Yes another event cancelled, this time due to lack of entrys.
Lets hope sundays race gets the ok.
Happy new year everyone.
Wednesday, 31 December 2008
Sunday, 21 December 2008
A quick spin- 21st December 2008
No race today so i took the Gasser out for a spin around Wadebridge to give her a quick blast.
I was going to go for a nice long run today (as in running with your legs, not a long run on the bike!) but i injured my right heel on last weeks race so i couldn't do much.
Next event I've entered is 30th December, so lets hope that one ain't cancelled because of the weather!
Have a good christmas everyone.
I was going to go for a nice long run today (as in running with your legs, not a long run on the bike!) but i injured my right heel on last weeks race so i couldn't do much.
Next event I've entered is 30th December, so lets hope that one ain't cancelled because of the weather!
Have a good christmas everyone.
Sunday, 14 December 2008
Grogley- 14th December 2008
After the last 2 events when things haven’t exactly gone my way, I was hoping for something incident free this week!
Grogley, just 10 mins down the road from where I live, nice one. The weather had been kind to us and although a little chilly, it was a still dry calm day, perfect for a winter enduro. The event was held on forestry land and it took a good couple of miles from entering the gates at the bottom before we reached the parking right at the top of the forest overlooking half of Cornwall! In fact we were so high up I nearly had to break out the oxygen mask.
Upon signing on and getting scrutineerd there was a cracking festive atmosphere and everyone seemed to be in a jolly good spirited mood.
I’d entered the solo 3 ½ race where everyone was in together, Champ, expert, clubman 2t & 4t, and sportsman. Also on the agenda was a father and son race and a 2 man team, and the entry was full in every class.
With this being a local event it was nice to see all the friendly faces to chat too, in fact I spoke to so many people that I got a bit carried away and was a bit tight for time to make the start!
Onto the start itself and we had a ‘Le mans’ get away where we had to run to the bikes to get going. Off we went hurtling along an open fire road before dropping down onto some rutted paddy field and then up again into the woods. Root after root and then more roots and stumps confronted us at every opportunity, in fact there just seemed to be no rest bite at all as your arms were constantly being pumped up and down through the tight twist and turns of the forest. There was a section of about 100 mtrs long that was constant whoops that literally had you bouncing all the way through it like a bloody jack in the box! (quite a few spectators were at this section) Even the fire roads were bumpy and rutted and of course there was a couple of nice slippery ‘rooty’ hills thrown in for good measure as well, one of which was quite steep that caused a few traffic jams with riders getting stuck, this kept the marshals busy!
One way or another, you always going up or down or twisting and turning along the slippery forest floor, and with a trails tyre only allowed on the back, it made things interesting!
After about an hour I was going well and getting into the swing of things and everything was just going along nicely. Another hour up on the clock past, I’d had no ’offs’ so felt really good, so not much to report there then!
I decided to pit just after the 2 ½ hour mark to re-fuel and grab a quick gel bar as well. I came back out at 2hr 40mins, I was lapping at about 25 mins so if I managed to push it and take a minute or two off a lap, I’d be able to get another 3 laps in before time. It was going to be tight, but I went for it. Sods law then happened, when I got round to that hill that was causing problems there was a traffic jam, I made it up half way but just ran into bikes, so I had to go back down and wait for it to clear, oh bugger, typical! Knowing I’d lost a bit of time I pushed on only to have a couple of stupid little offs’.
I past the lap scoring with just over 20 mins to go, so I knew I really had to go like the clappers if I was to get another lap in. I really did try and almost lost it big time banging against the trees a few times, once with my shoulder, and then with my head! Another stupid little ’off’ on a root finally put paid to my chances of another lap and I finished 3 mins over time. Bugger it!
A cracking days sport and as always a testing course which Camel vale mcc are renowned for.
Finishing position: 15/39
Bike status: new front pads, chain, sprocket.
Sunday, 7 December 2008
Somerley Park- 7th December 2008
I wasn’t out gigging last night so I had a decent nights kip ready for the early start and long drive up to Ringwood, I felt good and I was up for it!
Set off in sub zero temperatures and nearly 3 ½ hours later arrived in sub zero temperatures as well! Had a few tricky moments on the way up along the A35 where the van decided to go where it wanted because of the ice on the road, so I had to slow down to 90mph just in case. (sorry I meant 30mph).
Arriving at Somerley Park it was nice to see that someone had found an alternative method of parking as the ‘in chains’ team van had planted itself in a ditch at a 45 degree angle at the side of the road! Looked a bit precarious that.
So, I felt good, had a nice drive up, got signed on early, so I had plenty of time. Just as well because what was about to happen was the shape of things to come!
Went to start the bike as you do, to make sure everything’s ok, and low and behold after kicking her over about 50 times to try and start it, the thing had frozen up! Lets be honest about this, had would you feel getting towed for 3 ½ hours in the open on the back of a trailer in -4 degrees, god knows what the wind chill factor was. I changed a few plugs round, checked the fuel pipe, the connections, the spark and still nothing. The carb had simply frozen and I just had to wait until she thawed out a bit. Luckily it did, and after about an hour I kicked her into life, brrrrrring a ding ding, she fired up, I love 2 smokes!
I quickly took her down to start and went back to get changed where I froze my nuts off getting into my riding gear, brrrr, it was cold.
It was even colder sat there on the bike waiting for the flag to drop to get away, don’t know how long we’d been waiting for the start, but it seemed like an eternity and my toes and fingers were almost numb with the cold (not much fat on me you know).
The flag dropped and off we went, didn’t make too bad a start at all and off we went into the woods. Soon after the start came ‘the hill of blindness’ where due to that thing called the sun (remember that?) shining straight into your eyes, you couldn’t see a thing for love nor money and you just had to point the bike somewhere in what you thought was the right direction and ‘pin it’ and hope for the best!
Further on and in the woods there were bogs, deep ruts, nice rooty sections, some small climbs, whoopy straights and a few fire roads where you could have a blast. Tight in places but overall a decent enough course and with the given conditions a bit of a test but not too severe, quite good really, 5-6 miles in total I reckon.
After about only 10 mins of my first lap things weren’t going at all well and I started to lose places rapidly. My left clutch finger and my right hand brake finger just totally gave up on me and I couldn’t operate either of those due to both of them being completely numb because of the freezing cold! My engine was misfiring because the carb wouldn’t work properly, also due to the cold. I managed to get round to the end of the lap and with no alternative, I had to stop, I just couldn’t carry on, no point if you can’t control the bike.
After about 10-15 mins I’d thawed out and was ready to go back out and give it a go. The heat from the engine had also thawed out the carb and when I kicked her over she sounded sweet again, so off I went. As the temperature started to rise I felt ok and things started to flow, thank god for that!
About an hour in and the course was getting pretty cut up in places and a few bikes were getting stuck in some of the bogs up to their saddle, some abandoned, and some riders simply waiting for help to be towed out! You had to be pretty careful picking your lines otherwise you’d get stuck up to your thighs in black peaty sh*t.
Trying to make for lost time I thought it would be a good idea to get cocky and hit a nice big tree stump, which in turn catapulted me to the ground before I even had time to call myself a ‘twat’. Oh dear, my front mudgaurd was in pieces on the floor and my headlight surround was smashed. I got up and carried on (like you do) only now to find that every conceivable bit of gloop I rode through splat up right in my face! My goggles soon became useless and soon I was out of roll-off film.
Another lap on and I pitted for a quick splash and dash and another pair of goggles which again became useless within 10 mins as my face was getting covered in too much crap.
Another lap on and back to the ‘hill of blindness’ and I managed to ride straight up some ones rear as I just couldn’t see where I was going. The bikes that had made it out of the bogs just basically left a space for some one else to get stuck in, and they did, jesus the marshalls were busy!
Even though I couldn’t go full steam due to the mud guard episode, I was doing alright until I came a cropper on rooty climb and fell off into another rider and then another bloke came up trying to find a gap and fell into both of us! 3 of us all tangled up halfway up a bloody hill, great fun! Got going again only to find that my front brake lever was now bent. What else is gonna happen?
Next lap and I had another annoying little off only to get back on the bike and find that now my gear lever had bent round so that I couldn’t change gear anymore! (theres more to come)
With about 30 mins of the race left and only in 1st gear I thought I could get another lap in easy, and I should have, but I got stuck in a bloody 3ft deep rut probably because I didn’t have the speed to get through stuck in 1st, and it took me and another rider (who was also stuck) over 10 mins to get me out. I then returned the compliment and helped him out of his rut. Good bit of team working that.
So in the end I crawled back to the finish quite relieved and glad it was all over as I just didn’t know what was going to happen next.
Thankfully nothing happened on the way home!
Finishing position: 16/25 (clubman E1)
Bike status: New gear lever, new brake lever, new front mud gaurd, new headlight surround.
Set off in sub zero temperatures and nearly 3 ½ hours later arrived in sub zero temperatures as well! Had a few tricky moments on the way up along the A35 where the van decided to go where it wanted because of the ice on the road, so I had to slow down to 90mph just in case. (sorry I meant 30mph).
Arriving at Somerley Park it was nice to see that someone had found an alternative method of parking as the ‘in chains’ team van had planted itself in a ditch at a 45 degree angle at the side of the road! Looked a bit precarious that.
So, I felt good, had a nice drive up, got signed on early, so I had plenty of time. Just as well because what was about to happen was the shape of things to come!
Went to start the bike as you do, to make sure everything’s ok, and low and behold after kicking her over about 50 times to try and start it, the thing had frozen up! Lets be honest about this, had would you feel getting towed for 3 ½ hours in the open on the back of a trailer in -4 degrees, god knows what the wind chill factor was. I changed a few plugs round, checked the fuel pipe, the connections, the spark and still nothing. The carb had simply frozen and I just had to wait until she thawed out a bit. Luckily it did, and after about an hour I kicked her into life, brrrrrring a ding ding, she fired up, I love 2 smokes!
I quickly took her down to start and went back to get changed where I froze my nuts off getting into my riding gear, brrrr, it was cold.
It was even colder sat there on the bike waiting for the flag to drop to get away, don’t know how long we’d been waiting for the start, but it seemed like an eternity and my toes and fingers were almost numb with the cold (not much fat on me you know).
The flag dropped and off we went, didn’t make too bad a start at all and off we went into the woods. Soon after the start came ‘the hill of blindness’ where due to that thing called the sun (remember that?) shining straight into your eyes, you couldn’t see a thing for love nor money and you just had to point the bike somewhere in what you thought was the right direction and ‘pin it’ and hope for the best!
Further on and in the woods there were bogs, deep ruts, nice rooty sections, some small climbs, whoopy straights and a few fire roads where you could have a blast. Tight in places but overall a decent enough course and with the given conditions a bit of a test but not too severe, quite good really, 5-6 miles in total I reckon.
After about only 10 mins of my first lap things weren’t going at all well and I started to lose places rapidly. My left clutch finger and my right hand brake finger just totally gave up on me and I couldn’t operate either of those due to both of them being completely numb because of the freezing cold! My engine was misfiring because the carb wouldn’t work properly, also due to the cold. I managed to get round to the end of the lap and with no alternative, I had to stop, I just couldn’t carry on, no point if you can’t control the bike.
After about 10-15 mins I’d thawed out and was ready to go back out and give it a go. The heat from the engine had also thawed out the carb and when I kicked her over she sounded sweet again, so off I went. As the temperature started to rise I felt ok and things started to flow, thank god for that!
About an hour in and the course was getting pretty cut up in places and a few bikes were getting stuck in some of the bogs up to their saddle, some abandoned, and some riders simply waiting for help to be towed out! You had to be pretty careful picking your lines otherwise you’d get stuck up to your thighs in black peaty sh*t.
Trying to make for lost time I thought it would be a good idea to get cocky and hit a nice big tree stump, which in turn catapulted me to the ground before I even had time to call myself a ‘twat’. Oh dear, my front mudgaurd was in pieces on the floor and my headlight surround was smashed. I got up and carried on (like you do) only now to find that every conceivable bit of gloop I rode through splat up right in my face! My goggles soon became useless and soon I was out of roll-off film.
Another lap on and I pitted for a quick splash and dash and another pair of goggles which again became useless within 10 mins as my face was getting covered in too much crap.
Another lap on and back to the ‘hill of blindness’ and I managed to ride straight up some ones rear as I just couldn’t see where I was going. The bikes that had made it out of the bogs just basically left a space for some one else to get stuck in, and they did, jesus the marshalls were busy!
Even though I couldn’t go full steam due to the mud guard episode, I was doing alright until I came a cropper on rooty climb and fell off into another rider and then another bloke came up trying to find a gap and fell into both of us! 3 of us all tangled up halfway up a bloody hill, great fun! Got going again only to find that my front brake lever was now bent. What else is gonna happen?
Next lap and I had another annoying little off only to get back on the bike and find that now my gear lever had bent round so that I couldn’t change gear anymore! (theres more to come)
With about 30 mins of the race left and only in 1st gear I thought I could get another lap in easy, and I should have, but I got stuck in a bloody 3ft deep rut probably because I didn’t have the speed to get through stuck in 1st, and it took me and another rider (who was also stuck) over 10 mins to get me out. I then returned the compliment and helped him out of his rut. Good bit of team working that.
So in the end I crawled back to the finish quite relieved and glad it was all over as I just didn’t know what was going to happen next.
Thankfully nothing happened on the way home!
Finishing position: 16/25 (clubman E1)
Bike status: New gear lever, new brake lever, new front mud gaurd, new headlight surround.
Thanks to Brewbs for the photo.
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