Thanks for the support guys, for me this was the toughest trial I've ever ridden. Saturday was wet, wet, wet, with drowned bikes the order of the day. After the 2nd section (out of 45) I was ready to give up - I couldn't even reach the 3rd section and was watching Expert class riders like John Le Riche and Charlie Simpson having to push & manhandle their bikes up the hill.
Then I got convinced to ride by a friend of mine, and we continued on together, unfortunately his bike was drowned a section later so we spent many hours sitting fiddling it. Then disaster struck, 15 mins from cut off time and 3 sections to go, I rode through a river, watched the water engulf my airbox, and Bwaah - bike bogged down and died - as drowned as a, hmmm, thouroughly drowned bike?
Big ups to my mate who gave up his finish aswell to stick around & help me get the bike started & limp back to the car park.
Saturday night was spent totally stripping and re biulding the bike - Clean outside of bike, then Airbox & filter off & clean, Carb strip, clean, & re build, oil change, fuel drain & replace, spark plug replace, Brake pad change & Brake fluid replace... 1.30 finish, and up at 5 again to do it all again.
Sunday my heart wasn't in it, My riding buudies bike died before the 1st section due to the drowning the day before, and after carrying my bike through 15 sections in a couple of hours and watching more & more bikes submitting to the water monster, knowing that it would probably happen to me at some stage as well, I threw in the towel.
All in all, I am not disappointed with my results, It is a pretty accurate reflection of how prepared I was for the ride, and the friendships and cameraderie that was built will last a lifetime.
If nothing else it's incentive to get in shape for the next one.
Topic: A Grim support ride (Read 655 times)
