As I’m still car-less I had to rely on my mate Tony for a lift to Enduroland this month, which nearly never happened as he called it off the night before due to the continuous rain on Saturday. I managed to convince him to play it by ear in the morning as the weather forecast was for clear skies and sun. We left a little late in the day but at least we were on our way!

 Tony looking like he means business....signing in .....the parking area.....mud & mud

When we got to the site it was plain to see that we had a bit of a muddy session in store. Bikes were coming back into the parking area covered in thick mud, the chains, swing-arms and linkages encased in inches of thick clay like mud and grass – mmm nice!
Once we were suited and booted, I took the lead and set off up the track, in the opposite direction to what we normally ride, and yes it was a bit slippery out there, but not as bad as I thought it would be (that would come later).
I climbed the first steep slope and instead of crisscrossing the humpy humpy woods we skirted around the right hand side taking in some of the whoops. Before breaking out into the fields then coming back into the ‘jumping dip’ but this time at another angle so it made it difficult to get good ‘air’. Then it was back into the humpy woods but along the other edge turning right down a steep slope and another few off camber right hand turns skirting (slithering) past the pond before entering the first section of proper woods.
By now the slippery conditions was making itself felt and some corners were difficult to get round with any sort of style! The course wound back and forth though the woods popping out once but not going out across the fields again as normal. But we did traverse the top of the ridge that we normally cut across before a short blast over an open section before re-entering the woods. This section was particularly slick while under the trees and the next open part was also pretty treacherous, the rear end overtook the front here on one of my laps dumping me onto the ground in a slow speed heap! After that it was the stream crossing and another weave though the woods until getting back out onto the opening going where the track snaked across the field (again very slippery) in flat turns until ending the lap by the pits once again. I always find these flat grassy turns a bit difficult to handle and yes I got dumped in another slow tumble.
After my first lap I thought my lungs were coming out my throat so I stopped for a quick breather waiting for Tony to catch up. After a few sucks on the camelback I set off again and caught up to and passed Furby on his XR250 from the TBM forum, waving as I overtook but I’m not too sure he figured out who I was, there being more than one or two ktm’s out there!
Getting back to the pits I could see Tony up ahead, I’d nearly lapped him. He rode off down to the car in the lay-by and for one moment I thought he’d had enough of the conditions but it turns out he just needed to clears some tape out the front wheel (and a breather).

Tony coming out of the first wooded section

and again coming out of the bomb hole or 'jumping dip' as i like to call it!

After a few more laps I told Tony I’d go ahead to take some photos. We agreed on a few spots and I managed to get some ok shots, snapping off a few of some other guys as well. After that lap Tony took the camera to try and get a photo or two of me. Unfortunately still being unfamiliar with my camera (I’ve been writing that for three years) and me not being very photogenic they ended up on the cutting room floor!

me in a couple of pics -just

Someone on the day getting a wiggle on! see the end of the report for a few more shots of other guys

The rest of the day passed with us getting loads of laps in and the wooded sections cut up nicely so I could practice riding ‘properly’ ie pushing the bike down and hitting the gas to fire the bike around the bend. This is something you can’t practice when trail riding so having somewhere to practice it is a bit of a godsend really.
After our late lunch the track started to dry out a little so it became a lot easier to ride but I think the conditions earlier had worn out the majority of the riders, as the track was now quite empty apart from a few axe murderers on racing quads.
One of the laps I came across Furby just as he was picking his bike up. I hit the brakes and quickly wiped out the camera taking a pic. Seeing this he called out “you bastard” obviously realising that it would be used on the net! His feet slithered about a bit and for a moment I though I was going to get him on his arse again but he managed to hold it.

Furby just about holding the bike up as his feet slide out behind. I just got to the scene a few seconds too late to catch the bike in its side

Towards the end of the day, and after a cup of tea, I decided to follow Tony for a while to wind down a bit. However I had “a cunning plan” so to speak. I needed a photo of someone on the deck and I was sure Tony would not disappoint! Sure enough half a lap later his was on the deck and I had the photo I needed for this report!

I knew Tony would not disappoint!

Still, he had the last laugh when we got back to the pits. I walked up to the sign in desk once we’d parked up and said “so you guys are going to tell me I’ve won the raffle aren’t you”. I was told it wasn’t me sadly but a guy called Tony no.136. mmm I looked at them to see if they were winding me up then pulled Tony’s ticket from the pocket of my camelback, yep 136 it was! Bastard had won the raffle.
Once again another great days riding, and the track layout was great considering the tricky conditions due to the amount of rain recently.

Below are the pictures i took on the day. It's only a pocket camera so they are nothing great but a few are ok.

 

If you enjoyed this report and would like to be notified of new reports or website updates then join the mailing list. To sign up to the list just click HERE>> and send me an email.