Well it has to said that Nancemellion isn’t one of my favourite places to ride an event round. Sometimes the organization leaves a bit to be desired shall we say? And I never seem to have much luck down at the place. Anyway, it was a local event just down the road, and a chance to have a blast on the bike.
For a change it was nice weather and the sun was shining as I pulled up into the field to get parked up. Most of the usual local motley crew of faces were to be seen which included Adam Blake who decided to change his exhaust on the morning of the race because he had ‘nothing better to do’!
For a change it was nice weather and the sun was shining as I pulled up into the field to get parked up. Most of the usual local motley crew of faces were to be seen which included Adam Blake who decided to change his exhaust on the morning of the race because he had ‘nothing better to do’!
So after a bit of banter and chit chat, it was off down to the start. Rather than walk I managed to cadge a lift off of some poor unsuspecting bloke on the back of his bike who was riding down there, Don’t ask, don’t get eh? Now then, I’ve said this before about this event, where the hell do we all line up then? There wasn’t even anything on the start line to tell us what groups to line up in. Come on Camborne and Reduth motor club, just print the classes on a bit of A4 paper and tape/pin/attach them to a stick and hey presto, Job done! So bike numbers were all over the place although most of the over 40’s (I say most) the class I was in, were lined up together.
Onto the start itself then, and I got an absolute flyer and like a scolded cat I was gone and managed to get the holeshot. The course itself was a big improvement on previous years with some nice tight gnarly rooted woods, a small piece of mx track and some grassy hillsides. Nothing really challenging and I thought it flowed quite nicely although there was a few sloppy bits to get stuck in if you weren’t careful.
So, I was out in front of the o40’s class and going well and led for the first 2 laps until disaster struck (The nancemellion curse) when I has a silly little 5mph off turning a tight corner. The front wheel slid away and as the bike went down my thumb got caught between the front brake master cylinder and the throttle housing and I couldn’t let go. With my thumb trapped I had to down with the bike and when it hit the deck my hand went one way and my thumb another, ouch! It bent it right back and I knew straight away it wasn’t good. I got back on the bike and rode off, but it was useless as I couldn’t twist the throttle properly let alone hold on to the bars and I knew it was game over. Within a lap I’d lost the lead, then another place, and I was beginning to go backwards, I just couldn’t do anything so rather than come off again and make it worse, I decided to crawl back to the van and seek some medical attention as my thumb was flamin well killing me.
So in the ambulance I went and after a check up they told me that I’d done the ligaments in my hand just at the base of the thumb. 4 ice packs later and with my hand throbbing like it’s been hit with 5lb club hammer, I decided to watch a bit of the action for 10 mins and then make my way home rather slowly in the van because I could hardly turn the steering wheel round the corners!
Finishing position: DNF
