it is a well know fact you can get addicted to all sorts of things. alkohol, drugs, gambling, women (probably the most dangerous of all), but most people don’t seem to know you can get addicted to enduro racing, too.
funny, but i really know a lot of guys who quit – family issues, needed the money for the new flat, … – but somehow none of them really ever seems to manage to get rid of it completely. they pop up every now and then at the races, help sometimes, call, read motor magazines … and have that sad look in their eyes whenever they see a bike. and the big wish to get a bike again … some time.
you know me: i’m a careful guy. i make sure i don’t get that far. got me the bike and get to ride it every now and then, best prevention against these extremely sad withdrawal symptoms. you don’t want that, believe me.
so i took my ktm for another dutch enduro this weekend. the big fight is always to get going. you wake up at 5.30h in the morning (imagine! on a saturday!!), you hear the rain on the window, and immediately pictures pop up in your head of drowned roads, bikes up to the seat in the mud, desperate riders trying to get them unstuck – you know they are human, but they sure don’t look like it. you see your wife’s threatening look when you stuff your dirty things in the washing maschine afterwards … not extremely motivating.
but then again bas (my dutch enduro colleague) said hellendoorn was probably the nicest enduro in the whole series and christophe mentioned he would also be there … how could i look these guys in the eye ever again if i didn’t go?
i could not think of any reasonable excuse, so i got up, packed my stuff (pitch dark outside, not a soul on the streets) put the bike on the trailer and went to hellendoorn. 150 km to the east, it was just getting light. the weather didn’t look so bad after all, but when i got out of the car i nearly slipped on the grass: the track was definitely going to be a bit on the damp side.
well, i thought, since i drove that far i might as well give it a shot – you see, convincing yourself is a continuous process. until you’re on the bike, that is, then there are usually no further questions.
there weren’t any questions this time, either. leaving hellendoorn out would have been a major mistake, it was a great course. not like the last one (my friend andy put it the right way: tereprallye with extra bends), it was a ‘real’ enduro. woods, small winding tracks, trees zipping by left & right. mudholes. whoops. of course the odd high-speed field crossing. and only 2 laps of 75 km / overall 3.5 hours. just my kind of race. 😉
from a competition point of view it didn’t go too well, on the second lap somebody got stuck in front of me on a sandy climb, i could not pass the guy and it took him several minutes to get going again. in a cross test, too. so much for my result. well, next time i’ll just ride over them.
since it was such a short enduro i was not even tired afterwards. but that was going to change soon …
i mean i have seen dirty bikes in my time, and i already got used to washing the thing after each (!) training and race, but this time i guess i broke the record. first it was already difficult to undress without spreading the mud evenly over the car & the clean clothes, too, then i had a hard time getting the bike up the trailer without making a mess (where can you touch a bike that is thickly covered in mud everywhere?) and then there was the problem of how to clean it.
i usually wash the bike in front of the house, but i looked at the bike again and imagined the neighbours with clubs and torches in front of my window coming to lynch me for turning the road in front of the house into a sea of mud and knew i would have to reconsider my approach.
finally i got a tip from a motorcycle salesman where i could wash the bike with a power-cleaner. i usually don’t do that, because the powerful jet presses the water in every bearing and basically messes up the bike more than it helps but there was no choice. it took me 10 minutes with the high pressure jet to get the big bits off and about 2 hours the next day to get the bike more or less clean.
pretty stupid, i can tell you, when cleaning the bike almost takes longer than riding it. these are the times when i seriously consider finding myself a different hobby, something nice & clean, chess, jigsaw puzzles or maybe growing bonsai trees. but ..
did i tell you one can get addicted to enduro riding …
ps: sorry, no pictures this time, kris took the camera to hungary, but just imagine my bike in dark brown instead of orange. got that? 😉