Last few weeks?

Well what have i been up to the last few weeks?
I've not been on the bike much, but i have done some serious training in order to try and get fit for the Dawn to Dusk this weekend 27/28 August. I've ran 2 half marathons in the last 3 weeks in order to get some stamina in my legs, as your legs always seem to be the first thing that gets cramp (for me anyway).
I've entered the 12 hour ironman in the vets class, so i'll be giving it a good go as i'm still a bit 'pee'd' off after having to pull out of the event with injury in 2009 when i was going really well. This year hasn't been too clever so far, so i'm hoping my luck will turn for the better and this race would be a nice change of fortune for me wouldn't it? Fingers crossed, 12 hours is a long time........................

Husaberg test day- 6th August 2011

First time I’ve been to one of these test day things, and I’ve got to say hats off to St Blazey motorcycles for putting it on, and unlike other rip off manufactures test days where you have to pay for the privilege of actually going on one of their bikes, this was all free.
I got there early afternoon and of course being an enduro bike day there were a few local riders down there, Dan and James Hull, Tom Merrit, Adam Blake, Steve Jose, to name a few all having a go on a few of the range of Husabergs. I first went the 125 (obviously) and set about giving the little strimmer some welly around the short little mx track that St Blazey had set out for the purpose.

When you ride these bikes that are brand new with very little hours on them, you do have to try and look beneath the obvious. The obvious being every things shiny, it looks good, and everything works as it should! Actually with all the 125’s I’ve had a go on there isn’t that much difference in power between them all (TM excluded), but the way it delivers it is a different matter. I found the Husaberg a tad more friendly than my Gasser, not so ‘toppy’ and certainly less revs were audible when I slipped the clutch exiting a corner to pick up speed. As I nailed the thing down the short straight, again the power I felt was a little bit shall we say ’relaxed’ in the way it delivered itself to get up to the high revs. Whilst the back of the bike behaved itself very well, I did have a problem with the front end as it nearly washed out a few times on me as I was going into the corners. Whether that was down to the suspension set up I don’t know, but it certainly wasn’t the tyres, brand new Metzelers six days, exactly what I use. I've had no problems with them, so there's no reason why a 'Berg' should.

Overall I did enjoy the 20 min session on the 125, in fact I liked it so much, I went and had another session on it later on! Would I buy one? It’s a tough call, I will be looking at getting another bike later on this year, and I’ve still got quite a few choices open to me regarding the strimmers, Gas Gas, KTM, Husaberg, Husqvarna, TM, YZ, RM, so there’s certainly no rush on that score.

I did a bit later on try to have a go on the 250, but just as I got off the 125 again, they were packing up the whole lot of the bikes. Oh well, must try and get down there earlier then next time.

Practice- 31st July 2011

Just spent a couple of hours down at the local MX track with Adam (Blake). Took it easy and just rode round and enjoyed it. Now listen to this.......................................

Adam did a couple of 'fast' timed laps on his 250 'ginger' 4 banger, he did one in 3 mins 4 secs, and another in 3 mins 5 secs. So i gave him a challenge, 'how about doing one on my Gas Gas strimmer then mate', 'go on then' Blakey said. So with just 1 lap to get himself warmed up on my bike he was off on his fast lap. Guess what? 3 mins 6 secs, f*ucking unbelievable! just 1 second slower than a 250 4 banger. I was chuffed (thats the fastest that bikes has ever been), brilliant stuff by Adam, and seeing as he's a well built lad that weighs about 15 stone, doing that time on a 125 is nothing but top class. Fair play to him!

St Martin- 17th July 2011

I was hoping for my luck to change then as I traveled up with ‘mad’ Jack and Paddy for a TnT race in Dorset (I thnk!), anyway it was a couple of hours drive away so not too bad. Now I have done quite a few TnT events in my time and the majority of them do have a lot of fields in their courses, so I was expecting myself to ‘pin the little strimmer’ to near the end of it’s life trying to keep in front of the bigger bikes! Well, I wasn’t disappointed then was I, because that’s how turned out!

I did see a few other riders around the start area who’d also traveled to do the event, Simon Thomas, Rich Batstone, Gary ‘nothing gets in my way’ Mcoy, so had a quick natter and then back off to the van to get changed. The adult event was first followed by the youths race afterwards.
So to the start itself then and I got a crap one as the Gasser failed to fire into life! Well to me that means 1st kick, she did start after about 3 or 4, but my chance of being up there with the pack to the first corner was gone. So the course was a field, a small undulating kind of moto x track, then another field that was off camber, a jump that was in a field which led to a small wooded section with a climb, then guess what? Another field, another small wooded section (I mean small) and then about 3 more fields back to the start/finish area. The only really interesting part of the course was that all the champ/experts and vets experts had to go through a small extreme section consisting of a few tyres that were stood on end. There were about 4 or 5 of these and it did make you sit up and concentrate, I did then no problem every lap although some riders were finding them tough to get over and I did see a few riders go over the bars. Overall I reckon maybe a 4 mile lap at most.

One of the small wooded sections contained about the grand total of 10 tree roots, 2 of which were close together, and believe or not, riders were getting stuck on them which was causing choas! Couldn’t believe it, even my 3yr old could have rode over them on her push bike! Sods law it was then because as I went to pass a guy that was stuck on a tree route, his back wheel suddenly gripped which caused him to fall to one side just as I was level with him. I took evasive action and had nowhere to go but into the fence by the side of me. Sods law again then as I tried to carry on but realized my back wheel was caught up in a load of wire that had been ripped from the fence as I went into it. Thankfully a spectator came to my rescue and he helped me untangle the wire, still cost me a good 5 mins and that was disastrous seeing as it was only about 10 mins a lap. So effectively after losing half a lap which ain’t to clever when your in the Vets experts class against the bigger bikes on mostly a course which has a lot of fields, I got the bit between my teeth and went for it.

After doing the usual pit stop I was certainly ‘on’ it as I was trying to make up for lost time and with about 30 mins left I began to overtake a few riders in my class as they were tiring. Precisely 2hr and 38mins into the race when I was just coming round to lap scoring, my bike suddenly died on me! I kicked her and nothing, again and nothing, checked the usual sort of stuff but couldn’t find anything which might have caused the bike to die and not start again. So reluctantly I pushed the bike a couple of hundred yards back to the finish and gave my transponder in and rolled back down to the van. Another DNF!

I really don’t know what’s going on this year, 5 dnf’s, 2 ambulance visits, and a lot of broken pride! I once went from September 17th 2006 to February 1st 2009 , 45 enduro’s without a DNF, and now I’ve had 5 of the bloody things in 7 months. Lets hope that the 2nd half of the year brings me better luck then……………..

By the way, finally found out the cause of the engine dying, faulty kill switch.

Finishing psotion: DNF

Foxhill woods- 26th June 2011

Wales here we come then! It was a trip over the Severn bridge to do a CTR event, never done one of these before so I was looking forward to seeing what they’re like. I went up there ‘mad’ Jack Twentyman and his lad Paddy, Jack was riding again after his injury, and Paddy had entered the race as well. Unbelievable weather today, absolutely scorching as the sun was beating down on us from a totally clear blue sky, what a difference a bit of sun makes when your getting changed for an event. At the start line riders were actually taking shelter under the trees, not from the usual outbreaks of rain but from the sun, it really was a scorcher!

So on to the start itself then and I was entered in the o 40’s but because it was a small class we were mixed in amongst the rest of the front row on the line. Off we went then and I didn’t quite nail it and ended up in a bunch of riders as we made our way across a couple of open fields and into a massive woods that went up and down like a rollercoaster. What a fantastic course this was and right up there with the best, lovely flowing trails, tricky tree roots covering the floor, drop offs, hill climbs, ruts, a few slippery sections, hard and easy routes to take and just a couple of short fields that led back to the lap scoring area so you could clear the bike out and have a little blast. I reckon the course was about 7 miles in length. Carl Tiley (ex british champ and vastly experienced) runs CTR and who organizers these events certainly knows what’s what, and if this one is anything to go by then I’ll certainly be back for more. One of the hard routes was a very steep climb that was littered with tree roots as you went up it, then just when you’d made it, think again my son, The last few yards that was near vertical had small rocks/stones on top of soft soil so getting grip was tough. The first couple of laps I did it I had to dragged up to the top, my front wheel was inches away from the top but couldn’t get that last bit of grip as the hill steepened to make it up there. I wasn’t the only one believe me, bikes were getting stuck either side of me as well. Made me laugh what one of the welsh spectators said to me as I finally managed to clean the thing on another lap, ‘well done mate’ he said ‘you’re man enough to by a drink now’! Must of thought I was a youngster!

So in the searing heat (and getting hotter) I did an extra long pit stop to make sure I stayed hydrated, and then it was back out again for the last hour. This went wrong for me again as I went up a small climb and my clutch packed up! I’ve just bloody put a new one in! This time though it wasn’t the clutch plates, the seals had gone on the master cylinder which left me with no pressure when I pulled the lever in (bloody hydraulic clutches) Game over! Luckily for me I was at the top of the hill, so I rolled down slammed her in gear and made my way back to pits in 1st and retired.

Finishing position: DNF

Cardinham- 18th June 2011

Well a local event just up the road about 10 miles away, nice one! This was held by a club that have only just started up this year CEB ATV (I think that’s right!) and they hold a quad race in the morning and a solo event in the afternoon. A good local crop of riders were present, hold on, in fact, 99% of the local riders seemed to be present and it was constant ‘alright mate’ to just about everybody I set my eyes on as I got signed on. The weather was warm and by all accounts from what had been said it wasn’t a bad course either with a mixture of woods and fields. Anyway, whilst the quads were finishing their race I got myself off to the scrutineer to get the bike checked. A nightmare ensued as it failed! What the f*ck! And to be honest the guy was right as my back brake decided not to work completely!

So after a little tinker around (Thanks to John Robinson who very kindly lifted my bike up for me in order we could balance the thing on a couple of jerry cans and then lifted the thing in the air so I could get the back wheel out) it was best to bleed the system as a few ideas floating around thought that I might have air in the system. Off up the field I went to Jed Treleaven’s van ( Son of Mr Gasser himself) to see if he could help a bit, but bleeding wasn’t any good and with the sighting lap approaching fast I had to leg it back down to the van as all the other riders were down at the start line. I was still in my civvies and not even changed yet and I still hadn’t past the scrutineer because I hadn’t got my brake working. The guy that checked my bike (scrutineer) came up and suggested that I tried moving the ride height of the pedal? So it was out with the tool box and off with the pedal to adjust to screw to see if that done any good. It had improved but it needed more, so yet again it was off with the pedal and down with the screw, but by this time the riders were on their sighting lap and I still hadn’t got changed! So it was fingers crossed as I tried the brake again, and bingo, she was good! With the riders now back from their lap I literally had a couple of minutes to get changed, dump my stuff in the pits, get the bike checked, and get down to the start line.

Phew! Just made it, was sat there for 5 mins next to Adam Blake on the line, and then we were off. With only 7 of us entered in the experts it wasn’t hard to get a bad start! Anyway, I think I was about 5th as we made our way across a field and into a wooded section which had a nasty little drop in it that was about 10ft high, near vertical, and as you went down it you plunged straight into the muddy water that I presume was some sort of small brook running through the woods. It was then out the other side up the rutted muddy bank along a few more fields, into another little woods, a couple more fields, more woods, more fields then back to the lap scoring. Nothing really tricky but some of the course was very slippery and just one blip of the throttle at the wrong time, and you’d be on your arse! I reckon the length of the track was about 4 miles, so quite a lot of laps in the 2 ½ hour allotted time.

Obviously with a few fields involved I was wringing the strimmers neck for all it’s worth, but nevertheless I was going alright and so was the bike and definitely not losing any ground against the bigger bikes. Everything went smoothly and I pitted at about the hour and half mark and went back out again not really knowing where I was because at this stage there just seemed to be traffic everywhere as you were racing against what seemed to be like every bugger, short course, lots of riders equals traffic! With about 30 mins left and coming round to that drop off that went down into the water, I saw a bike that had up ended itself and there were 2 marshals there trying to pick the thing up and get it back up the right way and push it out of the way. I had to look twice as it Tim Williams who’d gone over the bars and got himself in a right old tiswas.

I was on my last lap when I had one of those stupid little ‘offs’ just before a little climb, bloody annoying as I was just thinking to myself that I’d hadn’t dropped the bike so far today. When I got back on the bike I saw red and went off charging off like a bull in a china shop back to the finish line only to clip a tree and cut my index finger open, ouch! I knew straight away it wasn’t that good as I could feel the warm blood oozing through my glove.
When I got back to the van it was plain to see that I’d have to go and get the cut cleaned up in the ambulance, off I went then, and when I stepped in it, it happened to be the same paramedics that had treated me down at the Nancemellon race, And they remembered me as well! Small world eh?

Not my day at all I’m afraid because when I got the bike back home it sprung to light that one of my bearings in the back wheel had completely disintegrated. The ball bearings had gone inside the hub and had been rolling around for most of the race around the spacer that lies inside. Like a washing machine on fast spin, this had gouged grooves into the spacer (see pic) and it also made the bearing case seize against the hub! Lucky there not more damage was done then. So quite an eventful day then, I’ve certainly had better!

Finishing position: 5/7 (Experts)

Huntsham- 12th June 2011

RAIN!!!! It rained when I traveled up to the ASW event in Devon, it absolutely peed it down when I was there, and was still raining when I traveled home!

Went up to this one with Paddy Twentyman who was riding in the youths race, while I had entered in the o 40’s, the format being an endurocross, 2 x 1hr races which seems to be popular with some clubs as you seem to be getting more and more of these type of events nowadays. As we arrived in the downpour it was wellys and waterproof jackets on in order to trudge across the muddy field and get signed on. There’s nothing worse than getting soaked before a race, so it was a ‘just sit in the van’ job until the youths race had finished before I made my way at the last minute across the field and up to the start line. The rain wasn’t easing at all as we made our way off the line and round the course for the sighting lap, which turned out to be um…………rather a muddy one!

What a cracking track it was though, right up my street as it was nearly all woods with hardly any fields, and with the weather being what it was, it made sure it was going to be a tough 1st race as the course had already been cut up from the previous youths one. Nothing in the way of any difficulty mind, no hard routes or climbs, but just loads of deep muddy ruts, general gloop and slippery tree roots, a good test then. A small circuit and probably about 5 miles in length, wouldn’t really be much trouble in the dry, but of course todays conditions made it interesting to say the least.

Nothing worse than waiting there on the line in the peeing rain waiting for the race to start is there? So I was glad when the flag dropped to get us underway. I got a cracker and got the holeshot into the first corner before some big 4 banger came flying past me on the straight just before we entered the woods. From here on in I comfortably stayed in 2nd place until about the 45 min mark when I had a stupid little off, after I got back up, picked the bike up and got all the mud off the grips and my gloves, I’d lost a place. Try I might I couldn’t make it up again, and with the race only being an hour long I ended up in 3rd about 10 seconds being 2nd place. What I couldn’t believe was that some riders were either taking a rest in the woods or pulling out half way through! What’s wrong with um them? A little bit of rain and mud and they start crying, it’s an enduro for gods sake, and only an hour long at that!

So after getting plastered in mud and having a good soaking it was back to the van to get dried a bit and ready for race no2. But hold on a minute, there seem to be no action going on with the next youths race that was due off? Me and Paddy took a walk up to the signing van only to find out that the rest of the event had been cancelled due to the weather. Well disappointed there’s nowt we could do, so it was off back home via off course the nearest Macdonalds!

Finishing position: 3/12 (vets)

Treborough- 30th May 2011

Was really looking forward to this one which was held by the Xmoor club as they always put on decent events with proper enduro courses to test you. Travelled up there with ‘mad’ Jack who was still injured so wasn‘t riding, and his lad Paddy who’d entered the event. A whole load of riders, most of which do the SW rounds had also traveled up to do it so I wasn’t short of anyone to clap my eyes on for a chat!

Within 20 minutes of stepping out of the van the weather had turned rather dismal, then it turned more dismal, then it just turned into something like a scene from the ‘Hound of the Baskervilles’ as mist, fog and general gloop descended upon us. In fact it was so bad that you couldn’t even see the end of the start straight that led into the woods! And then it started to rain as well! But that didn’t dampen the spirit, and I know for a fact that the hardened souls of the Xmoor club had run events in far worse conditions (other organisers take note) and it was nice to clap eyes on Mark and Debbie Tucker at the signing on van who were full of cheer (that doesn’t mean they were p*ssed by the way, not at 8.30 in the morning anyway!), so had a bit of a laugh with them, and then it was back to get changed and all that.

So to the start then and it was a big field of experts that had assembled on the line including plenty of us over 35’s mixing it with the youngsters. As the flag dropped I didn’t get too bad a start, but disaster struck me within 20 seconds as my ’rip n rolls’ failed because the cannister that holds the film had became detached and I couldn’t roll of any bloody film! This led to me getting completely ‘filled in’ following the bikes in front of me as they spat the mud into my face,. I just couldn’t see were I was going and bike after bike passed me until I had to stop and take my goggles off. By this time I was bloody well last, not a good sign then and it turned out to be the shape of things to come!

After a few minutes I’d made up a few places as riders were getting stuck on some of the slippery hills, I’d also had a little off but nothing spectacular. After about 10 mins we meandered down through the woods and into a deep rutted boggy section, this causing problems and I get held up by a bike that was stuck in front of me as he struggled to get himself free from the mire. Sods bloody law then it was that I too got stuck too, and to cut a long story short……………………my flamin clutch burnt itself out!

So stuck in a 3ft boggy rut (why do we do it?) I managed to haul the bike out and drag it to the stream at the bottom that was about 20ft away and park her up. The other side of the stream was a slippery little climb that was also causing hold ups as the riders were struggling to get to the top, so no chance of me getting up there then without a clutch then because I couldn’t even slam her into gear and ride up it, I tried but it wasn’t gonna happen. I stayed there and helped some of the riders who’d got stuck as the marshals had their hands full with riders queuing up as every passing lap ensued. The 1 hour mark passed and I was till there helping out as the situation had got no better. After another hour (yes 2 hours) I was still there helping out, but at least the field had thinned out a bit so it wasn’t as manic as before.

It was a this point that I really should think about getting back to the pits, but I couldn’t push the bike back through the boggy section, and I couldn’t push the bike up that slippery as ice covered muddy climb, so my 2 routes of escape were basically as good as chocolate fire guard! Another 30 mins passed and I was desperate to get back now as I knew the race would be ending soon so I went walkabout down through the stream which was shrouded in all sorts of undergrowth, to see where it led too. Good news as it led straight out into a fire road, so I knew if I could get the bike down through the steam about 200 meters, then I’d alright to get a tow back. Unfortunately the bad news was that there were 2 fallen trees blocking my path, so I tried to move them, or at least move them enough so I could get the bike passed them. No chance there then, and even the ‘HULK’ in a bad mood wouldn’t have been able to move the buggers let alone a 10 ½ stone beanpole like me. So then what do I do? I walked up and down a couple of times removing as many twigs, branches and brambles as I could along the stream and surveyed the 2 fallen trees to see if I could get the bike passed them. I knew upon looking that I’d have to lift the bike over one, and drag the bike under another because of the way they were laying and the shape of them, so it was off back to get the bike, scrape as much mud as I could off to make it lighter, and set off on my quest to get to that bloody fire road and freedom!

After 5 minutes of pushing the bike through the water came my 1st big test and tree no1. This was the one were I had to physically lift my bike over it in order to continue as I couldn’t get the bike up the bank either side (I tried) because it was just to steep and too high. I got the front wheel up ok and rested it onto the top of the fallen tree, but now the big test, to get round the back and lift the whole thing up from the ground to over shoulder height, push the bike and slide it onto the exhaust, push it over and slide it off to land it on it’s front wheel. It’s amazing what the body can do when it has do, and I reckon that thing must have weighed at least about 100kg with still loads of mud attached to it when I lifted the thing, but I did it. So now it was another trudge through the water about another 50 meters or so where I came across tree no2. This one was different, far too high to lift the bike over it as it had too many thick branches on top of it, and yet again with the banks either side of the stream being too high and too steep to get the bike up, I had to go under it. I layed the bike down into the water and pushed the front wheel under the tree as much as I could and crawled under myself to get to the other side. So now I had to drag the thing through the under side of the fallen tree, and when your kneeling down in rocky water and when your p*ssing with sweat, tired and flamin well starving, believe me, it ain’t easy. I didn’t really care about the state of my plastics or anything on the bike getting scratched, I just wanted to get the thing out and get to safety. After about 5 minutes of tugging on the bars I managed to drag her out and push the bike back down to the end and out into the fire road. I felt like bloody Superman after doing that! (Completely knackered though)

By now the race was over but I’d managed to stop a few riders who were still on their last lap and told them to send a quad back down to me so I could get a tow back. Within 10 mins the ‘search and rescue’ party had arrived in the shape of a beaming faced Mark Tucker. Jesus, I’d never been so pleased to see him in my life! So after hitching up a tow rope to the quad, I managed to get a tow back to the pits where at last I could enjoy a nice cuppa and something to eat.

Well you have to take the rough with the smooth in this game and doing what I did today will certainly live in my memory for a long time.

Finishing position: DNF