Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1037465
IN THE WIND P32 GETTING TUNED UP FOR CHILE ISDE T he teams have been picked. Race bikes and supplies are on their way. Riding gear is being assembled. It's getting down to crunch time for the 93rd FIM Inter- national Six Days Enduro (ISDE) in Viña del Mar, Chile, next month. Part of that preparation included the annual U.S. ISDE Training Camp, held this year in the SoCal high desert, for the U.S. World Trophy (Zach Bell, Taylor Robert, Kailub Russell and Ryan Sipes), Junior World Trophy (Grant Baylor, Ben Kelley and Josh Toth) and Women's World Trophy (Tarah Gei- ger, Brandy Richards and Becca Sheets) teams. (Due to injury or conflicting events, Russell and Sipes were unable to attend.) In addition, Eric Cleveland Memorial Club team rider Ryan Smith and Mexico Junior World Trophy team rider Eric Yorba took part to repay their efforts in laying out the four practice special tests. Each year, U.S. World Trophy Team Manager Antti Kallonen selects a venue for the camp that replicates as closely as possible the area where the upcoming ISDE's special tests will be held. This year, he chose a sandy area near Adelanto, California, and a dry, hard-packed site in Menifee. After visiting Chile last year to do some riding, Robert believed the training camp sites met the goal perfectly: "The two areas we've done the training camp at have been super-similar to what I saw in Chile." Each year also, Kallonen incorporates different things based on mistakes made during Six Days or areas he felt could use improvement. As a result, this year he put more emphasis on bike maintenance and how to perform different tasks the most efficient way possible like changing clutches, replacing the shock and swapping a foot peg. It wasn't all about changing tires, though that remained a vital part, especially for newcomer Bell who was bombard- ed with information. "We have a lot of people [on the team] who have a lot of knowledge and I've taken as much as I can. It's a little tough for me because I'm not good at it yet, but I'm working hard, too," he said. And so will the rest of the team between now and November 12- 17 in Chile. Mark Kariya Half of the training camp focused on riding, of course, with Junior World Trophy rider Ben Kelley and the others getting used to desert sand that some of the special tests in Chile will feature. Clutches could get worked and need replacement in Chile so it'll be important to know how to change them during the work periods. Here, Zach Bell practices with technicians Charles Marchant (left) and Michael Thompson advising and providing tools while team manager Antti Kallonen videos. (Due to windy conditions, many opted to wear goggles during this time.)