Trewint- 26th October 2008

Not much traveling this week as Trewint was only about 20 mins away, nice one!
Now then, this was the race I did last year when I had that tasty ‘off’ and I’m still bearing the scars of it now, so I was hoping not to complete a ‘double’ this time.
With the rain that we’ve had, this was going to be a wet one and sure enough getting into the field just to park proved a challenge in itself, mud, mud and more mud!

Met up and had a chat with fellow ’gasser’ riders, Jed, Arthur and Tim for a quick chat about the conditions and how tricky it could be (how right we were), then back to van it was to get changed. Although it wasn’t raining at the time, the weather was very wintery and to be honest, it was bloody freezing because of the cold biting northerly wind.

It was nice to get going when the flag finally dropped and off we went. I didn’t make too bad a start, about halfway in the pack as we made our way across an off camber hill that had been cut up really badly due to the quad race earlier and was as muddy and as slippery as you can get. Everyone seemed to be tip toeing their way round as we moved into the wooded section.
The woods weren’t too bad, slippery, but rideable, with some nice roots thrown for good measure and a nasty uphill that later was causing carnage with queues forming to get up it!
Out of the woods we came and again the fields we crossed were just filled with mud as far as the eye could see and no matter what gear you were in, the back wheel would just spin like a washing machine on 800rpm trying to find some grip! The off cambers were like riding on ice and you just couldn’t help yourself sliding down to the bottom and then trying to get the bike pointing in the right direction so you could ‘nail’ it and try and find some traction and get going again. Tricky indeed!
The course itself was only about 5 miles or so, but in the conditions, it felt like a lot more, not hard work, but just tricky and I had quite a few little ‘offs’ due to the front wheel sliding away from me.
The longer the race went on that nasty hill in the woods became blocked with riders trying to scramble up it and thanks must go to all those marshals who were working overtime to help clear it. At this point of the course all you could see and hear were screaming engines, lots of smoke and spinning back wheels, lovely combination that!
After last weeks race and going the distance without re-fueling, I knew it wouldn’t be a problem today as this was only 2 ½ hours in duration so that’s exactly what I did and it worked out a treat, even with the heavy going.
As I came round to the clock with 4 mins left, riders were stood there waiting for the time to elapse, not me mate, so off I went to do another lap.
Not a bad day and I do like riding when the conditions are a little bit more tougher than usual, I just think it’s a great leveller.

Now there’s one thing about racing in muddy conditions and that’s 9 times out of 10 you’re probably parked in a muddy field in the middle of nowhere right? And sometimes you might get stuck right? Well, not only did I get stuck, but also about 20 other vans did as well trying to get out of the place!
So it was out with the coffee and a nice friendly chat with a few other stranded mortals before finally being towed out in near darkness by the local farmer.

Finishing position: 7/16 (clubman 2st)

Bike status: ok

Injuries: none

Stonedown forest- 19th October 2008

Early start, up at 4.30am. Out the door at 5.30am to take a 30 min drive to meet Andy Smith at his place as he was going to give us a lift in his van up to Stonedown forest. Andy was riding as well, although he wasn’t looking forward to it as much as me as he was feeling a bit under the weather. Also riding ’shotgun’ was Andy’s mate James who came along to give us a hand.
Off we set then for a 3 hour or more journey ending up somewhere near Salisbury.
I was looking forward to my 2nd race on the new bike, and after that ’marathon’ enduro at Dunmere a couple of weeks ago, I certainly had no doubts about my fitness!
About 10 miles or so from ‘Stonedown’ on the A354, Andy decided to abuse his position of driver of the van with a ’whatever gets in my way, better get out my way’ attitude when a pheasant with ‘no brains’ who looked like it was sightseeing and acting rather clueless, got in the way of the van at 70mph. BANG! With oncoming traffic and cars behind, Andy had no option but to add one more ‘road kill’ to the stats of this country. The funny thing was we could see the thing about ½ mile away and as we got closer we were all thinking, oh no, ‘GET OUT THE WAY YOU STUPID IDIOT’. You should have seen Andy’s face when he hit it, and his white knuckles from gripping onto the steering wheel as he ran over it!
Arrived at Stonedown with plenty of time to spare, but everyone else had ’inside information’ and got there before us as the single track parking left us with a bloody great long hike up to the signing on and pits area. I spoke to Steve Jose the night before who was marshalling at the event who did tell me that might happen, and bugger me it did!
Anyway, after the usual signing on, scrutineering and riders briefing, it was off to the start.
The flag dropped and off we went, I didn’t make too bad a start, probably about halfway but within about 10 mins it seemed I was getting overtaken by everyone! Not surprising really with only 1 race behind me in 4 months! Still, with the nice weather that had blessed us for the day and a brand new bit of machinery underneath me, I was here to enjoy it and that’s what I did.
The course itself didn’t have anything technical to test you, a few roots, some fire roads, a few off cambers, a couple of hills, but with it being ‘bone dry’ the flowing forest trails made it a fast race. Might have been different if it was p*ssing down with rain though but I’m not complaining, it is nice sometimes when the bike goes back home and doesn’t hardly need jet washing! The circuit was about 5 miles in length, so fairly short and with it being dry, I was doing about 15/16 min lap times.
After a few laps I was getting into the swing of things and everything was going splendidly, I was really enjoying it and trying to get used to riding on a faster track. After about 1 ¾ hours I was thinking of pitting, but I took a look down at the tank and thought to myself ’bloody hell, there’s still loads left in there’ and decided to carry on.
After 2 ½ hours and with everything bowling along nicely I still hadn’t stopped for fuel and I didn’t want to stop either, I was loving it out there! I took another quick look down at the tank, and I still had what I thought could be enough to go all the way to the end, so I carried on knowing that if I did run out, I could stick her on reserve and with it being short laps, I’d make it back to the pits no problem for a quick ‘splash and dash’.
I had a little ‘off’ soon after on some roots on an off camber hill, nothing spectacular, but wasted a bit of time picking the bike back up and pointing it the right way again. I passed the clock with 10 mins to go and new it was going to be my last lap, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t stopped for fuel yet, well pleased!
I passed Steve jose and 5 mins later dead on the 3 hour mark, the engine died and I knew that the tank was virtually empty. Steve caught me up just as I stuck her on reserve and was kicking her over, she fired up like a ‘good un’ and off I went on to finish the rest of the lap and the race.
3hrs and 4 mins on the bike on one tank of fuel, ‘I don’t believe it’ as Victor Meldrew would say, neither do I, but it did it and I’m bloody impressed!
All in all, a good day out, nice little course, nothing too demanding and the bike is still clean (don’t get that very often).
Thanks to Andy ‘road kill’ Smith for the lift in the van.

Finishing position: 15/19 (clubman E1)

Bike status: ok

Injuries: none

Typical that is- 12th October 2008

Yeah, Bloody typical!
The only time i don't go to Weston and it turns out to be a fantastically glorious sunny hot day.
I've rode it the last 2 years and watched it for 5 years on the trot before that and never had weather like it was today. To make it worse my sister went to watch and promptly phoned me with all the noise of screaming competition engines in the background (you know what it's like when you phone someone from the track) to tell me what a lovely day it was and what a cracking race i was missing!
Like i said before, theres no way i'm going to take a 2 week old bike along the sand, so i decided to stay away from the whole thing. Wish i'd have bloody well gone now and watched it!
I still have the TM at the moment but i didn't want to take that either just in case i wrecked it as i might be selling it soon. Offers please?

So, i stayed at home, had the 'gasser' up on the jack out in the sunshine,had a good look round it, and changed a few things more to my liking.

Dunmere- 5th October 2008

Not content with the exhaust burn I got a couple of weeks ago, I thought to myself, ’why not try and get some friction burns this week seeing as you’re back riding again’, so that’s exactly what I did! ( yes they are my legs not 2 bits of string)
Warning: Do not wear brand new knee braces when you’re going out riding in the woods for 5 hours.

I couldn’t wait to get rid of my Dunmere ‘curse’ as 2 years ago this was my 2nd race ever and I didn’t finish due to being completely cream crackered, and last year I was injured and bikeless due to a tasty ‘off’ a few weeks beforehand. So, 3rd time lucky? Too bloody right it was!

Dunmere woods, just 10 minutes up the road and I still got there late enough to ensure myself a bloody long walk to the signing on/pit area due to the single file parking. I met quite a few riders on the way up to sign on and all of them asked about the new bike, just goes to show that some of you actually read this, so thanks to everyone and I hope you enjoy it and you have a good laugh at my expense!

Although I haven’t ridden for months I was really looking forward to it and it was nice to get back into the swing of things again especially with a new bike and I felt like a kid with a new toy. At precisely 10.11am I kicked the gasser over and ’bring-a-ding-ding’, she fired up instantly, here we go then, out through the check and off I went. I was one of the 1st away in the clubman 225 to start along with Mike Roose who I thought I’d try to follow through the woods, but no chance there as Mike flew past me on the special test and I didn’t see him again until the end of the lap, ‘wily old campaigner that he is’, you can’t beat experience can you?

With the overnight rain we had, things were very tricky in places and one downhill section in particular you’d have a job walking down it let alone riding down it. I had to ‘paddle’ down it and lean forward as far as I could with my nuts glued on to the tank to try and make the front wheel grip. Immediately after that was a steep slippery uphill (later got cut out) which you had to get right 1st time, otherwise you’d end up on your arse and slide back down, Luckily for me the track was clear and I flew up it.
Another section in particular was an incline about 200 meters long with just one big single rut all the way up to the top which became a another ‘paddle job’ as it just got so ‘sludgy’ as each lap passed.
The roots through the woods were really slippery and quite relentless and the only rest bite you had were the lovely open fire roads where you could relax a bit and open her up. A proper enduro course and proper conditions!

I was Just about a couple of minutes away from finishing my first lap when I went to ride through a small ditch was which was covered by some branches and bracken only for the front wheel to plant itself and send me over the bars, there was bloody log at the bottom of it wasn’t there! Of course I hit it full in the face and another ’you’ve been framed’ moment was successfully executed.
Into the pits at the end of the 1st lap and a with a little time to spare spoke to Jed Treleaven who told me he’d just been over the bars too in exactly the same ditch!

My 2nd lap went ok apart from the special test when I decided to plant myself and my machine in some bushes face down to get a ‘birds eye view’ of what’s it’s really like to be an insect living rough in the woods.
Made it back with about 5 mins to spare, so another little break, where I spoke to Ken Brown and his family who’d turned up to give us some moral support.

So far everything was going well, 3rd lap and off I went (still couldn’t keep up with Mike) and I was full of confidence when all of a sudden my energy levels began to drop, I hit a tree stump at the end of the ’boneyard’ and came off, came off again on some roots and really started to struggle from there on. I even took a couple of minutes to rest at the side of the track due to some cramp setting in to get myself sorted. I got back into the pits where Steve Tizzard help me refuel and went back out 3 minutes overtime.
With just 3 laps in and probably only about just over 2 hours riding time I was seriously thinking about pulling out.

By the end of lap 4 I was completely shot to bits. I’d taken more ’time out’ on the track, my camelbak was bone dry (all 3 litres gone) and the cramp was getting worse, not to mention my legs which were killing me due to those flamin knee braces, which meant I couldn’t control the bike properly so I had to slow down. Andy Smith came past me and waited for me at one of the top of the climbs, I rode round with him for about 10 mins but I couldn’t keep up at his pace so he disappeared into the distance. I came into the pits way over time (over 50 mins that lap) and took another quick break and set out on another lap.
If I thought the last lap was bad, this was one was even worse (55 mins). Another couple of little ’offs’ on some roots, another couple of breaks to rest and by now I’d slowed down to a ’trail’ ride pace. I knew I was going to be ridiculously late getting back to the time check but I wasn’t going to quit. I went back out on my last lap 30 mins overtime!

I know what some of you are thinking, ‘why didn’t the silly old sod pull out’? I think it must be my stubborn mentality that doesn’t want me to be beaten by a bit of mud and a few tree roots and the fact that I know some riders are pulling out so I got a chance of beating them. It’s an enduro, it’s a competition, You gotta finish right?, I haven’t come along with Bill Oddie to watch the wildlife have I? so there, stick that in your pipe and smoke it!

I went round the last lap in complete isolation (not surprising judging by the time) apart from a few track marshals who were taking down the tapes and packing up for the day! I stopped and asked if it was alright to complete the whole lap because I didn’t want to cheat myself and take any short cuts. No problem there, so I carried on and eventually crawled back to the check point to record a finish.

I think I’d done about 5 hours of riding and to be honest I was well pleased to finish as there were over 50 retirements, so that says how tough it was out there today.
Overall I’m really pleased, I tested myself today after having a few months off and tested the new bike as well, so far so good, roll on the next race in a couple of weeks time.

Finishing position: 7/18 (Clubman 225)

Bike status: ok

Injuries: friction burns to legs

No Weston beach race for me this year but might go and watch, still haven’t made up my mind yet. Good luck to everyone whose entered!

Running in- 4th October 2008

Been out a couple of times this week doing a bit of running in and trying to used to the new bike. Today i was at Dunmere again marking out the track and putting up the tapes etc, etc. This time we took the bikes out so it done the 'Gasser' a bit of good riding her over some proper enduro type terrain! Looks like it's going to be a wet one tommorrow as just as i was leaving the rain started to fall.