WICH FUEL ?

after riding the practice with high octane, i went back to pump gas to compare. of course the altitude in Colorado Springs isn't the same, so we drained, put again some 112, drained again tried different fuel cocktails. Damn the bike felt so fast in the city compare to the mountain.

DEVIL S PLAYGROUND

the beginning of the top section offers big fast curves. that's something.

JOE KOPP TRIUMPH

Legendary Racer Joe Kopp was racing this strange but interesting Triumph on the exhibition class.

PPIHC PRACTICE DAY 2

Day #2, we practice on the middle section while the cars are on top or bottom section. i thought i was more confident in the dirt, but i actually did love the asphalt section. the only prob is that i'm the only one to race a 60's stock engine and gearing, and it misses some hp for sure. 

Bill Brokaw, organiser, and Trial National hero back in the 60's and 70's, i'd like to know more of his racing stories in Europe back in the days.

HAPPY

1st RUN

we practice section by section. day#1 : Bottom section. first run i lose a piece of my kickstart due to high vibrations, second run i get off on "Engineers corner" straight into the trees 3 meters down ! i'll have to finish the week with a bended bar and a broken front brake lever...but no more crashes on the programm for the rest of the week.

PPIHC PRACTICE DAY 1

Practice starts at 5.30am till 9.30am. riders have to be in the pits at 4 am ! it's damn early but when the sun
comes up on the mountain it's just unreal.

PPIHC TECH INSPECTION

"i haven't seen drum brakes since a long time !" said tech inspector.

LAST CHECK

i wasn't really early on the planning, but the organisation was strict on the fact that the bike needs to be clean and shiny. well that's not usually the case of mine, so we stopped by a carwash to clean the dirt from
Catalina. i haven't washed the bike since.

The Triumph is basically the same as for the Catalina GP, just changed tires, bar and add a front brake.
a quick test ride on the parking to check how it runs with the altitude....not that bad, for the moment down in Colorado Springs.

FOUR ACES CYCLE

Wes White from Four Aces Cycle is helping me in the O.S.F.A project.
he keep the bike at the shop and worked on it to make it ready for Pikes Peak.
new bar, new tires, he added a front brake, all the oil changes, new sparks and spark plugs and new sealings for the Ceriani fork. well the Trump was well taken care of and i thanks much Wes for his help.
he's a real cool guy and speaks a little bit of French.

LAST CALL

Tuesday 30th was an epic day. till the very last minute i didn't know if i was gonna make it or not.

©Dimitri Coste

i had to drop off my Triumph in Wilmington before 8pm otherwise i would have been disqualified for the race. wahh such a sketchy situation. i'm shipping my bike all the way from France and i may miss the event. after lots of phone talk we finally drove to the airport with Phil Toselli. after long wait we finally had the bike and left the airport at 7.23pm. got there at 7.54, but i still needed to uncrate the bike and also put it back on wheels. as i was the very last racer to register, i was very welcome and everybody was stoked. such a good moment. i spotted Kyio's Cub and Yoshi's Yamaha, and a beautiful 40's HD hillclimber.

©Le Admiral

©Le Admiral

Kiyo 's Cub

i stopped by Garage Company yesterday eve, Yoshi & Kyio where working on finishing their bikes for Catalina. and i was so stoked when i saw what they'll be riding !
my man Pommier talked to me about Kyio's Tiger Cub, but let me tell you this is one of the sweetest bike
i've ever seen and for sure my favorite Cub of all time.
u'll get some more images lil later.

COUPES MOTO LEGENDE 2010

My Brother Jerome, my Dad and i were racing in Dijon-Prenois last week end for "Les Coupes Moto Legende". all bikes ran well, and we had a very cool week end. you can check a cool report on the Southsiders MC 's blog, and here are the few photos i shot during the roarring week-end.

both photos above © Nathaniel Irthum

photos ©Dimitri Coste