CHEC Chawton Park (Alton)
July 2011

Since my previous race and this event I’ve been trail riding with the Tenere, so my focus had been centered on that. The Big Bike Trail Riding side of things was all new to me and I was thinking about that and then writing the report for it, so this race cropped up rather suddenly. Maybe that was why I was feeling rather non focused i.e. more ‘yea whatever’ than ‘come come let’s f***ing race’ come Sunday morning. Tony was doing the driving and we found the new venue pretty easily thanks to my excellent navigation. The sun was blazing away when we pulled up and there was already a warmness in the air which no doubt would transform into a stinking hot days racing. Unfortunately Nicky cold not make it, so there wasn’t going to be any photos for the website or for anyone else. Luckily Team Snapper stepped in and saved the day and you can see all their photos by clicking on the banner above.

the pits & car park

After signing on and getting the bikes stored in the pits we had a quick walk up to the first few corners to see which way the track went. The opening section looked like it would be a blast as it followed a part of what looked like a small mx track, before entering into the woods. Back at the car we had a chat to Darren who we’d parked next to and generally idled the hour away getting ready for the start at 10h30. One of the marshals came over while we were getting sorted and warned us to take it easy on the first lap, as there were a lot of stumps and sticks laying around on the virgin enduro loop that CHEC has set out.

I was number 50 so I was the fifth row away with Tony following one row back and Darren another row back from that. I positioned myself on the line so that I’d have a good chance of getting to the transponders first (which I did) and the initial run over the jumps on the mx track went well too, so I managed to enter the woods first.

me

The track was very narrow. No wait, that was I lie. As this was the first time the woods were being used, almost the entire track was ‘virgin’ so there was no discernable track visible, only the orange markers. There was a vague outline where some bikes had ridden through the woods, but for the first lap or two it was a case of look for the arrows and join the dots to make a track. Anyway like I said the track was pretty narrow and you really had to keep your wits about you due to the many stumps, logs and sticks littered about the place. There were a few larger logs to ride over too, but in time these were pounded into submission by the bikes and all but one diminished in size as the day wore on.

Tony

The layout was unrelenting in so much as there wasn’t a moment to relax and take a breath. If you did then without fail a tree root or some insignificant stick would grab the front wheel and either give you a real wake up call or send to flying. Luckily I remained upright all day but many others weren’t so lucky, I did have a couple of close ones though!
The almost constant left right nature of the track meant that I couldn’t unleash the 450 anywhere except one straight’ish path near the end of the lap. There were quite a few depressions in the woods, either old sinkholes or more than likely old flint quarries and these livened things up a bit. Nothing too hard to negotiate but it was hard work on the upper body dealing with all the drop-offs.

Gary

About halfway round we crossed an area where it looked like some rhododendrons has been cleared. I’d just overtaken some riders and was giving it some over these sticks when the bike stopped dead – one of the sticks had flicked up and momentarily formed a sort of tank trap on the ktm. I looked down and it must have dropped back into place on the ground as I couldn’t see anything but I lost a couple of places in the meantime. At the end of the track we re-entered the mini mx area and skirted round the other side on a whooped track with a few nice bends scattered about before coming back to the transponder area.

I’d made up a fair amount of places by now but I wasn’t feeling very comfortable as I had to concentrate like mad to avoid the stumps and debris, but more importantly the fire breathing 450 had nowhere to play. Then after about four laps the same problem cropped up as at the cross country event I did a few weeks back, my left arm/shoulder muscle caught alight! Yep once again (for the second race in a row) I was in serious problems with my left side. A few more laps and all I could think about was my arm, a constant burning ache that would not go away and instead of concentrating on the track I was focusing on the pain instead. Sometimes I can block this out if I’m in the process of catching someone but there weren’t many people to overtake for most of the race so I spent a lot of time on my own wallowing in my own personnel pit of despair....core that sounds dramatic eh! I managed to overhaul Dave Garland who in the past was a front runner in the club but in this race he had some bike troubles that allowed me slip past.

Gary again

So far I’d managed to remain upright but I had a fair few ‘nearly moments’ from losing the front. The worst of them happened so fast that before I knew what was happening the bike pitched to the left as the front washed out on something I’d not even seen. I got a foot down but the bike was pretty much on its side already and just before the bars touched down the front gripped suddenly and I was lifted back upright. The save was a pure fluke really. I had another moment over the far side of the woods when we went down the hill, across a road and up the other side of the small valley. The ground was quite moist in here and dark in colour so it tended to hide the roots and stumps. Once again I touched something and nearly got pitched out the saddle so I tread this section with a lot of respect from then on.

me

Sometime during the early part of the race I had a bit of a ding dong dice with number 37 (I think). I must have been slowing down as I saw him coming up behind me so I eased to one side and he overtook. I sat behind him for a while and realised we were running at more or less the same speed. I followed for about a lap and we may have swapped places a couple of times but eventually he overcooked it in a bend and I got away by using some back markers to my advantage.

One thing I’ve not touched on yet is the heat.......well it was hot, end of! Ok I’ll expand a bit. Yes the temperature was quite high but as there was clouds around it was also fairly muggy and this made us (well me anyway) sweat like a bouncer in a Turkish brothel – not that I’ve been in one you understand, but I can picture it.

With about half an hour to go before the break I made a note to check on my lap times to work out if I’d be able to squeeze in the extra lap before the end. Coming round with about fifteen minutes or so left I took a chance and went for it, knowing that I should make it as long as I didn’t take a tumble anywhere along the course. Everything went fine and the track was empty so I had a clear run and made it back in time without collecting any penalty points.

The lunch break: Now that it had eventually arrived (it seemed like years) I re-filled the bike first before trudging back to the car for some cold coke, hot cross bun and a pork pie. No37 was there talking to Tony and saying I did not look like I was myself today as normally I beat him easily but today he was running the same speed as me. Yep no arguments there.

Tony was full of tails of pretty much hitting every single tree in the whole woods and he reckoned his crash tally was into double figures for the morning event. Darren was looking tired too as the heat was taking its toll. Tony laughed and made a comment about the colour of our pee after being so hot in the woods. I didn’t pay much attention, until I went for a pee that is. It was so dark that for a moment I thought I was peeing blood it was that dark! I must admit I was a little worried as I’d never seen it like that before and I’d drained a 2 ltr camelpack too.

Seeing as nicky wasn’t about I geared up the helmet cam and got ready for the afternoon sauna, I mean race. The start of the second stint went just like the morning session and once again I was leading into the woods. By now the going was clearly defined but I still felt I could not utilise the 450 to its full potential as the going was just too tight and too rough, with far too many sticks lying around to start opening the bike up.
The one fast section was good fun though but there was rough ground waiting in the grass so you had to tread carefully here too. I caught someone here and he wasn’t going to give ground for anyone, so we were elbow to elbow down the fastest part of the track but I got an advantage once the kink in the track came up and he backed off enough to allow me past.

I’d taken a pain killer at the start of the lunch break and I was hoping the shoulder/arm problem would not come back but again after an hour I was struggling just the same as before. To make matters worse there seemed to be almost no one else on track. A lot of the time I appeared to be on my own, without the distraction of catching anyone. I did manage to catch someone having a gentle tumble on one of the climbs and that was the sum total as far as excitement went. Normally I see people I know out on track and catch them but like I said I felt like I was riding in a race of one most of the time. The times were coming down so getting the extra lap in wasn’t a problem in the afternoon but I was feeling pretty drained by the time I pulled into the pits.
Back at the car I pulled my helmet off and sweat that had soaked into the cheek pads poured out as they got compressed, running into my eyes. I held it up and squeezed again and once more water ran out of the helmet onto the floor. Tony saw it and commented that he’d very seen that before, me neither! Darren was sitting in the back of his van and he looked absolutely shattered. I’m not sure what I looked like but he sure looked the way I felt.

So not much of a write up today, as Steve and co were absent with injuries and lack of freedom passes and I didn’t see many people out on track at all.

So results wise I knew I wasn’t going to set the world on fire. I saw Gary after the race and told him he’d most likely beaten me, but he wasn’t too sure as he’d had some problems with some quads who more or less blocked him in and started having a conversation in the middle of the track, then got annoyed when he shouted to get a move on. Anyway I limped home in tenth spot overall, two places behind Gary. Not the end of the world, but further down than I would like it seeing as I’d had two good results so far this year. Oh well, time now to try and build the strength in my shoulder before the next race.

Many thanks to "Team Snapper" for supplying the excellent photos

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