There is a Hole...

 in my garage.
The Fourfiddy is sold and was collected today. Had the beast for 5 years... I was the second owner. She was a good 'un.

So many good memories with that bike... crossin' down the farm, Enduroland, harescrambles, green-laning and even Erzberg. A bit sad that I hadn't ridden it for 18 months -my friends had all sold their dirtbikes... not much fun on one's own.

Hope the new keeper in Poland gets as much awesome times out of that bike as I did. Look after her... she's a good 'un. I have a wee hole in my heart now.

Enduroland

Got out to Enduroland on Sunday for my first dirtbike ride in more than a month...

First, the action pic... it all goes downhill and gets pretty boring after this...
(thanks Dave Burton Photography for the pic - but what's with the dreamy border?)

Gave the Fourfiddy some love a few weeks ago...

...some serious love!

Then I threw her in the mud...

...that horrible sticky, claggy, shitty, slick mud...

This rider's handicapped kid has an awesome time riding pillion.
(Does one 'ride' a quad? Doesn't sound right...)

After 2 hours of cleaning that crap off the Fourfiddy, it was back to the man-cave for to give some flattrack love... I think she's running better now. Still bogs down when throttle is cracked open. Any suggestions?

And then discoverin some wounds before bedtime.

It was an okay day. Conditions were muddy and tricky. Frustrating not to get out of third and just spinning up everywhere. I dug in and did 2 hours straight - just for fitness. I'm still hurtin.

Wasn't a huge amount of fun... I went down an ate mud a bit too. Bah! But at least ot wasn't bloody raining again. Gimme the sunshine, sand, rocks and company of California any day!

Enduroland Training

Got out to a local Enduroland event for a bit of training on Sunday. The course was short and slippy-slidey in places. We had great sunny weather - if it rained it would have been real tough going on the big ol' fourfiddy and not so much fun.

When there's grip, nothing can live with the fourfiddy!

Braaaap! Braaaap!

After two hours giving it big, I was knackered. The goal is to get fit enough to do a few hare-scrambles in the next months... without dying.

Enduroland

The fourfiddy has been moulding away in the garage for the last few months.

Got it out on Sunday morning to the Enduroland practice/training ground which is just a few miles away from me. They have a few events there every year.

I chose all the 'hard' routes... 

...not so hard

It was sunny, dry, dusty and fast... the way I like it. Spent about an hour and forty-five shreddin'. I am soo unfit... it's hurtin today!

The technical forest section... not difficult when dry...

...but throw in some camoflage and a bit of rain and they'll have you!

Need to ride more and get fitter... fit enough for a 3 hour harescramble.

It was a great day on the dirt!

Wristy Woes

On Sunday before last (more than 10 days ago) Ant, Mike and I went to Enduroland for the day. It was dry and dusty and weather was great!

(Gorgeous weather at Enduroland)

They had 2 loops, one of 6 miles and the other 8 miles. Some fast field work too... man, I love the four-fiddy!

On our second lap, Mike was pootling through the only damp section. The lap before he was almost off there so he was taking it easy and getting used to his new Honda 250CRF. I decided to pass him. It was rutted up, I was in the right rut, he was in the left. I gassed it up and started to pass... then his front wheel popped out of his rut and he was coming across me. I thought I could make it through so opened the throttle. As I passed him our bars collided... we landed up sliding down the path... Mike on top of the KTM, me underneath it!

(Dry, fast and dusty... the way I like it!)

We got up, dusted ourselves off and thankfully he wasn't hurt. My recovering wrist hurt like fuck! It felt like I had broken it again. I could move it and teh fingers worked, but when I smashed it up in May on teh Flattrack, I could also move it and the fingers worked. After about 10 minutes we got back on the bikes and finished the lap. I checked it out back at the van... didn't look broken but Christ it hurt! I swallowed a handful of Ibuprofen and Paracetamol and got back on the bike. Besides the wrist in pain caused me some misery and affected my riding, but besides that we had a cracking day.

(Mike hving fun on his new dirtbike)

On the way home I stopped by at A&E and spent 3 hours gettin it X-Rayed and checked out. Luckily the surgeon the put the plate in was doing a locum that night and he checked it out. No more bones broken and the plate and screws looked ok. Phew! No more operations please.

(Mike spots a bug to be squashed...)

The wrist stiffend and swelled up. Not good. I've been resting it for more than a week and it's still a bit swollen and sore. Before Enduroland I had recovered about 75% of the movement since the operation... now I'm back down to about 50%. This is where I was in the beginning of July. Bollocks!

(I saved this one on my knee... yeah right!)