keep up w/ him but I did see a kid on a less-modded YFZ than mine taking him early in the morning.

I put a different rear sprocket on Friday night - what a bitch! Didn't feel like breaking the entire rear end down to change it out, so I just settled w/ different countershaft sprockets. I can only assume if the kid on the YFZ that beat the "690" I can too w/ my gearing issues straightend out.

Let's see some of that vidio work. Were you the DS that was orange/black/etc.? I saw a bunch of yellow ones too.

selector

 

Yep, mine was one of the 3 orange/black (baja version) DS machines there that I saw down there on Saturday. Mine is totally stock except for an obnoxiously loud FMF titanium muffler (and hauler paddles). The YZF450 was white and it wasn't on the main face of the mountain when we raced, it was over on the right hand side of the razorback. He smoked me good.

I had a good time yesterday at Sand Mountain (Utah), wish I could have been there all weekend long, but had to work. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img]

Scott

 

Were you wearing a "DS650" jersey? If so, I saw you at the top of the valley "videoing". I bet you got some vids of that gal on the shee beating me too! Destroy it! Actually I'd like to see it. There was a girl cutting across the whoops right into my path and I had to totally back off. Don't know what the shee gal did though and I'm not used to getting beat by "mild looking" shees. The shee gal wouldn't race me again though - kinda pissed me off. Oh well, there are plenty of others to beat.

I'm the blue YFZ w/ no graphics and cut fenders. If ya got me on video, win, loose or draw, rip me a copy and I'll get ya the cash.

edit: You may have a clip of a bunch of bikes (DS (I think) a shee or two and maybe some other bikes - I forget) that raced and I kinda missed out on the start. Anyway, I turned around and caught all of 'em on the hill and just sort of looked over at the last guy I passed 'bout 2/3rds the way up. That was the coolest run of the day.

I'm not real good in the whoops, so I turn to "bracketing" a lot. I wait for a group to go and just work my way through the whoops and then try to catch 'em.

Was the guy you ran on the white YFZ wearing a red t-shirt?

selector

 

Yep, I was wearing a DS650 jersey... good eye! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

White YZF450 wearing a red shirt? Actually, I think he was.

No cash for the video... they're freebies (I've just gotta get going on the editing, I've dumped it to the hard drive via firewire already, now I've gotta compose/edit it.) Just send address.

Scott
himark151@yahoo.com

 

Sand Mt UT has a steep face on the left and a valley on the right. But just 50ft left of the steep face there are some chutes that are steeper. They are big and bad. give them a shot. Coming down them is scary too. You typicly only see rails going up there.

 

Some call them chutes others call them fingers.. Very very steep indeed.. I have a vid of a rail going up. Anybody want to host it for me???

 

I've had the YFZ up every single one of 'em faster than my CRF - go figure. I'm guessing it's the larger surface area of the tires. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img] With 13/38 gearing, I've made it easily in 3rd - very surprising. Believe me, it's not the rider.

I usually get to the hill very early (in my long history of 6 trips - ha) and make a point of making the first tracks on all of 'em. The fingers furthest to the south are the steepest and very soft sand - very tough to keep your front wheels down. My first time coming down was quite a trip.

selector

 

I love those chutes... I haven't run the chutes since 1988 or so... back when I had my LT500r (585cc dual 30mm mikuni carbs etc) and it was the king of the hill back then. I used to hit the chutes coming down as fast as I could go, I'd hit 5th gear on the Quad Racer 500 and hold it full throttle down all the chutes or the face. (I was a little younger back then too I guess, but I remember it well) I've not tried it on my DS650 Baja yet, it's just a stocker... I think it will make it but it would be goin' pretty slow and that's not a good feeling in those chutes.

Scott

 

Hey guys, there not dunes, but I would suggest any of you fellow hillclimbing addicts take your modded machines and take a trip out to the Cinders OHV in Flagstaff, AZ. Of all of the hills/dunes I've seen nothing is higher or more challenging. The cinders are loose-packed volcanic pebbles - more difficult terrain than sand. Some of the hills are 1000 ft high (vertical) and 45-60% grades. Add in the 7000 ft elevation, and your HP goes down the drain.