Central XC Rnd 5, Daniel Edmonds, 1180 Castle Hill Road, Sun 29th April 2018

Results

It was drizzling pretty much all day so it was lucky that the pits and the chicane were all in the holding pens under a nice big roof. There was also a radio that we took full advantage of.

They had had a bit of rain so the tracks were a bit greasy with some boggy bits here and there and due to said drizzling didn’t get any better throughout the day.

The tracks still rode ok but, if you made a mistake, especially on a hill, it was quite difficult to get started again.

I didn’t really cover myself in glory. On the first lap I was going slow just because it was greasy and I didn’t really know the track properly. Despite this I still got temporarily off course. There was a big grassy downhill and, just before the bottom, you turned right and joined up with a farm track. I didn’t turn right. At the bottom it was pretty obvious that you were off the track, so I looked around, saw where I was supposed to be, and carried on.

Then, on the second lap, I did exactly the same thing. Judging by the skid marks I wasn’t the only one to miss the corner.

I was slow in the second lap because I got stuck on a hill and spent about five minutes mucking around there. My third lap wasn’t that great but I didn’t get stuck or go off the track again.

I was actually going alright on the fourth lap. George Ellingham lapped me at the start of it and I managed to stay with him for about three quarters of the lap. Then I saw Ella stuck on a hill and stopped to help her out.

On the 5th lap my bike crapped out. The chain was skipping teeth on the sprocket when I opened the throttle too much so I gently rode it around the track. When I got to a main farm farm I short-cutted back to the pits.

Just before I got there the bike stopped so I had to push it the last 100 metres or so to the van.

I quite liked the track but it was a pity about the bike.

2018 SI Champs results

Sunday was the same venue as Saturday.

We got out there with no problems and had time for a practice before riders briefing.

At riders briefing it was decided that Intermediate, Presidents, & Clubman would do four laps of ten sections as we had had heaps of time left over on the previous day.

Expert and A Grade still only did three laps, as they tend to have harder and longer sections.

My first lap wasn’t anything to write home about, with a whole lot of silly points (12). It did have a bit of drama though. Section seven basically went over a rock, doubled back on itself, went over some loose rocks, a very tight right hander, and up a tricky little bank. At least that was how it was set up to be ridden. I saw that you could go over the loose rocks first, do a tight left-hander, double back on yourself, go over the rock, then up the bank – all without crossing my own line or missing any flags. It wasn’t a major change in overall difficulty but it made the bank slightly easier.

After I’d ridden it Karl Clark, who set the sections, came over and said that it wasn’t the way he’d meant it to be ridden and that I had to ride it again.

Then, on section eight, I broke a traffic light. I went to go over a rock but was off-line, too close, and in the wrong gear, so my back wheel skidded off the rock and caught and snapped the traffic light on the way down.

I only got two points on my second lap, which I was quite happy with. I got four points on my third lap which was OK.

On the fourth lap I had one point and it was all going good. That’s when I got to section seven. I’m not quite sure what haoppened but somehow when I went up the bank, I managed to flip the bike. It landed on the handlebars and bent them back and broke the front brake hose off.

Luckily, when I got back to the carpark, Nick Ball was there. He had a spare hose that I was able to borrow for the last three sections. I cleared these and ended with a round of six.

Over the weekend I came fourth out of seven Intermediate riders. Glen Smith (Intermediate winner) would have been hard to beat but I should/could have been challenging for second. Oh well.

I would have liked to have done better but I could have done worse. Despite all the little problems, and the sections being quite easy, even for the South Island, I had a great weekend. It had a great vibe to it.

I went down with Mark Sidebotham on the Friday before the event. We stayed with some friends (Juliette Fox and Halfdan Hansen of Jens Hansen Jewellry) of his in Mapua (46 Tahi Street). This is just out of Nelson and about 30 minutes from the event.

On the way to the trial on Saturday morning there was a moment of panic when Mark went to change gear and got stuck in neutral. We pulled over to the side of the road and Mark spent about ten minutes figuring out what was wrong. Then Nick Ball pulled over to see what had happened and, luckily, had a washer the right size to fix the problem.

The rest of the day went pretty smoothly and, despite the vehicle problems, we had more than enough time to sign in and have a practice ride.

We did three laps of 10 sections which is a bit of a short trial but left plenty of time for lunch.

I was a bit frustrated with my riding. It was an easy trial. The only section I should have had any trouble on was seven, which was a boggy mess.

On the first lap I did OK. I had a few silly dabs, and I accidentally went over the tape on seven. But it was just the start of the day and didn’t matter too much.

Then, on the next lap, my score got a bit worse and, on the last lap, I got ten points. It doesn’t sound like much but, on a low scoring day, was really annoying.

Apart from my extremely frustrating score card I had a pretty good day and I thought the observers were great.

15th April 2018, Opawe Road, Pohongina

Results

For once Mum and Dad had the weekend free and so were able to come out to the trial. Mum to “ride” and Dad to sleep.

It’s probably the last time we’ll be having a trial on this property as the farmer is fencing off the creek.

Adrian and Callum set the sections though, due to some complications, they had to finish setting them on Sunday morning, which a few other club members helped with.

I was riding with Kevin Pinfold, Warrick George, and Mark Sidebotham. If I had to name a least favorite section it would be section one, just because the downhill was slightly freaky. Overall though, the sections were pretty good.

My favourite section was four. It was basically just a whole lot of tight turns over and around a few small rocks but it was quite tricky and it took me until my last lap to get a clean.

One of the things that frustrated me most about the trial was that I only managed to clean three out of eight sections, even though they were all fairly doable. So, at the end of the day, I went around the five sections I hadn’t cleaned, and cleaned them.

I cleaned two and eight the first unofficial time but took quite a long time trying to get five and seven. I got section three in about five attempts but, before I got it, I fell off a bank. There was a tight corner just before the bank and I got a bit off-balance and then I didn’t give it enough gas though I did give it enough to get right to the top before I came back down again.

Luckily I didn’t hurt myself. Not even a bruise, even though I landed on a pile of rocks, and then the bike landed on me. Merv, Warrick, and Chris M were there to pick the bike off me. It did reinforce why you should have someone around while you’re practising.

All in all I had a good day and it’s a pity we’ll be loosing that property.

14th April 2018, Moonshine #1

Results

This is my first time riding an event as a Senior. I’ve ridden a couple of other Enduros before but they were on a trials bike and that is quite different from riding the KDX. I can’t sit down on the Beta, obviously, and when you’re getting tired sitting down can be quite good but, at least if I fall off, the bike is really light to pick up.

The KDX, on the other hand, can be a mission, especially if I’m on the side of a hill. Which I was. Quite a few times. I didn’t really have any crashes so-to-speak. I just fell off, which is different. Crashing is like mucking something up and rolling or sliding down the track, or falling off a bank.

It can have painful consequences but usually looks impressive.

Falling off is when you’re going down a hill, the grounds a bit slippery, and the front wheel just goes, and you’re on the ground before you even know what happened. Or you’re turning a corner, the bike stalls, and you can’t quite put your foot down fast enough.

Neither of these would ever happen to me of course.

There was a greasy uphill with a big rut up the middle, with a couple of people stuck in front of me. I may or may not have been able to get up by myself if I’d had a clean run but, as it was, there was a bit of pushing involved to get to the top. Apart from that I didn’t have any major problems with the track and the first three laps went pretty smoothly.

At the end of the third lap I was getting tired and it took a bit of convincing from dad to get me to go back out again. I went out, rode nearly all the loop with no issues but about 10 minutes from the car park, the bike stopped, and I had to be towed back along the road by Merlin, one of the sweep riders.

Even after all that I still had a good day.

8th April, Applegarths

Results

I go t a ride down to the trial with Mark Gray. We didn’t get time for a practice ride and so I started the day feeling a bit shakey. I honestly can’t remember who I was riding with at the start of the day.It was all a bit muddled. Some people who were riding with us were marking their own cards and ended up doing their own thing.

Anyway, Kevin Tither was marking mine and a few other people’s cards for the first couple of laps, though he was feeling unwell and only rode the first few sections. I ended the day riding with Jamie Mead and Andrew & Byron Adlam.

I wasn’t having the best day. I was feeling a bit sick so I didn’t really have any favourite sections but there a few that had stuff that I need to practice.

There were quite a few banks in most of the sections which are good to do just for confidence. Section eight had a log that was about one metre high and vertical and, on the other side, another log. You got up on the first one and the front wheel goes immediately on to the second one with the back wheel still on the first one. This means that, for a few seconds, you’re a metre off the ground. I never got it properly. I had to pull my back wheel up every time but this is probably the section that I liked most, and got the most out of.

I didn’t have a great day – I kept dropping silly points – but, hopefully, that will get me to practice so that the next trial is better.

8th April, Mt Bruce

Results

Apparently it had been raining all Saturday but on Sunday the weather was great. The only sign that it had been raining were a couple of bogs. There were a couple of marshals beside the worst one all morning with a spade, making sure that it didn’t get too hard to ride. Apart from the bogs it was quite an easy track, most of which was on farmland.

I didn’t have anyone to compete with so didn’t really push myself as much as I could have. About half way through my arms and hands were starting to feel quite sore so I pretty much just trail-rode the rest of the race.

There weren’t any injuries all day but there were a few bike problems. Tom Hislop wrecked his bike when he hit a bit of concrete in one of the bogs. I also saw another person, on top of one of the hills, who was sitting beside their bike for most of the race.

I did have one oops moment. There was a creek. It wasn’t hard. It got a bit muddier as the day went on and I must have been starting to day-dream because, at very slow speed, my front wheel caught in the mud and I fell off. I’m pretty sure that I landed in the muddiest bit but, luckily, didn’t have any trouble picking up the bike and getting out before too many people saw me.

I finshed seven and a half minutes in front of Ella and I managed to lap Taylor Graham on her YZF250.

25th March, 2018, Mt Erin, Middle Road, Havelock Nth, Hawkes Bay

Results

We stayed at Blair & Susan Hislops place on Saturday night.

On Sunday morning he made us poached eggs for breakfast.

Last year at this property you could hardly walk without falling over, let alone ride up banks and rocks.

This year, thankfully, it was mostly dry, though still quite tricky to ride.

I pretty much rode by myself. I tried to tag along with Kevin Gundry and Kerry Lowndes again but they were going a bit faster than me and I couldn’t keep up.

I struggled a bit. I was tired from Saturday and couldn’t get my head in the right place so was dropping silly points all day.

I never quite got section one to my satisfaction. The line I was riding went through a small creek, across a slightly greasy farm track, and then up a steep bank that was a bit undercut with a root at the top, conveniently placed to catch the front wheel, knock some momentum off, and then the bank went up a bit further and that’s where my back wheel started spinning. I just managed to get my bike through it the first couple of times but, on the last lap, my front wheel slipped and my handlebar touched the ground. This was frustrating because everyone else in inters, at some point in the day, got better than a three.

I did have a few small victories on the last lap but it still didn’t quite compensate for my mistakes.I did have an OK day but it would have been a lot better if I’d been able to pull my head in.

Paddock to left of car park:

Section one: Over drop off, across creek, up vertical bank, round tree, over rock and tree, and out.

Section two: Over log, tight left, up, and down a bank, then sharp up.

Up left hand branch of creek:

Section three: Horse-shoe bend waterfall

Section four: Slippery rocks under trees, steep bank to left of stream

Section five: Up creek, tricky rocks at end

Section six: Similar to four, where Dougy crashed on video last year

On the way back…

Section seven: Opposite three, through a small rivulet, up an open hillside and over roots, back down, up again, and down.

Along right branch of creek:

Section eight: Steep down, then a vicious and steep up to the left, with little run up. Then back down into the gully, up a small rock, then immediately up a very steep bank with roots at top.

Section nine: Easy, ride up gully, under fallen tree, a few easy rocks, then a easy enough climb out.

Section ten: Tight stuff around rocks, hill climb. Should have been easier but kept getting bash plate stuck on a rock at top of one of the turns.

Section eleven: Easy up, down, up, down, out. Fairly open, around a few trees.

Section twelve: A hill under some trees on farmland. Got a silly two there on last lap.

24th March, 2018, Dartmoor Road, Puketapu, Hawkes Bay

Results

We left home at 5:30 in the morning to get to the trial with plenty of time to sign on, get changed, and have a warm-up on the bike.

I didn’t ride around with anyone in particular but, for the first lap, I tagged along with Kevin Gundry and Kerry Lowndes and got a few tips from them on where and how to ride some of the sections.

I got three’s on the first couple of sections and felt I could have done better and was a bit worried it would set the tone for the day.

After those first sections though my day started to get a lot better.

The biggest highlight of my day was section eight. There was a small flat rock which was easy as but, before it, there was a tight right-hander so I couldn’t get straight on to it. Immediately after was a few bigger rocks but, just as you were coming on to them, the back wheel hits the front of the small one. On the first lap over half of the intermediate field fived it, including people who are better riders than me. I went into the section half expecting a five but somehow I got it perfectly – I just got over it. Then I cleaned it for the rest of the day as well. The only other person to clean it for the whole day was Daniel Herbert, the winner of the Intermediate class on day one.

Usually there’s one or two sections I don’t like quite so much but, at this event, they were all great.

I was a little freaked out by the rocks on one and five but I got up and, by the end of the day, was cleaning them.

My focus drifted a bit on nine and ten on the last couple of laps and cost me a few placings. Apart from that I mostly kept it together and didn’t get too bad a score. Overall I had a pretty good day.