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Surrypol Enduro Every thing was going well till my start time arrived.Sitting on the line with 3 others, 3... 2... 1... kick, brrum, cough, silence. Kick, kick, kick, Brrum, ber, ber, phut. After a couple of minutes of this, and having watched several riders leave the line, I decide that I need yet another sparkplug. I contact the pit crew and order them back to the support vehicle to retrieve the multi-functional strip down apparatus (I ask Cass to nip back to the car and collect the socket set). While she's off I strip as much as I can by hand (seat + fuel line) then nip into the pits to pick up a new plug. On my return I find my bike already part stripped by Steve Hartland, thanks Steve, a couple of minutes more work and the new plug is installed, the bike sounds sweet, and I'm off on the first of ten laps leaving Cass to sort out the tools. 35 minutes allowed for the first lap, even with the 10 minutes or so lost trying to start the bike I still made it around in time. Most laps were taking around 20 minutes for me a few minutes more if I had a problem, some times under 20 minutes if I got a good run. On the second Lap I considered doing the special test but on seeing the queue decided to carry on and try next time. On the third lap the queue was still the same size but my allowed lap time had been reduced from 30 to 28 minutes, Doh! With successive lap times even shorter and the special test only open for a limited time I had to just sit and wait. After about 15 minutes waiting I finally got my chance to do the test, 1 minute 40 seconds later and I was underway again. This little fiasco cost me 7 minutes in penalties but I guess that's all part of the planning and tactics? The general track was quite good. A mixture of fast fire roads, tight tree sections, ascents + decents etc. Some of the bits were a little tough but none of them were impassable. I only had a couple of problems throughout the event, On one hill a rider in front had gotten stuck, as I tried to navigate around him I stalled and then took a good couple of minutes trying to recover. One of the muddy 'fire' roads gave me cause for concern, The front wheel got into a bit of a rut at fairly high speed leaving me travelling some distance in a straight line with the front wheel pointing to the left and just sliding. Somehow I managed to hang onto the bike although an underwear change was required at the next pit stop. On the last lap I relaxed a little too much, caught a root, and before I knew it I was doing a superman impression only hindered when I used my thighs on the handlebars to slow myself down. At some point during the event I noticed Tom Conner drop his goggles. He appeared to stop, turn, see my start to pick them up then he carried on. As I went to pick them up I over balanced and fell over, Doh! It turns out he didn't know where he'd lost them and didn't know I'd picked them up as he informed Cass when she returned them to him. Towards the end of the event I noticed one of the Army guys on a Harley (I think) stuck in a rut and looking VERY tired. Why do they use those 5 ton monsters??? He was trying to lift it out with very little movement, I stopped to help and with the two of us at it only took a matter of seconds to get him moving again. I still say that if a rider is stuck and you have a couple of minutes in hand, helping them out is a good thing 'TM', after all, you never know when it'll be you that's stuck! With about 28 minutes in penalties I don't think I'll be winning in my class but it was fun trying. Bob Dyer |
    
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