Owner:
nick-r
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Member#: 7430 Location: Registered: 23-03-2008 Diary Entries: 10
Mood: polishing bike
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27th April 2008
Other: gasgas motos uk, cross country round2-tyfos estate Wind Direction: n/a Wind Stength: n/a Surf / Sea State: n/a Air Temperature: coll Sea Temperature: n/a Weather: fair with drizzle Max Speed: not very f Distance Covered: not very f
10 hours of rain before the race could only mean one thing......i arrived
at about 10.30am to see vehicles being towed into the parking area,
fortunately the old disco did'nt need any assistance and i managed to slide
my way into a nice parking place where i waited for col, graham, stevebus
and the other steve to arrive..after chatting to two guys that had just
dropped out of the morning race, i almost quit before i had unloaded my
bike off the trailer.neither of them had managed 1 lap..utter carnage and
chaos as they described it...pointing towards a line of what looked like
steam coming out of the trees up on the hillside."everyone is stuck there
they explained"...1 of them was stuck in the bottle neck for over 30 mins
waiting for a chance to attack the hill that was strewn with casulties,
blocking the best lines....as people were attempting it, they were falling
off and causing even more blockage..eventually after trying to by-pass the
hill, they were disqualified!!!and not being allowed past the race control
point were forced to retire without completing and a lap....this did'nt
sound good for the afternoon race and mild panic was starting to set in.
eventually the others arrived and were towed into the parking area with the
tractor...this track had been set out days earlier in dry weather with no
rain forecast for race day..in truth.we did'nt have a clue what lay in
store for us.......we did'nt even know that we would be racing 4 times
world enduro champion paul "fast eddy " edmondson.maybe racing is the wrong
term..but we were on the track with some of the best enduro riders on the
planet......(hmmm .who's idea was this.?..) and other extreme enduro
specilalists that regularly compete at international level......basically
we were going to be moving obstacles to these guys...as we made our way to
the start line i was starting to feel quite confident as there were only 4
people in my class...this was my best chance at a win, at worst 4th.
:D...that was until i discovered i had non other than gary rothwell..(stunt
rider) next to me on the start on a shiny new ktm530. ok, so maybe i won't
win. :(......there was approximately 150 bikes in the start area split into
the various classes. pros up front, expert ,sportsman, clubman, over 35a
and then the hobby group, which i was in.
dead engine start, with groups being released at 30 second
intervals.....col, graham, stevebus and the other streve went 30 seconds
before my group..i got the holeshot and seeing as i was in front of mr
rothwell at the first turn.i went for it.just until were out of sight of
the small crowd of spectators...i came out of the field onto the fireroad
and was aware that a big ktm was closing up behind me....there was a long
way to go and i did'nt even attempt to stay with him..the track made it's
way across moorland, the wounded and stricken were already littering the
track, becoming spectaors less tham 10 minutes into the race....i tried to
be as carefull as possible, a fall would be costly. up ahead i noticed
graham restarting his bike.he'd obviously had a problem..he was less than
1/4 mile ahead and he was now in my sights.i seemed to be closing the gap
on him, but the going was tough if not very interesting with track weaving
it's way around some car sized boulders that looked as though they had'nt
moved in a while, hitting one would be less than ideal. eventualy i caught
graham who was having a hell of a time..slipping and sliding all over the
place.(so was i, but slightly less than graham. :D )..we were riding this
track blind without any idea of what lay ahead...just follwing the markers
and tape..we entered the woods from hell for the first time...oh
dear..things were getting worse, and by this time we were getting caught by
the pros..as if looking where you were going was'nt hard enough without
having to worry about they guys racing for the money. we eventually cleared
the woods...there was a short fire road break before my nemesis would
apear..it came out of nowhere. no warning, no sign. it was just there. we
approached the hill with it being unsighted...maybe it was visible for
anyone looking ahead, i came over and up a deep rutted bank before i saw
where the track was going. i had about 5 yards to decide what i was going
to do..i immiediately saw 2 lines going up....the climb was slightly off
cambered and bending to the right and steep enough to need a run with rocks
at the top and few roots half way up..and it was wet!!!...i started to spin
out about half way up hit a rock and fell off.....in the middle of the best
line up.....(balls).by the time i had dragged my bike around and got myself
to the bottom for a 2nd attempt i was so tired it took about 15 mins to
recover before i could try again..graham made it up and that was the last i
saw if him for a while...it was'nt a nice feeling attacking that hill for
the 2nd time.i was sure i was'nt going to make it......fortunately i
managed to get myself up and over the top with a massive sigh of relief and
wondering to myself "did i really want to try that again"...after riding
for a while and getting extremely tired i stopped for a drink,where i
bumped into col who was looking extremely hot and bothered..he explained
that he parted company with his bike 4 times on the 1st lap..he was now on
his 2nd, i was still on my 1st..eventually graham, stevebus and the other
steve showed and we al rode together to the pits to take a break.by the
time we made it to the pits i was having serious doubts about completing
another lap and so were they..this was painfully hard and dangerous....as
we were getting our breath back. 4 times world enduro champion fast eddy
pulled into the pits to refuel.he did'nt even get off his bike....we
eventually ventured back out for another lap........i'm not sure any of us
really wanted to...this was just like the first lap only worse. it was now
raining and we were very tired....the whole pack of had spread out so bikes
were coming past all over the place even though the lap was 7 miles
long......as we approached the hill of doom....i should have been prepared
after what had happened on the first lap...almost exactly the same
thing.....dropped the bike halfway up...it was very hard work getting the
bike turned around on the hill and getting it upright again...another
recovery break was needed before i was able to attempt it again...i was
dreading it.another fall and would'nt have the energy to pick the bike
up.....luckily i made it on my 2nd attempt. by now i had decided that i
would retire after this lap, if i could make it back. but my woes were'nt
over and i was going to have to pick the bike up from the mud several more
times before i could get off this damn hill side....i managed to fall of
next to a tree with the bike getting wedged against the trunk..so i
could'nt pick the bike up.:(.it took about 10 mins of heaving and pulling
to free the bike....(as if i was'nt already tired). the pros were'nt having
to do this!!!...i came out of the woods again and approached a shallow
climb across a very muddy cambered field. the target was a gate about 500
yards ahead..getting there was another matter....i almost made
it........the bike started to veer to the right in a diagonal sort of
fashion, going anywhere but towards the gate where i needed to go..so near,
yet so far. i missed the gate and started on my way back down the hill
again....:(..i finally completed my 2nd lap and made it to the pit area
where i saw that others had taken their stuff and had obviously retired..i
rode through the control point to claim my 2nd lap and retired too..given
the extreme conditions i am happy that i was at least able to ride the
course and get the bike back in 1 piece. it's got to have 5 stars because
everything except the weather went to plan and we were able to test
ourselves to the max...and at the same time get to see close up how it
should be done by some of the best riders in the world. (where else can you
pay 45 quid and turn up try that).i must add that we did'nt know that they
were going to be there..and i suppose they did'nt know that we would
either. :D..the guy that came 2nd, earlier in the year beat last years
paris dakar winner cyril despris and regards david knight as his fiercest
competion...(col knows about him now though). we;'ve all decided to go back
to the drawing board and enter some lower level events, as it will be
better value for money and also we won't be getting in everybodies way.
:D..then we'll be back!
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