Photo Frenzy pt2: TBEC Hare & Hounds, Adstone

Wednesday 23 September 2009 at 7:48 pm Continuing the theme of 'places I've taken my camera on a sunny Sunday' - back in early September I found myself driving down the M1 to Adstone, Northants (specifically here) to watch a Hare and Hounds race organised by the Trail Bike Enduro Club. More on my main motive for going along at a later date, but it also gave me a chance to work on my action photography without being stuck 200 metres back behind a catch fence (more like 2 metres back behind a bit of tape). A selection of shots below... (more)

Photo Frenzy pt1: UK Short Track, King's Lynn, 9 August 2009

Thursday 17 September 2009 at 8:35 pm En route to a Cadwell Park trackday in August I took a bit of a detour via King's Lynn Arena in Norfolk to catch a round of the UK Short Track series. Short Track is the UK version of American flat track racing, where such names as Kenny Roberts and Nicky Hayden cut their racing teeth before heading off to become world champions on the tarmac. Over here it's a slightly more low-key affair, a bunch of enthusiastic amateurs gathering at speedway circuits around the country. But it's no less of a spectacle for that, and in the August sun there's not many better ways to spend a Sunday afternoon. The next round is this weekend (19th/20th) at the East of England showground in Peterborough as part of the BMF show. Check it out if you're going.

I took my camera along with me, and after sitting on the photos for a month, here they are...

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HUMM 2009 - The aftermath

Wednesday 09 September 2009 at 12:52 pm I'm afraid I got a bit distracted from writing up this story, leaving it hanging at the end of the off-road riding, which was an end of sorts, but there were a few developments thereafter which are worthy of note. As a lot of time has now gone by, I'll just do a quick summary of the rest of the story:

• Getting changed out of our riding gear, the reason for Pieter's discomfort became abundantly clear - the sunburn on his lower legs had developed into what was later officially diagnosed as third degree burns. Not pretty. He was later 'airlifted' from Toulouse back to the Netherlands.


• Having packed the bikes back into the van, showered and changed, it was time for the post-event dinner and results presentation. To our complete lack of surprise, we didn't win. We were 13th out of about 24 in our (sub-645cc) class. Not bad for a first attempt - most of the top positions were occupied by teams who had taken part at least once before.


• We probably finished somewhat higher in the 'number of bottles of wine drunk over dinner' stakes.


• Susan and Grant received a thoroughly deserved standing ovation for organising such a good event.


• When I went up to bed, I found Dave face down on his bed, still fully clothed and with his shoes on. He was still there when I got up the next morning.


• Thursday consisted of heading back to St Gery in the van, unloading everything, and then chilling out for the rest of the day.


• On the Friday, I left St Gery at about midday and rode for ten hours stopping only for fuel and toilet breaks to get back to Caen for the ferry. My knees didn't thank me. On the Saturday I rode to my parents place in Cheltenham to meet up with Sarah and head to a friends birthday party in Bath, before heading back up to Derby on Sunday for the Donington MotoGP round.

We'll be back next year.