On Any Sunday

Had a great bikey weekend, despite the waste of time, money, effort 400 mile round-trip to Oulton Park.

(Misty sunrise in the midlands and looking chipper at 05h00...)

Finished the second race... even did a pit-stop! I could smell petrol on the start line after the warm-up lap. Then I saw some fluid spashed across the clocks during the first lap. I Slowed right down and came into the pits... it was a looong lap! Turns out the fuel cap wasn't closed properly even though it looked closed. Doh! This is good though... all part of learning the bike. Far better for something like this to happen at Oulton Park than after the pit-stop during the Manx GP race! Then the tank will be brimmed and there's a big risk of us turning into a 100mph fireball down Bray Hill!

So... we got one in the bag... two to go next weekend.

(Mike's wee Monster went well and felt good - not quite as good as my wee Monster... so we need to make a few minor changes. Or mabe it's all in my head!)

My wrist was fine - wasn't even sore... so I went up to the farm yesterday to get back on the crosser and start to get fit.

It was a glorious day. Mike and Ant were out on the trials bikes (Mike was riding his new Beta Rev3 for teh first time - it's a minter!), I took the four-fiddy crosser (KTM 450 EXC).

While Mike and Ant were playing with the trials bikes in the woods, I did laps of the track and blasted up and down the fields. It's overgrown and in most places just a single track through 2 feet of grass. It's the driest I've ever seen it, and if you keep on the foot-wide path it was fast... very fast!

(Mike's specially adapted glove over the plaster cast... held on with cable ties... factory! Behind Ant is the 'track'... so overgrown that the first few laps I could hardly find it.)

I gave the four-fiddy a canning up the fields... and scared myself. I had forgotten how fast it is and how much room you need to stop from 55 mph on dirt. A bit of faith is also needed to open her up when you can hardly see the paths... thankfully I didn't meet any 'lurkers' on teh way. I started to get her nicely sideways coming in and getting out of the 90 degree turns at the corners of the fields... man, I want to get back to flat-trackin' !

(Ant trialsing it up!)

I had a go on the trials bikes... but wrist started to hurt so got back to hooning around on the four-fiddy. One needs a lot of sideways wrist movement and also needed to work the clutch on the trials bikes, the four-fiddy has a rekluse clutch which is brilliant! Mike's scaphoid is still broken and is going to be screwed back together soon, he still had a plaster cast on. But this didn't stop him!

(The gully under this concrete pillar is about 6 feet deep!)

Fantastic weather, having a larff down the field with my mates and motorbikes and cold beer afterwrads - it was a great weekend. On any frikkin' Sunday man!