Rhayder Disaster - A tale of woe. . . . .

Here it is from another angle :eek:
We call it the "piano keys" :D
You can see why
 

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Still looks ok................dry & firm solid rock with plenty of grip....should be able to trickle over that

Power up to it, rollback the throttle and rollover it with bike's momentum :nenau :nenau

Where's the problem, wet or dry :nenau

Novices take the line to the left and if you want more fun............aim for the middle where Gary's PD is parked :eek:
 
That looks so hard.

Guys, no offence but if your finding that hard going stay away from the following

Any enduro arranged by steve and the boys at Wirral off road.
Any enduro arranged by Fast eddy. especially ellsmere, or Hawkstone park.
don't off road in southern spain with the locals.
don't go out with Dirty dog and his crowd (only going by the pics but i gotta go out on the next run.)

I could understand if you guys were all on gsa's but hell a Beta and a KTM exc dude I could get one of those up the side of me house. If your new to offroading and live in the midlands you won't go far wrong givin Ady smith a call and booking in on one of his courses. Top guy, good fun day and you'll soon find yourself nailing things like that flat out in third.....

By the way guys i'm not having a go, i'm ribbin you so don't get all offended... :thumb
 
It seems there is confusion - This was my first venture in to anything more challenging than one of Fanum's fords rides.

It's a brand new bike, on which I'd only done about 60 road miles.

I'm new at this. . . . . :o :o

It's a learning curve, and I'm on it. . . . .I've got some expert tuition from a great mate and I will progress, but this was me popping my off-road cherry.

I'm fully aware I'm not any good yet, but who the hell is on their first go?

I was a little over adventurous with my first attempt, and came to an abrupt halt because I haven't mastered the basics :eek: :eek:

I think some people forget what it means to be just starting to learn :nenau :nenau :nenau
 
Cut toady some slack guys!

This ascent ....

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... is steeper than it looks, has a number of steps, slopes downhill from left to right (as well as generally being uphill) and probably had streams running down it when toady was riding up on a lardy bike with very little experience.

In the summer, I would guess that you'd piss this on a GS, but this time of year can be a little more challenging.

To quote the immortal words: "It's better to have tried and fallen off than not to have tried at all." mrTickle - Rhayader, 21 October 2006

:D

Greg
 
thetoad said:
I acknowledge that this was not the most sensible thing I've ever done, but I do believe you learn through doing.

It was intended as an introduction with some very experienced tuition along the way.

I just got way too enthusiastic way too soon, and paid a price for that :eek: :eek:

So, back to the plan . . .More tuition, more practice, more falling off etc. . :thumb :thumb
bad luck re car and return journey !
However, just remember this, NO ONE starts off as an expert!, so everyone has been through this sort of thing, and all learn the hard way, some just take a bit longer than others!
the big thing is not to be daunted but just get back out there...it is not ideal to have such a chunk of bike to learn on but do not let this put you off! Take care to ride at a pace you feel comfortable with and avoid being drawn along by more experienced/mad riders!
to prevent too much wallet pain, try to add kit to the bike to protect from future scratch/breakages, handguards you have, perhaps a engine guard...plastics can look scruffy very quickly so either invest in a set of pattern types or at least cover what you have with duct tape to minimise effects of the offs that can happen!
keep at it and you will improve skills, and enjoyment, trail riding is bloody good fun and immensely rewarding! :thumb
 
sycomoto said:
don't go out with Dirty dog and his crowd (only going by the pics but i gotta go out on the next run.)

I think you'll find that most of us will be voting for something a little less 'technical' next time if we are taking the Adventures :D

I, for one, felt lucky to get out alive :eek:
 
Next lane.

The Mountain Road as I mentioned is a perfect warm up, and to be fair it can catch the un-knowing out, the slippery bedrock section and also the off-camber tree roots.
But, a few years ago the un-knowing would of soon been in some deep do-do, as the next lane was Monks Trod.
This was a demon of a lane and it could take hours to ride if you got it right!
Nowadays it out-of-bounds with a Powys CC TRO, preventing any motorised vehicle using it.
Shame as I domiss that ride.
Timpo.
 
:clap :clap :clap Well the good news is that the bike's fixed (thanks Burt) :thumb :thumb

Handguards added, and sumpguard on order.

Off tomorrow to a local quarry for some basic skills :D :D

Can't wait :clap :thumb :clap :thumb
 
even better news

I've managed to get a full four hours of quarrys and tracks and roads in today, and not broken the bike!!!

I've managed things I certainly couldn't have a week ago, so progress is being made :thumb :thumb
 
thetoad said:
I've managed to get a full four hours of quarrys and tracks and roads in today, and not broken the bike!!!

I've managed things I certainly couldn't have a week ago, so progress is being made :thumb :thumb

:postpics
 
I always find it strange how photo's end up making tricky trails look like a walk in the park. In these 2 pictures, out of 11 people, only of us 3 made it to the top :eek: . The hills were much much steeper than the pictures make them out to be.

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This hill was actually more trickier and steeper than the one above yet looks so meager in the photo

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...and this was a monster - probably a mile long! Looks easy though...

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I guess it's to do with the perspective as there's not much else to judge scale and distance with.

Anyway, full marks to thetoad for getting out there and doing it. I know that piece of Wales quite well as I also kissed the ground in the same spot :D . It's a lot trickier than it looks :thumb
 
mrTickle said:
I always find it strange how photo's end up making tricky trails look like a walk in the park. In these 2 pictures, out of 11 people, only of us 3 made it to the top :eek: . The hills were much much steeper than the pictures make them out to be.

115511.jpg


This hill was actually more trickier and steeper than the one above yet looks so meager in the photo

115519.jpg


...and this was a monster - probably a mile long! Looks easy though...

121916.jpg


I guess it's to do with the perspective as there's not much else to judge scale and distance with.

Anyway, full marks to thetoad for getting out there and doing it. I know that piece of Wales quite well as I also kissed the ground in the same spot :D . It's a lot trickier than it looks :thumb


Gotta agree....the second pic looks like a double 'widowmaker'!! :nono :nono
 
thetoad said:
I've managed to get a full four hours of quarrys and tracks and roads in today, and not broken the bike!!!

I've managed things I certainly couldn't have a week ago, so progress is being made :thumb :thumb

Any chance you can share the location of quarries you were using for practice? I live in Gloucestershire, am also learning and on probably not the right bike (a Dakar...)

Somewhere to go practice some technique sounds awesome :bounce1

I can even bring a camera to take pics :D
 
Mav said:
Any chance you can share the location of quarries you were using for practice? I live in Gloucestershire, am also learning and on probably not the right bike (a Dakar...)

Somewhere to go practice some technique sounds awesome :bounce1

I can even bring a camera to take pics :D

Are you in the UK this Sunday morning?

I'll probably be getting in some practice. . . . .

Last week we met at 8am :eek: in Cheltenham, and then did about 3 hours of riding.

That meant that I was back home by lunchtime which kept Mrs. Toad happy :thumb :thumb

The quarries are near Cheltenham and are really accessible. A good mix of some easy stuff and some more challenging stuff (at least for me!!!)

When we arrived just after 8 we had the place to ourselves. Setup a bit of a course just to do some practice, and then played follow my leader gradually upping the difficulty.

Let me know if it's of interest.

Dan
 
toad would you mind if the rhayder dam regulars joined in for this jaunt, and if so where shall we meet you? :D
 


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