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.
Sunday 23 September 2007
Sunday 16 September 2007
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.
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.
Thursday 13 September 2007
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.
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.
Sunday 9 September 2007
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.
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.
Sunday 2 September 2007
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
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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
