Two valleys- 20th June 2010

This week it was off to a Track n trail event with Adam Blake (pic), beautiful weather it was too, and the sun was shining as we made our way up for the 2 hour or so drive. About half way through the journey a white Transit that was tailgating us began to flash it’s lights, when I stuck me head out of the window I realized it was Andy Smith, he’d also come up from down our way so we rode in convoy up to Two valleys. Well to be honest, me and Adam went straight past the bloody turning because we were laughing too bloody much like a pair of kids joking about, (it was actually over another rider whom I won’t name) so good old Andy phoned us up and told us what a pair of twats we were!!!!

Anyway, got there in the end, so I went to take a look at one of the hard routes and report back. Phil Studley came over and had a chat and apparently had changed his engine overnight due to riding the day before and it braking!! Well that moved worked a treat, and if you look at the results then you’ll know why. I rode this event last year and by the look at it nothing much had changed, I remember getting the holeshot and crying out for some woods, but with the track basically being a motocross and open field circuit, I stood no chance, so I didn’t have a particularly good day, still, can’t complain this year coz I ain’t riding it!!! Nice to catch up with Jason Duggan, hadn’t seen him for ages, so wished him luck, apart from that, I didn’t know anyone else!!!! Bloomin heck, one week you know everybody, the next week, hardly anyone!!

As always at these TnT events you do get a big entry with lots of different classes, nothing wrong with that of course, but, and this is the big BUT, when you have a fairly short, fast and open type course coupled with lots of riders, sometimes you only have to do one lap and you’re already in amongst the back markers. I watched the start from the top of one of the hills and witnessed a pile up of the clubman 4 st entrants just as they were slowing down to get round the 1st corner. I thought myself there and then I bet Andy Smith was involved in that, and sure enough he was!!! Poor old Andy, 20 secs into the race and crashed, and by the time he got himself started again, he was plum last along with a broken front brake and a bent clutch lever that needed the hands the size of Kenny Everett to operate!

Now with so many classes to let go at one minute intervals, I was stood there thinking to myself that the champ guys are gonna come round soon before some of the other classes has started, and sure enough they did. I couldn’t believe it then, when some of the champ riders were coming through lap scoring at the end of their 1st lap and they let one of the other classes go right in front of them. Adam got caught up with the bloody lot of them and must have lost loads of time getting through that lot, not very good organization me thinks.

My time to help in the pits soon came round so I did my bit to help Adam and Andy, then it was off to get the grub from the van. Soon after Andy Smith came back looking well p*ssed off, he’d had an almighty off and busted his foot peg along with a tasty looking graze on his hip after hitting a tree stump. Game over for him, we couldn’t mend the peg so he had to retire. The hot humid weather was certainly taking it’s toll on a few riders with longer than normal pit stops to in order get some more liquid down their gullets, but that was the last thing on Blakey’s mind as his last few laps were dogged by a sticking throttle problem which caused him to ease back a bit.

At the end of the race and as to be expected, a lot of riders were ‘cream crackered’ and were sat there waiting for the flag to come out, not because of the course, but because the weather had taken it’s toll on a few on them.
So after getting a lift back from the pits on one of them orange KTM things and everything had been packed up, it was time for the burger van before the journey home.

Nancemellion- 13th June 2010

It was off to watch a local race about 30 mins from home which happened to be another round of the SW championship. It has to said that Nancemellion isn’t top priority on a riders list when looking at the diary of events, me included, so it’s just as well I ain’t riding at the moment!

I got picked en route by the dynamic duo of Batman and Robin, sorry, I meant Steve Jose and Adam Blake (Steve Jose is Robin by the way, coz he like dressing up in green lycra tights and wearing a mask, or so his misses told me), and made the short drive down the A30 to where it all was happening. A nice dry warm day, and a nice little crew of us had gathered as all our vans were just about parked up next to each other due to the massive field to park in. Phil ’smiler’ Harris was on top form as usual making everybody laugh, Andy Smith was proudly showing us his new fancy foot pegs, Francis Banfield was still going on about his bike being too fiery and his clutch being too heavy, Steve Jay was in the wars after ’cricking’ his neck that very morning whilst loading his bike in the back of the van, Arthur Johnson was still fuming at ‘that bloke on a bridge’ that held him up for 6 hours on the M5 whilst traveling to last years Dawn to Dusk and Tim Williams was almost at the stage of passing out whilst waiting for the catering van to turn up because he hadn’t had any breakfast.

With me the past few months being a general ‘dogs body’ at the races helping a few people out, today I’d thought I’d graduate to a new level and use a pit board to help a few riders out as the race unfolded. So it off down to the start to watch everybody pile through and then off to watch the field go by down on the bottom bit of the track where the rough old motocross course lies. Had a good old chat to Dean canfield for a while who was also stood there watching, before moving on to a section of the woods where there was a bit of mayhem ensuing on a rooty steep climb.

What was happening next the words ’farce’ ’ridiculous’ and ’nonsense’ (amongst others) spring to mind. You see the hill that everybody was getting stuck on (including some champ riders) was about at most 2 to 3 bike widths wide, so as soon as one got stuck, another bike came along to try and get round them, but of course there wasn’t really another line to take, only an extremely difficult one, so that rider got stuck as well causing absolute chaos, not only on the hill but with bikes queuing at the bottom waiting for the track to clear so they could have a clear run at getting up. Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve been in plenty of these situations myself, but the thing is the marshals have used there common sense and opened up a different route temporarily in order to clear the backlog or have cut that bit of the course out altogether. Every couple of minutes it was complete chaos and believe it or not, the marshals were at the top of the hill whilst 4 or 5 of us spectators were doing the bloody donkey work (ok I admit with one arm only) and hauling the stricken bikes and fallen riders back on two wheels and up to the top. At the foot of the hill just to the right hand side there was another track which was dry and passible so as to cut out the carnage in front of the riders as they came round the corner. I started to direct some riders through this bit in order to clear the back log, and all of us who were stood there helping thought it was a sensible idea including the well respected Tony Dinham, who I must say had been helping out all the riders for some time on that hill and was absolutely soaked in sweat by doing so. But wait a minute, hold on, down came a marshal from the top of the hill and started ranting and raving that everyone had to go up the chaotic bike stricken climb regardless and promptly closed the easier alternative route. Apparently he mutterd the words to Tony ‘well Dustow can get up there’ um…………………hold on a minute, are we on about Chris Dustow who basically is a top class championship rider and has just come back from one of the toughest races in the world, that being ERZBERG??????? Well my friend, it’s not surprising he can make it up there then is it? Tony couldn’t believe it that he wouldn’t let the back log clear and open up the other route, nor could every other bugger who been stood there sweating there nuts off helping out, so I had a word and asked the marshal to ’use some common sense’, he said he was!!!! With that, all of us went and let him get on with himself, absolutely ridiculous and complete bloody farce in my opinion. Do you know what? Later on in the race that part of the course got CUT OUT!!! I rest my case. This blog that I write are my own personal opinions and how I see things, if you see things in a different light to me, then that’s fine, you can always start you’re own internet page up and do it yourself. I’m personally not into slagging off marshals, organisers, or any other bodies that help run events, I’m just saying as I see it, rant over, let’s move on!

So after getting my breath back and finally stopping the sweat dripping from my brow, I went back up to the pits to help a few guys out and to finally use my writing skills on the pitboard to tell a few riders how they were getting on as the race started to unfold, and also to have a bit of a laugh with a few of them and write something comical on the thing as they went past! I think the best one was when Francis Banfield went past me, he wasn’t going too well and I simply wrote on the board, ‘Try twisting the throttle more’! He saw it alright because he stuck his 2 fingers up at me as he rode by.

Saw a few people in the pits to have a chat too including Andrew Cundy who wasn’t racing due to a nasty looking injury to his fingers which he sustained while out practicing. From what he told me that had happened, he was lucky not to lose the bloody things as they were caught up in the bike and then dragged along the ground!

As the race came to an end the weather just started to cloud over and rain began to fall, but that didn’t dampen Steve’s (Jose) spirits as he’d knew he’d won his class and was full of it (see pic). One sad thing to report about the race that was said to me by 2 different riders and on 2 separate occasions, was a certain rider that was course cutting. I won’t name and shame the guy, but I think someone should have a quiet word with him, he’s a decent enough rider and doesn’t need to do it……………………………

Storridge woods- 31st May 2010

Traveled up to watch this one with ‘mad’ Jack Twentyman and his boy Paddy. Nice weather and a lovely warm day greeted us as we arrived at the Devon track, and got parked up right next to Phil Harris’s super duper motor home. Not only that, but also the other lads that had traveled up as well were parked the other side of it, so we had a good little crowd of us, Andy Smith, Steve Jose, Adam Blake, Phil, ’mad’ Jack, yours truly, and also Rob Ellick, Paul Ford, and Rich Batstone. DRAGONS DEN, now that’s what Rich Batstone is gonna be on this year! Why? I’ll tell you why, after breaking his nozzle of his fast fill fuel can, he invented a system which works just as well and looks a million dollars ( I don’t think) from a washing machine hose! Rich reckons it’s going to catch on, so if you see someone in the car park selling washing machine hoses at your next local enduro event, it’ll be him and not a sales rep from Zanussi or Hotpoint.

Next it was off to have a little peak down at the start line and to get a riders list from Debbie Tucker who was signing everybody on. Hubby Mark was also there and looking like a farmer on his big 4x4 quad whilst having a bit of a break from his duties of clerk of the course. Also bumped into the Hull’s who were out in force, dad Kev doing the pit duties with his 2 sons James and Dan who were both riding today. Gary ‘nothing gets in my way’ Mcoy was also in attendence and probably reminiscing about last years event when the b*stard run over my bike and put a bloody hole through my fuel tank! Well he wasn’t going to do it this year was he? Cause I ain’t riding today, no wonder he looked disappointed when I spoke to him!

So after everybody had got changed it was off down to the start, and once all the riders had got away I took a hike with Paddy and walked to one of the expert routes and waited for the leaders to come through, nice one it was too, a steep loose rutted stoney climb, bound to get a few in trouble I thought, and it bloody well did!

Phil Harris came a cropper on it and slid back down to the bottom and had to make a 2nd attempt to get up it, and Richard Batstone slid off line and got pinned against a tree, I had to come to the rescue and help him get back upright and get back down to the bottom so he could have another go, no probs 2nd time for him. I helped a few riders who’d got stuck on the hill for a couple of laps and then made my way back up to the pit area.

You could tell who was leading the race by this time, simply because you could hear his exhaust 3 miles away! It was none other than Rich Tucker who’d managed to put a hole in it, down on power I expect, but he was still pulling away from the field. Whilst looking at the riders who I knew come by, I suddenly thought, where’s Jack? 30 mins later and still no Jack. Whoops! me thinks something’s happened to him, and sure enough it had as finally he turned up back at the pits with brake problems and decided to pull out. The things was is that he said he was going home there and then, so I had no bloody lift back home! Come in my saviour, Phil Harris, I quickly asked him weather he could give us a lift back when he done his pit stop, good lad he said no probs, that meant I could stay and help a few lads in the pits for their pit stop.

From here on in I pretty much stayed around the lap scoring / pit area having a chat to Kev Hull, good it was too, as yards from the end of the lap the riders came up a hill and up a nice little jump. Full marks must go to Gavin Hunt for one legged showboating when getting some nice air and for Rich Tucker who simply got some of the biggest air time of all the riders on every lap. Must say that old stalwart Arthur Johnson on his Gasser 300 must have been one of the fastest up that straight which led back into the woods immediately after going through the transponders, he was flying on it, no doubt due to the fact that I was ‘egging’ him on and gesturing to him to ‘give it loads’!

At the end of it all I actually got on a bike and rode!!!!!!! Andy Smith gave us his 250 4 banger to take back, Ok, it was only a trip up the lane and back to the vans but it was nice to get on a bike again, even though it still hurt my flamin elbow!
So back at the vans the usual banter and hard luck stories flew around before going back down to check the days results (nice one Exmoor for getting them out so quick) before it was off back home with Phil and Andy. Big thanks to them to go out of their way and for dropping me off at Jacks place at such short notice.
A good day out today, good organization and a cracking course to go with it.

Injury update- 23rd may 2010

Injury update
Is that a picture of some apparatus from the medieval times for the purpose of being used in the sadistic and ugly cruel world of torture? Course not, it’s what I have to use daily on my bloody arm to try and strengthen it and to eliminate ’Lateral Epicondylitis’ (that’s tennis elbow by the way). A 5lb club hammer attached to a nylon cord threaded through a broom handle, another hammer on it’s own, and an ironing board (not in the pic!) As well as a towel and some ice. It all seems a bit crazy doesn’t it? But they all serve their purpose and hopefully they’ll work for me. The arm is of course still giving me trouble, So I’m afraid it’s more long term than first thought, and after scouring the net for hours and hours and reading up on different forums about it, it’s one of those things that is difficult to treat if you’re doing a really physical sport. Needless to say that holding on to a motorbike and twisting a throttle on rough ground for over 3 hours with just a 30 second break in between on most Sundays is not quite the same as playing table tennis is it? Overall though it’s a lot better than it was but still quite a way off being ready to race.

It never rains but pours?
Yes believe it or not the last few months have been a total bleeding nightmare as regarding trying to get my fitness back on track. I tore my calf muscle whilst out running, so that put me back for about 4-6 weeks and then when that got better I decided it would be a good idea to go and tear the tendons just below the patella! (knee cap) Now that one really hurt, it was like being stabbed in the bloody knee with a hot piece of glass. I’m now back doing some light running so hopefully I can get some fitness built up ready for my return to racing!!!!!! (whenever that may be)

Plans?
If there’s one race I’d love to do again this year, it’s the dawn to dusk in August, but I know it would be pure insanity to go out and race 12 hours without even getting on a bike and doing some sort of practicing before hand. So, if I’m not racing by the end of July then it’s going to be a no no on that one. Weston beach race is another possibility later on in the year, just have to see how it goes.

Thanks to everyone who’s logged on to view my antics lately, see you all at the races!

Colwith two way- 8th May 2010

So it was off to watch another local event just a few miles up the road. Got picked up by Steve Jose and arrived at Colwith a few minutes later to see basically everybody that was at husytns a few weeks earlier! Adam Blake couldn’t ride to due his bike being totally wrote off at the front end after a tasty ‘off’ straight into a tree at speed the week before, so naturally what do you do when something like that happens? Of course you bring along your very own personalized trophy of a bit of the bike that people react to in the way of ‘f*ck me, how did you do that’? And sure enough everyone did when they saw the state of the exhaust that had come off the bike, TOTALLY FLATTENED! Luckily ‘Blakey’ was none the worse for wear, how he escaped that one god only knows.

A nice little crowd had gathered for a bit of banter beforehand, me, Steve, Adam, Rich and Steve Jay, Francis Banfield, Trevor vercoe, and a few others guys who names I never caught. Whilst ‘milling’ about I caught up with Colin George, Jed Treleaven (who was giving his new Gas Gas 250 it’s first outing), Arthur ‘evergreen’ Johnson, Hannes Tanzer, Jon hinkley, Andy Cundy and Mike Roose who was taking his old RM out for a spin today, which I think he should do more often!!!

A bit of dull greyish looking day with the threat of rain in the air, but not too chilly, so ideal conditions really. The Colwith two way is a bit different from the norm as you have two 1 hour races with observation sections thrown in (similar to a trials type course), and each competitor is given a certain number of laps to do within their allotted time without penalty marks being had in the trials sections. Then after race one, with a bit of a break in between, you do the course in reverse, simple!

So just before the start it was off for a trundle around the fields and the track to find a decent spot watch the riders come through. Me and Adam found a cracking steep little ditch filled with mud and ruts which had a few getting stuck. When we first arrived we had to pull out a bloody Honda XR 600 to be precise, how heavy was that? I’m telling you it seemed to weigh like a tank!
A few more bikes later and I happened to get splattered full frontal in mud (much to the amusent of everybody watching) as I stood directly in the firing line of a bike’s back wheel as it spun round like a out of control washing machine on full spin trying to free itself out of the mud, typical!!!

After the first race was over it was back off to where everyone was parked up to have a chat about how they got on and to wait for next race to start, but rumor had it that the course marshals had cut that ditch out, bloody spoilsports if you ask me! So it was off to find another tricky little part of the course that we could he a good look at and see some action. Sure enough we did, and with Francis Banfield in tow this time, it wasn’t long before we were helping riders to get up a steep little rooty climb. Nice to see Mike Roose enjoying himself going round and he didn’t have any problem with that bit of the track where we were stood at all, younger riders take note! Some guys chain came off and wrapped itself around the front sprocket 3 or 4 times, and try as we all did for about 15 mins to free it, it was hopeless and the poor guy had a long push back to the pits.

After the 2nd race had finished a little twist ensued when riders had the chance to compete in mini extreme slalom race which included a skip, tyres, and some logs, while going head to head with each other until it a winner was found. Good fun was had by both riders and spectators in this, and it was a nice little fun way to close the proceedings.

A good day out and it was made even better when I found out that my team Leeds United had finally got promoted back into the championship!

Hustyns- 18th April 2010

Well I suppose it was safe to say that with Hustyns being just 10 mins away from me, I was gutted not being able to ride. I know the woods well as I’ve run, cycled and walked the ‘mut’ round them plenty of times, and with the track being so dry due to the recent warm spell of weather, it looked set to be a corking day. On top of that, it’s a brilliant course and right up my street, never mind, always next year!

I arrived early and unbelievably for a Hustyns event, the sun was shining! It was lovely weather and just like a summers day, so it was definitely going to be on the fast side today. As everyone started to arrive it seemed to be like a ‘who’s who’ of the south west enduro world! Every bugger I practically knew was there so needless to say I wouldn’t be short of a conversation for next few hours before racing started!

A few of us gathered round for the usual bit of good humored chat and piss taking, me, Steve ‘at last I’ve won a race’ Jose, Adam Blake, Phil ‘loved up’ Harris, and Andy Smith. That was the main core but as other riders passed by, one by one they joined in the camaraderie, Richard and Steve Jay, Francis Banfield, ‘mad’ Jack, John Hinkley, clerk of the course Mike Roose, Jed Treleaven, Mark and Rich Tucker, Arthur Johnson, in fact so many I just can’t remember them all. One certain chap did stick in my mind though that didn’t escape the clutches of our crew, Christian Soanes, as everyone was having a good old munch on all of their different forms of homemade pre race pasta, Christian came along and decided to join in and scoff his as well. My god, what the bloody hell was that he was eating? It looked like mashed up cold corrugated cardboard (see pic), and smelt like road kill, yuk! Mind you his girlfriend wasn’t best pleased when she came over and asked what all the fuss was about, coz she’s the one who made it for him the night before!!!

After a bit more of the old tongue wagging chit chat to a few more riders that I knew in the pit area, I waited around the start area with Mark (Tucker) to watch everyone go off. After the 1st lap I took a 15 min walk to the special test to take a few snaps and to watch all the action and to give a bit of encouragement to a few riders (well actually to tell them to get their arse in gear and go a bit faster!) Must say that I was most impressed with a certain Mr Dustow showing how a 125 should be rode on a test, simply awesome.

After a few laps of everyone doing the test, it was back off to the pits to see what going on with everybody for the last few laps of the event. With the course being so fast today most riders ‘cleaned it’ on time so it gave them a bit of time to re-fuel, take on some water and get caught by me for a quick chat, so basically I had about 40 different views on how things were going! Everyone I spoke too was enjoying it which of course nearly had me running away from it all and sobbing amongst the forestry commission undergrowth due to not riding because of my bloody elbow!

As the riders finished one by one in the glorious sunshine I managed to grab Ollie Hicks who’s got a Husqvarna 125 so I could take a closer look at it. Spent a bit of time going over it and asking a few questions, looks a nice piece of kit, food for thought that one? I also managed to catch up with Colin Treleaven the boss of Thor motorcycles who was stood right next to the burger van (surprise surprise) to talk about, erm……….Gassers, and also to ask him if his business is going under because I ain’t been down there for 6 months spending all my money in his shop!

So with everyone back safe and sound and with no rush to get home, yet more banter and general good natured ‘moronic’ chat was had by all the lads back at the van. Even though I wasn’t riding, today was a top day, fantastic weather, good course, good organization, and the whole thing just had a really good ‘buzz’ about it, Top notch!

Grebestone manor- 28th March 2010

Traveled up with Adam Blake and ‘mad’ Jack Twentyman for an ORE race just off the M5 past Exeter, so not too far to go. With the rain we’ve been having this week the usual fun and games were had getting into the field to park the motor. I got out of the van and looked for a decent line through the mud (like you do) so ‘Blakey’ could use his champ skills and plough through the gloop in his van in order to get parked up, this worked a treat and while every other bugger struggled he made look easy!!

Parked up just in front of us was Gary ‘nothing gets in my way’ Mcoy and Nick life. Gary was feeling a bit worse for wear after having a night on the beer, mind you it didn’t seem to make a difference to his appearance, in fact I thought he looked better for it!

Whilst I milling around the signing on trailer (which in fact only 3 people could stand on it at one time in case it tipped over!) I bumped into the 3 musketeers, Rich Batstone, Paul Ford and Rob Ellick. Nice to see Rich riding again and it bought back a few memories when we both used to be rivals a few years back at the same ORE events (bloody hell I’m sounding like a old man now), had a good laugh about that we did. A few other riders from down our way made the trip so I knew quite a few that were there.

After a quick walk of the very open track (like most of the ORE events because of the quad racing that goes beforehand), it was back to the van and to wait for everyone to get changed before the start. As flag time got nearer I toddled off for a good vantage point so I could see all the action, and were I was stood I could see most of the bloody course, eh……………..one field there, another field there, another field there, in fact quite a few fields! Fast racing then was assured and short laps as well, not my ideal kind of course but who cares, I’m not even racing! The track in places was a little bit ‘tacky’ due to the recent downpours but nothing too much to worry about.

So after watching all the riders flood through past me for a few laps I went off walkabout and headed back up to the pits were I bumped into Gary (Mcoy) who’d had bike trouble and had to pull out after about the hour mark. I helped ‘Blakey’ do his pit stop, helped out Gavin Hunt a bit who had to pit for while because he had brake trouble, and then went and took another look at a different part of the course. It was at this point that I saw Paul Ford cruising around the track like an old fart, so I shouted to him to get his arse in gear and hurry things up and not take it so easy!

God knows how many laps the top guys did at the end of it all, but they were short laps and keeping tabs on everybody’s position was nigh on impossible although I did know that Nick Life trounced everybody (he made it look like a stroll in the park) and ‘mad’ Jack was 2nd, and Adam 4th. Back at the van Jack was in a bad way, he wasn’t injured but had just exerted himself so much that he resembled a figure of someone that had just downed 20 Jack Daniels and then been hit by a bus, he couldn’t stand up let alone walk!!!! Jack didn’t want any help so all we could do was leave him be. Just before we left a few of us were stood round having a chat, including Christian Soanes and Gavin Hunt, where for some reason or another we all ended up showing off our battle scars from our injuries over the years! Adam of course felt left out because the soft lad hasn’t got any! Or it maybe the fact that he’s to a skillful rider to get any!

On the way home the atmosphere in the van was non existent, in fact I would probably say that there was more atmosphere on the moon as Jack was still in a bad way, puffing and panting, holding his head in his hands, opening the window for fresh air, feeling sick, me and Blakey didn’t quite know what to say and it wasn’t long before we had to stop on the hard shoulder of the M5 for Jack to throw up!!! Another 30 mins later and we had to stop again, this time on the A30 for the same thing, not good. It wasn’t until we got back to near home that Jack had pulled round a bit which was just as well because he was giving me a lift home!

Next race I’ll be out and about at is the Hustyn enduro, see you there.

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