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 | 3/24~29/09 NOHVCC Annual Conference Report - Houston, TX |  |
Tawmass
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| Joined: 07 Jun 2004 |
| Posts: 7985 |
| Location: Hillsburrito, OR |
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 Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2009 2:46 pm |
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It was a hasty exit out of the Great Northwet, but I was looking forward to the warmer weather of Houston, Texas. Last year’s annual NOHVCC Conference was in Albuquerque, New Mexico and this year was in Houston. After a long flight, I finally got into the Crowne Plaza Hotel after midnight and my roommate was already snoozing. We had a very busy week (below). If you would like to see more details of the Conference, CLICK HERE.
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CONFERENCE ACTIVITIES & TRAINING AT A GLANCE
Tuesday – March 24
•Pre-Conference Ride
•Motorcycle and ATV Sound Measurement – Training
•ASI ATV Safety training Course
Wednesday – March 25
•Pre-Conference Ride
•Motorcycle and ATV Sound Measurement – Training
•Tread Lightly!® Tread Trainer - Training
•NOHVCC Board of Directors Meeting
•ASI ATV Safety training Course
•NAOPM Annual Meeting
•Forest Service OHV Meeting
Thursday – March 26
•National Assn. of OHV Program Managers –
•NOHVCC Representatives Orientation Session
•Welcome Dinner
Friday – March 27
•National Assn. of OHV Program Managers – Day Two
•NOHVCC Annual Conference – Day One
Saturday – March 28
•NOHVCC Annual Conference – Day Two
•NOHVCC Celebration Dinner and Awards
Sunday – March 29
•NOHVCC Annual Conference - Day Three |
At 6:30am the wakeup call had me and my roommate (Bill Haas from Rhode Island) both groaning and yawning. This was Tuesday and the pre-conference ride. The locals had organized a ride in the Sam Houston National Forest complete with ATVs and bikes. After the coffee and greetings, everyone lined up for the shuttle out to the staging area. That’s about the time I caught up with AMA’s Nick Harris and the New Jersey NOHVCC rep, JP. Nick had a rental car and invited me to head out to the staging area with him and JP and I of course jumped on it. I had just seen Nick at the Olympia WOHVA Rally just a couple weeks prior. Nick’s a wild and crazy guy and drives equally so! I was wide eyed all the way out there!
 
Once there everyone was milling around and the local forest OHV ranger, Steve Thomas, called up a rider’s meeting and organized everyone into groups by vehicle and skill level. I of course opted for the expert motorbike group, which was led by a local fast guy I surprised to see – Mary Howell. When I was on my Baja trip two years ago, I happened to meet Marty at Mike’s Sky Rancho – what a small world! I then needed to choose a bike and was talking with Bill Reed and Mike Pinkerton from West Virginia (home of the Hatfield-McCoy Trail System). It turns out that Bill (pronounced Beeyull) is a Husaberg dealer (IROC) back in WV and had two 2008 and two 2009 bikes available. I was told to hop on the ’08 450 and jumped at the chance. As it turned out I was the only expert rider in the group as Marty took off, then me, then Doug Holmes from Amarillo. I know better than to try to hang with locals (at least at first), but not more than a half mile from the start I flew over a jump and realized there were deep ruts on the other side, cross rutted and hit a small tree with my right throttle hand (no hand guards!), when then bounced me to the opposite side of the trail! I slowly came to a stop without bailing as Doug had a front-row seat. Holy moley, that woke me up and I have no clue how I saved it! We had a big laugh and continued on chasing Marty. A few miles up the trail had us and about 20 bikes and ATVs stopping at a newly-build bridge that Cam Lockwood educated everyone about. The bridge was built in a modular design with bolt-on fiberglass beams and had a 40-year lifespan. Plus if any section became damaged (like a tree falling on it), all you had to do was replace the damaged part by bolting on a new section – nice!
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Testing the 2009 Husaberg 570 - Time For A Change.
We flat railed a 20-mile loop where Marty had us freight training the fairly tight and technical trails. Once finished, we headed back to the staging area, and then Bill wanted me to take the ’09 Berg 570 out for a spin. He didn’t have to twist my arm! This scoot was the newly designed engine that had the motor relocated and the cylinder in a more forward position. Holy smoke, this bike was night and day different than the ’08 version! I loved this thing! I recently acquired a 2009 KTM 300 XCW and am really digging getting back on a lighter two stroker, but the big 570 was a thing of beauty! Once I adjusted the suspenders to be in the ballpark, I loved it! I was amazed at how flickable it was back and forth on the tighter trails and the motor was so torquey and smooth! Clearly Husaberg really hit a home run with these new machines and will sell every one of them.
 
What’s sweet!
• It handles great! Though it weighs a claimed dry weight of around 250 pounds, it truly flicks side-to-side almost like my 300! The tight Texas trails that we threw at it created no obstacles for the mighty thumper.
• It looks and sounds cool! It emits a quiet exhaust note (my calibrated ear drums say around 96db) and has lines that are very aesthetic. The hubs, triple clamps and other bits and pieces of the bike are a work of art. With the newly designed mill, this baby is an attention getter!
• It is extremely improved over the 2008 model. The ’08 seemed much more lethargic compared to the new one. Although the ’08 had a great mill, it was rather aggressive in its power delivery, while the ’09 was almost electric and more controllable. I’m quite sure the new EFI had a major factor in that. In fact, I only stalled it twice, but that was due to my being a tad over zealous on the rear binders.
• The new brakes are much improved over the old ones and are a simple one-finger affair for the front.
• The new motor is set up so you can easily dissect the engine cases and repair any internal parts if needed, since most of the rotating mass is more exposed.
• The rear subframe is non metal and one solid unit consisting of mainly the gas tank. How would a larger tank fit onto the bike? No idea, but the lower center of gravity for the gas location no doubt adds to the great handling.
• No rear linkage, just like it’s sister company, KTM. That means no extra linkage to maintain.
• Niceties: a metal skidplate, a light and smooth hydraulic clutch, and a smooth and well-spaced 6-speed tranny. The seat was designed well too, so that it was very easy to slide fore and aft when needed.
• The air filter sits just under the front of the seat and is extremely easy to access. Just unsnap and remove the seat and voila – there’s the big air filter. Another advantage to the location is that it is higher from the ground and should get less dust.
What needs improved:
I honestly tried to find something I didn’t like about the big ‘Berg and I could only come up with the following:
• The intake drone emanating from under the seat/tank combo was very loud. It was definitely noticeable when you grabbed a handful of gas.
• The seat is low… and hard (ala KTM). I know, I know, you’re supposed to be standing up when you’re riding, but those times when you don’t, the seat isn’t that comfortable.
• There needs to be some sort of bushing or flat-plastic washer between the throttle grip and the throttle housing. It may just be a case that I squeeze the grips inward, but I could feel the friction between the two, which made for resistance when rolling the throttle.
 
Unfortunately I wasn’t able to ride the 450, which is merely a destroked version of the 570. The people that did ride the 450 said it felt exactly the same with slightly less torque and more electric. Did I like the big Husy? Heck yeah, and I give it a big thumbs up! Is it worth all the bank to buy one? That is up to you and your wallet, but if you want something that is ready to race or ride right out of the crate – you cannot go wrong with this machine. Husaberg will sell every one of these gems and if I was rich and famous like you, I’d definitely find a place for one of these babies in my garage! Many thanks to Bill Reed at IROC for letting me ride this bad boy! |
After the day’s ride, Nick, JP and I returned back to the hotel with an added passenger: the new and lovely AMA political connection Jessica Irving. In fact, that was her first ride ever on an ATV and she was stoked! We all got cleaned up and went out to a steakhouse for dinner where Jessica fell for the sign that said, “Free Steaks Tomorrow!” We had such a kick out of that, that we noticed the same type sign across the parking lot at Joe’s Crab Shop. A few drinks later and it was time to hit the hay.
 
Wednesday morning had the Board of Director’s Meeting rolling at 8am. This was also another day’s preconference ride, but since I was on the BoD, I wasn’t able to partake. We went through the necessary issues at hand and actually finished at a respectable time in the early afternoon. During the meeting, poor Mike Pinkerton spilled his juice on a laptop and had to buddy up with a hair dryer.
 
After the BoD Meeting, Mark Mitchell (who works at Speed) connected up with an old buddy of his from his Cycle News days who invited him out to the historic Rio Bravo MX Track. Mark then invited Bill, Mike and I to go along too, since Bill had the four Husabergs. Nice – we got to go ride after all!
 
We eventually GPS’d our way to the track and met up with the owners Danny and Daryl, who are two of the greatest guys you’d ever meet! Southern hospitality ran rampant as they offered up their MX facilities to us, along with some Texas chili dogs and fluids at the end of the day. We pulled out the ‘Bergs and commenced to doing some laps around the legendary track. Not having done much MX, I’m a squid over big jumps but was digging the track nonetheless. Of course I had to pull out my camera and had everyone take their turn over a small table top. At one point, Mike gassed it around the turn before the jump, but slid out a bit, then got sideways in the air. Having only one arm, he wasn’t really able to correct things upon landing and had a big soil sample into the hard Texas dirt. Fortunately he was fine and just had the wind knocked out of him, thankfully. We all had a big laugh and continued riding afterwards. FYI, even though he has one arm, he has more desire, skill and heart than any three of us – Mike rocks!
 
 
Another local showed up, Otis, and he then led all of us around the recent GP course, which was basically a narrow trials course. Wow, was this a blast and lasted for almost eight miles! Eventually it started to get dark and looked like impending rain, so we headed back to the truck and started to load things up, amidst chili dogs and our favorite liquids. Another bud of Mark's, JP, showed up too. We timed it perfect, since after we bid farewell to our new friends, the bottom opened up in the clouds and started to rain like a cow peeing on a flat rock!
We made it back to the hotel and got cleaned up, then headed out for some dinner. The democratic consensus was to go have a steak dinner at (ahem) Rick’s Gentleman’s Club across the block. It was a good night of great food, appreciation of fine art and the lovely Candice’s company.
Come Thursday morning it was time to get to work and do the normal Conference agenda sessions. There was the typical plethora of OHV heavy hitters from across the USA, but this year had a big contingent from our neighbors to the North in Canada. We also had Gudmund Olaffson from Iceland!
That evening was the Conference greeting session and it was yet another great time of introductions, discussions and bench racing.
 
Friday morning began more Conference sessions of different presentation topics that mattered to everyone, in fact it’s difficult when two sessions are scheduled at the same time and you want to attend both!
Mark, Bill, Mike and I again broke out early and went to the NHRA Drag Racing Qualifiers just out of Houston. Wow, it has been many, many years since I’ve been to the drags and it was nothing short of exhilarating! And I was glad I brought earplugs – it was freaking loud! It really caught us off guard in fact. We were walking up the bleachers to our assigned seats, when one of the cars did a burnout to warm up the tires – it surprised the heck out of us, and when we got to our seats, we all looked at each other and yelled, “Holy @#$%!!!” and immediately inserted our ear plugs! The sound just shook us like a leaf in a tree! Poor Mark didn’t have any plugs, so we made do by splitting a few in half. We watched some races, then there was a break and Bill suggested we hit the pits and watch the teams completely disassemble and rebuild a blown motor within the 70-minute break. Unreal that they could do that, but they did! Suddenly the skies turned VERY dark and the rains commenced to pummeling everything and we ran to the truck, but it was raining so hard we all got completely soaked! Crazy Gulf weather!
We got back to the hotel and (after dinner) a bunch of us later gathered in Heidi Annau’s room and watched some videos. I pulled out my new DVD from Danny at Rio Bravo MX called, “One Chance To Win”, which was a great flick covering the 1975 500cc MX National Series, where there was ONLY five events – great entertainment, drinks and people! We had to get the hotel TV repair dude to fix the connections first – check out his look!
 
 
 
Saturday morning had us all again concentrating on the various sessions to help educate and communicate the important things we can all take back to our respective states that will hopefully OHV awareness and use.
Saturday night is always the big dinner, awards, tributes, auction and even roastings, and this year was no different. A card was passed around for Alabama’s Glen Myers who was retiring, though he would still be involved with NOHVCC. Mona Ehnes got a well-deserved Lifetime Achievement Award. Then it was time for the auction, where Montana’s Bruce Butler is in his element! Up to join him was Gary Prewitt from Eastern Washington. I bid on David Knight’s #1 GNCC plate from last year, but chickened out at $175! (yes, it went for more than that) At the end of the auction I did score a Team USA ISDE Jacket from 2007, a Hatfield-McCoy Trails t-shirt and a set of CR hi-bend Renthal bars for my KTM. And the money of course went to a great cause.
 
 
 
Afterwards everyone seemed to funnel into Dan Kleen’s penthouse room, which was huge! You see, this group of people work hard, plus play hard, and we commenced to playing pretty hard. Captain Morgan was broken out and everyone assumed the position.
 
 
Unfortunately I had to fly back home early in the morning, so was unable to partake in Sunday’s summaries, but the Conference was again extremely valuable, educational and an incredible networking of like-minded individuals. I can’t wait until next year! Major props to my Texas NOHVCC Partners who did all the hard work to allow everyone to come enjoy their great state! Also, I have some sweet helmet-cam video, of which I need to finish, then I'll post back here!
Note: the airlines lost my riding-gear luggage coming home. Last year they lost it going down and I had to borrow gear. And you won’t believe this; they delivered my lost gear bag at 3:30AM Monday morn! I was not amused.
-Tom
Note: click on my name above to see the complete set of pix.
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Last edited by Tawmass on Fri Apr 10, 2009 8:29 am; edited 4 times in total
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