Lane End has been my bogy race for a while now. I always seem to have a mishap, struggle with the conditions, or fade near the end from being knackered. I was determined to put that behind me on the 19th of April when the CHEC series made its first visit to this rather excellent venue in 2009.
There was a good turnout with almost 160 riders taking part. Tony was there on his new exc-f, Pete had turned out for his first race on the exc 300 (and brought a mate as well). Plenty of other the TBM forum guys were there and we caught up with the latest gossip while we waited for the race to start. Rob was on a borrowed bike as his was still in bits.

New bike - old bike and newbie (alex)

Still a little psyched out with starting on the front row I decided to go as fast as possible from the beginning and to try and keep up the pace. Unfortunately since the race at Ashdown farm my fitness training had taken a back seat. I twisted my left knee in the race and after one session on the exercise bike I decided to have a layoff for a week. So being a bit of a lazy bastard I struggled to get back into the swing of things, so the pounds were starting to pile back on again.
Still, I had one thing to my advantage, and that was the Snowrun Enduro I’d just competed in. The terrain in Wales will put anything Lane End could muster to shame, so I was confident that the event was good training for the CHEC race.
I pushed the bike down to scrutinering a little late, so I couldn’t get the bike right to the front. That meant that come the ‘start your engines’ call, I was boxed in and was unable to get to the transponders first. I was stuck behind one of the front row starters as several others started to break away.

Stuck in trafic before the start

Gavin off on a flyer

Tony stuck just after the start - switching his petrol tap back on!
(ok i have to admit while filling up in the petrol station i saw it was turned on and i switched it off. oops! Tony never switches it off, so he never bothered to look to make sure it was on before the start - sorry mate)

Jeans and a leather jacket - who says you need al the latest gear to race!
(bet he was bolloxed within no time though)

I forced myself to keep calm and not to make any stupid mistakes. The rider in front had a small moment soon after that so I slipped past and set off after the others. I passed two more guys on the deck and realised I didn’t have to try and make an overtaking move - I just had to wait until others made mistakes!
And it worked as judging by Nicky’s photos I managed to take the lead by the time we came round for the first lap, well accept for Gavin who had managed to overtake me already.

Gavin approaching the part that looped back towards the start

me just recovering from the front end tucking.

being chased by the pack

The course had been laid out in a different way this year. We headed off down the hill and up the other side. Sticking to the dirt road we took a few corners before turning off into the woods. Weaving along a mix of single track and medium speed trails we climbed up and down the main hills which form the valley that dominates the Lane End venue. Looping back to near the start we climbed a tricky little slope that had some exposed roots on the corners before dropping onto the track again that lead us out into the open. Here we turned left and headed up a grass covered slope where the 450 struggled to find grip all day, so I resorted to out-breaking riders once we got to the top of the hill. At the top we turned back on ourselves and re-entered the woods. I think this first section of woods was where the first log obstacle was laying. Most people were going around it, but I hopped over it on the first lap and managed a few overtakes by going straight over later in the race.

Still being chased by the pack ... no:1 and 2 about to break cover from the woods

you wait all day for a wheelie ....then three come along at once!

a couple of marshals enjoying themeslves

Being nearly two weeks since the race I’m struggling to remember exactly how all the sections were strung together, so I’ll describe them as best I can. After weaving through the woods for a while, we hit a dirt road near some diggers, and following the road round the field (I managed to overtake here a lot) we turned left into the sapling wood for the first time. A couple of turns and it was down into the big bombhole, out the other side where there was more saplings with a tree stump waiting to catch someone out. We did enter a sapling wood again at some point and we went up and down the hill amongst the trees. These downhill sections need to be taken with care as gravity works to try and speed you up when attempting to make the turn. The last bumpy straight out of the sapling wood had a great little jump out onto the road, a fantastic spot for taking pictures.

the dirt road just as you exit the woods near the diggers. photos by Rickboy

so many people fell off here!?

even the marshals were at it!

On the far side of the course is a grassy hill that always features in the Lane End events, and luckily the grass was nice and dry, but once again these parts need a great degree of caution, as it is just sooo easy to let the back end wash out on the grass.
The small conifer wood and its exposed root system was a walk in the park after Wales, as was the couple of steep hills that we had to climb after negotiating some more tricky off camber corners just beforehand.
Later in the lap there was one part that had several small logs lying across the track and loads of people were either falling off or having difficulty here. The lap ended in a flowing single track section before busting back out in the sunlight near the transponders.

By the second lap I wasn’t too sure who was lying where so I tried to keep up a fast pace. I knew some of the front row were behind me but I thought a couple had managed to pull away. However looking at the photos again I’ve found out that they were all still behind me at this point.

I also passed a slightly wobbly looking Tony on the second lap and called out “you ok?”, but never waited for an answer. His bike was on the deck and it was obvious he’d just had a tumble but it wasn’t a fast section and he was walking around so I never stopped.

woooh ... nearly!
(coming out the bombhole)

me coming out the bombhole

I did notice Rob standing in the pits at some point looking very amused. It turned out the exhaust of the borrowed bike he was using had fallen off. So not only was his bike in bits – he was slowly turning someone else’s bike into a pile of bits too!
Keeping the pace up, the race was going to plan, but nearing the end of the session I made a stupid mistake. I tried to cut up the inside of a slower rider but the front wheel dug into soft mud and tipped me over the bars. This happened right on a slope so as I hit the ground I didn’t stop! I did a few head over heel rolls before I could stop myself! Jumping back on I was really pissed off so tried to make up some time. I know rider no:1 had been behind me so he must have slipped past while I was rolling down the hill.
With about a lap and a half to go I caught up to a blue Yamaha that was setting a good pace so I decided to stick behind him for a while. Catching up to some slower riders he managed to get by easier than me and must have sped up slightly as I couldn’t close the gap again. It was only when I pulled into the pits at the end of the race that I realised it was rider no: 2. So lesson learnt, always make a pass if you can. I clocked out with a good 15 minutes to spare at the end, so to get anything more than five laps in later on I’d have to get moving faster.

coming in to complete my last lap of the morning session

Rob showing me the size of the part that he'd broken off his borrowed bike!

Getting back to the car I was surprised to find Tony’s trailer hitched to my car with his bike on it. A note on the back said that he thought he’d broken his foot and that he’s gone off to hospital to have it checked.
The guy next to us was also packing up. It was his first off road experience and he was totally knackered after doing two laps!

At the start of the second session I made sure I got to the transponders first and set off, pushing to make a break. Now I can’t quite remember 100% but I think a crashed fairly early on as looking at the first series of photos I see I ended up behind riders 4, 6, 1 and 2. However I do remember Gavin from the 'wacky racers' catching me up and I managed to stick with him for a while but he got away in the end but I pushed hard to make up lost time.
Going down the grassy slope in the sapling wood I heard this tooting of a horn. “Who the f*** is doing that” I thought and slowed up to have a good look over my shoulder. No one was there so I put it down to me hitting the horn by mistake while going over the bumps. However I managed to stall the bike going down a steep slope about a lap later and when I pressed the magic button nothing happened! The wires to the horn must have been shorting out and had now blown the main fuse (post race inspection - turns out that was correct).

catching the group on the grassy hill on the far side of the track.
no.4 with 2 just in front of him

While sitting there, kicking a very hot 450 over, people were getting by so now I was really pissed off. It fired at last but took a good few kicks. I set off again pushing extra hard.
I’m not sure if it was now or maybe earlier in the race but going down a hill on a fast road we were supposed to turn to the left. Someone ahead of me must have gone through the tape as there was nothing there to remind me to turn. As soon as I got to the bottom of the hill I knew I’d gone wrong and turned around, followed by the guy that had been behind me. Going back up the hill we had to avoid another rider doing the same thing.
I reeled in number 9 and made the overtake on the grassy slope on the far side of the course and carried on pushing. Again checking out the photos now I see numbers ….. were there as well but I’m not really sure if I overtook them. I think the bump on the head later must have jiggled the memory a little!

me catching up to a slower group.
(no's 4 and 1 about a minute ahead)

the next shot in the sequence. in the background you can see no.2

no.2 a few seconds later!
(in the background is me trying to find a way past another rider)

A short while later we caught up to a slower rider who was going round a small log obstacle, so I chose to go over the log instead. I’d done that move a few times already and it had worked fine, but this time my front wheel caught a small log/branch on the other side and it pushed the front end to one side while the bikes balance was going the other way. I ended up in a heap on the deck. Shouting at myself for being so stupid I carried on pushing hard but managed to stall it again near the end of the lap and it took about 15 kicks to get it going and I was breathing hard by the time it fired back up.

there are so many get jumping shots it was hard to narrow them down to only a few

Getting a T-shirt on was impossible so I wrapped a fleece round my shoulders. Nicky had never driven a car with a trailer on before but there was no other option so she dropped me off a Wycombe A&E while she carried on home to dump the trailer and take her friend home.
Surprisingly I didn’t have to wait too long in A&E and got a x-ray fairly quickly. In it I could see the bone was sticking way up and nowhere near where it should be. Seeing a nurse a while later she gave me some pain killers and said I’d get an appointment to see the fracture clinic through the post in the next week or so! Eh? Hang on a bit I can see it’s sitting way out of place, what am I suppose to do in the meantime? “They won’t do anything until the swelling has gone down” I was told. Mmm then maybe I should have been given an ice pack by the medics on site? Mental note – get a chemical ice pack for my race kit bag.
Back home and Tony came round to unload my bike and help get all the gear back into the garage. Luckily the x-ray had shown he not broken anything but even the doctors thought it was broken at first. A good tight wrapped foot and ankle helped the swelling go down and he was able to limp around. We did look like something from the cast of ‘thrillers’ though as we limped around with arms and legs in bandages and moaning & groaning every time we moved!

my x-ray.....you can see why i was a bit confused when the nurse said
"go home and you'll get a letter in the post when you can come and see someone" !?

‘Moanday’ came and I was feeling pretty low. Being one handed I couldn’t do anything and struggled to get comfortable, I didn’t sleep very well either. I did manage to get the photos loaded onto photobucket but putting then into my own site just felt like too much work so I opted for a photobucket album instead. Not that I got asked for any full res copies – didn’t anyone like em?
I felt stupid for cocking up so badly and ruining the start of the racing season. On Gavin’s advice I phone up Brian Simpson who runs a clinic in Ipswich and made an appointment to go and see him. He treats all the top racers and his reception room is full of photos of the riders he’s helped. The drive up there in my girlfriend’s mini was a bit of a chore as the suspension is so hard it was agony every time we hit some bumps while going round a corner. After meeting the slightly ‘out there’ guy himself, I had a session of Magnetic Pulse Therapy followed by a Laser Treatment. After a short break for lunch I went back for and second dose. Brian is quite a character and he was very interested in Nicky’s open university’s evolution text book, we spent most of the remaining time talking about evolution and the earth’s magnetic field.
So no idea if it’s only a placebo or what, but from being in agony and not being able to use my arm, I walked out without the sling on and could use my arm to eat that night.

this is what happens with a 'type 3'
all three ligaments ruppured

Brian first said it was only a type 1 separation but the swelling (no ice packs) seams to have masked the displacement. I didn’t take an x-ray with me. Since then I’ve been to see the Fracture Clinic in High Wycombe hospital and the surgeon there said it’s definitely a Type 3 AC Separation. That means all three ligaments holding the collarbone in place have ruptured and that is what is causing the collarbone to stick up like it is. He checked my range of motion and was surprised I had so much movement already without too much pain. He made an appointment for me to come back in five weeks time to see if I’ll need surgery to repair it.
Reading stuff on the internet I’m not too sure surgery is necessary in the short term so I might just see if I can get this years racing out the way before I agree to any operations. 

Well it’s been two weeks now and recovery is going well. Back to work (uck) but arm/shoulder is feeling much better. Each day I can feel an improvement. The collarbone bit is feeling ok now but I’m still getting a lot of pain from some bits in the front of the shoulder. I still hope to be able to make Sevenoaks but will make my mind up closer to the day. I’ll more than likely be there on the day whether I race or not – see you there?!

Well done to Gavin who won the event and to all the guys on the front row who make the races exciting! A very special thanks to the young lady and Steve that stopped to help me when i got injured. also thanks to the marshals for getting me back to the pits without putting me in any pain and to the medics for slinging my arm.

Below is the top twenty finishers: I made it into the top 20 with 16th overall and 5th in class! For full details on the results see the CHEC website at www.chilternhillsenduroclub.co.uk

Photos of the event can be found in my photobucket album

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