Event Reports

You can't beat a brand new venue.

It's been a short while since my last event. That one was a bone dry, hot dusty affair so the lure of fresh, undulating moorland ground, recently damped down by rain was really quite appealing. This was one of the championship rounds for the RideOffRoad team and was split into two races for the day. Ladies and sportsmen in the morning. Clubmen, over 40 and expert in the afternoon.

The 1pm start time meant I didn't have to be up at silly O'Clock and at just under 60 miles was an easy enough drive. Silsden is the nearset village to the venue and as I drove the last mile or so the the farm it looked like it would be good fun. The rolling moorland was dotted with sheep and rocky outcrops so looked technical enough with some open land to let you open it up a bit.

It's a big farm and Wayne was using about a third of it for this track. The other sections will be used later in the year and give this section time to recover. The land itself is very similar to the land we use at Brink Farm so I knew what to expect. After putting my pit stuff out and parking the bike in the start area I relaxed for a bit and with about 10 mins to go headed down to the bike. I saw a couple of other club members there. Rob Maxwell out for a ride and Craig Reynolds doing the same after recently breaking his colarbone. We had a natter as the start was delayed for a few minutes then put our race faces on as we got the warm engines board.

The experts were first away with a separate section just after the start just for them. A very steep downhill, a bog at the bottom and then a climb back up to rejoin the track. We could hear them revving like mad in the trees and once they were all through and out onto the normal track the Over 40's were flagged off. Now I'm not one for getting good starts but as we dived into the first corner and some single track I'd managed to be in third. I thought I'd make the best of it and stuck on the rear wheel of the guy in front. A rider squeezed past me just as we turned down a short steep bank but as he failed to stop for the tight left at the bottom he took out the second placed man leaving me to inherit it. "Oh Lord" I thought, "I'm gonna get the first lap heroes going mental to get past me now, bugger!" As it was I managed to hold them off for a while until I lost the front on a slippery slope but managed to get back up and running in sixth. Pulling a place back before the end of the first lap I got into a rhythm and settled in waiting for a bit of arm pump to ease up. 

The track was a mix of open ground and small technical bits with lots of climbs and decents. After the start we followed some tight tracks through gates doing U turns and then ran alongside a large gulley going up and down it a couple of times. We then crossed over the gulley and did some similar stuff on the other side before heading out onto some more open ground. This sent us out on a big loop and let you open it up a bit then we worked out way back to the gulley. The crossing had become quite rutted and the ruts were full of water. This then got taken onto the uphill climb out. I didn't have any real problems here but towards the end of the race was taking a slightly longer route which was a lot cleaner and meant getting up first time, added time was about five seconds so not too bad really. There were lots of spectators near here as you could see a lot of the gulley from here and watch the riders sliding about or getting stuck. Some more climbs and decents followed before running round some well groomed fields, some off camber and another little gulley crossing then more fields and back down to the finish.

A lap was taking me eleven minutes and due to it not being a huge entry it never felt busy. I was enjoying the track and practicing things. Trying to get corners right and keeping my speed up in other bits. As the time went by I did get very used to the course and an extra few minutes riding would have been nice. But as I said I got to practice things was really happy with my riding.

At the end I'd had a cracking ride. Just two spills all day, both low speed and more loss of balance than spills. My fellow club members had mixed fortunes. Rob decide to inspect the grass very closely out on the back section. A half buried stone saw him part company with his bike and give his noggin a good old shake about. Day done! Craig decided to calm things down and use this as a practice as a spill would not have been good for his recovery, plus the huge blister on his hand didn't help either.

Me? Well I managed fifth which I'm very happy with. When the club return to this venue I'm quite sure I'll be going as it was a great track in a lovely setting. Well worth going and I'll (as usual) try and coax a few more lads down.