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Right time to scupper the rumours ( told mudwiz I wouldn’t write anything so sorry chris feel compelled) that seem to have been started by someone that Mudwiz and I were towed in to the hotel on the last stage of the End to End.
We were in fact travelling under our own steam, though well under our normal rate of speed. This was down to many factors along the way , and although we are grateful for mels help we would have coped somehow and still made it.(thanks for the pm mel)We met mel along the way quite a few times, he picked us up as stragglers and then dropped off to help others and we leapfrogged each other throughout the day. Then the problems started.
I was getting problems with my electrics, my headlight had not come on the morning we left and we didn’t have time to rectify and thought we’d arrive well before dark anyway so it wouldn’t be a problem, we were so wrong!
As we were riding along I started to get a bit of power loss and the bike idled terribly, I also noticed the dashboard lights doing their impression of a christmas tree as we went along, though I could only see it when the sunlight wasn’t on the dash also my starcom kept playing up sending excruciating screeches into my ears and getting really temperamental.
I was getting tired by mid day(I was so tired the night before I fell over with the bike whilst stationary outside a shop in front of about 20 kids), mainly because I’d had no sleep on the Wednesday night (baby), 3 hours sleep Thursday night (extended travel time to Durham due to rear blow out at 60 and having to lighten load on bike as we discovered two holes in the tyre inside the rim line) and 2 ½ hours sleep at JOG due to not arriving till 11 and having to beg for a room (ended up sharing a double bed with Mudwiz, so we’ll wait for the other rumours to start eh?) and change Mudwiz’s oil immediately (thanks to the guys that helped us when we got there, especially yeti for the pint).
At one point I even lay down when we stopped at some services and fell asleep instantly, I missed the coffees and fags and had to neck down a giant can of red bull and a handful of pro-plus to get myself awake at the garage (it worked, amazing stuff pro-plus if you take a whole strip though it gives you the trots something terrible later)
We ended up stopping for a fag etc at some services, well Mudwiz and mel did to let me catch up, so I tried to investigate the electrical problem. I removed all fuses and found nothing, gave it all a large dose of bt’s equivalent of WD40 and the bike went in to a much better idle and felt much better.
What I realised when I stripped the bike yesterday is that I’d left out the HID fuse, and that’s where the problem lay. The Hid had a very dodgy bit of loom. I connected my meter to the bike to test for any problems before I blamed it on the bulb and immediately the 250v meter went off the scale, even though I had connected up wrong, the HiD was sporadically discharging through the earth and one of the other bulb leads straight to the frame, a nice 23000v if it ever gave off the correct voltage!
So the bike ran fine for about 20 minutes then the power really dropped off, I was forced to pump the throttle open and shut to get any speed up then watch it drop off again. The best I could sustain was about 55-60 mph. I was also running out of juice later than normal.
I eventually caught up only to find them on the hard shoulder, Mudwiz’s chain had snapped and he had to walk up the motorway and ON the motorway to retrieve it!
We had taken my chain riveter off and new chain to save weight so Mel produced his and a spare split link, we all then took turns to break the old links off and replace the broken with a new one, A 525 one on a 520 chain to boot, eventually we managed to get it to fit and riveted it on.
We had VOSA there with us, great guys, they got the blues flashing cones out, supplied us with wipes to clean up with and some packets of foil blankets and illuminous poncho’s for the future. We even got a donation out of them in the box. With directions to where the nearest services were, we were off only to find them closing so they had followed us and gave us new directions to a mcdonalds 3 junctions down the M5, we never made it as a couple of miles down the road the chain snapped again.
This time we tried to repair but was too short so we fitted the spare split link 525 I had for the alp. The wheel was so far back it had about 5mm of further travel and no more.
Time was getting on and we just made it to mcdonalds as they were shutting, well they did as I was about ten minutes behind them trying to keep the bike going. After half a big mac meal and I left the coffee, didn’t want to overdo the caffeine did I? We refuelled and set off, me falling behind again, then the bike just tried to die at about 70 in the outside lane, me frantically trying to bump it as I drifted over to the hard shoulder, finally as I was down to second gear she burst into life and took off like a rocket!
(I drained the float chamber yesterday and found what looked like tea leaves , rust, come out into a rag, so I think it was a bad shot of petrol from a shell garage as can’t see any rust on the inside of my tank I shot up the m5 to catch the other two at about 100+ .
We eventually made it to cornwall and the weather changed for the worse, I could see virtually nothing even with my spot lights illuminating about 10 feet in front and mudwiz’s 35w headlight next to useless so we had mel behind us with high beam on in the lanes.
They were really hammering the speed and I eventually had to try and overtake and beg, plead, threaten and bribe them to slow down as I was so tired ( pro-plus apparently a temporary solution) and quite frankly sh**ting myself at the speeds mudwiz was travelling, virtually blind in the fog and driving rain, they did agree to keep it to 50 in the twisty’s approaching bodmin etc though I think I saw it once.
Then from behind a light and a bright white stranger appears, arms awaving and gesticulating to us. Who was this nutter on a white BMW? A local nutter? Nope, after him stopping and us continuing he eventually got us to pull over and it’s a Yeti! We had a fag, tried to contact Sharri (02:30 she was not answering obviously about the time she passed out) so we left a message and continued on, Yeti in front as he new the way he said, me and mud in the middle and mel bringing up the rear,we arrived at 03:00.
So that’s why we were late, no towing just a few problems that would have seen off a lot of others but not us.
As for mudwiz? I hope everyone that reads this appreciates the gravity of the extreme ride he went through. Would any one else on this site attempt or even think of attempting to ride a XR650 from one end of the country to the other. No gel seats here, a seat about 5 inches wide and hard as rock after about ½ an hour. Add to that it was not possible to fit a screen so he had no protection from the elements, rain ,sleet and hail he got straight in the face and chest for 23 hours! As for the vibrations of a single cylinder bike, I doubt I could have done 2 hours let alone a whole day and night ( and the journey up from Bedfordshire and I challenge anyone to climb off their smooth revving v twins and boxer Bavarians and try and do half the journey that man took (ktm's excluded I heard they were just as uncomfortable).
As for me, I could have done the trip faster even with the problems encountered, lets face it the transalps were just as quick as most if you look at the finishing orders. I had a very tall screen (that snapped in cross winds eventually, nearly decapitating me, and ending up with even more gaffer tape than vader, and that’s a lot off tape!) I had a comfy-ish seat/airhawk and could hunker down behind the screen and even have a fag as I went along I was under no stress from the wind at speed.
The reason I didn’t was simple, I stayed with my mate, he would do the same for me, so, if we were going to fail we would both fail. He suggested I go on and leave him various times, if you ask him if he would do the same he retracts the suggestion,(though to be truthful sometimes in the highlands and lowlands I could never keep up with him,it was the m roads I had advantage) so we stuck together. I suggested he finish as a pillion if the chain went again and he said he would rather go home on a truck, that was about 75 miles from the end!
So gents, if someone wants to suggest we cheated, or were helped beyond fairness or anything else, be aware of what was achieved by someone who represents the adventure rider that we all hope or claim to be…….one day.
I have travelled with this man many times now, in all weathers, and I will never see him as a cheat, only a slightly mad eccentric fearless nutter who happens to be a bloody nice bloke if you get the chance to do the same leap at it!Though lets hope your room will be available for you when you arrive at the hotel especially when you've promiosed your mate a bed for the night,and possibly a plate of food put aside though thanks for the cider whoever left them for us !! (We'd like to thank the triumph guys for allowing us to jump in their beds as they left for JOG,one still warm, many thanks.)
If there is an award for the spirit of this event or achievement it goes to him as far as I am concerned, let anyone challenge it.
Btbloke
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) and no-one in my earshot has uttered the word cheat 
.
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