Progress Report 13 - w/c 06.07.09 - Offroad skills
last minute decision to go on another 2 day training course with simon pavey's crew in south wales; my first off-road skills training was at the beginning of august last year, man, time sure is flying by!! very exciting, but meant i had to fit a 5 day week into 3 days....
i left london on wednesday after dinner with friends and headed up to the cottage, before continuing the journey at dawn the following day....cruising over cotswolds....it's sooo beautiful at that time of day! journey pretty uneventful other than a moment of panic as reached the severn bridge toll; firstly i keep forgetting that commercial vehicles have to pay over £10 to cross; secondly they don't take cards and i never carry cash; thirdly, i thought i had run out of (timely) options, but fortunately they do take cheques ; )
arrived in time, most people were already kitted up raring to go, i was just desperate for the loo. since i was doing the level 3 there were only 4 people plus the instructor. we were also given a g450 to ride for the 2 days, with a fantastic instructor, gwyn barraclough, well into his fifties but still going strong - christ, he was leading us around for the entire time without breaking sweat, meanwhile i was leaking water from every part of my body......nice!!
it was great to ask gwyn about riding techniques now that i have a few races under my belt and then testing them. having the time to practice without the pressure of racing was brilliant; fast and hard turns on the flat gravel is a lot harder that racing around the berms; sitting compared to standing on the footpegs, brake turning, donuts in the gravel, I even had a crack at jumping over tree trunks...it was amazing what the bike is capable of - although Simon pavey's observation of my attempts was "toby! you having fun riding 'through' those tree trunks!?" i have a legitimate need to practice my wheelies!!
i stayed in a lovely b&b, the pentre riding stables, just up the road from the training centre, so had time to bath before dinner which was back at the abercrave inn with the rest of the team and had breakfast with a very interesting gentleman who after 2 days off-roading, was competing in a car rally in paris the following day, he was in his 60's but showed no sign of slowing!
day two was even better, now feeling in the groove, riding longer routes without stopping, so finding the rhythm, tackling some seriously long and steep ascents; paddling through some very deep ruts, while trying not to fall over too many times! however, i was still sweating like blind lesbian in a fish market and smelt pretty bad too ; )
the g450
we had a great team or riders; jago, a fellow londoner who has been competing for a few years now, ridden with patsy quick in morocco - in 2006 she became the first british female rider to complete the dakar, which happened to be the same year charlie boorman rode there - and competed in the dawn to dusk 12 hr event last year on his own; james, a coast guard from guernsey who is a pretty skilled trail biker; and john, who was over from ireland to follow up his level 2 training.
the team - left to right; james, me, jago, gwyn (we'd lost john by this point!)
the next few photos show james and jago reaching the top of a particularly long and steep climb, which culminates in a really steep exit, where i managed to get to within 6 feet before my wheel started to spin and the bike flipped! all good fun and dramatic stuff....really get's your blood pumping and when you have to drag your bike up, with all the gear on, it feel like your lungs will explode. you can't believe how exhausting this kind of riding is....all good training.....just glad i have the weekend to recover, although i could do without the drive back to london to pick chobe up, as i then have to get back to the wolds to carry out an oil service on my race bike - last chance before my race next weekend.
james on his way up
jago on his way up
we didn't even have to clean the bikes, but unfortunately there is no shower to wash myself off with after the days riding, so it was simply off with the wet (and muddy) and on with the dry, but i was still muddy....still it was only me in the car for the journey home!
always look forward to seeing chobe, just a shame she was not here in the brecons, she would love it...i must get up here with her soon.
more from my race next weekend.
a little late posting this, so my exploits at the race this weekend will follow very shortly!
i left london on wednesday after dinner with friends and headed up to the cottage, before continuing the journey at dawn the following day....cruising over cotswolds....it's sooo beautiful at that time of day! journey pretty uneventful other than a moment of panic as reached the severn bridge toll; firstly i keep forgetting that commercial vehicles have to pay over £10 to cross; secondly they don't take cards and i never carry cash; thirdly, i thought i had run out of (timely) options, but fortunately they do take cheques ; )
arrived in time, most people were already kitted up raring to go, i was just desperate for the loo. since i was doing the level 3 there were only 4 people plus the instructor. we were also given a g450 to ride for the 2 days, with a fantastic instructor, gwyn barraclough, well into his fifties but still going strong - christ, he was leading us around for the entire time without breaking sweat, meanwhile i was leaking water from every part of my body......nice!!
it was great to ask gwyn about riding techniques now that i have a few races under my belt and then testing them. having the time to practice without the pressure of racing was brilliant; fast and hard turns on the flat gravel is a lot harder that racing around the berms; sitting compared to standing on the footpegs, brake turning, donuts in the gravel, I even had a crack at jumping over tree trunks...it was amazing what the bike is capable of - although Simon pavey's observation of my attempts was "toby! you having fun riding 'through' those tree trunks!?" i have a legitimate need to practice my wheelies!!
i stayed in a lovely b&b, the pentre riding stables, just up the road from the training centre, so had time to bath before dinner which was back at the abercrave inn with the rest of the team and had breakfast with a very interesting gentleman who after 2 days off-roading, was competing in a car rally in paris the following day, he was in his 60's but showed no sign of slowing!
day two was even better, now feeling in the groove, riding longer routes without stopping, so finding the rhythm, tackling some seriously long and steep ascents; paddling through some very deep ruts, while trying not to fall over too many times! however, i was still sweating like blind lesbian in a fish market and smelt pretty bad too ; )
the g450
we had a great team or riders; jago, a fellow londoner who has been competing for a few years now, ridden with patsy quick in morocco - in 2006 she became the first british female rider to complete the dakar, which happened to be the same year charlie boorman rode there - and competed in the dawn to dusk 12 hr event last year on his own; james, a coast guard from guernsey who is a pretty skilled trail biker; and john, who was over from ireland to follow up his level 2 training.
the team - left to right; james, me, jago, gwyn (we'd lost john by this point!)
the next few photos show james and jago reaching the top of a particularly long and steep climb, which culminates in a really steep exit, where i managed to get to within 6 feet before my wheel started to spin and the bike flipped! all good fun and dramatic stuff....really get's your blood pumping and when you have to drag your bike up, with all the gear on, it feel like your lungs will explode. you can't believe how exhausting this kind of riding is....all good training.....just glad i have the weekend to recover, although i could do without the drive back to london to pick chobe up, as i then have to get back to the wolds to carry out an oil service on my race bike - last chance before my race next weekend.
james on his way up
jago on his way up
we didn't even have to clean the bikes, but unfortunately there is no shower to wash myself off with after the days riding, so it was simply off with the wet (and muddy) and on with the dry, but i was still muddy....still it was only me in the car for the journey home!
always look forward to seeing chobe, just a shame she was not here in the brecons, she would love it...i must get up here with her soon.
more from my race next weekend.
a little late posting this, so my exploits at the race this weekend will follow very shortly!
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