A really tough day out
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Cupid Stunt
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- Joined: 27 Apr 2007, 16:04
A really tough day out
Went out with my mates today and had a chance to give the CRM a proper test on our 40 mile enduro lap, full of tough stuff
Here's where we set off from
At first it was all going great, the bike AND rider were both doing well, that was until I started riding too close to my mate in front and couldn't see what was coming, I found myself in the wrong gear and without enough snap to get me over one or two obstacles which resulted in a couple of sideways fall off's
, you know how the story goes, once you been struggling with your bike it's a downward spirral from there
Still, I managed to get on the pace and with Paul snapping at my heels and occasionally butting bars with me on some tight tracks I stepped up a notch and stayed in place, we arrived at our halfway point for a much needed burger and refreshments
Poor Peter had been on nightshift til 5am
so his pace although usually quicker than mine was thankfully a little slower today and we missed out some of the more grueling stuff that just makes ya want to go home sometimes
After refreshments we headed on for the second half, I really loved the way the CRM was working, incredibly suple suspension and coped extremely well which unfortunately I can't say about the rider.
Pete had a little mishap on teh way with a broken chain which he quickly fixed
I was in full on muppet mode at times, really odd as sometimes I was really on it and doing well, got the front wheel stuck down a big hole resulting in yet more exhaustion, next was a slimey downill and gravity was overcoming my brakes and I wound up out of control and on my ass again, I was absolutely knackered by now and vowing never to do it again
, still I suppose it has been a few months since I've been out on the dirt proper
I sat down where I fell after having picked the bike up yet again, the boys were shouting up to me to see if I was alright and I had just enough energy to shout back \"fek off I'm having a rest\" 
Got back on and away I went, oh crap not 100 yards and I was stuck again, gear lever fouled up and a huge stump with teh bike in a deep rutt, I reaaly was swearing under my hat now and just wanted to go home, but there was only one way home and that's through more crap.
Pete and Paul had worked out some new stuff to add to the route so it was unfamiliar to me, next thing I know I'm on a steep soft loamy ascent strewn with small and very large roots and of course being in muppet mode I was just unprepared in teh wrong gear and without enough momentum, sat on my ass again with no energy left Paul came down to teh rescue and bullied my bike up (thanks mate), by this time I'd lost the will to live, we rested here for a bit then Pete had to get off home as he was on nights again (nutter)
When Paul and I tried to set off I found that the loamy climbed had knackered my clutch (bugger), I adjusted it as much as possible but it would still only bite a tiny bit, hopefully there's no hills left on teh way back cos this thing couldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding now
Managed to get it moving but couldn't make much of a splash through the puddles
This is how it should have been
Still in full muppet mode, I managed to get the bike up to a whopping 25mph, spotted a rutty puddle in front, tried to build more speed as I really didn't want to stop (did that earlier and ended up pushing the bike up hill, so focussed on keeping moving and that rutt I completely failed to notice this..
In fact I didn't spot it till I was laying on the floor looking backwards and upwards with my head absolutely pounding, a real instant banging headache, I had to just lay there stunned and in pain for a bit, then got up just to get my bike upright and stop the fuel leaking, then I just sagged over the seat for a bit, took a couple of pics in disbeleif that I failed to notice the branch
The irony was that we had been through thsi way earlier and I saw it then ?
Just like further on where there's a branch sticking out, too low to get under and a gap not big enough to the left where in the morning we all had to stop and paddle it through tilting the bikes over to pass cos there's a 20 foot sheer drop to the left of teh branch, did I spot this on the way back, of course not, I was too focussed on not wanting to stop so I blatted straight at it, well as blatted as I could be with a badly slipping clutch, my right bar caught the branch and the bike by some miracle didn't fall to the left, I looked down and thought \"what a fekin complete idiot\", then rode on
Not too much further and we were back at the cars (thank fek)
On a positive note, I got to test out some new kit properly, at first I thought I was woefully overdressed with a full Difi kit on but it coped really well and to be honest if I hadn't kept struggling today I don't think I'd have overheated at all and it was a fairly warm day, I also tested my Dane Staby gloves, ruddy awesome fully waterproof with a Goretex X-Traffit liner built in and a proper length gauntlet type cuff, I've already tested these in severe rain but wanted to see if they were too hot or restrictive on tougher going, no problems, a very light and flexible glove too and made of a mix of leather and textile
The KBC stealth lid was good as were the Scott Works sytem goggles with the roll off's fitted (they got some real testing as Paul thought it was funny to roost me at every oportunity
)
I hope you appreciate the report cos I sat here typing it with my headed banging like a barn door in a force ten gale, not sure I want to do it again tomorrow though, maybe next week
PS
Unusually for me the bike isn't yet cleaned and oiled, fek it I'll do it tomorrow
Here's where we set off from
At first it was all going great, the bike AND rider were both doing well, that was until I started riding too close to my mate in front and couldn't see what was coming, I found myself in the wrong gear and without enough snap to get me over one or two obstacles which resulted in a couple of sideways fall off's
, you know how the story goes, once you been struggling with your bike it's a downward spirral from thereStill, I managed to get on the pace and with Paul snapping at my heels and occasionally butting bars with me on some tight tracks I stepped up a notch and stayed in place, we arrived at our halfway point for a much needed burger and refreshments
Poor Peter had been on nightshift til 5am
so his pace although usually quicker than mine was thankfully a little slower today and we missed out some of the more grueling stuff that just makes ya want to go home sometimesAfter refreshments we headed on for the second half, I really loved the way the CRM was working, incredibly suple suspension and coped extremely well which unfortunately I can't say about the rider.
Pete had a little mishap on teh way with a broken chain which he quickly fixed
I was in full on muppet mode at times, really odd as sometimes I was really on it and doing well, got the front wheel stuck down a big hole resulting in yet more exhaustion, next was a slimey downill and gravity was overcoming my brakes and I wound up out of control and on my ass again, I was absolutely knackered by now and vowing never to do it again
, still I suppose it has been a few months since I've been out on the dirt properI sat down where I fell after having picked the bike up yet again, the boys were shouting up to me to see if I was alright and I had just enough energy to shout back \"fek off I'm having a rest\"
Got back on and away I went, oh crap not 100 yards and I was stuck again, gear lever fouled up and a huge stump with teh bike in a deep rutt, I reaaly was swearing under my hat now and just wanted to go home, but there was only one way home and that's through more crap.
Pete and Paul had worked out some new stuff to add to the route so it was unfamiliar to me, next thing I know I'm on a steep soft loamy ascent strewn with small and very large roots and of course being in muppet mode I was just unprepared in teh wrong gear and without enough momentum, sat on my ass again with no energy left Paul came down to teh rescue and bullied my bike up (thanks mate), by this time I'd lost the will to live, we rested here for a bit then Pete had to get off home as he was on nights again (nutter)
When Paul and I tried to set off I found that the loamy climbed had knackered my clutch (bugger), I adjusted it as much as possible but it would still only bite a tiny bit, hopefully there's no hills left on teh way back cos this thing couldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding now
Managed to get it moving but couldn't make much of a splash through the puddles
This is how it should have been
Still in full muppet mode, I managed to get the bike up to a whopping 25mph, spotted a rutty puddle in front, tried to build more speed as I really didn't want to stop (did that earlier and ended up pushing the bike up hill, so focussed on keeping moving and that rutt I completely failed to notice this..
In fact I didn't spot it till I was laying on the floor looking backwards and upwards with my head absolutely pounding, a real instant banging headache, I had to just lay there stunned and in pain for a bit, then got up just to get my bike upright and stop the fuel leaking, then I just sagged over the seat for a bit, took a couple of pics in disbeleif that I failed to notice the branch
The irony was that we had been through thsi way earlier and I saw it then ?
Just like further on where there's a branch sticking out, too low to get under and a gap not big enough to the left where in the morning we all had to stop and paddle it through tilting the bikes over to pass cos there's a 20 foot sheer drop to the left of teh branch, did I spot this on the way back, of course not, I was too focussed on not wanting to stop so I blatted straight at it, well as blatted as I could be with a badly slipping clutch, my right bar caught the branch and the bike by some miracle didn't fall to the left, I looked down and thought \"what a fekin complete idiot\", then rode on
Not too much further and we were back at the cars (thank fek)
On a positive note, I got to test out some new kit properly, at first I thought I was woefully overdressed with a full Difi kit on but it coped really well and to be honest if I hadn't kept struggling today I don't think I'd have overheated at all and it was a fairly warm day, I also tested my Dane Staby gloves, ruddy awesome fully waterproof with a Goretex X-Traffit liner built in and a proper length gauntlet type cuff, I've already tested these in severe rain but wanted to see if they were too hot or restrictive on tougher going, no problems, a very light and flexible glove too and made of a mix of leather and textile
The KBC stealth lid was good as were the Scott Works sytem goggles with the roll off's fitted (they got some real testing as Paul thought it was funny to roost me at every oportunity
)I hope you appreciate the report cos I sat here typing it with my headed banging like a barn door in a force ten gale, not sure I want to do it again tomorrow though, maybe next week
PS
Unusually for me the bike isn't yet cleaned and oiled, fek it I'll do it tomorrow
-
Cupid Stunt
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- Posts: 132
- Joined: 27 Apr 2007, 16:04
Still in full muppet mode, I managed to get the bike up to a whopping 25mph, spotted a rutty puddle in front, tried to build more speed as I really didn't want to stop (did that earlier and ended up pushing the bike up hill, so focussed on keeping moving and that rutt I completely failed to notice this..
In fact I didn't spot it till I was laying on the floor looking backwards and upwards with my head absolutely pounding, a real instant banging headache, I had to just lay there stunned and in pain for a bit, then got up just to get my bike upright and stop the fuel leaking, then I just sagged over the seat for a bit, took a couple of pics in disbeleif that I failed to notice the branch
The irony was that we had been through thsi way earlier and I saw it then ?
Just like further on where there's a branch sticking out, too low to get under and a gap not big enough to the left where in the morning we all had to stop and paddle it through tilting the bikes over to pass cos there's a 20 foot sheer drop to the left of teh branch, did I spot this on the way back, of course not, I was too focussed on not wanting to stop so I blatted straight at it, well as blatted as I could be with a badly slipping clutch, my right bar caught the branch and the bike by some miracle didn't fall to the left, I looked down and thought \"what a fekin complete idiot\", then rode on
Not too much further and we were back at the cars (thank fek)
On a positive note, I got to test out some new kit properly, at first I thought I was woefully overdressed with a full Difi kit on but it coped really well and to be honest if I hadn't kept struggling today I don't think I'd have overheated at all and it was a fairly warm day, I also tested my Dane Staby gloves, ruddy awesome fully waterproof with a Goretex X-Traffit liner built in and a proper length gauntlet type cuff, I've already tested these in severe rain but wanted to see if they were too hot or restrictive on tougher going, no problems, a very light and flexible glove too and made of a mix of leather and textile
The KBC stealth lid was good as were the Scott Works sytem goggles with the roll off's fitted (they got some real testing as Paul thought it was funny to roost me at every oportunity )
I hope you appreciate the report cos I sat here typing it with my headed banging like a barn door in a force ten gale, not sure I want to do it again tomorrow though, maybe next week
PS
Unusually for me the bike isn't yet cleaned and oiled, fek it I'll do it tomorrow
In fact I didn't spot it till I was laying on the floor looking backwards and upwards with my head absolutely pounding, a real instant banging headache, I had to just lay there stunned and in pain for a bit, then got up just to get my bike upright and stop the fuel leaking, then I just sagged over the seat for a bit, took a couple of pics in disbeleif that I failed to notice the branch
The irony was that we had been through thsi way earlier and I saw it then ?
Just like further on where there's a branch sticking out, too low to get under and a gap not big enough to the left where in the morning we all had to stop and paddle it through tilting the bikes over to pass cos there's a 20 foot sheer drop to the left of teh branch, did I spot this on the way back, of course not, I was too focussed on not wanting to stop so I blatted straight at it, well as blatted as I could be with a badly slipping clutch, my right bar caught the branch and the bike by some miracle didn't fall to the left, I looked down and thought \"what a fekin complete idiot\", then rode on
Not too much further and we were back at the cars (thank fek)
On a positive note, I got to test out some new kit properly, at first I thought I was woefully overdressed with a full Difi kit on but it coped really well and to be honest if I hadn't kept struggling today I don't think I'd have overheated at all and it was a fairly warm day, I also tested my Dane Staby gloves, ruddy awesome fully waterproof with a Goretex X-Traffit liner built in and a proper length gauntlet type cuff, I've already tested these in severe rain but wanted to see if they were too hot or restrictive on tougher going, no problems, a very light and flexible glove too and made of a mix of leather and textile
The KBC stealth lid was good as were the Scott Works sytem goggles with the roll off's fitted (they got some real testing as Paul thought it was funny to roost me at every oportunity
)I hope you appreciate the report cos I sat here typing it with my headed banging like a barn door in a force ten gale, not sure I want to do it again tomorrow though, maybe next week
PS
Unusually for me the bike isn't yet cleaned and oiled, fek it I'll do it tomorrow
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trebor-trix
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purple rooster
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