Enduro practice day: June 29th

Deciding which pictures to use when i've got so many great ones to choose from was not easy so check out the other 400 plus pics in the gallery section

June the 29th 2008 saw Tony, my girlfriend and I enjoy a rather scenic route to the new Enduroland venue courtesy of the gps. This new venue really is in the middle of nowhere so I can’t see them getting any noise complaints at this site! We couldn’t make the inaugural round of this new track due to the weather last month but the forecast was looking good for today.
We met Scott_rider from the TBM forum once we had parked, but we were a little slow getting kited up so he headed off to play while we got ourselves ready. Blather was about somewhere as he’d camped the night before.

 
Getting Ready for the day

The setup and organisation of the event was much slicker this time with the issuing of tags etc during singing on. The pits and track were also better marked out and the track was nicely taped of.
Setting off we followed the course which zigzag in front of the parking area for a while then turned right over a very soft hump leading to a fast blast (the first of many) with a gentle bend to the left, through a gate and into a small stand of trees. Coming out of the trees was another short straight then you cut back tight to the right and went back on yourself down a slope, another sharp turn but to the left this time took you along a track which you climbed out of in a sort of chicane followed once again by a straight section.

 
Me just after the soft humpy bit

 
Tony at the hump

After that I think it was into the trees which were quite tricky as the ruts couldn’t cut down properly due to there being so many tree roots exposed. This knocked the speed down a fair bit but there where a good few marks on the trees by the end of the day where people had ‘gone wide’.
Getting the exact sequence of the track correct is hard post ride, but the track crisscrossed an old disused railway so there were several occasions where you had steep downs followed by the inevitable up bits. Early in the day this was causing a few problems for the less experienced or inattentive riders. Unfortunately when you have a large group of riders start off together it’s inevitable that you’ll get holdups when the standard of riders is so diverse. The first time you encounter an obstacle it’s easy to get it wrong, (no matter how experienced you are), with either too much or not enough throttle or momentum.

one of the slopes that made up most of the technical bits

I must say though that alternative routes were opened up quickly and one particular uppy downy bit they opted to signpost an ‘easy’ and ‘hard’ option which I thought was a good idea, as there were a few novice riders about and it has to be enjoyable for them too. Make it too hard and they’ll not come back.
I got a bit stuck on one climb myself as there was a rider struggling on the slope, but seeing he’d picked the bike up already, I started up as well. I was soon in trouble myself though! I’d been waiting at the bottom of the slope before setting off and didn’t have nearly enough oomph, so lost traction, slowed and the came to a spinning halt! I quickly jumped off to push it the rest of the way while spinning the rear for all it was worth (about £5, jugging by the sound the engine is making at the moment).

 
Tony looking cool - nice views in the background

Me - just spotted the camera in time to show off

Scott getting air

There was some evil flat grass turns after that and I took these very carefully but still nearly got caught out a few times. These turns were preceded by some whoops or humps which were good fun but I’m sure there is a knack to getting this right – I’ve just not found it yet! Very often I seemed to be either going too slow or too fast in this bit. Ideally (in la la land) you’d skip along the tops of them I suppose?
Next we crisscrossed a dry field near the parking area (which I quite liked) before turning away to blast up the side of a ploughed field and then came back via the center of the ploughed area. This ploughed section started out a bit tricky due to the clumps of earth catching the front end, but the corners formed nice berms eventually and these could be used to push the bike round, ala mx style.

 
Me just starting to cross the ploughed field

By now I’d lost Tony so I carried on for a few more laps getting into the swing of things and then pulled over at the pit entrance for a breather. Blather spotted me as he came round and we sat having a chat for a while as we waited for Tony and Scott_rider.
Once we’d regrouped we carried on with the intention of staying in a together for a photo opportunity, but I think we got split up again fairly quickly. There are however a few of scott_rider and myself in the same shot.

Me and Scott-rider

Lunchtime came and we gathered by the car for a chat, bread roll and coke while my girlfriend laughed at our filthy faces, it sure was dusty out there! After lunch we tried the .riding in a group thing again but got repeatedly split up. Having got stuck behind someone on a slope, Tony had managed to get away a bit, so I overtook Scott and set about catching Tony. I caught him at the top of the ridge that you go up and then cut back down again to the right. I took a nice tight line and tried for a pass up the inside, unfortunately there where some deep’ish ruts on this section as I’d strayed off the ‘racing line’ having cut it a bit too tight. This meant I had to lift the bike up momentarily to avoid the ruts grabbing the front wheel. I now found myself on the wrong side of the track looking at a fair drop off in front of me but I managed to pull it back on course, just clipping a short round pole marking the edge of the road. Tony promptly crashed his bike on the up slope and I only just missed knocking him over and riding over his bike.
I parked up to make sure all was well and to possibly help him pick the bike up but I couldn’t find neutral. Not only that I couldn’t even find the gear lever! The stump I’d just hit had sheared it clean off! A second rider dumped his bike coming down the slope at this point although I’m not too sure why.

 
Oops! - stump 1 gear lever 0

Tony getting it up in the afternoon!

Tony again darn it

Blather from the TBM forum rocking it out in the afternoon too

So that was the end of the days riding for me, but by now it was 3 o’clock so I’d had a good ride anyway but normally I’d carry on until late.
I walked around the pits asking KTM riding groups if anyone had a gear lever to sell but to no avail. Chatting with Nigel (enduroland govnor) a little later on and he asked if I fancied a beer, do bears shit in the woods? Getting back to the car a rather dirty looking Tony was packing his bike onto the trailer (mine was already loaded). He and my girlfriend both asked where I’d been. “Drinking ice cold lager” was my reply and the response I got can’t be repeated in polite company!
So another good day at enduroland was had by all. Like I said in the beginning of the report, the organisational side of things has always been good but they are working even better now. There were plenty of marshals who all seamed to be on the ball, and there were also plenty of paramedics about, who had some work to do on the day unfortunately. The ladies manning the gates also deserve a mention as they were well organised getting vehicles in and out of the venue and stood about all day getting dust blown in their faces.
Roll on the next one, and let’s see some more TBM forum members there eh!

On the bike front I picked up a new gear lever today - £32 eek!
Reference to the noisy motor – it’s now sorted and is lovely and quiet. It turns out the nut on the end of the crank (clutch end) was loose, as suggested by a TBM forum member. I had to knock up a special tool to hold the clutch and gear in place as the nut needs tightening to 120NM. It looked a bit rough but did the job. The KTM special tool is £35 so I might put that on my ‘nice to have list’. Anyway the bike sounds nice and sweet now so apart for refitting the trails tyre equipped rear wheel it’s all ready for the forthcoming CHEC race on the 13th July. See you all at Billington? Tony, Phil and I have already entered and Scott_rider recons his entry is going in this week as well so see you all at Billington!

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