Sunday 31st January

Having got all the kit going and loaded the trailer the day before. We set off to start work on the track.

Above : A view of paddock bend.

The first job was to replace the fence around paddock bend. Back in November the wrecking crew had taken down and recycled what could be saved from this section, which was falling over (due to undermined from riders and weight of crowds leaning on it).

Above : Alan C lines up a take, while Dave P cuts the rail.

We at Sidcup have been putting up post and rail to mount our chestnut fencing on since about 2004, rather than just having chestnut fencing on stakes. We were finding that if lots if people leant on the fencing the staples ('U' shaped tacs that hold the wire between the chestnut spiels to the stakes) pinged out, thus by adding a rail of 4x2 (or 2x4 if your are old skool) on top you can secure the fencing much more effectively than we did before.

Above : Alan C with the stake with Peter Burton driving. As you can see the fencing is being set back from the track so it doesn't get undermined.

Above : As well as the fence falling down, the gate post had also broke during 2009. Here Dave P, Colin P and Alan C watch as Kaydee the dog digs the hole!

Above : Colin P operates the controls, while Alan C supervise the post with Peter Burton driving. Unfortunately this spare sleeper (from our now empty stockpile) was a bit knackered to start with and split while being thumped in - we'll be sourcing a replacement in the mean time.
Above : Peter Burton driving, Colin P at the controls and Dave P on the hammer. The fence alongside marshal point 21 (Leak's leap) was suffering from rotten stakes, thus while the track was frozen on this cold day, we got on the track and put new stakes in. While we where there, we modified the marshal post to improve access. We at Sidcup like these mini tree house style marshal posts that protect the marshals and give them greater visibility, but this older one suffered from having a handrail all the way around - making access a little challenging at times.

After Finishing (other than the gate post, and actually putting up the fencing) the paddock bend area. We moved on to Eastwood.

Above : Posts and rail up, with berm built.

We call the loop into the field behind the track (the "orchard") "Eastwood" after the local family of top level racers (Vic, Mark and Scott) who also run the local MX shop. Last winter we moved the loop lower down to try and make the corner less of a 90 degree one liner and get the track away from the wood, which shaded that section of the track almost all year round, keeping it wet and sloppy. During 2009, we found that while it was no longer wet, we had an issue with rider going into the corner and due to the soil being quiet hard, ruts were difficult to form, and fast riders (Experts & Junior A say) were riding the chestnut fence on the outside of the corner - destroying after 1 season brand new fencing! Thus we've taken down the broken fencing, recycled what we could back in November. This has enabled our earthmover to get in and build a man-made berm around the corner. We thus followed behind and placed the fence well behind the berm (which is where the fence was in 2009). This solution doesn't work on every corner we have, as on many it tend to trap rainwater running down hill, creating muddy bogs or lakes, but as you can see in the second photo, the low point is at the start of the berm under the marshal point (8).

Above : Alan C, Colin P, Dave P and Kaydee.

See you all next week.