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
