Twin oaks- 14th March 2010

(pic by Sue Pitman)

So it was a short drive up to meet up with Adam Blake and Steve Jose before heading off for the Endurocross event in Devon. Now then, we were traveling along nicely along one of the A roads when an Ambulance came up behind with it’s lights flashing all over the place, obviously on an emergency call of some sort, so we pulled over and let the thing by like you do. But then as the road began to twist and turn a bit due to some of the sharp corners, we caught the bloody thing up! In fact it was going so slow, It was almost embarrassing, and it still had it’s lights blazing. The thing is the cars it caught up all pulled over to the side of the road to let it pass, so we followed the ambulance and went by them as well. Needless to say that Adam (who was driving) was now a marked man as the cars that we past weren’t impressed and one or two them decided to get their own back and overtake us! Not to be outdone Adam put his champ skills to good use and found the best line at the right opportunity and re-overtook them! It now turned out to be a game chicken to see who could get closest to the ambulance first without actually overtaking the thing. This battle of wits lasted about 10 miles with the irate drivers behind weaving from side to side right up our arse trying to get by us, but ‘Blakeys’ made of sterner stuff and held his own until the bitter end when finally the ambulance that been going like a tortoise with a broken leg, turned off and got out of the way. So then, a bit of high jinks before we even got there!

I’ve never been to one of these ‘Endurocross’ meetings before, two 1 hour races with a bit of a break in between, so I was looking forward to the racing even though I suppose you could say that it was a bit of a sprint compared to a proper enduro. A few other riders from down our neck of the woods were there, ’mad’ Jack Twentyman, John Pitman, Barry Weeks, to name but a few, I had a quick chat to everyone and then toddled off to the wooded section to watch the action.

Conditions were dry, so the racing was going to be fast. I was stood watching on fairly steep downhill section, but this proved easy to the riders as the ground was dry so not much action there then! I moved shortly afterwards to a nadgery little uphill climb for a few laps where some riders were getting stuck and having problems, nothing major, but plenty of action all the same. After a quick chat to Simon Thomas who there marshaling I moved back out into the open field to near where the lap scoring was to watch. After about 30 mins Steve Jose pulled over in front of us at the side of the track where I was standing, ’whats up then’ I said, ’can’t feel my right hand’ he replied. Steve was suffering from a chronic bit of arm pump and couldn’t hold on to the bike properly (to much of watching them porno dvd’s I reckon) so had to stop for a while until the feeling came back. He wasn’t the only one with problems, Adam went by me shouting his head off but I couldn’t understand what the hell he was saying, turned out that his brake lever had come loose and because of that he got overtaken for 3rd place right in the closing stages on the last lap, and Barry weeks chain snapped right at the bottom of a bloody hill on his last lap, so he had a nice push back to his van.

After about an hours break it was time for race 2 and another short sprint to the flag of an hours worth of riding. To be honest I was quite enjoying this, would have liked the course to be a bit more technical, but hey, I’m only watching so can’t complain. ‘Mad’ Jack Twentyman was riding like the only way he knows, ‘flat out and I don’t care about nothing’ and was leading the entire field up until the very end when he got overtaken with a lap to go and finished 2nd. Adam done well again and Steve had a better result this time around.

Now then, this has happened before, went to get the lads some chips from the catering van, and they’d flamin well run out! We packed up the gear and it was off to the nearest town to hunt for a kebab shop where we found one. Of course there was nothing wrong with Steve’s right hand now was there? Course not! He gripped that kebab like it was his last 10 pence piece and didn’t drop a morsel of it.

A good day out and quite an eventful one, enjoyed it, but would much rather be racing!

Not good news then- 11th March 2010

Not good news from the doc this week as he comfirmed that i've damaged the tendons again due to that little incident at the Brass monkeys few weeks ago. Understandably i can't have another cortisone injection yet, so the only thing to do is rest it and continue with the physio for a while. It looks like i'll be out of action for at least another 2 or 3 months again. Since i've been racing this is the longest that i've been out with an injury, but i do know from past sports that i've done, that tendon injuries are a nightmare. When i was doing a lot of running a few years back i had Achilles Tendinitis which took 5 to 6 months to heal, so i do know what these things are like, 'pain in the arse' springs to mind.

Due to the current situation i've decided to sell the bike, it's only been out twice in the last 4 months and it's just going to sit there for i don't know how long until i can ride again. At least i can look forward to getting a new one a bit later on in the year.

I'll be out and about watching all the races, so i'll see you all there!

Doctors again- 9th March 2010

It's back to the doc's again this week to get a verdict on what the next stage is going to be with this elbow of mine. Obviousley i'll be going to the same guy who gave me the cortizone injection to see what the situation is.

Muntjac enduro- 28th February 2010

Saturday
I went up to the Muntjac (the 1st of the British champ rounds) with ‘mad’ Jack Twentyman who was riding there, and his boy Paddy. The idea was to get there early so Jack could walk the test a couple of times, and with a 6 hour plus journey we had to leave fairly early, although not at the crack of dawn I might add as we were having an overnight stay on the Saturday night at a local hotel.

Things were going all to plan, when about 10 miles from the venue we came to abrupt halt on the A11, nose to tail traffic and not moving. Oh dear, must be an accident then surely? I got out and walk up the road only to find a car strewn across the carriageway smashed to bits. Apparently it had broken down on the side of the road and a lorry had just smashed straight into it at full pelt! To cut a long story short, we finally managed to get going again and just made to Thetford forest as the sun was going down. I was going meet up with Mark and Rich Tucker as well, but because we were so late, they’d long gone and was back at their hotel having a few beers watching the rugby on the box.

After walking the test and with it being nearly dark, and with the threat of rain in the air, Jack decided to walk it again! Um……..ok Jack, see you later then as me and Paddy went back to the motor and put the bloody heater on! 30 mins later and Jack came back, soaking wet and freezing cold in the pitch black, dedication or what? Or his he really just ‘mad’.
With now time getting on, it was off to the town of Thetford to look for our hotel before race day tomorrow. We couldn’t find the hotel for love nor money, and even resorted to asking a group of ‘hoodies’ who were hanging about on a street corner, trouble is when I asked them where the Bell hotel was, they couldn’t understand a word I was saying, they were bloody polish! Yeah that’s right, Polish ‘hoodies’ in Thetford! After yet more driving around and around, we finally made it to our destination, time for Jack to get a sat nav me thinks! (although to be honest, I haven’t got one). It was then off down the local pub for a welcome slap up meal and a few pints before returning to the hotel for a few more pints in the bar where we met another 6 or 7 riders who were staying there. Had a decent chat and a few laughs before retiring for the night to get some kip.

Sunday
After riding this event last year, I was of course naturally disappointed not to be riding, but at least I was here, and the atmosphere was fantastic. I met up with Mark and Rich and also saw Steve Jose (not to be confused with that other Steve Jose who lives down my way) and Dave ‘Butch’. Apparently Steve and Butch stayed in a pub last night ‘that didn’t close’, so they were a bit worse for wear as it were. Michael Brooks passed by so I had a chat with him as well just as the rain started to fall down on.

So at 9am the first Champ class riders got on their way, and with the special test section just a couple of hundred yards up the road, everyone rushed up there to see the action. My god was it slippery or what? Tight twisty turns that meandered their way through the woods for a couple of miles, before crossing the fire road and out into the faster section before coming back into the tight stuff again to finish the test. As I was stood there waiting for Jack to come back I bumped into Pete Lawry who’s son Dan was riding today, you couldn’t miss Dan as he came through, he had new kit on that can only be described as colorful! I was watching most of the test with Mark Tucker, and as the rain began to get harder, we both knew that the riders would have a job keeping to the already tight schedule. Sure enough as conditions got worse, the test times began to get slower and more and more riders were losing time on the lap.

After Jack came in on his 3rd lap, I hurried off to watch the champ riders do another test, this time I went and watched on the fastest section of the test. To watch those guys travel at such a speed through the woods is something else, although I must admit to loving it even more when a 125 came by as they just kept the thing ‘pinned’ all the time, magic!

After I got back from the special test I was told that the event was to be cut short due to safety reasons from the relentless rain that was teeming down upon us, bit of a shame that really, but if parts of the track are inaccessible to the medical services then you’ve really got no choice.
So with the muntjac finished, and us getting everything packed away in the van, it was off back home, but not before stocking up with grub at the local Tesco’s for journey.
Was it worth all the traveling and getting soaked to the bone without even riding? Yeah course it was.

Chevanege Farm- 21st February 2010

This week I traveled up with Jack (Twentyman) who was racing in the 1st round of the Midwest series up in Gloucestershire. An early start again was needed and just as well as Jack didn’t get off the right motorway junction and we ended up getting lost! Panic ensued but with about 45 mins to go to race time, we finally made it, phew!

After a mad rush helping Jack out to get ready it was off to watch the start of it all with Paddy (Jack’s son) before moving on to find a nice tricky bit of the course where all the action went on. It didn’t take us long to find somewhere as mayhem ensued at the bottom of a slippery ‘rooty’ climb where we were stood. Bikes getting stuck half way up meant that was a queue forming at the bottom, sometimes 10 or 15 bikes were waiting there for the hill to clear before attempting to get up it. I couldn’t believe 2 riders in particular, they’d had a go at the hill but couldn’t make it, so they came back down again, but after they waited and had a bit of a rest, they took another look at it and thought b*llocks to this and went back up the field, back to the pits and retired! This was only the 1st lap and only about 20 mins into the race, their bikes were ok and they weren’t injured, makes my blood boil does that, there’s me stood there desperate to ride and yet some people give up after the 1st hill, pathetic!

After a while watching some action I went back to the pits and met up with Pete Boyles who I’d hasn’t seen for ages, he pulled out due to gear lever problems, but my problem was getting told by one of the officials to get out of the pits! ‘Riders only’ he said to me, I said ‘I am a rider, it’s just that I’m injured and I’m not riding at the moment’, that comment didn’t go down too well and I had to continue my conversation with Pete outside the pit area, this also meant that I couldn’t help Jack on his pit stop coz I was a marked man now! Never mind, rules are rules so that’s fair enough, it’s just a shame other clubs don’t adhere to their regs (no names mentioned) when they say ‘no children, spectators or dogs in the pits’, yeah right!

I finally ended up by the lap scoring area to watch out the race to the finish. Then came the worst bit of the day, queuing 25 mins to get a cup of tea! I think the caterers were a bit shorthanded as only one of them were serving.

A good day all in all and yet again Jack rode out of his skin, he won the Vets experts by over a lap and finished in the top 10 overall, and he didn’t us lost on the way home! Next week I should be going along to watch the Muntjac, which is the 1st round of the BEC, somewhere in Norfolk I think!

Brass Monkeys Enduro- 14th February 2010

(pic by Debbie Tucker)

After a phone call on Thursday night to Clerk of the course Simon Thomas, I decided to do a bit of marshaling to try out my arm and do the full 27 miles course to see how I got on. I was really looking forward to it and I couldn’t wait to get back on the bike.

I drove up to Steve Jose’s place early Sunday morning, and both of us then traveled up to somewhere in Devon (not exactly sure where!) to the venue. This was the 2nd round of the SW series, but a few riders were away at another event, that being the SCEC one up in Dorset. It was still a good turn out though, and plenty of top riders were in action.

After doing a bit of socializing (like you do) it was off to get changed into my gear and don my hi viz jacket! My plan was to start off right at the back after the sportsman and follow them to see if any of them needed any help.
Must admit to being a little bit apprehensive as I’ve not done anything that would really test out the arm in the way of a proper enduro, but I’ve gotta start somewhere, and today was the day. So after waiting for the field to pass by I kicked the little gasser into life and off I went. It wasn’t long before came across some riders in trouble at the foot of a hill on the special test section, so I parked up the bike and helped all 4 of them to get up the hill before I got back on and away I went again. Another 2 minutes later and one of them that I’d helped earlier had got stuck in one of the small boggy ditches, heave as he might, he couldn’t get the bike out, so again I stopped, got out my ratchet strap that was in my bum bag that I was wearing today, and hauled him out. This guy looked knackerd already and we was only about 2-3 miles into the course!

After he got going again I give it about 5 mins before I started up again, my intention now was to ‘give it some’ and ‘pin it’ as after all, we were still on the special test and the track was clear, so why not? I certainly need and as I went down a one of the ditches I give her too much throttle and the bike flipped into the air depositing me on my arse! The funny thing was the bike landed smack bang on the handlebars and seat at the same time and stayed in that position, and it just kept going in 2nd gear whilst being upside down. I just wish I had my camera with me, would have made a great picture!

The rest of the test was awesome, hills, roots, off cambers, mud, logs, a few fields to have a blast round, a long test it was too, excellent stuff. Had a chat with Debbie Tucker on the way round who was there on the test taking some pics, and by the look of it was bloody freezing as she stood there in the cold woods. A bit later on and out I came onto the fields where I caught sight of Mike Roose, so I went and had a chat with him too before making my way back into the woods and setting off to do the last 20 miles or so!

Things at this point were going extremely well, I was certainly getting back into the swing of things and my elbow was holding up with everything I threw at it, and the bike was going like a ‘good un’. The course was absolutely awesome and right up my street, it reminded me of the Knighton enduro in Wales that I did last year except on a smaller scale, but without the rain! A few miles later and I caught up the same guy who I’d twice helped earlier, he was ‘cream crackerd’ and he wanted to pull out there and then, but I persuaded him to give it a go and finish the lap and I’d follow him all the way back to the pits to make sure he made it. I was in no hurry, so that’s what I did, and every now and then I had to stop and help him get back on his bike as fatigue had crept in and he kept coming off (we’ve all been there haven’t we?).

With only a few miles to go the inevitable happened, I was following him when all of a sudden he stopped right in front of me, I jammed on my bikes and my front wheel slid to the side, I quickly ‘dabbed’ my left foot on the deck in order to pull my bars back to stop myself going down and aaaarrrrrrrgggggghhhhhhh! My f*cking elbow went again! I couldn’t believe it, I knew what it was straight away, the pain was instant and right in the same place as before, gutting or what? I just couldn’t believe it, I limped back to the pits and had no choice but to call it a day, well p*ssed off.

Riders were pulling out left, right and centre and many were struggling to stay on time as the course began to take it’s toll. Jed Treleaven pulled out, Francis Banfield pulled out, Steve Jay pulled out (riding a 4 banger for the 1st time, not surprised), and quite a few more as well. I went back down to the test to watch the champ riders come through, bloody nora, how can they ride that fast? Excellent to watch.

Went back to pits area after this and had a bloody good laugh with Mark and Debbie Tucker, Steve, Fran, amongst a few others as well, so not a bad end to the day as it turned out. Jose’y done well, stayed on time got 2nd, John Hinkley won E1 on his 125, and Rich got 3rd in the champ class. Poor Paul Ford had a spot of bother with his new cycling shorts for the 1st hour or so, apparently his ‘todger’ had poked through the hole in the front and was rubbing against his race trousers until he could re-adjust himself, ouch! Sounds like his misses is going to frustrated for a few weeks then? Robert Ellick lost his time card and got penalty points, quite an indifferent day for those two then.

The journey home wasn’t too bad as Steve has always got a story to tell, so at least it kept my mind off the injury. Where does that leave me now? God knows? I’ll keep you posted.

Dorset police enduro- 7th February 2010

It was an early start as I took a drive for about 30 mins or so to meet up with Adam and his other half Vicky to travel up a to Dorset for the race. Of course I’m still bloody injured (although it’s getting better) so I went up to help out and have a general natter to a few riders that I knew were riding and to give ‘Blakey’ a bit of support seeing as he was riding in the champ class today.

A nice journey it was too, until the inevitable happened, we got lost! No bloody orange arrows anywhere. After 30 mins or so wandering round the countryside like a fish out of water, I decided to phone Mark Tucker (who’s son Rich was riding), but after a couple of goes, got no answer, more about that later! Time was getting on and panic was starting to brew so we stopped at a local petrol station as asked a ‘yocal’. ‘Turn right about 2 miles up the road pass the cress fields’ he said. Off we went then, and after a few hundred yards up the road we all looked at each other and said, ‘cress fields?, what the f*ck is he on about?’. Was it a pub? A housing estate?, A name of a house,a hotel?, the name of a road? The name of a shop? We didn’t have a clue! After 5 minutes of driving we couldn’t believe our eyes, we actually came to the ‘cress fields’, we couldn’t believe it, it was a farm that grew CRESS! There were acres and acres of fields to our left with CRESS growing in them! Do people still eat that stuff? First time I’ve seen one of them!

So with still no orange arrows in sight, we took the advice of the ‘yocal’ and turned right, and sure enough within a couple of miles there was a massive sign in the middle of the road, ‘Dorset police enduro this way’, at least, we’ve arrived!

Now then, how long did it take me to get to the pits and the lap scoring area to have a look around after I got out of the van? Bloody ages, that’s how long, coz as I made my way down I bumped into every bugger and had a chat with everyone one of them! Dan and Pete Lawry were in good spirits, and I’m telling you this, Pete (the dad) belies his age, he’s still racing at 60 something! Michael Brooks (Brookster) was relishing the thought about trying to keep up with ‘mad Jack. Andy Smith was as cool as ever (with his personalized number backgrounds), Phil ‘lover boy’ Harris was there with his other half Claire, or should I say Siamese twin? Can’t seem to pull them 2 apart! Gary ‘nothing gets in my way’ Mcoy was full of banter, along with Mark ’I don’t answer my phone’ Tucker. I said to Mark, ’I rung you a couple of times, why didn’t you answer’? He said he looked at the number and thought it was work calling so he didn’t bother! Reason being I rung from Adam’s phone and he didn’t recognize the number so he ignored it. Bloody good job we found our way in the end then Mark! Also had a quick chat with ‘mad’ Jack Twentyman, Jason Duggan, and Paul ‘Racersedge’ Cowshal who on his spanking new Suzuki 450.

The start was quite a way from the pits and transponder area, so after watching the riders on their 1st lap about half way round the course, it was back up to the lap scoring to see how everyone was doing as each lap passed by. The course from what I saw looked awesome, loads of woods, just what I like. The fire road just before the pit and transponder area was a great place to stand with the top riders ‘pinning’ it along that bit just before they had to brake hard and slow down in order to record each lap (I sound like a reporter now), I was stood there with Mark (Tucker) and he’ll be the first to tell you that ‘mad’ Jack Twentyman was most entertaining to watch on that part of the course. Jack came round that corner hunched over the bars with the bike wobbling everywhere, and when he passed us, he looked like he was a man possessed! Such a contrast to Rich Tucker who by half way led the champ class, dead smooth and looking fast with what seemed like was minimal effort.

I helped ‘Blakey’ pit at half way and told him to get his arse in gear, which he did and ended up 4th at the end, well pleased he was. Rich won the overall, and at 18 yrs old to beat the guys he did today, that’s some going. Jack had a great result for a vet, 6th overall. Gary ’nothing gets in my way’ Mcoy went swimming with his bike half way through the race due to trying to find an alternative route around some stuck riders. He tried to jump a small river and didn’t quite make it, had to drag his bike out and turn it upside down to drain the thing. An hour and 4 plugs later he managed to get it going again and went on to finish. Did we have a laugh about that at the end or what! Brookster dnf’d, so a mixed bag few a few riders that I knew today.

Had a good day out today, and what’s more, we didn’t get lost on the way home!

Practice- 31st January 2010

(pic Steve Jose)


Oh dear, woke up to a blanket of snow everywhere as far as the eye can see!
Not a good day then to ride your bike? Determine not to be outdone, i quickly phoned up the MX track to see if i could be accommodated. Alan (the owner) must have thought i was mad when i said i'll come out to his place and give it a go, but thats exactly what i did.

Getting there was tricky as the country lanes that i drove along were like something that Torvill and Dean would have been at home with. Steve Jose was following me in his wagon, and he even questioned my sanity, as we both made our way very 'gingerly' down the back roads and up to the gates of the track.

Now then, this is where the fun began.When we arrived neither of us could get our vans up the slope, through the gates and into the field to get parked, it was just too slippery, solid ice, so i had a brainwave! I told Steve to break out the shovels from his van so we could dig the snow out of the way just wide enough for our wheels to go in, and maybe we might be able to get some sort of grip and 'Bobs your uncle'.

So after 10 mins of digging (me mostly i might add) and then quite a lot of tyre smoking and wheel spinning lunacy from both our vans, we finally made it, result!

So after having a look at the snow covered partly frozen deeply rutted track,it was off to get changed and fire up the bikes. I'm telling you what, i went off like i'd only just rode the bike yesterday, and went really well, which more than i can say for Steve! This is gonna be the only time i'll probably say this, 'but i whipped his arse good and proper today'.


With the track getting softer as it began to thaw, he was struggling to find any kind of grip with the trials tyre on the back, but i was flying due to having a brand new Metzeler six days on the rear. I overtook him and left him for dead just about everywhere, and it's the 1st time iv'e seen Steve getting stuck revving the nuts off his 250 going nowhere on a hill. It got to the stage where i was even giving him a head start, and within a minute i'd be saying 'bye bye see you later', 'Do you want me to call you a taxi'?


It wasn't all fun and games though, the track after being used so much was deeply rutted and fairly hard going, and with the bike skipping about all over the place you had to hold on a bit, which in turn took it's toll on my arm. After about an hour and halfs riding (with a few coffee breaks thrown inbetween) i decided to call it a day and not to push it too much as my elbow had started to ache a bit.


So, had a great bit of fun today and it brilliant to get back on the bike good and proper, but the bottom line is, at the moment i'm just not ready to sustain any kind of riding for a prolonged period. Won't be rushing to fill any regs for events in just yet, just have to take it week by week really.

Plans for February:
At least i'm back doing some training now, i've started running again which for me is how i kept so fit last year, along with all the racing as well, certainly helps does that. I'll be out and about watching all the races this month and hopefully getting some time on the bike to see how things progress. Must admit to being a tad dissapointed as i'm gonna miss the start of a few championships that i'd hoped to compete in, might have to re think my plans a bit!

Back on the bike!- 30th January 2010

With the arm feeling a lot better after the cortisone injection 9 days ago, i decided to put the reg plate on and have a little ride around.
The bike hasn't been touched for over 2 months, but after the 3rd kick it was brring-a-ding-ding, and she fired up. I quickly set off and made my way out into the open road only to be hit full in the face 10 mins later with a bloody hail storm! There was no way it was going to stop, so i had no alternative than to cut my little excursion short and tip toe back home on a white slippery road at a snails pace. Bugger!

Tommorow is a big day as i'm going out down the MX track to try my elbow out and see how it reacts after (hopefully) a decent bit of riding. Maybe i'm pushing it a bit by going out so soon, i've still got some twinges in the arm where the tendons are, bit if i take it easy hopefully it'll be ok.
Roll on tommorow...............................................

Davidstow- 24th January 2010

So with this being the 1st round of the SW (south west) enduro championships, a decent sized field had entered in all classes as everyone was keen to put in a good first result.

So with me not riding at the moment and all chances of actually getting on my bike and doing a bit of marshaling at zero due to the recent treatment on the elbow, i managed to bump into every bugger i bloody well knew whilst walking about, and one by one i had a chat with what seemed like was half the flamin country!
I'm not even going to begin to name everyone i spoke too as quite simply i'd be up all night typing all the names out, so many of you, cheers everybody.

I knew that the course would be tough, and come the end of the race as riders were pulling out left, right and centre, and loads of them waiting for the flag at the end and giving up on doing another lap, i was absolutely gutted. I would have loved those conditions, never mind, i'm sure i'll get my fair share in the future.

I think the worse thing is, is watching everybody riding and knowing that you should be out there but you can't, but on the other hand it makes you want to get back on the bike so much that i think when that time comes, i might have to make a pig of myself and do more riding than i did last year!

Don't really know at the moment what my immediate plans are yet, to be honest i haven't even entered any races as i'm not sure how long i'm gonna be out for. As i write this now, i've not really tested my arm since the injection, in fact i'm wrapping the thing up in cotton wool at the moment and daren't do anything to it that could hinder the cortisone treatment. Hopefully might have some idea in a week or two. Watch this space!

Fingers crossed- 21st January 2010

Today i finally had a cortisone injection in the elbow, fingers crosssed it works! Can't do anything really for a least a few weeks with the arm so it looks like i'm just watching sundays race and not riding around on the bike doing a bit of marshaling as i'd hoped to do. 'No jarring the arm and no twisting throttles of any kind' so the doc said.
'Can i tell Marie that i can't do the washing up then for a few weeks' i said to him. He didn't awnser that, he just laughed.

working party- 17th January 2010

Bloody nora, never seen so many bodies on a working party before!
Fair play to everybody that turned up and help get the course ready for next week.
It was nice to catch up with everyone that i hadn't seen for a while due to the lull in the season at the moment, so had a good chat and a good laugh.
I'm gutted that i'm not riding next week, but hopefully i should be on the bike riding around doing some marshaling, which at the moment is probably about my limit!

A big round of applause must surely go to Steve Jose who turned up to help just as we'd all bloody well finished for the day and were going home!

Frozen out!- 10th January 2010

Was going to go out today and help get the track ready for the 1st race of the South West champs that'll be raced in a couple of weeks time, but with it being frozen today got cancelled. Hopefully should be better weather next week so we can get the course sorted out a bit.

I won't be competing because of my arm but might get on the bike and help out in the way of doing a bit of marshaling.
Talking about my arm, i can now sometimes (yes only sometimes) lift my kettle up to make a cup of tea without it killing me! Things could be looking up!

As for plans this year i haven't really made any yet because of the injury, but i did pencil in all of the BEC rounds, the SCEC championship, the SW champs and the SEEC championships. Not much then!
Have to see what happens in the near future, watch this space..............................................

My expenses 2009

Without listing everything individually which will be about 20 pages long!! I've grouped things together which makes it a lot easier to add it all up.

Bike......................................................................4300
Transit..................................................................2900
Insurances & Tax (bike & van).......................................390
Entry fees...............................................................1280
Memberships & Licences.............................................160
Diesel.....................................................................830
Petrol....................................................................377
Tyres (bike only).......................................................452
Tyres (van)..............................................................68
Nutrition (Energy drinks & Gel bars)................................104
Lubricants (WD40,chain lube,grease)...............................96
Jet washer.............................................................150
Cleaning solutions (pro clean,white spirit,parrafin)..............151
Maintenance of bike (pistons,clutch,grips,rad braces,footpegs,
plugs,bearings,chains,sprockets,levers,brake pads)..............1535
Plastics (Mudgaurds,side panels,hand gaurds,fork gaurds,headlight surround,.................................................................298
Coloured backgrounds.................................................24
Race kit (Trousers,gloves,boots,helmet,waterproofs,race shirts,
goggles,roll off films,body armour,camelbak,fast fill can)..........690
Launderette (when my kits too dirty for the washing machine)....36
Jet washing..............................................................24
Practice (mx track)......................................................80
Tools (various)..........................................................119
Oils for bike (pre mix,gear oil,brake fluid).........................308
Oil & filter for van.....................................................48

Total...................................................................14,420

End of the year thoughts 2009

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.

Well it’s been a hectic time for me this year racing my bike. I’ve done 30 events, loads of practice, endless hours cleaning, doing maintenance, and getting the bike ready, stacks of traveling, weekends away. I remember someone said to me at one event ‘ Do you wear a name tag at home so your girlfriend knows who you are’? Sometimes it felt that way, and a massive round of applause and kisses goes to Marie for putting up with it all.

This year I got myself a brand new bike (late last year actually) and decided to go down the ‘Gasser’ route, not many 125’s of those around so I had no idea on what they were like. The bikes been fantastic and I’ve had my best ever results with it, but wether that’s due to the sheer amount of riding I’ve done I don’t know, but it’s worked for me regardless and I ain’t going to complain.

This year I decided to concentrate on 2 championships, The South West champs and the Midwest series, one being 7 rounds and the other 8 rounds. That way I considered that even with a couple of bad results, you still could have a chance to gain some points back, so where I came at the end of it all would be a true reflection to see if I was good to actually win anything! Up until this year I hadn’t even won a race, and even though I’d won a sportsman championship back in 2007, the best I ever got in that was a 2nd in one of the races, and in fact, I’ve never even managed to get a ‘holeshot’, my, how things have changed this year for me.

All the other races that I did this year were basically to fill the time in and to keep me riding in order to remain ‘bike fit’, so when the championships that I wanted to do well in came round, I wouldn’t be rusty.

So the start of 2009 saw the 1st round of the SW champs, and with a couple of events under my belt already on the new bike, I was confident. A crap result at Greymare soon blew my new found confidence out of the window and saw me finish 8th, not good then, but still a long way to go yet.
February saw me go and travel to Norfolk for the 1st round of the British champs and to be put in amongst the big boys. I couldn’t believe I had to do a 22 mile lap in 73 mins! But I’ll tell you what, I gave it everything and only faltered later on in the event, and after 4 laps I finished over 20 mins down on time, but so chuffed to finish at all and it gave me so much confidence.

March was the 1st round of the Midwest series, not a good start with a 9th place, another poor result. April was better as I got a 2nd place in a SW champ round, things were looking up! And the month of May gave me a better result in the Midwest series with a 5th. This month also saw me rip the sump off my van whilst driving home from a race up in Surrey, Got home at 5am on Monday morning from that one!

June came round and the dreaded ‘Nancemellion’ round of the SW champs, I’ve never done well there and today would be no different, a 6th place, and not happy. My aspirations of winning this series weren’t going well. Confidence was restored a week later when I had a 3rd at the Midwest race, so felt a bit better after that. Also 2 weeks later I had a 2nd place at a SCEC event, so maybe I thought things were beginning to ’click’ for me?

I think I really got it together after I finished another round of the British champs at the knighton enduro in Wales. 55 miles laps in pissing rain in a welsh forest which saw me soaked to the bone on the Saturday after over 6 hours worth of riding. I remember hanging all the gear up In the back of the Transit to dry and kipping In the front of the van, falling asleep at 9pm and hoping all my kit would be ok to put on the next day. Of course it wasn’t, and there’s nothing worse than doing another 3 ½ hours racing in soggy kit, silly me I didn’t take any spare race clothing did I? And another thing, all I had was 2 gel bars before riding that day because I got to the catering van too late to have any breakfast. Still, I finished both days and was as pleased as punch and was now starting to ride the bike with a huge amount of confidence.

July was undoubtedly my best month, and I had back to back wins in both the SW round and the Midwest races. The Midwest race was probably the best I’ve ever ridden, the conditions were awful, everybody was struggling, but I won by an extra lap and beat all the bigger bikes as well.
August, Another SW round came around quickly and I was going for a hat trick of wins!!! But it wasn’t to be, and whilst lying in 2nd place my clutch went, still ended up in 5th that day so not a bad result. The Dawn to Dusk event was now only a couple of weeks away and I have to be honest and say that I’d targeted it all year and only a win would do, nothing else, end of story. This month also saw another race held by the Xmoor club, bloody nora what luck I’ve had in those this year! The 1st event of theirs my radiator burst and didn‘t even get the chance to race, the 2nd event I got injured, and in the 3rd one I had a DNF as well due to me hitting a tree and displacing a rad hose which promptly emptied all my coolant all over the woods!

So round came the Dawn to Dusk, I really was riding well now and I entered the 12 hour race in the vets class. I knew that some of the vets were expert class riders, but I was so fit at that time what with my training and riding, I knew that my stamina would carry me through and to be honest I thought ‘bring it on’ and lets see if you can keep your pace up for 12 hours lads! This was to be my biggest disappointment ever since I’ve started riding motorbikes as I had to retire whilst in 3rd only 6 mins off the lead, and still with 6 hours to go. Absolutely gutted as I knew that I could have kept my pace up all day long while others were tiring. Never mind, always next year!

September was all about the ups and downs of racing. I got another 1st place in a SW round (in awful conditions), but had to miss a Midwest race as they both clashed on the day. I also picked up the injury to my elbow at an SCEC event and from this point onwards I had no choice but to ride with it as both the championships I was doing well in still had races left, and everything was still to play for.

The month of October brought mixed feelings as Marie my girlfiend was very ill, and Although I didn’t say too much to anyone, it certainly affected my riding and to be honest all I wanted to do was stay at home with her and my little girl. I managed a 4th in the last round of the SW champs and that was after coming off 4 times on the special tests! And even though I’d won the clubman E1 championship, it just felt a bit tainted at the time due to things back at home.

So to November and with the injury to my elbow getting worse, it was a trip up to Bath for the last round of the Midwest series. I lasted about 20 mins before I had to retire with the pain being just too much, my elbow had finally had enough and gave up on me altogether. My girlfriend at the time was still very ill, and I remember getting in the van with some 3 ½ hours still to travel home thinking ’my arms f*cking killing me, I’m freezing cold, Marie’s ill, I should be at home!’ and to be honest I was going to jack it all in there and then. Thankfully things have now turned out for the better, and my girlfriend is ok, so everything’s back to normal.

So it’s been quite an eventful year, A 1st overall in one championship, and a 3rd in another, a few race wins, and plenty of holeshots. I’ve never rode so much in my entire life as I’ve done this year, and I’ve enjoyed every bloody minute of it (apart from the injuries), I’ve met so many people, had a great laugh, and made loads of new friends. Cheers to everyone, and a big thanks to all of you that’s helped me in one way or another. Also a round of applause to everybody whose supplied with me with the photos’ so that I can stick them on the blog , that is apart from a certain Jack Stringer from the Midwest series who wouldn’t send me any, and that was after I offered to pay for them as well, what the hells up with him then? Miserable git!

A few memories from this year…………………………..
Having a litre of saline fluid flushed through my left eye in the ambulance at Dawn to Dusk.
Gary ‘nothing gets in my way’ Mcoy running over my bike at an Xmoor event which put a hole in my petrol tank.
Seeing Adam Blake frozen solid in the shape of an ’armchair’ and trying to get off his bike after the 6 hour race at the Dawn to Dusk.
Sh*tting myself as Knight, Edmonson, and all the top fellas passed me with just inches to spare at about 80 mph on a fast stretch at the Muntjac enduro.
Going flat out on a fire road in a welsh forest in the relentless rain that was falling down on me, it felt like a load of needles being shoved into your face as the rain hit you.
Having a fantastic battle with both James Hull and Francis Banfield at the Woolborough Barton event. Me and Francis were ‘glued’ together for about 1hr and 40mins going hammer and tongs at each other.
Phil Harris ‘mooning’ at me whilst I was on a special test at the Dunmere enduro.
Doing a lap of the Dorset police event and coming round to swipe my transponder only to find I bloody well left it in the van.
Running out of fuel on my last lap at a TnT race, not content with doing it once, I did it again at another race as well.
Seeing ‘mad’ Jack Twentyman laying on the floor for about 20 mins being sick and unable to move after giving it his all at a TnT event. Tough lad is Jack!
Saying to Steve Jose at Rifton Barton, ‘follow me’, so he did and I promptly got stuck on the smallest log you could ever imagine right in front of him, embarrassing that!
Going over the bars and planting myself face first in the little river section at Rifton Barton, I did exactly the same thing in exactly the same place the year before!
Taking the wrong turning at the Knighton enduro, I went for miles up this fire road looking for some orange arrows only to find that I was traveling completely in the wrong direction after seeing cars coming the other way!

See you all next year……………………………….......

Out and about- 13th December 2009

So it was off for a short drive just a couple of miles down the road to watch the Xmas cracker run by Camel Vale. This is always a good event with a great atmosphere and a decent course. I rode it last year and really enjoyed it, so you could say I was a wee bit pee’d off about not being able to join in this time around.

Being the sort of bloke I am with not much ‘blubber’ set around my frame, I wore 2 pairs of trousers, a t shirt, shirt, jumper, tracksuit top, a coat, a hat, and 2 pairs of socks in order to keep warm in the near freezing conditions. Felt a bit like a Michelin man with all that bloody gear on!
As soon as I arrived and got out of the van I clapped eyes on just about every bloody rider who’d done the South West champs this year, so I wasn’t short of a conversation or two. I suppose the good thing was, I had plenty of time on my hands because I wasn’t racing, and when you’re the other side of the fence as it were, there’s not much rushing about to get ready for the start so you can talk away to your hearts content!

I headed straight for the infamous ’whoops’ section that caused a few problems to most riders last year in order to see a bit of action and help out (albeit with one good arm) in case any body got in a bit of bother. Soon enough as the 1st lot of riders came through, the ‘whoops’ took there toll with several coming unstuck, and along with Mike Roose and Colin treleaven amongst others, we all dug in and helped everybody get back on their feet and on their way again. Shame Sue Pitman wasn’t there taking pics at this point of the course as she would of got a nice one of me picking up her other half John off the floor when he decided to do a bit of showboating by planting his ‘Husky’ and himself face first onto the forest floor!

Steve Jose and Adam Blake turned up, and after watching a few laps on the tricky ‘whoops‘, and with everything quietening down a bit, we decided to go walkabout and explore the rest of the course. What a cracking track it was too, and I must admit that I was a tad jealous of everybody riding, but me thinks there’s gonna be quite a bit of that to come yet as I won’t be able to do much for a while.

After it was all over I stayed around for a bit having a chat and asking everybody how they got on. Made a nice change to watch an event from start to finish, but my god, for enjoyment it doesn’t come anywhere near than actually riding yourself does it?

Out for a while?................................

Well it looks like I'm going to have to take a bit of a rest from it all. I have kept on riding hoping that the injury would go away as i had Tennis elbow on the other arm earlier in the year and that faded away, but obviously it's not going to happen this time, so I've got no choice.

I've got some acupuncture treatment on it going on at the moment but that isn't a miracle cure and it takes quite a few sessions in order to see if there's any improvement. If that doesn't do any good then it's going to have to be the Cortisone injection.

Hopefully i will be out and about watching a few races so i'll write a little bit about that and try and keep the blog updated. At the end of December i'll also be doing my end of year thoughts about everything thats gone on this year, including (for the 1st time) how much i've actually spent this year!!!!!

Hope to see a few of you at some races in the next few weeks.

Cheyne court farm- 22nd November 2009

This was the last round of the Midwest Mcc championship. Due to having missed the last round in favour of the South West series, i'd lost my lead and had dropped down to 3rd, but it was still all to play for, and what with the torrential downpours we'd had all across the country this week, i'd knew that conditions would be tough this weekend no matter where you rode. I much prefer it when it's like that, probably due to fitness being my main asset and not my riding!

So it was a long drive up to Bath, it p*ssed down with rain for most of the journey and when i got there the usual 'will i make it into the field with my van' thought instantly entered my head as every blade of grass had been churned up into a sea of mud with all the traffic that had been wheel spinning on it. Thankfully i made it.

After signing on, i went to the pits which were ankle deep in sloppy mud, nice! I took a quick look at the 1st corner after the start as well, mud, mud, and er........................mud! To be honest i couldn't wait and in these conditions anything could happen (they certainly did to me anyway).

I met Pete and Dan Lawry up there who politely tried to blackmail me into joining the Kingston club next year! After a bit of a chat with the pair of them, it was back off to get changed and get myself kitted up.

So with the rain now subsided, it was onto the damp start line to wait for the flag to drop. Off we went then and i was probably about 5th heading into the first corner when 2 riders went down just to the side of me. I had to take avoiding action and almost come to a standstill as i got pushed to the outside which in turn let almost every bugger go past me. As i turned the corner i got splattered in the brown stuff following everybody as we hammered it through the first couple of muddy fields. I did make up a few places but i wasn't happy, and as i nailed the 'gasser' going up a mud infested climb trying to catch up the leaders, i lost it, and ended up on my arse. As i picked the bike up i wrenched my elbow and i knew straight away that it was bad, in fact i had to rest for a few minutes before i could carry on. When i got into the wooded section it was a real struggle, i couldn't hold on properly and in those conditions where you need a bit of strength to make it through all the mud and deep ruts, my arm wasn't good at all. I hit the deck again and had to pick the bike up again which in turn killed my elbow, and i had to take another rest.

I crawled back to the pits and took another breather and thought about doing another lap to see what would happen, i hate a DNF, and i'd have to be on my knees in order for me not to finish, and even then i'd try and drag myself over the line, but if you can't even hold onto the bars properly because of the pain, and with still 2 and half hours still to go, i knew it was over and i retired, gutted, bye bye any chances of winning the vets championship.

So it was long and rain infested drive home, and it just goes to show all about the highs and lows of racing.

Finishing position: DNF

Camel Vale mcc awards evening- 14th November 2009

A good night was had by all. Here's some mugshots of some riders without their helmets on.

HALL OF FAME OR WALL OF SHAME? YOU DECIDE!!!!!!!

Yours truly with my winners trophy that's cost me a bloody fortune!

Phil 'smiler' Harris. Doing his impression of a Chinese person

A nice 'cheesy' grin from Adam Blake

Andy Smith still looking bewilderd and confused after buying a 4 banger!

Credit goes to Rich tucker, won the experts and now a champ rider at 18!!

Jed Treleaven contemplating about doing more riding next year, coz he doesn't do enough!

Photographer extraordinaire Debbie Tucker

Arthur Johnson looking gobsmacked because he's just found out his real age!

Camel Vale legend Mike Roose looking the best he possibly can!

Mark Tucker on his 15th pint of the night.

Father & son and bitter rivals, Tom and John Hinkley

Francis Banfield's reaction when i said it's his round. Pee off!

Steve Jay, is that designer stubble or has he lost his razor?

Looks to me like Richard Jay's had too many beers!

James Hull in stitches because i told him that i'm keeping my 125 next year!

Colin George after just finding 10 pence on the floor

Colin Treleaven the boss from Thor motorcycles looking happy.

Dean Canfield on his way to winning the 'biggest smile of the night' competition!

Me (again) and Camel vale stalwart Rod Dyer

Had better weeks- 8th November 2009

Going on a motorbike was the last thing on my mind this weekend. My little girls been sick all week, my girlfriend has been unwell for a few weeks and that all came to head this week as well, and without getting into anything thats too personal, she didn't recieve the best of news from the hospital.

Well they say things come in 3's and on top of it all i've managed to get Laryngitus. The docs gonna love me tomorrow when i see him, trying to explain about my elbow when i can't even speak!

This Saturday see's the annual Camel Vale mcc presentation/awards night. Should be a few going to that, so i'm looking forward to having a chat with a few other riders that i've raced against this year that i don't normally get the chance to speak to.

Practice- 1st November 2009

Me and Adam taking a breather (pic)

Now you see I still have this problem, my right elbow that got injured at the SCEC event some weeks back still hasn’t healed, in fact it’s got worse and now I got a golf ball sized bag of fluid that’s nestled itself onto the elbow as well, so along with the ‘Tennis elbow’, things aren’t too good at the moment.

I was going to do the TnT event today but I didn’t really want to travel all the way up there and risk pulling out because of my injury, and with it being just a race to fill the gap in the calendar, there was no need as I’ve got a couple of important races later on this month which I need to do well in, so I’d rather risk ‘all or nothing’ in those ones.
So I thought I might go out and have a nice little easy practice session at a local motocross track, which in the end turned out to be more of a battle for survival, nearly as bad as listening to a Muse album repeatedly.

I met Adam Blake there who was on his new bike and ready to give it a good thrashing to see what it can do. Adam’s now gone the 250 way, bit of a shame because that boy certainly knows how to ride a 125!
With the track being on the moor and wide open to the elements, we had to sit it out in the van for 30 mins to let the monsoon weather subside, when we got changed and headed out onto the track the words ‘Gordon Bennet’ (or something based around that which included choice swear words) entered my head at the track was just a mud fest. Oh boy did we have fun today or what? I set an hour on my watch and thought I’d do that to see how my elbow reacted, but things were so tough I only managed about 40 mins before I had to take a breather.
What did tickle me was all the motocross boys doing a couple of laps then stopping because of the conditions, some were even taking short cuts to avoid going up the muddy hills as traction was a bit of a struggle. I could see there point if there was loads of roots, stones, logs or something like that in the way, but hey, c’mon lads, it’s only a bit of mud! At one point there must have about 6 or 7 seven of them all gathered together at the top of one of the hills having a chat about weather to go down it or not. I don’t know, the youth of today! What’s wrong with them?
After taking a breather we both went back out and did stints of 20-30 mins at a time, it was fantastic training, and really difficult conditions, the more you went round, the more the track got cut up and the worse it got. Near the end I managed to dump it a few times on the deck, I’d done alright until then, but you the know score don’t you in those conditions? You pick yourself and the bike up, scrap the crap off your grips and gloves, and carry on ‘happy as Larry’ like pig in sh*t!

Something that did happen today turned my thought pattern inside out and nearly had me down on all fours sobbing in the back of my van as I very nearly threw my beloved 125 into the nearest skip (ok, well not quite). I went on Adams 250, and boy was that a lot easier to ride in the muddy gloop of a track. The thing just pulled up the hills and through all the rutted mud infested course without me having to pin back the throttle and scream the nuts off it. You see I have been on bigger bikes before, but not in these conditions, and what a difference the extra cc makes to it all.

It’s true to say that I really should be on one of these things, especially being over 40! Next time you look at any results, take a look at how many over 40’s are riding 125’s, hardly any, Why, because they’re harder to ride and you have to work more, full stop. Makes sense I suppose, your getting old, your reactions are slower, your fitness drops, you ain’t got as much ‘bottle’, your body doesn’t heal up as quick as it used too when you take a knock, (bloody hell maybe I should give up now) so why the hell would you want to make things harder for yourself? So the big question is will I get the 250 bug and change next year? Course I won’t, I love my little strimmer!

As for the elbow? Quite frankly it’s crap, and it looks like another visit to the old doc’s is on the cards.

Plans for November:
8th maybe practice
15th ?????
22nd Midwest
29th SCEC

A day out- 25th October 2009

After gigging last night and not collapsing into bed until 2.40am it was just as well I wasn’t racing today as I think I might have been a tad cream crackerd. So not one to sit on my arse all day and do nowt or indeed the stacks of decorating that needs to be done to keep the girlfriend happy (will have to do that soon me thinks), It was off to watch a local motocross meeting held by the Penndennis motor club.

A few local enduro riders were playing their cards so I went to see how they all got on. I met up with Arthur Johnson and Hannes Tanzer who were riding, and also had a chat with John Pitman and Barry Weeks who were there for a blast as well. Tim Williams also popped along to see what it was all about, so stood there having a chat and watching the racing with him for a while.

What really caught my eye was the twinshock / Evo class, I love the old bikes and believe me they fly. A certain Jason Fraser took his old CR 500 out in the modern bike class as well and beat them all, just goes to show if you’re classy enough then you can do yourself justice on most bikes. Nice to see Tony Dinham have a blast round in the Evo class as well on his old Yammy YZ (I think!).

I stayed the whole day and really enjoyed myself and it certainly had me thinking on the way home about taking up the Twinshock / Evo motocross lark in a few years time. Get myself an old RM, CR or YZ, (125 of course) and I reckon I’d love it, only trouble is you only get about 15 mins a race, um……………………

Ardua enduro- 18th October 2009

So it was off up to Newbury for a overnight stay on the Saturday at my sisters place, before setting off Sunday morning for the short drive to Bagshot for the event. At least I was guaranteed to have a bit of a lie in as I didn’t have to get up at some stupid hour and drive 4 hours or more to get there, only took me 45 mins, result!

Now I love timecard events, I think the main reason being is that you don’t get many flat fields involved with these type of events and the majority of the time there‘s a lot of woods, so everyone’s on a level playing as it were, not just the last one to shut off the throttle across that field wins!

The weather today was overcast with a slight chill in the air as I arrived at the track and got parked up near to Dan and Pete Lawry who I hadn’t seen since the Knighton BEC in wales a few months back, so I popped over and had a chat. Pete was giving his new KTM 4 banger it’s debut.

I got there so early today that I even had time to walk the test and after the obligatory signing on etc, it was off to work out my check times. Bloody nora I thought, 40 mins for the first lap, going down to 19 mins for the last lap! In fact the last 3 laps were 21,20, and 19 mins, and with 9 laps in total (including 2 special tests), I knew things were going to get tough right near the end to try and keep on time, and seeing as I was starting at 10.06am and due to finish at 2.26pm , there was a lot of riding to done today, nice one!

With about 30 mins before I was due off, one of my other sisters turned up to give me some moral support, (bloody hell, how many sisters have I got who live up that way) and of course buy me a quick cuppa.
So at 10.06am I kicked the little gasser into life and off I went onto the woods. Within a couple on mins I arrived at my 1st test! Not a particularly ideal situation I must admit, I haven’t even got warmed up yet, and nor had my bike! Me thinks it might have been better to have started your test on your 2nd lap or maybe later on round the course, bit of a shock to have one so early on.

Anyway, just like the Dunmere enduro a few weeks back, the special test was awesome, cracking tight trails, some nice hills to go up and down, a couple of short fire roads, some roots, rocks, and of course loads of the usual trees to watch out for just incase you got complacent. A nice long test too and about 5 to 6mins worth of decent riding.
Things went alright for me on the 1st test, and if wasn’t warmed up enough beforehand, I certainly was now!

So after getting a decent warm up after the special, it was off to explore the rest of the course, and I was impressed! A really enjoyable track, with all the usual traits that you’d expect from the woods, including a lovely pile of logs that you had to go over and a hard route with a massive tree strung across it that you had to clamber over for a time saver, get that wrong and you ended up on your arse looking like a right turkey in front of all the spectators stood there watching, luckily for me I cleared it every time, Phew!
Overall I reckon the course was about 6-7 miles long and a cracker it was too.

So given a lenient 40 mins for the 1st lap I took it easy and arrived back with plenty of time in hand. The lap had took me around 27-28 mins.
Onto my 2nd lap then I went and arrived at my 2nd and final test of the day, this time I was a bit more ‘warmed up’ and went a lot better, that is until I managed to dump the bike on the floor after going off the track and planting the front wheel down a small ditch, aaaargh! My fault entirely, just going too fast. I went on to complete the rest of the lap with no problems.
With the times still on the slack side there was no need to risk much, and the next few laps went well and I made it back to the check with time in hand every lap. So With 5 laps gone it was now going to get interesting as slowly the lap times were being squeezed down in minutes, and now starting my 6th lap, I had 24 mins to get round. No way could I hang about now, and I didn’t, but I only just made it back in time and basically had to go straight back out and try and do a 21 min lap.
I tried as best as I could, but ended up 3 mins over, so it was back out again this time aiming for a 19 min lap. It was at this point that the times were taking there toll on the riders and the field was starting to thin out somewhat as there were less and less riders in the pits taking a break, in fact, there wasn’t hardly anyone, so you knew everyone was struggling to keep to time. It was on this lap and with a little bit of tiredness creeping in and going like a lunatic for a whole lap trying to keep to time, that I caught a stump and set sail on a collision course with a bloody tree. I had choice but to ‘bail out’ and throw the little gasser at it rather than hold on and slam into myself. I ended up on the deck about 10ft away from the bike, got up, picked the bike up and inspected it for damage, and luckily for me it was alright, so off it went to complete another lap in which I lost another 4 mins.

So now it was on to my last lap, I was 7 mins down on time and this one had to be an almighty effort if I as to get round in 19 mins! Thankfully I didn’t have any ‘offs’ and I went well but still lost another 5 mins at the end of it all. My last 4 laps had all took me the same time, 24 mins, consistent or what? To be honest I couldn’t have gone any faster and knowing that riders were dropping their times by the bucketful, I was pleased with that. So at the end of the day I dropped a total of 12 mins, and no one in the whole of the field managed to stay on time in any class, champ, expert, clubman or sportsman, so that’s how tough it was today.

Personally I thought it was a cracking event and definitely one of the best I’ve done this year, great course, good special tests, tough times, and good organization, and I much prefer it when you get tight times on the last few laps as this really tests your endurance and speed over a long distance. Well worth the 470 mile round trip!

Finishing position: 4/12 (vets)

Late entry.........................................

I might have got myself a race this coming weekend up in Bagshot in the Ardua Enduro. Sent off my regs at the last minute so just waiting for confirmation. It's a timecard event so that'll do for me, so hopefully i'll be there.

Just want to say Best wishes to all those riders involved in the crash at the Weston beach race yesterday. From what i understand it was a very serious incident and i hope they all make a full recovery.

Cancelled!!!!

Not one but two events in my diary this month have been cancelled. The Midwest on the 18th, and the SCEC race on the 25th. I won't be doing Weston as i've decided against it, so at the moment i won't be racing for another 4 weeks!
Hopefully i'll find some other events to fill in the gaps, might have to do a bit of travelling though.

Dunmere enduro- 4th October 2009

Was out gigging last night and had a late one, so I didn’t get to bed until 2am and was up again at 6am. Dunmere is only 10 mins up the road, but I left early so I could get a parking space near to the start so I didn’t have to walk miles along the fire road! The plan worked a treat and I was one of the 1st to arrive along with Arthur Johnson (who was riding his new 2010 Gasser 300 today), Andy Smith, and clerk of the course Mike Roose. Soon after the ‘likely lads’ arrived, Adam Blake & Steve Jose.

Now then, these South West Champ rounds are becoming more like a social gathering than a race, and with me being right next to the signing on tent and being 2 ½ hours early, everyone I knew had a chat with us as they walked past the van.
Thor motorcycles had a couple of the new 2010 ‘Gassers’ on show and they look rather nice, and it looks like the mods they’ve done to the new range seem to work well, must admit, I’m tempted! And what’s more I got a free bacon sandwich from Becky who works for Thor while I was taking a look at the bikes, nice one.
Whilst I was ‘milling’ about around the start area, Marie and little Emily turned up, long time since Marie has come to a race, and In a way i miss those days when she used to come with us all the time and wait for me in the pits to help me refuel and then constantly shove jelly babies in my gob to give me more energy! I doubt if she does though, standing in the pissing rain sometimes watching your fella go round and round ain't much fun is it?

So with everything done, it was off to the parc ferme to pick up the bike and get ready for my 10.07 start time, this last round of the series being a time card event. I all had to do today was stay on the bike, keep to time, not do anything silly, and I’d be celebrating winning the clubman E1 championship. Me and James Hull were the first ones away in our class and we basically followed each other round for the 1st lap at a nice steady pace getting to know the course and arrived back at the pits with about 5-6 mins to spare before we had to head out again. Our allotted times started at 40 mins a lap going down to 31 mins for the last lap, 6 laps in all, so a fair days riding was in front of us. The heavy overnight rain that we had didn’t really affect the course and conditions were just about perfect, slightly tacky on the top and greasy in some places, especially on the hills. To be honest, you don’t want everything bone dry do you?

Onto the course itself, and what a cracker it was with not a flat field in sight, thank god for that! The 1st mile or so was a nice wooded trail before we hit the special test which had a hard or easy route option at the start of it. The harder route consisted of a ‘trials’ section of logs one after the other which saved you a bit of time, if you cleaned it that was! Needless to say that a small crowd were standing by to help anyone that got into trouble with it. With all the riding I’ve done this year I’d be a bit of a pussy not to have a go at that wouldn’t I? Thankfully I had no problems. What the bloody hell James Hull was doing I don’t know, he took the easy route! (I’m gonna have a word with him about that)

The rest of the test consisted of fast trails, a stream crossing, a couple of fire roads, 3-4 rooty uphill sections and a very tight and twisty small moto x style bit to finish with.
After the test the woods never failed to deliver a decent ride for everybody with the variation of it all. Tight sections, fire roads, some decent hills, roots, stumps and of the course the ‘bone yard’, which basically was a 200 meter section carpeted with broken branches. Overall I reckon it was about 8 miles or so a lap.

Onto my 2nd lap then and my 1st test. This went a ‘Pete Tong’ and I had a couple of ‘offs’, so wasted a bit of time, none too pleased about that as every second counts. With the rain now starting to fall I did the rest of the lap ok and come back to the pits with a few minutes in hand.
My 2nd special test went even more pear shaped, 2 more ‘offs’, and one was a classic. I was pinning the little ‘Gasser’ up one of the rooty climbs when before I could say ‘oh sh*t’, I hit the deck in a heap after my front wheel washed out on a root. So with 2 tests gone and 4 ‘offs’, I knew that going out in a blaze of glory and trying to get the win had evaporated. Still, at least I cleaned the lap and made it back in time with nothing broken on the bike, so not all bad news.

Onto my 4th lap I went then and my last test, hip hip hooray, I didn’t come off! Even though half way round the test Phil Harris who wasn’t riding today done his best to have me off by standing on the side of the fire road and ’mooning’ at me as I went past! I think Phil should lose some weight because at one point I thought there was an eclipse up ahead as half the woods went dark on me! I managed to get stuck on a climb later on round the course as the back wheel got a bit out of shape on me while giving her too much ‘welly‘, but I immediately got dragged up to the top by about 5 people who quickly ascended on me, so no time lost there. It was on this lap that I saw James Hull stranded in the woods after his bike had stalled and wouldn’t start, and Andy Smith who also was in a spot of bother due to a snapped chain. I made it back to the pits again with a couple of mins to spare again and saw Dean canfield who’s race was also over due to rear puncture. Paul Fordy also retired due having a crash and damaging his gear shaft, so the woods had now started to claim a few riders with retirements.

With the rain now long gone and just 2 laps to go, all I had to do was try to stay on time and finish and the E1 championship would be mine, although I knew that with James in trouble, I’d won it as he was well down on time and couldn’t get enough points to peg me back now. My 5th lap went well, and with the course absolutely perfect, I was going well, had no mishaps, and made it back in time ready for my final lap.
So off I went then, the time we had now was 31 mins to do the last lap, it was going to be tight, but I was determined to stay clean and not get any penalties. I felt really good and was going well, and was more than confident that I’d make it back so I could start celebrating. The lap went brilliantly and I got back with a minute to spare, job done.

Everyone I spoke to afterwards said how much they’d enjoyed it and what a cracking event it was, so hats off to Camel Vale for providing an excellent well run event. A round of applause to Rich Tucker as well, 18 yrs old and wrapped up the experts championship today, that lad just gets faster and faster.
So with South West series over for another year, it was off to the pub with the ‘likely lads’ for a celebratory drink. Adam didn’t do too well today as his bike played him up all the race, but Steve (I’ve got a thousand stories to tell you) Jose, had a good result in E2.

I’m chuffed to bits, I’ve put a lot of time and effort (not to mention money!) into my racing this year, and if there was one thing I wanted to win, it was the SW championships. At the ripe old age of 45 (acting more like 25), being upgraded to an expert in next seasons SW champs after just over 3 yrs in the sport ain’t too bad at all. No doubt my old man is looking down at me and smiling, although he might have something to say about me riding a Spanish 2 stroke!

Finishing position: 4/16 (clubman E1)

Forced to rest- 27th September 2009

Damaged my right elbow a few weeks back at the SCEC event, i knew what it was straight away, Tennis elbow. After doing last weeks South West round things got worse and i had no alternative but to pay a visit to the docs on Friday for some decent painkilllers.
So with the last SW champs round this weekend and a Midwest round a couple of weeks later, I didn't want to put anymore strain on the elbow, and seeing as i gotta job to lift a kettle up and make a cup of tea at the moment let alone twist a throttle, i thought it best to rest it.

I'm still debating weather to get a late entry into the Weston beach race this year as i still haven't made my mind up yet about doing it.

Plans this month:

4th Camel Vale
11th ?
18th Midwest
25th SCEC

Working party- 24th September 2009

Went on a working party this afternoon with other members of Camel Vale mcc to help get the woods at Dunmere ready for the last round of the South west champs that are taking place next week. Things didn't start too well for me as i managed to 'elbow' the clerk of the course Mike Roose straight in the eye whilst i was picking up a log doing a bit of track clearing, whoops!

What a bloody laugh we all had later. A certain John Young had to leave early and so rode Tony Dinham's bike back to where his car was parked and left. When we'd all finished and was ready to go home, Tony's bike was nowhere to be found, and it took 8 of us 20 minutes to find the bloody thing because John had camouflaged it too well amongst the undergrowth. So remember this folks, don't play hide and seek with A certain Mr J Young, you'll never blinking well find him!

Wolborough Barton- 20th September 2009

So I decided to go for the South west enduro championship race today instead of the Midwest one, but did I make the right decision? (pic by Sue Pitman)

The late summer we’re having continued as yet again the lovely weather was upon us as I made the short drive up to Newton Abbott (about hour an half) for the penultimate round of the series. Called in at a service station on the way up on the A38 only to pull up behind Andy Smith and Phil Harris, so up we went in convoy.

Now the thing is with these South west rounds is that I meet so many bloody people who I’ve got to know over the past season or two! Got parked up next Jon and Tom Hinkley, Adam Blake and Steve Jose arrived soon after, so with ‘Smithy’ and Harris a nice little posse of us were all gathered round for a decent chat and of course the usual banter.

Got signed on and met loads of folk along the way, Rich Tucker, Paul Fordy, Dean Canfield, Francis Banfield, Richard Jay, Arthur Johnson (cracking joke you played on me there Arthur you bugger) , Jed Treleaven, Gary McCoy, James Hull, and John and Sue Pitman. By the way, check out Sue’s handy camera work, you’ll find a link for it over on the right.

So with everything set, I was ready to do battle with James (Hull) as we are currently 1st and 2nd in the championship standings, and to be honest I couldn’t have cared less where I finished today, as long as I was in front of him!

A bit disappointed with the turn out in E1 today as only 8 of us lined up for the start, especially as all the other classes had a good amount of entrants. The flag waved and off we went and I got to the first corner in 2nd ( wot no holeshot!) as we hammered it across a couple of fields I lost a place and went into the woods in 3rd. The wooded section was extremely dry but nevertheless tricky in places due to the tight and twisty turns within it. The hills didn’t create many problems and it was nice to blast up them. After a few miles of wooded trails it was then back out through a couple of more long ’flat out’ fields before going into yet more woods that lay on the hillside, and back to the lap scoring. Only one little problem on the lap that caught a few riders out was a boggy section, but nothing major. I reckon the lap being about 6 to 7 miles and I was doing it in about 20 mins. A nice Course without too many fields!

On my very 1st lap I managed to get lost on the course ( I wasn’t the only one either!), a distinct lack of arrows in part of the woods off one of the lanes caused me to go completely the wrong way and I ended up doing the same bit of woods that I’d just ridden along. I must admit to being a little p**sed off about that, you come to a section that has 3 tracks to choose from, and there’s no marshal, no track tape, and no arrows! Especially when you’ve got in front of your main rival and you’re pushing hard to try and get away (which I did) and you end up losing time through no fault of your own. I reckon I lost about 5 mins doing that, so when I got back to lap scoring I didn’t know what position I was in and certainly didn’t know where everyone else was.

So with my first lap completed and a bit ‘wound’ up I set about trying to make for lost time and everything went smoothly. It wasn’t until the end of my 3rd lap that I quickly took a look behind me at the lap scoring and realized that James (Hull) was right behind me, Apparently he’d got lost as well on his 1st lap! So now the battle between us was definitely on and we both set across the fields hammering our little 125’s to the max.

He overtook me, I then latched onto his tailpipe, I overtook him and he done the same, and for the next 2 laps we were like kids fighting over a toy. I knew I had to pull out some sort of gap because he had a big tank on his RM and he didn’t have to re-fuel and I did, I managed too, but as I was pitting, he just got in front of me by a few seconds so the race was on again!

As I came out of the pits Francis Banfield came past me on his 250, not to be out done, I latched onto him as well, so in a way I was now in a 3 way battle even though Fran was in E2, I thought to myself, the more the merrier!. I caught James up again and passed him, then he past me again, I caught Francis up and past him, and set about getting back up to James. In one of the wooded sections I came round a corner only to find James on the deck after he had a little ‘off‘, so I past him again, after this I didn’t see him again, so our battle together lasted a good hour.

What happened next was probably the best duel I’ve ever had with someone whilst I’ve been racing. Fran (Banfield) went by me again, I got past him, he got past me, I then got by him again, quite frankly it was an awesome battle. We’d been going at each other since we came out of the pits together, and believe or not, that lasted until the end of the race. I was absolutely nailing the 125 across those fields to try and keep in front him and his 250, he was really ’on it’ today and so was I, and we both had a great battle, really enjoyed it. At the end of it all, and with us two glued together like Siamese twins for about 1hr 45 mins, he went by again and pulled out a gap on me and beat me by a minute.

I had a couple of little ‘offs’ along the way today, but nothing major, although I did manage to bash my hands a few times against those bloody trees (ouch), not a particularly clever thing to do in my line of work, but as Delboy would say ’he who dares wins’, and you certainly don’t get any prizes in this game for sympathy (although my hands may beg to differ at the moment), so you just say to yourself ’sh*t, that one hurt’ and you get on with it don’t ya!

Apologies to Jon Hinkley who I had ’off’ whilst me and him were fighting for a corner at the end of a fast field section late on in the race. I braked really late and got half wheel in front of him, when I looked round seconds later to see where he was, he wasn’t anywhere to be seen, oops! I’d manage to put him on the floor. I saw him later and apologized, he was alright about it, I explained to him that I had ‘tunnel vision’ at the time because I chasing whoever it was in front of me, so it was their fault for overtaking me!

So, with still not knowing where I’d finished in the E1 class when I got back to the van, I went off in search to see if I could get any results, and came back with a smile on my chops after I’d found out that I’d got the win and my main challenger for the title had finished down in 5th.

So a cracking day for me and nice to get back to normal after the last few races that I’ve done haven’t been to kind to me. Steve (Jose) had a good finish and so did Fran, although Adam had to pull out in the expert class due to being sick on the course a few times, not too good that as he was hoping to get some decent points towards the championship.

Had a chat with James on the way out and he said that he’d managed to get a puncture on his last lap, so weather he lost a place or two because of that I don’t know. I got a great result today and I achieved what I set out to do and that was to finish in front of him, and even better, I got the win, well pleased.

Finishing position: 1/8 (clubman E1)