ISDE Finland 2011 Day 5/6 and Recap

Well, I am still in shock about the whole event, it was a crazy and unbelievable experience. Day 5 was similar to day 4, but there was only a little bit of rain. I was so excited that it was almost over I was doing wheelies wherever I could! There was people standing on the back roads handing out Sunflowers and cheering for wheelies. High fiving the kids, while on a 5th gear sit down wheelie gets a little sketchy, but its well worth it, they loved it. Day 6 was the final moto, they broke the C3 class into two motos, a slower one, and a faster one. They put me in the faster one and I was up against some heavy Euro competition. I got a crappy 12th place start and started working my way back up. I was able to get up to fourth place by about the 3rd or 4th lap, it was a 7 lap moto. The front three guys were hauling and were way out from, so I pretty much settled into a groove in 4th. I am happy with the result. As far as overall goes, I ended up 10th place in the C3, was only 3 or 4 minutes out of a gold medal. I am pumped with a silver medal since it was my first Six Days. I dropped no trail points, which was gnarly because of how gnarly the race was. Jeff Fredette said it was one of the top 5 hardest Six Days he has ever done.

At the beginning of Six Days I didn't know how to ride mud and slop, I do now. I learned a ton here from all the experienced riders that attend the event, these dudes are gnarly. It has been an experience of a lifetime, which has made me tougher, and taught me a lot. I appreciate all of your support, thanks for everything. You guys are the best,

"Main Jet" Max Gerston

ISDE Finland 2011 Day Four

Day four, I wake up to Marsh saying "Lets Go Ridin", as he looks out the window at the relentless rain. As I get up it starts to sink in, here we go, another wet, muddy, sloppy, rainy ass day here in Kotka, Finland. I get my stuff together and head down to get some "food". I am still tired and sore from the past 3 days, but just as motivated to bust out the 4th rainy ass day. Eating is way harder just from the stresses of the racing, so I have to force some nasty shit down. I get my helmet, and a couple pairs of dry gloves from the room, and hop in the car. On the way to the race venue, I am dreading the fact that I am going to have to ride 200+ miles in the weather outside of the warm and fuzzy Ford Focus. The car is silent and all you can here is pouring rain when my dad says, "Don't touch the bike Marshall, don't touch the dam bike." He breaks out in laughter. I say, "What the Hell are you talking about Marsh?" Apparently, that was what I said when I was sleep-talking the night before. It pretty much rained the first and last two hours of the day, not to bad. I was able to stay on my minute all day, even when I realized I was missing a master link clip, and replaced it right before the check with seconds to spare. At the end of the day, we had a test section on a ski slope, it had foot deep rivers running down the ruts as we were going uphill...Gnarly. I busted out some major work to the bike in the last 15 minutes, and I am ready for bed tonight. Beraaaapp!

"Main Jet"

ISDE Finland 2011 Day Three!

Day three is officially over. Today was shorter than usual but don't worry, it was still miserable. When we woke up at 6:00 it was a little cloudy, then before the race it turned sunny! It looked to be a nice sunny day, but as soon as I started the motorcycle, it started raining, and it only stopped when I hit the kill switch for the last time at the end of the day. We covered around 240 kilometers, mostly dirt road. We had a couple fun special tests with a lot of sand, but a couple others with nasty wet rocks. We were pretty much riding in mud and ruts all day. At the end of the day I busted out a flawless tire change with time to spare. So the day went pretty good, I didn't drop any trail points, and I stayed smooth. I can't ask for ouch more than that! Thanks for reading,

Max Gerston

ISDE Finland 2011 Day Two!

Day number two is finally over. Today started off nasty! As soon as a started the race it began to downpour. I was soaked to the core and freezing by the time we got to the first test section, so I was a tight and uncomfortable on the bike. After a little while I began to get broken loose, and I was using my brain, instead of my muscles. Smooth lines and patience got me through the day. I continued to not drop and trail points today. I am pumped on that because this race is becoming a test of attrition. We road the exact same course as yesterday, minus a couple mud holes. I stayed focused and rode smooth today. I am very sore and beat, but everything went off without a hitch. Tomorrow is a new day and I'm ready to go. Lets do it!

"Main Jet" Max

ISDE Finland 2011 Day One!

Day one is officially in the books! We were hoping for epic conditions, but the weather gods apparently hate us this week. It has been cool and mellow weathered the whole last week, but this morning we wake up to a deluge! Everything that was gonna be fun, is now a test of will and attrition. Muddy rocks, mud holes and everything else. We rode about 180 miles, some road, mostly gnarly trails. It was extremely hard to stay on your minute because of the difficulty of the transfer sections. This being my first ISDE day ever, I was a little nervous but extremely excited. I was trying to just pick good lines and be smooth. I had a few problems, but somehow was able to stay on my minute and not drop any trail points. Dozens of racers earned speeding tickets as they were speeding through the streets of Finland, in attempt to try and make up time to stay on their minute. I was lucky enough to stay away from the cops. This is one of the few times I have actually gotten LUCKY with cops. As the race went on, fatigue set in, along with bad decisions. I got stuck in mud three times, got a branch between my rear wheel and my brake rotor, and went over the bars going up hill. Somehow I was able to relax and make to my checkpoint on time. At the end of the day I took full advantage of my 15 minute work period, and I changed a rear tire and made some other adjustments with time to spare. The results from today are up, and I am 10th in the C3 class, super pumped!!! I am also the top C3 club rider for the US!!! Pumped! I am tired and worn out from the day, so tonight will be doing a lot of eating, and preparing for tomorrow!! Thanks for reading! Feel free to ask questions! Thanks,

"Main Jet" Max Gerston

P.S. My mom will be posting pics at www.saycheesephotograghy.smugmug.com

ISDE Finland 2011

Today was pretty bitchin! I got to roll around with Brian Garrahan all day. The dude is intense, we drove around and walked tests, laughing the whole way. We went to a test that was close to the border of Russia, where there was some crazy old tanks, bunkers, hideouts, all from the Battle between Russia and Finland during WWII, it was crazy. This was all before we crossed the street, and began walking the test. The test was in the midst of battlefield, there was huge boulders blocking a hole in a big concrete wall for shooting out of. We will literally be riding directly through a battlefield, right around bunkers, 6' trenches, and hideouts...Gnarly. On the way home we proceeded to find 3 or 4 motocross tracks, and two or three rally car tracks, one of which Garrahan and I had to pin it around on the rental car for a little, kinda hard with traction control, that pissed us off. Big let down. We continued home, pulling off at every motocross track we saw, just like kids in a candy store, with severe cases of ADD. We made it home eventually, and went to opening ceremonies. They weren't too exciting, but it's super cool walking in front of a ton of people, with the fastest racers in the world surrounding you on all sides. Tomorrow is the final preparation day, then its game time. Thanks for reading,

Max Gerston

ISDE Finland 2011

Today was a good day. We woke up early and got to work. We got my motorcycle all finished up. This included putting Mousse tubes in the tires, Loctiting a million bolts, setting sag, etc...The bike runs extremely crisp and I am confident in my equipment. We also walked several of the test sections. One of them was reeeaaally rocky, it consisted of big planted boulders, and the other test was on a small ski slope. It consisted of some nice sand, loamy corners, and extremely steep hills. Both of the test sections were very short, but looked very fun as well. Tomorrow we will walk more test sections and probably ride and test out the bike. Look for more updates! Wooo Hoooo

ISDE Finland 2011

Today was cool and exciting! My dad and I helped everybody unload all the crates and stuff from the big huge container today. We also got my rented motorcycle, a KTM 300 EXC, the thing is badass. It comes with an orange frame, pipe guard, skid plate, quick axle pulse, disc guard, and the works, its pretty much factory bike. We set it all up with my bars and all that stuff, and I will post some pics of it up tomorrow. Tomorrow I will also start walking the track, I will give you another update then. Thanks,

Main Jet

ISDE Finland 2011

Arrived in Helsinki, Finland at 8:30 this morning. I have been up for about 30 hours straight trying to adjust to the 9 hour time difference. My dad and I made the hour and a half drive to Kotka, then we drove around in circles looking for our hotel for another hour or two. The search consisted of illegal U-turns, stopping on train tracks, wrong way on one-way streets, and eventually we rolled into the hotel parking lot. All of the Finish people have been extremely nice, and excited about everything. I am looking forward to some good sleep tonight thats for sure. Beraaaaaaap!