Woke at the crack of Dawn, fresh cold air burning my nostrils. I grabbed the
ritual Sunday aspirin tub and held my head only to remember that I'd taken
an early night and withheld the alcohol.
Picked up John and the bikes in a flurry of expletives and excuses including
hangovers, overeating, man flu, no bike prep and trials tyres. The old one
hadn't been as wise as his young padawan.
We arrived to a convoy of parking and a morning stroll for signing on and
then the anticipation broke. "Take it easy!" We'd lied to each other. The
adrenalin was controlling our throttles and within the first few minutes
John had hit a sleeping log and was thrown into the air, whilst hanging onto
his bars like a wet t-shirt flapping in the wind. I stopped and followed for
a bit but shaken, his race ended there even though he retired after two more
brave laps.
Felling good, the course was flowing and for once I felt like I was riding
rather than just holding on. The KTM felt light and my breath and pulse felt
the same. I'd been in training for this one, the weeks of pounding the roads
had paid up even if the scales were still refusing to move.
Keeping relaxed seemed to work and I was now riding faster just in time to
find the special test and also the tight lap. Losing five minutes to the
tight lap felt good but my confidence was knocked when I over heard tales of
speed during refuelling.
All that was left now was to bring myself home, I decided that smoothness was the answer. I'd done it, my first comfortable ride in clubman B. It was on this enduro two years ago that John and I decided to make the seemingly huge jump from sportsmen. Concerned with not making progress, for two years, I'd asked everyone for secrets to riding, thinking that I must be missing something.
Today it clicked, usually my race consists of riding by myself, being overtaken then back to solitude. Today, I caught a glimpse of my past as I overtook it. There will be no award for today and the proudest thing I could hope for, is to finally earn some points for my club.
