memories at membury!

at about 430 this morning we stopped for petrol and coffee at membury services on our way back from fishguard where we had left the rosslare ferry 4 hours earlier.

it took me back to a journey i did as a child with my mum and brother more than 25 years ago. we were traveling in a bright green 2cv, through the night, on our way to fishguard to stay with mum's sister pam and family. unfortunately the alternator failed and mum was having to drive down the m4 with no lights!!! i think we were a member of the aa, but i don't think they provided the 1 hour response time they promise today and we were not traveling again until the day-break.

pounding mount leinster!

well good news is i completed the enduro, but it took me 6 hours to do so!!

competing at clubman there were 3 laps, with 2 legs per lap. we had 43 mins to reach the first checkpoint and on the first lap we had 60 minutes to return to the start, but each lap the amount of time for the second leg was reduced by a few minutes; 58 mins and 54 mins respectively.

it was a totally new experience for me, as not only do you have to determine the necessary pace to get to the checkpoint, but you have no idea how far or how hard the route is. plus you have to look out for the little yellow arrows pointing out the route along the way and they are easy to overlook, as well as navigate the terrain.....needless to say the firs lap was an adventure!!

jago and i set off as a pair, with me leading, but soon after i waved him on and pulled over to let a wave of riders past - if there is one thing i have learned about my riding is that i can only go at my pace. anyway, we made the first check point in 26 mins, so had to sit and wait until the clock timed 43 minutes....it was a great course and even though we had a little rain, the sun prevailed over the mount leinster hills.

however, the valve on my camel pack came apart, so i lost all my fluids within the first 30 mins so that was a small disaster (not to mention that it caked my bike in a sugary coating which has since welded to the exhaust and engine cover!!). then the clutch tension adjuster came off and the hand grip on the clutch side came unstuck, so i very quickly ended up with massive arm pump and to be honest i was not sure i would even finish the first lap let alone all three.

it's hard to describe the course, but if you can imagine walking in the forestry commission areas of the brecons, or the lowlands of snowdonia, the terrain is a mixture of forests with routes so narrow you can't get your handle bars through without bashing each side of the bar, boggy tracks mixed with hard, rocky outcrops and deforested areas containing massive tree stumps and the debris from felled trees, long steep ascents and descents, narrow sheep tracks and fire gravely fire tracks over a distance of about 35 miles per lap i believe.

at the end of my first lap i necked a left over bottle of lucozade, topped up with fuel, tried in vain to find a spare clutch adjuster from one of the marshals before heading off onto my second lap. i came in 12 minutes after i was due, so thought i was out, but they just add the time to the clock and then you start the next leg 12 minutes later than originally planned - basically you can't make up the time. jago had been waiting patiently for me on the first lap until i told him to go on ahead and i will go on at my own pace.

the only way i found to handle the clutch situation was basically to not use it and just pick a good gear, a half decent line and just maintain a smooth momentum on the ascents. the descents were slightly easier, and by reducing the clutch usage, my forearm pump reduced over time. but i have to say i have never experienced it as badly as yesterday - good forearm training i guess = ))

i found my rhythm, may not be that fast, but it kept me on the bike, most of the time anyway - actually, i did have one off where i went over the bars and caught my left bollock on the handle bar and fuck it was painful, i was shouting and rolling all over the ground in agony!!!!

end of lap 2 and i was really thirsty, but only a half bottle of lucozade remained, so whenever i past a marshall i asked if they had any water and that enabled me to make it home...eventually.

so why on earth were we in ireland, well a great bloke and dakar vet philip noone, had made contact with jago suggesting we take part in this 'international' event to mix up the training and events we had been attending. having completed the dakar himself this year, this was another fantastic opportunity. not only did he help sort out the registration in quick time, but he also sorted out brilliant accommodation in bunclody and imparted invaluable top dakar tips and some amusing stories too! so a massive thank you philip. i have to say that everyone i have met who has been involved in the dakar in some way has been so embracing and supportive in our preparation and training, it is a privilege to be a part of it.

i've been updating the blog from my phone over the past couple of days, works quite well, twitteresque, but haven't worked out a way to notify everybody as i can't seem to do group emails from my iphone - ideas anyone?? so if you read a couple of the earlier entries you will see that we drove to ireland on saturday, raced sunday and drove back through the night to be back in london at 530 this morning! london looked beautiful in the early morning sun!! cheers for sharing the driving jago : )

next stop keilder rally in northumberland!! but first i have to remove a tree from my rear wheel - photos to follow....

first enduro!

technically this will be my first enduro as this is a time card event.
we've registered and are about to go through scrutineering - officials
check bike and helmet ok for racing.
weather mixed, quite windy, rained overnight.
a little apprehensive but excited too!!

ferry across the irish sea

we're on our way! passing through customs we were told we were not
allowed to carry fuel in the jerry cans so filled the bikes up and hid
the can in he pickup. then sat around in the port for ages, but we're
now at sea. couldn't decide between fish and chips and the square
steak and kidney pie so we shared one of each = )) now on the sun deck
catching some rays.....happy days

Fwd: the road to banclody!

jago and i are 33 miles from fishguard where we will catch a ferry to rosslare, ireland for our first international enduro at mount leinster.

we stayed over at the cottage last night in order to pick my bike up and break up the 300 mile journey.

great excuse for a road trip although i will miss dad playing polo at guards today - he's playing with jack kidd and the england captain against india. good luck dad! damn, think of all the lasses in summer dresses!! these are the sacrifices i have to make ; )

some people say i'm bonkers, i just say i'm free....

its now 0036hrs and the temperature has dropped to a cool 35 degrees here in dubai....

big thanks to martin and donna who very kindly rescued me the other week. having successfully got the 950 overhauled, i had locked my race bike with the key on the 950 key fob, therefore it was in hertfordshire and not in london! not a real problem as i could have driven up to collect, however, i was at a friends wedding and i wasn't going to blow them out. so martin and donna rode down in convoy to deliver my bike and return the keys, helmet and bike gear on a saturday night, hows that for service and massive support, thanks guys!

having the 950 working properly was wonderful, not only did the bike sound incredible, the following weekend i had the challenge to get to two very good friends weddings on the same day. not a problem some might say, but one was in taunton and the other in dartmouth.  suffice to say i made it to bels and jim's wedding (plus their son patrick's christening, bonus feature).

100 miles of nose to tail bank holiday traffic meant i arrived 5 mins before the start, giving just enough time to change next to the bike and kiss bels hello, she looked stunning! always wonderful to catch up with friends, i made it to the reception, long enough to have a glass of champers and take part in the group photo before disappearing to bruce and helen's reception. this time i joined the party long enough to meet the bride for the first time, eat, drink and ceilidh dancing! it was also the first time i had been to dartmouth in a very long time and for those who don't know, i used to live very close by, so a lot of happy memories (and the odd nightmare!!) there.

some random punters, apparently one of them was getting married??

but while riding on the road is always a pleasure, it lacks the bite of the dirt track and  although it's only been a couple of weeks since my last race and i'm suffering from withdrawal symptoms!  i've been discussing june activities with pats as there is so much choice this month, so it is a case of selecting the most useful and cost effective events and or training. i will finalise with pats over the next few days.

w/e 5/6th t/wells
w/e 12/13th leominster
mon 14th dunkirk
w/e 19/20th long compton or t/wells
mon 21st dunkirk
w/e 26/27th ireland

physical training going well. had a follow up assessment with leah the other week to compare a series of tests to the ones i did back at the beginning of march and i have shown a significant strength improvement which is great. the first 8 week training period was a little disjointed due to skiing and the knee op. however, it was focusing on functional strength, fitness, core and posterior chain strength.  the next 8 weeks is focusing on maximal strength. my new regime means that each week i am doing

3 weights sessions
2 off-feet sessions; interval training, cycling/ spinning/ rowing
1 swim and 1 long walk (12 miles with pack)

i will only taper my training for key events e.g. ireland enduro this month and the dawn 2 dusk on august bank holiday.

chobe making 12 miles look easy....

i also had a follow up nutrition session with henrietta which was great. now focusing on the food, mineral and water intake before during and after each race, especially during the summer. i have adopted a number of recommendations such as balancing proteins and carbs, smaller meals during the day but additional snacks, more water generally. seeing that there has been no change to my weight over the last 3 months but my strength has improved would suggest this is working. so big thank you to leah and henrietta.

meanwhile my left knee is almost back to normal thanks to sam's patience and my shoulder is almost 100% almost 9 months to the day since the op!!

no action shots i'm afraid, but here's my garden after a spot of weeding - you could barely tell the difference between weed and salad!! what do you reckon danny?!