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
I started racing Enduro's in August 2006. Here is my blog with everything thats happened. The good, the bad, and the ups and downs. Latest blog posts are at the top.
