Pike's Peak & HP2

Rapid Dog · 08-09-2007, 09:10 AM

You guys read about this?

Race to the Clouds:
BMW Competes in the Pike's Peak Hill Climb

SergioK · 08-09-2007, 03:10 PM

Sweet, thanks for posting it.

honard · 08-09-2007, 04:47 PM

sign me up

Rapid Dog · 08-14-2007, 08:56 AM

In case you didn't see this... PP Video...it scares the pants off me...
The camera rider looks to be possibly on an F800S?

John Lyon · 08-14-2007, 09:07 PM

Pretty cool video. Is it just me, or did he seem to be turning in way too early? Maybe, however, he had the rear hanging out in a full-lock, feet-up slide. In that case, the line was perfect. Hard to tell with a video.

jaylow · 09:31 PM

If you were talking about the above photo--- you're not going to find me second guessing Gary Trachy and his line selection on a course that he's won on more than a few times.

Sweet vid, amazing how fast the first rider just walked away. Looked like some of the groups rides I've been on. And no, I wasn't the one out front...

John Lyon · 08-14-2007, 09:31 PM

Dooh! -- just my luck. Well, he did blow at least one turn - swung way wide on the exit and had to cut the power. He is an excellent shifter, I'll say that.

Rapid Dog · 08-15-2007, 07:05 AM

...got any idea what he's riding?
I have to agree the line looked iffy, whoever the camera bike rider was, he was obviously not keeping up with what looked to be an HP that blew by on the starting line...

BMW Atlanta · 08-15-2007, 07:26 AM

pretty sure the camera is on an HP2 Megamoto. The yellow you see is the vinyl wrapped windshield just like the Megamoto in the pic above.

Peterr · 08-15-2007, 08:25 AM

If you download the full video it is titled "gordonuphill". Probably Gordon Mullavey #823 BMW HP2 13:25.9323.

bradzdotcom · bradzdotcom's Garage

i've done PP twice and there's absolutely NO way i'm picking on somebody else's lines on the way up. that ride to the top is total hairball. if you really blow a corner, it's so incredibly far down before you hit something...makes you one amazingly conservative rider.

the other part that was scary...with normally aspirated bikes, the altitude naturally made the bike run slower with less power as you traveled up, so when you got onto the faster dirt sections, you had less and less to work with.

it was also very hairy to practice. you only get a very few limited runs up the hill before the competition starts. oh...and tire selection....always a compromise. i always ended up with something that didn't work well on pavement or dirt, but did the chore all around, so you were constantly fighting traction regardless of the road surface.

overall, not something i'd want to ever do again. twice was enough. got away with it. not willing to "third time charm" it.

John Lyon · 08-15-2007, 10:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bradzdotcom

if you really blow a corner, it's so incredibly far down before you hit something...makes you one amazingly conservative rider.

That was sort of my point, Brad. Turning in early (if he is) may "seem" to be careful, but can easily cause you to go wide on the exit (not good).

I realize, however, that having never done it, its probably better to say nothing, plus its really hard to judge from a video. Although if we didn't have people saying stupid things, then this would be a rather boring place, no?

bradzdotcom · bradzdotcom's Garage

another thing i noticed was the audio in that clip. there were times going up that hill when you thought about how far it was off the edge. then you'd "re-focus", and either down-shift or clutch the thing and take off again.
it sounded to me like he did that at least a couple of times. one of those "get yer ***** together n' gas it" moments.

it's such a long way from bottom to top, and i found it really hard to stay focused on the riding, considering all the distractions....expecially when you start out and see clouds "way, way up there", and a few minutes later, find yourself riding through 'em.

pikes peak is one of those events like Isle of Mann.
might be fun, but......if it bites you big time, is anybody (including yourself) going to be surprised?

BMW Atlanta · 08-15-2007, 11:22 AM

It's definitely my kind of race with the right bike, so versatile. While I agree on the intitial turn in approach on a couple of those turns in the Vid leave ya scratching your head, it's really hard to put any real assessment on how to do it different unless you were the one riding the bike with camera.