The Chronicles of Sled

Part 2.

So I fuel up the little blue FXR, use a strip of tape to change the number to 157 (did you get that Skunk Control and Rashika?) and check the tyres, hmm Vee Rubber road tyre rear, which looks like it will be fun, not! But the TZR front end looks good so this will be an interesting ride.

So I pull out onto the damp looking track towards the back of the pack on the warm up lap for the main event and give it some berries around the final turn onto the straight and the rear tyre is already moving about and I’m only in third gear, oh dear this will be fun.

I come up on Str8Jacket after the kink just in time to see her fall, it was a hard crash as the front folded under from almost upright and she rolled a few times across the top of the rumble strip. I pull up to see that she’s basically ok but obviously in quite a bit of pain, Mrs Kendog pulls up and takes hold my bike while I move Str8’s bike and try to get the Marshall’s attention unsuccessfully. Fortunately Fi5hy has seen this from the start line and alerts them to what’s going on.

We circulate back to the pits and get told off as it would appear that we might have been involved in the crash and need to be checked out. It was our mate on the ground in the middle of the first turn so I wasn’t really taking much notice at this stage.
Str8Jackets little tiki tour in the ambulance held things up briefly enough to change the tyre pressures a bit and check the bike over one more time.

By this time it was raining properly and the temperature had really dropped, and after another eventful warm up lap the race got underway in very trying conditions. I got a good start from the third row and made some places and lost some as the pack sorted itself out on the first lap.

This was going to be a long race and due to all the messing around in the pits before the race I neglected to use my winter gloves and put some warm gear under my leathers so I was dressed more for club med than deep freeze but I couldn’t let it get to me. I was wriggling my fingers and toes around all the time along the straights to keep circulation going and despite being totally soaked fairly early on in the piece actually felt okay during the race until the later stages.

I was seriously considering coming in to swap gloves and put a jacket on or something but I had seen some of the faster guys (including Fi5hy but he did get going again)and many others stop or crash so and had only been lapped twice by the leaders and thought I could be in for an okay result. So I soldiered on stayed out there until I saw the marshall at the start line holding up ten fingers, cool only ten minutes to go, or shit, still ten minutes to go! I get into putting another lap in and contemplate the rest of the race (you have time to do that on the Ruapuna B track but it’s not a distraction we suffer at the Slipway) when I round the final bend to see a white flag!
One more lap that’s all, just about two minutes of time left out on the track, I gesture thanks to the flaggies and decide to enjoy the last lap as much as possible. I catch up Mrs Kendog just before the hairpin and give her a pat of congratulations for doing so well completing such a hard race as I go past. As it happens I caught Kendog just after the hairpin and congratulated him in a similar way.



I didn’t muck around getting back to the pits, no one did and as soon as I had stopped racing I felt the nerves coming back on line in my finger tips and the shivering set in, I sidled up towards Pamela and warmed myself on her hot bits so I could then use my hands to get some dry clothes on and pack up the bombsite where my bike used to be in the pits.
Usually at the end of the days racing everyone hangs around and tells lies and compares tyre wear and jetting but not this time. Mrs Kendog kindly informed me of the location of Joni’s yummy rolls, which were actually buns and far from plain. So after indulging myself in the hospitality of Kickaha and Divvo’s? van’s servery dept it was time to get out of Dodge before we were frozen stuck.

So overall not the greatest days racing in the scheme of things though I thoroughly enjoyed myself and really loved riding the track even in the wet. All the people I met were great and the hospitality shown by the locals really blew us away. I can’t thank Mike Stein (sp) enough for letting me ride your new bike and not calling me in after your one stopped in the main race You really saved my weekend and I am eternally grateful for that.

Tony and Andy Mac, great hosts and even greater competitors, I really enjoyed racing with you both out there and thanks for letting us stay at your lovely house with a cool bike collection in the garage.

Dangerous, thanks for the help in getting me down there and to you and Rashika for letting me hangout despite being a Bourbon drinking heathen I’m looking forward to being a little more organised next year so I can show you lot how to drink properly! Buddha#81 Respect! Any big boy who gets a bucket moving that fast is a brother of mine!
SpeedyGirl the aptly named taxi service, thanks a heaps for the lift home, it was good to hang out with my Welly peeps and the crew at Rashika’s so you did me a great service there, also a stoic flaggie in those bitter conditions, what can one say?
To all the other Christchurch bucket racers I met, I’ll be back next year with some more horses and taller gearing, it’s going to be on!

To all the organisers and flaggies and people behind the whole event, to put all that effort into the day and have the weather do that I really feel for you, to your credit the meeting ran well and being savvy to the weather and changing the race order made the most of a challenging day.

F5Dave who really kicked the whole show off for me by needing a seat filled, but also being another pivotal in making the whole weekend really enjoyable. Riding the KV on Sunday was most enjoyable and enlightening to what’s achievable horsepower wise, whoah, why do the other bikes look like they’re going backwards?

To all the people who sponsored me to get down there, I can’t thank you enough. You gave me more than just the financial ability to do this, you’ve given me the belief that I can make this happen and that goes way beyond the value of money. I’ve gone all funny and started feeling very special about the support that’s been shown so I will make it my mission to get into a position to help someone else get there next year so they have a chance to feel this good too!