desert rose
i'm sitting in room 105 at the wellington hospital in st john's wood. i have a lovely room as hospitals go, the sun is shining, the election coverage is on the television, lovely.....but i'm starving! nil by mouth since 0730 this morning and i've been told that the op won't be until 430!! to add insult to injury they then gave me a menu to fill in for supper and breakfast, i think i ticked every box!! anyway, i've used this opportunity to update you on my dakar plans.
they certainly have enough staff here, i was escorted to my room, had a visit from a nurse who took my blood pressure and pulse (140/70 and 56 respectively), a nurse who gave me an electric razor to shave my knee/ leg with(!), one who took the menu, a physio, an anesthetist, the consultant and the staff nurse!!
jago and his wife lucy and i met up with patsy and zippy in the new forest last friday evening, to discuss the dakar, planning and preparation. over a couple of beers and plenty of crisps, we covered a lot of ground. patsy asked me what i thought i needed to work on most. i made it clear that i had never ridden on dunes, i had never ridden off-road for 12 hours plus per day for 15 days in a row and i had never used a roadbook! so funnily enough these are now my training goals for the year and here are some of the exciting events i can look forward to:
1/ zippy has offered to train with jago and i over in dunkirk, riding an infamous sand motocross course there. apparently i it is a killer! perfect, i think we could be doing this a few times, i can't wait = ))
2/ i am going to join patsy, zippy and a few others in morocco in september for a week or so to learn to ride them dunes.
3/ i hope to ride in the moroc rally from 23.10.10 to 30.10.10, where i can put my dune riding, road-book navigation and fitness to the test!
4/ then in march next year, jago and i will ride the tuareg rallye (to be confirmed), a 6 day rally in tunisia from 27.03.11 to 04.04.11.
awaking to the sound of little footsteps (jago and lucy's kids!) on saturday morning, we headed down to somerley park in the pickup, with jago's clean ktm 400 on the back. there we joined patsy, zippy and vince, plus bob and rob who were down to try out the ktm 690 enduros.
i don't know the new forest that well, i've only been to ringwood to watch dad play polo, or pick up the isle of white ferry at lymington, so this was new territory for me. a private estate encompassing some forestry commission land, the soil was sandy, gravelly with a good layer of loam, and being very dry made it fun to ride on. with plenty of small hills, dips, bumps and jumps, we had plenty of scope for fun and practice. being a day for riders to try out the 690s, meant that the emphasis was on riding rather than specific training, however, zippy structured the 'unstructured' day so that not only did the guys leave having tested the bikes, they had tested their off-road skills too.
it was my first time riding the 690 and i have to say it was a pleasure to ride. considering i am now used to riding the 400, the added weight and bulk, although noticeable was not too much of a hindrance. the fuel mapping was set to position 3 of 9, which meant you had to use a little more throttle to get a good response. however later in the day zippy adjusted the mapping to position 9 (i think??) and the bike went like stink, tearing up the gravel beneath with barely a twist to the throttle, it was a beast, but it was a lot of fun!! with the dry weather, the standard tyres on the back and front gave more than enough grip which was just as well, managing to avoid hurtling into the bushes!
it was not an intense day of riding, but allowed me to take stock of what i was doing, make the mistakes and then try to avoid repeating them. it was also great to have so much time with zippy to talk about the dakar, the required training and planning.
it is obviously a passion for patsy and zippy, who have both invested huge amounts into this sport and continue to do so. no sooner had we assisted zippy pack up the site, he was back off to heathfield to clean the bikes before heading down to tunisia to support another team of riders, it's inspiring stuff and i'm thrilled to be part of it.
can't wait to get this op out of the way and start riding again. time is flying by and everyday is a day closer to the dakar and there is so much to do!
i'm off, anesthetic awaits..... ah, i'm back already, time warp...wierd ?! foods arrived too : )
they certainly have enough staff here, i was escorted to my room, had a visit from a nurse who took my blood pressure and pulse (140/70 and 56 respectively), a nurse who gave me an electric razor to shave my knee/ leg with(!), one who took the menu, a physio, an anesthetist, the consultant and the staff nurse!!
jago and his wife lucy and i met up with patsy and zippy in the new forest last friday evening, to discuss the dakar, planning and preparation. over a couple of beers and plenty of crisps, we covered a lot of ground. patsy asked me what i thought i needed to work on most. i made it clear that i had never ridden on dunes, i had never ridden off-road for 12 hours plus per day for 15 days in a row and i had never used a roadbook! so funnily enough these are now my training goals for the year and here are some of the exciting events i can look forward to:
1/ zippy has offered to train with jago and i over in dunkirk, riding an infamous sand motocross course there. apparently i it is a killer! perfect, i think we could be doing this a few times, i can't wait = ))
2/ i am going to join patsy, zippy and a few others in morocco in september for a week or so to learn to ride them dunes.
3/ i hope to ride in the moroc rally from 23.10.10 to 30.10.10, where i can put my dune riding, road-book navigation and fitness to the test!
4/ then in march next year, jago and i will ride the tuareg rallye (to be confirmed), a 6 day rally in tunisia from 27.03.11 to 04.04.11.
awaking to the sound of little footsteps (jago and lucy's kids!) on saturday morning, we headed down to somerley park in the pickup, with jago's clean ktm 400 on the back. there we joined patsy, zippy and vince, plus bob and rob who were down to try out the ktm 690 enduros.
i don't know the new forest that well, i've only been to ringwood to watch dad play polo, or pick up the isle of white ferry at lymington, so this was new territory for me. a private estate encompassing some forestry commission land, the soil was sandy, gravelly with a good layer of loam, and being very dry made it fun to ride on. with plenty of small hills, dips, bumps and jumps, we had plenty of scope for fun and practice. being a day for riders to try out the 690s, meant that the emphasis was on riding rather than specific training, however, zippy structured the 'unstructured' day so that not only did the guys leave having tested the bikes, they had tested their off-road skills too.
it was my first time riding the 690 and i have to say it was a pleasure to ride. considering i am now used to riding the 400, the added weight and bulk, although noticeable was not too much of a hindrance. the fuel mapping was set to position 3 of 9, which meant you had to use a little more throttle to get a good response. however later in the day zippy adjusted the mapping to position 9 (i think??) and the bike went like stink, tearing up the gravel beneath with barely a twist to the throttle, it was a beast, but it was a lot of fun!! with the dry weather, the standard tyres on the back and front gave more than enough grip which was just as well, managing to avoid hurtling into the bushes!
it was not an intense day of riding, but allowed me to take stock of what i was doing, make the mistakes and then try to avoid repeating them. it was also great to have so much time with zippy to talk about the dakar, the required training and planning.
it is obviously a passion for patsy and zippy, who have both invested huge amounts into this sport and continue to do so. no sooner had we assisted zippy pack up the site, he was back off to heathfield to clean the bikes before heading down to tunisia to support another team of riders, it's inspiring stuff and i'm thrilled to be part of it.
can't wait to get this op out of the way and start riding again. time is flying by and everyday is a day closer to the dakar and there is so much to do!
i'm off, anesthetic awaits..... ah, i'm back already, time warp...wierd ?! foods arrived too : )
posted by youngerelagagesavoie at
18:41
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