This is where I normally look back on what’s gone on in the year regarding my racing, but as you know it’s been almost a complete washout due to the injury. With the 2 races I did do towards the end of year, I was of course pleased to get back on the bike after being out for so long.
Without the racing I still kept myself busy going along to a lot of events and helping out a lot, not only in the pits with the refueling and taking the gear backwards and forwards, but also on the course helping stranded riders and of course putting out the ‘pit board’ to let the boys know what position their in etc etc. Must say I have had a good laugh doing that as when it gets towards the end of the race some of the messages I’ve written on the board has had everybody laughing! Even the riders who’ve read it! I do remember writing on the pit board at Nancemellon ‘’Twist the throttle more’’ and showing it to Francis Banfield as he went by only for him to shout ‘’F*ck off’’ and stick his 2 fingers up at me!! (all taken in good jest of course) I did the same thing at Woolborough Barton to Andy Smith, he laughed so much as he rode by that he nearly ended up planting himself head first into a tree!
There has been plenty of memories that stick in my mind this year, here’s a few:
Jack Twentyman getting out of the van and walking along a dual carriageway while we were stuck in a jam on the way to the Muntjac enduro in Suffolk. Jack thought he could get to the end of the queue of traffic and cadge a lift to the Muntjac and get there quicker by walking. 1 hour later when I finally got going driving Jack’s van, I got to the end of it all and saw Jack, he’d been trying to ‘thumb’ a lift with someone for the last hour and got nowhere! He wasn’t happy I can tell ya.
Adam Blake (who was driving) on the way to the Twin Oaks event, following an ambulance through all the traffic that pulled over to the side of the road to let it pass. This left some very irate drivers fuming as we passed them whilst tucking in right behind it with it’s blue lights flashing. One car driver in particular was ‘obsessed’ with getting us back and getting in front of us again which he did. Not to be outdone Adam then overtook him back! This just fuelled the fire that was raging inside this blokes car and he tried to get us back again for about the next 10 miles! ‘Blakey’ wasn’t having none of it and managed to hold him off until we both went our separate ways at a roundabout.
Christian Soanes at Hustyns eating a home cooked pre race pasta dish that resembled a bowl of ‘mashed up cold corrugated cardboard’, it looked and smelt so bad I took a picture of it and stuck it on the blog!
Jack Twentyman again, this time not content with walking the special test once at the Muntjac just before dusk, he went out and did it again in the dark and the pissing rain, he didn’t even have a torch with him!
After having a cortisone injection I decided to do a bit of marshaling at the ‘Brass monkeys’ enduro. After helping a beginner get back to the pits by following him to make sure he was alright because he was struggling a lot, about a mile from the end of the lap he came off right in front of me which in turn caused me to tear my tendon in my elbow again to stop myself hitting the deck. Nightmare!
A few Camel Vale members looking like death whilst doing the 24 hr race at the ’Dawn to Dusk’ in Wales. Arthur Johnson could hardly put his leg over the bike towards the end but still went on to complete it. I did here him mutter the words in true Steve Redgrave fashion ’’I never want to go near this place again’’, yeah is that right? We’ll see what happens next year Arthur!
The look on Steve Jose’s face when Steve Jay (who was in the same 2 man team) was miles behind and late getting back to the pits in order to make the ‘change over’. Not surprising really as Mr Jay had suffered a puncture in the front and the back tyre on the same 12 mile lap and literally had to crawl back to the pits. Inside Steve Jose’s helmet was a raging inferno as minute by minute went by with no sign of the other Steve, it got to the stage where I nearly called the fire brigade in readiness to help put out the volcano that was about to explode inside his helmet. He wasn’t happy!!
Dawn to Dusk again, Steve Jay, Richard Jay and Scott Johnson suffering an incredible 12 punctures between them, or was it 13? Amazing that was, just watching the guys coming back lap after lap with yet another flat.
The burger van at I think it was at the Idless woods race packing up and leaving just as the race had finished. Excuse me, hello, are you from this planet? There’s about a 100 hungry riders here that may just want something to eat.
‘Mad’ Jack again. Went up to an ORE event with Adam Blake and Jack. ‘Mad’ Jack was walking around like a 90 yr old with a bad case of piles (well that’s what I imagine they look like) after over exerting himself into a near state of total exhaustion after he finished the race. Not only being able to hardly put one foot in front of the other, we had to stop on the hard shoulder of the motorway on the way home in order for him to test his gagging reflex and throw up!
The huge ’thud’ on the ground measuring 6.2 on the richtor scale when Steve Jose had a huge ’off’ right in front of me at the ‘Grogley Christmas cracker‘ event.
The earth moved and this made my bike go into an uncontrollable wobble until I managed to correct it and come to a stop. Not only that, the tremor from Steve’s weight hitting the ground was felt by the HMS Nautical submarine that was conducting it’s sea trials way out in the Atlantic ocean.
And so to next year……………………….
The situation as it stands is that the elbow is not completely cured and to be honest I don’t know either if it will be without the operation that it needs. I have explained earlier this year about the pitfalls of going under the knife, and if I want to continue racing then that simply isn’t an option. It is a lot better than it was, but I never know what’s going to happen when I wake up in the morning, sometimes I still get pain in it and it hurts to move it, sometimes I don’t. The couple of races I have done have been ok and it’s only afterwards that the bloody thing kills me! The problem I have is it if I were to overstretch the tendon again I think it could be curtains, unless I can find a miracle cure, and believe me, I’ve tried almost everything to try and heal the bloody thing.
It’s been really hard just watching all the racing this year, and although I’ve seen some great action and had a good laugh as well as making many new friends, it’s simply not the same as riding a motorbike. In 2009 I done a hell of a lot of riding and reached a reasonable standard, so I know it’s going to be a hard road back to move on and do better than that, but I’m no quitter and I’ve had some injuries in other sports along the way which have kept me out for long periods and I’ve always managed to get back to where I was and be better. So on that note, I’ll see you all in 2011 where I’ll be hoping to do a full season.
Happy new year to you all………………………………............
