JASON THOMAS - 'THE HARD WAY' - PART 12.
13th Jul 2013
Welcome back everyone to another addition of The Hard Way. Since I checked in last time the Snowshoe GNCC race has been and gone – this was a race I was really looking forward to and excited to get into some technical trail. Unfortunately about an hour before the afternoon Pro race the GNCC organizers made the very strange decision to cut out some of the sections which would require more skill to conquer than the average “pin it to win it” track. So what I thought was going to be good was turned into a “balls to the wall” road race, which in my beleif totally ruined a race that has been called “America’s toughest” in the past. Anyway, like I said its been and gone, I just hope the track guys don’t get in the habit of making tracks easy and fast.
After Snowshoe I left for the UK for just a few days of vacation, five to be exact. I was extremely happy to be going home and to get a chance to see my friends and family. Old Jezza picked Laci and I up at Manchester airport and our first stop was the Butty bar on the side of the road. Most of you in the US will have no clue what I’m talking about, ha! A Butty bar is usually an old trailer or van with a large man or lady serving fried egg, sausage, bacon and anything else you want really.
My favorite is a bacon, egg, and cheese sanga with red and brown sauce and a nice can of Vimto to wash it down. Mmmmmmmm, lush!!!
After that it was off to my mums house. Funny story here: my old man and mother are actually divorced but old Jezza rents a room off her – one because he’s broke, and two because she’s broke, ha, ha!!!!!
It’s a pretty strange situation to most but it makes sense to them. They split the bills on a house that was bought with what was left after the lawyers got a cut. Some days are total chaos though. My mum will be throwing shit and and Jezz will be dodging it and trying to run away. Somehow though it works out……
So we had a pretty big list of things we wanted to do but first off it was to catch a nap. We did that but were woken pretty early by the sun blazing through the window and some pretty good heat. This is very odd for the UK as its usually wet every day and cold. As it turns out, the UK was about to be hit by a heat wave.
Next off was a doctors appointment which is free in the UK. I had to get my physical so I could finally get some health insurance. I have been dodging death all year and it needed to be sorted. All of the policy’s here in the US are so expensive it’s cheaper to fly home and get FIM insurance that covers racing, and the other stuff like nearly dying in Walgreen’s from an ant bite.
With the heat wave we decided to head to the beach in Wales, to a small town called Barmouth, which is actually where I went to primary school as a young kid. It’s also where I proposed to my wife a while back. We had a great day in the sun and even got into some crab fishing. This wasn’t my first time catching crabs (ha, ha!), but it was for Laci. She was excited and even caught the biggest one. It’s pretty funny that a little string and a piece of bacon can make for such a fun day.
On our return from the beach I got a call from an old friend of mine who runs the WOR Cross Country Championship in the UK.WOR is where I really started my off road career. I would ride these events every weekend as they would always run rain or shine and Steve (the promoter) would always set up technical but fun tracks. Anyway, he asked if I wanted to have a crack on a Sherco 300 4stroke at a fun track in north Wales. It’s been years since I have ridden at home so I agreed and couldn’t wait for Sunday to come.
Between what was then Wednesday and the soon to be Sunday we had planned a few days in London. Laci was hoping Princess Kate was going to drop the new baby as she has some kind of obsession with the royal family, I however didn’t really care but went anyway, ha.
After all it was a heat wave in London, and Hyde park was full of beautiful flowers…… and stuff!!!
We took along my 5 year old niece Carley who I really miss spending time with. The poor little nipper walked all over London with us and never complained once. We took in some of the cool stuff like Big Ben, the London eye, and grabbed an ice cream outside Windsor castle.
We swung by the Queens house but no baby, so it was back to spend the night with Jezza and my mother. Both of them passed out when we got home in their separate rooms. While I was laying there thinking about the race the next day a few of my mates were heading to the club and called to ask if Laci and me might be into it also.
It was just like the old days heading to a club with the boys to throw some shapes and drink ourselves silly, only we all have girlfriends or wives now and after two pints we just want to go to sleep, ha! We did resist the sleep though and were soon dancing like fools and sweating all over ourselves. It was an epic night which we wrapped up around 4am with a good old kebab loaded with garlic sauce.
8am Sunday comes around a lot faster now than I remember though – I must be getting old! We all set off for the race. Me, Laci, Jezz, Mother, my sister, nipper, and my sister’s fiancée. Upon arrival I could see an awesome grass track and couldn’t wait to get out there. Steve had a brand new Sherco ready for me – a Sherco by the way is like a Gas Gas, but not really. It’s a European bike made in France by a company who actually make one of the best trials bikes in the world.
I ran her up and down the field a few times and got geared up ready to race. The races back home are pretty low key, small events. This one had about 140 riders with a loop about 4 miles long, of which about 2 miles were grass track. The woods were pretty techo though, and rocky. I got the lead in the grass track and stretched it out from that point only slowing my pace when I locked bars with a lapper about half way into the two hour race. I got lucky not to get hurt, and dusted myself off and cruised on for the win.
Having my family there was really nice and I really miss that here in America. It definitely makes it easier having your family for support, unfortunately that’s not going to happen for me though in the US. The Sherco was a joy to ride and I had a blast – thanks to Steve for the opportunity, and to all of the people who came over to say hi.
I’m back in America now and it is back to business. I set off today for a bunch of DirtWise schools in the New England area, and also in Canada, so I’m sure that I will run into some cool stuff along the way, so until next time……..
Believe in yourself and trust everything happens for a reason.
Boom, boom, POW!
U
K
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