CHEC - Lane End 'Open Day'
21st March 2010

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I was really looking forward to the CHEC Lane End ‘open day’ on the 21st of March. Mainly as I’d allowed myself to get so unfit over the winter, that I knew I wasn’t in any state to fight it out with the usual crowd ie the top ten. As the day got nearer and nearer the ‘grid’ size swelled to 180 riders – with more promised on the day. I’m really pleased for CHEC that this was working out to be a good and well supported event, they are a good bunch of guys and not many know that that they actually actively support several charities with funds obtained from these events.
The constant rain on Saturday was a bit ominous and didn’t bode well for Sunday. However the forecast was for sunny weather on Sunday so all was not lost. However they said that about Wednesday too and they didn’t get that right. Knowing Lane End and the terrain it was going to be a tough & slippery one – I just hoped the guys had got the ‘opt out’ routes sorted for the numerous newbies that were due to attend.

Getting ready for the day - what a great start to the day! anyone fancy a coffee? oh bollox!

Using our new (old) trailer for the first time I picked Tony up a lot earlier than usual, as I was worried about getting a parking spot somewhere where I could get out at the end of the event. We got to the venue nice and early but then disaster struck – there was no bugger van so no coffees!

Being the first CHEC event of the year it was a chance to get reacquainted with plenty of the old faces and to meet some of the new riders that were attending for the first time. Back at the car Steve and co pitched up and we also got talking to the bloke next to us who was not only taking part in an event for the first time, but he’d never done any off road riding before! He’d managed to buy drz in a box of bits and I must say he’d put together a smart looking budget bike.

"i broke my front mudguard off - so i just turned it around. do you think it looks ok?"
yes mate, no one will know!

now everyone will think i'm having a Pee....
but i've actually found god and i'm having a little prayer before the start

Steve heads off at the 'start'

The event was to run just like a normal ‘race day’ and the riding kicked off at 10.30 with ten riders being allowed out every minute or so – but in any order, not in race number sequence. I set off with Tony and slotted in behind him for a while. The track skirted the small bit of wood the same as the last event back in 2009. It then pulled back over the bottom of the field before weaving in and out the trees that followed, before a short straight brought us out at the first grassy slope. Then the track zig zaged back and forth along the main valley, taking in all the best bits of the climbs and bombholes. But before that we got to all of the good stuff there was a bit of a slope in the woods, and Tony was in trouble straight away with the back end spinning up and sluing sideways. I crept past by keeping a real steady throttle and moving my weight back over the rear end. I carried on for a short while then pulled over to wait for him to catch up but after a few minutes I carried on alone. He’d stopped to let some pressure out of the rear tyre. I’d left 18psi in it when I fitted it for him.

first slope mayhem....

another man down!

man catches runaway tree!!

peak-a-boo!

thats how it's done. sitting back for trackion. good momentum and not too much gas

When I got to the first of the ‘green route climbs’ ie more technical and an option off the main ‘beginners course’, I noticed several riders stuck on it. Once again keeping the momentum up and not using too much gas I managed miss the stricken riders and crawled to the top on the first attempt.
Things didn’t go all that well on the next (steeper) green route climb. I had to wait for several rider to get clear then had a go myself but I got it a bit wrong, plus I wasn’t carrying enough momentum and dumped it near the top. Rather than try and push it to the top, I decided to try again on the next lap, so picked it back up and sulked back down the hill with my tail between my legs!

yehaaa!

a few wheelies never hurt anyone

a stricken yamaha about to get a right kicking for throwing it's master off again

me and my mini jump

Seeing as a fairly long track had been laid out I’ll not bore you with all the turn by turn bollox. Suffice to say that all the best bits of Lane End had been included. Both the sapling woods were used again. The one that leads into a bombhole and the other one that ends in a jump out onto the farm track. This jump is always good for a photo or two and on the first lap I tried to leap the bike out but it was went pear shaped for some reason and the bike kicked sideways. Not the tail out sideways bit but the rather more worrying kind of leaning over from vertical kind! While in the air I had that “oh shit this is not good –it’s gonna hurt feeling”. Luckily I managed to make the dab of all time with my left foot as I landed and saved myself from a big off – but boy did it hurt! So much so that at first I thought maybe something was broken. But in these sort of circumstances I find it’s better to carry own and shake it off and by using it the pain goes away faster.

how it should be done !!!!

and how it shouldn't.......

this so very nearly went wrong .... but believe it or not he stayed on!

guy that parked next to us...first time on the bike, first time on the dirt!

tony

The last green route was near the end of the lap and consisted of an innocent looking bombhole but the exit was angled off to the right. I made it ok but almost every lap there was someone laying at the bottom of the hole!
At this point I must comment on the Golden Tyres I’ve been testing for a while now. I was unsure how they were going to cope on a slick track, but I must say they were absolutely fantastic. Especially the front end, which remained planted and gripped amazingly well the whole day. The rear was also great, as long as I didn’t get to kak handed with the throttle. But once again the level of grip was better than any tyre I’d used for a long time and I was able to ride the roots all day without any moments. Despite the conditions I didn’t have a single crash (other than my crap hill climbing technique on the first two laps). The flinty surface under the wet stuff took it out of the tyre though and it’ll need turning around before the next event, at which point it’ll be at the end of its life.

going ..........

gone............

Meeting up with Tony in the pits we set off for another lap. Once again I ended up overtaking somewhere along the way and I put in some quick moves around the lap but taking real care not to cut up any novice riders. Once again I made it up all the ‘green routes’ - well getting to the top upright is all that counts isn’t it? On the second (steepest) climb things didn’t go exactly to plan. I’d left it in second gear and once near the slight steep section right at the top I suddenly realised it wasn’t going to make it! I could already see over the top so I resorted to nailing the gas and flicking the bike out from underneath me as my feet touched the ground. It flew over the crest of the rise, landing on its mudguard and I was still on my feet – result! Of course being tough the KTM can shrug off this sort of behaviour and no harm was done. I didn’t have any issues on this hill again throughout the day, mainly as I made sure I had better momentum, kept it in first gear and I also took a slightly different line around the trees.

me again ... on one of the green routes

I helped one poor bloke that was struggling around on what was some type of blue trail bike (yamaha), complete with mirrors, tank bag, fender bag and trail tyres! He’d dumped it at the bottom of a gentle slope and I could see he was knackered, so I parked up and walked back down picking his bike up for him. Being dressed in a riding jacket he was sweating blood, so I offered to ride his bike to the top for him and he agreed, he looked absolutely exhausted! I hope that doesn’t put him off coming back.
I also rescued another rider pined down by his bike as it had landed on the back of his leg so he was facing the wrong way, unable to turn around.

By now it was 12.30 our pre-arranged lunch time and I limped back to the car to grab a ham roll and pop one of my painkillers left over from the time I smashed my shoulder – at the very same event the previous year!

whoa there!

hey where do you think you're going?

well ok just lay there then - see if i care!

At lunch mr ‘never ridden off road before’ parked next to us, (sorry didn’t get your name) asked for some advice as he’d been sliding all over the place and was having a hard time of it. Tyre pressure was the first advice we gave him and then questioned how he was riding. We offered some basic riding tips, ie stand up, move your body around depending on the ground. Sit forward in corners to get front grip and move your weight further back to get rear grip on the straight and climbs. To the tyre pressure question he answered “about 30psi”! - lots of raised eyebrows so I offered him a pressure gauge and instructions to lower them to about 12 psi.

Redbikejohn films first Tony then Pete on a lap of Lane End
(as it's so long i've reduced the quality a little to make it easier to uplaod)

'Hog'

Pete

After lunch I broke out the helmet cam and on the way back to the pits we bumped into Pete. I didn’t know he was there and we’d not seen him until then. So heading back out I followed Tony around for a bit then stopped to clear my goggles. To get good film you have to be fairly close to the rider in front but that means you are in prime mud flinging territory! I stopped several times to clear the mud off and wipe the lens but watching the footage back I was surprised to find that despite my goggles getting totally covered (and several mouth fulls) the camera survived unblemished. I caught up to Tony – until he went wrong somewhere and missed out a green route so we got split up again. On the next lap some moisture had built up in the inner lens so it spoilt the first half of the lap but once again Tony sailed down the wrong route, missing out some green routes again. A bit of lens cleaning got rid of the moisture but then the tape ran out half way around the lap! Back in the pits once more I was planning to get another two laps in when I noticed my gear lever was very lose – no guessing why i was missing some gear changes then! By the time I’d tightened that back up the course had been closed. Bit annoying really as we were told it closed at 3.30 not 3pm.

Gavin i think

Back at the car and getting changed/loaded up we chatted to Steve and co. as well as the guys next to us who thanked us for the help & advice as he reckoned it helped a lot. Apparently after the first session he wasn’t too sure this was for him but once out in the afternoon he was able to enjoy himself. I was chatting to some novice riders who said it took them an hour to complete the first lap in the morning…eek! Kingy (another first timer) asked “is it always as slippery as this”? Luckily it isn’t, well unless it rains of course!

mmmm that new body armour isn't very flattering is it?

A great days ridding without any pressure of a proper race. Fantastic track – I just hope the slippery conditions didn’t put too many people off. Its not always that slippery guys, unless it rains but then not all tracks are like that. So do come back and learn to use your bike for what it was really designed for, racing not trail riding! Not too sure who it was but one of the new starters said after the event, “trail riding just doesn’t do it for me now – this was awsome”! Well said. See you all in April?

Take Two: Tony

Aaah Spring is in the air and it’s my first chance to go out on my bike. The venue was Chiltern Hills Enduro Club (CHEC) Lane End meeting for Novices/Practice Day on Sunday 21st March. The weather had been decidedly inclement for 2 days before, but come race/practice day we were greeted to glorious sunshine. Well the reason for my illiterate ramblings are RBJ asked me to put finger to keyboard regarding the testing of some Golden Tyres I recently purchased from his NEW tyre sponsor Claudio (Gtdirect). The tyre in question is a GT216 140x80 I had requested a 120x90 but these were not in stock and was informed that the 140x80 was the tyre of choice by those who know about these things and would easily fit my KTM 250 no problem. Initial impressions weren’t good as the circuit was very snotty after 2 days of rain and the bike struggled for drive everywhere, but the front remained planted using an AC10. After several minutes riding it occurred to me that since fitting the new tyre to the wheel I hadn’t dropped the tyre pressure from that used to get the tyre to sit on the rim Doh! The tyre pressure was probably about 20psi. Once I’d adjusted the pressure accordingly… hey presto the bike became a whole lot more rideable and the tyre behaved impeccably for the rest of the day. As I cleaned my bike after the event I did notice how worn the tyre looks, considering its only done about 3hrs riding time in very snotty conditions it does look to have cut up more than I would have expected. Will be interesting to see what is left after a dry outing. (note: the GT216 is the 'soft' tyre in the range and there is a GT213 for harder use… RBJ)

JD Jet Kit: Another first for me was the testing of my bike since the guys at PDQ had breathed on my pride and joy by fitting a JD jetting kit. The problems I had with my bike (KTM 250 4stroke 09) was it was crap on a cold start and with more races adopting a start from cold policy............................... jump to full report, complete with dyno charts!

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