Well I suppose it was safe to say that with Hustyns being just 10 mins away from me, I was gutted not being able to ride. I know the woods well as I’ve run, cycled and walked the ‘mut’ round them plenty of times, and with the track being so dry due to the recent warm spell of weather, it looked set to be a corking day. On top of that, it’s a brilliant course and right up my street, never mind, always next year!
I arrived early and unbelievably for a Hustyns event, the sun was shining! It was lovely weather and just like a summers day, so it was definitely going to be on the fast side today. As everyone started to arrive it seemed to be like a ‘who’s who’ of the south west enduro world! Every bugger I practically knew was there so needless to say I wouldn’t be short of a conversation for next few hours before racing started!
A few of us gathered round for the usual bit of good humored chat and piss taking, me, Steve ‘at last I’ve won a race’ Jose, Adam Blake, Phil ‘loved up’ Harris, and Andy Smith. That was the main core but as other riders passed by, one by one they joined in the camaraderie, Richard and Steve Jay, Francis Banfield, ‘mad’ Jack, John Hinkley, clerk of the course Mike Roose, Jed Treleaven, Mark and Rich Tucker, Arthur Johnson, in fact so many I just can’t remember them all. One certain chap did stick in my mind though that didn’t escape the clutches of our crew, Christian Soanes, as everyone was having a good old munch on all of their different forms of homemade pre race pasta, Christian came along and decided to join in and scoff his as well. My god, what the bloody hell was that he was eating? It looked like mashed up cold corrugated cardboard (see pic), and smelt like road kill, yuk! Mind you his girlfriend wasn’t best pleased when she came over and asked what all the fuss was about, coz she’s the one who made it for him the night before!!!
After a bit more of the old tongue wagging chit chat to a few more riders that I knew in the pit area, I waited around the start area with Mark (Tucker) to watch everyone go off. After the 1st lap I took a 15 min walk to the special test to take a few snaps and to watch all the action and to give a bit of encouragement to a few riders (well actually to tell them to get their arse in gear and go a bit faster!) Must say that I was most impressed with a certain Mr Dustow showing how a 125 should be rode on a test, simply awesome.
After a few laps of everyone doing the test, it was back off to the pits to see what going on with everybody for the last few laps of the event. With the course being so fast today most riders ‘cleaned it’ on time so it gave them a bit of time to re-fuel, take on some water and get caught by me for a quick chat, so basically I had about 40 different views on how things were going! Everyone I spoke too was enjoying it which of course nearly had me running away from it all and sobbing amongst the forestry commission undergrowth due to not riding because of my bloody elbow!
As the riders finished one by one in the glorious sunshine I managed to grab Ollie Hicks who’s got a Husqvarna 125 so I could take a closer look at it. Spent a bit of time going over it and asking a few questions, looks a nice piece of kit, food for thought that one? I also managed to catch up with Colin Treleaven the boss of Thor motorcycles who was stood right next to the burger van (surprise surprise) to talk about, erm……….Gassers, and also to ask him if his business is going under because I ain’t been down there for 6 months spending all my money in his shop!
So with everyone back safe and sound and with no rush to get home, yet more banter and general good natured ‘moronic’ chat was had by all the lads back at the van. Even though I wasn’t riding, today was a top day, fantastic weather, good course, good organization, and the whole thing just had a really good ‘buzz’ about it, Top notch!
I arrived early and unbelievably for a Hustyns event, the sun was shining! It was lovely weather and just like a summers day, so it was definitely going to be on the fast side today. As everyone started to arrive it seemed to be like a ‘who’s who’ of the south west enduro world! Every bugger I practically knew was there so needless to say I wouldn’t be short of a conversation for next few hours before racing started!
A few of us gathered round for the usual bit of good humored chat and piss taking, me, Steve ‘at last I’ve won a race’ Jose, Adam Blake, Phil ‘loved up’ Harris, and Andy Smith. That was the main core but as other riders passed by, one by one they joined in the camaraderie, Richard and Steve Jay, Francis Banfield, ‘mad’ Jack, John Hinkley, clerk of the course Mike Roose, Jed Treleaven, Mark and Rich Tucker, Arthur Johnson, in fact so many I just can’t remember them all. One certain chap did stick in my mind though that didn’t escape the clutches of our crew, Christian Soanes, as everyone was having a good old munch on all of their different forms of homemade pre race pasta, Christian came along and decided to join in and scoff his as well. My god, what the bloody hell was that he was eating? It looked like mashed up cold corrugated cardboard (see pic), and smelt like road kill, yuk! Mind you his girlfriend wasn’t best pleased when she came over and asked what all the fuss was about, coz she’s the one who made it for him the night before!!!
After a bit more of the old tongue wagging chit chat to a few more riders that I knew in the pit area, I waited around the start area with Mark (Tucker) to watch everyone go off. After the 1st lap I took a 15 min walk to the special test to take a few snaps and to watch all the action and to give a bit of encouragement to a few riders (well actually to tell them to get their arse in gear and go a bit faster!) Must say that I was most impressed with a certain Mr Dustow showing how a 125 should be rode on a test, simply awesome.
After a few laps of everyone doing the test, it was back off to the pits to see what going on with everybody for the last few laps of the event. With the course being so fast today most riders ‘cleaned it’ on time so it gave them a bit of time to re-fuel, take on some water and get caught by me for a quick chat, so basically I had about 40 different views on how things were going! Everyone I spoke too was enjoying it which of course nearly had me running away from it all and sobbing amongst the forestry commission undergrowth due to not riding because of my bloody elbow!
As the riders finished one by one in the glorious sunshine I managed to grab Ollie Hicks who’s got a Husqvarna 125 so I could take a closer look at it. Spent a bit of time going over it and asking a few questions, looks a nice piece of kit, food for thought that one? I also managed to catch up with Colin Treleaven the boss of Thor motorcycles who was stood right next to the burger van (surprise surprise) to talk about, erm……….Gassers, and also to ask him if his business is going under because I ain’t been down there for 6 months spending all my money in his shop!
So with everyone back safe and sound and with no rush to get home, yet more banter and general good natured ‘moronic’ chat was had by all the lads back at the van. Even though I wasn’t riding, today was a top day, fantastic weather, good course, good organization, and the whole thing just had a really good ‘buzz’ about it, Top notch!
