CHEC - Tunbridge Wells May 2010

see all 700 photos here

Well the weather was perfect for racing – but it was also perfect for gardening and that is what I got roped into on Friday. Booking a day off work to help my girlfriend dig a new boarder then off down to the allotment to strim the outer boarders and weed the pathways. If anyone thinks this is nice easy relaxing work then think again, I was knackered come Friday night and I still had to repair the trailer on Saturday as well as change the front tyre to a new hard terrain GT 230. After that came the oil change and to cap it all off cut the front and rear lawns. I was looking forward to a nice relaxing time racing a 450 KTM for four hours!

last minute panic prep of bikes

We got to the venue with plenty of time to spare and the ample parking ensured everyone was within easy reach of the pits. Once we’d got signed in and the bikes parked up we had a quick walk around but Tony and I couldn’t see hide or hair of Steve. But we did catch up with some of the other guys and I also spotted Rich C on his 950 adventure, who I offered some race numbers to, but he declined for some reason. Once again we had been rather relaxed on the booking in, Tony was in the nineties and I was 108 so we had plenty of time do some last minute fidgeting before the off.

me getting the hole shot away for the clocks

The Tunbridge Wells venue is set on a hillside and the large grass field rolls off down the hill into the woods below. The course sets off round the edge of the field in an anti clockwise direction skirting round the woods before cutting back into the trees and crisscrossing a natural gully that was wet in the bottom. Straight away there were loads of people stuck but I spotted a way past and overtook the slower/stuck riders and set off to the next bottleneck. There were bikes everywhere and Tony was one of them, I paused a moment and then spotted half a gap. It was a bit of an iffy move but I fired the KTM through the gap and up the other side. I made it past the stricken riders but the bike toppled over but I wrenched it back up and set off once more, having made up quite a few places. Breaking out of the woods briefly a few times we soon re-entered the woods once more and all was well until we joined a little winding track out of the trees. The surface here had turned to mush and any bike in front of you flung huge plumes of dust into the air, thick enough to completely block out the way ahead.

no need to sit (or stand) on the bike. that little lip kicked out the rear end each lap
nice leathers!

some more than others!

Tony doing it the wrong way round

oops another got it wrong!

ah - that's more like it!

The dust bowl remained while we did a quick diversion through another field. Once back into the woods came a tricky little drop down into a hollow with a tight climb back out to the right where you had to turn straight away once out. A few more twists and turns brought us to a little surprise considering it hadn’t rained for days (weeks?) – a muddy track. There were several softer spots on the track and once again there were bikes and bodies everywhere. I managed to pick my way through the debris and carried on to the next blockade. This was a downward slope with mud and once again bikes were parked up with riders struggling. Even further on we came across another dusty patch that had me slowing right down on most laps and you just couldn’t see a dam thing if a rider had just been ahead of you.

Finally the last part of the woods had a little log bridge like structure followed by some nice climbs and one pretty steep climb that became tricky as the day worn on due to the roots getting exposed. Coming out of the trees for the last time we headed back in the direction of the pits at high speed. A right turn with a little hump kicked out the back end each time and then another flat out run down the hill to a left turn/jump combination and back to the transponders.

dust was a constant problem

even on the grass fields

I felt I was ridding well and making up plenty of places without too many people getting past but the bike was feeling a little flat on the straights for some reason. I’d oiled the air filter fairly heavily in anticipation of all the dust so I thought it might have been choking the bike. On about the third lap I passed Tony again and he was off the bike and fiddling with something (on the bike). But he looked in one piece and he’d have to be pinned under the bike with flames licking away at the tank as well as man eating bears closing in before I’d stop, so I carried on!

the jump near the end of the lap was good for 'air' action shots

some laps the air was nice and clear of dust (note leaves in helmet)

other times it was a bit more dusty!

Well I did for a while but all of a sudden the bike was running like crap, almost like it was running out of fuel? I switched to reserve and the bike picked up again. What the hell, where had all the fuel gone? Did I have a leak? Maybe the over oiled filter was making it run way too rich? It was only just an hour into the race and I had to pit for fuel. This was really maddening as all the people I’d just overtaken came back past while I was pouring a tank full of juice into the bike. Setting off again I tried to make up some of the lost places and for some reason the muddy bit on the far side was completely blocked by riders scattered all over the place – I still found a way through though. The bike was now running as crap as before and I was racking my brain with what could be wrong. I held it all together but on my second from last lap the bike ran onto reserve again and by the time I made it to the end straight it spluttered and died. Pushing with my feet down the hill I thumbed the starter again and it burst into life once more and I just managed to reach the transponders before it died completely. With 20 minutes left I didn’t think I could re-fill the bike and get back out to complete a lap as I’d forgotten to check my lap times. So that was that, I’d lost at least two laps and the only thing I could think of was that the filter was blocked. I trudged over to Abingdon Off Road where I bought a new filter and some spray oil. In an attempt to fix the problem I replaced the (admittedly filthy) old filter with the nice new shinny one, complete with a light spraying of oil on the outside.

Steve doing the business with filming the lap again

Part One.

Getting back to the car and I found Tony in a bit of a state. He’d not had a very good morning session at all and had fallen off many times, at just about every tree root, hill and muddy patch. Nicky said she heard him muttering things like f***ing bike, piece of s***, going to get rid of it etc etc!

A nice long relaxing lunch later and once more we set off into the dust bowl. One of the rider from my row got past going into the woods for the first time but I knew he was too fast to stick with so I settled into my own pace and clicked off a couple of laps finding it easier to overtake now that most people had got to grips with the terrain and weren’t all bottled up at sticky points. At the end of the second lap my bike was spluttering a lot again and would hardly run as I turned into the last set of woods. Somewhere in the early laps Lee was there clapping and cheering us on but I could only hold my arm up in disappointment and wondered what the hell was wrong now. I limped the bike back to the pits and pulled of my helmet to check out the problem.
So what could it be that was using all the fuel? There wasn’t anything coming out the overflow pipe so it wasn’t a needle and seat problem. Maybe the main jet was loose and it was sucking way to much fuel through? I undid the bottom nut on the carb bowl to have a look but the jet was still there in place so that ruled that one out. By now Lee was there lending a hand but not knowing what to do next I um’ed and ah’ed a bit then decided to pull the tank off to remove the carb’s bowl to have a look.

more film from Steve - Part Two

So seat and tank off and I loosened the carb enough to swivel it around. T-bar allen key on the cap screws then snap, one of them stripped it’s head hex sides so I couldn’t get it undone! AAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGG! By now I was only just holding it together. What with the 30 deg sun above, the full body armour and the orange three bar heater in front of me on full chat I was in serious danger of losing it big time. I stood up drew back my foot and was about to give the bike a good kicking but I just managed to stop myself. Then some things clicked in my heat ravaged brain. Hissing sound from the tank when I loosened off the cap, ok the breather was blocked. Fuel coming out the airbox, mmm no idea. By now Rich C was also there and when we mentioned the above he said he’d had that before and that the tank was getting pressurised forcing fuel out the breather tubes (which fed into the airbox) and not the overflow. Ok that all made sense so pulling of the tank breather tube I sucked and blew though it a few times and all seamed ok so I started to put the bike back together. All this time the sweat had been pouring out of me like an open tap and I could feel myself getting all flustered and I just couldn’t get the tank to fit back on properly. After three tries and getting more frustrated Rich took over and told me to get some fluids inside me. Shouldering the camelpack once more I took a good long suck on the tube then got dressed for battle. Thanking the guys for their help (at least I hope I did) I set off and the cooling breeze once I got up to speed was a welcome refresher. Back into the woods and this time I wasn’t taking any prisoners, overtaking anywhere I could at the smallest gap. I still struggled to pass one or two riders though, these are the guys that suddenly realise they have been sleeping and when you try and squeeze by they promptly ride like a man possessed to try and keep you behind them!

me jumping when the bike still had some go in it

jump from the other angle

enthusiastic jumper

fat jumper

I still had about an hour left when I had restarted so I managed to get some more solid laps in. Physically I was feeling fine so even though I knew I had no hope of getting a decent result I thought I could at least see what sort of lap times I could do, so I kept up the pressure on myself as if I was ridding for a result.
In the last section of woods there was an uphill section soon after a left turn that had loads of tree roots exposed. I found that by hitting it fairly hard the bike would float right over these so on the next lap I gave it even more and not only did I fly over the roots but I almost few straight into the tree! I sort of managed to avoid the impact by ducking and pulling the bike to the left but it was a close one.
Come the last lap and the place seemed empty, well apart from all the fallen riders that is. It appeared that most of the field were knackered and had hit the deck on just about all the major obstacles. There was one guy stuck in a bog way off the track. No idea how he got stuck in that but if he was cutting the course then serves him right! Another was stuck on the rooty climb and the bike was laying downhill blocking the path. The rider looked on pleadingly but appeared to be unscathed so I picked another line up the slope. Sorry I never stopped to help anyone but it is a timed race and everyone looked fine.

Tony enjoying a quite day in the bluebell woods!

me wondering where the track went!

Tony hopefully having a better time of it in the afternoon

Getting back to the clocking in machines I had about ten minutes to spare, which wasn’t enough for another lap so I headed on back to the car. Pity I had bike troubles as I thought I was ridding well and despite my early fears of tiring myself out in the garden I felt ok, so I’m sure a good result could have been possible. Talking to Tony after the race he’d had a much better afternoon session and it had made up for the difficult time he’d had in the morning.

yep - looks like the afternoon went better for Tony than the morning!

In the end I had a good day so many thanks to CHEC once again for putting on a cracking event at an excellent venue. The site has everything to offer, open spaces, hill climbs, mud and even has good parking. Roll on the next one.

Results are out: 48th for me due to the fueling issues/braking down. my worst ever result. still beat Tony and Steve though so not all bad!

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