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REPORTS FROM THAG Webposted Feb 20, 2007 Seattle, WA Overall Destruction To wrap up the destruction this year. 1. Wheel bearing on the big trailer 2. One Destroyed and abandoned in Edson small trailer. Most of the contents were salvaged but we did loose a bit of food. (Note to Bobby, didn't even have your tent along but perhaps next year. :-) 3. Spent two hours digging out the big trailer and then another hour or so digging out the rental u-haul so we could drive it out of the yard. It's a long story. 4. One broken rear wheel and one broken engine case on Brian's WR 450 5. One very damaged motor on the KTM 525 6. the force required to flip the small trailer actually bent the 2 inch square steel reciever hitch on Brian's truck. Fortunately I had a spare. 7. The force to spin the big trailer, bent the trailer coupler enough so that we are currently unable to pull the hitch ball out of the coupler. Need to replace that as well. One icehole down with messed up knee One icehole limited by ongoing hip issues ***** KTM is dead Brett came in on the crash truck with the KTM right around the 23 hour mark. The engine sounds like someone is banging around inside it with a metal hammer. Not good. Hopefully it's still under warrenty. We are done. Finishing spots are. KTM 4th in class WR 10th in class (possibly lower) No clue about the other bikes as then were really only used for practice or as a replacement. ***** Dawn comes The backup WR is getting occasional laps when Briggs feels up to riding and can go out on it. Woj is also doing a shift or two this morning but limited duty because he is also running on the KTM. I'm a little hazy because I was asleep for part of this and only semi awake for the best but apparently Tony also got injured a little at some point. The decision was made to push the KTM forward as best we could with the riders available. Tyler, Michael Dill, Brett, and Woj are running the KTM. It's in a solid 4th in class, but is 10 laps behind the 3rd place bike. Not gonna catch them. Nobody is even thinking about running the red eye bike. I personally am still not sure which way is up so I'm not riding anything. Briggs is having a ball and getting some good ice time. The course had to be re-routed in major sections because of water coming up through the ice. There is no danger of breakage, but the water gets splashed up on the bike and then freezes. This causes problems. ***** Midnight is nice, it's that 4:00 AM stuff that is tough We are starting to run out of riders. The WR team, in addition to have broken, rather badly, our race bike is now down to three riders for the night shift. Tim crashed on the bike and tweaked his back. He is ok if he is standing up but sitting down is uncomfortable. Should be a fun ride back to Seattle for him. Brian isn't feeling so good, he threw up a bit and is taking a bit of a rest to hopefully get through whatever is wrong with him. That leaves Woj, Briggs, and myself to keep the bike going. This isn't too bad during the day when you are generally awake but at night, three people makes for tough sledding. 1 person is riding the bike 1 person is getting ready to ride the bike 1 person is 'resting' The problem is that we are doing roughly 1 hour shifts. So you really only have 1 hour where you have a chance to sleep before you are getting ready to ride the bike. That's not enough time to get any real rest. Around 3:00 AM I was at my breaking point on my shift. Having a combined eight hours of sleep in the previous three days along with the significant physical activity of racing, was taking it's toll on me. I was so tired I had tried to cut through a piece of dinner with a fork rather than a knife because I didn't realize I hadn't switched utensiles. By 4:00 I had to stop riding and get some rest, with this leaving the team with only two riders. The KTM team is having similar issues. Pan thought that part of the track was a long straight followed by a gentle turn when it was really a long straight followed by a super tight corner. He augered into a snow bank at probably 70 MPH and really really did something bad to his knee. His first comment was that he thought he broke it but it's more likely that he damaged some ligaments. He is done riding. ***** Late Race updates WR was running great during my 7:30 shift. Traction was amazing and the suspension setup, whatever it was, was perfect for the conditions. I actually PASSED the our KTM 525 and was feeling really good. I knew something had to go wrong. I felt a bit of a shudder on my fourth lap and thought that I should probably not do a fifth lap and come in, even though I was very much in the groove. Next corner. BIG BANG and something smacks against my left boot. Clutch in, rear brake on and locked and I pull off the racing line. The rear wheel hub has broken and the sprocket has come loose. This caused the chain to come off and fling itself into the engine case. This sheared off the shift lever hard enough that the shift shaft is bent and there is now a hole in the engine case. I spend the next 40 minutes walking in circles around the bike on the ice trying to keep warm, watching the oil leak out of the bike waiting for the crash truck to come pick me up. By the time I return Tony's WR has been prepped for duty and we take a mandatory 1 hour penalty for switching bikes. The WR is dead. GONADS AND STRIFE Webposted Feb 16, 2007 Seattle, WA The IceHoles left yesterday morning for another assault on the Great White North: 2 big trucks pulling trailers, and a eurovan. The little trailer blew a tire en route to breakfast, but they managed to make the tire swap happen in little time and breakfast was had by all. Everyone made it through the border. The big trailer smoked one of 4 wheel bearings in Merrit, but those boys were able to replace the bearing in the parking lot of a Canadian Tire with little delay. The weather has been typically blizzardy and icy, which caught up with our trailer pullers about 300km outside of Edmonton, where the big trailer slid and was buried into a ditch, while some 50km beyond the little trailer rolled through a ditch - yard-saling all of it's contents (except for Brian's expertly-lashed in bike, which aside from broken plastics akin to a typical Belfair ride is ok) across the freeway, all happening in the early morning hours when they should have been pleasantly resting up for setup day at the lake. The little trailer has already been claimed by a trailer salvage yard, and it's salvageable contents have been fetched via u-haul trailer and brought to the lake. The big trailer had to be extracted from the ditch but is more-or-less ok and has also made it to the lake. Original reports of the fortress of holeitude being minorly destroyed during the mishap have been updated by our man on the lake Todd Kalamar - only a couple of the poles were destroyed after all. The rental u-haul truck, which was (as has always been) prearranged as extra shelter for the team, had to be dug out from the "rental lot" and physically pushed through snow drifts to the highway. The team arrived at the lake about 7 hours later than planned (the gal at the gate even commented on the teams lateness, as we've typically been the first ones to the lake) at about 4pm, but the tents are now set up, the kitchen is going, it's a balmy 43 degrees and dropping, there's about 6 inches of snow on top of the ice, the bikes are lapping with newbies Briggs Willoughby and Michael Dill getting acclimated to the sweet sweet feeling of off-the-throttle ass-sliding, and the whole team is putting the tribulations and comedy-of-errors of the journey behind them and are eagerly looking forward to a great event. Suprisingly, 11 other teams have already set up their pits as well, taking notes from the IceHoles of yore apparently, as typically we're the only ones there until late friday night - it's looking to be a great turnout. Stay tuned! 2006 ICEHOLES FUNDRAISER PARTY Webposted November 15th, 2006 Seattle, WA  WOOD! Webposted Feb 24, 2006 Seattle, WA The IceHoles Place 3RD on the KTM 525! More to come, stay tuned! THANK YOU! Webposted Dec 5, 2005 Seattle, WA The IceHoles would like to thank all of those attending our Fundraiser Party, it's always great to see so many folks supporting our quest for glory each year. We'd especially like to thank Heartbreak U.S.A. and Kings of Rock for playing great sets and lighting up the crowd, and of course a special thank you to our sponsors for all the great shwag that many happy folks walked away with. We'll have pictures posted ASAP. Fundraiser Party Webposted Nov 23, 2005 Seattle, WA Please join the IceHoles in preparing for our 6th year of competition in the World Endurance Ice Racing Championships by drinking heavily, eating heartily, and rocking out to Heartbreak U.S.A. and Kings of Rock. Saturday, December 3rd 2005 5:00pm until 2:00am (*the* place to be after the Seattle International Motorcycle Show) SmartyPants 6017 Airport Way S, Seattle, WA 98108 The Finish! Webposted Feb 20, 2005 Seattle, WA According to our operatives, the KTM finished 4th in Middleweight! Congratulations guys! More news as it comes in. Attrition - 5:22AM Webposted Feb 20, 2005 Seattle, WA "Two down. one to go. oil makes the fishes glow. the drz is toast. at the 11k mark with valdezian oil spillage. More to follow. skip the women. send money." Sleepy time news - SMS Webposted Feb 20, 2005 Seattle, WA "4:20am we're smokin. and the racing is going well also. one heater failed and dropped the temp to almost 75 [In the Icehole pit tent]. lucky we had another. Tim almost had to put on a coat." SMS - 12:28AM Webposted Feb 20, 2005 Seattle, WA "Ktm to 4th temp dropping send women" Update from Sparky's thumbs - race standings Webposted Feb 19, 2005 Seattle, WA - 8:15 PM "Ktm in 5th drz in 8th. next, global domination. jb welded case still curing, who needs a clutch anyway. Tyler is fast." SMS message from Sparky - First casualty Webposted Feb 19, 2005 Seattle, WA - 3:05 PM "Only 2 bikes left between us and heavy drinking. Chain 1 yzf 0. Maybe the jb weld will hold." The race begins! Webposted Feb 19, 2005 Seattle, WA - 1:20 PM Conditions were nearly ideal as the race started. With temperatures of 10-20F and lots of sun, our hangover heroes have all three bikes circulating. The first rider changes are under way and early reports are coming back on how the bikes are holding up. This year's course is 20.7 km with a "good layout." The KTM handles really well despite the little matter of the tires' steel sheet metal screws chewing through the exhaust -- nothing to worry about. There's a similar issue with clearance on the DRZ swingarm but it seems unlikely to cause a problem. For now, everyone is feeling good and enjoying the perfect weather. We'll see how things go as night falls and temperatures fall with it. ...and then there were 12 Webposted Feb 17, 2005 Seattle, WA - 11:30 PM Reports are trickling in from the frozen north. Our Meanwhile, the rest of the team is regrouping at the St. Albert hotel in Edmonton (the last of them should be there by about midnight Seattle time) where it is currently a brisk -20C. Tomorrow will find them up at the crack of 8 or 9AM or so when it will be time for the trek out to the lake and setting up the pits. With the forecast calling for sun tomorrow some lucky 'Holes may get to practice in the good weather. Thank you! Webposted Jan 20, 2005 Seattle, WA We would like to thank everyone who came out to our big fundraiser bash and made it such a success. We would thank you in person, except that we can't remember exactly who was there or very many other details for that matter. But we do know that we had a great time and brought in some much-needed cash and we think everybody else had a great time too. If you missed the party but would still like to help us out you can buy one of our new t-shirts. The Iceholes Fundraiser Party Jan 15th, 2005 at Smarty Pants in Georgetown Webposted Jan 5, 2005 Seattle, WA It's time for our fundraising party. It's a $10 cover charge to listen to Heartbreak USA, party with the Iceholes, and get your chance to score some swag donated by KTM, MC Works of Renton, Ricci Motorsports, I-90 Motorsports, Seattle Cycle Center, Mervin MFG, Totally Blown Glassworks, BBR Motorsports, Techstyles, University Honda Yamaha, Screwy Designs, and Eastside MotosportsWe're also auctioning a complete XBOX system with games. *Snowboards and Skateboard decks from Mervin Mfg (Lib Tech, Gnu, Super Natural) *A complete Xbox system that includes an Xbox console w/2 controllers AND the following games: Counter Strike, Mech Assault 2, Project Gotham Racing 2, Rallisport Challenge 2, Halo 2, Fable, Sudeki
Jan 15thSmarty Pants6017 Airport Way S. (Georgetown)206-762-4777
KTM renews Icehole sponsorship for 2005 KTM of North America, as thrilled with our 2004 results on their machine as we were with the machine itself, have once again stepped up to provide a fire-breathing orange beast for us to race. Sweet. FLASH! IceHoles get WOOD!! Webposted Feb 15, 2004 Seattle, WA Our intrepid 'Holes went the distance, running the full 24 hours. This year's effort garnered a 10th on the trusty XR400 and a 3rd place finish on the KTM200!!  Niko thanks our sponsors  Ed, the Iceholes' team cook, races the XR at dusk From IceHoles, with love Webposted Feb 14, 2004 Seattle, WA Our "crack" team of highly-trained ice racers has arrived in Edmonton and by last report was in good spirits. The pits have been set up and as of now, the race should be under way!! The weather shows a balmy -9C right now and the forecast looks good overnight. Good luck 'Holes! Update- The SMS transmission from Niko: iceholespiritatnearutopianstateofnirvana.the streetswillflowwiththebloodofthenonbelievers. happybirthdaymaura,weloveyou.kickingass,your friendlyneiborhoodiceholes. 
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Smarty Pants House of Horsepower Ricci Motorsports MicaPeak.com JML Management Seattle Cycle Center Trail Tech Georgetown Brewing Shinerbock Mervin Manufacturing Totally Blown Glassworks BBR Motorsports Techstyles Catalan Custom Metal Heartbreak, USA University Honda Yamaha Disc Makers I-90 Motorsports Eastside Motosports Screwy Designs Elmecco More Ways You Can Help | ||
Updated: Jan 20, 2005 |
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