First Hare and Hounds

Up to Longmoor in Hampshire in for our first hare and hounds, the wind is blowing strong it’s throwing it down with rain and I have not got a clue what I am doing or where I am supposed to be.
As I pulled into the car park is was obvious that there are some serious racer’s here and people that actually know what they are doing. Eventually I get it sort I find the starters hut and find out what a Hare and Hounds is, simple really you just ride round an off road circuit for three hours constant stop when you want to eat and to refuel, the one which does the most laps wins.
What can possible go wrong?????????????????????????
Sounds dead easy.
I take my place on the start line and suddenly it hits me, I am totally out of my depth….. And I am a diver for a living.
Just do your best and remember Andy’s advice, don’t force the bike, let it go naturally.
The flag dropped and the race was on, god some of those boys were quick, they could do a lap in about 15 minutes I was taking twice that and a little bit more.
After one and a half laps I was knackered I had been off the bike as much as I was on it, my muscles were aching everything was wet and I was beginning to think this might be harder than it first appeared.
Not to worry I was not the only one who could not survive the conditions as I met an AUS who had also gave up at the burger bar, there we stood with burger and tea watching everybody else go round and round and round.

Rebuilt and Back on the Road

After alot of hard work and money, these things always cost more than you first thought, Blue was back together and fit to ride again.
I brought him home for christmas from the FDG workshop. Our first green lane adventure was around Goodleigh in N Devon for the afternoon, not being a natural off road rider it all seemed a bit strange, to have the bike sliping and sliding all over the place and still be on the track. My mind kept going back to Wheeldon Farm and all I could hear in my head was Andy and Jim's voices saying sit here for this bend, stand up on this for this hill, and so on any way it got us through the afternoon ok, plus the dog was worn out from chasing the bike all afternoon.
Big Blue needed a few bolts retightened but apart from that he was holding up well.
Over the festive season i rode on the local green lanes as much as I could each time, building my confidence in the Blue and my abillities to stay on.
At the end of it all it was back to Ireland Motorcycles to fit the new Enduro Tyres from Michelin, to get ready for the upcoming Hare and Hounds......................what is a Hare and Hounds surely it can't be that hard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Big Blue Comes Apart

The first thing to sort out was his engine, as it was clear the water and oil had mixed and there was a problem with the head gasket or the water pump.
It turned out the chain reaction was the thermostat had packed up so that meant the engine cooling fan never came on so the engine ran hotter than it should of, this in turn caused the water pump seals to over heat, so they got destroyed and hey presto one engine oil and water mixing point.
As it was, when Phil (tiff) got the engine apart we replaced the head gasket as well, we also had to replace the cam as well cause when the engine had been run with poor cooling the heat had took off the outer coating from one of the lobes.
It all went back together fine thanks to Phil’s time and patience, if Mrs Phil knew how long he sent working on that bike for me her Kitchen would have been finished two weeks earlier……..cheers mate and I owe you big.

Big Blue Arrives Home

After an early morning start, five in the morning, it was in the van and off to Rotherham for our first sighting of big blue.
After a welcome cup of tea big blue was brought out of the shed and into the sunlight, it was obvious that big blue had been used and had been looked after in some ways but she was in need of some TLC after all she was seven years old.
Further investigation of her revelled that some mechanical work was going to be needed, this was not to much of a problem as already had Phil the engineer from the diving section and Phil from Ireland Motorcycles Barnstaple (ex-racer) on side so the mechanical brains for the rebirth of big blue were ready and waiting.
The deal was done; big blue was loaded into the van for the return trip home. After fourteen hours on the road we arrived back home, with the bike that will taking me to DAKAR.

Off Road Riding School Day 2

I awoke for another six in the morning start no problem, the porblem came when I tred to move my limbs to get out of bed, nothing was moving I thought I was nailed to the bed. Eventually the bed started to release me and movement came to my joints, I ached in places that I did'nt know I had, the enormitty of what I was taking on hit home and how unfit I had become over the years.
We drove down to the farm arrived in time for breakfast, Andrew briefed us on the days training.
He would lead a group of four of us on a days green laneing trip, the first thing that went through my mind was how much I was going to ache after.
We had a fantastic day it was a blast hard work but fun Andrew took time to stop and explain the more challengeing areas, what to do with the bike and where you should be on the bike, not always in my case we parted company a couple of times, but no harm was done to machine or me.
In our merry band of men was Gary, turns out he was doing the Heroes Legend for charity as well.
At the end of the day I was tired to say the least but we had a fun time.
My skill level was low but I had training from expericed off roaders to build on, in the forcoming Endoro's all I could hear was Jim's voice from the shed in my head saying sit here for this corner, move to there for another and Andrew's voice from the green lane day going shift your weight foreward for this climb, only front brake here and so on.........those little voice's got me and my bike out of trouble more than once. THANKS GUYS.

Off Road Riding School

Now that we had the bike it was time to learn how to ride it, Phil (owner/friend) of Ireland Motorcycles in Barnstaple put me intouch with a buddy of his from his race days.
Andrew and Jim brothers and owners of Wheeldon Farm Off Road School on the outskirts of Totnes.
Six one Saturday morning we were on the road for the drive down to Totnes, my stomach was ful of butterfly's not knowing quite what to expect. We arrived at Wheeldon Farm and some of my fears were put to rest firstly everybody at the center was frendily and welcoming.
Assembled in the dinning room were 15 people all having the same thoughts as me, after all the introductions and a cooked breakfast it was on with your gear and into the indoor track in the sheds.
Jim took us all back to basic's which was my start point anyway. to prove we could all ride he had us on 125's playing follow the leader round the track. How difficult can it be I thought..........
More instruction followed and then it was onto the new 350's that had just arrived, piece of cake what can go wrong, espically as I had learnt that a fourteen year old boy went round the track in about 40 seconds.
My worse fears came true, it must of looked like I had never ridden a bike in my like, it took me about 5 minutes to do one lap after stalling so many times I lost count and falling off twice.
By the middle of the morning I had it sorted, with Jim's voice going round in my mind, sit here, stand there, leg here I was going round no problems.
After lunch it was down to the out door track with Andrew and the KTM 250's and a whole new leraning experince and techniques began, and just when I thought I had it sorted...........wrong.

First Sight of Big Blue

More photos of the first sight of Big Blue