CHEC Lane End March 2011
First "Race" of the year

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Wednesday is normally my last day for strenuous exercise if I’m racing on the weekend and an hour on the treadmill meant I was finished for the week, or so I thought. I needed a new front tyre as some of the side treads had broken off. So Thursday afternoon I picked up a Golden Tyre GT213 and set about fitting it. Now I’m quite a dab hand at fitting tyres and mousses by now and I knew the front mousse was getting on the soft side so I didn’t anticipate any problems. Once the rim was all cleaned up and treated to some new tape I popped on the new tyre and inflated it using the pre-installed tubeless valve, great all done time to pack up. Oh hang on, the tyre isn’t full on the rim on two sections. More inflating and it pops out only to slide back off again, mmmm. Ok no big deal it’s more than likely just lube on the bead so I used the tyre machine to press down and I wipe the excess off. It looks like the excessive mousse lube had been blown off and pushed out the tyre. More inflating and still no joy so I used the hose and jetted water around the tyre bead to clean it off, still no luck. Ok take the dam thing off again and clean it up proper. Fit it again, this time with a lot less lube and no tyre paste but the mousse gets tangled up in the rimlock and I spend loads of energy trying to sort it out until I give up and take it off again. By now I’m well stressed and pretty knackered which is making me more stressed as that only leaves me two rest days before race day. Nicky has been back from work for a while by now and pops her head out asking how long I’ll be as she’s already put the oven on. I was supposed to be doing an easy meal tonight – scampi and chips. The look on my face is enough to make her retreat but by now I’ve given up caring, the tyre is a little better but still not 100%. After a year’s hard use, the front mousse has got deformed to the point that it can no longer keep the tyre up on the rim. Well sod this, it’ll have to do. I went inside and pour myself a double jacks, antibiotics be dammed (see up coming ride report).

a sunny Sunday morning in April? Time to gear up

no, this big lump is the body armour, me & Peter chat while Tony sits quietly pondering the race ahead

Darren, Tony and myself discus race tactics

After my successful outing first time out with the new bike setup (the week before) I was looking forward to the first race of the year with the Chiltern Hills Enduro Club...... that was until Gary emailed me to let me know we were starting on the same minute and finished off by saying “it should be interesting”. Oh crap, one of the regular top runners starting with me on the same minute means it’ll come down to a good old fashioned race, whoever crosses the line first wins. I must admit this started to play on my mind a bit (mind games eh?!) and I tried to figure out my race strategy. To go fast from the off and try to make a break, or sit behind and go for it on the last lap?

i get the jump on Gary away from the transponders, he did the same to me in the afternoon session.

half way round the lap and i've got ahead after being passed earlier

Gary chasing hard

Anyway at least the weather was still holding out and Nicky and I picked Tony up early enough to get a good parking spot close by the pits. Darren was there on his new 250 exc-f, Peter had decided to give Lane End another go this year. Steve pitched up a little later but minus Dan and Dave who had both run out of freedom passes and/or were nursing injuries.
We had a bit of a chinwag round the car for a while and I tried to show Darren how to operate his digi clock/stopwatch on the new 250, but for some reason it would not start the counting. The temperature was rising as we sat about in the sun and by 10 am (just before the riders briefing) it was promising to be a nice day. It was getting warmer but the intermittent clouds would hopefully keep the temperature from getting too silly.

Tony looking like he means it

Steve having a go too, not his best day due to troubles later on

Jack the eventual winner

Sitting on the grid in the third wave Gary turned to me and said “don’t go too fast”, oh...ok then.
When the order to start was given I managed to get away first and pulled I nice wheelie down the hill towards the first marker. The track was being run in reverse of the practice day layout so we entered the woods at the bottom of the hill and turned right, skirted a mud puddle and then weaved in and out of the trees for a while before crossing the service road and climbing the other side of the valley.
So now that I was in front I went with plan A, go fast and pull away. I think I may have pulled a slight gap but seeing as this was the first lap I was catching the front two rows, so I got held up and that allowed Gary to stay right in my wheel tracks. Coming onto the fast open section I got blocked slightly by another slower rider and Gary used this opportunity to nip past on the left hand side. Ok the race was on again. So now it was time to go with plan B i.e. sit behind Gary and put pressure on him, hoping for a mistake. I felt comfortable with the pace he was setting but I was very conscious that I mustn’t get hung up behind any slower riders that he might overtake. Shadowing so closely also means that you can’t see the things that matter coming up e.g. tree roots and branches in the path. A short while later we came up to a tight left hand bend and Gary overshot slightly, just enough for me to nip up the inside! Back to plan A as it was now firmly back on the agenda, go fast and make a break, and that is what I did. I made sure I kept my corner speed up and opened the bike up as much as I dared on the fast bits. I resisted looking over my shoulder and getting too carried away, as that is when you make mistakes but by keeping it smooth’ish I pulled away enough to make the gap stick.

i've made the break so i have to make sure i keep it, keep pushing

Gary, still there

Tony

Now it was just a case of keeping the pace up and not making any costly cockups that would lose me time. The laps went by quite quickly and I could see by the lap times I’d not be able to get six laps in. Everything went fine for the rest of the session baring one minor slip up on my part. At one of the small dips you turn into it from the right and for some reason the front end washed out. Being a slow part of the track I managed to stay upright but the bike went down with me astride it. I quickly pulled it upright again and got going quick enough. I clocked out for lunch with several minutes to spare.

Steve

Me again .... no time to ease off yet

see.... gary is still hot on my heals

I re-fueled the bike then sat down to some pasta while Pete, Steve, Tony and Darren swapped stories of overtakes, crashes, more overtakes and getting overtaken. I could only eat a small portion of the pasta so I geared up the helmet cam while munching on a mini port pie, the food of athletes. With fifteen minutes to go last nights curry decided enough was enough so a quick visit to the portaloo was necessary. Time for round two.

one rider gets stuck so the next one takes avoiding action

First rider bails out .... but things are not 100% for rider no:2

Second rider crashes in sympathy

rush hour. ah i see .... he needs longer legs!

This time Gary got the jump on me and entered the woods first. I sat behind him confident that I just had to wait for a mistake and I could see that he was trying as he very soon overshot a corner but still remained in front. I shadowed him for about half the lap but I knew I could go faster so once I’d settled down into a rhythm I waited for a good opportunity. I had to make some close passes on slower riders as he’d try a bit harder once past a rider and it was important that he didn’t make a gap. Just after a little white hump of dirt the track opens out into a field and it was here that he went slightly wide on the turn halfway cross the clearing. I went tight and overtook, then put on a burst of speed which once again enabled me to pull a gap as there were no slower riders to get stuck behind.

Lunchtime and Peter explains the finer details of racing

KTM triplets

afternoon session and me in orange sitting behind Gary while he lines up no:10 for an overtake

oi! where you going?

I kept the pace up and once I got to the transponders machine at the end of the lap I had a quick look over my shoulder but he was nowhere to be seen. Seeing as all the other guys were behind me on the grid I didn’t see any of them of them at all during the race. The rest of the day went past quite quickly, with almost all the slower riders behaving very well baring one who I caught up and despite me showing him a wheel several times trying to squeeze past he was having none of it. I’m sure he knew I was there I he glanced over his shoulder at one point. We were in the conifer wood at the time so on one of the last bends in this section I cut tight on a bend and went inside the tree on the left, punching a new hole in the lower branches. The pass stuck but as I accelerated away I had a dead branch about an inch and a half thick and several feet long tangled up in my arms!

oops!

This bit wasn’t caught on camera, but I did manage to film someone tumble off in front of me at some point earlier. The field seemed to have stretched out somewhat and a lot of the time I seemed to be on my own so I’m not sure what my lap times were like. I normally need someone to act as the carrot out in front for me to catch. I think the track flowed a little better at this event than at the practice day. Extra clearings had been made due to some tree cutting and along with a few changes in the layout meant that the track was a pleasure to ride.

Gary again

Tony

near the end of the race but not going to slow up!

me filming a lap in the afternoon

Before I knew it I’d put in the last lap and pulled into the pits with about 15 minutes to spare. I cruised into the pits and handed over the transponder to John (CHEC chairman) then parked up at the car where Nicky helped me pull off the soaked knox body armour, it works well but boy does it make you hot. Cracking open a coke (diet!) I walked down to the clock counters and watched as Gary came in to complete his race. Back at the car once more and Steve wasn’t too happy. He’d managed to rip out his rear tube valve as the rimlock wasn’t the correct size and lost a load of laps. I’m not too sure if it was the morning or afternoon session but I seem to remember him saying that he pulled over at one point and had a 20 minute rest as well!
Tony seemed to be happy enough, as was Pete. Darren liked his new exc-f (first time out on it) but he thought it had a lot of vibes through the bars as his hands went numb. We reckon it was from hanging on too tight in the early parts of the race when you are still really tense, once you relax it settles down.

last lap!

keeping it nailed up to the transponders

all done. time to chill and share some stories.... could do with a beer!
(mmmm note to self... keep up the running!)

Well the results are now out. I managed to pull off a fairly respectable four place overall, as result mirrored in class as well (expert). Unfortunately Lee Barthram managed to pip me to the podium in third place. He in turn lost out to Gareth Hughes in second but head and shoulders above everyone else was Jack Turner who clearly is the big fish in the small pond by managing to get the extra sixth lap in during each session so he ended up two laps clear of everyone else. Well done.

And the others in my group? Well Tony had a great rider to 18th overall and 10th in class.
Peter came home in 23rd overall and 14th in class. Darren, first time out on his new bike and in only his second year of competing finished in 26th spot overall but backed that up with a 4th in the sportman’s class, time for clubmen class I think!
Finally where did Gary Hanson finish (he who spurred me on so well) well he came home in 5th spot, one place behind me but won his class by coming home first in the clubman group – time for ‘expert’ mate!

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