Rita Coombs, surviving widow of Dave Coombs Sr. and mother of Davey Coombs of RacerX and MX Sports, was robbed on Thursday June 18 between 3:30 and 5:30 am. Mrs. Coombs was asleep upstairs in the home at the time.
The useless dickheads who robbed the house were captured on security cameras. Please see the security cam videos here and help the Coombs family put these douchebags in jail.
I have a GPS unit (Garmin Zumo 450) that I use on my street bike, but for some reason it never occurred to me that you would use one on a dirt bike. Maybe because I live on the east coast and don’t go trail riding anywhere I’m likely to get lost… But there are trail areas in national parks in this half of the country that are certainly big enough to get lost in.
I came across this GPS and Dirt Bikes post over at the Dirt Bike Blogger. There’s a lot of good info, but the most interesting thing to me was this part about geocaching:
A GPS unit will also allow you to participate in geocaching – a great addition to trail riding. Geocaching is basically a high-tech treasure hunt. Caches are hidden and listed on the Internet (try Geocaching.com) with only their coordinates and sometimes additional clues. The caches generally include a logbook and pencil to record visitors, and tokens or prizes that can be traded.
The author also discusses using the GPS and some additional software to map your own trails, and build your own maps. If you’re interested in such things have a look at the whole article.
There is an excellent article by P.J. O’Rourke, titled “The End of Our Love Affair with Cars,” out Saturday in the Wall Street Journal Online Edition. In his inimitable style, O’Rourke takes us back to the heyday of the automobile and, painfully, recounts the torturous path to modern bankruptcy. The path paved with political correctness for it’s own sake, with banality and bureaucrats and government mandates that don’t for a minute have anything to do with actually making our lives better.
I don’t believe the pointy-heads give a damn about climate change or gas mileage, much less about whether I survive a head-on with one of their tax-sucking mass-transit projects. All they want to is to make me hate my car. How proud and handsome would Bucephalas look, or Traveler or Rachel Alexandra, with seat and shoulder belts, air bags, 5-mph bumpers and a maze of pollution-control equipment under the tail?
And there’s the end of the American automobile industry. When it comes to dull, practical, ugly things that bore and annoy me, Japanese things cost less and the cup holders are more conveniently located.
We are witnessing an end to American idealism and individualism — and perversely this is all in the name of diversity. Even Pravda laments the loss of American freedoms in the face of this bureaucratic socialist onslaught that is taking our land, our cars, and our motorcycles:
It must be said, that like the breaking of a great dam, the American decent into Marxism is happening with breath taking speed, against the back drop of a passive, hapless sheeple, excuse me dear reader, I meant people.
Never before have we seen the level of government meddling we witness now on a daily basis. No pursuit is too small to be regulated for our own good — see this article on Federal regulation of garage sales. Yes, our love of the automobile is dead, and there are millions of people in this country — people who lack imagination, guts, character, honesty, and integrity — who are glad to see it go.
But I am not one of those people. I am not one who is happy to see honest Americans barred from our own public lands. I am not one who is happy to see an overgrown toy regulation agency given total control over motorcycles. I am not one who wants to see a President who has never held an honest job now guiding an entire industry with the help of a cadre of unelected buffoons.
But that is what we have. As O’Rourke says, it’s time to put a bullet in the V-8.
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Over at Motocross Action Magazine Jody Wiesel is again raising the spectre of a 1-Moto format for the MX Nationals. In typical Wiesel style, Jody fires a shotgun blast in the general direction of something that has made him angry and answers some purported questions from a reader regarding the Glen Helen National. Here’s the relevant excerpt:
(3) Why did the [Glen Helen] race last into the evening? If I was a conspiracy theorist I’d say that the sanctioning body, which really wants to go to a one-moto format, was sabotaging the race program to make it look like the only way they could get through the day was if they went to one moto. However, not being a conspiracy theorist, I don’t believe that this is what they are doing. They have just bit off more than they can chew. The schedule needs to be streamlined. Everyone knew that it was too long and too prone to delays — almost everyone that is. I’d estimate that by the start of the second round of motos that half the crowd headed for the gates. That is not a rousing approval rating of your entertainment package or race schedule.
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Is this a prelude to putting the 2-stroke back into the MX Nationals in 2010? The announcement at Racer X is the latest in a string of small things that all add up to growing momentum for a 2-stroke resurgence on the Pro scene.
It’s just my speculation at this point, but MX Sports has announced the 2-Stroke Invitational to run at select rounds of the 2009 National series, including:
There is a lot of speculation about whether or not we will see 2-strokes put back on an equal footing for professional racing in 2010. The renaming of the racing classes to 250 and 450, various favorable comments by MX Sports and AMA Nationals guy Davey Coombs, the resurgence of 2-stroke events in Europe, and now a 2-stroke exhibition class at select MX Nationals. Can this be a way to gauge fan and rider interest and build a case for going against the wishes of the Big Four in 2010? We’ll see…
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The new site is live. I tried to keep it simple and make it easier to use:
My webmaster and I have been working for a while on getting everything ready. Moving a site to a new platform and a new host without breaking things is tough, but I think we’ve managed it.
Try it out. Post a comment here and let me know what else you’d like to see or if you find any glitches. We’ll be cleaning things up for a few days yet.
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There is some fantastic news out yesterday — Jason Weigandt and David Bailey will be 2/3 of the broadcast team for SPEED TV coverage of the outdoor MX Nationals!
I have been wondering if we were going to have to suffer through another season of Ralph “Monster Truck” Sheheen — bless his heart. I know he tries, and maybe he’s a good choice for Supercross. Maybe the average viewer for SX doesn’t know a whoop from tailwhip and needs the sort of hyperbole and overdramatization that Sheheen is so good at. But it just rubs me the wrong way. I can’t help it.
Bailey is the best MX color man ever, hands down. Despain/Bailey may have been the best on-air team ever. Emig is good, and has gotten better with experience. But Bailey is Numero Uno and it’s terrific to see him get another shot at a full-time TV gig.
Weigandt? The kid is terrific. He loves this stuff. He knows it inside and out. He knows when there is real drama on the track, and when there isn’t. He doesn’t have to make it up. It’s like having the world’s biggest fan doing the play-by-play. And that is a good thing. Plus, he’s a helluva play-by-play guy. His SX webcasts are first rate. He’s real talent and I am so happy to see him get a shot at big network (well, bigger than Versus) TV. It will make everything about the broadcasts better.
I am “super pumped” about the Nationals. DC, MX Sports — you guys are the best. Way to go!
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Received word today that Richie Vallandingham of Missouri passed away yesterday due to heart failure. Richie was out riding at a local track with his son.
I met Richie face-to-face on several occasions and chatted with him frequently via vintage racing message boards. He was one of those rare people that you just know right away is a really good guy and you like him.
Richie had a history of heart problems, but he insisted on living life to the fullest. He was an example for all of us, and I will miss him. My condolences to his son Garret and wife Teresa. Godspeed Richie.
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Posts are a little slow of late. MuddyWatersMX.net is undergoing transition to a new technology platform and I’m working on a few other things. Converting all the articles and posts is a bit of a job so until I get them all done I’ll be limiting the new material. But stay tuned. The new site will eliminate the need for you to create an account to post comments, give you more flexibility in using the site, and be better for search engines so you can find things easier.
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If you’re an MX fan, real MX — 2-minute laps, turns that not 180-degrees, off-cambers, uphills, downhills, simple things like that — you owe it to yourself to check out the freecaster.tv live coverage of the MX GPs. It’s really teriffic — great technical quality, nice user interface, and solid overall experience. SPEED TV, are you watching???
Oh, they have archives too, if you can’t catch the race live. But watching it live is very good.
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I rode my first motorcycle at 5 years old, sitting behind my Dad on his ElectraGlide. I learned to ride on my own courtesy of Briggs & Stratton. At 12 I bought my first "real" motorcycle - a red SL70 - with paper route money. Today I still ride old bikes and air-cooled V-Twins (just not Harleys.)
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