| EAST COAST SPEEDBALLS Newsletter Febraury 15 , 2003 |
| Hi Folks, Its once again 2:00am early Saturday morning & the alarm clocks becons this AARP ORV fanatic to get the heck out of bed & begin the 200+ miles to Frackville , Pa. . With snow & possible bad road conditions forecast for my northbound interstate travels today , I switched rigs & loaded my basic supplies & Grizzly onto my trusty 1995 Ford F-150 4x4 . I NEEDED this ride to get me READY for our GNCC race in Florida in two weeks ! So SNOW was NOT going to stop Speedy Racer from his semi-weekly jaunt across the mountains of Pa. , with a bunch of young bucks aboard thier sport quads doing thier best to tame & catch the elusive Grizzly thats roams these mountains in northeast Pa. HA! HA! So after warming up the F-150 4x4 & scraping the ice off the windshield , Speedy Racer turns up the volume on the radio & hits the " seek " button to find some tunes that will get this AARP body in the groove !!!! With a BIG smile spreading across my face & my body begining to gyrate to the music , Speedy Racer heads north to have some FUN!!!!!! YAHOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! The trip north goes fast & except for a few snow plows & some patches of blowing snow , the trip is uneventful & within four & one-half hours , I'm seated at Granny's sipping a cup of hot tea & reading the local newspaper. After filling my AARP belly with much needed energy suppling grub , I check into Motel 6 & get my riding gear on & await the arrival of the hardy souls who have decided to brave this VERY COLD weather , to join Speedy Racer for today's Great Adventure. A little after 8:00am , the sounds of Speedball's warming up thier quads , can be heard echoing from across the street. Shortly thereafter , Jim ( Crash ) & his freshly rebuilt 502EX joins me & begins to unload & get ready for todays ride. Upon rolling the Grizzly off the back of the truck & attempting to start the beast in this COLD weather , I find out that the ignition is FROZEN! This wouldn't have happened IF I'd had my trailer !!!! But the freesing mist from the snow & ice have the Grizzly sitting in the parking lot , looking like a big block of red ice! I've had this happen a few winter's ago , so I'm prepared & whip out my mini-micro torch & heat the key & oil being squirted into the tumblers of the ignition. Within 15 or 20 minutes the key turns & the Grizzly lets out a big growl & comes to life!!!!!!!!! LOL!!!!!!!!! Once Jim & I have warmed up our quads & dressed properly for the COLD , we ease across the parking lot & join the other Speedball's for today's Great Adventure. Mel's Raptor won't even attempt to start in this COLD weather ! Guess he needs his valves adjusted. When a four stroke starts ok in WARM weather & WON'T in VERY COLD weather , its a GOOD sign its time to have the valves adjusted! Especially the Yamaha 660 motors. Sometimes a fast tug in second gear will enable the quad to gain enough compression to start , so the Raptor is lashed to the Grizzly & off we go across the parking lot, HOPING we can breath life into this frozen quad??? At first NOTHING , but after a few pops & chug chugs , the Raptor roars to life!!!!!!! Now that all the quads are up & running , we are ready to head off out into the mountains towards Pottsville , Pa. & points beyond. Mike Yucha's is sporting new " sneakers " & should do much better in the snow today. Jim is using today to break in the 502EX's new motor to get ready for our GNCC race in Florida in two weeks. Marty & his fairly new Raptor is itching to hit the trail & Mel aboard his hard starting Raptor has decided to join us once again & blips the throttle a few times to signal all is a GO!!!!!! YEHAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!! Spirits are high as we blast out across the frozen trails for the first few miles , BUT are stopped DEAD in our tracks by a massive snow drift a few hundred yards before the steam pipes & access to the mountains. Speedy Racer & the Grizzly manages to plow a path through the snow drift , BUT the sport quads stand a good chance of NOT being able to traverse this snowy obstacle , so we head off in a new direction. With Jim's 502EX's steering stem showing some signs of coming loose( totally disassembled quad during rebuild) , we stop shortly at the trucks to make quick repairs & within minutes we are crossing Rt # 61 & headed out across the mountains in a southerly direction. |