Brass Monkeys Report

Brass Monkeys Winter Series 2010/11 I rode two rounds of the Gorrick Winter Series of four hour enduros in the 2010 series. I DNF’d in one at Ash Ranges whilst leading at about halfway. Broken glass doesn’t mix too well with tyres! Three of us went out at the same spot within ten seconds.Fortunately I managed to keep my tyres up for the last round, run off in freezing conditions (snowing on the start line) to take a comfortable win. Having the opportunity to do all three rounds this year was too good an opportunity to miss, so hoping for good weather, I entered the series…. Round One Porridgepot Hill It was bright and cold at the start, with the course rock solid. I got a good start in the top five riders overall. At the start of the second lap, I was feeling really good and in the lead of the vets field. Pride goes before a fall…I crashed in a very easy corner. As it turned out I was very lucky. I’d punctured my front tyre and the sealant wasn’t holding in the freezing conditions just before a large bomb hole. Crashing there would not have been good. As I fixed the flat I watched about 100 riders go past me. Not quite last but not too far from it. I chased for the next three hours or so and finally got second. Not bad, but not quite to plan. Round Two Ash Ranges Back to the course I DNF’d on last year. The organisers had done a good job of clearing 4 inches of melting snow off the course. I got a reasonable start and focused on going round carefully, not wishing to DNF again. The course thawed on the first lap and then turned into a bog. I started in about 4th place in the vets category, then picked my competition off as they slowed or had mechanicals. I’ve rarely seen so many mechanicals in a 4 hour race. In the end I managed to win by staying on my bike and not breaking it, even though I did the last 90 minutes with no brakes. The guy who beat me in Rd1 snapped his rear mech off at about 2 hours. Instead of singlespeeding his bike, he retired. Round Three Parkhurst Hill So, leading the series overall by quite a margin due to my second and first, it would be pretty easy to win the series overall right? Wrong. Things were going wrong even before the start. In a hurry to pull of my warm up kit, I tugged a glove off with my teeth and shattered a front tooth. Great start! On the line I thought things would be fine. Wrong. The klaxon sounded and someone started their race by falling into me and bending my rear mech. The next 4 hours were spent in damage limitation. My gears slipped every time I tried to apply some power, which was frustrating to say the least. Persistence pays off! I only felt good in round one. In the others, I was average, but managed to get a reasonable result in the last round and the series win.