First time on the dirt. a quick ride to clear my mind.

After a not too wonderful week I was keen to get out for a ride this morning and looked forward to some sunny weather to go with it. Unfortunately I was greeted by a drizzly cloudy sky and while I�ve commuted in all types of weather the last two months I wasn�t keen to ride for fun in the wet.
I moped about the house then set to work on the ktm for a while, installing some new race jetting.



Come the afternoon and the sun was finally out so I got dressed and headed out �for an hour or so�. Not really sure where I was going I cruised around aimlessly until I decided to head over to my old trail riding area � the downs near Blewbury. I should have been racing there the day before on Saturday but the universe had other ideas, RIP mum.



Getting near the track I decided to see how the Tenere would handle the dirt track heading up to the track at Ashdown Farm. All seemed ok but I took it nice and easy, standing up and rolled through the two large muddy puddles carefully. Once at the top the setting sun lit up the landscape and lifted my spirits slightly so I thought �sod it� and carried on up the track until I hit the byway at the junction.



Here I stopped for a few pics and to take in some more scenery. Now safely on the byway network I headed off up the hill with a little trepidation as the clay can get pretty lethal when wet and I had standard tyres on that are only fit for road work. To my surprise the trail were nearly all dry and the Ten coped more than well enough.

Heading off down another byway I was eventually blocked by a fallen tree. Manoeuvring a 190kg bike in a narrow track on a slope isn�t all that easy but thankfully it all went fine.
Once back to the original junction I set of down the hill to get back to the tar road. A deep and muddy part did not look very inviting to the road biased tyres so I got the front out the rut in time but the rear wasn�t having any of it and continued on in the rut until the bike was 90� deg to the track. Well at least the rear grab handle makes a good lifting point to heave it out. The little bit of lifting and the added excitement of the now damp clay track had the blood pressure climbing, which in turn caused the road bike clothing to overheat me in no time at all.

I quick blast down the M40 and home to dinner.

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