All done!

Its been a great weekend. I went to the Sheffield Supercross on Saturday afternoon and watched practice and qualifying. It was very entertaining and I think in some ways better than the night event. Ryan Mason hooked me up with a pass so I was stoked. We saw some pretty horrific crashes but luckily no one was hurt. I then went to Hannah's 80's ice skate disco which turned out to be really fun! I just wish I had dressed up as everyone else looked awesome! After the skating I nipped back over to the Supercross and watched the main event before heading home to get some sleep before the race.

Sunday was a fantastic day. The weather was perfect riding weather, nice and sunny but still chilled so you never got too hot. I was a bit worried going into the race as I hadn't ridden for a while and I had done absolutely no fitness training for over 2 weeks. I went to sign up and there was pretty much a full gate, almost 40 riders. I knew it was going to be tough. Everyone had turned up due to it being the last race of the year and some fast school boys had also moved up to my class.

In my first two races I managed to get decent starts and ended up finishing 9th and 10th which I was happy with. The last race I got a bad start and had to work my way up from the back. I managed to get back up to 13th which gave me 11th overall for the day. I felt pretty good the whole day and didn't make any stupid mistakes. I also felt like my jumping had improved as I was nosing it in really nicely on some of the jumps. I still feel my strength and fitness is my biggest let down which is exactly why I will be working hard in the gym this winter.

I'll be starting gym this week so that gives me about 4 months until the first race of next season.

Winter is here... almost!

It happened this weekend, the clocks rolled back which means that any outdoor activity after work is a no go. I'll be driving home in the dark.

I thought that with the racing season winding down that I would have loads of time especially with not being able to go practicing mid week anymore but I feel like I'm busier than ever with various things.
I did get to go and look at the S10 health club which is the Sheffield university Gym just down the road from my house. Its a well kitted out gym and has everything that I need to get nice and strong over the winter. I've acquired some literature on building a winter training plan for the winter. I will post it up here once I am done and then keep posting my progress over the winter.
There is one more race left this season and its next weekend. As soon as that's done the training plan will begin.

I spoke to Ryan yesterday and he is keen to start training as soon as possible. The only problem is that he's got a broken leg at the moment from casing a big double at turbo Taylor's outdoor supercross track. He's adamant that he is able to start upper body training with his leg in a cast. The boy is determined this winter and is looking to come back strong next season!

Unfortunately I never got to ride properly this weekend. We rode the mini bike down at the bmx track for a bit on Sunday afternoon and that was it.

Good times!

Okay so its been a while again since my last post. Sorry about that!

What a great weekend... Friday it was my little brother's birthday and for that he received a new mini bike which he was over the moon with. I came home early on Friday so we could take it for a ride at Bolehills. Mini bikes are really great fun. I think there are techniques that you can pickup on them that will definitely help you out on the big bikes! Daniel Clifford (world BMX contender) turned up to give it a go. I think he really wants one now.



Saturday was good. I finally managed to fly my radio controlled helicopter successfully, what an awesome hobby. It has been like a life coach over the last few weeks, teaching me valuable lessons in persistence, patience and staying positive. If there ever was a hobby to test your "positive mental attitude", this has got to be it.

Late Saturday afternoon we headed down to Bolehills bmx track once again for a quick squirt on the mini-bike. The tyres that came with it are terrible so we can't lay it down like it should be just yet. I did have a fun session though managing to clear all the jumps on the first straight at Bolehills.




Sunday was race time! Cooper and myself headed for Pilsworth track. It was really slippery to begin with but it got nice and tacky towards the end of the day. It must have been our day for starts as we both got top 3 starts in all 3 motos. Both of us were happy with that.

It was good to run with the leaders for a bit and get a feel for the sort of pace that they were running. In my last moto I was running fourth until I made a really stupid mistake halfway through the last lap. I was gutted! Unfortunately small mistakes and overall fitness would come into play and would end in me getting 7th overall for the day. Although I feel I could maybe have done better I was still stoked.

Sunday night I had an awesome time at church followed by watching the semi-final of the Rugby world cup between South Africa and Argentina. It was a great match and the South African boys did me proud.



Good times!

Up and Down

Its been a while since my last post. Things have just been really crazy lately.

A couple of weeks ago I went to Peakdale with Cooper and had an awesome session. It was one of those sessions where something seemed to just click and I instantly felt like I had got better. Cooper gave me some tips and let me follow him to learn some better lines, it definitely helped!

On Wednesday I went to the desert for a session and was feeling good until I went down in a corner. Unfortunately There was a big rock just under the sand where I went down and my knee got squashed between the bike and the rock. I was instantly in a lot of pain and needed help kicking the bike up. My gut feeling was that this was pretty serious and that I was going to be out for a long while.
That night Hannah (my girlfriend) came round to see how I was and she prayed for quick healing. Two days later and the improvement has been incredible, I think I might be back on the bike very soon but probably not in time for the race on Sunday. The way things have gone I'm not going to give up hope just yet though!



Today I also completed the order with VW for my new van. Its going to take about 8-10 weeks to be built and arrive. This will be my first brand new vehicle. It's my favourite van by far and I've always said that if I had to win the lottery, this would be the van that I purchased to transport the bike so I'm super stoked. It will definitely make the racing experience that much more factory.



More regular updates to follow... Peace!

This sport will cut you down...

Motocross is the hardest most physically demanding sport I have ever done and the more I get into it the more I realise this.
In the first moto on Sunday I got an average mid pack start. I quickly started passing people and on the second lap I found myself in 7th coming up to make the pass for 6th. In the last corner before the finish line double I took the outside line and caught up with the guy in front of me going up the face of the jump. Unfortunately he drifted wide in the air and in what seemed like slow motion, I saw his bike take out my front wheel in mid air. I then plummeted to the ground and landed in a big heap. For the first time in all my crashes it actually took me a while to get up. I was winded and seeing stars, and my knee, hip and arm had taken quite a knock. I crawled to the side of the track and a marshal picked up my bike for me. After a few deep breathes I climbed back on the bike and decided to finish. A last place finish was better than a DNF.

Once the race was over I went back to the van and felt terrible. My knee and hip were already going stiff and again for the first time ever I wasn't sure if I wanted to go back out. I realised at this point how this sport will cut you down to size very quickly especially when you start to get a little bit cocky.

After having some food and water I started to clear my head. I prepped the bike and straightened everything up. I decided I was going to go back out and see how I felt. For the next two motos I got a much better start and managed to keep it on two wheels. I wasn't sure of my positions but I was confident that I had finished in the top 10. At the end of the day I checked the overall positions and I had come 10th. I couldn't believe it, even with my last place finish in the first moto and my injuries I had managed to get a top 10.

Parts of my body are still in quite a bit of pain so I will be taking a break for a while to heal up. The next race is the 30th of September so I have a few weeks to recover.

Just one of those days... or weeks perhaps

Its been a strange week... I went practicing with Ryan on Wednesday and I felt really inconsistent. One lap I felt really quick and the next I was blowing berms and riding like an idiot. I found it hard to motivate myself to try hard and I hate it when I feel like that.
I think it just might be one of those weeks though because I have felt demotivated with a lot of things.
Nothing bad has happened so I'm not quite sure what it is. However, I do believe that life generally occurs in waves. Everything we do goes through seasons and stages of rising and falling. I'm putting this week down to being a general slump which means that things are now officially on the up!

This Sunday is Caistor which is a pretty awesome track, really fast with some massive jumps. Last time I rode there was when I had just got back from Hong Kong and so I didn't feel good at all. Things are different now though. I'm feeling fitter than ever, I'm on the kx250f and my suspension is working better than it has done all year.

Ryan and I will be stopping at Jamie Smith's house on Saturday to ride his private track. Should be a good warm up for Sunday.

Twin shocker

Ryan called me up last Friday asking me if I want to go racing with him at one of the Twinshock championship rounds. They were running a modern bike class. I asked him if they had a B class and he said they run up to C class, so I agreed to go.

We got there on Sunday morning and I went to register. I said to the lady, "B class modern please" and she replied politely saying they only run an A Expert class. I looked over to Ryan and he had a fat smile on his face. It turns out he knew all along!

I wasn't too bothered and I was still up for racing. The track was hard packed and very slippery. It had some real steep sections with some tight corners which made for some interesting riding. It was definitely a different experience as I never felt scared or intimidated and I never got tired during the motos I just found it incredibly difficult to go fast.



Ryan and I had no idea what the program was and we thought there was only one modern bike class. We were parked near the start and we saw some people lining up on modern bikes. We hadn't seen any of our friends pass by though so we thought we were okay for time. After a while we decided to head down in case we had missed our passing friends and whilst we were starting our bikes we saw all these modern bikes flying down the start straight. We got going as soon as we could and followed with great urgency. We did a full lap and as we came past the finish line we got waved off. I initially thought they were restarting for us but it turns out there was an over 40's modern class and that's who were racing on the track at the moment. We went and spoke to some friends afterwards who were all standing together and had seen us flying up the hill in pursuit of the main bunch, haha, they thought it was pretty funny!

Everyone was very quick and I was near the back somewhere. I'm not sure of my overall position but I wasn't last. In fact I reckon I was about 25th out of about 35 which wasn't bad considering the level of the riders. By the end of the 1st moto I had crashed twice and smashed my back mud guard up. The 2nd moto I managed to stay on two wheels. About two races before our last moto the heavens opened and the track turned into an ice-rink. A lot of riders decided not to go out but Ryan and I decided we had to get our money's worth and go out. The last moto ended up being one of the most enjoyable races I have ever done although the cleaning up after wasn't so fun. Still a good day though!