Practice- 31st January 2010

(pic Steve Jose)


Oh dear, woke up to a blanket of snow everywhere as far as the eye can see!
Not a good day then to ride your bike? Determine not to be outdone, i quickly phoned up the MX track to see if i could be accommodated. Alan (the owner) must have thought i was mad when i said i'll come out to his place and give it a go, but thats exactly what i did.

Getting there was tricky as the country lanes that i drove along were like something that Torvill and Dean would have been at home with. Steve Jose was following me in his wagon, and he even questioned my sanity, as we both made our way very 'gingerly' down the back roads and up to the gates of the track.

Now then, this is where the fun began.When we arrived neither of us could get our vans up the slope, through the gates and into the field to get parked, it was just too slippery, solid ice, so i had a brainwave! I told Steve to break out the shovels from his van so we could dig the snow out of the way just wide enough for our wheels to go in, and maybe we might be able to get some sort of grip and 'Bobs your uncle'.

So after 10 mins of digging (me mostly i might add) and then quite a lot of tyre smoking and wheel spinning lunacy from both our vans, we finally made it, result!

So after having a look at the snow covered partly frozen deeply rutted track,it was off to get changed and fire up the bikes. I'm telling you what, i went off like i'd only just rode the bike yesterday, and went really well, which more than i can say for Steve! This is gonna be the only time i'll probably say this, 'but i whipped his arse good and proper today'.


With the track getting softer as it began to thaw, he was struggling to find any kind of grip with the trials tyre on the back, but i was flying due to having a brand new Metzeler six days on the rear. I overtook him and left him for dead just about everywhere, and it's the 1st time iv'e seen Steve getting stuck revving the nuts off his 250 going nowhere on a hill. It got to the stage where i was even giving him a head start, and within a minute i'd be saying 'bye bye see you later', 'Do you want me to call you a taxi'?


It wasn't all fun and games though, the track after being used so much was deeply rutted and fairly hard going, and with the bike skipping about all over the place you had to hold on a bit, which in turn took it's toll on my arm. After about an hour and halfs riding (with a few coffee breaks thrown inbetween) i decided to call it a day and not to push it too much as my elbow had started to ache a bit.


So, had a great bit of fun today and it brilliant to get back on the bike good and proper, but the bottom line is, at the moment i'm just not ready to sustain any kind of riding for a prolonged period. Won't be rushing to fill any regs for events in just yet, just have to take it week by week really.

Plans for February:
At least i'm back doing some training now, i've started running again which for me is how i kept so fit last year, along with all the racing as well, certainly helps does that. I'll be out and about watching all the races this month and hopefully getting some time on the bike to see how things progress. Must admit to being a tad dissapointed as i'm gonna miss the start of a few championships that i'd hoped to compete in, might have to re think my plans a bit!

Back on the bike!- 30th January 2010

With the arm feeling a lot better after the cortisone injection 9 days ago, i decided to put the reg plate on and have a little ride around.
The bike hasn't been touched for over 2 months, but after the 3rd kick it was brring-a-ding-ding, and she fired up. I quickly set off and made my way out into the open road only to be hit full in the face 10 mins later with a bloody hail storm! There was no way it was going to stop, so i had no alternative than to cut my little excursion short and tip toe back home on a white slippery road at a snails pace. Bugger!

Tommorow is a big day as i'm going out down the MX track to try my elbow out and see how it reacts after (hopefully) a decent bit of riding. Maybe i'm pushing it a bit by going out so soon, i've still got some twinges in the arm where the tendons are, bit if i take it easy hopefully it'll be ok.
Roll on tommorow...............................................

Davidstow- 24th January 2010

So with this being the 1st round of the SW (south west) enduro championships, a decent sized field had entered in all classes as everyone was keen to put in a good first result.

So with me not riding at the moment and all chances of actually getting on my bike and doing a bit of marshaling at zero due to the recent treatment on the elbow, i managed to bump into every bugger i bloody well knew whilst walking about, and one by one i had a chat with what seemed like was half the flamin country!
I'm not even going to begin to name everyone i spoke too as quite simply i'd be up all night typing all the names out, so many of you, cheers everybody.

I knew that the course would be tough, and come the end of the race as riders were pulling out left, right and centre, and loads of them waiting for the flag at the end and giving up on doing another lap, i was absolutely gutted. I would have loved those conditions, never mind, i'm sure i'll get my fair share in the future.

I think the worse thing is, is watching everybody riding and knowing that you should be out there but you can't, but on the other hand it makes you want to get back on the bike so much that i think when that time comes, i might have to make a pig of myself and do more riding than i did last year!

Don't really know at the moment what my immediate plans are yet, to be honest i haven't even entered any races as i'm not sure how long i'm gonna be out for. As i write this now, i've not really tested my arm since the injection, in fact i'm wrapping the thing up in cotton wool at the moment and daren't do anything to it that could hinder the cortisone treatment. Hopefully might have some idea in a week or two. Watch this space!

Fingers crossed- 21st January 2010

Today i finally had a cortisone injection in the elbow, fingers crosssed it works! Can't do anything really for a least a few weeks with the arm so it looks like i'm just watching sundays race and not riding around on the bike doing a bit of marshaling as i'd hoped to do. 'No jarring the arm and no twisting throttles of any kind' so the doc said.
'Can i tell Marie that i can't do the washing up then for a few weeks' i said to him. He didn't awnser that, he just laughed.

working party- 17th January 2010

Bloody nora, never seen so many bodies on a working party before!
Fair play to everybody that turned up and help get the course ready for next week.
It was nice to catch up with everyone that i hadn't seen for a while due to the lull in the season at the moment, so had a good chat and a good laugh.
I'm gutted that i'm not riding next week, but hopefully i should be on the bike riding around doing some marshaling, which at the moment is probably about my limit!

A big round of applause must surely go to Steve Jose who turned up to help just as we'd all bloody well finished for the day and were going home!

Frozen out!- 10th January 2010

Was going to go out today and help get the track ready for the 1st race of the South West champs that'll be raced in a couple of weeks time, but with it being frozen today got cancelled. Hopefully should be better weather next week so we can get the course sorted out a bit.

I won't be competing because of my arm but might get on the bike and help out in the way of doing a bit of marshaling.
Talking about my arm, i can now sometimes (yes only sometimes) lift my kettle up to make a cup of tea without it killing me! Things could be looking up!

As for plans this year i haven't really made any yet because of the injury, but i did pencil in all of the BEC rounds, the SCEC championship, the SW champs and the SEEC championships. Not much then!
Have to see what happens in the near future, watch this space..............................................