A few of mine. There should have been some video footage of the two tests (during the un-timed run) but the camera wasn't too happy with the idea and shut down.
Saturday, after the first days riding. Tim, Jim, Gareth and Pete. Notice Jim is repairing Gareth's tyre, while everone else is offering encouragement.
And this is why we're here. Second lap on Sunday, after the cloud had lifted.
I'm willing to bet that this is the winner of the Multi cylinder class. Noel Fletcher's RGS 800. He can ride it a bit too.
There's a big grin under that helmet! Steve "Foolonastrom", not on his 'strom.
Concentration at the start of the first timed stage.
Bit of a queue.
A most excellent weekend! Met up with Tim, Wreford, Nathan, Pete, Jim and Gareth in the bar at the Castle on Friday night. Joined later by Rik and Claire for a drink or two, before the grumpy barman locked the door.
A little too leisurely breakfast saw Denise and I arrive at the start later than expected, and had to park a long way from the facilities. Met up with a few old friends in the signing on queue, and only just made my start time (again! Good job it wasn't a proper enduro, but then if it was more people would have race licences and the queue would be smaller!
)
The lap was 99% fire roads, with only a short stretch of muddy ruts to contend with. As ever, getting a bend wrong can be a very painful experience, but there were some places where giving the throttle a big old tweak was almost compulsory!
There aren't many places on this small island where you are allowed, nay encouraged, to behave like this, so I made the most of it.
The two timed stages were close to the end of the lap and both were on fire roads of varying surfaces. Some of the rougher bends got very slick towards the end as the loose gravel got spat off by the passage of bikes.
Halfway around the second (and last) lap of saturday, my bike died. Mainly because it was out of fuel.
Switching to reserve and cruising slowly around the liaison meant that I had enough left to blast the specials, and get back to the van. Thanks to Nathan for staying behind me just in case. I made sure there was enough fuel in for at least two laps tomorrow, then adjusted my chain before going over to "help" Jim with Gareth's puncture.
Denise tried her hand at driving with a trailer on the way back to the hotel, until we mat a 52 seat luxury coach coming the other way!
The Castle had a birthday party on that night and couldn't fit us in for food. We wandered around Llandovery until we spotted Jim, Pete and Gareth in another pub. They had just ordered and invited us to join them for a very good meal. Pity I can't remember the name of the pub though!
A much earlier start meant we were only a hundred yards from the catering van. A damp morning saw me putting my waterproof jacket on again, but the rain held off bar a few spots in the first half hour. The lap had been changed subtly, and now included a good length of Strata Florida to play in. The specials were the same though, and there was some confusion on the first lap as to whether it was timed or not. Normally the first lap is an un-timed, sighting run, but the couple in charge of the lights insisted that it was being timed.
It didn't matter to me, but it caused consternation to some people.
I was pleased with my runs through both of the tests, no glaring errors, enough "moments" to know that I was riding at the edge of my comfort zone, and no problems getting past other riders. Only once I had to back off from an over ambitious move, but it was right at the end and made little difference.
On the final lap I felt that the back end was sliding around more than usual. At first I put it down to the track becoming slippier, but then wondered if I had a puncture. Stopping and looking down, everything looked ok, so I carried on. A few minutes later and the bike is becoming a handful, so I got off and checked the tyre pressure with my foot. The wheel moved sideways.
I could spin the axle nut with my fingers.
I mustn't have tightened it back up when I adjusted the chain!
Looking forward to the results now.
Huge thanks to the organisers and officials for running the event. Roll on next year.
Mark
