Storridge woods- 31st May 2010

Traveled up to watch this one with ‘mad’ Jack Twentyman and his boy Paddy. Nice weather and a lovely warm day greeted us as we arrived at the Devon track, and got parked up right next to Phil Harris’s super duper motor home. Not only that, but also the other lads that had traveled up as well were parked the other side of it, so we had a good little crowd of us, Andy Smith, Steve Jose, Adam Blake, Phil, ’mad’ Jack, yours truly, and also Rob Ellick, Paul Ford, and Rich Batstone. DRAGONS DEN, now that’s what Rich Batstone is gonna be on this year! Why? I’ll tell you why, after breaking his nozzle of his fast fill fuel can, he invented a system which works just as well and looks a million dollars ( I don’t think) from a washing machine hose! Rich reckons it’s going to catch on, so if you see someone in the car park selling washing machine hoses at your next local enduro event, it’ll be him and not a sales rep from Zanussi or Hotpoint.

Next it was off to have a little peak down at the start line and to get a riders list from Debbie Tucker who was signing everybody on. Hubby Mark was also there and looking like a farmer on his big 4x4 quad whilst having a bit of a break from his duties of clerk of the course. Also bumped into the Hull’s who were out in force, dad Kev doing the pit duties with his 2 sons James and Dan who were both riding today. Gary ‘nothing gets in my way’ Mcoy was also in attendence and probably reminiscing about last years event when the b*stard run over my bike and put a bloody hole through my fuel tank! Well he wasn’t going to do it this year was he? Cause I ain’t riding today, no wonder he looked disappointed when I spoke to him!

So after everybody had got changed it was off down to the start, and once all the riders had got away I took a hike with Paddy and walked to one of the expert routes and waited for the leaders to come through, nice one it was too, a steep loose rutted stoney climb, bound to get a few in trouble I thought, and it bloody well did!

Phil Harris came a cropper on it and slid back down to the bottom and had to make a 2nd attempt to get up it, and Richard Batstone slid off line and got pinned against a tree, I had to come to the rescue and help him get back upright and get back down to the bottom so he could have another go, no probs 2nd time for him. I helped a few riders who’d got stuck on the hill for a couple of laps and then made my way back up to the pit area.

You could tell who was leading the race by this time, simply because you could hear his exhaust 3 miles away! It was none other than Rich Tucker who’d managed to put a hole in it, down on power I expect, but he was still pulling away from the field. Whilst looking at the riders who I knew come by, I suddenly thought, where’s Jack? 30 mins later and still no Jack. Whoops! me thinks something’s happened to him, and sure enough it had as finally he turned up back at the pits with brake problems and decided to pull out. The things was is that he said he was going home there and then, so I had no bloody lift back home! Come in my saviour, Phil Harris, I quickly asked him weather he could give us a lift back when he done his pit stop, good lad he said no probs, that meant I could stay and help a few lads in the pits for their pit stop.

From here on in I pretty much stayed around the lap scoring / pit area having a chat to Kev Hull, good it was too, as yards from the end of the lap the riders came up a hill and up a nice little jump. Full marks must go to Gavin Hunt for one legged showboating when getting some nice air and for Rich Tucker who simply got some of the biggest air time of all the riders on every lap. Must say that old stalwart Arthur Johnson on his Gasser 300 must have been one of the fastest up that straight which led back into the woods immediately after going through the transponders, he was flying on it, no doubt due to the fact that I was ‘egging’ him on and gesturing to him to ‘give it loads’!

At the end of it all I actually got on a bike and rode!!!!!!! Andy Smith gave us his 250 4 banger to take back, Ok, it was only a trip up the lane and back to the vans but it was nice to get on a bike again, even though it still hurt my flamin elbow!
So back at the vans the usual banter and hard luck stories flew around before going back down to check the days results (nice one Exmoor for getting them out so quick) before it was off back home with Phil and Andy. Big thanks to them to go out of their way and for dropping me off at Jacks place at such short notice.
A good day out today, good organization and a cracking course to go with it.

Injury update- 23rd may 2010

Injury update
Is that a picture of some apparatus from the medieval times for the purpose of being used in the sadistic and ugly cruel world of torture? Course not, it’s what I have to use daily on my bloody arm to try and strengthen it and to eliminate ’Lateral Epicondylitis’ (that’s tennis elbow by the way). A 5lb club hammer attached to a nylon cord threaded through a broom handle, another hammer on it’s own, and an ironing board (not in the pic!) As well as a towel and some ice. It all seems a bit crazy doesn’t it? But they all serve their purpose and hopefully they’ll work for me. The arm is of course still giving me trouble, So I’m afraid it’s more long term than first thought, and after scouring the net for hours and hours and reading up on different forums about it, it’s one of those things that is difficult to treat if you’re doing a really physical sport. Needless to say that holding on to a motorbike and twisting a throttle on rough ground for over 3 hours with just a 30 second break in between on most Sundays is not quite the same as playing table tennis is it? Overall though it’s a lot better than it was but still quite a way off being ready to race.

It never rains but pours?
Yes believe it or not the last few months have been a total bleeding nightmare as regarding trying to get my fitness back on track. I tore my calf muscle whilst out running, so that put me back for about 4-6 weeks and then when that got better I decided it would be a good idea to go and tear the tendons just below the patella! (knee cap) Now that one really hurt, it was like being stabbed in the bloody knee with a hot piece of glass. I’m now back doing some light running so hopefully I can get some fitness built up ready for my return to racing!!!!!! (whenever that may be)

Plans?
If there’s one race I’d love to do again this year, it’s the dawn to dusk in August, but I know it would be pure insanity to go out and race 12 hours without even getting on a bike and doing some sort of practicing before hand. So, if I’m not racing by the end of July then it’s going to be a no no on that one. Weston beach race is another possibility later on in the year, just have to see how it goes.

Thanks to everyone who’s logged on to view my antics lately, see you all at the races!

Colwith two way- 8th May 2010

So it was off to watch another local event just a few miles up the road. Got picked up by Steve Jose and arrived at Colwith a few minutes later to see basically everybody that was at husytns a few weeks earlier! Adam Blake couldn’t ride to due his bike being totally wrote off at the front end after a tasty ‘off’ straight into a tree at speed the week before, so naturally what do you do when something like that happens? Of course you bring along your very own personalized trophy of a bit of the bike that people react to in the way of ‘f*ck me, how did you do that’? And sure enough everyone did when they saw the state of the exhaust that had come off the bike, TOTALLY FLATTENED! Luckily ‘Blakey’ was none the worse for wear, how he escaped that one god only knows.

A nice little crowd had gathered for a bit of banter beforehand, me, Steve, Adam, Rich and Steve Jay, Francis Banfield, Trevor vercoe, and a few others guys who names I never caught. Whilst ‘milling’ about I caught up with Colin George, Jed Treleaven (who was giving his new Gas Gas 250 it’s first outing), Arthur ‘evergreen’ Johnson, Hannes Tanzer, Jon hinkley, Andy Cundy and Mike Roose who was taking his old RM out for a spin today, which I think he should do more often!!!

A bit of dull greyish looking day with the threat of rain in the air, but not too chilly, so ideal conditions really. The Colwith two way is a bit different from the norm as you have two 1 hour races with observation sections thrown in (similar to a trials type course), and each competitor is given a certain number of laps to do within their allotted time without penalty marks being had in the trials sections. Then after race one, with a bit of a break in between, you do the course in reverse, simple!

So just before the start it was off for a trundle around the fields and the track to find a decent spot watch the riders come through. Me and Adam found a cracking steep little ditch filled with mud and ruts which had a few getting stuck. When we first arrived we had to pull out a bloody Honda XR 600 to be precise, how heavy was that? I’m telling you it seemed to weigh like a tank!
A few more bikes later and I happened to get splattered full frontal in mud (much to the amusent of everybody watching) as I stood directly in the firing line of a bike’s back wheel as it spun round like a out of control washing machine on full spin trying to free itself out of the mud, typical!!!

After the first race was over it was back off to where everyone was parked up to have a chat about how they got on and to wait for next race to start, but rumor had it that the course marshals had cut that ditch out, bloody spoilsports if you ask me! So it was off to find another tricky little part of the course that we could he a good look at and see some action. Sure enough we did, and with Francis Banfield in tow this time, it wasn’t long before we were helping riders to get up a steep little rooty climb. Nice to see Mike Roose enjoying himself going round and he didn’t have any problem with that bit of the track where we were stood at all, younger riders take note! Some guys chain came off and wrapped itself around the front sprocket 3 or 4 times, and try as we all did for about 15 mins to free it, it was hopeless and the poor guy had a long push back to the pits.

After the 2nd race had finished a little twist ensued when riders had the chance to compete in mini extreme slalom race which included a skip, tyres, and some logs, while going head to head with each other until it a winner was found. Good fun was had by both riders and spectators in this, and it was a nice little fun way to close the proceedings.

A good day out and it was made even better when I found out that my team Leeds United had finally got promoted back into the championship!