mountains and motorbikes!

....now feeling very settled in my condo after a couple of fantastic days skiing, looking out towards the pistes of deer valley, with the fire burning and the snow falling, magic!

relief! leaning on my bike, in front of jago's car and trailer - which i had to tow out at the end i might add ; ) sorry jago, couldn't let that one pass by, hehehe!

ah, jago, same pose, just different face!

the bikes; 168 is my '06 400exc and 535 is jago's '09 400exc, which he only picked up the day before from patsy quick. interestingly (to some!), ktm decided to compartmentalise the gear box and engine so that specific oils could be used, but this reduced the overall oil available to the engine and for enduro events ie long events and rallies leading to overheating issues. as a result some mechanics have drilled holes so that one oil, engine oil, can move between the gearbox and engine.

my muddy bike is still muddy, but sitting on a pit stand in gary's lock-up, thanks again for that gary!


















our camp...

jago trying to work out how to use his phone.... and chobe looking at me knowingly "can we go now, i've been stuck in the back of the pick up for 3 hours and i'm bored and hungry!"

so i may be looking the part and have all the gear, but i've got some work to do on my riding as it turns out jago came 9th overall! bloody good riding (apart from one little skirmish!) so he's raised the bar!

we're meeting up with patsy when i get back to discuss dakar planning and preparation. hopefully this will be down at her new training ground in ringwood, so we could get some more riding too.

next race not until 16th may, at shuckburgh hall, that was a pretty muddy event from memory and mainly in woods.

go to jago's blog to read his view on the hare and hounds and see some more photos

Race 6 - 21.03.10 - Brickhill, Bedfordshire

just a quick note from san francisco! (i will update fully later)

race on sunday went very well. although feeling pretty stiff yesterday, i managed to ride for the duration with only a couple of 'offs' - one of which i have to thank jago for ; )

so i came 23rd out of 46 in my class, managing to complete 12 laps to jago's 15. but not being competitive or anything, i lost a lap and half after jago took me out as my steering was askew and i had to ride to the pits to adjust the forks - i waved to jago with his shirt that i was using to clean my goggles as he came past the pits....i don't think he noticed!

so the fact that i was back competing in a hare and hounds was fantastic and a huge relief  - so massive thanks to my surgeon mr cohen and my physio sam wilde, without whom i would not be in such good shape.

having survived that, i am now on my way to park city, utah, to throw myself down some snow covered mountains on a couple of planks of wood for good measure!

i'm lying in bed in cousin ben, nanu and teifi's beautiful home in san francisco, with incredible views over the city. just getting up now, it's 830 in the morning and a bright blue and sunny sky await....

enjoy your day wherever you are!

12 days and counting....

heading back from the wolds last night i dropped the bike off with martin wittering up in hitchin. he's a dakar mechanic and carries out bespoke work from home, another brilliant guy introduced by jago. he's going to be re-oiling and sealing the forks, setting up the rear suspension, oil change, valve clearance, air filter cleaning and sorting out the throttle cable that i replaced. he will also be changing the tyres and fitting mooses too - these are semi-solid sponge rings that sit inside the tyre that provide about 1bar of pressure, enough to ride on, but prevent punctures, in fact due to the low pressure it allows the tyre to spread further and therefore provide better grip. although i know how to do this work, i don't yet have all the tools and the space to do it. furthermore, i would not want to be working at this level on the bike i racing on! i hope to spend some time with martin to improve my basic mechanic skills further on down the line.

having ridden the dakar three times zippy recommended changing the tyres from the maxxis to a michelin comp iv on the front and a mitas (not sure on the spec yet, could be the ef05)on the rear, this way i have a the best grip on the front and a hard wearing but grippy rear....tyre!! zippy has access to the tyres and will be sending them up to martin, although i found out martin also has the tyres in stock, either way i should end up with the right tyres!! zippy also works with patsy's desert rose riding academy and support team and they are preparing to support a team of riders on the toureg rally which jago and i hope to ride this time next year.

last week my physio sam introduced me to leah dunthorne, a performance coach at pure sports. she has agreed to help me physically prepare for the dakar, which is fantastic! so on friday i had my first assessment; how heavy and un-supple i am, my muscle to fat ratio and some basic strength tests and this will be followed up next wednesday with more tests. we will then be able to create an effective training schedule to prepare for each of my races and events right up until jan 2012. she has a very impressive cv, so i think i'm in good hands!

in addition, i have booked in to see a nutritionist, henrietta bailey, also at pure sports, to improve my health and energy levels for all my training and preparation over the next 20 months. i guess this might seem like the clive woodward approach to the dakar privateer!

by the way i've added 2 new pages to the blog, 'the plan' and a live 'calendar' of training and events between jago and i. i've also added a dakar group on facebook to help keep you in the know.

finally, check out these photographs of the 2010 dakar, guy sent me the link, they are awesome, inspirational!! (thanks a million guy!).

12 days to go until race 1