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
