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Yet another wet Sunday down west -------Robin

A somewhat belated and unfortunately photograph free blog about a Sunday ride a couple of weeks ago led by Bob Hancock AKA Dr. Bob and former TRF rights of way boffin, on the 25 year old XR 200.
Other notables in attendance were Steve and Ian on WR 400's, Ross on a tidy Pampera on his first KTRC ride, and me on the CRF.
It was ideal trail riding weather i.e. pissing down……. so there was a distinct lack of horses, rambliars, and other more normal people.
We set off towards Silverwell, the Cider farm and down Lambriggan to Carnkief and up in a loop to Mount, and Reen Manor….. all fine so far but very wet.
Next came the famous steps at Trevellas, which caused Ross to have a bit of self doubt at the top and pretty much carried the Pamp down them, much harder than riding down, but I bet by now he has been back an flies down them like a good 'un.
Next was the little road trial section at Blue Hills where for the second time in 2 weeks I broke the split link…….must get that knackered chain replaced
Luckily Steve had a spare and we were soon off via Wheal Kitty and Hurling Barrow to the Byway down to Porthowan and up the other side via Factory farm and on to the massive flooded pit somewhere in Blackwater.
Bobs training as a diver once again came in handy as the XR200 ploughed into 2 feet of mud and water and stopped dead….yet again Bob had to kick the XR to life in deep water……the last time was at ford at Treworga on the Roseland, when it was even deeper and he had to be pulled out with a rope.
Then on to Penstraze and over the railway line to Salem and Creegbrawes by a variety of … well…er… very 'special' lanes that are known only to Bob, which shall remain nameless!
Through Kerly lanes to Carrine Common, stopping off for the compulsory play on the mine dumps, where Ian ably demonstrated just how not to deal with a steep slippery climb with a rut at the top getting totally stuck ……told you so.
Having scouted around the photo archives for something remotely linked to this ride, I gave up.... so here's one a Steve taken a little earlier - captions on a postcard or email please !!
On to Bissoe and Twelveheads and the rocky climb up the mine dumps. Bob stopping right in front of Steve who was giving the WR a big handfull was highly entertaining to watch as both fell off, and its not the easiest place for a restart.
Ross followed them on the Pampera, which was a bit unfair, on his first run out but he got stuck in, and finally made it up after a few backward somersaults …. Top marks for effort!
A few Byways and Greyways later we were faced with the Ford at Pulla Cross…. again very high over 2 feet deep at one point……you know it's a deep one when the engine note alters …..This time it virtually disappeared. Steve stopped right in the middle but managed to get the WR going again, and just to prove a point went back through it with a massive bow wave.
After 75 or so miles or so of top riding we called it a day and thanks to Steve, Ian, Ross and Bob for yet another great day out.
If you haven't been out down west with Dr Bob then make sure you do, and try to keep up with the elderly XR 200 running on slicks if you can.
Sat 16th
Water sports down west!

Well after a very wet week, Saturday 16th turned out to be a fairly dry day weather wise. We all met up at 1000hrs outside Smokeys. My self Steve Woods on a WR400, Ian major also on a WR400, Ross Sheppard on a mint Gas Gas 250 Pamp,and Ken Worden on a WR 250.......... So blue was the order of the day....
We started off doing the fast series of lanes leading on through Myrtle and on to Manor Parsley where we tackled the gnarly old root infested lane first. We then descended the rocky lane before ascending the same lane. Moving on to the set of byways along the cliff at porthtowan, all of the lanes had a nice slippery covering of gloop on them, we carried on through the small lane at St Agnes and then up through the nice rocky stepped lane also at St Agnes. Back full circle to the short series of lanes through Hurlingbarrow and Goonbell on to football lane, then the trials section at bluehills, was that a foot down on those cobbles Ross!

Then to the short byway at Trevellas that we normally miss out when we ride on a Sunday - Mrs Lyle's boys normally park up for sunday lunch and it's a bit tricky to pass: still they are all keen motorcyclist's and it's no problem.. Anyway we got through and then went straight on to every one's favourite the byway with the steps and Ross who has never tackled steps before zipped down them like a trooper. From there we carried on to Lambriggen, Ciderfarm, Silverwell 1,2 and 3 exiting at Mount Hawke through another series of lanes to Blackwater. Here I stopped and had a hard look back as for a minute, I thought we had lost Ross but on a closer look I realised he had covered him self in mud and was blending in with the countryside...
Any way onwards to the byway the otherside of Blackwater in the layby and we bumped into KTRC'r Mark S with the DRZ400 who decided to tag on! at the end of the lane guess what? No Mark! five minutes later he comes around the corner dismounts and starts muttering about how sore his knees are and how the hedge had moved as he was cornering We took the next two lanes without incident and stopped at Chiverton for fuel and food.
Fuelled up in all ways we took the tricky little hop over the hedge to the rear of Chiverton Services (byway) and through the series of byways passing Penstraze and Jollys bottom to Chacewater and dangerous cross roads. From here we dropped down through the byway passing what was Loaders farm and on to the enjoyable lanes at Kerleydowns, past the tailings across the byway on the moor and down into Twelveheads. We carried on for a while longer on some of the usual suspects before winding up at the ford on the byway on the piece of moorland between Tresamble and the sewage works..........What can I say it was at least 30 metres across and looked deeper then it had ever looked - so being an ex squaddie and all that I opted for the feet down and gave it large on the throttle half way across... I was beginning to think I may have made an error as the water climbed up to the seat and then pheww started to drop back down.


Bob recovering the XR from the same ford a few weeks before... he's pulling it back out!

River crossed I dismounted and turned to egg on the others and all went well untill the Gas Gas with Ross on board decided to stall right in the deepest part of the river. That's the only fault with these superb little machine's they are a bit shorter then your average lofty enduro bike and there for prone to water ingress... but all was not lost a few minutes later after a quick look round we realised it was just a drop of H20 in the carb so after a quick drain it fired up and ran like a new one.............. Cheers Steve

Morden we Bargained for!    Bish
A sunny Trerulefoot made a nice meet for the intrepid group of 7 - especially Andy who had ridden all the way from Ivybridge on his BSA B40 pre 65... hard man award I think - although he's planning an imminent purchase of something about 40 years younger! So Ben on the 125 KTM (supertankered for this ride), Rob on the KLX 250, Nick on the KTM 300, Steve on the Beta 250 (perhaps a 300 soon?), Bob on the Serow, Andy on the Beezer and of course myself on the XT supertanker headed of for a warmup around the Trebrownbridge , Widegates circuit. Top and nothing too evil in the slippery stakes for the slick front gritty - I'm changing it tomorrow!

Heading back via Tideford we slithered our way through Trewandra and Pillaton before taking a nice diversion through Trehill - not slow! Before tackling what has become a really enjoyable trials section at St Mellion... Brilliant what a flood or two can do...

A rapid blast to St Dominic soon had us clustered around the 1/2 km of slithery slate that's Morden - despite leaving a big gap between riders we soon got into a traffic jam and restart territory. Ben was first up like a whippet on the KTM, despite the inconvenience of having a dog walker acting as a chicane - even though, there was a bit of pushing... Nick was next with a few tumbles on the slate - the problem was any dabs meant falling off, the stuff was so slippery your boots just skated over it. In the meantime Andy had fun on the BSA, the lack of front suspension travel making things a bit lively and a thrown chain also not helping... sensibly he retired to the bottom along with Rob.

Next Steve went for it, having an off and breaking the gear lever and then going for it and getting up on the 2nd attempt - I'm sure all the rubber he laid gave me some useful traction!

My turn next, also binning the XT a few times - many thanks to Ben for helping in the weight lifting!

 

After that the ride got much mellower with the lanes to Drakewalls despatched without fuss and bumping into the soon off to Africa on his XR, Mike Wooley.

After a bit of a where are they saga for Rob and myself which involved riding some interesting places ((and hedges Rob ) we regrouped and headed out through Chillsworthy towards Lamerton. I had to head off for a 1400hrs deadline, so I'll leave you with the rest of the pics from the day... A top ride!

 

Too Damp for Some!    10th December
Amazingly punctual this week, the array of bikes at the Highwayman was impressive - Seemond on a KTM 300 EXC?, Andy on a KTM 250 stroke, Paul on a Husaberg no less (a 470?, sounded bloody impressive!), Mark on the DRZ, and Robbie on the KLX. So setting off in a multicoloured dazzle of orange, yellow, green and blue we took to the Dobwalls loop with Railway Lane and the Moorswater lanes being a good warm up. I took the ford, whilst most others sensibly hopped over the bridge - pretty deep! which set the tone for the day.


With Lerryn the target, been a bit elusive of the past few weeks, we made good , ahem, progress through Boduel, Scawns (another big splash), Trevillis, Kilmansag and the excellent Beara and were soon well on the way. The fast lanes were particular fun on the Supertanker, as the completely shagged front Gritty enjoyed giving me some adrenaline inducing wake-up calls - fortunately its well planted (read weighs like lead!) and it and myself stayed the right way up...
A nice slither across the fieldy lane before Kingston, which for the first time ever has a gate across the road - relax, it is a UCR and then into the top of Kingston. Looking well ahead at a fallen branch, I didn't notice a nicely disguised rock sitting in the middle of the rut - WHACK! I certainly felt it. Knocked the chain off by bending the guide. Thanks to Seemond and the others a quick push backwards and it was again in situ - glad I wasn't out on myself, as it would have been a bit of a pain.
The obligatory fording at Lerryn was a go'er as the tide was out - pics to prove it:


Too late for the excellent village shop/tea stop, we pushed on towards St Veep with some fun on the fairly open quick terrain.

Working our way towards Pelynt, we amused ourselves on the rutty climb - some more in a rut than others! The longest rut in the world lane - you'll know it if you've ridden it - proved slippy, with steering being a lock to lock challenge to go forward... ace laugh though. Soon we got to the Pelynt Spar shop - surely the biggest & best in Cornwall! Now even serving coffee for those who were obviously feeling sleepy by this point
Next beckoned the joys of Shillamill, Crooksball and Duloe - losing Robbie for a while was interesting, turned out the Kwak was being a bit tempermental on the starting front and the heads down, ignore the sod awful rain, meant we hadn't checked at the back... apologies. Mark did the act of kindness and went back and soon we again on-route. Despite the impressive lake, Shillamill was grippy and a clean climb, Crooksball similarly easy and Pendriscott this week even TRF free.
Arriving at Treffany we did the obligatory lanes before heading for Muchlarnick. Unfortunately I didn't take any picks of the ford, but it was deep - in fact I waded through before we even tried it. Robbies KLX snorkelled across so I took the plunge on the battleship and everyone else joined in the fun. At this point I think I upgraded the ford too Very deep and the XT was a bit hesitant on the Muchlarnick climb. I bounced over the lower 1/2 with no fuss up to the big step and parked for the photo mayhem. The fun then began with Seemond, Andy, Paul and Robbie all having successful goes albeit several of them! By now it was getting a bit dark, so the pics are understandably grainy - check Seemond's smoking tyre on the first on though!

The joys of Muchlarnick dispensed, with we voyaged, the right word!, back through the ever deeper ford - which now claimed a couple of misfire victims. The Husaberg was really unhappy and the XT mildly grumpy!
Waiting at the top of Tredinnick, Paul and Seemond didn't appear - turns out the Husa had slurped some water in to the carb and was cutting out - some petrol draining later, it started to behave a bit better, but by now was pitch dark, We all decided the B Road to Dobwalls a sensible plan and set off in convoy, by the time we got there both the Husa and XT were back to normal and I'm sure ready for some mud this weekend! A fab and a bit frantic afternoon's sport.

Over and out, Bish
Riders on  after the storm - Bish
Turning up almost on time... I found the Highwayman car park well occupied - Bob on a clean looking Serow, Ben on the KTM 125 (EXC?), Robbie on his KLX 250, Kev on the Knightrider CCM 404 (blacker than a dark night!) and Wayne on the KDX... the Supertanker definitely looked like the heavyweight. Rossi arrived with air in the tyre so we were ready for the off!
Skirting round the Dobwalls loop we progressed pretty well until the Moorswater farmyard - still pretty full of tree from the storm! Squeezing through, we then headed out through the usual suspects towards Herodsfoot. Bob got the top wading award at the Scawns ford! The Serow just about disappeared... Robbie was heard muttering "Bob's a madman!" as he and I zipped across the bridge instead.
A sucession of slippery lanes were soon despatched - Beara farm being especially good for rapid front and rear slide at the same time... everyone stayed on though. Shillamill was a good wade, with the rock steps being surprisingly grippy. I also found that the Supertanker and a KDX would fit side by side when Wayne went right and myself left just past the bottom step...
Crooksball beckoned, the fun at the bottom being ruined by a recent infill of blocks and rubble - damn! grippy instead of a mud pan. Pendriscott was memorable for meeting a TRF run out, the first we've seen since October - looked like they were having fun. A quick transit to Treffany meant Duloe woods, all being well until I spotted Kev cruising down towards the bridge on the KnightRider - turns out the valve had ripped out.. Rossi and Ben soon got into pitstop mode and a makeshift granite bikestand found! The rear knobbly soon being removed and Rossi's spare front, originally lent to him by Wayne 2 weeks ago, put in - doing the rounds that tube!
Tredinnick followed with plenty of fun on the long slate corner:

A quick yomp to Looe through the tidal ford over the railway meant some well earned tuck! Setting off we took in the lanes around Sandplace and Wringworthy and then split into 2: the Dobwallers and Trerulefooters! Ben, Robbie and myself made pretty rapid work of the lanes arriving at a dark and damp A38 for the tarmac home.

A great afternoon - wicked ride according to Ben!
The Roseland Slither - Steve Woods
After a few late dropouts! and the weather looking pretty grim, Sunday the 26th November turned out to be a belter of a day in all aspects. The weather was spot on.... not a drop of rain all day and the group finally settled on six! perfect for the route I had in mind........
The group was made up of my good self Steve Woods on a sweet sounding wr400 ;0), Alan from down Penzance way on a very tidy Katoom 525, Alex (Gas Gas) Carter on a .........well 250 Gas Gas, Ian (look at me no hands ) Major also on a Wr400, Mark from St Columb way, on a Drz 400S and last but not least Paul Boyle on a very fine example of an XR 400.....
Well like I said we started of on what was a pretty fine november day and tackled must of the usual subjects locally without any mishaps before heading of in the direction of Tresillian via a walk through the Bird farm at Tretherres and the following river crossing that was pretty deep...... but crossed without incident. At Tresillian we stopped at the garage for the first of three fuel stops to make sure the Gas Gas's egg cup tank didn't run out (sorry Alex but that is tthe smallest tank I have ever seen ;0) . We then moved on to the supurb UCR'S at Treffry and Merther and found Mr Jeffries Sitting on his tractor with a video camera ....
So we said Nought and carried on are way in a sensible and respectable fashion...............on to the nice little trials section at Gare and the supurb lane at Free Water and onto a brief stop at Tregony.
Next we tackled the infamous Pensagillas........... What can I say, it was wet and very slippery, so after negotiating the mile long rut infested lane to the top of Pensagillas and tackling the climb down through the trees, roots steps and mud, you then have to about turn and come back up it all... It was all a bit of a ..well slither see photo's of Ian, Alex and Paul on the xr who decided it was easier to push!! Anyway on we pushed to the next lane of the day another fun climb Known as Tregerrick...Where Alan showed us the true power of the KTM 525 by ascending the hill sideways... next was the garage at Bessy Beneath for more fuel. Oh yeah - the Gas Gas in true spanish fashion discarded its side stand spring as we were about to leave... ten minutes later all fixed and onto the ford at Trelonk. One thing to say about Trelonk Deep!!..... Then onto the cracking lane at Philliegh and so onto the King Harry ferry.. by now it was getting dark and we tackled Wrinkling Lane at dusk followed by the lane through Lanner Barton... .Kea Woods, Carrine Common, the Baldhu byway and the series of cracking lanes at Kerly Downs finishing in time for a late Tea at the crossroads motel car park in Scorrier and a cracking day was had by all ....
Cheers Steve

Steve’s in the Pink 19-11-06 - Rossi

As usual I was leaving the house in a rush, what with doing last minute tasks so I could earn enough points to leave Becks with the terrible twosome for the afternoon. This meant I didn’t have time to put a few pounds into the slightly (read damn near flat) rear tyre on the Yam. Anyway as I was heading round to Dobwalls I felt the back moving around a bit, nothing unusual except I was on tarmac. I got to the Highwayman bang on 12.30 to meet Steve (Beta 250) and Wayne (KDX220 with a knobbly rear) already there but no sign of Bish who was running a few minutes late (it must go with having a young family). As I got off the bike Steve pointed out a rear tyre that looked even softer than it had done 4 miles previously. Now the tyre has been losing air very slowly since I replaced the completely shot mousse on the bike when I bought it with a tube in only slightly better condition but this was faster than normal. Fearing a puncture I headed off to the petrol station to use the airline to find the valve was turning with the cap when I tried to remove it – oops. Fortunately Wayne pulled out a brand new front tube and even managed an adjustable spanner to fit my rear wheel nut as I found out that mine was fractionally too small – Thanks Wayne


If you have to fix a puncture anywhere then the highwayman car park probably scores better than even my garage. The wall makes an ideal stand to hold the bike off the floor and there is a handy airline nearby.

 

With Bish arrived and the puncture fixed it was time to head off. For a change of scenery we headed towards St Neot to take in the pig field lane, where the top of the field was smelling as bad as ever! From there we headed up a UCR past the electricity substation before heading into St Neot and up School Lane . A quick blip of the throttle here left Steve with a generous spattering of mud before we headed up on to the moor, where Steve was able to return the favour by racing through the ford at the end of Penkestle ahead of me.

Next was the infamous Pink Panther! Steve was keen to have another crack at it after taking two attempts at it in the Wintry Trial a fortnight before. No-one would criticise that, especially as he cleaned it the second time. Without the benefit of traffic, and a few more leaves, conditions were very slippery. Bish had already decided not to try taking the super-tanker up the lane and I had my doubts. As Bish stood by with the camera, Wayne and I acted as catchers should Steve fall the wrong way on the corner. I wasn’t sure about this as, even though Steve isn’t that big, any enduro bike is going to hurt when it lands on top of you.
Fortunately we weren’t needed with Steve being able to get a foot down on the uphill side as the rear slid away. Not to be deterred he went back for another go, and a third with less air in the tyre, to clean the climb – impressive. Wayne and I sensibly decided that peaky 2-strokes were not the best bikes for the conditions and left the heroics to Steve.

Next it was over to Sally’s Hill which is as fun as ever, then over to Kilmansag, via Bradock and on to Trevillis Woods with Steve again showing the younger riders how it should be done. Over then to Scawns where Steve made a rare error, losing the front on the descent at some speed. Fortunately Steve and bike were undamaged. Up to Boduel Cross we turned off taking in the St Keyne lane on the way to Rosenun. Up until this point Wayne had coped very well, especially since this was his first outing and he was running a knobbly on the rear, (and we were also not exactly hanging about, if you know what I mean) but his luck was about to run out. Letting the thumpers go first so we didn’t cause an obstruction, Steve was back on form, with another feet up ascent, while Bish bounced the Super-tanker up the step before climbing out of the slot onto the grippy stuff. Not trusting the Yam to maintain grip I opted to stay in the slot rather than risk the rear sliding away but still managed to keep it moving all the way up. Expecting Wayne to have a few problems we walked back down, eventually finding him below the step with the bike already facing downhill after he had managed to loop it. Other than a slightly bent plate and a small chunk out of the rear fender there was again no damage done.

With the light beginning to fade we called it a day and headed for home. All in all a fine run with some less frequently ridden lanes providing some interesting riding. Fortunately we didn’t manage to put Wayne off despite a fiery baptism, which is just as well as I need to return a tube to him. He did say he was going to come with an MT43 next time though.

Stuck in the Mud - Bish
Saturday 11th November
Hooking up at Trerulefoot with Steve Wilson we were treated to some decent weather to head off North and look at lanes by Tavi and around the Tamar. Speaking to Dave Howells and his band of Welsh boyos the night before we weren't surprised to find that we were pretty much following in their tracks - Dave's not forgotten the Cornish trails despite moving to Wales! Knocking off Trewandra, Wisewandra and lanes towards Pillaton we met Rossi at the Bridge - the ford looked a bit too exciting, although I understand Gerald swam the KTM through it on the Sunday... Pillaton and St Mellion beckoned.The Golf course lane has been well washed out and is now a very steep (but plenty of grip) climb - excellent wheelies over the lip!
Through St Dominic to the biggest test of the day - a very slippery Morden. Steve won the contest - fell of once, I managed the supertanker up for 2 falls and Rossi was shot off all over the place by the wayward WR- not much grip on slippy rock when in the powerband.
After a well deserved 10 mins we head off towards Calstock, coming across the 20mph sign (luckily for us there was no speed camera!) - a new TRF initiative perhaps ;)
A refuel and snack at Drakewalls set us up for the lanes to Tavi - great fun hopping over the main road by the Horn of Plenty. A quick jaunt through Tavi brought us to Grenofen - again slippery rock and trying to follow the tight lines of the Beta, I lost the front... (mental note the XT's more tank than trial bike, so be more realistic next time!). After dusting off pride, hauled it up and whizzed up for some bike pics on the moor: only to find every dog walker and granny out for a Saturday stroll ... pics cancelled.
We looped around and after a minor detour picked up the lanes towards Lopwell, some decent fast tracks led us onto the minor road below Lopwell Dam. We had this sort of plan to ride into the edge of the tidal ford for some pics, but Steve sensing some tempting mud ploughed the Beta in up to knee depth - fortunately he then decided to stop. At least it's light as it took the 3 off us to haul it out! Amused some passer bys, so I'm sure that the entertainment was good PR!
The Lopwell Dam ford was flowing pretty well and helped clean off some of the mud - very useful. A series of rapid tracks found us heading back to Gunnislake, by which time the candlepower of Rossi's WR headlight was proving a bit difficult. We split after an excellent afternoon's laning - still haven't got all the mud of the bike yet!

Fun down west - Steve Woods

Sunday the 5th Nov at Smokey's saw ten! trail riders on the following machines:-
Steve Woods Wr 400, Jay Williams Kdx 125, Alex Carter Gas Gas 250, Andy Davies DR 350, Simon Hellings Drz 400, Steve Courtney DTR 125, Neil Gray WR200, Ian Major WR 400, David Major CRF250, Paul Boyle xr400....... phew.
Any way off we went for the usual suspects! All was going fairly well allthough I did notice a spot of blackberry picking going on ;0) until we got to the trials section at Blue Hills where Simon decided he would come up the slippery section on his back wheel and T bone an unsuspecting Ian Major. Still no damage. But Simon decided after hearing that the steps were next on the Agenda that he had other things to day and parted company :0)
Then we were 9 and carried on with a series of lanes through Lambriggen, Cider Farm, Silver Well and onto the lanes through Mt Hawke and onto Blackwater, where a grin started to spread across my face as I remembered the large muddy pool (waist deep in places) that we were about to encounter. As we approached I opened up the WR and gassed it through said obstacle parked up and turned to watch the fun.............
About half an hour later :0) we arrived at Chiverton and I decided to investigate a noise that had been eminating from the WR all morning! With the benefit of no helmet a distinct rumble could be heard from the big end area so decided to call it a day. A couple of the other lads carried on for a few more lanes under the guidence of Ian Major.... I returned to Falmouth with the WR on Jays trailer cheers mate all in all a bloody good day was had again thanks to the supurb company.... I won't mention the two up comedy ride on Alex's Gas Gas :0)..............
Update the problem with the WR turned out to be one of the mains bearings that I had only replaced about 14 months ago. Hope to be back out and about in a week or two
Cheers Steve

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