Dunmere enduro- 17th October 2010

A nice local event just 10 minutes up the road and an ideal situation to test the elbow out on a decent course in a timecard enduro. I knew quite a lot of the woods as I regularly run and walk my dog round the place, and on the Friday before the race I ran around about 7 to 8 miles of the track just get a feel of it! I also went back on the Saturday morning to help the working party get the course ready.

It was a funny old feeling as I packed my stuff in the van on Sunday morning to head off up the road as it’s been 11 months since I last rode competitively, so I had to check everything 4 times to make sure I hadn’t forgot anything! The bike was ready to go with lots of new parts replaced on it and I couldn’t wait to fire her up and let her see a bit of the forest!

A clear sky but slightly chilly start to the morning was had as I got parked up in front of Andy Smith (who happened to be full of germs and was under the weather) just about 50 yds or so from the pit/signing on area. I saved a space behind the van for Batman and Robin (A Blake and S Jose) to pull into and waited for them to arrive, and waited, and waited, and waited, only to find out that the clowns had already arrived and had parked the other side of the pit area to where I was! err………could have flamin well told me, still it wasn’t wasted as Mark and Rich Tucker pulled up into it.

With this being the last round of the South West champs it was good entry of local riders and nice to have many of them wishing me all the best as I milling about round the pit area waiting for the start. At 10am the first group of riders were away, I was off at 10.21 and about 10 mins beforehand when I went to get my bike I couldn’t bloody find it, it was gone, much to the amusement of Rod Mclean who’d bloody well hidden it the git! Had a good laugh over that with a few others who were also ‘in’ on the prank. I knew a couple of the riders who were on the same minute as me, Colin George and Nick Moore, so that was handy because if we got to the time check early we could have a bit of a natter!

My aim today was to get round in one piece, try to stay on time and nurse that elbow until the end in order to get a finish, I’d be happy with that.
So when the clocked ticked over to 10.21 I fired the little strimmer into life and off I went, well, all about 10 yds before she died on me! My fault as I didn’t let her warm up properly, too eager to get going, no worries though as she started again and I let the bike warm up this time before I moved on. The lap had 2 time checks on it, one just over ½ way round and the other at the end, with the special test being right at the end of the lap incorporated within the 11-12 mile course. I was scheduled to do 5 laps with 3 special tests.

What a superb course this was, and in my opinion the best Dunmere yet! The woods had something for everyone with some decent climbs and downhills, roots galore, tight nadgery trails, a small bog section, and some fire roads where you could open the bike up a bit and not a single flat field in sight. The special test was awesome and well thought out with a bit of tight stuff (including a log crossing) coupled with some very fast trials through the trees before ending with a few twists and turns at the end. The test itself was about 3 miles long.

My first lap went ok and made both checks in time, so far so good and it didn’t take me that long to get back into the swing of things albeit a little bit rusty.
Lap 2 and gaining confidence the more I got into it and with the elbow feeling ok, I had a stupid little off after overshooting a turn, when I got back up I realized that I’d just broke my new plastics and bent my new radiator, oh b*llocks! I made it back on both checks in time at the end of the lap so I was still going ok. Whilst in the pits I saw Adam (Blake) who’d DNF’d early on due to a broken rear brake caliper.
Laps 3 & 4 went well and I made it through all the checks on time and with the elbow feeling ok, I was confident that I’d be finishing my first race in 11 months.

With the last and final lap ahead, I knew I had to push a little bit in order to keep to time as we were given 8 minutes less to get to the 1st check. I did get a bit ‘raggerty’ due to not having been on the bike too much, but I made it with a couple mins to spare and then went on to complete the lap with no time penaltys.
A big relief and pleased as punched I’d finished without dropping any time.

As for the 3 special tests? Well I had complete nightmare on the 1st one! I dropped it after over shooting a corner when the front wheel washed out. Then a bit further on I got stuck behind a rider who’d got stuck on the log crossing so I had to wait for him to clear it. The 2nd test went ok, then on the 3rd one I got stuck behind a rider who wouldn’t move over to side and let me through! Bit of a shame that because I felt this was the fastest one at the time. He moved out of the way in the end after I’d shouted for the 5th time, maybe it was just a macho thing and he wanted to race me, there was plenty of chances for him to pull over but he didn’t bother, why I don’t know? Maybe he didn’t like the thought of a little screaming 125 overtaking him? Perhaps this guy wasn’t at the riders meeting when clerk of the course Mike Roose said ‘ if a rider catches you up on the test it obviously means they’re faster than you, so please don’t hold them up, move over and let them pass’. Never mind, perhaps he didn’t have his hearing aid in.

Overall an excellent day for me and it was great to ride at an event again. I enjoyed the course and although my pace isn’t what I want it to be (although that’s to be expected) I was over the moon to get round and finish, and I’m bloody well delighted.
Where does it leave me now? Well my arm does hurt from it afterwards, and I’ll give it some more rest before I decide to enter another event. If things go ok I’ll probably be looking at a race next month, don’t want to do too much to soon. In the meantime I’ll still be out and about watching some races.

Finishing position: 4/15 (o 40’s)