I was out gigging last night and didn’t get to bed till 3.30am (I’m getting too old for this rock’n’roll life style) and was up at 6am to get ready and drive to Thor m/cycles HQ to meet Jed Treleaven and Steve Tizzard, who I was going to get a lift with and help them out a bit for the day as I wasn’t riding.
I got there bang on time, 7am, no one was about so I waited and Steve turned up 5 mins later and said he’d overslept because his bloody ‘snooze’ button on his alarm didn’t work properly! Off we went into Thor HQ where Steve got the gear packed in the van and we both waited for Jed. And we waited. And we waited. And we bloody well waited! Lazy sod was about half hour late and he only lives 50 yds away from the place!
Off we went then on our merry way and chatted about various subjects (mostly dirt bike related) which included what is the best chain to use (I brought this up and I should’ve kept quiet, more later!) and we arrived at Woolborough with plenty of time, so off I went to get the coffee’s in. The catering van was about a minute away but it took me about half an hour to get 3 drinks because I was talking to everyone who I hadn’t seen for ages along the way! Chatted to Andy smith about all things enduro, Mike Roose who was glad I was changing my bike, Francis banfield about all things Gas Gas, Rich Tucker about his Husky flying machine, a quick bit of banter with Dean Canfield, and Debbie Tucker about the general running of some events.
Right then everything ready I told the boys to have a ‘good un’ and went to find some nasty slippery hill down in the woods where I could help some riders out if needed. I found a small little climb, didn’t look to bad but little was I to know that carnage would follow later!
Just gone 11’o’clock and with the sun shining through the top of the trees, the champ riders arrived first followed by the experts and all cleaned the hill no problem. The first few clubman got up no problem and then of course the inevitable happened, one got stuck, then of course it causes traffic choas like Piccadilly circus on Friday evening rush hour! By the time the big sportsman field came round I didn’t know who to help first, I was the only one there and with no marshall anywhere to be seen riders were just looking at me praying for me to get them out of trouble. I was pushing bikes up the hill, picking riders up off the floor and holding them upright so they could kick start themselves back into life, getting some people un-tangled from between the trees, it was bloody carnage and I was glad to see the back of the last few riders disappear into the distance. Felt sorry for 1 guy who had to turn round and go back because he’d blown his head gasket, not good on your 1st lap.
I stood there for another 4 laps helping riders who were still having problems (this is harder than actually riding an event!), but at least 1 marshal, yes 1 marshal turned up to help, so at least my workload was halved, hip, hip, hooray. Now for the bad bit, while I was pushing a big 4 banger up that hill my left arm rested against his bloody red hot silencer, ouch (see picture) the flash bastard had a twin exhaust fitted! As with most bikes all your looking out for when helping out is the one silencer and that’s usually on the right ain’t it? Caught me out that, Bloody 4 bangers, I hate um.
So, when the going had got a little bit easier and the hill wasn’t so bad it was off back up to the pits to wait for the lads to help them out with their pitting. I bumped into Rose disney who suggested I got my arm looked at by the ambulance crew, good shout that, so off I went to get it treated. F**k, that hurt when they decided to wash the wound clean but made up for it with some soothing gel stuff that made the burn feel nice and cool afterwards.
I missed Jed and Steve’s stop so decided to go and watch the rest of the race from near the pits at the top of a long flowing hill. After a while I bumped into Jed, ‘what’s up’ I said, ‘my chains snapped’. I felt guilty now, I was the one in the van that had mentioned about chains earlier!
We had to wait until the end of the race before we could attempt to get the his bike back up because it was half way back down the hill and we also had to wait for the ‘traffic’ to stop. Race over and it was time to go and get the bike. Jed had got a spare link from somewhere but the chain was so badly mashed there was no way it could be fitted, so we both stupidly thought we were superman and tried to push the mad lagged ‘gasser’ back up to the top which must have been about a good 50 meters, not easy with it being slippery as well. We made about 20 meters before exhaustion got the better of us and not wanting to stay there until the middle of December I went off to get some help . Mind you, that wasn’t before I’d stopped every travelling marshal (at least 5 or 6 of them) that were doing a sweep around the course to ask for help, or at least send someone back to help us out, and did it happen? No it didn’t, no help and no one came back either. Excuse my language but that is piss poor, enough said.
Luckily Steve Tizzard had waited in the pits so I sent him back to the van to get the ratchet tie downs so we could heave the bike up. You know them strong man events that you see on the T.V when they’ve got a harness around their shoulders and they are bent over double pulling a bloody great big lorry along behind them? That was us yanking that bike up that hill, would have made a good picture that!
With everyone back at the van I went off to get the cheeseburgers for everybody but that turned into a nightmare, we were all Hank Marvin but the catering van had just run out of rolls! Oh b*llocks, we had to settle for just chips instead.
What a day, a nice burn on my arm, exhaustion from dragging a muddy bike up a hill (not even mine at that) and can’t even get a cheeseburger at the end, that’s the last time I go for a day out with them lads from THOR!
Finishing position: My house
Bike status: Still waiting delivery!
Injuries: Exhaust burn left arm
