cyphers general ramblings

went out this evening for a couple of hours.

1st place we went to ride has been shut down temporarily by the local planning dept so nipped down the road to another track.

gotta say its the first time that i've seen propper blue grove on a uk track.

it was a pretty rough hard packed track with alot of loose soil and stones on top, there were big ruts on the landing from the jumps, so we were all landing short and wheelying the ruts apart from one little jump where you could clear them.

last time i was here there was two foot of water in the corners and it was slippery as a slippery thing but it still seemed easier to ride than tonight

there was only 3 of us riding but it was interesting as there was me, an expert and a championship rider, rob jones, who came about 10 overall in our british champ round a couple of weeks ago.

it does work riding with faster riders as i realised that i was going into the corners too slowly and not opening the throttle soon enough, after watching the others, and applying what id seen when following them things were alot easier.

now i just need to loose 5st and get fit and i might be able t keep him in sight longer that half a lap

Well today i did about as well as England in the football today (they lost 4-1 to Germany)

raced a H&H at Hawkstone Park motorcross track in shropshire, this is a former GP MX sand circuit, used about quarter of the track then a couple of miles in the woods.

here's a couple of links to info about the track for anyone interested;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawkstone_ ... ss_Circuit
http://www.hawkstonemx.co.uk/Index.aspx

Have never seen it so dry, and with the temp gauge inthe van saying 25 c, it was like being at the beach

I failed miserable. did 3 laps in the first half hour which was spot on what i was aiming for, from then on i started suffering with arm pump in left arm, right arm was ok.

Ended up just riding everywhere in 3rd to try and do as little as poss with my left arm but in the end i jacked it in about 1.10 mark having only been able to do another couple of laps and being unable to hold on to the bike.

start was interesting, bike fired up straight away then i missed the gear lever to put it in gear, got going, couldnt see the end of the front mudguard!

Load of bikes had a big stack infront of me and i found a sneaky line right up against the fence so crept past everyone and got back a load of places.

Other than that riding in the sand again was nice while it lasted, the course used about a quarter of the mx track, only from the bomb hole to the bottom of the big hill then a little stretch on the downside of the big hill.

other than that it was all in the woods using some new tracks and a couple of whooped out older ones.

Overall found it rather tight in the woods and couldn't get into a flow, there was nowhere you could really open the bike up apart from on the Mx track

favourite bit of the track was the steep hill in the woods that went down over a rock face, most were lining up on the right and waintig their turn where as i was just slowing at the top to check the left line was clear then going straight over the edge, passed loads here, petty i couldn't manage that anywhere else :roll:

got some pics and video from the experts race that i'll put up eventually.

some unedited footage of the start of the expert, vet expert and clubman race

where the first row was is actually the end of the start straight, they brought it forward to there to try and avoid any big crashes in this race

[youtube:50h5al8d]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERnjgalA6X0[/youtube:50h5al8d]

[youtube:1p27xxis]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLjHHOZdUjA[/youtube:1p27xxis]

ok what the hell is with having to undo at least 13 fastners just to take the tank off!!

as you can tell stripped the bike down tonight just to give it a good clean and a check over all was fine apart from finding that the clutch pipe has been rubbing on the frint number board i've been running recently and has rubbed away the braided steel and exposed the rubber beneath.

as much as like the bike i do think some things have been over designed and could have been simplified.

and i still hate those soddin screws that go straight into the plastic

and whilst were on about the tank that bar that runs through the rear of the tank / middle of the upper rail is a pain one side of mine was so seized that i ended up risking damaging the other end whilst trying to stop it spinning, in the end had to hammer it out , attached upper rail and all, and clamping it in a vice to undo it.

other than that all is hunky dory.

xc on saturday or enduro sunday?....choices,choices.

Now I’m back from hospital thought id write a couple of lines about the Powys Eduro that i went to today.

Have ridden it a couple of times but like to marshal at this one.

Saturday with scrutineering was sunny and pleasant but everyone was aware that rain was forecast for race day

Overnight two bikes were stolen from parc ferme but these have been recovered hidden nearby, I’ve got my suspicions as there has been a spate of bike thefts in the Carno area over the last 12 months.

Sunday started off nice enough set off from the start about 0730 with 'Huw the mill' after finding out if there were any snotty bits they wanted a presence at.

Rode the first test like a complete numpty, takes me about half an hour to get going, so no surprise there.

then we made our way up to the infamous slate climb near Darowen, very dry and went up no problems, though id imagine for anyone who didn’t get through before the rain came it would have been interesting.

once out of there it was blag some fuel and off into the Dyfi, it was that dry that I switched the bike to aggressive to see what it was like, turns out its quite nice and kept it at that until shortly before my off.

Rain started bout 0900 and whilst its wasn't really heavy it was persistent and combine with winds that we gusting up to 40mph soak through the waterproof and 4 layers of gear I was wearing in pretty short order.

Some bits of the Dyfi had quite long road sections but luckily with our local knowledge we decided to try some of the old trails that aren’t used any more to shortcut the road sections.

were talking section that now you'd only see in a extreme enduro like hells gate and the like and definitely not stuff you’d send clubman up and you'd even think twice about expert riders.

Think I got my inspiration from the KTM's "Winners dont avoid obstacles" advert

Anyway the bike just plonked up these gripping like a gripping thing, think a combination of the bike set to aggressive, a soft G2 throttle cam and my tendency to try and pull the tallest gear I can gelled quite nicely.

Also found quite a few closed gates in the Dyfi and half way around a gang of marshal who didn’t really know which way they were meant to be going!

Huw pointed them in the right direction whilst I cracked on the open the gates I knew lay ahead.

Couple of new roads have been bulldozed through the forest along parts of the course, think I can understand the reasoning but thought they spoilt the tracks.

had a lucky save along one of these trails, hit a hole in the bottom of a compression that hard that it launched me up out of the compression with the bike almost pancaked like some super crosser, by more luck than judgement I touched down wheels first- or was it my Dr Shox tuned suspension?

Anyway once Huw had commented "nice save" I decided that discretion was the batter part of valour for a while and let him lead.

Once out of the dyfi it was a brief stop at Mawllyd for fuel where there were a load of road bikers dressed up in their waterproof, one asked about local trails and mentioned TBM forum.

On from there it was up the road then right off over the hills into the area that I can’t recall its name.

couple of more extreme sections done, nothing on the course to challenge the entry or cause a problem so Huw suggested we had a go at some trails sections, the area is used for a single lap 40 section trial by a local club, I was going to do it this year but went to an enduro instead.

Once I saw where we were going soft mode was selected and it was off to go. ground was really greasy due to the rain first section was straight up off the fire road and over a log, up a root infested climb, then through some ruts and dropped into a stream bed with rocks that would not be out of place in 'Carls diner' at Erzberg.

All going well until we got to a section where you could go over a big rock or up a 4 ft step to the right.

Huw had a go at the step, failed so went over the rock.

I thought, “I can make that.” I did. I then lost balance but fell to the downside and had to dab.

Not a problem except that between the sole of my boot and the rock below it was 6' of fresh air.

As I fell I thought, "This is going to hurt"

landed on my left side, luckily managed to twist as i fell and landed on the side of the rock and bounced into a gap between it and the bank, 5 seconds later I was joined by my bike, which had decided to follow me, engine still running and rear wheel spinning 3" from my nose.

Luckily it the stalled and I just shouted at Huw who was disapearing down the stream.

Huw came running back up the stream wondering where I was as he could only see the bike, and then found me under it.

Allsorts of thoughts went through my head of broken ribs and shoulder blade but after lying in the stream for 5 minutes with the cold water numbing my injuries and the rain falling on my sweated brow- which was actually rather nice - I got my breath back and got up and assessed the damage.

First thing was to stop the bleeding from a gash on my arm caused by the chain. This was done with a marshal’s bib and some zip-ties.

Then it was a case of check bike, and a 20 mile ride out and a trip to hospital.

On the up side the crash may have also done some good as my neck hasn’t felt this good for months!

Altogether a rather enjoyable day that’s provided a good story but I’m going to hurt in the morning.

TODAY I'AVE BEEN MOSTLY CHANGING WHEEL BEARINGS!



:rock: :rock: ...












Here's the actual sketch and a bit of info for those wondering; "WTF is he on about?"

[youtube:1jkxj3bu]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWr0E_Qb39A[/youtube:1jkxj3bu]




Jesse emerges sporadically from his shed to inform a waiting world about his diet, with the words, 'This week I 'ave mostly been eating...'

# Jesse Food items which form Jesse's weekly obsesssions have included: roast chickens
# bourbon biscuits
# taramasalata
# acorns
# prozac
# raspberry pop-tarts

More surreally, in the third series Jesse reports on his fashion choices. 'This week I 'ave been mostly wearing Dolce & Gabbana.'

Weekend spent running the 'Hafren rally 2010'

Saturday setting up. Sunday marshalling.

Rally events in the uk started off as event mainly on forestry roads with easy and moderate enduro going included usually in a timed special stage.

orignally they were run for trail bikes but now most people are running enduro bikes with the odd 650 / 1200 bmw's and 640 / 990 ktms thrown into the mix.

Ours is one of the most popular with 280 entries filling up in a couple of weeks.

Saturday was fine.

Sunday was a different matter.

visibility over the 50 mile course was 200 yrd at best and down 100 - 50 yrds in alot of places. as the cloud had dropped.

in the trees it was slightly better but the mist had a similar effect to riding in snow in that it made everything look flat and you couldnt see the holes.

All riders did one lap then on the second the special tests were timed. Due to teh weather and the terrain covered by he first test it was nearly run untimed but all riders were held at the first test for 10 minutes and this was enough for the low cloud to clear enough for the test to be timed.

by the end of the day the weather was glorious and the felling that had gone on in the forestry had exposed rocky outcrops and old mine workings that i'd never seen before making the scenery amazing. 8-O

Two highlights of the day were;
1. I'd taken an injured rider out of the forest and took a shortcut to get back on the course. Where it joined the course was on a t-junction on some muddy and rutted twin track. I could see a group of riders talking just back from the junction and i could see they'd seen me. Show off time!
The track i was on had a nice big kicker where it joined the main track and i just launched, cleared the track completly about 20 yrds in front of the group of stationary riders and even looked down at them as i flew past. Pro stylee! :cheers:

2. When clearing the marking we rode a section that had already been cleared simply because it was so much fun. called 'the rocky road' its varied over the years from single track to foresty road as work has been done in the forest. At present it's rough twin track with lots of crests, rises, drops and nicely bermed corners, many quite close after said crests. If only there had been a photographer on a couple of those crests! airborne, leant over, front end crossed up. Not quite a pancake but nice. :rock:

All in all a very enjoyable day.

will post up some video and pics when i find some on the tinterweb to pinch

Here's a bit of video from the 2009 event and it is actually the stage i was covering most of the day this year.

[youtube:1mulzafi]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26qfN6s-BKg[/youtube:1mulzafi]

2010 ST 1
[youtube:3d0h57jj]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmSuNM4PC1A[/youtube:3d0h57jj]

well been quiet for a while and havent ridden for at least 3 months.

Anyway, went out last sunday scouting for new going for the welsh 2 day in june and for our own event in may.

Started at 1300 and only expected to do an hour or two but didnt get back in till 1730, used a full tank - ran out of fuel couple miles from base, luckily down hill most of the way and ended up with an brusi on my right arm and hip similar to that at FR3 and a husaberg with a front end where the wheel , fender and bars are all pointing in different directiosn - none straight ahead.

Next time i'm told by two people with about 15 brit and euro champs between them that "the next bit is a bit trick, you might want to go the other way" i will. Though as it turned out due to the trail washing out the other 'easy' troute would have been even harder!

summary of the incident was i didn't hit a rock face straight off a 90deg shaley left hander with enough momentum to get over the top so had to give a bit of throttle which was enough to spin the bike around launch me minus bike back down the rockface.

after sitting there getting my breath back for 5 minutes the other two turned back up and then whilst i still sat there wheezing rode my bike and theirs up it like it was just a mole hill, though from watching they were both pinning the throttle harder than i had been. lesson learnt.

the next up hill has a long shaley clime about 1/4 of a mile and about 8ft wide. got most of the way up and lost all momentum and came to a griding halt.

Started to turn the bike around to go back and have another run as that was the only option when RV turned up and i was so knackered i just handed the bike over with a " this is embarassing but..." and he got it the last 20 yards over the top of the hill. The only saving grace being he didnt comment that it was a pig to actually turn in around where i stopped.

Two things i did find was that part of it was the most technical riding i'd done since fitting the revloc dyna ring and i was having doubts about it. These have now been dispelled, the harder the riding the more the dyna ring is worth having.

Riding up single track looking for routes that became dead ends,180 degree pivot turns were done in one go almost like a trials bike! awesome.

all good fun.

One interesting conversation which i agreed with was that 450's in general are just too heavy, especially on the front end and tool powerfull to be really good woods bikes, especially on soft going where they cut through the surface layer rather than floating over it like small 4st's and most 2sts do.

390 or 2st next mmmm...choices.

ps.

unless something goes horribly wrong i am hoping to be a FR4

tuts said:

cypher said:

unless something goes horribly wrong i am hoping to be a FR4

Click to expand...

well there goes the neighborhood.
but at least cypher made an attempt [futile though] to speak english.
looking forward to seeing you.

tuts

Click to expand...

:lol:

Well straighted out the front end - almost.

Still a slight twist to the right but i think its down to a slight tweak of the bars and one of the M10 bolts that hold the bar clamps on is also very slightly tweaked.

Will get some new bolts next week when i pick up my new 'friendly local dealer priced for a good customer' Asterisk knee braces

Also had to fit new grips, throttle tube, polish a scratch out of the silencer and a few other little crash after effect bits.

More interestingly fitted some new springs and set the sag as per the manuals advice as a base line, will take it for a spin in the week to see if i need to change anything.

Now running a straight rate 95 spring in place of the pds8 that i've run on my last 3 bikes.

11 mm of preload got the correct race sag.

Got a entry at the first round of the GBXC, uk's closest equivalent to GNCC, should be good as they are running at the same venue my club run a few events on so imagine that the course will be a mix of open moorland going with soft bits and some hard packed / rocky trails.

thats all for now folks.

[vimeo:4ju5ob27]http://vimeo.com/20518326[/vimeo:4ju5ob27]