My expenses 2009

Without listing everything individually which will be about 20 pages long!! I've grouped things together which makes it a lot easier to add it all up.

Bike......................................................................4300
Transit..................................................................2900
Insurances & Tax (bike & van).......................................390
Entry fees...............................................................1280
Memberships & Licences.............................................160
Diesel.....................................................................830
Petrol....................................................................377
Tyres (bike only).......................................................452
Tyres (van)..............................................................68
Nutrition (Energy drinks & Gel bars)................................104
Lubricants (WD40,chain lube,grease)...............................96
Jet washer.............................................................150
Cleaning solutions (pro clean,white spirit,parrafin)..............151
Maintenance of bike (pistons,clutch,grips,rad braces,footpegs,
plugs,bearings,chains,sprockets,levers,brake pads)..............1535
Plastics (Mudgaurds,side panels,hand gaurds,fork gaurds,headlight surround,.................................................................298
Coloured backgrounds.................................................24
Race kit (Trousers,gloves,boots,helmet,waterproofs,race shirts,
goggles,roll off films,body armour,camelbak,fast fill can)..........690
Launderette (when my kits too dirty for the washing machine)....36
Jet washing..............................................................24
Practice (mx track)......................................................80
Tools (various)..........................................................119
Oils for bike (pre mix,gear oil,brake fluid).........................308
Oil & filter for van.....................................................48

Total...................................................................14,420

End of the year thoughts 2009

Yes, It’s that time of the year again when I look back and reflect on what’s gone on in the last 12 months.

Well it’s been a hectic time for me this year racing my bike. I’ve done 30 events, loads of practice, endless hours cleaning, doing maintenance, and getting the bike ready, stacks of traveling, weekends away. I remember someone said to me at one event ‘ Do you wear a name tag at home so your girlfriend knows who you are’? Sometimes it felt that way, and a massive round of applause and kisses goes to Marie for putting up with it all.

This year I got myself a brand new bike (late last year actually) and decided to go down the ‘Gasser’ route, not many 125’s of those around so I had no idea on what they were like. The bikes been fantastic and I’ve had my best ever results with it, but wether that’s due to the sheer amount of riding I’ve done I don’t know, but it’s worked for me regardless and I ain’t going to complain.

This year I decided to concentrate on 2 championships, The South West champs and the Midwest series, one being 7 rounds and the other 8 rounds. That way I considered that even with a couple of bad results, you still could have a chance to gain some points back, so where I came at the end of it all would be a true reflection to see if I was good to actually win anything! Up until this year I hadn’t even won a race, and even though I’d won a sportsman championship back in 2007, the best I ever got in that was a 2nd in one of the races, and in fact, I’ve never even managed to get a ‘holeshot’, my, how things have changed this year for me.

All the other races that I did this year were basically to fill the time in and to keep me riding in order to remain ‘bike fit’, so when the championships that I wanted to do well in came round, I wouldn’t be rusty.

So the start of 2009 saw the 1st round of the SW champs, and with a couple of events under my belt already on the new bike, I was confident. A crap result at Greymare soon blew my new found confidence out of the window and saw me finish 8th, not good then, but still a long way to go yet.
February saw me go and travel to Norfolk for the 1st round of the British champs and to be put in amongst the big boys. I couldn’t believe I had to do a 22 mile lap in 73 mins! But I’ll tell you what, I gave it everything and only faltered later on in the event, and after 4 laps I finished over 20 mins down on time, but so chuffed to finish at all and it gave me so much confidence.

March was the 1st round of the Midwest series, not a good start with a 9th place, another poor result. April was better as I got a 2nd place in a SW champ round, things were looking up! And the month of May gave me a better result in the Midwest series with a 5th. This month also saw me rip the sump off my van whilst driving home from a race up in Surrey, Got home at 5am on Monday morning from that one!

June came round and the dreaded ‘Nancemellion’ round of the SW champs, I’ve never done well there and today would be no different, a 6th place, and not happy. My aspirations of winning this series weren’t going well. Confidence was restored a week later when I had a 3rd at the Midwest race, so felt a bit better after that. Also 2 weeks later I had a 2nd place at a SCEC event, so maybe I thought things were beginning to ’click’ for me?

I think I really got it together after I finished another round of the British champs at the knighton enduro in Wales. 55 miles laps in pissing rain in a welsh forest which saw me soaked to the bone on the Saturday after over 6 hours worth of riding. I remember hanging all the gear up In the back of the Transit to dry and kipping In the front of the van, falling asleep at 9pm and hoping all my kit would be ok to put on the next day. Of course it wasn’t, and there’s nothing worse than doing another 3 ½ hours racing in soggy kit, silly me I didn’t take any spare race clothing did I? And another thing, all I had was 2 gel bars before riding that day because I got to the catering van too late to have any breakfast. Still, I finished both days and was as pleased as punch and was now starting to ride the bike with a huge amount of confidence.

July was undoubtedly my best month, and I had back to back wins in both the SW round and the Midwest races. The Midwest race was probably the best I’ve ever ridden, the conditions were awful, everybody was struggling, but I won by an extra lap and beat all the bigger bikes as well.
August, Another SW round came around quickly and I was going for a hat trick of wins!!! But it wasn’t to be, and whilst lying in 2nd place my clutch went, still ended up in 5th that day so not a bad result. The Dawn to Dusk event was now only a couple of weeks away and I have to be honest and say that I’d targeted it all year and only a win would do, nothing else, end of story. This month also saw another race held by the Xmoor club, bloody nora what luck I’ve had in those this year! The 1st event of theirs my radiator burst and didn‘t even get the chance to race, the 2nd event I got injured, and in the 3rd one I had a DNF as well due to me hitting a tree and displacing a rad hose which promptly emptied all my coolant all over the woods!

So round came the Dawn to Dusk, I really was riding well now and I entered the 12 hour race in the vets class. I knew that some of the vets were expert class riders, but I was so fit at that time what with my training and riding, I knew that my stamina would carry me through and to be honest I thought ‘bring it on’ and lets see if you can keep your pace up for 12 hours lads! This was to be my biggest disappointment ever since I’ve started riding motorbikes as I had to retire whilst in 3rd only 6 mins off the lead, and still with 6 hours to go. Absolutely gutted as I knew that I could have kept my pace up all day long while others were tiring. Never mind, always next year!

September was all about the ups and downs of racing. I got another 1st place in a SW round (in awful conditions), but had to miss a Midwest race as they both clashed on the day. I also picked up the injury to my elbow at an SCEC event and from this point onwards I had no choice but to ride with it as both the championships I was doing well in still had races left, and everything was still to play for.

The month of October brought mixed feelings as Marie my girlfiend was very ill, and Although I didn’t say too much to anyone, it certainly affected my riding and to be honest all I wanted to do was stay at home with her and my little girl. I managed a 4th in the last round of the SW champs and that was after coming off 4 times on the special tests! And even though I’d won the clubman E1 championship, it just felt a bit tainted at the time due to things back at home.

So to November and with the injury to my elbow getting worse, it was a trip up to Bath for the last round of the Midwest series. I lasted about 20 mins before I had to retire with the pain being just too much, my elbow had finally had enough and gave up on me altogether. My girlfriend at the time was still very ill, and I remember getting in the van with some 3 ½ hours still to travel home thinking ’my arms f*cking killing me, I’m freezing cold, Marie’s ill, I should be at home!’ and to be honest I was going to jack it all in there and then. Thankfully things have now turned out for the better, and my girlfriend is ok, so everything’s back to normal.

So it’s been quite an eventful year, A 1st overall in one championship, and a 3rd in another, a few race wins, and plenty of holeshots. I’ve never rode so much in my entire life as I’ve done this year, and I’ve enjoyed every bloody minute of it (apart from the injuries), I’ve met so many people, had a great laugh, and made loads of new friends. Cheers to everyone, and a big thanks to all of you that’s helped me in one way or another. Also a round of applause to everybody whose supplied with me with the photos’ so that I can stick them on the blog , that is apart from a certain Jack Stringer from the Midwest series who wouldn’t send me any, and that was after I offered to pay for them as well, what the hells up with him then? Miserable git!

A few memories from this year…………………………..
Having a litre of saline fluid flushed through my left eye in the ambulance at Dawn to Dusk.
Gary ‘nothing gets in my way’ Mcoy running over my bike at an Xmoor event which put a hole in my petrol tank.
Seeing Adam Blake frozen solid in the shape of an ’armchair’ and trying to get off his bike after the 6 hour race at the Dawn to Dusk.
Sh*tting myself as Knight, Edmonson, and all the top fellas passed me with just inches to spare at about 80 mph on a fast stretch at the Muntjac enduro.
Going flat out on a fire road in a welsh forest in the relentless rain that was falling down on me, it felt like a load of needles being shoved into your face as the rain hit you.
Having a fantastic battle with both James Hull and Francis Banfield at the Woolborough Barton event. Me and Francis were ‘glued’ together for about 1hr and 40mins going hammer and tongs at each other.
Phil Harris ‘mooning’ at me whilst I was on a special test at the Dunmere enduro.
Doing a lap of the Dorset police event and coming round to swipe my transponder only to find I bloody well left it in the van.
Running out of fuel on my last lap at a TnT race, not content with doing it once, I did it again at another race as well.
Seeing ‘mad’ Jack Twentyman laying on the floor for about 20 mins being sick and unable to move after giving it his all at a TnT event. Tough lad is Jack!
Saying to Steve Jose at Rifton Barton, ‘follow me’, so he did and I promptly got stuck on the smallest log you could ever imagine right in front of him, embarrassing that!
Going over the bars and planting myself face first in the little river section at Rifton Barton, I did exactly the same thing in exactly the same place the year before!
Taking the wrong turning at the Knighton enduro, I went for miles up this fire road looking for some orange arrows only to find that I was traveling completely in the wrong direction after seeing cars coming the other way!

See you all next year……………………………….......

Out and about- 13th December 2009

So it was off for a short drive just a couple of miles down the road to watch the Xmas cracker run by Camel Vale. This is always a good event with a great atmosphere and a decent course. I rode it last year and really enjoyed it, so you could say I was a wee bit pee’d off about not being able to join in this time around.

Being the sort of bloke I am with not much ‘blubber’ set around my frame, I wore 2 pairs of trousers, a t shirt, shirt, jumper, tracksuit top, a coat, a hat, and 2 pairs of socks in order to keep warm in the near freezing conditions. Felt a bit like a Michelin man with all that bloody gear on!
As soon as I arrived and got out of the van I clapped eyes on just about every bloody rider who’d done the South West champs this year, so I wasn’t short of a conversation or two. I suppose the good thing was, I had plenty of time on my hands because I wasn’t racing, and when you’re the other side of the fence as it were, there’s not much rushing about to get ready for the start so you can talk away to your hearts content!

I headed straight for the infamous ’whoops’ section that caused a few problems to most riders last year in order to see a bit of action and help out (albeit with one good arm) in case any body got in a bit of bother. Soon enough as the 1st lot of riders came through, the ‘whoops’ took there toll with several coming unstuck, and along with Mike Roose and Colin treleaven amongst others, we all dug in and helped everybody get back on their feet and on their way again. Shame Sue Pitman wasn’t there taking pics at this point of the course as she would of got a nice one of me picking up her other half John off the floor when he decided to do a bit of showboating by planting his ‘Husky’ and himself face first onto the forest floor!

Steve Jose and Adam Blake turned up, and after watching a few laps on the tricky ‘whoops‘, and with everything quietening down a bit, we decided to go walkabout and explore the rest of the course. What a cracking track it was too, and I must admit that I was a tad jealous of everybody riding, but me thinks there’s gonna be quite a bit of that to come yet as I won’t be able to do much for a while.

After it was all over I stayed around for a bit having a chat and asking everybody how they got on. Made a nice change to watch an event from start to finish, but my god, for enjoyment it doesn’t come anywhere near than actually riding yourself does it?

Out for a while?................................

Well it looks like I'm going to have to take a bit of a rest from it all. I have kept on riding hoping that the injury would go away as i had Tennis elbow on the other arm earlier in the year and that faded away, but obviously it's not going to happen this time, so I've got no choice.

I've got some acupuncture treatment on it going on at the moment but that isn't a miracle cure and it takes quite a few sessions in order to see if there's any improvement. If that doesn't do any good then it's going to have to be the Cortisone injection.

Hopefully i will be out and about watching a few races so i'll write a little bit about that and try and keep the blog updated. At the end of December i'll also be doing my end of year thoughts about everything thats gone on this year, including (for the 1st time) how much i've actually spent this year!!!!!

Hope to see a few of you at some races in the next few weeks.

Cheyne court farm- 22nd November 2009

This was the last round of the Midwest Mcc championship. Due to having missed the last round in favour of the South West series, i'd lost my lead and had dropped down to 3rd, but it was still all to play for, and what with the torrential downpours we'd had all across the country this week, i'd knew that conditions would be tough this weekend no matter where you rode. I much prefer it when it's like that, probably due to fitness being my main asset and not my riding!

So it was a long drive up to Bath, it p*ssed down with rain for most of the journey and when i got there the usual 'will i make it into the field with my van' thought instantly entered my head as every blade of grass had been churned up into a sea of mud with all the traffic that had been wheel spinning on it. Thankfully i made it.

After signing on, i went to the pits which were ankle deep in sloppy mud, nice! I took a quick look at the 1st corner after the start as well, mud, mud, and er........................mud! To be honest i couldn't wait and in these conditions anything could happen (they certainly did to me anyway).

I met Pete and Dan Lawry up there who politely tried to blackmail me into joining the Kingston club next year! After a bit of a chat with the pair of them, it was back off to get changed and get myself kitted up.

So with the rain now subsided, it was onto the damp start line to wait for the flag to drop. Off we went then and i was probably about 5th heading into the first corner when 2 riders went down just to the side of me. I had to take avoiding action and almost come to a standstill as i got pushed to the outside which in turn let almost every bugger go past me. As i turned the corner i got splattered in the brown stuff following everybody as we hammered it through the first couple of muddy fields. I did make up a few places but i wasn't happy, and as i nailed the 'gasser' going up a mud infested climb trying to catch up the leaders, i lost it, and ended up on my arse. As i picked the bike up i wrenched my elbow and i knew straight away that it was bad, in fact i had to rest for a few minutes before i could carry on. When i got into the wooded section it was a real struggle, i couldn't hold on properly and in those conditions where you need a bit of strength to make it through all the mud and deep ruts, my arm wasn't good at all. I hit the deck again and had to pick the bike up again which in turn killed my elbow, and i had to take another rest.

I crawled back to the pits and took another breather and thought about doing another lap to see what would happen, i hate a DNF, and i'd have to be on my knees in order for me not to finish, and even then i'd try and drag myself over the line, but if you can't even hold onto the bars properly because of the pain, and with still 2 and half hours still to go, i knew it was over and i retired, gutted, bye bye any chances of winning the vets championship.

So it was long and rain infested drive home, and it just goes to show all about the highs and lows of racing.

Finishing position: DNF

Camel Vale mcc awards evening- 14th November 2009

A good night was had by all. Here's some mugshots of some riders without their helmets on.

HALL OF FAME OR WALL OF SHAME? YOU DECIDE!!!!!!!

Yours truly with my winners trophy that's cost me a bloody fortune!

Phil 'smiler' Harris. Doing his impression of a Chinese person

A nice 'cheesy' grin from Adam Blake

Andy Smith still looking bewilderd and confused after buying a 4 banger!

Credit goes to Rich tucker, won the experts and now a champ rider at 18!!

Jed Treleaven contemplating about doing more riding next year, coz he doesn't do enough!

Photographer extraordinaire Debbie Tucker

Arthur Johnson looking gobsmacked because he's just found out his real age!

Camel Vale legend Mike Roose looking the best he possibly can!

Mark Tucker on his 15th pint of the night.

Father & son and bitter rivals, Tom and John Hinkley

Francis Banfield's reaction when i said it's his round. Pee off!

Steve Jay, is that designer stubble or has he lost his razor?

Looks to me like Richard Jay's had too many beers!

James Hull in stitches because i told him that i'm keeping my 125 next year!

Colin George after just finding 10 pence on the floor

Colin Treleaven the boss from Thor motorcycles looking happy.

Dean Canfield on his way to winning the 'biggest smile of the night' competition!

Me (again) and Camel vale stalwart Rod Dyer

Had better weeks- 8th November 2009

Going on a motorbike was the last thing on my mind this weekend. My little girls been sick all week, my girlfriend has been unwell for a few weeks and that all came to head this week as well, and without getting into anything thats too personal, she didn't recieve the best of news from the hospital.

Well they say things come in 3's and on top of it all i've managed to get Laryngitus. The docs gonna love me tomorrow when i see him, trying to explain about my elbow when i can't even speak!

This Saturday see's the annual Camel Vale mcc presentation/awards night. Should be a few going to that, so i'm looking forward to having a chat with a few other riders that i've raced against this year that i don't normally get the chance to speak to.

Practice- 1st November 2009

Me and Adam taking a breather (pic)

Now you see I still have this problem, my right elbow that got injured at the SCEC event some weeks back still hasn’t healed, in fact it’s got worse and now I got a golf ball sized bag of fluid that’s nestled itself onto the elbow as well, so along with the ‘Tennis elbow’, things aren’t too good at the moment.

I was going to do the TnT event today but I didn’t really want to travel all the way up there and risk pulling out because of my injury, and with it being just a race to fill the gap in the calendar, there was no need as I’ve got a couple of important races later on this month which I need to do well in, so I’d rather risk ‘all or nothing’ in those ones.
So I thought I might go out and have a nice little easy practice session at a local motocross track, which in the end turned out to be more of a battle for survival, nearly as bad as listening to a Muse album repeatedly.

I met Adam Blake there who was on his new bike and ready to give it a good thrashing to see what it can do. Adam’s now gone the 250 way, bit of a shame because that boy certainly knows how to ride a 125!
With the track being on the moor and wide open to the elements, we had to sit it out in the van for 30 mins to let the monsoon weather subside, when we got changed and headed out onto the track the words ‘Gordon Bennet’ (or something based around that which included choice swear words) entered my head at the track was just a mud fest. Oh boy did we have fun today or what? I set an hour on my watch and thought I’d do that to see how my elbow reacted, but things were so tough I only managed about 40 mins before I had to take a breather.
What did tickle me was all the motocross boys doing a couple of laps then stopping because of the conditions, some were even taking short cuts to avoid going up the muddy hills as traction was a bit of a struggle. I could see there point if there was loads of roots, stones, logs or something like that in the way, but hey, c’mon lads, it’s only a bit of mud! At one point there must have about 6 or 7 seven of them all gathered together at the top of one of the hills having a chat about weather to go down it or not. I don’t know, the youth of today! What’s wrong with them?
After taking a breather we both went back out and did stints of 20-30 mins at a time, it was fantastic training, and really difficult conditions, the more you went round, the more the track got cut up and the worse it got. Near the end I managed to dump it a few times on the deck, I’d done alright until then, but you the know score don’t you in those conditions? You pick yourself and the bike up, scrap the crap off your grips and gloves, and carry on ‘happy as Larry’ like pig in sh*t!

Something that did happen today turned my thought pattern inside out and nearly had me down on all fours sobbing in the back of my van as I very nearly threw my beloved 125 into the nearest skip (ok, well not quite). I went on Adams 250, and boy was that a lot easier to ride in the muddy gloop of a track. The thing just pulled up the hills and through all the rutted mud infested course without me having to pin back the throttle and scream the nuts off it. You see I have been on bigger bikes before, but not in these conditions, and what a difference the extra cc makes to it all.

It’s true to say that I really should be on one of these things, especially being over 40! Next time you look at any results, take a look at how many over 40’s are riding 125’s, hardly any, Why, because they’re harder to ride and you have to work more, full stop. Makes sense I suppose, your getting old, your reactions are slower, your fitness drops, you ain’t got as much ‘bottle’, your body doesn’t heal up as quick as it used too when you take a knock, (bloody hell maybe I should give up now) so why the hell would you want to make things harder for yourself? So the big question is will I get the 250 bug and change next year? Course I won’t, I love my little strimmer!

As for the elbow? Quite frankly it’s crap, and it looks like another visit to the old doc’s is on the cards.

Plans for November:
8th maybe practice
15th ?????
22nd Midwest
29th SCEC

A day out- 25th October 2009

After gigging last night and not collapsing into bed until 2.40am it was just as well I wasn’t racing today as I think I might have been a tad cream crackerd. So not one to sit on my arse all day and do nowt or indeed the stacks of decorating that needs to be done to keep the girlfriend happy (will have to do that soon me thinks), It was off to watch a local motocross meeting held by the Penndennis motor club.

A few local enduro riders were playing their cards so I went to see how they all got on. I met up with Arthur Johnson and Hannes Tanzer who were riding, and also had a chat with John Pitman and Barry Weeks who were there for a blast as well. Tim Williams also popped along to see what it was all about, so stood there having a chat and watching the racing with him for a while.

What really caught my eye was the twinshock / Evo class, I love the old bikes and believe me they fly. A certain Jason Fraser took his old CR 500 out in the modern bike class as well and beat them all, just goes to show if you’re classy enough then you can do yourself justice on most bikes. Nice to see Tony Dinham have a blast round in the Evo class as well on his old Yammy YZ (I think!).

I stayed the whole day and really enjoyed myself and it certainly had me thinking on the way home about taking up the Twinshock / Evo motocross lark in a few years time. Get myself an old RM, CR or YZ, (125 of course) and I reckon I’d love it, only trouble is you only get about 15 mins a race, um……………………

Ardua enduro- 18th October 2009

So it was off up to Newbury for a overnight stay on the Saturday at my sisters place, before setting off Sunday morning for the short drive to Bagshot for the event. At least I was guaranteed to have a bit of a lie in as I didn’t have to get up at some stupid hour and drive 4 hours or more to get there, only took me 45 mins, result!

Now I love timecard events, I think the main reason being is that you don’t get many flat fields involved with these type of events and the majority of the time there‘s a lot of woods, so everyone’s on a level playing as it were, not just the last one to shut off the throttle across that field wins!

The weather today was overcast with a slight chill in the air as I arrived at the track and got parked up near to Dan and Pete Lawry who I hadn’t seen since the Knighton BEC in wales a few months back, so I popped over and had a chat. Pete was giving his new KTM 4 banger it’s debut.

I got there so early today that I even had time to walk the test and after the obligatory signing on etc, it was off to work out my check times. Bloody nora I thought, 40 mins for the first lap, going down to 19 mins for the last lap! In fact the last 3 laps were 21,20, and 19 mins, and with 9 laps in total (including 2 special tests), I knew things were going to get tough right near the end to try and keep on time, and seeing as I was starting at 10.06am and due to finish at 2.26pm , there was a lot of riding to done today, nice one!

With about 30 mins before I was due off, one of my other sisters turned up to give me some moral support, (bloody hell, how many sisters have I got who live up that way) and of course buy me a quick cuppa.
So at 10.06am I kicked the little gasser into life and off I went onto the woods. Within a couple on mins I arrived at my 1st test! Not a particularly ideal situation I must admit, I haven’t even got warmed up yet, and nor had my bike! Me thinks it might have been better to have started your test on your 2nd lap or maybe later on round the course, bit of a shock to have one so early on.

Anyway, just like the Dunmere enduro a few weeks back, the special test was awesome, cracking tight trails, some nice hills to go up and down, a couple of short fire roads, some roots, rocks, and of course loads of the usual trees to watch out for just incase you got complacent. A nice long test too and about 5 to 6mins worth of decent riding.
Things went alright for me on the 1st test, and if wasn’t warmed up enough beforehand, I certainly was now!

So after getting a decent warm up after the special, it was off to explore the rest of the course, and I was impressed! A really enjoyable track, with all the usual traits that you’d expect from the woods, including a lovely pile of logs that you had to go over and a hard route with a massive tree strung across it that you had to clamber over for a time saver, get that wrong and you ended up on your arse looking like a right turkey in front of all the spectators stood there watching, luckily for me I cleared it every time, Phew!
Overall I reckon the course was about 6-7 miles long and a cracker it was too.

So given a lenient 40 mins for the 1st lap I took it easy and arrived back with plenty of time in hand. The lap had took me around 27-28 mins.
Onto my 2nd lap then I went and arrived at my 2nd and final test of the day, this time I was a bit more ‘warmed up’ and went a lot better, that is until I managed to dump the bike on the floor after going off the track and planting the front wheel down a small ditch, aaaargh! My fault entirely, just going too fast. I went on to complete the rest of the lap with no problems.
With the times still on the slack side there was no need to risk much, and the next few laps went well and I made it back to the check with time in hand every lap. So With 5 laps gone it was now going to get interesting as slowly the lap times were being squeezed down in minutes, and now starting my 6th lap, I had 24 mins to get round. No way could I hang about now, and I didn’t, but I only just made it back in time and basically had to go straight back out and try and do a 21 min lap.
I tried as best as I could, but ended up 3 mins over, so it was back out again this time aiming for a 19 min lap. It was at this point that the times were taking there toll on the riders and the field was starting to thin out somewhat as there were less and less riders in the pits taking a break, in fact, there wasn’t hardly anyone, so you knew everyone was struggling to keep to time. It was on this lap and with a little bit of tiredness creeping in and going like a lunatic for a whole lap trying to keep to time, that I caught a stump and set sail on a collision course with a bloody tree. I had choice but to ‘bail out’ and throw the little gasser at it rather than hold on and slam into myself. I ended up on the deck about 10ft away from the bike, got up, picked the bike up and inspected it for damage, and luckily for me it was alright, so off it went to complete another lap in which I lost another 4 mins.

So now it was on to my last lap, I was 7 mins down on time and this one had to be an almighty effort if I as to get round in 19 mins! Thankfully I didn’t have any ‘offs’ and I went well but still lost another 5 mins at the end of it all. My last 4 laps had all took me the same time, 24 mins, consistent or what? To be honest I couldn’t have gone any faster and knowing that riders were dropping their times by the bucketful, I was pleased with that. So at the end of the day I dropped a total of 12 mins, and no one in the whole of the field managed to stay on time in any class, champ, expert, clubman or sportsman, so that’s how tough it was today.

Personally I thought it was a cracking event and definitely one of the best I’ve done this year, great course, good special tests, tough times, and good organization, and I much prefer it when you get tight times on the last few laps as this really tests your endurance and speed over a long distance. Well worth the 470 mile round trip!

Finishing position: 4/12 (vets)

Late entry.........................................

I might have got myself a race this coming weekend up in Bagshot in the Ardua Enduro. Sent off my regs at the last minute so just waiting for confirmation. It's a timecard event so that'll do for me, so hopefully i'll be there.

Just want to say Best wishes to all those riders involved in the crash at the Weston beach race yesterday. From what i understand it was a very serious incident and i hope they all make a full recovery.

Cancelled!!!!

Not one but two events in my diary this month have been cancelled. The Midwest on the 18th, and the SCEC race on the 25th. I won't be doing Weston as i've decided against it, so at the moment i won't be racing for another 4 weeks!
Hopefully i'll find some other events to fill in the gaps, might have to do a bit of travelling though.

Dunmere enduro- 4th October 2009

Was out gigging last night and had a late one, so I didn’t get to bed until 2am and was up again at 6am. Dunmere is only 10 mins up the road, but I left early so I could get a parking space near to the start so I didn’t have to walk miles along the fire road! The plan worked a treat and I was one of the 1st to arrive along with Arthur Johnson (who was riding his new 2010 Gasser 300 today), Andy Smith, and clerk of the course Mike Roose. Soon after the ‘likely lads’ arrived, Adam Blake & Steve Jose.

Now then, these South West Champ rounds are becoming more like a social gathering than a race, and with me being right next to the signing on tent and being 2 ½ hours early, everyone I knew had a chat with us as they walked past the van.
Thor motorcycles had a couple of the new 2010 ‘Gassers’ on show and they look rather nice, and it looks like the mods they’ve done to the new range seem to work well, must admit, I’m tempted! And what’s more I got a free bacon sandwich from Becky who works for Thor while I was taking a look at the bikes, nice one.
Whilst I was ‘milling’ about around the start area, Marie and little Emily turned up, long time since Marie has come to a race, and In a way i miss those days when she used to come with us all the time and wait for me in the pits to help me refuel and then constantly shove jelly babies in my gob to give me more energy! I doubt if she does though, standing in the pissing rain sometimes watching your fella go round and round ain't much fun is it?

So with everything done, it was off to the parc ferme to pick up the bike and get ready for my 10.07 start time, this last round of the series being a time card event. I all had to do today was stay on the bike, keep to time, not do anything silly, and I’d be celebrating winning the clubman E1 championship. Me and James Hull were the first ones away in our class and we basically followed each other round for the 1st lap at a nice steady pace getting to know the course and arrived back at the pits with about 5-6 mins to spare before we had to head out again. Our allotted times started at 40 mins a lap going down to 31 mins for the last lap, 6 laps in all, so a fair days riding was in front of us. The heavy overnight rain that we had didn’t really affect the course and conditions were just about perfect, slightly tacky on the top and greasy in some places, especially on the hills. To be honest, you don’t want everything bone dry do you?

Onto the course itself, and what a cracker it was with not a flat field in sight, thank god for that! The 1st mile or so was a nice wooded trail before we hit the special test which had a hard or easy route option at the start of it. The harder route consisted of a ‘trials’ section of logs one after the other which saved you a bit of time, if you cleaned it that was! Needless to say that a small crowd were standing by to help anyone that got into trouble with it. With all the riding I’ve done this year I’d be a bit of a pussy not to have a go at that wouldn’t I? Thankfully I had no problems. What the bloody hell James Hull was doing I don’t know, he took the easy route! (I’m gonna have a word with him about that)

The rest of the test consisted of fast trails, a stream crossing, a couple of fire roads, 3-4 rooty uphill sections and a very tight and twisty small moto x style bit to finish with.
After the test the woods never failed to deliver a decent ride for everybody with the variation of it all. Tight sections, fire roads, some decent hills, roots, stumps and of the course the ‘bone yard’, which basically was a 200 meter section carpeted with broken branches. Overall I reckon it was about 8 miles or so a lap.

Onto my 2nd lap then and my 1st test. This went a ‘Pete Tong’ and I had a couple of ‘offs’, so wasted a bit of time, none too pleased about that as every second counts. With the rain now starting to fall I did the rest of the lap ok and come back to the pits with a few minutes in hand.
My 2nd special test went even more pear shaped, 2 more ‘offs’, and one was a classic. I was pinning the little ‘Gasser’ up one of the rooty climbs when before I could say ‘oh sh*t’, I hit the deck in a heap after my front wheel washed out on a root. So with 2 tests gone and 4 ‘offs’, I knew that going out in a blaze of glory and trying to get the win had evaporated. Still, at least I cleaned the lap and made it back in time with nothing broken on the bike, so not all bad news.

Onto my 4th lap I went then and my last test, hip hip hooray, I didn’t come off! Even though half way round the test Phil Harris who wasn’t riding today done his best to have me off by standing on the side of the fire road and ’mooning’ at me as I went past! I think Phil should lose some weight because at one point I thought there was an eclipse up ahead as half the woods went dark on me! I managed to get stuck on a climb later on round the course as the back wheel got a bit out of shape on me while giving her too much ‘welly‘, but I immediately got dragged up to the top by about 5 people who quickly ascended on me, so no time lost there. It was on this lap that I saw James Hull stranded in the woods after his bike had stalled and wouldn’t start, and Andy Smith who also was in a spot of bother due to a snapped chain. I made it back to the pits again with a couple of mins to spare again and saw Dean canfield who’s race was also over due to rear puncture. Paul Fordy also retired due having a crash and damaging his gear shaft, so the woods had now started to claim a few riders with retirements.

With the rain now long gone and just 2 laps to go, all I had to do was try to stay on time and finish and the E1 championship would be mine, although I knew that with James in trouble, I’d won it as he was well down on time and couldn’t get enough points to peg me back now. My 5th lap went well, and with the course absolutely perfect, I was going well, had no mishaps, and made it back in time ready for my final lap.
So off I went then, the time we had now was 31 mins to do the last lap, it was going to be tight, but I was determined to stay clean and not get any penalties. I felt really good and was going well, and was more than confident that I’d make it back so I could start celebrating. The lap went brilliantly and I got back with a minute to spare, job done.

Everyone I spoke to afterwards said how much they’d enjoyed it and what a cracking event it was, so hats off to Camel Vale for providing an excellent well run event. A round of applause to Rich Tucker as well, 18 yrs old and wrapped up the experts championship today, that lad just gets faster and faster.
So with South West series over for another year, it was off to the pub with the ‘likely lads’ for a celebratory drink. Adam didn’t do too well today as his bike played him up all the race, but Steve (I’ve got a thousand stories to tell you) Jose, had a good result in E2.

I’m chuffed to bits, I’ve put a lot of time and effort (not to mention money!) into my racing this year, and if there was one thing I wanted to win, it was the SW championships. At the ripe old age of 45 (acting more like 25), being upgraded to an expert in next seasons SW champs after just over 3 yrs in the sport ain’t too bad at all. No doubt my old man is looking down at me and smiling, although he might have something to say about me riding a Spanish 2 stroke!

Finishing position: 4/16 (clubman E1)

Forced to rest- 27th September 2009

Damaged my right elbow a few weeks back at the SCEC event, i knew what it was straight away, Tennis elbow. After doing last weeks South West round things got worse and i had no alternative but to pay a visit to the docs on Friday for some decent painkilllers.
So with the last SW champs round this weekend and a Midwest round a couple of weeks later, I didn't want to put anymore strain on the elbow, and seeing as i gotta job to lift a kettle up and make a cup of tea at the moment let alone twist a throttle, i thought it best to rest it.

I'm still debating weather to get a late entry into the Weston beach race this year as i still haven't made my mind up yet about doing it.

Plans this month:

4th Camel Vale
11th ?
18th Midwest
25th SCEC

Working party- 24th September 2009

Went on a working party this afternoon with other members of Camel Vale mcc to help get the woods at Dunmere ready for the last round of the South west champs that are taking place next week. Things didn't start too well for me as i managed to 'elbow' the clerk of the course Mike Roose straight in the eye whilst i was picking up a log doing a bit of track clearing, whoops!

What a bloody laugh we all had later. A certain John Young had to leave early and so rode Tony Dinham's bike back to where his car was parked and left. When we'd all finished and was ready to go home, Tony's bike was nowhere to be found, and it took 8 of us 20 minutes to find the bloody thing because John had camouflaged it too well amongst the undergrowth. So remember this folks, don't play hide and seek with A certain Mr J Young, you'll never blinking well find him!

Wolborough Barton- 20th September 2009

So I decided to go for the South west enduro championship race today instead of the Midwest one, but did I make the right decision? (pic by Sue Pitman)

The late summer we’re having continued as yet again the lovely weather was upon us as I made the short drive up to Newton Abbott (about hour an half) for the penultimate round of the series. Called in at a service station on the way up on the A38 only to pull up behind Andy Smith and Phil Harris, so up we went in convoy.

Now the thing is with these South west rounds is that I meet so many bloody people who I’ve got to know over the past season or two! Got parked up next Jon and Tom Hinkley, Adam Blake and Steve Jose arrived soon after, so with ‘Smithy’ and Harris a nice little posse of us were all gathered round for a decent chat and of course the usual banter.

Got signed on and met loads of folk along the way, Rich Tucker, Paul Fordy, Dean Canfield, Francis Banfield, Richard Jay, Arthur Johnson (cracking joke you played on me there Arthur you bugger) , Jed Treleaven, Gary McCoy, James Hull, and John and Sue Pitman. By the way, check out Sue’s handy camera work, you’ll find a link for it over on the right.

So with everything set, I was ready to do battle with James (Hull) as we are currently 1st and 2nd in the championship standings, and to be honest I couldn’t have cared less where I finished today, as long as I was in front of him!

A bit disappointed with the turn out in E1 today as only 8 of us lined up for the start, especially as all the other classes had a good amount of entrants. The flag waved and off we went and I got to the first corner in 2nd ( wot no holeshot!) as we hammered it across a couple of fields I lost a place and went into the woods in 3rd. The wooded section was extremely dry but nevertheless tricky in places due to the tight and twisty turns within it. The hills didn’t create many problems and it was nice to blast up them. After a few miles of wooded trails it was then back out through a couple of more long ’flat out’ fields before going into yet more woods that lay on the hillside, and back to the lap scoring. Only one little problem on the lap that caught a few riders out was a boggy section, but nothing major. I reckon the lap being about 6 to 7 miles and I was doing it in about 20 mins. A nice Course without too many fields!

On my very 1st lap I managed to get lost on the course ( I wasn’t the only one either!), a distinct lack of arrows in part of the woods off one of the lanes caused me to go completely the wrong way and I ended up doing the same bit of woods that I’d just ridden along. I must admit to being a little p**sed off about that, you come to a section that has 3 tracks to choose from, and there’s no marshal, no track tape, and no arrows! Especially when you’ve got in front of your main rival and you’re pushing hard to try and get away (which I did) and you end up losing time through no fault of your own. I reckon I lost about 5 mins doing that, so when I got back to lap scoring I didn’t know what position I was in and certainly didn’t know where everyone else was.

So with my first lap completed and a bit ‘wound’ up I set about trying to make for lost time and everything went smoothly. It wasn’t until the end of my 3rd lap that I quickly took a look behind me at the lap scoring and realized that James (Hull) was right behind me, Apparently he’d got lost as well on his 1st lap! So now the battle between us was definitely on and we both set across the fields hammering our little 125’s to the max.

He overtook me, I then latched onto his tailpipe, I overtook him and he done the same, and for the next 2 laps we were like kids fighting over a toy. I knew I had to pull out some sort of gap because he had a big tank on his RM and he didn’t have to re-fuel and I did, I managed too, but as I was pitting, he just got in front of me by a few seconds so the race was on again!

As I came out of the pits Francis Banfield came past me on his 250, not to be out done, I latched onto him as well, so in a way I was now in a 3 way battle even though Fran was in E2, I thought to myself, the more the merrier!. I caught James up again and passed him, then he past me again, I caught Francis up and past him, and set about getting back up to James. In one of the wooded sections I came round a corner only to find James on the deck after he had a little ‘off‘, so I past him again, after this I didn’t see him again, so our battle together lasted a good hour.

What happened next was probably the best duel I’ve ever had with someone whilst I’ve been racing. Fran (Banfield) went by me again, I got past him, he got past me, I then got by him again, quite frankly it was an awesome battle. We’d been going at each other since we came out of the pits together, and believe or not, that lasted until the end of the race. I was absolutely nailing the 125 across those fields to try and keep in front him and his 250, he was really ’on it’ today and so was I, and we both had a great battle, really enjoyed it. At the end of it all, and with us two glued together like Siamese twins for about 1hr 45 mins, he went by again and pulled out a gap on me and beat me by a minute.

I had a couple of little ‘offs’ along the way today, but nothing major, although I did manage to bash my hands a few times against those bloody trees (ouch), not a particularly clever thing to do in my line of work, but as Delboy would say ’he who dares wins’, and you certainly don’t get any prizes in this game for sympathy (although my hands may beg to differ at the moment), so you just say to yourself ’sh*t, that one hurt’ and you get on with it don’t ya!

Apologies to Jon Hinkley who I had ’off’ whilst me and him were fighting for a corner at the end of a fast field section late on in the race. I braked really late and got half wheel in front of him, when I looked round seconds later to see where he was, he wasn’t anywhere to be seen, oops! I’d manage to put him on the floor. I saw him later and apologized, he was alright about it, I explained to him that I had ‘tunnel vision’ at the time because I chasing whoever it was in front of me, so it was their fault for overtaking me!

So, with still not knowing where I’d finished in the E1 class when I got back to the van, I went off in search to see if I could get any results, and came back with a smile on my chops after I’d found out that I’d got the win and my main challenger for the title had finished down in 5th.

So a cracking day for me and nice to get back to normal after the last few races that I’ve done haven’t been to kind to me. Steve (Jose) had a good finish and so did Fran, although Adam had to pull out in the expert class due to being sick on the course a few times, not too good that as he was hoping to get some decent points towards the championship.

Had a chat with James on the way out and he said that he’d managed to get a puncture on his last lap, so weather he lost a place or two because of that I don’t know. I got a great result today and I achieved what I set out to do and that was to finish in front of him, and even better, I got the win, well pleased.

Finishing position: 1/8 (clubman E1)

Maze in the maize- 13th September 2009

(pic by Brewbs)

Cracking sunny weather greeted me as I made the 2 ½ hr drive up to the SCEC event simply called ‘Maze in the maize’. I was looking forward to seeing what was in store as it was described as a ‘unique’ event.

A few of us had made the trip up from Cornwall and I met up with Andy Smith and Phil Harris. Phil wasn’t riding due to having a bit of a bug (lightweight!) but came along any how to give us moral

support.

Whilst signing on I had a decent chat with Michael Brooks and Gary Mcoy, good old Gary kept me and Brookster entertained with his usual chat chit and admitted to us both that his blue background on his front number plate was in fact a ’south hams district council’ bin liner that had been cut up and gaffa taped on! I think that’s a great invention and maybe he should think about going on ‘Dragons den’ with that one!

So with the sun shining, it was off to get changed and go and line up ready for the off. Had a quick chat to ‘Boycey’ and also Kevin Pippard. First time I’ve met Kevin and I certainly didn’t know that he’d been reading the blog, amazing who you meet on the start line sometimes!

Yippee! It was another holeshot as I got away 1st again and led the field along the straight and up into the ’maize maze’. I didn’t really know what to expect as I’ve never rode through a field of 7ft high corn before, but it was fast going and to be honest, if you rode motocross, then you’d be at home. The weird thing was, you couldn’t see round the corners so you had no idea what was coming up next, apart from more maze of course! There wasn’t many racing lines either and if you got stuck behind someone, you had to risk going off line onto the small rocky surface and losing it. The course twisted and turned through the maze fields before going through a small woodland (which lasted about a minute) before going into more maze fields and then across a couple of normal grassy type fields to complete the lap. A very short lap it was too and it only took around 11-12 mins to complete it. With nothing technical and nothing really to slow things down, I knew I’d be pinning the 125 for most of the way round.

So after that good start I lost a few places on the 1st lap, lost a few more on the 2nd lap, made up a couple on my 3rd lap and I think I was lying in about 5th on my next lap when I overshot a corner in the maze ‘rat run’ and put the bike on the deck. I couldn’t believe it when I picked the bike back up only to find that my front brake lever had snapped to the point that I had nothing left to pull at. Flaming hell, that’s 2 races running now, you go months without anything happening and then 2 levers brake in succession! So, with no front brake and on a fast course, I had no alternative but to take it easy and head off back to finish the lap and go back to the van to change the bloody thing. Phil was there and being the good lad that he is, changed the lever for me while I had a quick drink before heading back out again. With the laps being so short and me having wasted a good 10-12 mins on repairs, I was basically now a lap down and I went through the transponders and saw on the lap scoring screen that I was now in 13th place!

Try as I might I pushed and pushed but ended up a lowly 11th at the end of it all, so yet again and for the 3rd event running, things haven’t gone my way. I’m pretty sure I must be due a change of luck, well not luck, but just for things to go ok and get back to normality, so lets hope next week has a change of fortunes.

Oh well, at least I had a nice ride round in the sunshine today and then a lovely ’chinese’ when I got home!

Finishing position: 11/15 (clubman E1)

Dilemma..................................

Got a bit of a dilemma this month. From the start of the year i've concentrated on 2 championships, the south west enduro champs (E1) and the Midwest series (vets). As the years unfolded and my results have got better, i find myself at the top of both of them, well pleased with that, but still with a couple of rounds to go in each, and with the points gap being so close between the first few riders, it ain't over till the fat lady sings, so there's still plenty of racing to do.

So isn't it a pain in the backside when one of them decides to put back their event by one week from their original date, and the other one puts theirs forward by one week from their original date as well, and now they both clash on the same day! Typical! So it looks like i'm going to have to sacrifice one of them. I don't know which one yet, but i'm not happy!

Just as well i didn't race the weekend as my vision in my left eye is still blurred from last week. Hopefully it'll be alright for this weekend.

Plans this month:
13th SCEC
20th West of England mc or Midwest mcc
27th ORE?

Dawn to Dusk- 30th August 2009

My longest report yet!!!!!

It’s fair to say that I was really looking forward to this event, I’m feeling really fit, the bikes good and I was mentally prepared to push myself for 12 hours worth of riding!!!

Three of us were traveling up together to do this, me, Adam Blake and Steve Jose. Steve unbelievably had managed to ‘blag’ a motor home for us to use free of charge for the weekend, a 6 ½ ton truck that was kitted out with all the mod cons as well as storage for 3 bikes in the back, nice one!
So it was a short drive up to Bude to meet the lads and to get loaded up before beginning the trek up to Wales. Things didn’t go too well for me as I arrived late because of the holiday traffic I had to get through on the way, so inevitably that meant we were late leaving. After a few hours of traveling it was a quick stop on the M5 to get some diesel and fuel ourselves up with some Harry Ramsdens fish & chips before we set off again. A game of ’who am I’ (that’s a game where you have to guess the famous person by asking questions) in the lorry turned out to be a game of ’who the f*ck am I’ because the supposedly famous person that Steve Jose had picked, me and Adam had never even heard of! Not once he did that, but twice! So everybody, if your gonna play party games at your bar-b-cue and Steve’s there, just make some sort of excuse and don’t involve him otherwise it’ll all go tits up and people will start to leave!

Anyway, after about 5 hours we finally arrived at the dawn to Dusk site, a damp quarry ‘in the middle of nowhere’ and met up with the other lads that had traveled up from Cornwall. Arthur Johnson and Hannes Tanzer were both doing the 24 hr solo iron man race (nutters or what?) and brothers Rich and Steve Jay were doing the 12 hr two man team. Because I was doing the 12 hr race I had to get signed on and the bike checked today (Saturday), Adam and Steve didn’t need to as they were doing the ‘mickey mouse’ race, the 6 hr one, so they could do all theirs in the morning. So with everything done it was then off to see the start of the 24 hr marathon event. The start itself was further down in the quarry and had a small moto x style track before heading into the forest. It was a great atmosphere as the riders got underway and as darkness fell we went back into the big marquee to listen to the riders briefing and take a look at the video screen which was a full lap of the course done by a helmet cam so everybody could see what we were letting ourselves in for! I was there with Rich and Steve Jay and all we really wanted to see was the 4 or 5 ’extreme’ sections that had been put in in order to save time to see how difficult they were. I’d made my mind that I’d be having a go at all of them on my very 1st lap to see what they were like and then have a quick pit stop to tell Adam & Steve how I got on with them so they could get some idea if the sections were tough or not.

With time now getting on, it was back to the motor home for a bite to eat and some kip. It’s really weird watching the bike lights in the distance going round at night racing, a big round of applause to everybody that did that 24 hr race, must have been tricky in the forest sections. After dinner we got our heads down and all you could hear was the 4 bangers belting out their thunderous exhaust tones in the distance as I drifted off to sleep, couldn’t hear the 2t’s at all. Bloody noisy 4 bangers!

So it was up at 5am in order to have some grub and get hydrated before the 7am start. The weather at this point was overcast, grey, and looking really miserable with the threat of rain in the air. The actual start of the race was a ‘le mans’ type thing where you had to run to your bikes first, albeit only a matter of about 10 yds, I’d have preferred the distance of around 2 or 3 miles myself but you can’t have it all can you!
The vets class was the second group away and I got a flyer and went into the first corner in 3rd and that’s were I stayed around the short moto x style track before we headed out into the forest.

With the race being held in a disused quarry and looking at the footage of last years event before I came, wet or dry, it was going to rocky, and once the top soil had been worn away, all that was left was going to a granite type surface. With that in mind we all decided to use trials tyres, and what a cracking decision that would turn out to be.

The lap was about 15-16 miles and mainly consisted of fire tracks that meandered through the quarry and the forest. A couple of rocky climbs and down hills, a nice little river that we had to go through, but nothing too major and unbelievably I didn’t see one tree root! All the ruts had stones and slate under them as you rode along and basically you couldn’t travel more than about 10 yds without your bike not going over some sort of rock be it big or small. The open sections out of the forest which were in the quarry were fast and gave you a chance to ‘pin’ it or sit down on the saddle if you needed a rest bite.

The ‘extreme’ sections weren’t really ‘extreme’ at all, and I was expecting to come across something out of ’the tough one’, although there was one, where you dropped down and down and down before crossing a river that was littered with boulders before going up a rally steep rocky climb the other side, this one saved you at least 5 mins according to the organiser, so I had a go and made it ok, that trials tyre on the back was working wonders, I had such good grip with it. Another ‘extreme’ had a an easy climb but with a near vertical summit to get over at the top, I did this ok as well, so overall I did all the time savings and get through them all without any mishaps. To be honest there are more difficult sections than this at a Exmoor or Camel Vale event that I’ve come across.

I took the lead about 20 mins into the 1st lap when I cleared the ‘extreme’ bit that saved me 5 mins because the 2 riders in front of me had taken the long way round and didn’t go for it, I knew is was in 1st because they got past me soon after, no panic though, still over 11 hours to go!

So after my first lap I came in to pit to see Adam and Steve and tell them that the hard routes were ok and to go for it later on when it was their turn to start. With the rain now falling I changed my goggles, had a quick top up of fuel and went on my way again. My plan now was to stop every 2 laps to re-fuel but that was soon abandoned as the rain kept on and I had to come again the very next lap for some more goggles. Lap 3 and yet more goggles and a quick re-fuel and I was out again, I think I was still in 3rd at this stage and only 5 mins behind the leader or so I was told.

I think it was on my 5th lap and about 4 ½ hrs into the race when disaster struck. I felt the front get a little out of shape and she wasn’t handling as good because every stone or rock I went over made the bloody bike shake. I stopped and checked for the obvious, and sure enough I’d managed to get a puncture in the front wheel. With still about 7-8 miles of the lap to go I nursed her back round to the pits feeling slightly pissed off that I would be losing time, but that was just the start of it. As I put the bike on the jack stand I realized that the tyre levers weren’t there, Oh bollocks! I rode back to our motor home hoping that Adam and Steve would still be there and sure enough they were just getting changed when I arrived. ‘Steve, where the bloody hell are my tyre levers’ I said, ‘everything of yours is down in the pits’ he said, ‘you sure because they was in that blue box’ I said. Sure enough the blue box was still in the motor home so I quickly grabbed the levers, picked up a tube from Arthur Johnson’s wife and rode back to the pits to change the offending tube.

Things weren’t great, it was pissing down with rain, there was mud everywhere, the wind seemed to be blowing at 90mph and to top it all we didn’t have any shelter what so ever because we didn’t bring a gazebo with us, not the ideal conditions for maintenance on your bike then in the middle of a race. I just concentrated on trying not to lose anything in the mud like the pinch bolts and valve as I was putting the new tube in. I reckon with the tooing and froing and me having to slow up a bit to get back to the pits in the first place, I must have lost a good 25 mins. Just before I went back out I managed to take a peek at the lap scoring TV and I was still in 3rd.
It was now well over 5 hours into the race and I felt really good and I’d worked out in my head that even if I was to do the laps 10 mins slower as the race went on, I’d be on for at least 13 laps, which would put me right up there. The trouble now was that I’d gone through all my goggles (4 sets) and at least 3 pairs of gloves because of the conditions and I was now riding with nothing covering my eyes. I know we’ve all done that and we’ll probably still do it, but today I got caught out, so more of that later.

On my 6th lap and going great guns I thought it would be a good idea to hit a tree as I was overtaking a slower rider, a broken brake lever was the result but I had a couple of inches of it still left so that was enough for me to use, and I certainly wasn’t going to stop again for anymore maintenance, didn’t have time for that!

I started my 7th lap just as the riders for the 6hr race were gathered at the starting area, so with another 5 mins or so to go, I knew they’d be off and all breathing down my neck soon after. I still felt really good, was still doing the ’extreme’ sections, and was going really well and the only thing that was tired was my clutch finger, so I had to use 2 fingers now instead of one to pull the lever in as I didn’t want it to get any worse and start cramping up. What happened next put me out of the race.

As I riding at a decent pace through the forest on one of the fire tracks, the rain had made a few branches bow over, and it was bloody sods law that I got whip lashed by one when a branch smacked me right in my eyes. I knew instantly I was trouble, I couldn’t see a bloody thing and had to stop. My left eye wouldn’t even open and my right eye was only working about 50%, I thought it would get better so I carried on as best I could, but things went from bad to worse. It got really bad when I couldn’t even see which rut to ride in as everything was blurred, and I had a job crawling along in 1st gear at 5 mph, and with still about 10 miles or so still to go before the end of the lap I wondered if I was going to make it back to the pits.

With the 6hr race now started, it seemed like everyone was flying past me and i was standing still, Adam and Steve both went past me and must have thought I’d run out of energy, but far from it, I couldn’t bloody well see. That lap seemed like an eternity, and with me now in quite a bit of discomfort, and with the rain lashing into my eyes as well, the sight of the pits felt like I’d won the lottery. I went through the timing at 6hrs 56mins, that last lap must have took me an hour.

I quickly dumped the bike down and stumbled off to the medical tent, where 2 of the ambulance guys grabbed me and got me into the ambulance and started to clean my eyes. They called a paramedic in who then started to syringe my eyes with fluid whilst someone else was holding them open because I couldn’t open them myself. Some dye was also put in my left eye to see what damage there was, luckily for me I’d only scratched the lens. It made laugh when the guy said ’look, this is what has come out of your eye mate, a bit of tree’. I think the thing that hurt the most was I knew I wouldn’t be able to finish the bloody race, I was gutted, but also relieved to find out that I didn’t need to go to hospital (even though they were going to send me there).

So after spending about 30 mins or so getting treated, it was back to the van to get changed, race over, simple as that. I went back to the pits and helped the guys out a bit re-fueling and stuff and even contemplated getting back into my sodden riding gear and doing one more lap near the end just to get a finish, but my vision was just to blurred, so just too dangerous to do anything. I’ll tell you what though, after about 2 hrs of not doing anything, I was still in 7th place in the vets class so the lap scoring said, unbelievable! Not a good thing to see that really, just goes to show I must have going a fairly decent pace, and looking at that made me feel even more gutted!
All the lads from Cornwall were still going strong, Arthur Johnson was in 4th place, Hannes Tanzer was an unbelievable 2nd , both of which were doing the 24hr race, Adam was winning the 6hr experts, Steve Jose was in 3rd in the 6hr clubman, and the Jay brothers were in 7th in the 12hr 2 man team. Apart from Adam, that’s how they all ended up at the finish. Adam missed out on winning the experts and 1st overall in the 6hr race on his last lap! We think he must have got overtaken when he made his pit stop just before his last lap while he was in the pits, and he missed out on winning by just 40 seconds! Bloody nora, unlucky or what?
Everyone’s bike had gone through brake pads galore as the slate and rain mixed together just turned into grinding paste, and most of the guys finished with no pads at all and that was after putting new ones in halfway through the race.

There was drama in the Boyle’s camp as well, Dad Pete, riding with his two sons Mike and Chris in the 12hr 3 man team were missing a rider. Chris went out at about 5.30pm to do another lap and still wasn’t back at 7.30. No one knew where he was, so they had to go race control and send out the marshals to go and look for him. Still don’t know what happened there as I’ve not got the update on that as yet. Lets hope everything’s ok on that score. Pete told me that last year they did the 12hr team race and got a DNF because something happened on their very last lap, looks like it might have happened again this year, 2 years running, how unlucky is that?

After everybody getting changed and with the rain still pooring down from the dark gloomy skies (hadn‘t stopped since the morning), it was back up to the marquee through the squelchy mud in the car park, for a bite to eat and to see the presentation. I bumped into Arthur Johnson up there, and after finishing the 24hr race, Arthur told us his own words that he felt like he’d been ‘run over by a bus‘! Just finishing that is one hell of an achievement on your own and he deserves a massive round of applause for doing that.

So after a nights kip we headed home, all a bit ‘cream crackered’ but in good spirits, and as usual Mr Jose had a thousand stories to tell us about what had happened the day before.

A disappointing weekend for me then, but that’s why I write this blog, so I can look back on it and reflect on the highs and lows of it all. Back to the goggle scenario, I know we all do it, We’ve all done it on countless numbers of occasions, ride without them on when the going gets shitty because they get clogged up with mud, but I was very lucky when that branch got me, and that’s the worse I’ve been hit by one in 3 years of racing, I’ve learnt my lesson and from now on even if I have to waste a minute stopping in the pits to put a fresh pair on every bloody lap, that’s what I intend to do. I love racing motorbikes, I keep myself fit, I eat well, the bike gets prepped well before every race, I keep my kit in order, and it’s all of these factors that is the reason why I rarely suffer a DNF, ok I know I’m going the odd one or two, but that’s understandable with the amount of racing I’m doing at the moment and something’s are beyond your control, but take note everybody, because if you ain’t got vision, then you ain’t got nothing.

Finishing position: DNF

Keeping up the fitness- 24th August 2009

I was thinking about the TnT event today but decided not to as i didn't want to do anything that could jeopardise next weeks race. Not being content with not doing anything i went for a 10 mile run in order to keep my fitness levels topped up.
I might go for a little blast on the bike midweek, see what happens.

There's a few of us travelling up from Cornwall to do the Dawn to Dusk at the weekend, including 2 guys who are doing the 24hr race, nutters!!!! I'll be doing the 12hr ironman thing, must remember to pace myself and not carried away for the first 3 or 4 hours or so, easier said than done when your racing!

Really looking forward to it and it should be a great weekend.

Practice- 19th August 2009

After sundays race and me not even breaking sweat, i just had to get back out on the bike and do some riding, so it was out down the local moto x track were i met up with Adam Blake. I did an hour non stop at a fairly decent clip, had a break, then did another 30 mins before going home.

The damage from Rifton Barton from that branch that got me to the bike was a broken rad shroud, a hose, and the lighting 'blipper' switch that had got smashed off it's mounting. Still losing a bit of coolant somewhere, best i get that sorted as the Dawn to Dusk is just over a week away!

Rifton Barton- 16th August 2009

Is that the next Laurel and Hardy?
No it's me and Steve Jose having a bit of a laugh after both suffering DNF'S.
Yes i'm the skinny one on the right!
(pic by Debbie Tucker)


I was really looking forward to this one, it’s run by Exmoor enduro club who always put on good events, there was a nice turnout of riders, and most people I know were riding it as well. For those of you that have followed the blog from the early days you’ll know that this was where it all started for me 3 years ago, bloody hell do I remember that or what? Ambulance job!

So with only just under a 2hour drive I set off early and got there with plenty of time in hand so I could take a look at the ’extreme’ section of the course that the club always put in on this event. Got parked up and off I went to have a sneaky look at it which this year consisted of a pile of logs about 4 high with a nasty drop off the other side, and a row of about 20 tyres to ride over. I was in two minds weather to have a go at it as I didn’t want to have a silly ’off’ and wreck me or the bike because I had the Dawn to dusk event to think of in a couple of weeks time, so today all I wanted was to have a nice blast round and get home in one piece. The weather today was overcast but dry, but judging by the youths race earlier, conditions were tricky as most of them were arriving through the lap scoring caked in mud.

Just about everyone I saw last week I saw this week again, so needless to say whilst getting signed on I was chatting to a lot of people and even a few new faces that had recognized me, bloody nora, time consuming these ‘local’ events!!
So after running out of breath it was back to get changed and then down to the start to get ready for the off . I was hoping for another decent start but I had more chance of taken Natalie Imbruglie out for dinner then I did of getting the holeshot because I dropped the clutch too soon and stalled it! 2nd kick and away she went, but all too late and I got to the 1st corner about halfway in the pack. From there on we went through a couple of fields and entered the woods where it all went a bit ’Pete Tong’. Trying to make up places I clattered against a bush which had rather thick branches the size of a broom handle sticking out of it, I thought nothing of it, but within a couple of mins there was steam coming out from everywhere, oh bollocks, just lost my coolant, looks like I gotta leak somewhere then!

I stopped and tried to inspect the damage but couldn’t see anything, but knowing that I had all the lap to do, I took it easy and crawled round, that is until more bloody steam was coming out so I had to stop again and wait for her to cool down. I decided to stop and help a few people get up the hills and also a rider who went down in front of me on a steep downhill. He took a bad fall, but thankfully after a couple of minutes and with me directing the oncoming bikes round him, he got back on his feet and carried on. Not wanting to seize the bike I stopped again just opposite the ’extreme’ section to have a look at everyone going through it and had a chat for about 10 minutes to Mike Boyles who came over to ask what was up. Steve Jose then came round and stopped next to me and told me he couldn’t carry on because of his back, so we both had no choice but to call it a day. After deciding to have a go over the logs and the tyres, I said ’follow me’ to Steve and promptly got stuck on the smallest single log of all before we even reached the real test, embarrassing or what? Thankfully I got going again quickly and made it through the pile of logs and the tyres and back to the start where I pitted, game over for me.

After getting changed and putting the bike away me and Steve went down to the logs and tyres to help a few of those riders that were having trouble getting through that ‘extreme’ section, basically we were picking them up off the floor and putting them upright again so they could carry on! Debbie Tucker was down there snapping away like mad getting some decent shots one of which included Adam Blake doing a bit of ‘showboating’ while doing a wheelie all across the length of the tyres. Phil Harris bottled this section, that is until me and Steve stood right in front of him on his last lap as he was coming down the hill and demanded he went through it, he did and promptly came off at the first attempt to which he muttered under his breath ‘I’m knackered, why I did I listen to you Trev’! Fair play to him though, he got back up and did it 2nd time around.

Everyone who finished that I chatted too thought it was another top class tough event and relieved to get to the end. Adam had a good finish in the champ class, Rich Tucker had bike problems that put him well down, Gary McCoy finished the event on a ‘borrowed’ bike (sorry I didn’t have anything stronger for you Gary than tobacco at the end, but I just don’t smoke that kind of gear mate, only joking), Andy Smith done well in the Clubman 2st and surprisingly Phil Harris finished 2 races in a row. Well I might as well report on everyone else coz I didn’t do anything did I!
What is it this year and the Exmoor events with me? Combe Sydenham I didn’t get the chance to start the race because of a rad leak, Storridge woods I got injured and then my chain wrapped itself around the front sprocket, and now Rifton Barton!

Finishing position: DNF

Idless woods- 9th August 2009

Hey, hey, hey, it’s another holeshot as I led the field into the woods! (pic by Sue Pitman)

So with a cracking July behind me I was hoping for more of the same or at least get a decent result. Today was important as it’s another round of the south west championships and I’m 1pt behind the leader in the series (clubman E1) with just 3 rounds left.

Nice to have a short drive with the venue being just 30 mins away and I managed to get there early which was just as well as parking was tight because of the morning race between the quads and sidecars. The weather today was overcast and humid with the threat of rain in the air.

These local events are now beginning to get like a social gathering! I parked behind Colin George and in front of Francis Banfield as we all arrived at the same time. All 3 of us took a look at the start area where we met up with Gary (nothing gets in my way) McCoy and Mark, Rich and Debbie Tucker. Debbie had a face as white as a box of Persil after being driven there by son Rich who apparently drives a van like he rides his bike, extremely fast and the best ’white knuckle’ ride in the universe. Soon after I met up with Adam Blake, Steve (show me how to get a holeshot please Trev) Jose, and had chats with Jed Treleaven, Arthur Johnson, Mike Roose, Steve Jay, Phil Harris and poor old Andy Smith who’d had van trouble on the way there and had broken down. Andy was stuck in the middle of nowhere so Phil (Harris) got his gasser out of the van and rode it back to his place to get his van so they could both carry on their merry way leaving Andy’s van there stranded to be picked up later.

So after having a good old chin wag to everyone I clapped eyes on it was off to get changed and get my arse in gear down to the start line. Still not content with having talked the ‘hind legs off a donkey’ to a few folk along the way, I also met Paul Fordy who was just starting to race again after a lay off from a badly fractured collarbone, so I had a chat with him as well!

Onto the start then and a good sized looking field had assembled in most classes so racing was going to competitive today. As the flag was raised I got to absolute flyer and made my way up the gravel fire break and into the woods in 1st place, bloody hell that’s the 4th holeshot in the last few months! I must admit I have been practicing, I’ve been trying to kick start some life into the girlfriend and it looks like it’s paying off!

Idless woods, nice track I thought, some lovely twisting wooded trails, 4 or 5 slippery climbs, a seriously steep slimy downhill section that you had to ’crawl’ down at a snails pace, a small water crossing, the inevitable roots, a few long muddy ruts, and only a couple of small fields half way round to break up the lap a bit. I reckon it being about 6-7 miles, but a fast lap due to it being ideal conditions and nothing too technical.

As I went into the woods with the rest of the field breathing down my neck it wasn’t long before I got passed (oh b*llocks I thought) as I lost a couple of places and ended up in 4th place after the 1st lap. As I started my 2nd lap, my main rival (James Hull) in the battle for the championship was right behind me and after about another half lap he took a different line and got inside me. I then followed him for another lap (showing my front wheel to him a few times but couldn’t get past) before he overtook some back markers which I couldn’t do because of the tight sections, so that put some distance between us and I lost sight of him, not happy!

Now down in 5th but still going well and with a long way to go, within about 10 mins or so of James passing me, I saw him motionless on his bike looking down at it on a part of the track in the woods, obviously he had some sort of bike trouble so I went past, needless to say I didn’t stop to ask him what’s up!
That give me a bit of a boost and I really pushed, probably too hard in some places as I had a couple of little offs around some of the more muddier corners with the front wheel sliding away from me.
Mike Roose seemed to be over the place in the woods watching proceedings and every lap I went past him he’d always shout and gesture to me to keep the little gasser ‘pinned’. I don’t know weather he was giving me encouragement or a bollocking!

Around about the 1hr 45min mark I pitted and I’m pretty sure I’d made up to 3rd at this point, things were going well. Another half lap in and my clutch started to slip, oh dear, not good, and with an hour still to go I was hoping that she’d last out until the end, but things just got worse and with half an hour left the clutch was slipping so badly that on one of the hills I had to get off, and with the help of 2 marshalls, push her up to the top in 1st gear with the minimum amount of revs being given to the engine otherwise the bike would just scream and nothing would happen!

I had to make decision, do I wait in the pits for half an hour or more for the flag to come out and lose a load of places and championship points as well? Or do I go for another lap hoping that I wouldn’t lose too many positions and that I’d already done enough to secure a decent place but risk a DNF? I decided to carry on and risk it.

I knew this was to be my last lap and I had to do everything I could in order to get a finish, so I nursed the ‘gasser’ at a snails pace in the high gears in order for the clutch to grip, gingerly around the course. Bloody frustrating it is too, going about 10mph in 3rd or 4th gear (not the ideal way to ride a 125) when everyone’s passing you and you can do nowt all about it. After getting stuck a few times I finally made it back to the pits with a couple of mins to spare, and this time I had no alternative but to wait for the flag to come out because the poor bike could hardly move along the flat let alone any hills! So in the end that’s what I did and relieved to finish.

Spoke to James Hull afterwards who’d explained that he’d punctured so he finished well down the field. Andy Smith pulled out because he was too knackerd. Adam wasn’t happy with his placing in the experts. Steve Jose was happy with his 4th in E2, and even more happier because he overtook me! (after he hit the deck once trying to get past me). Gary McCoy had a DNF? And me? I’m well pleased, 5th place, could have been 3rd but considering what happened I’m lucky to finish at all.

Finishing position: 5/25 (clubman E1)

Breaking news: Me and Steve Jose have had a chat and were going to help each other out. He’s going to show me how to get up the hills on my 125, and I’m going to show him how to get a holeshot on his 250!!!!!!!!

If you rode there today you might want to see yourself in action at the start, here’s a link that I got sent to me. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1If8Xz3jf1c