Lads,
Sorry it's taken me a wee while to get this post sorted but better late than never!
Well, we missed the 6pm boat on Friday evening thatnks to Crossans taking 90 minutes to change a pair of tyres and the M50 being the biggest car park in Ireland. I was really surprised to see Jochen waiting at the ferry terminal beside a big steel (closed) gate. I had been thinking on the way down that he probably had gone on and I would try and meet him the next morning.
I missed the ferry by 20 minutes and that resulted in us having to get the slower boat from Dublin 3 hours later. We eventually rolled off the boat at 1 am and headed towards a small petrol station in South Wales were we would eventually meet up with our friend Brian Turner at 7.30am. We arrived at the petrol station at 3.30pm. A four hour wait lay ahead of us and we did our best to kill the time by getting the bikes ready for the day ahead and reading the Goodyear Tye Pressure Guide!
Jochen looking like he was contemplating how to kill me for missing the boat and a nights sleep.
Well, we finally got there and I started to get very nervous about what we had got ourselves involved in. I had assumed that we would be starting at the back so we would not get in the way of the others. Nope! Jochen, I and Brian were numbers 51,52 and 53. Jochen was to start at 11.17 and Brian and I a minute later. As the time got closer, I got more aprehensive as some of the bikes there looked like they meant business.
Phil Gunn came over and settled the nerves a bit by giving us a few valuable tips for how to get through the next two days. I listened to every word and it came to be very useful indeed.
Brian and Jochen at the start/finish area.
Some of the bikes lined up before the start.
Two boys probably thinking "Thank f**k, I'm not No.51"
We started off rather sheepishly, not really knowing what to expect. It started off with a gravel section for a few miles and then took a turn through a gate into the first forest area. It ran up the side of a hill that contained a largish rut that meant that everyone behind had to wait for the person in front to come out of it and back onto a gravel section. To the right of the rut was a very steep drop. Jochen had his first two incidents on this section. I only saw the second one and I stopped to help. I was very worried how close the bike was to the edge when we lifted it back up. A queue of bikes where now lined up behind my bike when I returned to it. In my haste to get away, I broke my goggles, trying to put them on quickly.
The first special stage was not timed one lap one so people could get a feeling for it. It was around 5.5 miles long, mostly gravel but the middle section was muddy and a bit difficult for me on the big bike. I've never ridden in mud before so this was a new experience and I had already started to think how bad this section would be later today when the bikes behind me had raced through it.
Jochen went ahead of me and I had trouble keeping up with him in the gravel section. I was really tired and didn't think I was as focused as I could be about the whole thing. When we finished the first section, Jochen made some mention about reducing the tyre pressure. We both reduced the tyre pressure at that time and I never looked back. The bike handled so much better and I was able to keep up with Brian on his 660 from that moment on.
I really think Jochen is being hard on himself. No one else was there on a 1200GSA and he did half that lap at full pressure! At one stage we lost him after a challenging climb up a muddy section. We stopped and waited about half a mile up from it when a few riders stopped to tell us that our friend was stuck. We rode gingerly back in the direction of the oncoming riders and by the time we got there, some other riders had kindly helped him. The size of the bike was starting to take it out of him and he slipped off a little while later braking the aux light. The following photos are when we stopped at that moment.
A bit blurry but the bike looks the business in the mud.
We went on to finish lap one of two and due to the lack of sleep, Jochen and I informed Brian that we were going to quit for the day and try and find the B&B and get some sleep. Brian went on to complete the 2nd lap. By the time he got to the B&B, we were tucked up (about 3pm on Saturday afternoon!!!).
Two KTM Dakar style bikes having a discussion at the start/finish area on day one.
The next day, I was still tired and that coupled with the heavy rain, I wasn't the least bit interested in doing the rally. We got to the start a bit late and where told to immediately turn around and start the rally. There was no time to discuss anything or think about next moves. By the time I turned the bike around, Jochen informed me that he was going to spectate. I couldn't blame him as the day before had taken a lot out of him due to lack of sleep and the weight of the bike and the fact that we both have no real expectations of the rally before we started. I handed him my camera and shot off. I had lost Brian and was now doing the rally on my own.
I was dreading the first off road section that was up a rutted area of woodland that was flowing with water the day before. I knew that the course was to be reversed today and with the rain overnight I had been dreading this bit.
As it turned out, I had blown it all out of proportion in my mind and it was not as bad as thought. I stopped for a breather at the end of the section and Brian pulled up beside me. Happy days! No more reading the road book as Brian was very good at navigating.
Brian let me go ahead of him and I really tried to ride as fast as I could. Brian caught up with me later and made some nice comments about how I was improving.
We did the first lap and met Fiona, a participant from Day 1 who had had a bike failure and was watching her fellow friends like Phil Gunn that she had travelled from Ireland with to go to the event.
I decided that I was going to do another lap with Brian. Things were a little more difficult as the rain was a lot heavier and the muddy sections were getting cut up. The first timed section on lap two saw Brian start 20 econds ahead of me. I managed to catch and overtake him and I was so chuffed with myself. What a buzz!
It was short lived as I lost the front wheel in the mud in a corner on the second timed section. Two riders passed by and didn't stop to help. The third however did and helped me lift the bike out of the ditch and I gingerly went to end of the section where I met a puzzled Brian and Jochen.
I decided to take the rest of the lap easy as the off was a big wake up call that I had to ride this bike home the next day.
I finished the lap and decided to call it a day as the weather was getting reaaly bad and I was still tired from the lack of sleep from the few days before.
Overall, I really enjoyed the event and will be back next year to get a finishers medal. I'll make sure that I get there a day before hand so nothing is a rushed as it was this year!
Here are some photos that Jochen took using my camera of the area...
, than anything else. I managed only one lap (of two) on Sat. & none (of three) on Sunday. It started well enough on gravel tracks which I enjoyed immensely but once we got to the wet grass / mud bits it all went to sh1t. I find the bike very loose in the rear on that sort of going & that makes it very tiring, both mentally and physically. I managed to drop it twice on the second bit of muck which was only a couple of hundred yards long. Then I dropped it again near the end of a mucky bit & broke my LH aux. light 
Despite getting help to lift the bike each time I was pretty fcuked after that. 
or I'd still be there now 
Hopefully I didn't blight your w/e too much 
And to Willsuds for the loan of baffles for Errols bike and Fiona (in Gunners group) for the petrol that got Errol back to the digs on Sunday evening 
