Monday, 21 April 2014
Easter practice
It's been great to have some nice weather and I've been practicing on flat grass as well as a few technical skills. Here's a taster of some trials practice using a rock:
Unfortunately things don't always go so well...I used a new "bog section" on the grass track and thought it was good fun on Friday. It filled up overnight and what can I say, we've all been there, on the approach you think "oh I'll just wheelie through that, no bother" only to get sucked in and sink like a stone! As soon as I made contact the front wheel dropped, planted itself in and I kept going, bashing my knees on the bars as I made my way over them. Pretty funny though:
Monday, 14 April 2014
Results: Drovers enduro
The provisional results are out and I'm pleased! A continuation of the good start to my season, and a promising result in my first enduro on the Wales Air Ambulance EXC:
- Sportsman: 4th / 10
Full results can be viewed on the WTRA website along with some photos.
Race report: Drovers enduro
I was very lucky with the weather again yesterday for the 2014 WTRA Drovers enduro, the sun was shining all day long. I was up at 6am and had left by 7am to get there in good time and have a chat with the regulars.
I got the bike through scrutineeering straight away, then signed on, sorted out my timecard and brought the fuel up to the refuelling point next to the start/finish check. There were 3 laps for the sportsman class, with the experts doing 5 and everyone else doing 4, the special test was untimed on the first lap.
Onto the start line at 10:38am, I started at a good pace, reminding myself that I was late to the first check last year. The first check was hard! Very technical riding through the trees which involved ruts, mud and never ending tree roots, which got dug-out more and more on each lap. The course was great fun, with all kinds of other riding including hill climbs, steep descents, muddy ruts and deep water crossings. The test had a great mix of these too, but with no "stoppers".
The first lap felt like hard going, with the course obviously being unknown to us, it took time and effort to pick out the good lines (and a few offs)! I think I must have dropped the bike about 10 times throughout the day, which used up some valuable energy, but that's the problem when you get tired, it's very hard to maintain the same level of technical ability when you're exhausted, and that's when you make mistakes, which ultimately results in even more energy loss. Being bike fit is important, and I'm reminded of that every time I race. I should point out (before someone else does...) that I was "that guy" that crashed right in front of the photographer on a steep, rutted downhill section, straight into some trees. Well, you've got to give the people what you want haven't you...
The second lap surprisingly went a little easier, I chose good lines and still had the energy to throw the bike around in the trees, and I had a good test, even though I took it steady.
I found the third and final lap hard work, particularly the first check, I had to dig deep to keep pushing myself, taunting myself with thoughts of dropping time at this stage of the race. I crashed a couple of times, one of which pushed my front brake caliper all the way out(!) and the other pulled a wire loose on the electric start. I pumped the brake and all seemed well, and the e-start responded well to some calculated wire wiggling.
The final special test was OK, I wasted a few seconds after dropping the bike in a rut, but my times were fairly consistent so I was pretty happy.
I managed to stay clean on time throughout the day which is always the bare minimum I want to achieve. In fact I was 5-7 minutes early to each check which was good news for me because I got to rest! By the time I'd finished I didn't feel like I had another lap left in me, so I was pleased it was only 3 laps for the Sportsman class!
All in all it was a good day and I really enjoyed it, by 6pm I had everything put away, cleaned and greased and good to go for next time. Great work from WTRA, thanks to all that were involved and see you next year.
I got the bike through scrutineeering straight away, then signed on, sorted out my timecard and brought the fuel up to the refuelling point next to the start/finish check. There were 3 laps for the sportsman class, with the experts doing 5 and everyone else doing 4, the special test was untimed on the first lap.
Onto the start line at 10:38am, I started at a good pace, reminding myself that I was late to the first check last year. The first check was hard! Very technical riding through the trees which involved ruts, mud and never ending tree roots, which got dug-out more and more on each lap. The course was great fun, with all kinds of other riding including hill climbs, steep descents, muddy ruts and deep water crossings. The test had a great mix of these too, but with no "stoppers".
The first lap felt like hard going, with the course obviously being unknown to us, it took time and effort to pick out the good lines (and a few offs)! I think I must have dropped the bike about 10 times throughout the day, which used up some valuable energy, but that's the problem when you get tired, it's very hard to maintain the same level of technical ability when you're exhausted, and that's when you make mistakes, which ultimately results in even more energy loss. Being bike fit is important, and I'm reminded of that every time I race. I should point out (before someone else does...) that I was "that guy" that crashed right in front of the photographer on a steep, rutted downhill section, straight into some trees. Well, you've got to give the people what you want haven't you...
The second lap surprisingly went a little easier, I chose good lines and still had the energy to throw the bike around in the trees, and I had a good test, even though I took it steady.
I found the third and final lap hard work, particularly the first check, I had to dig deep to keep pushing myself, taunting myself with thoughts of dropping time at this stage of the race. I crashed a couple of times, one of which pushed my front brake caliper all the way out(!) and the other pulled a wire loose on the electric start. I pumped the brake and all seemed well, and the e-start responded well to some calculated wire wiggling.
The final special test was OK, I wasted a few seconds after dropping the bike in a rut, but my times were fairly consistent so I was pretty happy.
I managed to stay clean on time throughout the day which is always the bare minimum I want to achieve. In fact I was 5-7 minutes early to each check which was good news for me because I got to rest! By the time I'd finished I didn't feel like I had another lap left in me, so I was pleased it was only 3 laps for the Sportsman class!
All in all it was a good day and I really enjoyed it, by 6pm I had everything put away, cleaned and greased and good to go for next time. Great work from WTRA, thanks to all that were involved and see you next year.
Monday, 7 April 2014
Wales Air Ambulance supporter badges
I am very happy to be able to sell Wales Air Ambulance supporter badges now. I should be taking delivery of them this week so that they can be sold at the races I attend. They look great!
The badges will be sold at £5 each and are roughly 7cm in diameter and could be sewn or ironed onto riding gear e.g. jackets, trousers, tops, backpacks, bum bags, kit bags and so on.
A number of RallyMoto club members have expressed their interest and in fact some have even pre-ordered their badges by including the word "BADGE" when making a donation through my JustGiving website www.justgiving.com/ioanwhittick.
Thank you very much to everyone who has bought one so far, hopefully we can sell out of them and order some more!
The badges will be sold at £5 each and are roughly 7cm in diameter and could be sewn or ironed onto riding gear e.g. jackets, trousers, tops, backpacks, bum bags, kit bags and so on.
A number of RallyMoto club members have expressed their interest and in fact some have even pre-ordered their badges by including the word "BADGE" when making a donation through my JustGiving website www.justgiving.com/ioanwhittick.
Thank you very much to everyone who has bought one so far, hopefully we can sell out of them and order some more!
Tuesday, 1 April 2014
Drovers enduro back in my schedule
Good news! I've been able to get my entry in for the WTRA Drovers enduro on the 13th April. I'd always planned to ride it again this year after being beaten by the icy conditions in 2013. It should be great preparation for the Pikes Peak Baja Rally two weeks later, so I'll be looking to get round in a respectable time and get my fitness up.
I finally got round to replacing the handlebar clamp bolts (the ones that secure the clamps to the upper triple clamp). One of them was pretty badly bent, not an essential fix but I like to know my bike's spot on.
I did some training on the weekend but it wasn't what I was hoping for! It was only about 2 hours in total and I worked on pushing myself out of my comfort zone to build on certain skills, namely flat grass motocross-type enduro special tests. It was insanely slippery and I sprained my right knee taking a dab on one of the corners, so I'm a bit miffed about that.
After that I practiced some trials skills, but when experimenting on a new section where I planned to jump off a ledge and land on the track, I forgot about a ditch a few feet before the lip [insert numerous excuses here] and ended up nose diving off the ledge and crashed hard. Luckily the bike was fine and so was I (just a bruised ego), so I carried on for a bit before washing the bike down and preparing it for the Drovers. It should be a great event and a proper workout, fingers crossed it won't be icy again though!
I finally got round to replacing the handlebar clamp bolts (the ones that secure the clamps to the upper triple clamp). One of them was pretty badly bent, not an essential fix but I like to know my bike's spot on.
I did some training on the weekend but it wasn't what I was hoping for! It was only about 2 hours in total and I worked on pushing myself out of my comfort zone to build on certain skills, namely flat grass motocross-type enduro special tests. It was insanely slippery and I sprained my right knee taking a dab on one of the corners, so I'm a bit miffed about that.
After that I practiced some trials skills, but when experimenting on a new section where I planned to jump off a ledge and land on the track, I forgot about a ditch a few feet before the lip [insert numerous excuses here] and ended up nose diving off the ledge and crashed hard. Luckily the bike was fine and so was I (just a bruised ego), so I carried on for a bit before washing the bike down and preparing it for the Drovers. It should be a great event and a proper workout, fingers crossed it won't be icy again though!
Saturday, 29 March 2014
Russell George AM shows his support
In other news, I was very pleased to receive a card from the National Assembly Member for Montgomeryshire, Russell George, thank you Russell for the kind gesture and your support.
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