Blackdog woods- 26th July 2009

(pic by Debbie Tucker)

It was off up to Wiltshire for another round of the Midwest series. So far I’ve done ok but there’s still been too many fields for my liking in their races although this was just about to change!

Left home early and with no traffic problems, got there with plenty of time, got signed on, had a chat with Jesse Say who I hadn’t seen for ages since my ORE days and went back to get changed.
The weather wasn’t too bad today, mild, overcast so perfect for racing although yet again with the rain everybody’s had this week I wondered what state the woods would be in, but after the last 2 events being tough, then I’d happily take whatever was coming up.

Onto the start then and I made a good ‘un’ as I blasted along the short straight and into the first corner in 2nd, another short straight followed before we entered the woods were I lost a place.
For the next mile or so I went 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 1st as places constantly changed between us all, but I settled in 3rd as we finally got sorted out after the initial mad rush of it all. Pretty soon it was evident what kind of race this was going to be as I caught up with the riders that started a minute before me only to find queues and carnage lying in wait! The deep muddy ruts and super slippery climbs were causing havoc even with it being so early in the race as well. A couple of horrendously deep muddy water crossings didn’t help matters and you really just had to ’pin it’ and hope you wouldn’t sink and get stuck which some people did. With the slippery wooded trails as well this was another tough event and right up my street, and with only a couple of small fields to finish the lap off, the conditions were going to be a great leveler. A small lap of 5-6 miles, but a good one and the best track so far on the Midwest calendar.

As lap after lap went by more carnage with riders getting stuck on the hills made things really difficult to pass the back markers, and with the woods getting cut up more and the ruts getting deeper and deeper you had to start ’paddling’ in order to get through them. There were 2 really tricky climbs that latter got cut out due to the chaos they were causing, but I only got stuck just the once and I was I quickly on my way due to the marshals. Just as last week and as I went to overtake a back marker, they had me off! I went down a bank and came off the bike, luckily it wasn’t to steep and I managed to pick the bike up and get back on (whilst mumbling some choice words at him as he rode off into the distance) and got going again without wasting to much time.

With the little ’gasser’ being pinned a lot through the claggy peaty soiled ruts I made the choice to pit a bit earlier than usual to top up on fuel, check the coolant level, clean the sh*t out of the rad shrouds and change my gloves, so a slightly longer stop than usual but better to be safe than sorry especially after last weeks race when I boiled her dry on my last lap. By this time I’d made my way up to 1st place so every second counted and I had one eye on the riders that were going past the pits hoping that none in my class would go by.

It was sods law that just as I was coming out of the pits I got overtaken and was now in 2nd again, but with the leader in my sights and feeling really confident I snatched the lead again as he got stuck on a root. From there on in I went like crazy and didn’t want to give up the lead, but with bikes littered about in front of you at every muddy rut that you came across, you had to pick your lines very carefully and not get stuck behind anybody, if I did, I might lose that 1st place again.

I could see that riders were getting really tired, a lot had stopped, a lot were getting stuck and a lot were going slow, but with my current stamina levels being good due to all this bloody racing I’m doing, I felt superb. I was so pleased to get another lap in with 2 mins to go and unbelievably I won with a lap in hand.

Another great result today and being in the vets class meant that I was up against all the different bikes, 250 & 300 2 strokes, and all the big 4 strokes, but my little 125 came through with flying colours and did the business for me.
That’s 3 tough events in 3 weeks, good job I ain’t racing next weekend, chance to give my body a rest!

Finishing position: 1/25 (Vets)

Allercot farm- 19th July 2009

So, fully recovered after last weeks event of tortuous riding, it was off up to meet up with Adam (Blake) and to travel up to near Minehead for another round of the south west champs.

Every where’s had a lot of rain this week and further more it lashed it down on the way up there and after finally finding the ’arrow’ that was made up of a Mr Kipling’s box that directed us off the main road and round the country lanes into the place, we sat in the van for half an hour while until it had stopped ‘peeing’ it down!

Rich tucker came over for a quick chat before we headed off to do the usual stuff of signing on, etc, etc. Andy smith had forgotten his helmet and was panicking trying to find one, luckily he did so he was able to race. Phil Harris was complaining about his bike again and wants to get shot of it and get one of those ‘orange things’, and oh, yes I finally met the guy who ran over my bike at Storridge woods a while back which put a dent in my exhaust and punctured my petrol tank. Shall name and shame him? Of course I will, step forward Mr Gary McCoy!!!
After having a bit of laugh about it Gary said to me about the incident ‘sorry, I had nowhere to go’, try ‘New Zealand’ or 'Austrailia' Mr McCoy, I’ve heard it’s nice there this time of the year!

Jed Treleaven, Tim Williams and Arthur Johnson had all kipped out the night before in a tent at the venue and had walked the track the previous day and told us all about it, wet, muddy and slimy I think was their words, to be honest I think every bugger was expecting that due to the weather.

Onto the start then and it was straight off up the field for a few hundred yards and after a right hander and then a left, it was into the woods. No holeshot for me this time as I was in a about 5-6th place as we entered the trees but soon got up to 2nd within the 1st minute, so well placed at the moment for a decent opening lap.
The woods were covered in mud, simple as that which made things very tricky and tough on the old body as you continually had to battle with the bike to get any control. There were a couple of steep drop downs, some really slimy hills (which they later cut out), a lovely bit of a rocky downhill stream that we rode down, and of course the roots were out in abundance as well. To top it off the grassy fields that connected each bit of woodland together were mostly off camber and in places was like riding on ice as going into the corners you virtually had to ’tip toe’ it round to avoid coming off.
I knew that today would definitely be a test of fitness for everyone, but with a lot of riding under my belt (especially last weeks event) I was confident that I wouldn’t get too tired and so it proved. I reckon on the laps being about 6-7 miles long.

After the 1st lap I was leading and things were going well as no one had overtaken me in my class, when about an hour into the race and when trying to overtake a back marker and squeezed for room, I came off on the edge of a bank, slipped down it a bit and was pinned under the bike. After about a minute of struggling I wriggled free and just as I got up a rider (think it was no 45) stopped to give us a hand and to get the bike up the bank, I must have lost a good 3-4 minutes before I managed to get going again and with me not knowing how far I was leading by, I didn’t know if anyone In the clubman E1 class had got in front of me.

Apart from that little excursion off the course, things went really well for me and I was going well, I decided to pit earlier than usual for fuel because of the amount of revving the little ’gasser’ was doing to get through the mud and I didn’t want to run out of the bloody stuff again like I have done in the past! I also had a change of goggles and gloves and back out I went.
I knew I was doing well as I started to lap riders in the same class as me so I was really confident that I was still up there at the sharp end of things, and as the race went on riders really started to struggle in the tough conditions and were stopping and getting stuck all over the place. I remember passing Francis Banfield when he was taken a rest on the top of a climb and he looked completely ‘spent’, absolutely knackered!

On my last lap I managed to get stuck on a grassy climb and had to go back down and have a 2nd go at it, It was at this moment that the ‘gasser’ decided to let go of it’s coolant and boil over, steam was coming out from everywhere and for the last half lap I coaxed her home with an empty rad and luckily she held on for me.
So plastered with mud and wet through it was off back to van to get changed. Gary McCoy came over for a quick chat with me and Adam before we headed back home.
By the way, thanks to Gary for not running over my bike this time when he lapped me!

So a cracking result today and my first win in the clubman class. Well pleased with that.

Finishing position: 1/18 (clubman E1)

Knighton BEC rnd 2- 11/12th July 2009

Here's the times for the checks from the weekend and also the milage. The other pic is my bike all packed up and ready to go home for a deep clean and brush up before the next event!

Friday
The van was packed and I was ready to ‘rock ‘n’ roll’ as they say in my business, I’d ‘googled’ the journey, 4hrs and 20 mins it said, no bloody chance as I arrived nearly 6hrs later! The traffic coming up was horrendous and at one point on the A30 just after I started out, it took me 30 mins to do 4 miles due to all the holiday makers going back home! More hold ups on the M5 followed and I was starting to panic as to weather I was going to actually make the end of signing on which closed at 6pm. After crossing the severn bridge (£10.90 to get into Wales, what the f*ck is that all about then) the traffic eased and I was a lot happier. I finally arrived at Knighton with 45 mins to spare and done all the necessary.
Picking up my timecard and having a look at the time checks for tomorrow it looks as though us clubman (well saying that, half the clubman field at the BEC ride at expert level when they’re back home) are to do 2 laps of 55 miles with over 6 hrs of riding with 4 special tests thrown in, long day tomorrow then!

Most of the competitors along with me who aren’t in B&B are parked up in an industrial estate, and the camper vans, transits, motor homes, canopy’s and awnings litter the car park, it’s a great atmosphere and anybody’s willing to have a chat if you want to strike up conversation or two.
A bit later on I toddled off into town and picked up a Chinese take away, not the best I’ve had, but when you’re a bit ‘Hank Marvin’(sorry that means starving) I bloody would have eaten a plate of fried slugs if you’d given them to me, I was that hungry!
So all fed and watered I went off to kip and looking forward to tomorrow hoping that everything goes to plan.

Saturday
I woke up early about 6.30am, so I got plenty of time to get myself ready and psyche myself up for the days proceedings. After putting out a message on the Adrenaline trip forum the previous week for some help with getting my fuel out to the service areas, I met up with Dan Lawry from Kingston & DMCC who’d kindly offered me some help as his dad Pete and mate Rob were doing the re-fueling on 2 out of the 3 service stops which were way out miles into the forest. I had a quick chat, handed over my fuel and went back to get changed.

So at precisely 10.11am and with the weather overcast and a forecast of rain to come, I kicked the little ’gasser’ into life and I was off and running for the knighton enduro. There is no way I can describe 55 miles of any course, too much to remember, but you’ll get the general idea of it as we go along.
After a few hundred yards of field it was out onto the road and along some country lanes for a few miles before traveling up some green lanes and into some fields, before coming out again onto the road for another short blast and then turning into yet more fields where I arrived at the 1st special test.

Not much to say about the special test, really disappointing as all it was were 2 or 3 big fields that were slippery as hell and more suited to grass tracking than enduro bikes. Ok they might have been on a slope, but that was it! I did ok, didn’t make any mistakes and for me it took about 6 mins.
After this it was back out onto the road for a short while before the real stuff began!

Here we go then as I entered the forest, this is what I’d come for to get some decent riding time on a tough course, and boy I was not disappointed.
Immediately I was faced with a long slippery rutted section with roots and mud which meandered through the woods up and down with some tight sections to ride through as well before arriving at the 1st time check where I was met buy Pete to stick some fuel in. I was up on time by about 5 mins so took a quick breather before heading out again to check no 2. So the 1st check was quite slack and with the 40 mins they give you to do it in, it was probably because they didn’t want anybody going berserk on the road in order to keep to time.

Now the fun really begun as we were in the forest proper and we had about 50 mins to complete the next check. Roots, roots, and more roots, tree stumps, logs, broken trees, sloppy mud, more sloppy mud, ruts that were either knee deep with mud or half way up your back wheel with water, in fact some of the ruts seem to go on forever. The hills going up were either slippery with mud and stones or just one long rut! The downhills weren’t any better and on some occasions I had to put my nuts on the tank and paddle down them because they were so steep and treacherous. It was never ending, and even when you got onto a fire road which were about 2 miles long, you couldn’t rest as you were going nearly flat out to try and keep on time! Scary stuff that! I couldn’t believe the length of some of the slippery, mud covered stoney hills as you just kept going up and up and up climbing through the forest and I was pinning the little gasser all the way in order to make it to the top.

This place is vast, I’ve never seen a wood so bloody big with such a demanding course, but hey, this is the British champs so it ain’t going to be no picnic is it?
One section in particular consisted of what seemed like ten thousand logs, branches and sticks just laying there on the floor, you couldn’t even see the gaps between them, there were so many, it was like a carpet! This went on for about a mile or so, very tricky when wet!

I made it to the 2nd check with a minute to spare, so still on time but now it was on to the massive 55 min 3rd check and the longest stage of all.
It had now started to p*ss down with rain, so that could only mean one thing, things would get more difficult from now on and that’s how it turned out to be. Even when I was pinning it along the fire roads up to 70mph (110 kmh it said on the speedo) at times I just couldn’t see through my goggles as the rain was that heavy and it felt like my cheeks were being stabbed with pins as it drove into my face. The woods had became so cut up that anything and everything just seemed like ’one hell of a job’ to get through.
I arrived at the 3rd check 6 mins down. Rob was there to re-fuel me and off I went again.

A few more miles past before I arrived at the 2nd special test, and guess what? More grass fields except this time there was more of them! I stalled it twice and came off twice as well on the icy like slippery grass, so not a good test for me that one.
Onto the 4th check I went then and kept on time (still 6 mins down) and made the 5th check on time as well, so after my 1st lap I’d only lost 6 mins and I was well chuffed with that but I knew I had to do it all again and this time it would be a lot worse due to the rain that had fallen.

Onto my 2nd lap then and things became extremely difficult from here on in, at times it felt like torture as every bit of track in the woods was an effort to ride as the forest just became like an ice rink in places and the ruts had now filled with water and the roots had become exposed. I’ve never done so much ’paddling’ at such event, I should have bought my canoe! I mean I consider myself to be quite fit for my age but by after about 4 hours of relentless tiring riding, I was starting to struggle and I couldn’t wait for the next check to arrive.
I started getting cross rutted, getting stuck on a few roots and hills and having silly little offs and every time I picked the bike up it just seemed to get heavier.
I did 2 more special tests and they went ok for me without any mishaps, but when you’re dog tired it’s not that easy to go like a madman and keep concentration, those champ boys are on a different planet as they had to ride 3 laps of this course today and 6 tests.
I did the Greymare event back in January and that was tough, but if you times that by 10, that’s what you got today.

After finishing my 2nd lap and then going back on the road for about 5-6 miles or so back into Knighton and up to the last time check and with over 6 hours riding under my belt, I finally finished 21 mins down. So the last lap was really tough and I’d lost 15 mins on that one. A tad disappointing but it was hard and the event had claimed quite a few riders with DNF’s, so I was relieved in a way that I’d made it to the end. Bloody hell did I ache or what and I still got tomorrow to go yet.

Looking around the paddock everyone’s face said it all, Knackered!!! My bike was absolutely lagged, I mean lagged, strands of grass, sloppy mud, sticky peat, stones, bits of sticks, nothing that hasn’t happened before, but this was different as you just couldn’t take it home and pressure wash it, not a chance, so you had to try and clean it by hand, check things over and get it ready for the next day. That’s a shit job to do when your ‘cream crackered’, wet through with sweat and hungry!

At about 5pm and after a short rest and just as I started to clean the bike the heavens opened, b*llocks to that I thought, so I shoved it in the van hoping It wouldn’t rain in the morning and I could do it then.
A bit later on and after sorting out my right leg which nearly killed me when my thigh muscle went into a spasm which meant I couldn’t move for about 15 mins, I went and got some fish and chips, guzzled down 2 litres of energy drink and hit the sack. Roll on Sunday!

Sunday
Last night it rained for about 7-8 hours solid, God knows what state the course was going to be in today then! After chatting to a few riders down at where our time checks were posted up, rumor had it that some of the course had been cut out today due to the conditions, so things could be a bit easier today then, we’ll see? Mind you we only had to do 1 lap of 55 miles today, so in effect it would just be like doing a normal race, albeit a hard one.
I did manage to get quite a bit of crap off the bike this morning as I’d been up since 6.30am and everything seemed to be in order so no worries there.

Now then, what happened next was bloody well ‘sods law’. Just after 9am and with an hour to go before my start time I went to get some breakfast from the catering van but they were bloody well shut! Do they have different opening times in Wales or what then? With not enough time to make the trip into town I had to go without and make do with a few chocolate bars and energy gel bars, not good if you’re gonna ride half way round the county of Powys on a tough enduro course.

After getting changed into fresh riding gear, I headed for the start and waited for the clock to tick over to 10.11am so I could be on my way. I fired her up and off I went across the field and out onto the road, the country lanes and then the green lanes before arriving at the 1st special test. With the overnight rain that we’d had, the grassy fields that held the test had just become twice as worst as yesterday and I had a job to get going properly as I concentrated on just staying upright and not making any mistakes, it was like riding on glass in places, very tricky. Finished ok, no mistakes, so now it was back onto the road for a short while before turning up into a field and entering the woods.

The first part of the course was much the same as yesterday, but as I entered the woods for the 1st time I came to an abrupt halt as a thick branch had shot straight through my back wheel and had managed to spline itself through my spokes stopping me dead. Try as I might I couldn’t pull the bloody thing out and I thought I’d be there for days when suddenly out of nowhere came some spectators who helped me jack the wheel up and pull out the offending bit of wood.
I carried on and made it to my 1st check with about 5 mins to spare where I was met by Pete who put some fuel in for us.
I knew from yesterday that from here on in it was going to get hard, but how hard was the question? especially if the organizers had managed to cut out parts of the course and put in new routes, and with today’s checks being just 2 mins slower than yesterdays, a lot of riders would have a job staying clean on time.

A lot of the course that we rode today that we’d ridden yesterday was twice as worse, the ruts were muddier, the ruts filled with water had became deeper and the roots had become exposed so much that some of them just seem to be sticking up in the air like a sore thumb. But, and this is a big but, quite a bit of the track in the forest had been cut and more fire roads put in place instead which obviously made the time between checks quicker, And this made one hell of a difference today and I stayed on time throughout and never lost a minute. Don’t get me wrong, it was still tough today and I still had a few little ’offs’ and got stuck a couple of times on tree roots, but after Saturday, today just seemed like a hard 3hr race and not an extreme one and we only had to do 1 lap today which made a hell of difference too.

At the 3rd check Rob put some fuel in for me and then it was off to do another special test which again was as slippery as hell on the grass covered fields. I think in some ways I took it far too easy as I had one eye on just trying not to make any mistakes which could cost me a finish, So I wasn’t particularly fast.
Onto check 4 and I arrived still up on time, so I was pleased with that and now all I had to do was hold it together on one more special test (there were 3 today), do about another 10 miles, and I’d be home and dry. Again thinking about finishing and not having to risk anything, I did the ‘special’ ok, stayed upright and didn’t make any mistakes.

Now it was back onto the country lanes, minor roads and then the main road which led back into the town of Knighton to check no 5 and the finish area.
A great feeling as I crossed the line and well pleased that I’d done my first 2 day BEC.
A big thanks to Dan Lawry from Kingston DMCC for getting in touch, and his dad Pete and mate Rob who were there for me in the ’middle of nowhere’ deep in the forest to help me with the re-fueling.
Thanks also to Thor motorcycles who supplied me with a full spares kit and plastics.

What an event that was and a great experience and I’m really glad I made the trip.
To top it off the little ’gasser’ never missed a beat all weekend and she ran brilliantly.
Didn’t disgrace myself on the Saturday results but no so good on the Sunday seeing as less started, but overall pleased to finish.

Saturday Finishing position: 12/17 (clubman E1) 28/55 (clubman)
Sunday Finishing position: 12/14 (clubman E1) 30/39 (clubman)

Best wishes

Go out to Mark Tucker (secretary Exmoor enduro club) who unfortunately suffered a clean break of his left arm at last weeks AMCA enduro event at Hereford. Mark had to stay in hospital for a couple of days and had to have an operation (a 5hr one at that!) which involved having metal plates and screws being put in to repair it.
This believe it or not happened at slow speed as he was overtaking a back marker and just clipped a tree on the way past and a branch that was sticking out punctured his arm snapping the bone.
Having spoken to mark he tells me that the specialist has told him that due to the nature of the injury that he won't be able to ride for rest of the year due to the possible repercussions.
Hopefully we'll be able to see him at future events as his son Richard rides so i expect 'dad' will be there supporting him.

All the best Mark and good luck.

Practice- 1st July 2009

It was off up to the track tonight to meet up with Nick, steve and Adam for a bit of a blast in the glorious sunshine. Bloody hell was it hot or what? I was sweating buckets and that was just getting changed into my gear!!
I had a go on Steve Jose's brand new KTM exc 250, but i just can't get away from the fact that i love 125's and i know where i am with them, so it didn't do it for me even though it was a brand spanking new machine out of the crate! Maybe one day i might go for a bigger bike, but i think thats a while away yet.
It was nice to have a few of us down there tonight so really enjoyed it.

Plans for july:
11th Knighton enduro (BEC rnd 2)
12th Knighton enduro (BEC rnd 2)
19th Exmoor mcc
26th Midwest