Click on the pictures to see a larger image

After such a good first race at Leighton Buzzard I had high hopes for the next round at Lane End. I had my stopwatch sorted out so that I could make full use of the allocated time and not stop too early as I did before. I’d also been doing a bit of mtb’ing trying to get a little fitter. There was to be a good showing from the ‘Club Dirty Bastards’ at this round. I’d made such a fuss and been on such a high after the first round that this time there was five of us taking part! Unfortunately my ‘high’ came crashing back down to reality, quite literally!

TWD and myself had consecutive numbers this time as we’d sent our entries off together, I was 42 and he was 43, so it was going to be fun starting together. After meeting the other CDB crew members, Tyron, Zulu and Scottrider we bumped into a few other forum members. Rotaxrob who parked next to us and then RichC - putting faces to names. I also met Simon who filmed the event and lives locally.

 

Race prep CDB style !

TWD thumbs & Scottrider (aka 'the time lord' due to his eighties clothing) getting into the swing of things

 

RBJ No42 and TWD No43 line up ..............Joined by Rotaxrob no48...................then Scottrider no79

 

So to the start of the race. Like I said before I had high hopes for this round and intended to start well. Too well as it turned out, within the first few minutes I was on my arse! I made a good holeshot I believe and was going well until I got to the first left right downhill turn. The right was a tight turn at the bottom of a slope and slightly off camber. The front tucked and I was down before I knew what had happened. Dam it, the others came past while I got back on and I set off in pursuit. It wasn’t long before I’d caught up and passed the group, but where and how I’ve no idea, there was too much red mist clouding my vision!

 

Tony followed by........................... RBJ and then.......................... Scottrider

 

I was going really well until a slower rider in front of me crashed and I had nowhere to go but straight over the fallen bike. Well I sort of made it over, just not attached to the bike! Running back to the KTM I found my front wheel wedged between the rear wheel and the exhaust of his bike and it was jammed solid! I was frantically pulling the handlebars to free the wheel but all I was doing was pulling the other bike along the ground. It took the two of us to free it and of course by this time the other riders in my group were long gone.

Tyron being chased by a 'stink wheel' and .........Zulu laying a smoke screen of his own.........Tyron again

 

Peering through maroon fog by this stage I’m not too sure of the following events. I’m pretty sure it was on the very same lap that I hit a tree branch laying on the round or a stump and got flung off to one side at a not too inconsiderable speed, landing on another log with my knee hitting something a lot harder then knee covered in amour. Once more I leapt up and charged off. Now I’m not sure how but somehow I must have got past TWD again cos on one of the following laps when I came up to the spot where I hit the crashed rider I thought to myself “take it easy here and watch for the roots”. As I picked myself up again TWD came past and stopped briefly, “you’ve not been down again have you” he asked. I was too tired and embarrassed to tell him of the other ones, so I just rolled my eyes and the bugger laughed as he sped off.

 

Me again in the trees above and below.... followed by Scottrider

 

I caught back up at a rider 'log jam' on one of the downward slopes and managed to sneak past by squeezing through gaps between stationary riders. But then I got stuck between a tree and a stopped rider and could go no further. Losing my footing I promptly toppled over as the front wheel slid along a tree branch on the ground. I’m not sure what placing TWD and I were after that but I continued to make ok time for about one more lap but the ‘offs’ and the extra tight circuit took its toll on my shoulder muscles and I was too tired to ride properly now. Mentally I was now worried about crashing (as it hurts) so my riding suffered along with my concentration, not good at all.

 

Me again ......................................Zulu &....................................TWD

Me ......................................Scottrider &....................................Tyron

By now I had to pull over for a fair few faster riders (Tyron included) who had started further back on the grid, something that goes against the grain but I was too tired and riding really crap by this stage as all the crashes had knocked my confidence. The laps just seemed sooooo long by now! Looking at my stopwatch I had time for one last lap before lunch, coming in late but this being the first session that was ok as no penalty points would be awarded.

Lunch

To say I was demoralised was an understatement, I knew I was riding crap and my arms were finished so I dreaded the next session. I sat in the chair back at the car and half-heartedly ate a bread roll and drank some energy drink. I was pissed off with myself for making so many mistakes. TWD on the other hand seemed to be enjoying it but Scottrider and Zulu were also of the opinion it was a little too tight.

 

Grabbing a bite to eat L - R are RBJ, TWD, Scottrider & Zulu....second pic,spare tyre on show!

 

Part Two

 

Do that all over again for two hours?.......Being told to sit up straight by cameraman......TWD enjoying the moment

 

The next session came up too fast (it felt like twenty minutes) so I said to Tony (TWD) ‘after you mate’ and we set off. It was my plan to just sit behind Tony and take it easy, pace myself this time. Only problem was a faster rider was on my rear so I pulled over momentarily as I didn’t want to hold anyone up. This let Tony get away a bit and that was that, he wasn’t taking it easy and by now I was too tired to catch up so the gap got bigger and bigger until he pulled away completely.

So now the race became a real endurance test for me, too tired to ‘race’ but to stubborn (stupid?) to pull in. I battled on for a while and stopped on the hour to gulp some energy drink down at the start line. I soldiered on for a lap or two and sort of got back into a slow rhythm as I tried to concentrate on my riding style but a few faster guys came past again and I lost concentration. At one stage I missed a gear, and it went into neutral, only to have a following rider hit into my left side. He quite kindly stopped to ask if I was all right but it was nothing. I only had one ‘off’ in the afternoon and that was just as you came over a small hump into a dark road. The front tucked for some reason and I was down again. A traveling marshal was there straight away and I called out ‘I’m ok’ as I was getting up so he could continue. Trying to knock the hand-guards straight Tyron came past and shouted something which was later translated into ‘come on Johnny!’ as he thought I was having a rest! I wish!

And we're off - again............TWD in water splash folowed by ..............me as well

 

Scottrider at the water splash folowed by......... TWD and ............a very tired RBJ

 

Not long after that the clutch started to go a bit soft so I wound the span adjuster in whenever I could which helped for a while but it got worst as the time went by. Hardly surprising as I was using it so much on the tight and twisty track. By the last lap it was all but useless. I spent most of the last lap having a bit of a race with a guy on what I think was a wr250 but I’m not sure. We were running more or less the same speed so I just sat behind waiting for him to make a mistake and it took ages for it to happen but he eventually had a small slide coming out of the last left just before a right turn followed by a long straight. I used the grunt of the 450 to position myself on the inside at the bend and managed to blast up the straight in the lead. Not long (it seemed like forever though) and the lap was over, due to my slow pace I didn’t have enough time to get another lap in, so I pulled off. By now the clutch was completely gone, the bike stalling on the finish line as I bleeped in. My girlfriend walked up and gave me the bad news, Tony had made another lap! Aaarrr the first rule of racing (always beat your team mate) was shot to pieces, bollocks. Well done mate, you rode well - you dirty bastard.

Over at last - where's Rhomech now with his cold beers!..............."So I went this way and the bike went that way"

And the others?

• Well Tyron didn’t know you had to bleep in on the transponder so he went flying through on the first lap! After that it was pointless trying too hard so he pulled in near the end.
• Scottrider hit a tree fairly hard in the afternoon and hurt his shoulder. It also ripped off the radiator scoop bending it around and badly denting the fins. He pulled in early after that as the shoulder was hurting.
• Zulu? Not too sure how he got on but I think he enjoyed it. He also thought his 300EXC was I bit too powerful for the tight circuit.

So what did I learn from this one then?

1. The race isn’t won on the first lap! Duh.
2. Do some gym work, not just mtb’ing.
3. Big 450’s are not ideal for circuits that tight.
4. Learn to ride faster!!
5. Get down to DrShox to get my suspension set up even better.

Damaged control:

• Strange but the clutch seemed ok on monday morning. After I cleaned the bike it seemed fine so I took it up and down the road to get the water out of the chain and the clutch worked ok. The master cylinder was covered in about an inch of clay like mud though so maybe the fluid got too hot and boiled? There might be water in the system that caused it? I’ll have to flush the fluid out to be sure and check the friction pads to be on the safe side. As we're off to the isle of man on the 5th.
• Kneecap has a dent in it. No bruise so that’s very strange, a little swollen & very tender. It's a lot hotter than the other knee.
• The worst case of ‘monkey butt’ you could ever imagine!! Note to self: add a big tub of Vaseline to your race kit!

So all in all not such a good day for me but I can take one thing positive away from the whole day - I never quit. Endurance test it was, but I finished it!

Post Script:

• Sorry to here about the chap that broke his leg, makes my day seem great in comparison! Get well soon mate.
• Clutch bled this morning. fluid all milky and loads of air in it. 100% now so not taking clutch out.
• Knee a bit better but 'monkey butt' is a sight to see! Don't worry - no chance of me putting that on the web!
• After the clean up the bike appears remarkably unscathed by all the off's.
• Spoke to TWD tonight and he sheepishly admitted to also having a bad case of Monkey Butt, so that cheered me up a bit!
• Just got an email from Tyron - HE'S GOT MONKEY BUTT AS WELL. It's so bad he's back on the bus as he can't sit on his bicycle! Was it something in the air that day?
  

Again thanks to my girlfriend for taking the photo's. Unfortunately there was no MX track so no photos of spectacular jumps etc but I do appreciate her time and effort in taking them, even though she complained that she was tired from walking to course! Try racing it for four hours, then you'll know tired!

Finally thanks to the Chiltern Hills Enduro Club for putting together another great event. It would appear most people enjoyed themselves. Could I just ask one thing for next time though? Is it not possible to cut the tree branches away that are on the racing line, and are at head height?

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Late entry: tried to start up the 450 after washing it and it was struggling to fire up, also not turning over very well. It sort of caught but would die again straight away so I got out the magic spray and covered all electrical parts to drive out any water. It would not start and now was hardly turning over so I jumped on (crawled on more like - I'm a bit sore) and gave it a good kicking! Now apart from the stupid wrong sided CCM of Hooky's i can normally start anything. It did catch and then I got the fright of my life as a deafening BANG sounded and the exhaust plug shot across the drive way! So it doesn't just happen to americans!

Results: Over 40 Class

• Tony 16
• RBJ 22
• Zulu 63
• Scottrider 82

Overall Results:

• Tony 31
• RBJ 41
• Zulu 112
• Scottrider 153
• Tyron 157