After a month out of action for my knee operation I felt it was about time I got back on a trials bike and a relatively easy ride out at Frank Bourne's charity trial was a good event to see how the knee would stand up.
I had my operation on Mon May 16th and the surgeon found that both cartilages were torn and a significant amount of scar tissue was discovered. The cartilage was repaired and the scar tissue cut out and the knee cleaned up. Following a cruciate ligament reconstuction about 12 years ago I have had problems on and off over the years but more recently ant activity left it swollen and painful to walk for a few days so I bit the bullet and had the op. The surgeon told me to expect a fair amount of pain for a couple of months but in fact I was walking without too much pain within a week, able to go up and down stairs comfortably within 2 weeks and by week 3 I started putting in some miles on my mountain bike so I didn't expect the trial to bring too many problems as long as my feet stayed on the footrests!
So on with the event, the rain in the last few days made the surface quite slick for the start of the trial making the climbs and cambers at the venue quite tricky for the 1st lap. I expected the grip to improve during the day so was in no rush on the 1st lap, which was quite a help as walking the sections was far more difficult for me than actually riding them!
I cleaned the 1st lap with many of the expected front runners (Chris Gasgoigne, Bill Bourne, Nathan Jones and Robert Bowyer) losing marks. I found that the Sprite was really effective in the mud and pulling 2nd gear everywhere it gave me the confidence that it would give me grip whenever I required it. (I actually changed the carb on the bike this week from an amal to a villiers and found it cured the bottom end zip that I have been looking for).
The second and third laps, as predicted, the grip came back though I made the mistake of not changing my approach accordingly and found myself getting into some trouble using 2nd gear actually going too quickly and over-shooting the lines on a few sections losing 6 marks, in sections 3 and 7.
On the final lap I had a word with myself and started to use the right gear and riding more controlled to clean the lap.
Overall a good trial with great sections and what ended up with good weather. My knee stood up to the test and sitting here at home now watching British Superbikes recorded earlier in the day, it hasn't started to swell so it seems to be 'so far so good'....
My bike now goes off to the frame builder this week to be copied for the new frame and I will be back out on the Cub next week as the new forks are in - I must say that I am looking forward to riding it again to see the different between the two.......
Will update the post with photos and results from today later this evening when I have them.
I had my operation on Mon May 16th and the surgeon found that both cartilages were torn and a significant amount of scar tissue was discovered. The cartilage was repaired and the scar tissue cut out and the knee cleaned up. Following a cruciate ligament reconstuction about 12 years ago I have had problems on and off over the years but more recently ant activity left it swollen and painful to walk for a few days so I bit the bullet and had the op. The surgeon told me to expect a fair amount of pain for a couple of months but in fact I was walking without too much pain within a week, able to go up and down stairs comfortably within 2 weeks and by week 3 I started putting in some miles on my mountain bike so I didn't expect the trial to bring too many problems as long as my feet stayed on the footrests!
So on with the event, the rain in the last few days made the surface quite slick for the start of the trial making the climbs and cambers at the venue quite tricky for the 1st lap. I expected the grip to improve during the day so was in no rush on the 1st lap, which was quite a help as walking the sections was far more difficult for me than actually riding them!
I cleaned the 1st lap with many of the expected front runners (Chris Gasgoigne, Bill Bourne, Nathan Jones and Robert Bowyer) losing marks. I found that the Sprite was really effective in the mud and pulling 2nd gear everywhere it gave me the confidence that it would give me grip whenever I required it. (I actually changed the carb on the bike this week from an amal to a villiers and found it cured the bottom end zip that I have been looking for).
The second and third laps, as predicted, the grip came back though I made the mistake of not changing my approach accordingly and found myself getting into some trouble using 2nd gear actually going too quickly and over-shooting the lines on a few sections losing 6 marks, in sections 3 and 7.
On the final lap I had a word with myself and started to use the right gear and riding more controlled to clean the lap.
Overall a good trial with great sections and what ended up with good weather. My knee stood up to the test and sitting here at home now watching British Superbikes recorded earlier in the day, it hasn't started to swell so it seems to be 'so far so good'....
My bike now goes off to the frame builder this week to be copied for the new frame and I will be back out on the Cub next week as the new forks are in - I must say that I am looking forward to riding it again to see the different between the two.......
Will update the post with photos and results from today later this evening when I have them.
Just received the results and feel that I have been dealt a tough card by the observers today. I have been given a 3 on section 6 that I certainly didnt have but I am sure that this will level itself back out later in the year!!!
Results
2 Stroke
1. Dave Dawson 10
2. Chris Gascoigne 11
3. Nathan Jones 11
4. Carl Winstanley 16
5. Joe Howells 27
Unit
1. Tony Dillon 15
2. Nigel Randell 17
3. Brian Dale 25
4. Gary Hawkins 26
5. Dave Jones 26
Pre Unit
1. Pete Nadin 0
2. Bill Bourne 3
3. Robert Bowyer 5
4. Jim Pickering 19
5. Pete Reed 24
