Slowing Up For Christmas

Today was a huge relief for me because over the last month or two, things have been pretty hectic both at work and on the motorcycling scene for me and today, after the running of the Wellington Ulysses Christmas Gymkhana, I'm freed up again.

It was bloody great fun but the lead in has been a bit rushed because first I had to get the C1KC, then two MDA rides out of the way so this week, I had to do the prep work of sorting the plan for the course layout, then practice the setup for one of the courses as I hadn't done it before. Lucky I did because it took the best part of an hour the first time (by myself) so I gave it a bit of thought, then met up with Steve yesterday to convert it from a triangulation measure to a square measure and we got it down to 15-20 minutes.

Today several of us turned up at the Riverbank Carpark around 0800, completing the setup around 10'ish, had a quick walk through, then AndrewT took the rest of the punters through while the ones who had done the Slow Ride training demo'd. Then we got into it.

We started doing the competition course at about 1130, then started packing up to go to the Petone Working Mens Club for lunch after midday. As I mentioned earlier, it was bloody great fun, both having a go and watching the others. I'd like to get a bit more consistent and start nailing some of the courses but the ST is a big beast and I have to be content with how I'm doing compared to the guys on the 250-650 trail bikes with there insy-winsy-teeny-weeny turning circles...particularly John Medlin.

We tried all sorts to beat him, starting with how his keys disappeared for a bit, then he didn't realise until we started that there were three components to the course and not just one, so he was so busy trying to figure out the route, I wanted him to be disqualified for not being in the start on time. Then when he did start, he got confused an blew it, but he nailed the 2nd run....dammit!! Of course, I still believe that was technically his 3rd run and therefore shouldn't have counted!!??

Next time John Medlin!!

Many thanks to Andrew Templeton for his time and guidance to the branch for this stuff and his assistance in preparing today.