The Green Triangle Has-beens, was made up of my two younger
brothers and me. One had ridden at Harrow twice before, but no other vinduros.
The other had never ridden in any vinduros before.
Preparation I wasn’t sure what I was going to ride until Friday afternoon. In the end I had to settle on my PE175 which needed a bit of work, but came together ok.
My youngest brother rode his 1980 PE250 for the first time at 5.30pm the evening before the event! We were still in his workshop putting the finishing touches to the Suzukis on Saturday night. At 6.30am the next morning we were scratching around for fuel. My other brother’s XR250 still had mud on it from last year’s Harrow Vinduro...
I hate the cold starts! This time the dreaded cold start
went without a hitch for me, as the 175 fired up with just two kicks. My team
mates’ steeds weren’t so obliging, and we lost a bit of time as both their
bikes had to be push started.
Finally we were on our way...
The course
It’s hard to try and describe the whole 35 kms so I’ll just
pick out a few bits that stick in my mind:
* We had already decided to take the detour around the first
river crossing. When we arrived it was obvious that people were already having
trouble, so we skirted around it as planned.
* KLX250 blowing more smoke that a two stroke (I later saw
it parked by the side of the track).
* Those poly pipes in the grass!
* The off camber section where everyone’s boots had scraped
a mark along the side of the hill
* The final river crossing as you completed section 4.
* The guy on the Bultaco who had a low speed crash right in
front of me.
* Chasing my team mates around on our first lap (I didn’t
see much of them the second time around).
* My PE developed an annoying habit of dying right after I’d
come out of the river crossings, I guess water was dripping on something and
causing a temporary short.
* I decided to push the PE over some slippery logs, but
dropped the bike. A bit of huffing and puffing later I was off the log and back
on my way. At the next steep downhill I discovered that when I dropped the bike
the brake pedal had been pushed in under the engine. As my right foot pressed
down on fresh air, I switched between praying and swearing 1000 times before
safely arriving at the bottom.
* Hitting one of the sandy creek crossings at full noise
because I didn’t want to back the overworked little PE off. An explosion of
water everywhere. Inside my helmet, down my shirt, in under my gloves... I kept
that momentum going though!
* The folding gear lever tip became jammed and I had to stop
to free it. My mat eon the CT125 pulled up and offered some help. As I waved
him on he called out, “I guess this means I’m passing you!”
* Blasting around the sandy special test track, chasing my
brother on his PE250 like I had some remote chance of passing him.
* Loving the PE175 in the tight stuff. Hating it on the long
paddock straights.
* Gnarly creek crossing. As I approached I could just see a
few helmets lined up. I stayed up on the bank instead of joining the fray. I
saw both my brothers waiting in there and decided to look for an easier way
though, which I found a bit further down. The next time around there was dozens
of tyre tracks where others had decided the same thing.
At the end of the day the Green Triangle Has-beens all
managed two laps for a silver medal each, and we were pretty pleased with that.
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