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!
Monday 30 July 2007
Monday 23 July 2007
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
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
Wednesday 18 July 2007
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.
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.
Monday 9 July 2007
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.
Sunday 1 July 2007
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
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
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