Having never ridden at Whaddon before I was curious to find out what it was like so I asked on the TBM forum. ‘Great place to ride but hell if it rains’ was how most of the remarks went, I was pleased when the day before the outing was sunny with plenty of lovely bright sunshine. However the forecast the night before was doom and gloom. Rain was what they were all talking about – oh dear, surely it couldn’t be as bad as all that?

Packing the car and trailer in sunshine I thought we might be lucky after all and get another good day, the weather guys do sometimes get the forecast wrong by 24hrs. With the sun still shining I was inside the house doing some last minute checks when it started tipping it down with rain, which was very strange as when I went outside there didn’t really appear to be a rain cloud above the house!
We met Scott_rider in Aylesbury and carried on to Whaddon, with the clouds getting ever lower and lower. As soon as we’d signed in and parked up it started to rain softly but by the time I was half kitted out it was hard enough that you had to keep the doors to the car closed. Nicky stated quite clearly that she wasn’t going to “stand out in the pissing rain for a practice day” so got settled into the front seat of the car while we finished getting dressed.

Getting ready with '450exc' next to us

Scott and I were talking about the TBM forum when the guys next to us overheard us and introduced themselves as fellow users, one being “450exc”.
As this was my first time (!) I decided to do the sighting lap for a change and we did a slow circuit of the course. Starting out on the MX track we then curved and cut back down the hill crisscrossing the field before forging through a fairly deep puddle, up a small hill and across a wooden bridge. The going was quite rutted and a few of the guys were having some problems keeping the bike straight and shiny side up. At this time my problems hadn’t started so things were going fine. The course carried on cutting up and down the hills of the valley with a few more deepish puddles. The worst part of the whole track was the flat grass turns as these had little grip and the surface was too hard for the tyres to cut into. There were a few tricky climbs at the end of the lap but for now these were still quite easy to do but got steadily worse as they got wetter and slicker.

Mystery rider - the shot shows the track in the distance

I’d lost Scott on the first lap somewhere so I waited for a bit then carried on – the second lap was even slicker but I managed to clear it fine and by the third lap I was getting into the swing of things. I caught up to a couple of guys and tried to get by - clipping the bars of one of them by mistake. Luckily it wasn’t too hard so he didn’t fall down (must try harder next time!). However within the next few turns I was on my arse as the rear end pirouetted around coming into a corner! No harm done, I picked it up and carried on all the time thinking that the other guy must have been having a good chuckle to himself! I had another small off somewhere along the course, again it was just a slow speed tumble as both wheels slid out when I wasn’t even on the gas or brakes. The bike sort of landed without me falling off and I nearly flopped onto the upended bars - I managed to avoid that but my right thumb got caught on the throttle grip and bent it back which aggravated an old injury which has been plaguing me all summer. The gear lever seemed a little loose as well so I headed back to the car for a few adjustments and to grab something to eat.

 

RBJ and Scott-rider caught on film at the water splash by AlBarrow
Look for images of yourself on his website here

I found Scott at the car as well and we chatted while I pulled the leaver off (nut was a little slack) and set it further down on the shaft. This felt a lot better and we headed out again. As the morning had wore on the slickness of the track had increased exponentially, so now it was getting a bit of a chore. Not only that but I was struggling to select first gear. The lever was obviously fowling the frame rail.
At the far end of the track there was a rutted section that you had to cross before going up a few slopes. These had been tricky earlier but still fairly easy – until now that is. I got the rear end stuck in a rut and was filling the air with blue smoke as Scott sneaked past going straight on and not attempting to get across the rutty bit. I was struggling for a while and some kind soul stopped to help me get it out. Breathing hard now I carried on until I got to the innocent looking grass slope and that had me off as the bike spun out. Picking the bike up when it’s lying on the slope makes it doubly hard and I tumbled back down again as I just couldn’t stand it was so slick. Eventually I got the bike up and paddled backwards into the grass so that I could get some momentum going to chug the bike up in second gear. Well I nearly made it but had to jump off and push like mad near the top as the Metzeller six day was just not gripping in these conditions.
The rest of the lap went sort of ok I think - there was so many off’s on the day I can’t remember them all! Two guys were stuck on the inside line of the dodgy slope and not being able to see them I came round the bend and got stuck at the foot with nowhere to go. Luckily they both sort of fell to the left and made a small gap so I managed to squeeze by with the bike going in all directions and the bars even got pulled out of my left hand at one point! I made it to the top, not very stylish but I made it none the less.

A few corners further on, at a downhill right, I was caught out again when the rear overtook the front, dumping me fairly hard on the dirt. My back protector scooped up the sand/clay mixture and dropped it down my bum crack as I stood up - I can report that this made a rather interesting mixture once it joined the vaseline I use to protect against monkey butt!

MX air time!

A few adjustments at the car and some lunch went down well. Bruce and his mate John came up to introduce themselves. Bruce is a SA lad who found my website while still living in Sought Africa and this was his first event since moving to the UK. After a chat Scott_rider, Bruce and I went out to get some more laps in. The first lap wasn’t too bad but by the second one I was starting to seriously struggle on the grass slopes. I was pulling big gaps on Scott only for him to come chugging past on the hills! I even had to get off and push up one grassy hill - with the rear end spinning away for all it's worth. Once we got to the main climb I took the wide line for a change and I just couldn’t find any grip. Half way up, the rear gave up forward momentum and down I went. With the bike lying on the slope it took all my effort to get it turned but Scott came and lent a hand and we got it back down together. Blowing hard I looked at the slope and the ‘easy’ route round it. Now if you know me I pride myself in being able to clear most obstacles, so I tried again and got a little further but the end result was the same! What made it worse now was the fact that the bike had stopped starting on the button half a lap ago and I had to kick the bastard over. Once the bike was at the bottom again I was so knackered I admitted defeat and took the easy route! Getting back to the car to do some more repairs (!) I found it locked! Scott had some WD40 in his car so I gave the fuses by the starter solenoid a good clean off and it started working again. To be honest it’s my fault for not pulling them out more often. Corrosion had been at work on the tags so it was poor maintenance on my behalf.
I was a bit fed up by this stage so we decided to sod the enduro loop and do a few laps of the MX track only. They had made a small cut back section that was being marshalled, so it was safe enough to do the mx track only.

Scott_rider on the mx section

Nearly an 'endo'!

Me again

Well it was so nice to be able to give the bike some welly again! It took several laps to build up the speed and confidence after being out on the ice rink but soon I was going around at a fair pace although still not as fast as some. After a bit I changed my lines to use the small berms and ruts in the track and it was nice to have some grip for a change. Nicky was at one of the jumps and I tried to make a show of jumping properly so that at least I’d have something to show at the end of the day. Scott and I did one last lap together and Nicky managed to get a couple of shots of me using the berm to overtake.

I like these two!

So it was another slippery day for us all. Not sure if it’s me, the bike or the rear tyre but I’m really struggling for grip lately. The mx loop blast made up for it though.

Post fun chat - me and another John

To see all of our pictures taken at this event click here

As I've entered into the Sidcup Enduro I can't make the Mayhem in Minehead on the 14th of Sept but I'm sure it'll be a great day out as pictures of the track look really great. See enduroland website for more details.

Roll on the next event on the 27th & 28th of Sept at Adstone. See you all at Endurofest? details at www.endurofest.co.uk
I’ve got the CHEC and Sidcup races before that though – boy I could really use a dry event for a change!

ps - just cleaned the bike and checked out the starting issue. The bloody bolt holding the live terminal to the battery was lose! all sorted now and ready for the next event at Lane End!

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