Combe sydenham- 29th March 2009

Oh dear, after putting my bike in the van and driving up to Bude to meet up with Adam Blake and Steve Jose to go to Combe Sydenham, I opened the van door when I arrived and looked in horror as a load of coolant had deposited itself onto the floor of the transit! (see pic)
It was peeing out faster than a Peter Lorimer shot (for those of you who don’t know who Peter Lorimer is, just google him). I mean, there’s only so much you can do at 7’o’clock on a Sunday morning as regards to working on the bike isn’t there? We all took a look at the offending radiator and basically there was nothing we could do, so regrettably I had to make the decision not to ride but to travel up anyway, watch the race and help a few riders out in the pits as well.

I know exactly where the problem came from with the bike. Yesterday (Saturday) I decided to straighten out the brackets on the rad due to having a few ‘offs’ which had bent them. After doing that and a few other bits and bobs, I put the bike away for the day all ready and prep’d for the race. Obviously the core of the rad been damaged in some way and with me bending things around a bit I managed to create a split somewhere along the line. Never mind, shouldn’t have so many ‘offs’ should I, then I wouldn’t bend anything!
Looks like I’ll need a new rad and I’m also getting some rad braces as well, that should stop um bending!

After getting to Combe sydenham surprisingly in one piece due to the fact that Steve was trying out how fast his ‘sprinter’ can go by ‘flooring’ it, we were greeted by a glorious sunny day, in fact it’s the driest I’ve seen the place in years!

With loads of time on my hands I had quick walk around to see who was about and basically turned myself into a right old ‘Hilda Ogden’ chatting to just about everybody I laid my eyes on due to the fact that I didn’t have to rush about getting ready for a race.
Now for the name dropping, chatted with Robert Ellick, Paul Ford (we chatted about ‘new borns’ and the lack of sleep you get when they arrive), yes Paul, I was there last year with that, know exactly how it feels mate!, Andy Smith, Phil Harris, Debbie Tucker, Jack Twentyman, Rich Tucker, Jason Duggan, Paul Cowshall, Pete Boyles, Matt Hamley, Mark Tucker, Arthur Johnson, probably a few others as well, but can’t remember everyone’s names!

Soon after the riders went up to start Andy Smith came ‘freewheeling’ it back down to the pit area where I was standing, ‘Trev, qick, my chains broke’, oh b*llocks as a blind panic ensued as we tried to get another chain for Andy. Luckily a youth rider who’d raced earlier in the day lent us one and once we fitted it, Andy got to race, albeit some 15mins late.

Enjoyed watching the riders come through as it were ‘being on the other side of the fence’, but there ain’t nothing like riding, and I was a wee bit jealous not being out there, but I suppose at least it did give me a chance to see some of my rivals going round.
A couple of laps in and Racersedge (Paul Cowshall) came crawling back with a rear wheel puncture, we both went running about all over the place to try and get a tube for him, but no luck there, so Paul called it a day and retired.

I helped quite a few riders pit at about half way, Jack (twentyman) being a champ rider was like a man possessed when he came into the pits! All I heard from him was, ‘quick, hurry up’ then it was ‘new goggles, put them on’, that was basically about it as I refuelled him. Mind you I can’t blame him, he was lying 4th at the time and only a couple of mins behind the leader so every second counts when you’re at that level.

Steve Jose came in to re-fuel and wanted a chat! I told him to get his arse in gear and stop talking and to get on with it. Next time I help him I’ll bring a picnic table, sandwiches, flask, and a portable dvd player so he can watch a film or two if he wants!

I didn’t venture too far away from the pit area all day just in case someone needed some help somewhere along the line, and that certainly was the case as I helped riders I didn’t even know sort a few things out. Perhaps I should join the Samaritans!

With a few minutes left on the clock Andy Smith came past the transponder area where I was standing, ‘come on, last lap’ I shouted, but his luck had finally run out as I looked down only to see that his back tyre had disintegrated and was hanging off the rim. Not Andy’s day then, first of all the chain, now his tyre.

Well, I did have a good day and was kept busy for most of it, so enjoyed it. Not as good as riding, but being where the action is and lending a hand is much better than standing there for 3 hours with your hands in your pockets playing ’marbles’!

Plans this month:

4th Practice

12th Surrey constabulary enduro

19th Camel Vale mcc

26th Track n Trail

Chevanage- 22nd March 2009

It was up at the crack of dawn to pick up Jack twenty man for the 3 hour plus drive up to Gloucestershire. And another cracking day weather wise it was as we arrived at the track. This was my first Midwest event, I’ve heard good things about the courses and the running of the events, so i was keen to see what the whole thing was like.

A massive entry had assembled so this was going to be a very competitive race in all the classes, excellent stuff!
Done all the necessary and went down to the start ready for the flag to drop, and today I was entered in the vets class instead of the usual clubman 2t.
As the flag dropped I got a ’corker’, and was lying about 4th into the 1st corner, and that’s where I stayed until about half way round the course when I stupidly had an ’off’ and subsequently lost loads of places!

Anyway, onto the course itself. A quick blast across a few moto x type fields after the start it was, before we headed into the woods. I was pleased at holding onto my place on this open bit of track seeing as I had the bigger bikes breathing down my neck trying to get past me. Into the woods then it was, and nothing too spectacular to report about although the going was a bit tight and you virtually had nowhere to overtake at all. It wasn’t long before we caught up the tail enders of the clubman 4t, but with nowhere to pass, the good start I made became as much use as a ‘chocolate fireguard‘, as the bikes followed each other in Indian file at a leisurely pace! ‘Bloody well hurry up someone, I’m trying to race here’! sprung to my mind, and I just thought to myself, how long is this going to last then?

One slippery steep climb in particular was my downfall on the very 1st lap as I came a cropper on the way up it. I had no choice but to go back down and try again, no problems 2nd time, but because of everyone ‘jamming’ up behind each other in the woods, I’d lost quite a few places. No fault but my own, simple as that.

A few more open fields to blast across, a nice little tricky water crossing, more tight woods with yet hardly any room for overtaking again! And the lap was complete. I reckon on it being about 7 miles at most. A good mixture of everything, but in my opinion. Just too many bikes for the length of the course. 250-260 riders?
I would of thought some of the expert riders found things a little frustrating at times even with their skill and riding ability.
Clubs like Camel vale and Xmoor have half the number of riders in their events and are nearly all woods, they don’t have any such problems with overtaking, and even if you do get stuck behind a rider, rest assured, it’s not for long. Enough said,Point made.

The race for me didn’t really start to happen until the course got a bit less ‘choked’ up, probably after about an hour or so into it. That’s when you started to get a bit more space so you could go through the woods at a good clip with getting held up by the usual ’train’ of riders. I must admit to getting a bit frustrated by it all.
That certainly didn’t help my cause as I made some more mistakes on that steep climb and had to go and do it all again a couple of times, Aaaaaargh!

I was really ‘nailing’ it across some of the fields though, flat out in 6th gear, and checking the old speedo when I got home, that’s the fastest I’ve been on the gasser so far, 112kmh, about 67-68mph? (The bigger bikes must have been touching 80mph surely?) Still, not bad for a 125 across a field, and she would have done more, but i had to shut off for the corners! Can’t wait to put a smaller sprocket on the back and take her up the straight at Weston!

I pitted ok just after the 2 hour mark, and with the track being more clearer, I felt a lot better than I did earlier on. I was now starting to enjoy it a lot more and felt confident and started to pass a lot more riders than I did before.
I went to finish, but to be honest, I could have done another 3 hours! I wasn’t tired at all and I can only put this down to the slow early pace due to the way the race panned out coz usually I’m ‘cream crackerd‘ at the end of it all!

Jack had a cracking result, 2nd in his class (vet expert), but I didn’t do so well and was a tad disappointed with 9th in the vets. Never mind, there’s always next week.
Overall a well run event, good track, but too many riders for the layout of the course. I will be doing some more of the Midwest races throughout the year, so I’ll be looking forward to see what those events are like as well.

Finishing position: 9/44 (vets)

Things aren’t looking too clever for this coming weekend at the moment, got a virus from somewhere and I feel absolutely sh*te.

Castle park- 15th March 2009

(pic by brewbs)

Would you Adam and Eve it? The Castle Park jinx struck me again! I ran out of fuel again (see blog Nov 9th 2008)

Well, what cracking weather we’ve had lately, so it was nice to drive for a couple of hours in bright sunshine up to Castle park. I picked up Adam Blake on the way as he was riding as well.
I’d had a new clutch put in the bike this week, a heavy duty one at that, it had caused a few teething problems when I tested out in the week, but thankfully all sorted now.

Yet again a few lads from our neck of the woods made the trip up and we managed to get all parked up next to each other so we could all have a good bit of banter amongst ourselves. Jack Twentyman, Andrew Smith, Phil Harris, and me and Adam.

So with bright sunshine it was off to get the bike looked over and to sign on. It’s amazing who you meet sometimes when your standing in the queue ain’t it? I got chatting to the guy in front and it turned to be an old competitor who I had many battles with a couple of years ago when I started out doing the ORE series. Mark Schofield it was, haven’t seen him for a couple of years, and when you read on, he turned out to be my saviour, unbelievable! (more of that later).
Also had a quick chat to the next young ’top gun’ waiting to make his name nationally in the enduro world, Rich Tucker, take note everyone!

Got back to van and had a friendly bit of ’competitive chat’ with Andy Smith, who had the bit between his teeth today because he didn’t like me beating him last time out at the SCEC race a few weeks back. Although to be honest, I did send him an e-mail to remind him of it, so we were all set for a good battle today!
Then we all went down to the start to do the sighting lap. I’m not very keen on them myself, but everyone to their own.

So onto the start itself and I didn’t make a bad one, in the top 10 as we tore across an open field and onto the moto x section before entering the woods. This 1st section gave everyone a bit of breathing space to sort themselves out, albeit being fast, but there was plenty of room with some nice jumps thrown in for good measure. Andy got just in front of me and I hung on to his back wheel trying not to let him get away but with the adrenaline at a high, a rider tried to overtake me and overcooked it and went down straight in front of me. I hit him and nearly came off, but managed to stay on and with that I took a quick look back to see if he was alright, hit a rut and off I came! Oh bugger, I lost sight of Andy and by the time I got re-started I must have lost at least 10 places!

The woods themselves were not as badly rutted as the last race that was held here, but still tricky in some places and even with the recent dry spell of weather we’ve been having, some of the trails were still wet and slimy. Not very technical, but enough to give you a test if you got it wrong!
We went in and out of the woods a couple of times across some moto x type tracks which joined parts of the course together, one having that massive ‘big dipper’ where you just pinned back the throttle, hammered it downwards and rode back up the other side, great stuff, and flat out.
The whole course being about 7-8 miles I reckon, so a good lap.

After the 1st lap shenanigans I settled in nicely and felt good, not too much to report and I had only had a little ‘off’ due to over balancing in a slimy rut.
I think it was about after an hour into the race when I came round to the lap scoring that I saw Adam standing there, helmet off, so obviously he’d had a problem and couldn’t carry on.
Around the 2 hour mark I pitted and Adam was there to give us a hand, so I had a quick stop, and back out I went.
I still felt good, so was really enjoying it and everything was going well.

The last couple of laps and with me going the same pace and not letting up, I passed rider after rider as quite a few had slowed down a bit. I started my last lap 10 mins before time, and still feeling good, pushed even harder hoping to make a place or two. I managed to get passed 2 other riders in my class and pulled away from them until the Castle park ‘jinx’ struck me again.
With just about ½ mile from the finish, I ran out of fuel! Dear oh dear, I couldn’t believe it, and with me stopping every bike in sight in order to ‘blag’ some fuel off of someone, those 2 riders that I’d just overtaken, got passed me again as I stood there stranded. Turns out that indeed I did lose 2 places as they were on the same lap as me and finished just in front of me due to my unexpected stop. Pee’s you off a bit that, chasing someone for 3 hours, passing them, and then getting overtaken again near the finish coz you ain’t put enough fuel in!
A YZ stopped for me and helped us out, I thought I recognized him, and I couldn’t believe it was Mark Schofield, hadn’t seen the guy for 2 years, met him at signing on, and now he’s came to my rescue, spooky or what?
With no one about with any kind of vessel to put petrol in, I thought quickly and emptied my camelbak out, Mark took his fuel pipe off, and we put some in there.
She fired up, and off I went again to finish the race.
I know what you’re thinking, why don’t I put more fuel in? Well to be honest, I’ve now got the ‘gasser’ pretty much spot on when it comes to how much I need, and today was no exception, I just didn’t compensate for the sighting lap which in the end cost me. So in theory, I did have enough. Aaaargh!, those bloody sighting laps!

Nice to finally meet up with Pete Boyles as well. I met him in the pits at the end. Pete's been following the blog from the earley days so it was nice to put a face to the name as it were. Mind you, we're going to be at each others throats this week as we're both riding the Midwest race in the same class!

When I got back to where our vans were parked, we weren’t very happy campers at all. Adam’s front sprocket had rounded off after only 3 or 4 laps, so he had a DNF.
Jack Twentyman was lying on the floor in agony ‘chundering up’ all over the place after having a big ‘off’ in 4th gear (champ rider in 4th gear, that’s got to be fast) and I was a bit annoyed about the fuel episode.
We all concerned about Jack though, and it was a good 20 mins before he even moved! We did offer to take him to the ambulance, but Jack is as tough as old boots and after a while he’d recovered enough to make the drive home.

Overall an enjoyable day and it was nice to have some decent weather for a change instead of me freezing my nuts off all the time!


Fishing position: 8/27 (clubman 2st)
Bike status: new clutch

A weekend off! - 8th March 2009

It's been a very busy last 6-7 weeks with me out on the bike every weekend either racing or practicing, so today i had a day off from it all.
Feels weird to get up on a Sunday and not think 'bike'. To be honest, my shoulder seriously needs a rest, so not racing today won't do it anyharm.

I've started to add some links on the right handside of the page that might come in useful, so feel free to click away.

Plans for the next few weeks are:
15th Track'n'trail
22nd Midwest mcc
29th Xmoor enduro club

See you there!

Inside Park- 1st March 2009

If you closely at the photo you can just see me in the distance to the right of 147's camelbak in the red kit/white helmet still on the bloody start line! What happened? Read on.
(pic by brewbs)


So fresh from finishing the BEC last week it was out again on the bike and a trip up to Dorset for an SCEC event. I had no doubt in my mind that it wasn’t going to be a 22 mile lap at this event!

Up before the crack of dawn for an early meet near Liskeard with Andrew Smith and Phil. We all traveled up together in my van and got to Inside Park with plenty of time to spare, in fact, well over 2 hours, could have had an extra hour in bed!

The good thing was, there was a strong group of riders all from Cornwall who made the trip up there and 3 of our vans were all parked next to each other, so we all had a good chat. Jack Twenty man, Tim Lewis, Dave ‘Butch’, as well as my motley crew, and also Steve Jose who was marshaling for the day.

Upon signing on I got to met ‘Brookster’ one of the guys off of the adrenaline trip forum. Nice chap, good rider as well! Also Had a quick chat with Jed and Arthur who’d also traveled up from my neck of the woods. Bloody hell, the place was crawling with us, there was also a couple of champ riders from Cornwall entered, perhaps we should have hired a coach, put the bikes in the back and had a party on the way on the way home!

Onto the start then, very very cramped indeed on the clubman start, hardly not enough room to line up and I was sort of behind the 2 bikes either side of me, so no chance of making a good one. In fact, I couldn’t even see the flag where I was because the starter was slightly out of view round the corner! So I was sat there looking at my watch on my bars thinking I’ve got another 20 secs or so to go before the flags drops, when all of a sudden, everyone kicks their bikes into action. And we’re off! Oh b*llocks, I ain’t even put my goggles on yet. I just instantly kicked her over and off I went. The first couple of hundred metres or so was a bit of a moto x track before we entered a single track wooded section that would have been tight enough to ride a pushbike through, let alone a motorbike. This instantly caused the inevitable hold ups and with the start I had, I could do nothing but queue up and wait in order to carry on. So frustrating that when everyone’s pumped full of adrenaline on their 1st lap and you get a part of the track within a minute of the race starting that causes traffic jams.

When you got through that first tight section the course then went into the forest proper and with track conditions being extremely dry, it made for a very fast race today. Nothing really worth noting about the track, just miles of forest trails, the usual really, nothing technical at all, and not many roots either. I reckon about 7 miles in length, very easy to ride and enjoyable. Just before the end of the lap you did get the chance to try your luck by going over a huge fallen tree or taking the easy root and going round it. It didn’t cause me any problems, so over it I went.

Due to getting held up a bit on my start ,I came round at the end of lap one in about 15th (looking at the lap times), so about mid pack, but with no adverse track or weather conditions to hold anybody up, it was going to be a bit of a job catching riders up and passing them.
After last weeks race and with my confidence up, I was going really well, I felt really good and the ‘gasser’ was singing all the way round the course, happy days!

About 1 ½ hours into the race my clutch started to play up and the lever wouldn’t release itself properly from the master cylinder, so when I used it, I had to wait a minute or two in order for the pressure to came back and the lever to right itself before I could use it again! Not good, and everytime I came round to the lap scoring to stop and swipe my transponder, the bike just stalled and i had to put it in neutral, fire her up again and wait for my clutch to come back before I could set off again! Right pain in the arse that was, so I tried not use the clutch too much before I reached lap scoring!

I pitted just after the 2 hour mark still going well (albeit with a dodgy clutch) and kept the pace up hoping to catch some riders in my class.
By the time my last lap came I was on a roll and I felt I was really going for it (my last lap was my fastest) and I managed to catch and pass a few riders in my class which just goes to show, ’it ain’t over till the fat lady sings’. I felt really good about that, after all, I’d been chasing them for 3 hours or more! Finished up 7th in the end.

A good day, no ’offs’, mishaps or damage, that makes a bloody change, and for the first time I beat Andy Smith who came up with me. He’s not gonna be happy about that I can tell you.

Turns out now that when I hit a tree at the Muntjac last week I’d damaged the clutch master cylinder somehow, so time to get that fixed me thinks.

Finishing position: 7/27 (clubman E1)

Muntjac enduro- 22nd February 2009

A trip up to my sisters place at Reading for a overnight stay on the Saturday night was the schedule, before heading off early Sunday morning for the drive to Suffolk and the Muntjac enduro.

In the name of ‘brotherly love’, Christine (big sis) decided that she wanted to come along and give us a hand and see what the British champs are all about. I know what your thinking, what a ’tart’ I am having to bring along my sister along to hold my hand, but hold your horses, this is no ordinary ’run of the mill’ family member. This lady owns a brand new CBR Honda 500 RR! She’s a biker, even it is one of the ‘knee down tarmac huggers’, which means that we’re always at each others throats about dirt biking versus road riding. And I suspect she’s gone faster on a motorbike than 99% of you who read this blog, how does 140mph sound? Apparently she told me that she shut off when she reached that speed because the wind got a bit ’blustery’.

Anyway, moving on, left at 4.30 am on Sunday morning, had a good journey up and arrived at Thetford forest where the champs were being held. Well, that’s not exactly the case really, you see, on my way up I stopped at Morrisons to get fuel and bought 5 bars of snickers for a quid (£1 to you and me), full size bars they were too as they were on special offer, so I couldn’t resist it. So I put them in my racksack and put that on the floor of the transit on the passenger side. Without me knowing, my dozy sister put the heater in the van on full blast and set the controls to fan the hot air downwards to warm up her feet. Of course my rucksack was on the floor of the van as well wasn’t it? Yes, with 5 bars of Snickers in there. So, when we arrived at the Muntjac, I fancied a bar of chocolate and went to pick up my bag which was red hot. The chocolate bars had completely gone to ‘mush’ after being stuck under the heater for about 2 hours. When I opened one of them, It looked like something that had come out of your rear after having a curry the night before. Although fair play to her, she did offer me some of her Dairy milk bar, but I told her to stick it!
Moving on, the weather was on our side, a nice day, no wind, overcast and quite mild, ideal conditions. There was ample parking and we were only parked yards away from the whole ’shebang’, not much walking to do at all, makes change does that. I got signed on and collected my time card eager to see what kind of time schedule us clubman were to stick too.
Bloody nora entered my head (or words to that effect)

1st lap, 22 miles, 73 mins
2nd lap, 22 miles, 71 mins
3rd lap, 19 miles, 51 mins
4th lap, 19 miles, 45 mins

How on earth am I going to do that lot and stay on time? Still I thought, this is the British championships and it ain’t for the faint hearted, so why should they make things easy? just get out there and stop sniffling about it. So I did!

Onto the start then, everybody was there, it was like a ’who’s who’ in the enduro world as the champ and expert riders went away first. I believe it or not was to be the 1st clubman away, so that meant that I had all the rest of the clubman (E1,E2,E3) and all of the vets behind me starting at 1 minute intervals, so I expected half on them to catch me up and pass me every lap, after all, there’s some bloody good riders in amongst that lot with a lot more experience than me.

So there I was, dosed up on painkillers from the ‘doc’ for my shoulder (which seem to work only when they want too) and full of anticipation sitting patiently for the clock to tick over to 9.23am, so I could fire the bike up and ride my 1st BEC. My time arrived and I kicked her over, nothing, again I kicked her, nothing, kept kicking her over, nothing, nothing, nothing! Oh b*llocks, flooded it! I quickly wheeled her off the line in embarrassment and took a look down at the engine (doesn’t everyone?). I kept on kicking and thought about changing the plug when, brrring-a-ding-ding, you beauty, and I was on my way, albeit 2 mins late.

Now then, I can’t possibly describe 22 miles of track because I haven’t got a photographic memory, but I will say that there was no rest bite, and it seemed ‘endless’.
Lots and lots of tight, twisting, single track forest trails, sometimes the trees were inches from either side of the handlebars. Nothing too technical at all which surprised me, but you were always on the go and even the fire roads were bumpy, so you couldn’t even relax at all on those and take a rest. With the times being extremely tough and ultra tight to ‘clean’, you really were pushing and pushing on every single mile that you rode along trying to make it back and not lose time. One section was very demanding, it was about 3-4 miles from the end of the lap and consisted of whoop after whoop after whoop after whoop, at least a mile in length, right parallel to a railway line. In this particular section you really had to judge your pace just right and try and float over them, otherwise you’d be bucking and rearing and fighting the bike and either ending up on your arse or over the bars. Basically I just hung on for dear life!

The special test on my 1st lap didn’t go well at all. I was trying much too hard with all the adrenaline pumping around inside me and made a right ‘hash’ of it in some places as I was slipping and sliding all over the place trying to go quick. The test itself was basically a motocross track with trees around it, simple as that. I reckon it was about 2 ½ - 3 miles long.

I came in on my 1st lap with 1 min to spare and was pleased to see Trevor Pengelly there to help me. He’d travelled up with Jack Twenty man (3rd in vets) who was also riding (we all live near each other down in Cornwall), so he decided to come over and get me out back on the course ASAP as he knew I tight on time.

Lap 2 went ok, apart from that special test again, I did go faster this time, but I just felt it wasn’t the best I could have rode it. The rest of the lap went good, no offs and I just kept trying to keep my pace up because I knew this lap I had to be faster by 2 mins to keep on time. I arrived back at the pits to re-fuel with 1 min to go, so far so good and I was on time!

Now then, the 3rd lap, and this one was 3 miles shorter but was supposed to be 20 mins faster! I knew this lap would sort a lot of people out due to the length of the lap and the time given to us to complete it. It was on this lap along that mile long ‘whoopy’ section that the champ riders passed me (they had to do 120 miles of riding!), Knight, Bolter, Edmonson, Wakely, to name but a few, and my god I’ve never seen anything like it. They were just following each other in Indian file at such a terrific speed that it made me look like I was standing still. It was absolutely awesome watching them pass me on such a tricky section of the course with such speed and bike control, I’ll remember that for a long time to come. They were going so fast I had a job to see their numbers on the side of their bikes!
I came at the end of this lap about 8-10 mins down on time.

So onto the last lap I went and only another 19 miles to go! This lap was supposed to be faster still and we only had 45 mins in which to do it in. I tried, I really did try, but by now a bit of fatigue had started to creep in and I started to make a few small mistakes. At about halfway I smacked into a tree and bloody well crushed my 1st finger, ouch! 5 mins later and as I was accelerating out of a corner another tree jumped straight out in front of me and I hit it full on, which in turn snapped my front mudguard clean off (that mudguards fairly new as well!). So now I had to ride a bike that resembled an American ‘flat tracker’, not the first time I’ve done it, and probably won’t be the last.
I went on to finish about 22-24 mins overtime.

Interesting to see that not one clubman in the whole of E1,E2,E3, actually stayed on time, so that just goes to show how tight the times were.

Was it worth all the expense and the 760 mile round trip? You bet it was, and I can’t wait to do another one!

A nice gesture too from Thor motorcycles who supplied me with a huge box of spares for the event just in case i needed anything. Next time i'll ask them to throw a front mudguard in as well!

Finishing position: 27/37 (clubman E1)

Bike status: new mudgaurd

Old injuries never die- 18th February 2009

And even if they do, they come back to haunt you!

I injured my right shoulder about a year and half ago when i had a tasty 'off'' when racing. It took a while to mend, but it did get better, and up until now it's been fine.
A couple of weeks ago while out practising, i fell on the same shoulder and jarred it, and thought nothing of it. It did give me a bit of pain before last weeks race, but nothing to worry about, so i again, i thought nothing of it.

After racing on sunday i felt the shoulder had got worse, and sunday evening was a 'bit of job' trying to get some kip. This week hasn't been good and at times it's been really painful and theres no way in the world that i'd be able to race with it. I can't even go running to keep up the fitness, because if i swing the shoulder at all, it kills me. In fact, several times this week i haven't even been able to lift a saucepan out of the cupboard. Mind you, thats not a bad thing because that means the girlfriend has to do all the cooking!

With the BEC round coming up this sunday and with 80-90 miles of riding to do, i had to go and see the doctor and basically do a 'cry for help'.
I explained about the British champs race coming up and could you please give me the strongest pain killers you've got to get me through it!
Luckily the doctor was as good as gold (must have been an off road fan) and prescribed me 2 different lots of tablets to take. With the paracetamol as well i'm taking, i'm on 9 to 10 tablets a day at the moment. Lets hope i don't addicted to them all!

The worrying thing is that with so much racing coming up for me, it's not going to get any rest and the 'doc' has advised me that i might have to have a steroid (cortisone) injection into the shoulder joint to heal it properly.

Looks like i'm going to have to take 'one race at a time' at the moment and hope for the best.

Hethfelton forest- 15th February 2009

With the Midwest series race being cancelled, I managed to get a late entry into the Dorset police mcc enduro.

(pic by brewbs)

Adam Blake was also riding there in the expert class, so I picked him up about 7ish, and traveled up to Dorset.
The day was overcast, dry and quite mild, perfect conditions for a race. Got signed on, done all the usual and made our way to the start and waited for the off.

A nice big wide open field was the start area, so plenty of room for everyone to sort themselves out before entering the woods.
The flag dropped and off we went, I was about mid pack as we went into the woods. What was about to happen was my 1st ‘schoolboy error’ and I was left cursing myself with a vast amount of expletives under my breath! After only a couple of minutes riding through the tight, single track wooded trails, my front brake began to ‘die’ on me. I kept pumping the lever hoping the pressure would come back but it didn’t, so I had to stop and check what the hell was going on. I’d just fitted some new handgaurds and silly me, I forgot to tighten the bracket back up on the brake lever/master cylinder, so the thing was hanging off and flapping about! So, I made my merry way albeit with just a back brake back to the pits, got a spanner and tightened it up again. Safe to say, most of my class had passed me now as it was only the 1st lap.

What happened next was a Victor Meldrew ‘I don’t believe it’ moment. Fired up after that little escapade and eager to make up lost ground, I darted out of the pits and went to swipe my transponder on the electronic lap scoring box only to find out that I wasn’t even wearing it. At first I thought that it had come off my wrist, but after doing a quick think, I realized that I’d left it back in the van! If I swore a lot at myself after the brake lever incident, then times that by ten, I was fuming! (can’t write on here what I called myself).
I asked the lap scorers to just take my number as I came through every lap, but obviously they couldn’t as everyone’s data lap by lap had to be done electronically, fair enough I didn’t argue, so I parked the bike up and went back to van to get it. I finally managed to start my 2nd lap already 13-14 mins down on the clubman class, plum bloody last.

The course itself was very tight in places with virtually no overtaking room at all. A lot of single track forest trails, a small sandy section, a couple of small climbs, a nice little bog, a few fire roads to have a blast, and several logs to clamber over in different places, which made for a bit of variety. Quite a fast course I thought, with nothing too technical to slow you down, apart from getting stuck behind someone!
One of the log sections that was on the course resembled a sort of small equestrian obstacle, I think it was 2 or 3 logs stacked on top of each other, which for me provided great fun trying to get over it! With a small crowd awaiting for riders like me to have a go and fail dismally, I didn’t disappoint and finally managed to clamber over it at the 3rd attempt (oh I wish I was an expert rider), needless to say I took the easy option after that and went round it every lap!

With what had happened earlier on, I really didn’t have a clue where I was but I kept on plugging away, but I knew with it being easy going and fast, I’d have my job cut out to make up for the lost time.
Things were going well though and I felt that I went at a good pace and with no ‘offs’ to report I felt I was doing ok.
I pitted just after the 2 hour mark and picked up the pace (my fastest laps were the 2 out of the last 3) and finished the race strong, but a pit ‘peed’ off with myself after the earlier shenanigans.

Me and Adam (he finished 7th in the experts) went back to at the end to see the results and met up with Mark and Richard Tucker and had a quick chat before heading home.
Well, that was the plan, but Jack Twentyman who rode in the champ class today and was from our neck of the woods, rung me and we decided to meet up for a pint on the way back at some pub off the A30. It was nice to hear some stories from Jack about past events that he’d done. He’s been riding at the top level for quite a while and even now being the other side of 40, he’s still out there giving it some! Great stuff.

Today they had me down as finishing 5th on 9 laps, but I’d actually only done 8. I think the confusion happened because they scanned my transponder twice to make sure it was working when I got back from picking it up from the van after I told the lap scorers what had happened!

Finishing position: 14/26 (clubman 2st)

Next week, the 1st round of the BEC in Norfolk!

Stolen bike

Someone i know had their bike nicked recently by some theiving scumbags.
Here's the details, keep your eyes open everybody because there can't be that many Husky 125's about.


Husky WR125 Frame No ZCG2H00AA5V003447 engine No 2HA501305 Stolen from Bradley Stoke Bristol On night of 11/12th Feb 2005 WR in Yellow/blue with a 2C pipe. Missing upper RH rad cover and bits on rad to bolt it to and has a weld repaired lh crankcase where the chain snapped. Bastards cut through the brake pipes on my car to move it from the garage door and must have cut through the rh side of the subframe as the lock is still in place.This follows an attempted break in on Saturday where they broke the garage window - I'm told (now) that it's a way to see if alarms are working - wish I new that before.Any info please tel Pete Boyles on 07803 147603 or Avon and Somerset Police. Cheers.

Out in the snow!- 8th February 2009

I was due to ride the Track n trail event today and travel up there with Adam Blake, who was also going to ride, but as everyone knows with the country in a state of ‘lets see who can build the best snowman’, they were forced to cancel, bloody weather again!

So, Adam suggested that with got off our arses and got the bikes out and went to do some green laning on the roads, tracks and trails around Bodmin moor.
After a short 20 minute drive I met up with Adam, then I followed him in for about another 10 minutes through some icy, snow covered lanes ending up in what seemed to be ’the middle of nowhere’ before we stopped and unloaded the vans and got ready for some riding.
A couple of riders on trials bikes were there as we turned up, nice to know we’re not the only ones that were mad enough to ride in the conditions!

The snow covered peaks of the moor and surrounding area looked like a image from a catalogue advertising skiing holidays, but nevertheless I was looking forward to the challenge of riding in the white stuff.
Off we set then, and it wasn’t long before we came across an icy covered silty bog on one of the trails which I managed to plant myself in! I over balanced and put my right arm right through the ice and up to the elbow to stop myself falling in and then promptly stood on my right leg to stand up which also went through the ice and past my knee, sh*t it was cold! After only 10 mins my right side was plastered in freezing cold silt and instantly my right hand started to go numb, great start!

Next it was onto some seriously steep hills and climbs that were both rutted and slippery. Adam being the expert class rider that he is, showed me how it’s done, easy I thought, not a chance in hell as I came off time and time again. Once I finally mastered one, it was onto another where I done exactly the same thing, came off, got back on, and had another go until I made it to the top, then moved on to another, great fun and good training!
Sometimes I’d just ‘throw’ the bike up to the top if I knew I wasn’t going to make the last few yards, then go back down and have another go, that way at least the bike was there waiting for you so you could just kick her over and be on your way again without dragging the thing all the way back down the hill!

Adam did a classic (I was I had my camera on me), right near the top of a really steep climb he ‘flipped it’ and went on his arse with the bike landing upside down and coming to rest on it’s handlebars and saddle with both wheels pointing towards the sky. Just goes to show, even the experts have fun as well!

After a couple of hours of ‘throwing’ myself around on the snow covered ground, and getting freezing cold and wet, we both decided to make our way back to the vans on yet more slippery roads and trails and call it a day.

Warren heath- 1st February 2009

I’ve now got the luxury of a good old transit van to cart my bike around in. I can now actually stand up inside the van to get changed and don’t have to tow my bike in freezing conditions and pouring rain, beats the smaller van I use for gigging hands down, nice!

So, new transit (even though it’s actually years old so to speak), the bike and all the gear in the back, and of course not forgetting that all important plank of wood that everyone else seems to use to wheel the bike into the back of the van, and I set off for my journey on the Saturday for an overnight stay at my Sisters place in Newbury. Reason being, it’s only about a 45 minute drive to the event from there, much better than getting up at an hour when the bats are still flying about and then driving for 3 ½ hours!

Sunday dawned and it was off to Warren heath to enter a timecard event run by Whitley mcc. I was just looking on the net a couple of weeks ago and I fancied doing this one, and with nothing down my way, I was up for going further a field, something which I’m going to do a bit more of this year.

Freezing conditions greeted us with a cold Siberian type wind rattling itself across the large parking area, ‘tin ribs’ me got froze just signing on and pushing my bike to the start, whets new?
6 laps was the order of the day with 2 special tests thrown in for good measure. Laps 1,3 5 were big loops of about 8-9 miles and laps 2,4,6 were smaller loops of about 5 miles, good idea that I thought and it certainly utilized most of the forest that we rode on.

Onto the start itself and at 10.21 and in a group of 4, we set off on the 1st lap. Well, not exactly, because I kicked my bike over about 20 times and nothing happened! What the f*ck is going on here then as I was left on the start line with everyone looking (rather embarrassing when you got a family member watching). I quickly wheeled the bike out of the time check and onto the side of the track. After checking a few things and about 10 kicks later, she fired no up problem, and off I went. (god knows what happened there).

Out into the forest we went and it wasn’t long before we hit the 1st of a few bogs, no problem there, the little ‘gasser’ sailed straight through it. More forest trails followed, but with the cold conditions we were riding in, not for the first time, my hands started to go numb and before I knew it, I had to stop for 5 minutes to get warmed up. I didn’t know the course at all and after stupidly getting stuck on a small hill, I was wondering weather I would make the 1st lap on time.
Some of the forest trails were tight, in fact they were so tight that all you had in front of you was a 6 inch wide tyre track to follow while your hands were brushing against the small pine/fur trees that were either side of you! The track continued to meander up and down through the woods with a few nice little bogs thrown in, some of which just got deeper and deeper as the race went on and getting through them became quite a challenge. If you picked the wrong line, you got stuck in a load of black ’snot’, simple as that.

A few nice deep muddy puddles and ruts (that seem to go forever), a couple of fire roads and that was basically the big loop. Too long to describe bit by bit!

I made it back to the check with plenty of time in hand.
On the start of my 2nd lap I did my 1st special test and I really went well, I was well pleased. I was riding with full of confidence and the bike was going like a ‘good un’.
The smaller loop that I was now on only had a 30 minute time allocation, but with only really a couple of rutted gloopy sections, there wasn’t anything to worry about and I made it back easily with time to spare.

I stuck a bit of fuel in and went out on my third lap, the big loop again. This time the bogs had got churned up some more and I got stuck in a seemingly bottomless boggy rut. Didn’t waste much time there, I quickly hauled the back wheel out, then the front, and I was on my way within a minute or two. I made it back by the end of that lap with time to spare as well. Things were looking good!

Onto my 4th lap and another special test. I rode even better round the test this time (7 secs better than the first one) even though I did scare myself a few times whilst doing it, and then went on to complete another lap well inside the time.

I was well pleased as I started my 5th lap on how things were going, I felt good and I hadn’t lost any time on the checks and both the special tests had gone well. With about 10-15 mins to go whilst riding through a 100 yard long boggy bit, my back wheel suddenly sunk and I ground to a halt. No problem I thought, so I just hauled the back wheel out, picked up the front and kicked her over. I let out the clutch and she stalled. I fired her up again and give her loads more revs, let out the clutch, and she stalled instantly. Strange I thought, why ain’t I moving? I took a look down thinking something had got caught up in my back wheel. I couldn’t believe it as I saw that my chain had ‘thrown’ itself and was jammed between my front sprocket and my gear lever, 3 links stacked on top of each other and all ‘munched up‘, stuck solid! (see pic).

I tried in vain to pull it and free it, but after about 10 mins of huff and puff I knew that my race had been run, it just wouldn’t budge, gutted!
So there I was, in the middle of some forest and going nowhere. I heaved the bike up to a tree and parked it there, took off my helmet and walked back through the bog and waited on a fire road for some marshals to hopefully come along. Luckily for me and 5 mins later, two traveling marshals came to my rescue. They couldn’t free the chain either, so we hitched up a rope, and I got towed back to the van (thanks guys). I handed in my card, got packed up and headed home.

This was my first DNF since September 2006. Not a bad record eh?
Looking back at the results I would have came 2nd in E1 today.

Never mind, that’s racing!

Finishing position: DNF
Bike status: new chain, new sprockets.

Greymare- 25th January 2009

Greymare just a 25 minute drive from home, lovely!

A typical Overcast chilly January day greeted us all for this one, almost perfect enduro weather. With the rain we had all week I knew it was going to be a wet one, I wasn’t disappointed!
Had a quick chat with Francis Banfield soon after I arrived, he’d been out on the working party on the course the day before and promptly told me the track was, um, tricky to day the least!
The queue for scrutineering was like the lost baggage department at Heathrow terminal 5! Debbie tucker came over for a chat and I also had a chat to Jamie paget who was behind us in the now lengthy queue. After this it was down the hill to the start to get the bike parked up ready for the off.

Onto the start itself then, I didn’t make a bad one, probably top ten as we entered the woods but got passed by a few as I promptly got stuck on a root! Soon after the first mile things began to get very interesting indeed. The woods and roots were very slippery indeed and with a trials tyre only allowed on the back wheel, throttle control was at a premium. The hills were a nightmare and you can always tell that things are going to be tough when you’ve got 4 or 5 marshals standing there to help you just in case. One slope in particular was to test even the most skillful of riders, being about quarter of a mile long and as slippery as you could possibly imagine with grip being almost non existent, you just had to ’pin it’ and hope for the best, and that was only about 15 mins into the lap!

Some of the small hills In the woods although not technical, proved out to be tricky as well, as the low winter sun shone straight into your eyes and you simply couldn’t see where you were going, again you just had to twist the throttle and hope you was going in the right direction.
The only way of a rest bite came with a couple of fire roads mixed into the course, but they only lasted a few hundred yards at most, so not much rest at all really!

Due to extremely soft conditions the long slog back up to the lap scoring seemed like an eternity to get to the top and most of the way I was ‘paddling’ in order not to come off to get to the top.
A tough enduro course in the conditions, about 8 to 9 miles long
With about 1 ½ hours on the clock riders were beginning to take a rest already by the side of the course as the tough conditions began to take there toll on rider and machine. Some of the ruts in the woods were now ‘up to the saddle’ and the rooty hills were becoming a battle to get to the top.

With about 2hrs 15 mins gone in the race and I pitted with Steve Tizzard there to give us a hand. I thought I could get another 2 laps in before the clock ran out, I knew it would be tight with the long laps and the state of the track, but I went for it.
I think my last lap turned out to be my slowest due a couple of ‘offs’ and simply being ‘cream crackerd’ due to the amount of effort that I’d spent during the race. I was really pushing it on one of the fire roads when before I could say ‘oh b*llocks‘, I went down like a sack of (you know what) as my front wheel went away from me and I hit the deck pretty hard. I got up and made sure I was ok and more importantly I hadn’t broken a brake/clutch or gear lever on the bike (which is my favorite game at the moment), and carried on. That crash ultimately cost me another lap as I came in frustratingly 1 min overtime. Aaaaargh!

If there had been a rock section and some tractor tyres as obstacles added to the course, then this event would not have been far off an extreme one! It really was tough going today as the results show, over a third of the field retiring or DNF’ing for some reason or another.

Being a local event I spoke to a lot of riders after, Andrew Smith, Mark Tucker, Colin George, Francis Banfield, Adam Blake, Jed Treleaven, Arthur Johnson, Rich Tucker, Jack Twentyman, everyone of them thought it was hard today, not just me then!
A round of applause again to Camel Vale mcc, No matter what the conditions, they always put on a good well organized event.

Finishing position: 8/25 (clubman E1)

Practice- 18th January 2009

I was looking for a place this week to get some bike time in and do a bit of practicing.
There was a couple of options open, one being the moto x track at Cheddar and the other at Rogershill raceway.

The plan was to travel up and meet Mark Tucker at one of the venues so we could both have a good day out riding and i would try my best to keep up with him!!!

Sods law then as on Saturday night And after us both doing a bit of homework, we found out that both practice sessions at both tracks had been cancelled, yes, you guessed it, because of the weather!
Luckily for me, Mark had a plan 'B'!

So come Sunday morning i set off for the drive up to Devon to the Tuckers residence. A quick coffee and a chat with Debbie and their son Richard (who'd just come back from riding in The Tough One!) and we set off for another drive to some private woods for some practice.

The weather had broken for us and we were greeted by lovely sunshine when we arrived.
With us being the only 2 there, we had the woods at our mercy.
Got changed, fired up the bikes and followed Mark around for a sighting lap.
A nice little course it was too, only about 3 miles long, but loads of roots, a couple of steep hills, some slippery fire roads, and a nice little water crossing thrown in as well.

That was it then, and the next time i saw him was after a couple of laps when he blasted past me in the woods on his RM 250 'Eddy' replica to lap me!! I did try to hang on to his tail pipe, but that only lasted for about 100 yds! (well he is in the champ/expert class, the bugger)

After a couple of hours on the bikes we called it a day and headed back for a coffee and a chat before i headed back home.

Thanks to Mark and Debbie for their hospitality and enjoyable day.

I seem to be on a bit of a 'crusade' at the moment and i hope to riding for the next 5 weeks consecutively! All over the place as well, Bloody mad or what?

Working party- 11th January 2009

With the first SW round coming up in a few weeks time down here in Cornwall, i went along with some members of Camel Vale mcc to help prepare the course.
It was nice to hear some stories from 'the old days' about past enduro's from the 2 'old stalwarts' Mike & John!! (alright, not so much of the old then).

No race at the moment next week but i'm hoping to find somewhere to ride.

Smeartharpe- 4th January 2009

I’ve now got a break from gigging for a few months so I can get some early nights on a Friday and Saturday, so hopefully I won’t wake up feeling knackerd when I go racing on a Sunday!

Not too bad a drive today as Honiton was only a couple of hours away. It was a cold and chilly morning again when I set off and the further I got towards Smeartharpe the more the temperature dropped. When I arrived the minus figure was showing on the temp gauge, -1, oh b*llocks, memories of the SCEC event at Somerley park a month ago came flooding back to me!!
Mind you, it was nice to have the luxury to park on concrete instead of being marooned in the middle of a muddy field!

Done all the necessary and went to line up for the sighting lap shortly afterwards. A big field it was too, all the clubman mixed in together, 2 & 4 stroke, big and small, and everybody keen to brave the cold snap and start the new year with decent run out.
It clear that when on the sighting lap that things were going to be very tricky indeed, with the rutted fields frozen and the roots in the woods being frozen as well. Parts of the course were ok and the MX track was fine, but the pieces of the course that were affected by the cold conditions were lethal (as I found out).

So onto the start itself then, I made quite a good one as we sped off round the MX track before going into a field that had the frozen ruts in it. I took it easy on these as both my wheels were sliding all over the place before we headed into the woods.
Now I don’t mind roots, that’s part of enduro’s, but when their frozen, that’s a different ball game, especially when your fully charged with adrenaline on your 1st lap! The wooded section was typical enduro stuff with some tight twists and turns, a couple of tricky steep hills, a long 3ft deep rut about 50 mtrs long running through the middle of it (that got deeper and deeper as the race went on) and a few rocks/ boulders that we had to go over thrown in for good measure. After this little lot, it was back out along a frozen concrete road, across some yet more frozen rutted fields and then finally returning to the MX track where you could open her up a bit and practice your jump skills!
A lot of variety and quite a good little course probably about 5-6 miles in length.

Trying not to go too mad and get used to the icy conditions I had a little ‘off’ as my front wheel just slid away from me on a frozen rut. I picked up the bike only to start swearing and cursing as I found out to my expense that I’d bloody well broke my clutch lever! 1st lap as well!
Luckily I wasn’t too far from the pits, so I crawled back in 1st gear and surveyed the damage. Sure enough I couldn’t continue so it was back to the van to fit a spare one.
After the re-fit it was back to the pits to drop my stuff back off, it was then that I noticed that some riders were already just coming in to finish their 2nd lap and I hadn’t even completed my first one yet, I went back out onto the MX track to complete my 1st lap stone bloody last out of the entire field!!!

Things picked up somewhat after that episode and even though the conditions weren’t getting much better I was going quite well and passing riders who were beginning to ‘flag’ due to tricky state of course which was harder work in the circumstances more than normal.
I did have another couple of little ‘offs’ but all at a very slow speed due to just slipping on the icy bits. I did manage to bend my clutch lever, good job it didn’t break again as I’d of been out of the race this time. Perhaps I should carry 2 lots of spares of everything!

After I pitted for fuel I nearly t-boned a guy across one of the fields who’d spun round like a doughnut and came straight across me. Luckily for both of us i just managed to skid past him and avoid a collision, could have been a nasty that one.

The last couple of laps I did see a lot of riders taking a breather in the woods as the course had taken it’s toll on a few of them. I didn’t feel too bad and kept on going to the finish at probably the same pace that I was at 2 hours earlier.

The last 3 out of 4 races have seen me wasting quite a bit of time due to various escapades that have gone on, and although I’ve been going well with the new bike, I am a bit ‘peed’ off as I could have some higher placings than what I’ve had.
Still, At least I’ve manage to get a finish in all of them so I’ll look on the bright side!

Finishing position: 22/50 (clubman)

Bike status: new clutch lever

End of year thoughts- 2008

Yes, It’s that time of the year again when I look back and reflect on what’s gone on in the last 12 months.

I say things as I see it and there’s no point in hiding anything away, weather that be good or bad, after all, in years to come when I look back on this blog and read about it, I want to know exactly what went on, ‘warts an all’!!!

So after spending the 1st year and a half in the bottom tier of racing, it was time to move onwards and upwards and try to better myself and make the short journey up to Clubman class for 2008.
Now then, if you’re a parent you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about when the saying ‘sleepless nights’ spring to mind! I’m not going to beat about the bush here, but being a dad for the 1st time seriously affected my racing! In fact, it bloody well effects everything!
When you’re used to being a ‘bit of a lad’ and the lifestyle that goes with it and you decide to start a family and have a ‘little un’, all hell brakes loose and it kind of takes over your life and everything falls by the wayside. Not easy to come to terms with I can tell you!

For that reason I only did a handful of races for the first 8 months of the year and consequently because I couldn’t do much running either through being knackered all the time, my fitness levels dropped rapidly. I’ve always been one for keeping in shape and this without a doubt has made up for the lack of biking skills in some races simply due to the fact that I’ve kept going when others have pulled out. So bearing that in mind, I wasn’t exactly in the right mind to do a lot of racing anyway.
When I did race I really struggled, up in class, not fit and knackered, not a good combination, not if you’re the wrong side of 40 anyway!

When things began to settle down a bit I decided to lay the TM to rest and try a different bike, so I treated myself to a new Gas Gas. A change is as good as a rest so they say and just as I fell in love with the TM (still got it) I’ve also fallen in love with the little gasser as well, and for the first time in my life, I’ve actually got a brand new motorbike, ‘lovely jubbly’ as Del would say!
I love riding it and if she gives me the same reliability as the previous bike, I’ll be over the moon.

My ‘season’ didn’t really start until October and I tried to cram as many events in until the end of the year as I could to get used to the new bike and to try and make up for lost ‘bike’ time. It was a bit of a shame that a few events towards the end of the year were cancelled as I would have done more riding.
One thing that always impresses me is the camaraderie and friendliness at enduro events. I’ve met an awful lot of decent folk again this year at the meetings and it’s always nice to have a chat to someone that you’ve parked next too in a field in the middle of nowhere and who you haven’t met before after traveling for 3 hours and strike up a conversation!!
You don’t get that at your local Tesco or Sainsbury’s do ya?

So into 2009 we go and I hope to ride as much as I possibly can concentrating on the SW champ rounds with some TnT and SCEC, Xmoor EC, as well as a few others for good measure.

Don’t forget, if you see us at a meeting, come up and say hello or nice words to that effect please!

Cancelled- 30th December 2008

Yes another event cancelled, this time due to lack of entrys.

Lets hope sundays race gets the ok.

Happy new year everyone.

A quick spin- 21st December 2008

No race today so i took the Gasser out for a spin around Wadebridge to give her a quick blast.

I was going to go for a nice long run today (as in running with your legs, not a long run on the bike!) but i injured my right heel on last weeks race so i couldn't do much.

Next event I've entered is 30th December, so lets hope that one ain't cancelled because of the weather!

Have a good christmas everyone.

Grogley- 14th December 2008

After the last 2 events when things haven’t exactly gone my way, I was hoping for something incident free this week!

Grogley, just 10 mins down the road from where I live, nice one. The weather had been kind to us and although a little chilly, it was a still dry calm day, perfect for a winter enduro. The event was held on forestry land and it took a good couple of miles from entering the gates at the bottom before we reached the parking right at the top of the forest overlooking half of Cornwall! In fact we were so high up I nearly had to break out the oxygen mask.
Upon signing on and getting scrutineerd there was a cracking festive atmosphere and everyone seemed to be in a jolly good spirited mood.

I’d entered the solo 3 ½ race where everyone was in together, Champ, expert, clubman 2t & 4t, and sportsman. Also on the agenda was a father and son race and a 2 man team, and the entry was full in every class.
With this being a local event it was nice to see all the friendly faces to chat too, in fact I spoke to so many people that I got a bit carried away and was a bit tight for time to make the start!

Onto the start itself and we had a ‘Le mans’ get away where we had to run to the bikes to get going. Off we went hurtling along an open fire road before dropping down onto some rutted paddy field and then up again into the woods. Root after root and then more roots and stumps confronted us at every opportunity, in fact there just seemed to be no rest bite at all as your arms were constantly being pumped up and down through the tight twist and turns of the forest. There was a section of about 100 mtrs long that was constant whoops that literally had you bouncing all the way through it like a bloody jack in the box! (quite a few spectators were at this section) Even the fire roads were bumpy and rutted and of course there was a couple of nice slippery ‘rooty’ hills thrown in for good measure as well, one of which was quite steep that caused a few traffic jams with riders getting stuck, this kept the marshals busy!
One way or another, you always going up or down or twisting and turning along the slippery forest floor, and with a trails tyre only allowed on the back, it made things interesting!

After about an hour I was going well and getting into the swing of things and everything was just going along nicely. Another hour up on the clock past, I’d had no ’offs’ so felt really good, so not much to report there then!
I decided to pit just after the 2 ½ hour mark to re-fuel and grab a quick gel bar as well. I came back out at 2hr 40mins, I was lapping at about 25 mins so if I managed to push it and take a minute or two off a lap, I’d be able to get another 3 laps in before time. It was going to be tight, but I went for it. Sods law then happened, when I got round to that hill that was causing problems there was a traffic jam, I made it up half way but just ran into bikes, so I had to go back down and wait for it to clear, oh bugger, typical! Knowing I’d lost a bit of time I pushed on only to have a couple of stupid little offs’.

I past the lap scoring with just over 20 mins to go, so I knew I really had to go like the clappers if I was to get another lap in. I really did try and almost lost it big time banging against the trees a few times, once with my shoulder, and then with my head! Another stupid little ’off’ on a root finally put paid to my chances of another lap and I finished 3 mins over time. Bugger it!
A cracking days sport and as always a testing course which Camel vale mcc are renowned for.

Finishing position: 15/39
Bike status: new front pads, chain, sprocket.

Somerley Park- 7th December 2008

I wasn’t out gigging last night so I had a decent nights kip ready for the early start and long drive up to Ringwood, I felt good and I was up for it!
Set off in sub zero temperatures and nearly 3 ½ hours later arrived in sub zero temperatures as well! Had a few tricky moments on the way up along the A35 where the van decided to go where it wanted because of the ice on the road, so I had to slow down to 90mph just in case. (sorry I meant 30mph).

Arriving at Somerley Park it was nice to see that someone had found an alternative method of parking as the ‘in chains’ team van had planted itself in a ditch at a 45 degree angle at the side of the road! Looked a bit precarious that.
So, I felt good, had a nice drive up, got signed on early, so I had plenty of time. Just as well because what was about to happen was the shape of things to come!

Went to start the bike as you do, to make sure everything’s ok, and low and behold after kicking her over about 50 times to try and start it, the thing had frozen up! Lets be honest about this, had would you feel getting towed for 3 ½ hours in the open on the back of a trailer in -4 degrees, god knows what the wind chill factor was. I changed a few plugs round, checked the fuel pipe, the connections, the spark and still nothing. The carb had simply frozen and I just had to wait until she thawed out a bit. Luckily it did, and after about an hour I kicked her into life, brrrrrring a ding ding, she fired up, I love 2 smokes!
I quickly took her down to start and went back to get changed where I froze my nuts off getting into my riding gear, brrrr, it was cold.

It was even colder sat there on the bike waiting for the flag to drop to get away, don’t know how long we’d been waiting for the start, but it seemed like an eternity and my toes and fingers were almost numb with the cold (not much fat on me you know).
The flag dropped and off we went, didn’t make too bad a start at all and off we went into the woods. Soon after the start came ‘the hill of blindness’ where due to that thing called the sun (remember that?) shining straight into your eyes, you couldn’t see a thing for love nor money and you just had to point the bike somewhere in what you thought was the right direction and ‘pin it’ and hope for the best!
Further on and in the woods there were bogs, deep ruts, nice rooty sections, some small climbs, whoopy straights and a few fire roads where you could have a blast. Tight in places but overall a decent enough course and with the given conditions a bit of a test but not too severe, quite good really, 5-6 miles in total I reckon.

After about only 10 mins of my first lap things weren’t going at all well and I started to lose places rapidly. My left clutch finger and my right hand brake finger just totally gave up on me and I couldn’t operate either of those due to both of them being completely numb because of the freezing cold! My engine was misfiring because the carb wouldn’t work properly, also due to the cold. I managed to get round to the end of the lap and with no alternative, I had to stop, I just couldn’t carry on, no point if you can’t control the bike.
After about 10-15 mins I’d thawed out and was ready to go back out and give it a go. The heat from the engine had also thawed out the carb and when I kicked her over she sounded sweet again, so off I went. As the temperature started to rise I felt ok and things started to flow, thank god for that!

About an hour in and the course was getting pretty cut up in places and a few bikes were getting stuck in some of the bogs up to their saddle, some abandoned, and some riders simply waiting for help to be towed out! You had to be pretty careful picking your lines otherwise you’d get stuck up to your thighs in black peaty sh*t.
Trying to make for lost time I thought it would be a good idea to get cocky and hit a nice big tree stump, which in turn catapulted me to the ground before I even had time to call myself a ‘twat’. Oh dear, my front mudgaurd was in pieces on the floor and my headlight surround was smashed. I got up and carried on (like you do) only now to find that every conceivable bit of gloop I rode through splat up right in my face! My goggles soon became useless and soon I was out of roll-off film.

Another lap on and I pitted for a quick splash and dash and another pair of goggles which again became useless within 10 mins as my face was getting covered in too much crap.
Another lap on and back to the ‘hill of blindness’ and I managed to ride straight up some ones rear as I just couldn’t see where I was going. The bikes that had made it out of the bogs just basically left a space for some one else to get stuck in, and they did, jesus the marshalls were busy!
Even though I couldn’t go full steam due to the mud guard episode, I was doing alright until I came a cropper on rooty climb and fell off into another rider and then another bloke came up trying to find a gap and fell into both of us! 3 of us all tangled up halfway up a bloody hill, great fun! Got going again only to find that my front brake lever was now bent. What else is gonna happen?

Next lap and I had another annoying little off only to get back on the bike and find that now my gear lever had bent round so that I couldn’t change gear anymore! (theres more to come)
With about 30 mins of the race left and only in 1st gear I thought I could get another lap in easy, and I should have, but I got stuck in a bloody 3ft deep rut probably because I didn’t have the speed to get through stuck in 1st, and it took me and another rider (who was also stuck) over 10 mins to get me out. I then returned the compliment and helped him out of his rut. Good bit of team working that.

So in the end I crawled back to the finish quite relieved and glad it was all over as I just didn’t know what was going to happen next.
Thankfully nothing happened on the way home!

Finishing position: 16/25 (clubman E1)
Bike status: New gear lever, new brake lever, new front mud gaurd, new headlight surround.

Thanks to Brewbs for the photo.

Cancelled again- 30th November 2008

No racing again because of the event being cancelled so it was out again with the dog for a 10 mile run.
Gotta try and keep fit, especially at my age!

Cancelled- 23rd November 2008

The meeting i was going to do today was called off and i've just found out that the race i enterd next week has just been cancelled as well!
So rather than do nothing it was on with the running shoes for an 11 mile run to keep my stamina up.
Yes indeed winter has arrived and it wasn't a very enjoyable bit of fitness training today as i had to cope with the wind, rain and hailstones.

Duty calls- 16th November 2008

I was 200 miles away last night at a family party so no chance of doing anything at all today.
I did consider taking the bike up there and entering a race somewhere nearby, but in all honesty after i had a few beers and a late night (well early morning really) i would have been in no fit state to ride around for 3 hours!

Castle park- 9th November 2008

Wow look at that suspension, must have been a heavy landing!

Makes all the difference when you get a good nights kip don’t it? The nipper didn’t wake me up in the middle of the night (just for a change) and I also went to bed early because I wasn’t gigging either, double joy!
So feeling fully refreshed, it was out the door at 6.30am for the 3 hour drive up to castle park.
An overcast day with a cold chilly wind greeted everybody but at least it was dry although a bit squelchy underfoot in places due to the recent rainfall.
So it was off to get scrutineerd, sign on and pick up the transponder. Well, to be honest I waited about 15 mins to get the bike checked and no one was there to check it! Perhaps the guys had gone for a cup of tea or something? Never mind, get it done later I thought, so I went to pick up the transponder. Now this was fun, everybody was walking backwards and forwards through the lap scoring area trying to get the things to work properly! Me included, sometimes the ‘bleep’ would sound (to record you number) and sometimes not. I saw Mark & Richie Tucker there who were also having fun doing the same thing, thankfully it all got sorted in the end.
I missed the sighting lap due to the hold ups with the bike and transponder farce and judging by the riders bikes as they came back from it, it was going to be another muddy one.
Onto the start itself, didn’t make a bad one but got past by a few up the long straight just after the first bend, I should have ‘nailed it’ more!
After a few tight twists and turns across the muddy fields it was onto the 4x4 track that had a few jumps in it and then we entered the woods. One word can describe this section………..RUTS! Yes indeed, it seemed like the things were endless and I knew that this could turn out to be quite a tough race as time went on as riding through them took more out of you after each lap.
Out of the woods we came and it was back out into the fields once more before more woods and more ruts and then finishing the lap back out on the 4x4 track that had a nice little bog situated after a jump that caught some riders out.
The lap was probably about 7-8 miles and I was lapping in about 35-38 mins.
After the 1st lap I knew I was well down in the clubman 2st class but like I said, I thought things would even themselves out later on due to the conditions and sure enough they did as I slowly began to pass riders and after a couple of hours a lot of guys were parked up (presumably knackered) in the wooded sections taking a breather.
One rider I was following on the 4x4 track lost control in front of me and slid down a bank, went straight over the bars and landed in a lovely deep muddy pit. I did quickly stop and asked him if he was ok, he was alright after his ‘you’ve been framed moment’ so off I went again. Must admit, it did look funny, no harmful intentions meant there mate, been there myself a few times!
So, I was plugging on and without any mishaps so far I felt quite good, time was getting on for a decision, and with 30 mins left on the clock as I passed lap scoring, I knew I would be on my last lap as I’d have a job to find 7 or 8 mins more speed a lap in order to get another one in.
Do I pit and make a quick ‘splash and dash’ or stay out and hope the little gasser makes it through to the end? I decided to stay out as the bike has done over 3 hours on one tank (Stonedown forest 19th October) before, but they were short laps and I didn’t take that into consideration, oh dear, what happened next left me fuming with myself!!! The word ‘twat’ springs to mind!
10 mins into the course and she coughed and spluttered and died on me, no problem, onto reserve she went and fired up again, but then it suddenly dawned on me, iv’e got at least another 25 mins of riding, will the reserve last that long? My fears came true when about 15 mins later and in the woods, I ran out of the stuff that the americans call ‘gas‘.
I was livid with myself and now every rider that passed me I kept looking at their numbers to see if they were in the clubman 2st class, and sure enough a few did pass which made me call myself a twat even more!
So I was stuck in the woods and stranded there thinking what to do next. I saw an ambulance in the distance parked up in one of the fields so I left the bike and went over there and begged them for some sort of cannister/bottle or anything so I could put some fuel in. Luckily then gave me an old coke can so I rushed back and started to flag some riders down to give us some fuel.
The 1st guy on a KTM stopped to help, but we could only get his fuel pipe off from the tap end so didn’t really manage to collect much as we couldn’t get the can near it to catch the fuel coming out, it was going everywhere! So off he went.
Another rider stopped on his KTM and we tried in vain for a good 5 mins to pull his fuel pipe off from the carb end, but we couldn’t budge the circlip that holds it on, so I then take off his petrol tank breather pipe and tried siphoning some out, that didn’t work either as the pipe wasn’t long enough but I still managed to get a mouth full of petrol in the process, yak! In the end I said cheers mate, thanks for trying, but had to let him go on his merry way.
3rd time lucky as I flagged another rider to stop and help me on a YZ 250, this time we managed to fill some of the can up, so lobbed it in, kicked her over and fired her up. It was at this point that I realized that when I threw my helmet down in disgust at running out of fuel that I’d broke my goggles, and furthermore because I was such in a rush to get my helmet on again and keep the motor ticking over that I smashed myself in the face with it and promptly cut my nose! Anyway, I was relieved to get going again and took it very easily indeed trying to nurse every little bit of fuel I had out of the tank to make it back home as I was still on reserve. Could anything else go wrong I thought? It bloody well did and as Victor Meldrew would say ‘I don’t believe it’.
With one last jump on the 4x4 track to get over and the little bog that accompanied it on the other side and only about ½ mile from the finsh I ran out of fuel again!
Only this time the engine died on me in the middle of the bog! I couldn’t push her out so yet again I left stranded and only yards from the finish. Someone else was stuck in the bog too on his (I think) Honda crf and he’d run out of fuel as well! As luck would have it he had a drinks bottle and got some petrol off another rider and gave me the bottle after he’d finished with it.
After about 5 more mins I managed to get some more petrol of a bloke who stopped on his GAS GAS and that was enough to get me back and finish.
That last lap took me 1hr 14 mins, that’ll teach me in the future to remember that short laps and I can make it back on reserve if I run out, but long laps? More sure you re-fuel you pillock.
Just when you thought it couldn’t get worse………………………………..................
While I was putting the bike on the trailer the back wheel slipped off the loading ramp and came crashing down on the lighting board (reg plate and tail lights) and smashed it!
Thank god for ‘gaffa’ tape as I managed to piece the thing together again with it so I could get home.
So lets run through that again, I ran out of fuel and threw my helmet down in a kiddies temper and smashed my goggles, I then put my helmet on too hastily and in doing so put a nice cut in the bridge of my nose, I then ran out of fuel a 2nd time and got stuck in a bog, last but not least I managed to smash my trailer board.
A good day? Er………………………I’ve had better.

Finishing position: 15/36 (clubman 2st)

Injuries: Cut nose

It's gotta be done- November 2nd 2008

Yep, it sure has.

Now that i'm back racing again and with no event today, it was out with Sid (my trusted dobermann) for a 10 mile run in order to try and keep my fitness levels up.

Trewint- 26th October 2008

Not much traveling this week as Trewint was only about 20 mins away, nice one!
Now then, this was the race I did last year when I had that tasty ‘off’ and I’m still bearing the scars of it now, so I was hoping not to complete a ‘double’ this time.
With the rain that we’ve had, this was going to be a wet one and sure enough getting into the field just to park proved a challenge in itself, mud, mud and more mud!

Met up and had a chat with fellow ’gasser’ riders, Jed, Arthur and Tim for a quick chat about the conditions and how tricky it could be (how right we were), then back to van it was to get changed. Although it wasn’t raining at the time, the weather was very wintery and to be honest, it was bloody freezing because of the cold biting northerly wind.

It was nice to get going when the flag finally dropped and off we went. I didn’t make too bad a start, about halfway in the pack as we made our way across an off camber hill that had been cut up really badly due to the quad race earlier and was as muddy and as slippery as you can get. Everyone seemed to be tip toeing their way round as we moved into the wooded section.
The woods weren’t too bad, slippery, but rideable, with some nice roots thrown for good measure and a nasty uphill that later was causing carnage with queues forming to get up it!
Out of the woods we came and again the fields we crossed were just filled with mud as far as the eye could see and no matter what gear you were in, the back wheel would just spin like a washing machine on 800rpm trying to find some grip! The off cambers were like riding on ice and you just couldn’t help yourself sliding down to the bottom and then trying to get the bike pointing in the right direction so you could ‘nail’ it and try and find some traction and get going again. Tricky indeed!
The course itself was only about 5 miles or so, but in the conditions, it felt like a lot more, not hard work, but just tricky and I had quite a few little ‘offs’ due to the front wheel sliding away from me.
The longer the race went on that nasty hill in the woods became blocked with riders trying to scramble up it and thanks must go to all those marshals who were working overtime to help clear it. At this point of the course all you could see and hear were screaming engines, lots of smoke and spinning back wheels, lovely combination that!
After last weeks race and going the distance without re-fueling, I knew it wouldn’t be a problem today as this was only 2 ½ hours in duration so that’s exactly what I did and it worked out a treat, even with the heavy going.
As I came round to the clock with 4 mins left, riders were stood there waiting for the time to elapse, not me mate, so off I went to do another lap.
Not a bad day and I do like riding when the conditions are a little bit more tougher than usual, I just think it’s a great leveller.

Now there’s one thing about racing in muddy conditions and that’s 9 times out of 10 you’re probably parked in a muddy field in the middle of nowhere right? And sometimes you might get stuck right? Well, not only did I get stuck, but also about 20 other vans did as well trying to get out of the place!
So it was out with the coffee and a nice friendly chat with a few other stranded mortals before finally being towed out in near darkness by the local farmer.

Finishing position: 7/16 (clubman 2st)

Bike status: ok

Injuries: none

Stonedown forest- 19th October 2008

Early start, up at 4.30am. Out the door at 5.30am to take a 30 min drive to meet Andy Smith at his place as he was going to give us a lift in his van up to Stonedown forest. Andy was riding as well, although he wasn’t looking forward to it as much as me as he was feeling a bit under the weather. Also riding ’shotgun’ was Andy’s mate James who came along to give us a hand.
Off we set then for a 3 hour or more journey ending up somewhere near Salisbury.
I was looking forward to my 2nd race on the new bike, and after that ’marathon’ enduro at Dunmere a couple of weeks ago, I certainly had no doubts about my fitness!
About 10 miles or so from ‘Stonedown’ on the A354, Andy decided to abuse his position of driver of the van with a ’whatever gets in my way, better get out my way’ attitude when a pheasant with ‘no brains’ who looked like it was sightseeing and acting rather clueless, got in the way of the van at 70mph. BANG! With oncoming traffic and cars behind, Andy had no option but to add one more ‘road kill’ to the stats of this country. The funny thing was we could see the thing about ½ mile away and as we got closer we were all thinking, oh no, ‘GET OUT THE WAY YOU STUPID IDIOT’. You should have seen Andy’s face when he hit it, and his white knuckles from gripping onto the steering wheel as he ran over it!
Arrived at Stonedown with plenty of time to spare, but everyone else had ’inside information’ and got there before us as the single track parking left us with a bloody great long hike up to the signing on and pits area. I spoke to Steve Jose the night before who was marshalling at the event who did tell me that might happen, and bugger me it did!
Anyway, after the usual signing on, scrutineering and riders briefing, it was off to the start.
The flag dropped and off we went, I didn’t make too bad a start, probably about halfway but within about 10 mins it seemed I was getting overtaken by everyone! Not surprising really with only 1 race behind me in 4 months! Still, with the nice weather that had blessed us for the day and a brand new bit of machinery underneath me, I was here to enjoy it and that’s what I did.
The course itself didn’t have anything technical to test you, a few roots, some fire roads, a few off cambers, a couple of hills, but with it being ‘bone dry’ the flowing forest trails made it a fast race. Might have been different if it was p*ssing down with rain though but I’m not complaining, it is nice sometimes when the bike goes back home and doesn’t hardly need jet washing! The circuit was about 5 miles in length, so fairly short and with it being dry, I was doing about 15/16 min lap times.
After a few laps I was getting into the swing of things and everything was going splendidly, I was really enjoying it and trying to get used to riding on a faster track. After about 1 ¾ hours I was thinking of pitting, but I took a look down at the tank and thought to myself ’bloody hell, there’s still loads left in there’ and decided to carry on.
After 2 ½ hours and with everything bowling along nicely I still hadn’t stopped for fuel and I didn’t want to stop either, I was loving it out there! I took another quick look down at the tank, and I still had what I thought could be enough to go all the way to the end, so I carried on knowing that if I did run out, I could stick her on reserve and with it being short laps, I’d make it back to the pits no problem for a quick ‘splash and dash’.
I had a little ‘off’ soon after on some roots on an off camber hill, nothing spectacular, but wasted a bit of time picking the bike back up and pointing it the right way again. I passed the clock with 10 mins to go and new it was going to be my last lap, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t stopped for fuel yet, well pleased!
I passed Steve jose and 5 mins later dead on the 3 hour mark, the engine died and I knew that the tank was virtually empty. Steve caught me up just as I stuck her on reserve and was kicking her over, she fired up like a ‘good un’ and off I went on to finish the rest of the lap and the race.
3hrs and 4 mins on the bike on one tank of fuel, ‘I don’t believe it’ as Victor Meldrew would say, neither do I, but it did it and I’m bloody impressed!
All in all, a good day out, nice little course, nothing too demanding and the bike is still clean (don’t get that very often).
Thanks to Andy ‘road kill’ Smith for the lift in the van.

Finishing position: 15/19 (clubman E1)

Bike status: ok

Injuries: none