See all the photos

I raced at Ashdown Farm twice with the South Reading MCC back in 2009 and really enjoyed both races. They are tough though, it’s not like the terrain is difficult or hard to negotiate, it’s just that the ground does get chopped up a lot and it becomes very bumpy. Under normal circumstances the bumpy nature of the track will give you a real workout, but race there with under performing suspension at your peril. Oh yes did I mention my rear shock was still pants? Yep I had two plans of action for getting it sorted after the last race on the Sunday before, but neither happened. I was trying to buy some trick suspenders from someone but that never worked out. With only five days to go I was worried I’d not get my shock back in time if I sent it away, so I opted to battle through with it ‘as is’ for one more race.

the pack waiting for the start

dead engine start!

this guy could not have been very popular!

After getting a few blisters at Billington I bought some new grips from Abingdon Off Road and the Progrip ‘grips’ felt really nice once they were fitted. As there were no water splashes at Ashdown Farm I fitted the home made vented airbox cover once more to give me some extra oomph up the hills on the mx track. Having lost the front several times in the last race I knew the front mousse was finished as well. Well to be honest I knew this a while back, but my supplier has been out of stock for a while now so I had to make do some how. The Golden Tyre front mousse has been in use since March last year and has been great, but needed to be changed now as it was finished. I dug out an old Pirelli mousse that I had fitted briefly before being given the GT mousse and pressed that back into service. What with all the forecasts for rain I decided to fit the spare rear wheel that has my almost new FIM tyre on (GT216) and use that for Saturday’s race. The terrain up there at Ashdown can get mighty slippery in the wet, as it’s a mixture of clay and chalk, not a good mix to race on with slightly worn tyres!

Tony on the jumps in the trees (mx track)

me taking it easy but end up with that floaty feeling....
look closely and i'm not on the pegs!

I’d convinced Tony to come along to this event too. He’d not raced at Ashdown before, so was keen to give it a go. I tried to entice some more of the regular group but Darren was the only one that decided to give it a try, but I only briefly saw him on the day, so I’ve no idea how he got on. Once again Tony pulled a fast one. I sent him an sms ref picking up the trailer and I got a pathetic “I’ve already had a drink” reply, so once again the silver Mazda was loaded up for the duties of ferrying us all to the venue. Taking the access road to the track very slowly we eventually got into the track proper and had to settle for parking in the upper parking area, which was a pain but at least we got a nice spot under a large tree, which we might need as the skies were looking decidedly dodgy with big black clouds forming. Now and again you’d get the odd spit of rain on the top of your head, well on my cheek actually as the wind was a bit nippy so I pressed the old buff into service as a top bonce warmer. We older gents have to keep our heads warm you know!

Tont again

and me.....followed by....

a low rider!

Tony had to visit the portaloo first, so I grabbed my bike and went to get scrutinised straight away. The bike went through without a hitch and while I was in line a couple of South African riders mentioned I’ve been a little slow in producing my ride reports of late. Yep I have been, but I’m trying to catch up. Signing on also went fine but there was a few hold ups due to so many people needing an ACU day license. I’m sure more people would take out a full race license if you could do it all ‘on-line’ and without being a ‘member’ of a specific club. It all seems a bit old fashioned and slightly backwards if you ask me. You should be able to renew your license at the click of a button via paypal. Having said that maybe you can now, but the last time I checked you couldn’t?

High and low road

i take the high road this time round

Anyway I was all togged up and ready to go so I took the necessary equipment down to the pits area using my little trolley with Nicky bringing up the remaining items. On the way back to the car I bumped into Tony who was still trying to get his bike through scrutinering! He’d failed on a ‘sticky throttle’ and had a terminal case of the mutters, he was not a happy bunny at all. Of course in true Club DB style I now have to take the piss out of him for this. Anyone that has read my reports from day one several years ago (when we could still trail ride) will remember that the reports are liberally sprinkled with pictures of Tony ‘fixing’ a sticky throttle! He has his way of doing things, and that is that, even though moving the throttle tube up the bars by 5mm would solve all the issues!

no 1 overtakes

i thought it was just me mucking up like that!

i get one right for a change

After the riders briefing I went back to the car to get some earplugs and Tony was still getting changed so I filled him in on the golden rules, no speeding in the blue taped areas or you’ll get disqualified. Luckily he was starting from a few rows back from the front in the Clubman B class so he still had time to get to the start line. I was starting from the pack ahead in Clubman A so I needed to get back to the bike sharpish. Thankfully we had a collective minute or so to warm the bikes engines up before the off and this gave me the opportunity to go through the ritual of freeing up & warming the clutch so that the Rekluse would be ok when I clicked it into gear come the actual start time. With the SRMCC you get to start in dribs and drabs and you are racing against the clock more than anything.

Once we were underway we headed towards the top set of woods and weaved through the trees and over several logs before dropping into the mx track. Once on the track there were a few bends followed by a series of jumps. Now I have raced here before and got on fine with these jumps then, but on the first lap I took it nice and easy considering the state of the rear shock. Just after these jumps the course turned off the mx track briefly to go over a huge mound of dirt which was fun. Re-entering the mx track once more at the long sweeping bend we headed towards another jump, before the final few bends that brought you into the woods once more. After a few tight twists and turns we got to a log obstacle which was a little tricky as you came to it just after a bend so there was almost no run-up. Once over the log we basically traversed the woods by weaving up and down the length of them several times. In the most part it flowed quite well and about half way through the woods we popped back out of the trees to tackle one of the main parts of the mx track – the big hills.

The two flowing bends at the top of the hill were very slippery, but the run down, and then back up the other side was a blast, flattening the suspension at the bottom before sweeping round the two long bends that followed. This leads you to another jump and a few more turns until you were at the bottom of the hill once more. Here you had to turn to the left in a 90’ bend so you had to scrub off a lot of speed on the way down the hill. A fast blast towards the farm and another turn to the right (where the going was very bumpy) this had the exc bouncing every which way, so much so that it nearly went all wrong on the first lap. Going into the hedge at the bottom of this track we doubled back on ourselves and crossed the most gnarly tree roots that you can imagine. These roots can be a right nightmare in the wet, but thankfully the rain had held off so far and it was fine.

Breaking out into the open again we nailed the bikes past the farm on the concrete road/track (slippery!) before entering the woods. After a few tight turns at the start of the woods the track flowed fairly well until we popped out by the ‘fair mile’ byway once more, right at the furthest part of the land. I’d been stuck behind slower riders though almost the whole lap so far and I was getting very impatient, so much so that the red mist must have blocked my colour vision and I did not register the fact that this was a blue taped area and speeding & overtaking was ‘verboten’! I was just about to pass the guy ahead when the marshal shouted and tapped me on the shoulder. Oops I’d forget the briefing already and could be in the do-do. I stopped to apologise but he waved me on so I set off once more to overhaul the rider ahead.

Once on the other side of the ‘fair mile’ there was a slightly ploughed up field which took us into the final set of woods were we naturally weaved in and out of the trees. We did come out into the open a couple of times and in one of these we had a open field run followed by a 90’ turn to the left and another high speed run down to the corner of the field. Well it should have been a high speed run but the going was so rough it was hard to get up any sort of speed – for me anyway. The bike was bucking and kicking its arse off and later in the day I spoke to another rider who said “you came past me in the bottom field and were really flying – it looked kind of dangerous though”. Yep it felt kind of dangerous too!

Once we were back into the trees there were a few small slopes to get up, nothing too hard, but they did get cut up near the end of the day and the soft sand and exposed roots made it harder and harder to clear them each lap. About half way round this final set of trees and just after a tight right turn there was a tree branch sticking out into the path. Not just any old branch, I mean a proper, “I’m not moving for anything” kind of branch. On the first lap I thought that it was a little dodgy but then again as it was marked so well with red tape and orange arrows you’d have to be a bit of a plonker to miss it or should I say ‘not miss it’ and collect a face full of tree ending up on the deck.

True enough, on about the second or third lap there was a guy lying stretched out on the deck having obviously decided to test his helmet and head to the max. A marshal was already there so I never stopped, maybe I should have as Tony said he recognised me going past while he was on the deck and was none too impressed! Sorry mate, the red mist got in the way again so I did not recognise you.

Tony does his best chimp impression having just coming in to repair bits and peice

Eventually the track opened up onto the last straight for the run back up to the pits. It was tempting to open the bike up here but once again the going was very bumpy so to go fast I had to hang right off the back of the bike and cling on for grim death, while the orange bronco did it’s best to kick me off. Right at the end of this straight, in the left bend, the bumps got even worst, something a mx bike rider found out when he came flying past me only to end up in a heap covered in dust when the bike spat him off. Having posted a fairly decent time for my first lap I pushed for another two then eased off slightly for a couple of laps but then I would catch up to more and more riders, and that spured me on to go faster. If I see a rider ahead I have to push as hard as I can to catch and overtake, no matter how tired I am.

getting my weight over the back end

I was still making a right cock up of the jumps in the trees (on the mx track). I got them wrong each lap, so much so that I nearly lost it on about the third in the series. The ground sort of drops off and I was losing contact with the bike on this bit, so it all got a bit messy. After one too many ‘only attached to the bars’ endos I decided there and then to take it easy over these from now on, as a fall would lose me a lot more time than the few seconds I could potentially gain.

The terrain was getting progressively bumpier as the time wore on so it was getting hard to keep the speed up and I could physically feel the shock compressing when I was accelerating around corners. I was also almost knocking my fillings out on the jumps so I had to ease back some more on these as well as the straights. About three quarters through my first two hours I managed to catch and pass Tony on the concrete path just before the woods section. This surprised me a bit as he’d started behind me, so I’d effectively lapped him. What I didn’t know was that he was having a rough time of it and was feeling a little out of his depth I think. Hopefully he’ll pen some words to fill us all in on his day.

Time to re-fuel

Pretty soon the first two hours were up and I pulled into the pits almost two hours on the dot. Nicky was there to help and I popped the tank’s cap as she handed me the petrol can. Pushing home the quickfiller I then asked for a flat screwdriver which I used to turn the rear compression damping up to full, then back one, to try and get a little control back. Fuel in the bike and it was time to re-fill my camelpack to keep me going too, so another few minutes were lost. That lap was timed as being around the 20 min mark, as opposed to the 17 minute odd for the other ones, so it looks like the pit stop took longer than I thought it would.

As soon as I hit the trees again I could feel the rear end was a lot better. I still couldn’t tackle the jumps on the mx track properly, but at least the bike felt a little more in control the rest of the time. By now I was starting to feel the results of the hard going during the first two hours. My fitness was ok as I’ve been doing some running to increase my stamina, but I was really starting to feel the strain in my hands. I was holding on so tight over the rough stuff that it was wearing me out. I also noticed that my stomach muscles were getting sore, something that never normally happens, but I think it was due to me standing up more to save the old butt from getting pummelled too much.

In these later stages I noticed riders were starting to tire a lot. Riders were falling on bends for unknown reasons it would seem. Well maybe not that much of a mystery really as I think they speed up when a fast rider catches them up. This puts them over their current comfort level and being tired after a long day it causes them to crash. Some of the tricky slopes in the far woods were also causing riders to get stuck and I got caught myself behind a rider who had stalled. I went left trying to overtake a slower rider who went right only to be blocked by a stricken rider. A little further, near the tree that from now is to be known as “Tony’s Tree”, someone had left the track and taken out a whole tree! Yep it must have been almost three inches thick and someone had hit it that hard they’d snapped it in half at about shoulder height!

All of a sudden time was running out, and I made it around to the transponders with five minutes to spare out of my three hour allocation, so there was time to get one more lap in. I’d been letting a few riders past during the last lap and some more passed me during the final lap too, hopefully I didn’t hold up anyone too much. All too soon the race was over and I could relax. I must say it had taken it out of me, I was knackered. The rough terrain and the fact that the bike had become a handful just wore me out completely. Once Tony got back to the pits I had a right laugh, listening to him tell me his many troubles of the day, especially as I then found out it was him that had knocked himself off his bike on the tree. It’s fair to say the track kicked his butt big style, so I’m hoping he’ll come back and take it on again to prove whose boss. The results are out. I came home in 7th in the Clubman A class. Not too bad at all so I’m happy with that.

Nicky was not feeling 100% on the day so there are less photos than normal for this event

*************************************

Tony
As promised my "Allways look on the bright side of life" report.

Whilst pening this report the eighties classic "things can only get better" by D ream keeps running through my sore head.
Having never ridden at Ashdown before Iwas looking forward to Saturdays event even though the weather forcast was inclement and the circuit being laced with chalk that when wet can be like ice. Having made a faux-pas at Billington the previous weekendwith my timing(no change there then eh! Steve) I made an effort to set my stop watch on my KTM so I didnt over run in this a 3hr event.

Myself , RBJ and Nicky arrived at the circuit in plenty of time but due to last nights pre-race preparation of 4 pints of Guinnes and severall large Old No5,s I had to utulise the shabby chique porta-loos which left me running late for scrutaneering , which I then failled due to my throttle sticking against my hand guard (Doh!).

Once I had succesfully resolved the situation I rejoined the ever growing que for Waldow & Stadler (Muppets) to then give my bike the ok so I could then join yet another que where the Chuckle brothers (To me to you) to issue a transponder and deal with sighning on. Now running even later I still hadn,t got changed and missed the riders breifing(No change there then eh! John) I was told by RBJ "Dont overtake or speed at the Blue tapes" Brefing over!
We set of in classes (I was in Clubman B ) and I decided to follow someone for the first lap as I hadn,t been here before but as I pressed the start button on my stop watch what should of said S2 (start of stop watch ) said L1 (Lap 1) Oh feck so I press it again L2 (lap 2 ) nuts eventually I go through every option before getting the desired S2 "Things can only get better " (sing along now!).

Tony starts....then stops.

press button Lap 1 (doh) press again Lap 2 (double doh)

several presses and much cursing later, he's under way

The lap wa just under 19mins for me and was a great circuit with lots of varied terrain , fallen logs and well spaced out jumps. On my second lap I hit the only low branch on the circuit which knocked me clean off my bike rendering me and my crash helmet very second hand. After a 10 minute break to compose myself again I set off for lap 3 and was getting passed on a regular bassis , allthough the circuit was very good so was the standard of rider and after my little whoopsie I took a while to get back up to speed (for me anyway).

On the long whoop section just before the pits I went to change down the gear box only to find my lever missing so had to park up and go back up the track where I found my lever with it,s bolt still intact."Things can only get better"(Many thanks to the Marshall who dragged my arse out the undergrowth after me twatting the low lying branch and then also helping me look for my gear lever).

I went back to the pits to repair my bike ,crash helmet and also took the opportunity to refuel thus changeing my race strategy (A what!) and insread of stopping after 2 hours now pushing on to the end. I only had 1 more tumble over one of the fallen logs due to poor technique and started to gel a little with the track allthough I was still being passed regularly and appologies to anyone if I was stuck in your way but as I said earlier the standard was considerably higher than I am used to . All said and done it was a good day , the weather stayed dry , the course was good and I look forward to riding there in the future . (Finished 19th out of 38? )

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