The Wadebridge track was open today so off i went for a couple of hours of bike time.
Things were going splendidly until i managed to get a puncture on the rear. Luckily for me my Neighbour Darren was up there watching with his little 'un' so he kindly offered to nip back to my house for me and pick up my spare wheel, cheers pal!
Spare on and back out i went trying to learn how to take them bloody jumps a bit better.
Had a good few laps with some local motocross lads who i eventually overtook because they were knackerd! No stamina them boys!
We were blessed with some nice weather so quite an enjoyable day even though i was a bit 'cream crackerd' later on when i went out gigging. Still thats 'rock 'n' roll i suppose!
Sunday 29 June 2008
Sunday 15 June 2008
Cadeleigh- 15th June 2008
Cadeleigh- 15th June 2008
Nice weather driving up to Cadeleigh, took a couple of hours, but just as I got there the bloody heavens opened! It absolutely lashed it down, thunder an all so I took shelter in the van reading the t+mx until it stopped. Things were now going to be interesting due to the recent downpoor, and that’s exactly how it turned out to be.
After doing all the necessary, the time came for us all to do a sighting lap, so off we went.
I’ve ridden this course before so I knew a little bit about it including the 3 or 4 slippery climbs, the ultra slimy downhill’s and the off camber grassy sections that were like riding on ice due to the recent rain. Overall some nice wooded sections, nothing too technical and the course was rounded off by that motocross track with a few jumps on it and a couple more grassy fields.
On to the start itself then, I was in the clubman class, 2&4 strokes together, any size bike.
The flag dropped and off we went, I made a really crap getaway and was near the back but managed to make a few places up through the woods until we hit an off camber grassy right hander. Still desperately trying to gain more places I overcooked it, the front slid away and ended up on my arse! By the time I got back on the bike I was plum last.
When made it round to the first of the climbs chaos loomed up in front of me and I had to wait until the marshals had cleared the way of the riders until I could carry on. Going down these hills the other side was bloody well tricky and I virtually had to ‘crawl’ down in order to keep control of the bike. On my 2nd lap I did a ‘you’ve been framed moment’ while taking it easy down one of those slippery descents. The front went away from me and I went straight over the bars doing a somersault landing on my back which luckily for me was in some soft bushes, nice one! What happened next was something that you might see on ‘you tube’ if you type in ‘funny videos’ on the search bar (or words to that effect). I picked myself up, got back on the bike, started her, let the clutch out and promptly slammed into the nearest tree about 5 yds away! My throttle had got stuck wide open! I hit the tree at fair crack as well because it flattened my ring that I wear on my right hand as I slammed into it (much to the annoyance of the girlfriend coz she bought me that ring). Oh well never mind I’m sure she’ll buy me another one!
I rolled down to the bottom of the hill and tried to re-start the bike but it wasn’t having any of it and I’d thought that I might have fouled up the plug, not good if your miles from the pits. I rested for 5 mins, turned the fuel off, kicked her a few times, turned the fuel back on, kicked again, and Bring-a-ding-ding, the sweet noise of a two ‘smoke’ rung around my ears as the Tm fired back up into life and off I went. By the time I got through the transponders after doing 2 laps (36 mins) I knew I was well down due to the couple of ‘offs’ and getting held up.
Had another ‘off’ on my next lap on one of those hills again, my fault really as I tried to get past a fallen rider through a gap that wasn’t there, no problem though, just went back down and made it up 2nd time.
After I pitted and went back out on the course the club had obviously decided to cut out some of the hills probably due to the chaos they were causing some riders so our lap was now a lot quicker. Shame that, those climbs were fun.
As I raced on and with about 20 mins on the clock remaining I thought I could get another 2 laps in and maybe 3 if I pushed it a bit before the clock ran out on me. These last 20 mins turned out to be action packed! One guy on of those orange bikes (you know the one’s, there everywhere) overtook me whilst going over one of the jumps only to go over the bars right in front of me and get a face full of dirt with his bike landing on top of him. I managed to avoid him but stopped and asked him if he was ok, he was a bit shaken but alright.
Next up on one of the grassy off cambers 2 riders got tangled right in front of me again and came crashing to the ground, again I managed to get out of the way and carry on. I did take a quick look back, they both got up so no problem.
I then ran into a fellow TM rider as he’d got stuck on a slope and I saw a gap to get past him, but just as I got next to him he moved, he hit the deck, I stayed upright and carried on. Yet again I took a quick look back to make sure he was ok.
As I started another lap with 10 mins to go I knew it was going to be tight as to weather I could get another lap in before time. I kept looking at my watch on the bars thinking will I make it or not and yes I did with 20 secs to go!
I was well pleased with that and rode round in almost complete isolation due to no one being behind me, but there was still a few in front and as I caught and passed some I came to the only hill that was left in the course which was still causing some riders a few problems. I rode up it ok but as I got to the top 2 marshals were helping some guy get back on his bike and there was gap that I could get through to pass him, so obviously I went for it. Sods law, just as I was about to pass him he slipped and fell down right in front of me. I tried to avoid him but couldn’t and ran over his leg! I came off, got back up and turned round to ask him if he was alright and guess what? It was the same TM rider that I’d hit 10 mins ago!
Thankfully he was ok because I’d seriously thought that I might have broken his leg, phew.
After I made it back to the finish I waited for him to finish and told him that I didn’t have anything against him and I wasn’t out to get him just because I’d hit him twice in the few laps of the race! He took it all in good faith and we both had a laugh about it.
Had a chat with Rob Ellick and Paul Ford just as I was leaving and to be honest Paul must be sick to death of seeing me. Every time we speak before a race, he has a Dnf. He did it at Combe Sydenham and he did it here as well!
Finishing position: 24/29
Bike status: ok
Injuries: none
Nice weather driving up to Cadeleigh, took a couple of hours, but just as I got there the bloody heavens opened! It absolutely lashed it down, thunder an all so I took shelter in the van reading the t+mx until it stopped. Things were now going to be interesting due to the recent downpoor, and that’s exactly how it turned out to be.
After doing all the necessary, the time came for us all to do a sighting lap, so off we went.
I’ve ridden this course before so I knew a little bit about it including the 3 or 4 slippery climbs, the ultra slimy downhill’s and the off camber grassy sections that were like riding on ice due to the recent rain. Overall some nice wooded sections, nothing too technical and the course was rounded off by that motocross track with a few jumps on it and a couple more grassy fields.
On to the start itself then, I was in the clubman class, 2&4 strokes together, any size bike.
The flag dropped and off we went, I made a really crap getaway and was near the back but managed to make a few places up through the woods until we hit an off camber grassy right hander. Still desperately trying to gain more places I overcooked it, the front slid away and ended up on my arse! By the time I got back on the bike I was plum last.
When made it round to the first of the climbs chaos loomed up in front of me and I had to wait until the marshals had cleared the way of the riders until I could carry on. Going down these hills the other side was bloody well tricky and I virtually had to ‘crawl’ down in order to keep control of the bike. On my 2nd lap I did a ‘you’ve been framed moment’ while taking it easy down one of those slippery descents. The front went away from me and I went straight over the bars doing a somersault landing on my back which luckily for me was in some soft bushes, nice one! What happened next was something that you might see on ‘you tube’ if you type in ‘funny videos’ on the search bar (or words to that effect). I picked myself up, got back on the bike, started her, let the clutch out and promptly slammed into the nearest tree about 5 yds away! My throttle had got stuck wide open! I hit the tree at fair crack as well because it flattened my ring that I wear on my right hand as I slammed into it (much to the annoyance of the girlfriend coz she bought me that ring). Oh well never mind I’m sure she’ll buy me another one!
I rolled down to the bottom of the hill and tried to re-start the bike but it wasn’t having any of it and I’d thought that I might have fouled up the plug, not good if your miles from the pits. I rested for 5 mins, turned the fuel off, kicked her a few times, turned the fuel back on, kicked again, and Bring-a-ding-ding, the sweet noise of a two ‘smoke’ rung around my ears as the Tm fired back up into life and off I went. By the time I got through the transponders after doing 2 laps (36 mins) I knew I was well down due to the couple of ‘offs’ and getting held up.
Had another ‘off’ on my next lap on one of those hills again, my fault really as I tried to get past a fallen rider through a gap that wasn’t there, no problem though, just went back down and made it up 2nd time.
After I pitted and went back out on the course the club had obviously decided to cut out some of the hills probably due to the chaos they were causing some riders so our lap was now a lot quicker. Shame that, those climbs were fun.
As I raced on and with about 20 mins on the clock remaining I thought I could get another 2 laps in and maybe 3 if I pushed it a bit before the clock ran out on me. These last 20 mins turned out to be action packed! One guy on of those orange bikes (you know the one’s, there everywhere) overtook me whilst going over one of the jumps only to go over the bars right in front of me and get a face full of dirt with his bike landing on top of him. I managed to avoid him but stopped and asked him if he was ok, he was a bit shaken but alright.
Next up on one of the grassy off cambers 2 riders got tangled right in front of me again and came crashing to the ground, again I managed to get out of the way and carry on. I did take a quick look back, they both got up so no problem.
I then ran into a fellow TM rider as he’d got stuck on a slope and I saw a gap to get past him, but just as I got next to him he moved, he hit the deck, I stayed upright and carried on. Yet again I took a quick look back to make sure he was ok.
As I started another lap with 10 mins to go I knew it was going to be tight as to weather I could get another lap in before time. I kept looking at my watch on the bars thinking will I make it or not and yes I did with 20 secs to go!
I was well pleased with that and rode round in almost complete isolation due to no one being behind me, but there was still a few in front and as I caught and passed some I came to the only hill that was left in the course which was still causing some riders a few problems. I rode up it ok but as I got to the top 2 marshals were helping some guy get back on his bike and there was gap that I could get through to pass him, so obviously I went for it. Sods law, just as I was about to pass him he slipped and fell down right in front of me. I tried to avoid him but couldn’t and ran over his leg! I came off, got back up and turned round to ask him if he was alright and guess what? It was the same TM rider that I’d hit 10 mins ago!
Thankfully he was ok because I’d seriously thought that I might have broken his leg, phew.
After I made it back to the finish I waited for him to finish and told him that I didn’t have anything against him and I wasn’t out to get him just because I’d hit him twice in the few laps of the race! He took it all in good faith and we both had a laugh about it.
Had a chat with Rob Ellick and Paul Ford just as I was leaving and to be honest Paul must be sick to death of seeing me. Every time we speak before a race, he has a Dnf. He did it at Combe Sydenham and he did it here as well!
Finishing position: 24/29
Bike status: ok
Injuries: none
Monday 9 June 2008
A bit of ride- 8th June 2008
Well it was such a gorgeous day that i couldn't resist taken the bike out for a bit of a ride in the sunshine down at Ken's track.
I was just happily pottering about the place enjoying myself until i phoned Marie up to check on things. She reminded me that i was supposed to be at home to give her a hand to get the barbeque ready as we were entertaining some friends that evening, needless to say she wasn't impressed!
Everything turned out alright in the end and i just made it back in time to give her a helping hand.
This bloody biking lark gets you into trouble sometimes don't it!
I was just happily pottering about the place enjoying myself until i phoned Marie up to check on things. She reminded me that i was supposed to be at home to give her a hand to get the barbeque ready as we were entertaining some friends that evening, needless to say she wasn't impressed!
Everything turned out alright in the end and i just made it back in time to give her a helping hand.
This bloody biking lark gets you into trouble sometimes don't it!
Tuesday 3 June 2008
Nancemellion- 1st June 2008
The day started well, not much travelling, I had a good nights kip because I wasn’t gigging last night, the weather was lovely and warm, and when I went to sign on I picked up a trophy for last years 2 man team that me and my mate Pete Jago had rode in together.
Had a chat with a few people before racing started, in fact I almost had to put my sunglasses on when I talked to Mark Tucker because of the glare that was nearly blinding me coming from his new white alpinestars that he’d just bought!
Now then to the start., What a shambles! It looked to me (and others I spoke to) that no one had a bloody clue where they were supposed to be, obviously apart from the champ and expert boys, who of course always are the first ones away. All the classes seem to be mixed in together , why? Call me a blind old sod but I didn’t see any signs or markings stating where we all meant to be and with such a small area where we were all cramped in, it seemed to be a total mix up!
Just after 10am the champ boys got away and we could see that about 50 yds from where we lined up, there was a bottle neck which even these guys were going a lot slower than that what they normally would due to a slippery rooty climb up. Why oh why the club put that part of the course so close to the start god knows (last years start was a lot better, don’t know why they changed it) and even some of the experts got stuck in a traffic jam so I think we all knew that a good get away would be the only way not to get caught up in any mayhem.
While I was waiting for my time to go, about 4 different classes all started at the same time leaving me standing, what the f*ck is going on here then? Even the sportsman behind me were flying past, so i quickly fired her up and got going albeit near the back and guess what? Yeah, traffic bloody jam! After queuing like it was rush hour on the M25, I finally made it to the foot of that rooty climb some 7 mins after the start! And I’ve only gone 100 meters, and there was still riders behind me, complete shambles, but you must give those poor bloody marshals a big hand for helping everybody up to the top with the never ending onslaught of bikes.
After I made it up to the top (or should I say dragged up there by some helpers), the course dropped back down again and went round a tree that was covered in slimy roots, I had a stupid little ‘off’ here, nothing out of the ordinary, but when I picked the bike up and got back on, I went to pull the clutch in and oops! Oh crumbs (or words to that effect) my clutch levers broke! (see pic). I finally made it back to the pits after 35 mins really struggling to coax the bike round with the little bit of lever that I had left. Gear changing was difficult and I just kept stalling the thing in the tight wooded sections.
I parked the bike up and walked back to the van in the hope that I had a spare lever in my toolbox, I did! But that was broken as well. What I’m I doing keeping a broken clutch lever in my toolbox god only knows!
Things were now serious as I didn’t want to get a DNF as I wanted to keep up my record of finishing! But as it stood at the moment I really couldn’t see myself riding round with hardly any clutch. Might be easy to do on a flat field, but not in the woods.
I then went back down to the pits and had a general chit chat with anybody that I could find to cry my eyes out too! Jed and Steve from Thor ( who both took a short break at one time because of the heat) Debbie Tucker, Dean canfield, as well as helping out a few riders re-fuel.
As time went on i thought to myself, surely I must have some sort of lever back in the van that I could ‘bodge’ to get me round? So off I went again back up to the van to try and find something. After digging through the depths of my toolbox I finally came across something that resembled a clutch lever, and it wasn’t broken either, bingo!
I quickly fitted it on and with 1hr and 55 mins gone on the clock I set off on my 2nd lap.
Within a couple of minutes I knew that things weren’t quite right and the ’dodgy’ lever that I’d put on was really no better than the broken one, it just didn’t work properly, So yet again I huffed and puffed my way round another lap and pitted on the 2hr 30min mark and waited for the flag. To be honest another lap wouldn’t have made a blind bit of difference to my result, so in the end I did the right thing and at least I got a finish. Who knows, I might even get some championship points!
Finishing position: 13/15 (clubman 225)
Bike status: new clutch lever
Injuries: none
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