Trials ride 07/04/13 farrier to the rescue

Trials ride 07/04/13 farrier to the rescue.

 

Well I don’t know what happened this morning but I woke to mild temperatures, blues skies and a strange glow in the sky that was warming the world.

Martin and I had arranged this day about a week ago but as usual when the morning arrived we were totally unorganised.  We were running late but were soon on our way.  As the day was nice we played our usual game whilst heading toward the mill.  I guessed 2 vans and as an added twist predicted one white and one blue, I had a momentary thought that I should in fact change the colour of the blue one to red but then stuck to my guns, whilst Martin bet on 4 vans 1 white, 1 red and 2 silver.  As we approached I glimpsed through the leaf bare trees a red van sat on top of the hill.  Blast I knew I should have changed the colour. 

 

We pulled up and Martin got out and opened the gates. To my surprise, considering the weather there were only two vans present. I really would have thought that given the conditions there would have been more people riding. However I was satisfied with my victory. Whilst Martin got changed I did the usual bike check and fuel up and he was soon on his way. I got changed ready to ride then whilst waiting took the opportunity to make the most of the sun, in what I hope is the beginning of a long hot summer.

 

 

As Martin circled around me I noticed something wrong with the chain tensioner. I stopped him to take a closer look. On further inspection I found that the spring that pulls the spring back had come adrift and the tensioner had moved forward. I made a guess that the spring may have come off when Martin had attempted to manoeuvre over an obstacle and had failed and rolled back. We had a quick chat and I walked over to a sleeper section were Martin had in fact failed and rolled off the obstacle. And there at the base lying on the dusty floor was the spring. Lucky I hear you say. Well no the spring must have caught on something, and although it was now retrieved it had grown from a nice tight wound 2 inch plus spring to something that now looked like a twisted piece of thick wire about 8 inches long.

 Back at the car I emptied the tool box in a vain effort to recoil the spring. I pushed and twisted at the knackered metal, but I knew inside that our day was over and that I wasn’t going to able to fix it. The frustrating thing was the fact that within a mile or so there were two motorcycle shops both of which would, more than likely have a spring that even whilst not being the exact right size would have seen us out to the finish of the day. The trouble was, because we were in so much of a panicked rush to get riding I’d left my wallet at home and had no money on me what so ever.

 

I was just thinking of giving up and getting ready to leave when a red van pulled up.  A chap got out, and must have noticed me struggling and asked if I had a problem and I told him my story of woo, mean while his lad had gotten out of the van and was understandably becoming impatient.  He’d come to ride and I was holding him up.  Once he was under way my problem once more was the topic of conversation. Whilst looking at the spring he asked do you think if I heated it up it would return back to its former size?  I replied we can only give it a go you can’t do any harm trying. Have you got anything to heat it up?  He then opened up the back of his van and there to my complete amazement was a furnace, anvil and an array of tools, carefully built custom boxes held different sized horse shoes.

 

 

 

 

I turned around to get a pair of pliers from the boot of my car, but before I had time to return the whole four yards back to the van, he had already heated, shrunk and rewound the spring.  Not knowing what type of metal the spring was made of we decided to let it cool naturally instead of quenching it.  I thanked him for his help and time. Before reattaching the spring to the bike I ran a large cable tie through it, leaving room for movement but only a little in the hope that it would stop it from over stretching.

We were back riding in no time. The day went well as the day progressed so did my riding.  Martin rode well and he even helped me climb a set of rock step ups that I was struggling with. He’d notice that in the photos that we were taking of our ride that he was over the handle bars where as I was more upright and may be a little back.  Once I had adjusted my riding position I managed to climb the steps on a good few attempts.  We have noticed that when it comes to getting over larger objects Martin has the edge over me, but the tables turn when the going gets technical.

  

 

Mothers Day Trials Ride

Mother’s day trials practice.

Well as it happened we had nothing planned for today, well apart from a meal tonight for Mother’s Day.  So rather unexpectedly at about 9am my son Martin suggested we go to Nash Mills to have a play on the trials bike.  I really didn’t need to be asked twice, some drinks and sandwiches where made the car was loaded and by 10am we were on our short trip to the Mills.  Today Martin could get to use his new gloves and helmet which he’d been brought for his birthday.  On our short journey we had a little bet on how many people would be there practicing, something we tend to do just for the fun of it.  I’d bet on two vans while Martin had decided it was going to three, however on our arrival we were both surprised to find no one was there.

 

We opened the gates drove in then locked them behind us.  We were surprised that we were the only ones there as the day was nice for the time of year, mild with broken grey clouds revealing hidden spring blue skies.  The barren winter soil now giving birth once more to dormant spring flowers.  Green shoots were breaking the earth and buds were beginning to burst, there was even the yellow glow of flowering daffodils. 

Martin was soon kitted up and off riding the wet and soggy ground, while I sorted out the unorganised mess that was scattered all over the boot of the car.  Once the fuel was mixed and the tools sorted and put away I finally got changed ready to ride.  Whilst waiting for my turn to ride I decided to have a look around and plan the tactics and route I would use once mounted up.  It was then I noticed the wildlife that was watching me.  Hidden in the dormant brambles was a rabbit gently grazing on the fresh shoots.  He seemed totally unworried by my presence and even when I approached him to try and get a better photo, he just sat nibbling.

It was soon my turn to ride.  The tyres were now already clogged with sticky mud giving me as much traction as a greyhound on a frozen lake.  Weird things were afoot with the wet ground playing silly buggers with the grip.  Sharp downhill left or right turns weren’t always happening, even with the handle bars on full lock the bike would just push forward ignoring any attempt to turn.  Lots of braking and clutch control had to be employed, along with slow balanced riding.  Obstacles were also being driven into because the blip of the throttle that’s used to pop the front wheel up and over, were just resulting in the back wheel spinning.  Doughnuts were easy to preform, even I could manage one with my lack of riding ability.

 

Although only a short day, it was fun filled and challenging, on fresh ground there was minimal grip, but once disturbed it was almost impossible to get traction.  I attempted one short but steep concrete climb.  It didn’t go well, the front wheel crested the climb but the back wheel then started to spin and I started my scary backward descent.  The concrete now had a greasy film of mud covering it.  I attempted the climb several more times, but with the launch area had now becoming more and more churned up and the climb wetter and more slippery, it was simply well above my level of ability.  Some of the muddy steep descents were just a case of hanging on and hoping that I could make the turn at the bottom.  Logs were fine to start with but once covered in mud they became an altogether different kettle of fish.  But I must admit a little riding is a lot better than no riding.