End of year thoughts 2007

There’s no doubt about it, I really am pleased with what’s gone on in my first full year of racing.
I’ve done a fair few races and no matter what’s happened to me or the bike, I’ve managed to finish all of them.
The reliability of the TM has been unbelievable and so has my sheer determination (and sometimes stupidness!) to make it to the finish line. If I can match that sort of record this coming year, then I’ll be over the moon.

I concentrated mainly on the ORE sports 2 stroke champs because I thought I might have a decent chance of getting in the first 5. I had such good results in the early rounds that the lead I built up meant that as long as I finished the last few races without any mishaps, I’ve have enough points in the bag to win it outright.
The most pleasing aspect about winning that (and I’ve mentioned it before) is that most of the courses were very much of the motocross type which is not at all to my liking as I like ‘toughing’ it out in woods that are caked in mud and littered with tree roots. I mean you don’t get many enduro’s doing 25 laps a race do you? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not moaning about it, I’m just pleased I beat some motocross boys at their own game, and some of them 20 yrs younger than me!
I don’t know yet weather I’ll be doing all their rounds in 2008, haven’t made up my mind yet.

Tough races? Yes, there’s been a few I can tell ya. Combe sydenham, Rifton barton, Middleton court (all xmoor enduro club), Huntsham barton (ASW), Star hill (Track’n’trail), Smeartharpe (Little silver). Hats off and 3 cheers to those clubs that put on an event in sometimes atrocious conditions. It’s these sort of races that stick in your mind most and gives you more of a sense of achievement if you finish them. It also makes you admire the pure skill and ability of the top riders, decent bike control or what?
I might be wrong, but I do believe that when the going gets tough, it doesn’t matter what bike you’re on, weather it be a 125 or a 450, everyone’s on the same level. I do have to admit that I do like it when I pass a big 4 banger on my little zingy 125! (that’s probably going to get me in trouble now, I’ll have all you 4 stroke boys shouting obscenities out at me when I’m riding round).

Sometimes it’s been a bit knackering after only getting a few hours kip due to my gigs that I’ve had the night before, and with some events up to3 ½ hours drive away it meant i had to get up really early and set off to get there in time. My girlfriend has been fantastic being my ‘driver’ so I can grab an hours kip on the way up. Mind you that’s all changed now because she stays at home babysitting!

My biggest low point of the year came at Trewint on 2nd September at an ORE race. I had a big off (but still managed to carry on), the bike got damaged, I done my shoulder in, damaged my facial nerves, and still to this day, half of my top lip and gum is still numb from the accident. The bike cost me a fortune to get mended and I couldn’t do much in the way of exercise for a while. A few weeks later our baby was born (that’s a high point by the way) but the lack of exercise and now lack of sleep meant that I really struggled to race and this reflected in my results, I just couldn’t seem to get going properly. A few months down the line now and I’m starting to get fit again and getting more kip, thank god for that!

Well I’ve learnt a little bit more this year about riding a dirt bike and also met some nice folk along the way too. A big thanks to all those people that have helped me out in one way or another, I went mention names because I’m bound to miss someone out and then I’ll get slated for doing so!

I’m now going up to the big wide world of the clubman class or maybe the o40’s depending on which club is organising the event. I’d love to do a round (or maybe two) of the BEC just for the experience and who knows I might even have a little dabble at some motocross!

See you all in 2008

Smeartharpe- 29th December 2007

Bloomin nora, what an event this was!…………………………………………….

The previous couple of days it had been lashing down with rain so I thought to myself that this race could be a bit of a muddy one (that was an understatement) so I was looking forward to it as I love the mud and I always think that it’s a great leveller.
Arrived at smeartharpe moto park to be pleasantly surprised to find that the parking wasn’t in a field at all but in on a hardstanding concrete surface. What a result that was, that made a nice change, usually your fighting your way trying to steer in a straight line across some sodden grassy field just to get parked up!
The quads were already racing in their own event and it didn’t look pretty. Every rider was covered from head to toe in thick brown mud and judging by the state of the motocross track that was part of the course, the words ‘ we’re all going to get lagged’ sprang to mind. That coupled with a biting cold wind, things were going to be a bit tough today.
Parked up next to Steve Jose (story about him later) and also met Debbie, Mark and Richard Tucker who I had a chat with about various bike related aspects.

Got changed, done all the necessary and made sure I didn’t lock my keys in my van this time! And lined up ready for the sighting lap.
I was right, every inch of the motocross section was about 2ft deep with sludgy thick mud, one tiny mistake and off you slid into the stuff. There was a couple of table top jumps but you couldn’t get up enough speed to jump the buggers as you were sliding too much all over the show. The woods were boggy in places and a lot of riders were getting stuck which caused the usual mayhem, and this was just on the sighting lap! I made it back ok but it seemed like ages before the actual race got underway as I sat freezing my nuts off on the start line!
The flag dropped and I must admit it wasn’t one of my better starts but I made up a few places almost straight away until a rider in front ‘closed the door’ on me while I went for a gap on his outside and I went down like the Titanic straight into that thick mud, nice one! Half a lap gone and already one glove and one side of my bars covered in mud .
Into the wooded section and I passed quite a few riders that had got stuck, there were some lovely roots to make things even more tricky and 1 or 2 slippery little downhills, before going back out onto that gloopy motocross track to complete a lap which I reckon was about 5 miles long.
After about an hour into it, the spring on my gear lever broke which made gear shifting somewhat hit or miss, but nevertheless, I carried on. I pitted after about 1hr 40 mins, changed my ‘caked in mud’ gloves, wiped the bar down, and off I went again.
There was a rutted section in the woods that had become so deep then when you rode into it it was as high as the saddle! Took a bit of riding to get through that did, I bloody well got stuck in it once but luckily a couple of spectators came to my rescue with that one. There were a lot of riders taking a breather at this point just parked up or going round very slow due to tiredness.
Had a couple of ‘offs’ on the now almost impassable quagmire of a motocross track, it seemed like you were trying to ride through some sort of ‘fudge brownie mixture’! Big thanks to the marshal who helped me pick my bike up when I got buried in the stuff.
With about 30 mins to go I got a puncture on the front, the tyre was flat and the wheel was wobbling about a fair bit, but given the conditions with no hard ground at all, I decided to carry on and hope it wouldn’t come off the rim.
The last couple of laps I was almost going round in isolation as so many riders had pulled out due to it being so energy sapping or their bikes had simply ‘given up the ghost’, I must admit I was a bit ‘cream crackerd’ myself, but I was pleased to get another lap on the scoreboard with 10 mins to go and went on to finish.
Not really a technical course but due to it being cut up so badly and so much mud about, you didn’t really have any sort of breather on the bike as you were constantly trying to stay in control.

Steve Jose told me afterwards that he was so tired that he parked up in the pits halfway through the race and went and got a burger before carrying on! I thought that was a bloody cheek because the tight git didn’t get me one!

I was just about to go home when the mobile rung, it was Steve who told me that I’d come 2nd in the sports 2 stoke and there was a trophy to pick up. I was well pleased, and looking at the results, over 120 bikes started and there were over 70 dnf’s, yes that’s right over 70 dnf’s! Just goes to show how tough it was today, and with me having a broken gear lever and a front wheel puncture, I managed to finish and get a really good result to end the year with.



Finishing position: 2/43
Bike status: new handgaurds, gear lever

Injuries: none

Typical!!!-9th December 2007

Typical isn’t? I had the choice of 3 races today run by different clubs. ORE, SCEC and CAMEL VALE. I ended up not doing any!
ORE had said that their last round of the series would be on 9th December, so I waited for confirmation of where the venue was and the entry forms to come out as I wanted to complete the last round and go out ending the series on a high as champ of the sports 2 stroke class! But on the Monday with 6 days to go they announced that they couldn’t run the race and it would in the new year..
The CAMEL VALE race was now closed as the regs had to be in by saturday, no late entrys on that one, so that one was out of the window as well. 2 down, 1 to go ………………………………...............................so I quickly got on to the SCEC website to enter that one, B*llocks, race full!!!!!! I was left with nothing, ‘all dressed up with nowhere to go’ as it were. You could say I was a bit ‘peed’ off!
So what now? Well, everything dies down a bit now as xmas is approaching so not really much happening unless I can find somewhere to have a quick ride around.
Looks like there’s a couple of events at the end of the year, so hopefully I’ll be doing those.

Middleton court- 18th November 2007

Traveling up through the rain, memories of ‘combe sydenham’ earlier in the year came flooding back (pardon the pun), it was still p*ssing it down when I arrived and I got soaked through just getting signed on and getting the bike checked. Whilst waiting for the riders briefing I was stood there with steve jose (turned out the bugger beat me by a couple of mins) and his mate Tim, we all agreed that today was going to be the survival of the fittest!
As expected a delayed start was had due to problems with the course as the organisers had to re-route some parts due to the bad weather, not surprising really, but yet again Xmoor enduro club hold no fears when it comes to putting on an event no matter what the conditions, so fair play to them.
So to start then and mayhem ensued right at the off as a load of bikes were getting stuck just yards from the line at the bog at the bottom of the hill, I was lucky and got directed round it up through the woods. The 1st little climb proved tricky and I got stuck, not for long and I was back on my way again. There’s so much to say about Middleton court, superb venue, it had everything, long slippery hills (up and down), loads of off cambers, tree roots, water, rocks, ruts, fire roads that were filled with ’gloopy’ mud that had you snaking all over the place because of the rain, so with a trials tyre only allowed on the back, it felt like you were fighting to get control of the bike all the time. This is what I think an enduro is all about, no flat field racing here. A true test of man and machine, and it certainly teaches you a thing or two about bike control, and you just got to admire those champ and expert riders who make it look so bloody easy, awesome!
At times on the course there were bikes and riders all over the place either stuck, or just simply taking a rest due to being so ‘cream crackerd‘.
I was struggling, and I wasn’t the only one, on my 2nd lap, on a tricky little rocky climb after a sharp right hander, I got stuck halfway and tried in vain to make it up, not going anywhere, I slid back down and had another go. Got stuck again halfway and tried to push the bike to the top, it seemed like I was heaving forever and I simply run out of energy, so I slid back down again and took a rest before giving it another go. This little climb caused a few problems even to the more experienced riders as they were finding it troublesome as well, needless to say queues were starting to form trying to get up the thing.
On my 3rd attempt I got stuck halfway yet again, but this time I simply wasn’t going to be beaten and I pushed and shoved the little TM (seemed like it weighed a ton with all the mud attached to it) up to the top, got my breath back, and I was on my way again, phew!
Chris Ware came flying past me on a rocky watery climb then proceeded to launch his bike straight up in the air and go ‘dancing’ with it, nice one Chris, made good viewing that!
I pitted after 2 laps only for Mike Coates to come over and hand me my fuel can, his bike had overheated so he was out. I told you to get a new bike mate, sorry, I forgot, you just have! (just joking).
Back out then I went to do another lap and got stuck on that hill again that took me so long to get up last time, no problem this time though as I quickly go to the top with the help of some spectators, thank you! I had a nice little ‘off’ straight into a tree as I slid into it down a slippery bank, I must have going all of 2mph! Believe or not, I managed to really hurt my thigh as the only bloody branch that was poking out stuck straight in it. Typical that.
Getting back to the start, Time up, I missed out on another lap by a couple of minutes so my race was over, only 3 laps!!!!
Not particularly good, but I was glad I finished, a tough race today in very difficult conditions.
Met Richard Tucker whilst walking back to the van at the end, he had a dnf on his new bike, so things didn’t go to plan for him either, shame that, as i as looking forward to his Husqvarna 125 flying past me!
Overall, a tough day and you certainly felt that you'd done an enduro, especially when your soaked through and everything thing is lagged in mud and your knackerd!. Why do we do it? Because we love it that’s why.

Finishing position: 11/29
Bike status: ok
Injuries: none

Evercreech- 10th November 2007

Why have put a picture of my hammer on here? Read on and I’ll tell ya!

Another of the ORE championship races, yes it’s a long season, and this is round 10 of the series. I’ve rode at this venue before earlier in the year so knew what to expect. Very open, hardly any woods, a few little jumps, so very much a motocross type venue (as is most of the ORE events). Short laps, only about 8-9 mins, so not a very long course. With the decision to cut the race to just 2 hours because of lack of daylight due to the 2pm start, racing was going to be fast and furious.
Not bad weather seeing as it’s November, overcast and a bit chilly, but dry. I traveled up on my own for this one as marie stayed at home for ‘parental duties‘ and no one else was available to give us a hand, it took about 2 ½ hours, I left early, so got there with plenty of time to spare.
After doing all the necessary and hiking the gear up a bloody steep hill to where the pits were, it was off on the sighting lap. Yet again I’d realized that I’d forgot to put my transponder on (been there before) so I rushed back to the van and quickly attached them to my shirt. It was at this point that I didn’t think I’d have enough time to put the keys back in the toolbox in the pits for fear of missing the start, so I just threw them in the back of the van and shut the door (bad mistake that).
Anyway, made a good start, lost a few places early on but kept a fairly good pace up so I was quite pleased. After about 30 mins the course was shortened due to a rider being injured, in fact it stayed that way until the end, so the laps were even shorter!
Not much to say really, I had no ‘offs’ so quite uneventful really and made a quick ‘splash and dash’ pit stop with 15 mins to go. To be honest, with such a short course, you were constantly overtaking someone or being overtaken!
Finished ok no problem.
Got back to van and guess what? I’d only gone and locked the keys inside the back of the van hadn’t I!!!! What a twat! I knew exactly when I done as well, it was when I forgot to put the transponders on and had to go back to do it, that’s when I just threw the keys in there and shut the door. Obviously the central locking was on!
Word got round, and it seemed like everyone tried to get into my van one way or another and a big thanks must surely go out to Richard Batstone (no 321) who tried for ages with an assortment of tools to get the door to open, but to no avail. So, in the end it was down to the hammer to smash the side glass so I could get my keys and drive home. I said ’ who wants to do it?’ this other rider almost grabbed the hammer out of my hand, he was keen! He smashed it 1st time (reckon he’s done it before, could be an ex car thief!) any way I was relieved to finally get going and drive home albeit at a reduced speed due to tiny pieces of glass everywhere and no side window and a cracked windscreen for good measure!
It took me 3 ½ hours to make it home.
A disappointing result today as I was only placed 12th in the 2 strokes.
My riding over the past couple of months hasn’t been at all spectacular, and I’ve had some pretty poor results. I don’t know weather it’s because of the accident at the Trewint race in September or indeed my lack of fitness or sleep since the baby was born that’s affected me, or maybe a combination of both!!!! But anyway, even with to days result, I’ve earned enough points to win the ORE sports 2 stroke championship due to some good results earlier in the season.
Not much to some people I know, but it's my first full year of riding. I’ve rode 8 rounds all through the year and at 43 years young I’ve beat some guys a lot younger than me along the way, on bigger bikes than mine, and nearly all the tracks have been a motocross type layout rather than a proper enduro one. So I’m really pleased with that.

Finishing position: 21/41
Bike status: ok
Injuries: none

Weston beach race- 21st October 2007

What can you say about Weston? Over 1,000 bikes on a 3 mile track, a mile long flat out straight and over 30 sand dunes to negotiate coupled with a massive crowd.
After doing my first ‘Weston’ last year I was again back for some more mayhem and mishap!
My mate Lester was my pit crew today (he did a fantastic job too) as we set off in the early hours to get there with plenty of time in hand.
First of all I had to pick up my trailer that I’d left up there with the Tucker family from xmoor enduro club, who’d very kindly looked after it for me for the weekend from there campsite pitch. So, no problem there, that was until I was queuing in traffic to get into the official competitors car park, when some pillock in a 4x4 decided to ram me up the a*rse while I was stationary! Nice one mate, I need a new lighting board now.
Anyway, moving on, had a good look round, watched a bit of the youths race and got ready to go and do battle. The weather was absolutely cracking, bright sunshine and quite warm being it an October day.
As usual the wait to get the bike out of the parc freme and onto the beach to the start was mad, with every rider queuing and trying to push each other out of the way (politely of course) to try and get a good position.
Onto the beach we went and then and waited for the start. Unlike last year, I actually started right up there with the lot of them! Bloody nora, what a feeling that is, hundreds and hundreds of bikes blasting down that straight, all of us with our adrenalin fuelled heads on! I reckon I was about ¾ of the way down the pack.
Half way down the straight a few riders were waving there arms frantically as a couple of riders had came off, luckily I think everybody avoided them. When I got to end, I couldn’t see a bloody thing! My goggs had been ‘sand blasted’ and I couldn’t wait to use the rip ’n’ roll to get clear vision. That speed wobble you get when you nail the thing on the flat sand is something else! I was hanging on for grim death!
Got to the first dune where mayhem had firmly planted itself all around me! With nowhere to go, I had to sit and wait my turn , we were packed in like sardines and smelling the constant exhaust fumes were worse than smelling someone elses wind!
After about 10 minutes I finally had a run up the first dune and promptly got stuck, I got back down quickly and had another go and made it over and onto the next one. Same as the first, more queues and more fumes, got a run up at it got stuck big time half way up. The back wheel was well and truly buried and with no marshals to help me (they were at the top trying to clear the carnage) I got off, dug myself out and heaved the bike round, got back on and slid to the bottom to have another go. I managed to get over that one as well 2nd time around and headed on to the 3rd dune. Yet more queues and more fumes were in front of me, I waited for a bit and then went for a gap to try and get over, guess what, stuck again, 3rd one in a row! I thought to myself, ‘what are you like you twat, you still got over 2 hours to go’! After telling myself off severly, I made it over and with no more problems on any of the remaining dunes, i completed my first lap, although I must admit I wasn’t impressed on how long it had taken me.
It was at this point that I felt really ill, there’s a difference between being knackered and feeling rough, and I felt rough, big time, I don’t know weather the fumes got to me or what, It certainly wasn’t due to the fact of heaving the bike around a few times, I’ve done that plenty of times believe me!
Infact, I felt so bad that I contemplated pulling out, something I haven’t done since I my 2nd enduro, well over a year ago. Never one to quit with a ’must finish the race attitude no matter what’, I carried on until my 1st pit stop.
My mate Lester handed me clean goggs, I washed my face down quickly, refueled, had a handful of the customary jelly babies and off I went. Just that little stop made all the difference and now I started to get going and started enjoying it.
Another couple of laps later I made a quick stop again for more fresh goggles and back out I went , and by this time I was actually starting to pass people who were getting tired, but mainly due to the fact that I was now feeling ok and I was going well.
Then the unthinkable happened, the race was stopped just after 2 hours. I was gutted as I was desperately trying to make up for lost time for the first hour of the race where I was ‘trail riding’ round because I felt so bad.
Safety reasons I believe was the cause of the stoppage, something to do with the bridge that we rode over? I know a couple of times that the organizers had directed us around it because riders had got stuck on it, someone told me that It was in a bad state and it was collapsing!
As I write this I don’t really know the main reason, but if it’s in the interest of safety, that has to come first, end of story.

Now for my gripe, 25th anniversary beach race right?
Well the powers that be certainly made it a special one. No weekend pass for us riders this year, just a day one. No ‘goody’ bag this year, just a t shirt with a cartoon on the front. No free programme either.Tight or what?

Not a particually good race for me this time. But at least i managed to raise a bit of money for the Cornwall air ambulance through some sponsorship.
Will I be back next year? ........................................Yeah course I will.

Finishing position:703/1049
Bike status: new chain + sprockets, new fork seals
Injuries: none

St Allen- 14th October 2007

A bit of a chilly misty damp start to the day with a slight drizzle all around.
St Allen was only about 25 minutes away from me, so a nice local little race, not much traveling, bloody hell, I’ll be home early then!

I was hoping to have a better result after last weeks disappointing show where it took me ages to ‘get into it’. Another thing, this was a 3 hour event, so with not that much riding in the last 6 weeks, this would be a good test of stamina for WESTON next week.

Upon signing on I talked to a few guys that explained the track was about 5 miles long, a mixture of woods and some fast sections across the grassy fields, but watch out, the off cambers were slippery due to the heavy morning dew.
Onto the sighting lap we went then, and true enough, parts of the course were a bit tricky, but nothing out of the ordinary. There were nice wooded sections with a couple of steep hills (up and down) mixed in about halfway round, and muggings here got stuck on one of them on the sighting lap, but I didn’t have any problems when racing.
Sighting laps? Good or bad? 50/50 I think. Good in a way that you know where you’re going before racing, but trouble is, no one is up to race pace, and when you come across a slippery or tricky part of the course, you haven’t really any momentum to get through it because there’s a big queue in front of ya!

Onto the start then, not that good, probably in the top ten but made up a few places over the first couple of laps, short laps as well, 8-9 mins, but a lot more enjoyable than last week due to the wooded sections and the dodgy off cambers.
I got into the race fairly quickly and felt I was going ok. After about an hour my rip’n’roll film ran out on my goggs, but with things drying up a bit I decided not to stop and wait a little bit longer until my pit stop for a change.
Had a few little ‘offs’ just down to the slippery grass really, but nothing at high speed so no damage done. I had a great battle with the young lad from Thor motorcycles (he must be 20 yrs younger than me!), we passed each other maybe 6-7 times all through the race and in the end I managed to get pass him with about 20 minutes to go and pull away and finish in front of him by about 2 mins, good little race between us that!
A nice little confidence builder for me today because now all roads lead to WESTON!

Finishing position: 4/28
Bike status: ok
Injuries: none

Eastcombe- 7th October 2007

It was nice to get the TM back after being without it for the last 5 weeks, so I couldn’t wait to get back in action. I did think I would be a little ‘rusty’ after not being on my own bike for that time, and coupled with plenty of nights of broken sleep with our ‘new arrival’, I must admit, i was a little off form for the first half of the race.

On to the day itself……………………………….
Nice weather as I traveled up from Cornwall, overcast, but very warm. I was on my own for this one as Marie was back home with the nipper, babysitting! Oh bugger, I’ll have to carry my own gear to the pits now!

It took quite a while to get signed on because by the look of it, there was a lot of entries today. Trouble was, time was getting on, and by the sheer amount of riders still waiting to enter the event after I signed on, it was going to be a late start ( so I was told by the ladies who were doing the admin work in the signing on tent). WRONG! I got back to the van to find a marshal telling me that the sighting lap was in 5 minutes! Yeah, nice one I thought, so it was a mad panic to get changed and get on the bike. As the sighting lap started I suddenly realized that I forgot to put my transponder on! So off I went back to the van put it on. Needless to say that I missed the sighting lap.

Onto the start itself then, away we went and I got a average start about halfway down the field, being too over eager to make ground on the leaders so early on, went down at the 2nd corner! When I got back on the bike and got going again, 2 litres of water instantly emptied itself all over me as I soon found out that I’d ripped the nozzle clean off of my camelbak. Oh well, no drink for me then for next 2 ½ hours!
This track was probably the shortest lap I’ve ever done at any event I’ve raced at so far, About 6 to 6 ½ mins a lap! A motocrossers paradise, with a few nice jumps scattered around a mx style circuit and 2 very very small wooded sections that only took about 30 seconds to get through. Not really my sort of thing as I prefer ’proper’ enduro courses, but this was a another round of the 2 stroke champs, so I just had to get on with it.
It did take me a good hour to really get into it, and after my pit stop I felt that I was getting some kind of rhythm going, but by then the bird had flown and I finished a disappointing 13th in the 2 stroke class. I was right as well, because after looking back at my lap times, my 2nd half of the race was a lot quicker than the first.
A lot of mx boys turned up today to do a ‘one off’ and this reflected on the results as quite a few that were in front of me had never entered an ORE event before, this course really suited their style. This was echoed when a few of us were talking after the race when we all kept saying to each other ‘where have these riders come from then, never bloody heard of um!’

I was pleased though to be back on the TM and come through the race unscathed, especially after scaring myself silly getting some decent ’air’ on some of the jumps!

Finishing position: 24/71
Bike status: ok
injuries: none

Out of the window!- 23rd September 2007

All race plans went completely 'out of the window' in the muso household this weekend as my girlfriend went into hospital 8am saturday morning to have our baby. It's now late sunday night and it still hasn't arrived yet! Needless to say i've been with her most of the time, so there you go!
Update................................................................................................
well, after travelling 300 miles backwards and forwards to the hospital in truro the last few days, i'm finally a dad.
The last couple of months have been a bit of a rollercoaster, what with some events being cancelled, being injured, being bikeless and now witnessing the birth of my child, things haven't exactly gone to plan!!!!
I was going to race this coming weekend (30th sep), but i think i'll give it a miss to due some 'parental' duties to help Marie out, especially after what she's just been through.
I'm telling you what now, in the short space of time i've been riding, i've done a few tough races, but that ain't nothing compared to your partner going through childbirth, believe me!
Next race 7th October.

Nancemellion- 16th September

2 man team event

Me and Pete after we gave his 4 banger a nice little 4 hour excursion round Nancemellion

Well, with the TM still in ‘hospital’ it was off racing on a meaty, grunty, groin throbbing 4 stroke!
It had been dry all week so the track and woods were, um………………….dry!
Signed on and got the bike ready, then took the downhill half mile trek to where the start was. We had a plan! 3 laps at a time each of us, and then in to change over.
Pete started off, bloody dust everywhere as the bikes zoomed up the first hill, rather him than me! Everything went like clockwork and I got in the saddle right on schedule. I must admit, I was a bit apprehensive about racing a 4 banger, but I soon got into my stride after a couple of laps. The course had been cut dramatically from the last event I did down there, very short laps, about 12 mins for us. It still had nice tight wooded sections which went up and down a lot, as well as the bumpy moto x track at the bottom (which later became tricky with the dust flying), before more woods with a nice uphill back to the pits/ lap scoring area.
What was really weird getting used to, or not as the case may be, was revving the guts out of the bike and slipping the clutch, I didn’t do it once, as the Beta 350r pulled like a tractor going up, and chugged it’s way merrily going down.
Done my 3 laps ok and changed over to Pete. No reported problems with his laps, so off I went again to do another 3. I stalled it once in a wooded section, but apart from that I managed to stay out of trouble.
With about an hour left Pete done 3 more and I hopped on the bike hoping to do 3 more before time was up. I managed to do 2 before the chequered flag came out, oh b*llocks, missed it by 2 minutes. Now, of course I’ve nothing against quads so don‘t go saying that I have!, but on my last lap I got held up a bit following one through the tight woods only to overtake it and get stuck behind another one! I reckon I might have got another lap in otherwise. Never mind, I’m sure I’ve slowed a few riders up before now.

Now for the good bit, we done 17 laps right? The lap scorers only marked us down as 16, so in the end we finished 2nd in the sports class, but given the actual number of laps we completed, we finished 1st. Never mind, not to worry, it was just good to have a ride out and I enjoyed that.
Thanks once again to Pete Jago for letting me loose on his pride and joy.

4 stroke training!- 13th September 2007

This Sunday I’m due to race at Nancemellion with a mate of mine Pete Jago, in a 4hr 2 man team event, but with the TM still in ‘hospital’ and no chance of it being ready for the weekend, I was bikeless!
After speaking to Pete, he suggested that I should try my injured shoulder out on his bike to see if it could handle a bit of ‘off roading’, If it was ok, then I’d be alright to ride and also to see how I got on with his Beta 350r.
So, after driving over to his place (girlfriend in tow, the baby still hasn’t arrived, it was due yesterday!) I got on the Beta and followed Pete in his car (who also had his 2 kids in tow, as he was babysitting them!) out into the wilderness towards the moors. Well, I was following him until the four banger started spluttering like a backfiring 1960’s morris minor (I should know, because my dad had one) and stopped dead on me, right in the middle of nowhere!
Yeah, nice one mate, do you think you could put some petrol in your bike when you offer your mate a ride on it? Pete was oblivious to the situation and carried on around the country lanes and out of sight. I stuck her on reserve, fired her up and carried on only to find him legging it around the corner back to me as he thought that something had happened. We both found the funny side of it, and me not knowing where the nearest garage was, it was up to Pete to go back to refuel on the bike while me and Marie done a bit of babysitting!
10 mins later and we were off again, and made it to the moors ok, where I had a nice little blast around (legally of course) to get a feel of the bike and see if the shoulder was up to it. With everything ok, it was then back off home.

Big thanks to Pete for his time and effort today, roll on Sunday.

Dunmere- 9th September 2007

Disappointment and frustration all rolled into one! Dunmere is 10 minutes up the road, I’d been walking the dog there a few times in the week to get used to the course, and so I was looking forward to it, but i didn’t make the start. Why? 2 reasons really.

Since last weeks crash I‘ve really been struggling with my shoulder, I still can‘t lift it up properly and as soon as the painkillers wear off in the middle of the night, it’s agony. So I’ve had a few sleepless nights and with Dunmere being a ‘proper’ enduro course, I really don’t think that it would have been wise to try and hold on to the bike for so long given the circumstances.

The 2nd reason is probably a blessing in disguise, after a close inspection of the TM, I found out that the bottom fork yoke is cracked, no doubt due to the impact of hitting that gate post last week. So, the bikes down at Marks getting repaired and the front end checked.

I had to get involved in some way or another with it being so close to home, so I decided to help out on one of the steep hills as best I could if anybody got stuck. And they did! Even in the bone dry conditions they were a few riders that needed help including one of the lads from Thor motorcycles that had a nasty one when he went straight over the bars (he’s ok though), quite ironic that, because I was stood with his boss at the time when it happened!
After a couple of hours when things got a bit easier on the hill, I made my way back to the pits, had a chat with a few people and toddled of home feeling satisfied that I’d done my good deed for the day!

Hopefully I might be ok to ride next week.

Trewint- 2nd September 2007

Nice to have an ORE event in Cornwall! So not far to travel to this one. Weather not great, but at least it’s dry, slightly on the chilly side though.
I had my mate Lester with me to help us out in the pits today because basically it’s a bit much for Marie now to stand out in all weather’s and cart a load of gear round seeing as the babys due any day! Mind you, she still come along to watch, and I keep telling her, don’t worry if you go into labour because there’s paramedics there!
Went down to watch the quads for a bit to time them on how long it took to do a lap, about 6-7 mins, bloody hell, short laps or what?
Had a bit of banter with the course cutting duo of Coates and Ware (only joking lads) at signing on, then it was off to get ready.
Onto the sighting lap we went then. Started off through a couple of fields then down into the woods where we came across a tricky little slippery double climb. Back out into the fields again we went, down into some more woods, up another climb (not too bad), more fields, into the woods again, through a sticky boggy bit which straight after had a nasty slippery climb, out into the open again, down a rocky little path which led back to the finish after a couple of more fields. Short course indeed, I reckon about 4-5 miles at most. Nothing too technical apart from those uphill sections.
Flag dropped, race on, got a good start 2nd or 3rd going into the woods, that was until I got stuck on the first bloody climb, frustrating that was. After I made it up to the top I didn’t know what position I was in, your concentrating so much on getting the bike to the top that you don’t really know who’s passed you, do you?
Got stuck again on the next couple of laps on the same hill, so lost a bit of time there trying to get any kind of rhythm going. After about the first 30 mins I felt I was beginning to ride much better, and cleaned the hills every time with just the odd one or two moments that caught me out.
Went into the pits to refuel and my mate told me that I was running in the top 5 in my class, I was pleased with that as I’d be happy to get some high scoring finish in the championship. (sportsman 2 stroke).
What happened next was, well, to be honest, I’m lucky I’m writing this blog from my own home and not from a hospital bed!
After coming out of a wooded section and ’nailing’ it in 3rd or 4th (can’t remember which) across a field, we had to round a fence that jutted out to lead into the next field, this was a fast bit of the track, and all it needed was a flick of the bars, and you passed it no problem as there was plenty of space. I was at the time having a right old ’ding dong’ with another guy and we were both giving it some, as the fence approached the front of the bike came up on me and with just yards to go I didn’t have enough time to anything about it, SMACK! I hit it alright, head on. All I can remember is seeing the fence then landing in a heap, I seemed to be catapulting through the air for ages (seemed like slow motion) until I opened my eyes and saw a rider looking down at me. ’do you want an ambulance mate’ he said, I presume it must have been the rider behind me who saw it happen. ’no, I’m alright mate’ I said, and got back up and went back over to the bike which was now nicely wrapped in barbed wire around the handlebars. A bit dazed, I finally managed to free her after about 5 minutes. It was at this point that my cheek started killing me and my shoulder too, (i think i must have hit one of the fence posts face/shoulder first), not only that, when I got going again, I had to steer left in order to go straight! The forks were twisted real bad, I carried on for a couple of laps, determined to finish, but it was useless, I was poodling round trying to steer the thing and also getting stuck on those climbs again. I shouted to my mate that I was going to pit again, so in I came and told him what had happened. We were trying to sort the problem out when a young guy came across and asked me if I’d got an allen key. ‘yeah, here you go‘, he took it, undid the yokes on the forks, gave the front wheel a kick, and BINGO! The front wheel was aligned straight again.
I don’t know who you was mate, but thanks a million times over for that. Off I went again pleased as punch. Had to make yet another pit stop a bit later for more goggles, but managed to finish ok.
So……………………………….........definitely ‘not a good day at the office today’ got stuck on the climbs several times, had a big ‘off’, made 3 pit stops all of which cost me loads of time, but managed to hang on for a 9th place in the 2 stroke sports class. Not a good result, but at least I got some more points in the bag, and that’s what matters, As well as being still in one piece!
After a bit of a sleepless night I got checked out today down at Treliske hospital. Had a few x-rays, nothing broken, just damaged my shoulder so I can’t use it much at the moment (my mate had to clean the bike for me today) and some nerve damage which had made some of my face numb, only temporary so the doc says. Bit of a pain in the arse that, because I love pork chops and I can’t eat them at the moment.
If I can manage to put my helmet on and grip the bars and pull the clutch in, I’m riding at Dunmere next week!

Finishing position: 24/46
Bike status: new front spindle, new fork yokes & head bearings
Injuries: damaged shoulder and facial nerves, bruised ribs and ankle

Event cancelled- 26th August 2007

Bloody hell, it seems like i'm writing every other week at the moment about a cancelled event!
this however was not down to the weather. As far as i'm aware the landowner didn't want to hold a meeting on his land due to the recent foot and mouth scare that we had a couple of weeks ago. To be honest, you can't really blame him/her for doing that, just one of those things, better to be safe than sorry.

So...........................yet again, to keep up my fitness, it was out with the running shoes and off i went for a 10 miler. Lovely day, bright sunshine (dipped my head in the river camel after 5 miles to cool down!).
My mate Ade is down here on holiday so i dragged him out with me, mind you, he did take the easy option and went on a pushbike.

Rifton Barton- 19th August 2007

Watch out marshal............................ I’m coming through!

Well, this is where it all started for me exactly a year ago when I had my first race. This time I hoped that I wouldn’t have the same outcome as last year!

Rifton has got to be one of the most easiest venues to get to, straight off the main A361, with a nice big massive field to park in too. Lets not forget that it’s summer, you wouldn’t have thought it with a cold wind howling across the place. Chilly indeed for a thin bloke like me!

Upon signing on, met Debbie Tucker (self confessed dirt bike lover, organizer, photographer, pit crew, enduro secretary) who without, I wouldn’t have some rather decent snaps of me on this blog! Had a quick chat, then it was back to get changed ready for the off.
Got chatting on the start line to Michael Coates (had a bit of banter with him in the race as we kept passing each other every time one of us got stuck!) whilst waiting for the race to start proper.

Flag dropped and off we went, didn’t make a bad start, about 5th or 6th, until the 2nd field we crossed and oops……………….off I came. Got back on quickly and entered the woods where there was a massive queue waiting to get down a steep drop, I got off and gingerly walked the bike down there, no probs and I was off again. Through the woods we went, until we dropped down into the rocky little river, this is where I done an absolute ‘classic’. I went up a bank and passed a rider who was stuck, I went to the side of him and dropped down back into the water, as I went down the other side my front wheel stopped dead (a you‘ve been framed moment) and I went straight over the bars and landed on my arse in the drink! The front wheel had sunk and was stuck in a boggy hole, luckily 2 guys helped me out and off I went again.
Further on the lap another sticky, slimy, tree lined treacherous downhill followed, nice! I crawled down it at a snails pace, fair play to the experts, they were flying down the thing as though they were on a pushbike having a bit of fun.
Out of the woods we came to some open going, not as easy as you might think, the grassy off camber slopes were like an ice rink in places, and certainly got worse as the race went on. One of the ‘hard options’ for the more experienced to save time was riding over a car, and then up and over a pile of logs, I did think about having a go, but then again, maybe next year!

On the 2nd lap whilst grimly hanging onto the bike on one of those treacherous downhills, I saw in front of me a guy that was pinned under his machine and couldn’t move, I looked behind and saw Michael following me and shouted ‘Oi, down here, someone’s in trouble’, we both slid down to him, dropped our bikes, and managed to haul the thing off of him, checked to see if he was alright, and off we went again.
As the race went on it seemed everything just became more and more tricky as the track got cut up, and if you didn’t pick the right line on the hills or the slopes, you just got stuck(along with quite a few others). This happened to me quite a few times, and a couple of times even the spectators came to my rescue (great camaraderie these enduro’s). The lap was probably about 8 miles or so in length and believe me, it was certainly a test of man and machine, a proper enduro course, which made it all the more worthwhile riding given the conditions, which I think is a great leveler.
I took a longer pit stop than usual to change my goggles, gloves, and let some more air out of the back tyre, then it was off to get stuck a few more times on the ‘ice rink’ of those grassy slopes, and test my riding skills through the woods (whilst running out of energy) before going on to finish.
Really enjoyed it, I love it when the going gets tough!

Finishing position: 3/19
Bike status: new graphics
Injuries: none

Cadleigh- 12th August 2007

For a change I didn’t have a gig the night before so I could actually have an early night and get up feeling more refreshed and not so cream crackered like I usually do on a Sunday morning!

Arrived at the track no problem, and for once the field we actually parked in was dry! We’d had good weather all week so I was expecting dry conditions, and this certainly turned out to be the case.
I must just mention one thing, after I signed on, nature called, bloody nora, these must be the cleanest toilets that I’ve ever had the privilege to use (or was I just one of the first to use them, as I was early!)

By the look of it, I think that there was a full entry list. This turned out to be the case as a guy who I know from seeing at other events, came running over to me while I was waiting for the sighting lap to tell me that he’d bought everything with him and tried to get a day entry, but they were full.

Off we went then onto the sighting lap……………………..
Straight into the woods we went along some nice flowing trails, up a couple of climbs then down a couple, nothing really hard or treacherous just a slippery little rooted hill that caught yours truly out. When we came out into the daylight it was on to the moto x section, with quite a few jumps! (Bit rough in places) and back out across a couple of fields to the lap scoring.
Right then, race started and I didn’t make a bad one, about 6th or 7th as we entered the woods. After about a minute into it that little slippery hill caught me out and off I come, mind you it wasn’t just me that was having fun on it, quite a few bikes were. I got back on the bike and still couldn’t get up there so I quickly got off, kept her running, slipped the clutch and pushed it up. Trouble was now, was that I didn’t know where the hell I was as I don’t know how many riders passed me or how many got stuck along with me. Never mind, just keep pushing for another 2hrs and 25 mins and see where you come!
The moto x bit was interesting and although I can’t really jump that well, it was nice to give it a go and try and learn how to do it a bit better (That is until you hit the dirt, thankfully I didn’t).

Quite a short course this one, I was lapping at about 10 mins.
Pitted at half way ok and quickly asked Marie if the bike sounded ok (compared to the last race!) no problem there. Off back out I went and done the last hour to finish. The track did get a bit dusty towards the end and a few times I had to slow to see where I was going when following someone.

Now the bad news, apparently the ASW computer froze at the end of the race so all the results have been deleted. Typical that is, seeing as it's the only time i beat all the experts and i've got nothing to show for it! (um............................................bloody liar)

Finishing position: no results!
Bike status: new back wheel bearings
Injuries: none

On yer bike!- 5th August 2007

Didn’t enter a race this weekend so naturally I had to put my body through some sort of physical activity to keep up the fitness thing.
Was gonna do a nice run, probably a 10 miler, but I twisted my ankle a bit in the week whilst running round part of the enduro course at Hustyns wood, so it was out on the bike for 1 ½ hours with as many Cornish hills that I could possibly find!

The next 5-6 weeks looks busy with an event every weekend, so hopefully I should get back into the swing of things, unless the baby decides to arrive on a race day!

Got my number for ‘Weston’ through the post this week, can’t wait.

Another event cancelled!- 29th July 2007

yes indeed, because of the lovely british summer we're having the ASW race that was schedueld for today was cancelled.
Never mind, one of those things.
In order to try keep up my stamina, it was out with the running shoes again and off i went along the world famous Camel trail dodging all the holiday makers on thier bikes! In the end i managed to do just over 11 miles, a good workout, but not quite the same as a 3 hour enduro!

Sent off my regs for 'Weston' this weekend,yippee!

Allercot farm- 22nd July 2007

Bloody hell, I got a flyer! (No 307), I’m off while everyone’s still standing. And no, I didn’t jump the start! Mind you it wasn’t going to last long, read on.

Surprisingly with the crap summer we’ve had, the weather today was bright, warm and at times the sun actually shone through!
Oh no, it’s another journey on the twisty, bumpy, dark and dingy A396.
Arrived with plenty of time to spare (makes a change), in fact yet again, which has happened at a few ORE events this year, we were late starting (there, that’s my moan out of the way). The race was due off at 2.45pm, we didn’t start until after 3.30, don’t know what was going on there, but I was itching to get going as this was another round of the 2 stroke champs that I’ve entered, and after 4 of the rounds so far, things are going well for me. Still a long way to though as there are 9 rounds in total.

The start and pits were 2 fields away from the car park, Up hill as well, ok for me, but with Marie being 7 months pregnant the poor girl struggled just to get there! I’m now thinking about ‘borrowing’ a trolley from Tesco (or are the Asda ones better?) so I can put her in it so she doesn’t have to walk too far!

After waiting what seemed like ages at the start, we eventually went on our merry way on the sighting lap. As always with these laps, no one is quite up to race pace so the inevitable happens, and when everybody arrives at a tricky bit of the course the queues start. On this occasion it was a very nasty drop down through the woods where you could have easily gone over the bars. The course had plenty of woods to test us, somewhat unusual for ORE, as normally they ran tracks mainly around moto x style venues.
A cracking little rocky stream that we had to go down was excellent, along with some slimy up hills, tight sections, off camber hills and of course some cross country fields where you could ‘nail’ it if you wanted to, round about 15-17 mins a lap. Certainly more of an enduro style course than their previous events. Nice!

Right, onto the start, the flag dropped and I got an absolute flyer, 1st into the first corner. I got passed by a couple of riders in the woods, but I was pleased I made it to the ‘nasty drop’ before a queue formed. 1st lap out of the way, I was going in about 4th or 5th when all of a sudden all hell broke loose! My little125 started to sound like a chieftain tank going flat out along a concrete road whilst running over a box of fireworks!
I immediately thought that my baffles were shot to bits, so I stopped and listened. The noise wasn’t coming from the back, but below the seat at the front of the engine. I then thought that my exhaust had split somewhere near the manifold or the expansion chamber. I carried on hoping that I could make it to the halfway point of the race, make my pit stop and take a closer look.
The noise was quite frankly horrendous, everyone was looking, and every time I went passed lap scoring I thought they were going to pull me out of the race. I was also seriously down on power, I was struggling big time on the hills and every time I opened her up along the fields.
After about 1 ½ hours I pitted. Marie was stood there waiting for me, ‘your bike sounds terrible, I can hear you coming from miles away’ she said. ‘ I know it does, it sounds like sh*te’ I said. I got off and took a look to see what was up.
Jesus! My exhaust manifold had come away from the engine! All that was holding it on were the 2 retaining springs! The 2 bolts that secured it to the engine were missing and there was about a ½ inch gap between the manifold and the cylinder opening. I don’t know what had happened, because I hadn’t come off and I hadn’t hit anything to sheer the bolts off. I now had to make a decision, and a big one at that.
Do I carry on and risk a small stone, mud or water getting into the barrel, which could cost me dearly, or do I continue and try to finish and get some championship points?
It took me all off 2 seconds to decide…………….I’m carrying on! I quickly refuelled, kicked her over, and off I went. There seems to be something inside of me that says no matter what happens, I must try to finish, it’s either down to pure determination or stupidity!
My ears now were starting to suffer because of the constant noise coming off the engine, so bloody loud, and yet again every time I went through lap scoring I thought that I’d be pulled over and told to stop because of the noise.
The last couple of laps I had a few small ‘offs’, nothing major, just down to getting a bit tired really and not concentrating enough.
With 5 minutes to go I managed to get another lap in and rode round to finish, very, very relieved!
Unbelievably I managed to finish 4th in the 2 strokes. Given the circumstances, I was well pleased.
That little TM rode it’s heart out today.

It’s definitely been one of those weeks. First of all the jubilee clip on the bottom hose of the radiator broke, which emptied the coolant out earlier in the week, and now after closer inspection at the end of the race, i've found out that the 2 bolts that hold the manifold in place had simply come loose and fell out. Both have been small, but potentially damaging. Something else for me to check in the future.


Finishing position: 10/44
Bike status: new front spindle and wheel bearings
Injuries: bruised big toe

Practice- 18th July 2007

Went down the track again today just to get some sort of time in on the bike as things have been quiet lately, and seeing as I’m due to race this Sunday, I just wanted to make sure the bike ran ok.
The weather for a change (what a sh*t summer we’ve had so far) was gorgeous, Lovely sunshine

Quite a few bikes down there today as well, nice to have a bit of competition, but I didn’t go mad trying to race everybody, just done my own thing at my own pace.

Got home and was cleaning the bike only to find out that the jubilee clip on the hose at the bottom of the rad had busted and there was no coolant in her at all!
Don't know when that happened, but i checked before i went and she was full to the brim.
On went a new clip and topped the rad up again.
Just goes to show, something as small as that breaking without you knowing can seriously damage your engine! Bloody hell i was lucky.
No harm done, i took it out up the road to make sure everything was ok.
Phew! panic over, ran as sweet as a nut.

Frustrating- 8th July

A bit frustrating to say the least.

You don't expect events to be cancelled because of the weather in the middle of summer do you!

The first one i entered got cancelled on thursday, so i try'd to enter another one, that had been cancelled as well.

Nevermind, perhaps it might work the other way later in the year and we might have a heatwave in November!

Not to be outdone, i decided to get out the running shoes and go for a 10 mile run.

Huntsham Barton- 1st July 2007

Mud,mud and more mud!

Getting into the field where everyone was parked was a tricky job in itself!
After turning off of the road and going up a bumpy old track that seemed like it ‘went on forever’, I had to floor the accelerator to try and get the car through the quagmire of mud that was at the other side of the gate that we went through in order to get parked.
Bit of fun that, the mud was flying everywhere, the car didn’t go a lot on it and nor did Marie, cause it’s her car!
As I squelched about in the field getting ready, I knew that this was going to be a ‘muddy’ one, and bloody nora it was just that.


After signing on and doing all the bits that had to be done, whilst dodging the showers it was onto the sighting lap. An announcement was made that the race was now going to be only 2 hours long due to what I could make out was the track conditions and the weather.

The flag dropped and off we went racing. I made an average start, probably about half way and made up a couple of places on the first lap. The course I reckon was about 5 or 6 miles long and I don’t think there was a dry patch on it! Every field that we crossed would have been much better if I had had a plough attached to the back of the bike, it was just deep, thick, sludgy, slimy mud, nice! The wooded sections were also tricky because of the amount of rain that had fallen.
On my very first lap I had pulled the rip’n’roll cord so many times on my goggles to get clear vision, that the film on the canister had run out, oh bollocks! My fault, I should’ve put a new one in before I started.
Everything was going well and I was averaging about 20 mins a lap, so with an 1hr and 20mins on the clock I thought that if I pushed a little harder I’d just be able to get 3 more laps in before the clock ran out.
Do you know what? That’s when it all started to go wrong! I had 2 little ‘offs’ that landed me in the deep mud. The grip on my throttle and my gloves were plastered in the stuff and I had a job holding onto the bars let alone twisting it.
I then pitted to change my gloves and put a little bit of fuel in to last to the end. But, with only 17 mins remaining I knew I wasn’t going to be able to get an extra lap in unless I went like a bat out of hell, that previous lap cost me dearly and so did my next one as I had another couple of ‘offs’ simply by just trying too hard.
One of them included the bike landing in a bush, I flagged a rider down who very kindly stopped and helped me drag it out (cheers mate whoever you were, I didn’t catch your number).
Finished the race 6 mins overtime, the last 2 laps were a pigging nightmare!
Thoroughly enjoyed it and to be honest, I think the wet is a great leveller no matter what bike you ride.

Just one thing, looking at the results, the top 2 guys in the sportsman class would’ve finished in the top 6 in the clubman, and halfway up in the Expert class! What’s going on there then?


Finishing position: 9/17
Bike status: ok
Injuries: none

A bit of practice- June 28th 2007

Went down the practice track today near summercourt just to give the bike some fresh air really.
I thought was going to be wet, but it stayed dry all day and the track only had a couple of small puddles on it, so not much cleaning needed for the bike!
Got down there about one'o'clock and left about 5ish.
There was probably about 6-7 bikes down there, so not too busy to have a decent ride.
To be honest, i didn't do a lot of riding! 30 mins, then a couple of 20's and then had a little go at trials riding on the inside of the track where all the heaped piles of deep and rock litterd rutted earth was. Not easy! Came a cropper doing that a few times. (Apparently, it's good for improving your balance).
I spent half my time chatting to other riders, about er.............................bikes!

Enjoyable afternoon, makes a change to just going out on the bike and having to race everytime.

Clapton- June 17th 2007

‘Prevention is better than cure’ so they say, so I had a new piston put in the TM during the week, better to be safe than sorry! As I felt with the amount of events I’ve done, it was due a new one.

It had rained all week, but the weather held up for us today, overcast but very warm and muggy. After a 3-hour drive we got there early, too bloody early! The race was due to start at 2pm, but the quad race earlier had been running late so we weren’t due to start until nearly 3.30.
So with a bit of time to kill I wandered off and had a look at the course while the quads were at it.

With all the usual done it was finally off to warm up our engines and wait for the sighting lap to begin. The bike wouldn’t fire up, I’d fouled up the plug (should have put a new one in anyway) so I tried to bump her as the start was on a hill, no joy there, I was now at the bottom of the hill at the pits, some guy give me a push, still no joy, so I quickly got back to the pits to get a new plug.
All the bikes now had started there sighting lap so I was getting a bit anxious .
I opened up the toolbox only to find that the only plug I had was an old one, which didn’t look too good. I put that in, still didn’t fire up, I quickly cleaned the one that I’d already taken out and tried that, still wouldn’t start!
By now I was f*cking cursing myself, surely I can’t miss this race (another round of the 2 stroke champs) just because of a poxy plug! sweat was dripping off me, I was now panicking as all the bikes had now returned from the sighting lap. I always carry new plugs, but just didn’t pick any up this week (twat).
Then a voice said ‘need a plug mate, my mates got some’ I asked if his mate raced a 2 stroke, ‘yes’ he said, nice one!, I put it in and she fired up straight away! Off I rushed up the hill just in time for the start.

Flag dropped and off we went, I made a decent get away in about 3rd, pleased with this as I think there must have been about 25 in the 2 stroke class.
As this was another ORE event, there were a lot of motocross sections across the fields, short laps too, about 8 mins a lap, so you did a lot of laps in 2 and half hours!
One bit of the course had a long flat straight on it about a quarter of a mile long, so you could ‘nail’ it a bit.
There was also a nice little slippery wooded section after a stream crossing, nothing major, but it did get a bit tricky as it got more cut up as the race went on.

I pitted ok after 1hr and 40 mins feeling quite good (especially after earlier).
A couple of laps later I managed to part company with the bike by doing a ‘doughnut’ on the small stretch of concrete farm road that we had to cross, apart from that little ‘off’ everything went ok and i ended up finishing 4th in the 2 strokes.


Finishing position: 15/46
Bike status: new piston
Injuries: none

Idless woods- 10th June 2007

Bloody hell, can’t believe it, 2 races in a row in the same county where I live.
Just as well, didn’t go to bed till 2am due to gigging!

Absolutely gorgeous weather (if you like sunbathing) but flaming well hot if you’re gonna ride round an enduro course for 3 hours.
Hydration was going to be especially important on this one and due to my days of being a runner I made sure I drank plenty before hand. A litre and half of water and another litre of energy drink, and I had another litre and half in the camelback, I got through the lot, 4 litres in total, never felt thirsty once and didn’t ‘cramp’ up at all.

As usual, all the bikes were gleaming spotlessly in the bright sunshine just before the start. For once, we had a big pit area that wasn’t on a slope, nice!

Done all the necessary, lined up, and waited for the flag to drop.
Off we went then, I made a good start going into the first corner in 2nd but got passed by a couple of riders on the 1st lap, I took a mental note of their numbers, i didn’t see them again, so that meant for the first time I actually didn’t get lapped by another sportsman (that pleased me).

Quite a long course this one, maybe 7 or so miles in length. I reckon maybe 90% of it was woods with only 1 small fire road where you could open it up a bit.
There were a couple of nice climbs that were well ‘rooted’ (interesting if wet), some logs to clamber over, a very tight narrow downhill ‘whoop’ section that shook your shoulders like a jack hammer, and generally lots of flowing trials up and down through the woods. Particularly enjoyable with the sun streaming through.
Due to the dry hot weather didn’t have many problems today with grip and only had a couple of little offs (not like last week), one was which on a ‘rooty’ hill, there were no marshals on this one, so I shouted to some bloke spectating to come down and hold the bike while I kicked her to get going again (cheers for that mate).

Pitted after about 1 hour and 40mins, only to find that the jelly babies Marie was shoving down my gullet while I refuelled, had turned into a lovely gooey substance similar to that of the remains of a Chinese curry that had been left on the side overnight! They’d melted in my toolbox because of the heat.

As the race wore on I felt stronger and managed to get another lap in with 7 mins to go and went on to finish. I think the temperature was about 22-23 degrees when I got back to the van.
I thought it was a good course and a well run event.

Just one last thing, I think I was on my penultimate lap when all the bikes were redirected round an injured rider, it looked pretty bad as I went passed, the guy was lying on the floor with a medical team there with what looked like a drip attached to him, no one likes to see that and it just goes to show how dangerous racing can be, no matter what class of rider you are (I think it was an expert). Best wishes to him.

Finishing position: 5/26
Bike status: new chain+sprocket
Injuries: none

Nancemellion- 3rd June 2007

Just got back to the van........................Knackerd!

I rode Nancemellion when I first started out last year, I think it must have been my 3rd or 4th event, from what I remember last time, it was a bit of a bumpy old track.
The weather was overcast but dry, not bad seeing as the forecast was rain.

Took the bike to get scruntineerd and got chatting to a guy who said that the course had changed from last time and that there were some tight, slippery wooded sections that had been added. Great I thought, a nice challenge, and it certainly turned out to be that!

Unusually for a south west round we had a sighting lap, although I didn’t do all of it because the marshals told us halfway round to go and line up for the start as we were running a bit late. Unbeknown to me I didn’t get the chance to taste the ‘hill of hell’, although a couple of lads from Thor motorcycles (also sportsman) I was talking to on the start line told me about it.

Right then, the flag dropped and off we went.
I made quite a good start, about 4th or 5th along the first moto x section until we started to hit the woods, and then we stopped, the first queue of the day was in front of us as a slippery uphill section was catching riders out. Once up this, back down we went and it was at this point that I promptly had my first ‘off’ (one of many and the shape of things to come!).
Up and down through the woods we went, it seemed like all the uphill sections were slippery, and indeed they were, as queues were forming to get up them. A lot of the track through these areas was extremely tight.
After the woods came another moto x style bit then back into yet more woods before coming to another abrupt halt as more bikes were queuing. I couldn’t see what the hold up was until I got round the corner and then saw in front of me the ‘hill of hell’.
I went for it, got halfway and done half a doughnut and slid off onto my arse. Oh b*llocks, I was stuck in the middle, so I picked myself up, got the bike and pushed it to the side amongst the ‘green’ stuff. Now facing the wrong way I had to turn around, not easy when it’s so slippery and being off camber.
My mate Lester who came with me today trundled down to help, I started her up and we both heaved and pushed until blue in the face trying to get the bloody thing to the top. We were going nowhere fast, knackered, we waited to get our breath back before we pushed some more, finally reaching the summit (respect must go to the guys who were ‘cleaning’ it with no problem).

Off I went, through the lap scoring and onto the other hillside, which was more open going.
Back round again I came to the ‘hill of hell’ and done exactly the same, not good because now I was getting cream crackered keeping on hauling the bike to the top.
After another lap you might think 3rd time lucky on that hill? Not a chance! When the bike finally got to the top I was exhausted and went into the pits to refuel.

Facing the hill on the next lap I decided to choose another gear, yippee, I only got stuck on the last foot or so from the top, Stephen Jose who was watching quickly grabbed the bike and I was up and over in a flash, nice one. Next lap I ’cleaned’ it no problem, my confidence had been restored!
I did have to make another pit stop after this as I could hear a horrible ‘clicking’ sound coming from the wheels. I thought something was jammed in one of the disks or the pads. Stephen (Jose) came over with a couple of guys and helped prop the bike up, turned out to be a broken spoke, which one of the guys took out for me (cheers lads).

I had a big ‘off’ on one of the bumpy moto x sections while ‘nailing’ it in 3rd gear, the front went from under me and I hit the deck like a sack of sh*t. A couple of riders behind me saw it and asked if I was alright, thanks for that guys, I was, so I got up and carried on. I thought to myself “I was lucky there”, it could’ve been worse that one.

On the last lap I must have come off maybe 6-7 times, I was so tired I had a job standing up on the bike as my energy level had been zapped. Struggling on the slippery up hills I slid off the bike and buried the thing in a gorse bush, that was bloody awful dragging it out of that.
I also hit the deck on the wooden bridge that crossed the brook, I was lucky there because the bike was lying there balancing over the edge, another foot and it would have fallen into it.
I was so tired I even stalled it twice within about 10 yards of the lap scorers when I finished, just when the rain started coming down.

Tough race today (over a quarter of the field that started didn’t finish!) but, well worth the entry fee.
Glad i ain't got far to drive home today!

Finishing position: 5/23
Bike status: ok
Injuries: none

Bratton court- 27th May 2007

The picture says it all, underneath that mud somewhere is an engine!


It’s been 3 weeks since I last rode due to that bug I picked up, and to be honest I’m still not feeling 100%, and for the first time in a very long time, I actually had some doubts as to whether I would be capable of doing the full 3 hours racing today.
Nevertheless, I went for it.
I was planning to do a 6 hour event today, but choose this race instead, I’m glad I did, because that event was cancelled.

The forecast was rain, and so it turned out to be.
Is it me or what? Every time I do an xmoor event it rains! Remember Combe Sydenham? I do!

I’ve got to say that the A396 from Tiverton to Minehead has more twists and turns than a fairground ride, bloody horrible road, slow going indeed.
Still, we made it there in good time so no problem at all (this makes a change as I’m usually late).

As I got scrutineered I could see that the start was uphill on a grassy slope about 2 to 300 metres long, quite a tricky start with a trials tyre on the back, I knew that traction was going to be difficult (bloody nora, it was!).

Everything done, I lined up for the start thinking about that slope, the flag dropped and off we went.
Could I find any grip? Could I hell! slipping and sliding all over the shop, I finally got up to the wooded section in last place.
I was absolutely livid with myself and I had fire in my eyes (really embarrassing when your girlfriend turns round to you at the end of the race and says ‘what were you doing at the start then, what was that all about?).
With the tight wooded sections that we entered it was hard to overtake but I made up about 10 places until near the end of the first lap I got stuck on a slippery uphill and then they all went past me again, I had to turn back down the hill and get some momentum before I could make it up.
I was now breathing fire! Really pissed off with myself, but hey, it’s a marathon not a sprint, so a long way to go.

On the 2nd lap my goggles decided to pack up, the cord on the rip ‘n’ roll wouldn’t release itself so I couldn’t get any clear vision because of the mud, (turns out that I put the wrong make of canister in, what a twat) I rode past the pits in disgust and threw them at my tool box.
I did have spare goggles, but decided to carry on without.

The course itself I thought was excellent, 6-7 miles long, it was mainly up and down through the woods for quite a lot of it which in places was challenging because of the wet conditions.
Some nice straight fast sections as well and lovely slippery hills (thanks to the marshals who came to my rescue on one particular lap).

One thing I didn’t see was a sign saying, DANGER……………………….LOW FLYING BRANCHES.
Jesus, there were loads of them. Just as you think you were clear of them, you’d stick your head up and one would whack you right in the eyes. This seemed to happen constantly and several times I had to stop and wait to get my vision back before I could carry on.
I think what had happened was that because of the rain overnight it had made the branches droop and sag, so we just had to put up with it.

I was enjoying myself so much I didn’t really want to pit! I love the mud! but after an hour and 45 mins i stopped, took on more fuel and shoved a load of jelly babies down my throat, then back out i went, and with no real problems i made it ok to the finish.

It was nice to do the full 3 hours especially as i didn't think i'd be able to manage it, so a pleasing day.

Now for that drive home back along the A396!

Finishing position: 7/26
Bike status: new rear brake pads
Injuries: sore eyes

Just when you don't want it to happen- May 13th 2007

You go and get ill!
I was down to race at Dowshill Huntsman today, but only just reluctantly got out of bed feeling somewhat ‘drained’.
All started Friday night when I got home late, went to bed and woke up at 6am in a pool of sweat. (not good)
All day Saturday I felt a bit ‘tricky’, went to bed and had a restless night.
When the alarm went off and I got up, i felt crap and I knew straight away that I just didn’t have the energy to race today, I was hoping I’d feel ok, but after 4 cups of tea and some toast and ibuprofen, things hadn’t changed, so to my frustration and disappointment, I decided that it would be a wise thing not to travel and race.
It’s a shame because with the rain we’ve had, I would have loved riding in the mud.
Not happy!!

Brandis corner- May 6th 2007

Not a great start to the weekend I must admit with Leeds getting relegated!
Never mind, we’ll be back.

Gutted over the football, off I went to take out my frustrations on the track!
I arrived in plenty of time, not as far as I thought it was, good weather, all set for a good days racing.

Done all the usual bits there is to do and waited for the start.
With minutes to go and on the start line, I’d realised that I’ve forgotten to put on my transponder; it was back in the car in the next field!
Off went the girlfriend to go and get it and got back just in the nick of time. (who says race meetings are no place for a woman, not me!)

Flag dropped and off we went racing, started about middle.
A few little woody rooty bits caught a few out, so things slowed a bit on the first lap till everyone got spaced out a bit (I don’t mean having a joint either).
The track was very dry due to the recent weather we’ve been having, so a right ‘bone shaker’ in places.
1 or 2 nice ‘grassy’ hills, a couple of jumps and some tricky wooded sections, but nothing too technical, although I still got caught out 2 or 3 times by the roots and had to pick the bike up each time, only had little ‘offs’ though, so nothing major.
Each lap was about 9 to 10 mins, for me anyway it was.

Pitted ok at halfway feeling fine and off I went to do the remainder of the race.
With a couple of laps left, I was entering a wooded section at the end of a fast bit of track, there was only enough room for the 1 bike to get through, when out the corner of my eye some guy decided to try and get there before me.
I was just turning and it was at this point that he simply ‘torpedoed’ me!
I went straight onto the deck and into the bush (no harm done), the guy actually turned round to me and said ‘sorry’, then carried on.
Fair play to him for doing that.
Finished ok and got placed 6th in another round of the 2-stroke championship that I entered.

Finishing position: 13/37
Bike status: ok
Injuries: none

Hustyns Wood- April 22nd 2007

Hustyns, right on my doorstep! Just 5 minutes up the road, I often go running there, so knew the area quite well.
I walked parts of the course on the Tuesday and cycled round it on a mountain bike with my mate on the Thursday (knackering that was), so I could get an idea what I’d be faced with.
Due to the hot weather the previous week, the course was bone dry, I thought that was a shame as I’d like it to have been wet and slippery, never mind, you can’t have it all!

This was a time card event, which made a nice refreshing change to the constant ‘hare and hounds’ races that seem to be the norm.
There seemed to be a nice atmosphere about the place when I arrived, I duly then done the necessary and worked out my times for my laps.
Looking at the rider list for the event I could see that there was a decent champ and expert entry, so I’d better have my wits about me and be ready to move out of their way because these guys are on tight times.

When I raced at Grey Mare back in January, I remember a guy passing me on the last lap in the same class as me, he beat me by one place, and low and behold that same guy (steve jose) had the same start time as me today.
Whilst waiting for our allotted time, I went over and had a chat with him, nice chap, and yes, he did remember passing me.

The clocked ticked over to 10.34 and off we went straight up into the woods.
Lots of tight sections, lots of stumps, lovely trails, nice hills and 1 or 2 fast bits with sweeping bends, it was really nice riding round, especially with the sun glistening through the trees. I think the course was about 8 or so miles long.

Made my first time check ok and went off on my 2nd lap which included a special test.
I did ok on that then went back in to the pits with time to spare.
Onto the 3rd lap and back round to the special test again, this time I got caught by a few champ riders (I know when Denz is coming up because he always shouts my name, to get out of his bloody way!) so I had to slow a bit and let them pass.

Onto to the last lap then, Halfway round I saw Steve (Jose) who had stalled in front of me on a tricky little downhill, I asked if he was ok, he was, so off I went.
Minutes later I pulled over to let a faster rider get by and promptly parked the bike into some bushes (well it was off camber!) and got stuck!
Steve then caught me up and asked me if I was alright, he leant his bike up against a tree and came back to help.
With plenty of time to get a finish we both travelled back in tandem.

A nice event, but I still would have liked it to have rained, now that would have made things interesting!

Finishing position: 2/12
Bike status: ok
Injuries: none

Evercreech- April 14th 2007

Another round of the 2 stroke championship, and lets hope I can have the same sort of result as I did in the first round.
The race was due to start at 2.30pm, My mate Lester was helping out with this one, so we set off with plenty of time to get there at 10.30am.
We hit some traffic on the way and the A303 was very slow in places, and then………………………………………….we got lost!
Couldn’t find the little ‘B’ road that we had to turn off of to get there, I was panicking, when in the nick of time a local appeared pulling out of a driveway that we were passing.
He pointed us in the right direction and we managed to arrive at 2.05pm.
I only had 10 minutes to sign on, enter on the day, get changed, mix the fuel, get the gear ready for the pits, get scrutineerd, and get to the start before the sighting lap got underway.
Not the ideal preparation I admit, I was sweating before I even got on the bike.
I just got the gear on, got on the bike, and left my mate to do everything else, I just said to him, ‘see you in the pits at halfway’ and left.
The bikes had just left for the sighting lap but I managed to catch them up. Phew!

I then calmed down a bit and waited for the start proper after the lap was over.
Off we went then, I kicked her and she fired up instantly, this was going to be another decent start, until I dropped the clutch and stalled it (twat).
Kicked again instantly and got away in about 8th or 9th.

Another fast course this one, very much in the motocross style (probably due to the quad racing that goes before us), not very technical, only a little tree rooted climb to worry about.
A couple of nice jumps to go off, and a steep downhill that was ‘stepped’ with a sharp left hander at the bottom (certainly tested your braking that did).
Due to the dry weather, the track was bone hard and dusty in places, a real ‘boneshaker’ in some parts.
Trying really hard on the penultimate lap, I approached a right hander, the front wheel went from under me and I went through the ropes by the transponder area and landed face first and tasted dirt!
The lap scorer came over to me, ‘you alright’, ‘yeah, no worries’ I said, quickly got back up and carried on.
I went into my last lap still trying hard, I went round a tight turn around a tree and got on the gas too early and promptly smacked my right hand into a fence post. Ouch! That hurt!
2 mistakes on the last 2 laps, simply due to‘trying too hard’.
Finished the race and managed to get 3rd in the sportsman 2 stroke.

Now for the bad news!
The shock bolt on the Ohlins had worked loose, come out during the race and snapped the shock link underneath!
I’ve got no idea at what stage it happened, but I’m thankful the suspension held together.


Finishing position: 9/38
Bike status: new shock bolt and link, shock absorber to be serviced.
Injuries: bruised right hand

Grebestone manor- April 1st 2007

One of the easiest tracks to find! About a mile off one of the junctions of the M5.

Right, as I stated earlier on in the blog, this year I would be concentrating on the sportsman 2 stroke championship which in run by ORE, this being the 1st round of about 9 or 10 of them.

I wanted a fairly decent start to the championship to start the ball rolling for the rest of the rounds, and I wasn’t disappointed!


I’d arrived in good spirits as I’d had plenty of kip the night before (which makes a change), so if I things didn’t go to plan, I couldn’t blame it on being tired.

Off we went then on our sighting lap, the first half mile was going to be fast with a flat open field to race across, with a few twists and turns in it. Then came the bottle neck! A little ditch with a huge tree root running across the middle of it filled with water, only 1 bike wide, or 2 if you barged someone out of the way!
After this more fast sectons, a little bomb hole and a couple of rocky streams that we had to ride through (this caused another bottleneck) and a small jump near the end of the lap.

Got back and waited for the race to start.
Off we went, bloody hell! I led into the first corner, best start ever!
This came to nothing as I approached that first ditch, The clubman that had started before us were still queuing to get over it.
Never mind, better luck next time, I made it over and carried on.
Soon after this there was another long queue of about 20 bikes all waiting to get through one of the rocky streams, so from a good start, I really didn’t know where I was as everybody had caught up and we were all politely barging each other trying to get through.
Straight after the water crossings and up the bank, the ground had cut up badly making things slightly interesting as this was turning a bit ‘boggy’. I think because of my lightweight, I didn’t seem to have any problems with this.
A small wooded section followed, nothing to technical and I completed my first lap ok.

I felt better and better as the race went on, pitted at half way feeling good and couldn’t wait to get back out.
By now the 2 bottlenecks that had caused the queues on each lap had now been cut out which although made the laps slightly longer by going round them, seemed to be faster as we raced round more of an open track in the process.

Finished the race to find I’d been placed 2nd in the 2 strokes.

Finishing position: 5/48
Bike status: ok

Injuries: none