Famous & Fearless

Indeed. Superstars was pretty much unmissable WIWAL.

Jumpers for goalposts, Brian Jacks' squat thrusts, Keegan falling off a
bike, isn't it?

 

I didn't see the programme either.

You're right though, I equated 'enduro riding' as "extensive or prolonged
off-roading", as opposed to 'enduro racing' which is a different bag of
marbles.

Of course, now I'm vaguely remembering that he did this off-road thing
this year and was his first time off-road. So I can scrape that one off
the list of assumptions.

 

Indeed. Superstars was pretty much unmissable WIWAL.

Jumpers for goalposts, Brian Jacks' squat thrusts, Keegan falling off a
bike, isn't it?[/QUOTE]



Can't imagine any of the Unfamous and Fearful trying that, or giving
the sort of "ah well" interview he gives after.

 

I did a bit of pavement riding on the XT today when the road was blocked
and I wanted to do a left at a junction.

Apart from that it was all non-pavement, I was good and stuck to the
road.

XT's back and apart from a small issue with water in the 'is it fallen
over' sensor it's working well... will confirm tomorrow!

 

Agreed on the GP usage angle.

The universe of motorcycles as perceived by the local mouth-breathers:

"Harley" == any cruiser or tourer (could possibly contain a "Bagger" subtype)
"Crotch Rocket" == a street bike that isn't a Harley
"Dirtbike" anything that doesn't fit the previous two categories

 

I was actually interested if the venue for that particular location shot
was where I suspected it was. What part of "Not usually my sort of thing
but the lad called me to watch it" did you not understand? I hadn't
watched any of it before and won't be again.


<UKRM Mode>
You better believe it Grandad. Want to make something of it pissreek?
</UKRMM>
--
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Aprilia Shiver Yamaha WR250Z/Supermoto "Old Gimmer's Hillclimber" |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 Morini 350 "Forgotten Error" |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

 

"It was just research"

 

Very droll.


--
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Aprilia Shiver Yamaha WR250Z/Supermoto "Old Gimmer's Hillclimber" |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 Morini 350 "Forgotten Error" |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

 

Good stuff. Looks like a mate from Cardiff might be coming too on
either a GS or HP2 (hopefully the latter so I can steal it). He's done
hardly any off-roading, so should be good entertainment.

I've just finished playing with silencers. Put the originals back on
for the MOT but they weigh about 50Kgs each, so no way I'm using them
off road. The packing's fucked in the carbon ones though, making them
painfully loud. They've now got some removable baffles stuffed in the
end which gives a fruity rasp but nothing obnoxious.

Just got to remove the 'road spacers' from the forks tomorrow & I'm
all set.

 

Thankyou for stripping away my rose tinted glasses and
reminding me why I'll *never* do another enduro. Ever.

 

Excellent. Nigeworthy and apposite to boot.

 

Thankyou for stripping away my rose tinted glasses and reminding me why
I'll *never* do another enduro. Ever.
[/QUOTE]

Indeed. They used to bill it as the hardest enduro in the world. The
last climb up 'Dead Crow' hill in the dark to finish you off if you got
that far. The glory days of the likes of Peterhansel I'd love to see
David Knight have a crack at it.

I have this fantasy that my faux WR250 may have taken part when it was
new in 1996. The GLC ran every year until 2001. More video links on the
Moto Club Peyratois web site.

http://www.motoclubpeyratois.com/


--
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Aprilia Shiver Yamaha WR250Z/Supermoto "Old Gimmer's Hillclimber" |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 Morini 350 "Forgotten Error" |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

 

9/10, not a bad effort at all.

--


Nige,

'That's shot the fox'

Eunos Roadster (for summer)
Grand Cherokee (for winter)

 

A Motor Club I was in held an enduro at the behest of a local bike
club, as we had the timing skills and equipment. I had less than half
a clue, so restricted myself to hammering stakes in and stringing tape
around the paddock area and between trees to define the route. On the
day, I thought I'd best serve the event by marshalling in the woods,
finding a great place to watch on the bank of a steeply-incised river
which thay had to cross twice - once going, once coming back.

The top twenty leapt the river. The next twenty were a bit more
careful and descended the bank by various means and powered away. The
rest of 'em employed any lack of technique at their disposal, not
restricted to throwing themselves bodily across the river, dragging
their bikes. By this time the top lot were coming back around, going
the other way, about fifty feet distant. It was a fantastic spectacle
- I was surrounded by muddy lunatics on muddier bikes, battered by the
stench of burning mud and exhaust fumes, breathing Castrol R and mud
spray in equal quantities.

The better lads shot across the river, front wheel held high and
squirted up the higher bank without a problem. Further down the field
there was trepidation apparent and a certain amount of hanging back a
bit was going on - followed by struggling across and dragging the bike
by the scruff up the increasingly slick muddy ramp.

A few laps in, the fast lads caught the also-rans and then it got
really interesting. Grip was a valuable commodity by then, and getting
it from somebody else's helmet or limbs seemed to be in order. The
whole area was a quagmire by then and falling off, being nerfed off and
just giving in and lunging became de rigeur.

If I picked up one bike, I picked up dozens. I had to pick up several
many riders too, as the river was deep enough to finish them off if
they lay face down for much longer. Sympathy was in short supply and
assistance became progressively more brutal as exhaustion overtook all
of us. Chains came off, I remember that, and I snapped a couple of
Swiss Army knife blades levering them back on for the more feckless.

There was one particular lad, who must have been good as his gear was
red and yellow (everybody else was in uniform reddish-brown by then)
who cleared the river in fine style every time - and cleared my head a
couple of times when I was knee-deep, dragging another limply gasping
body ashore - he had to come unstuck eventually and he managed it in
superb style right in front of me.

Squirting through the trees, he braked and then gassed it to leap the
river of mud and bodies, but the front wheel dropped and he landed
nose-down. The wheel stopped and rider and machine pivoted
balletically around the spindle to splat face-first into the potter's
nightmare that was the far bank. The back end of the bike made sure of
him, right in the spine. When I'd dragged him upright, he left a
perfect starfish imprint and he matched all the other lads' colours too.

I'll never even try to do that. Man has to know his limitations.

 

Ho yuss, That's why I stopped taking the YZ up the extremely easy bits
of some of those tracks in the video - for fear of ending up down in a
valley where the only way back was up something like the 'Corbeau Mort'.

Looks like the Moto Club Peyratois are having a resurgence though so it
might be possible to arrange for a guide (they stopped doing it a few
years ago because too many motards where buzzing around on Sundays).

--
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Aprilia Shiver Yamaha WR250Z/Supermoto "Old Gimmer's Hillclimber" |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 Morini 350 "Forgotten Error" |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

 

Heh. Only for the foolish and the brave and nobody knows who is who
under all the clag.

 

Nothing of that calibre, but I do recall learning one afternoon, that
if you're halfway up the side of a quarry, in 2nd gear, and the motor
starts to struggle, changing down won't help the situation.

 

Ooh! Loopy?

 

You can get away with all sorts of things, in taht case - like using
other riders' body parts to get some grip, that sort of thing. They
always seem to manage to get their plate carrying the number clean when
passing the timekeepers - funny, that.

 

Ho yus.