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Hafren 2010 – once again the Hafren Rally served up a wonderful days riding. However for us (Club DB) the event is more than just the riding – it’s about having a weekend away with your mates, the laugh at the social event the night before and scenery that only Wales can supply. This year our number were slightly down from the previous two years but at least that meant we could all fit into one B&B and this was booked up well in advance. We stay in the same one every year and as soon as the date is announced I phone up and book the whole place. However there was a spare single bed left over in Tony’s room but then again not many people like sharing with Tony – something to do with him sleepwalking in the buff I believe!

the look on everyone's face when Tony asks who is going to share in his room!

Rob & Phil were to meet us at the B&B and Tony, Nicky and I traveled down together in my car. We got there about five minutes before Phil (having left two hours earlier) but then we did stop for an ‘Olympic breakfast’ along the way while being taken on a magical mystery tour, courtesy of the goggle maps on my HTC. We were hoping for good things in the quiz to be held at the social event that night. We’ve managed to come second for the last three years and this year was going to be our year! Early in the evening we all bought at least five strips of raffle tickets as well – well why wouldn’t you, seeing as we won almost all the prizes last year. I won on every single strip I bought and even the scratch card I won came up a winner too! However there was one train of thought running through the camp and that was that we shouldn’t actually win anything at all. In 2009 we’d come up trumps in the social event but the luck ran out for us on the course the next day. Numerous punctures, breakdowns and general bad luck e.g. the wind blowing the gate closed on me during ST1 made some of us think we shouldn’t win anything the night before and we didn’t ....... not a thing. Nowhere in the quiz and despite a table full of raffle tickets not one of our numbers came up. So luck would be on our side the next day then after all – and that was just as well for one member of our group (read on).

the plate of broken dreams - all our non winning raffle tickets scrunched up in disgust

We’d grown accustomed to getting wet at the Hafren but the weather forecast for this year was very promising with sun and high’ish temperatures predicted, but come 6am when we got up the sky’s actually delivered cloud and drizzle, oh well, same as always. Well not quite, the Welsh mountains had another trick up their sleeves – fog.

nice balmy day in Wales - lets race!

putting the (hafren supplied) race numbers on the bikes. Phil lovingly applying sticky stuff to his new bike

Rob's new weapon of choice. no more "toot toot" of the steam powered PBH ....
now it's a "ring a ding ding" - Gas Gas 300

Phil does his anti fog warm up dance!

Once we’d parked up we quickly off loaded the bikes to take them to scrutineering - bloody hell my bike felt weird – having been on the new Tenere for the last two weeks my ktm just felt wrong. The front end felt like it had knackered head bearings and the rear brake was in the wrong place. “I can’t race this” I thought to myself. Luckily I had the first ‘untimed’ lap to get used to the bike, but first some last minute fettling of the bike was required – as usual. I’d picked up a new light/stop/horn switch at ET James on the way up as I’d had to re-solder all the wires back onto mine. I wasn’t going to change it but as the start time started to get closer I started to fret and worry about things and I imagined the kill button wire coming lose and stranding me out on the course so I decided to swap it quickly. Then I couldn’t get the pen to write on the duct tape (for the lap times) so that stressed me even more and I got a little snappy with the photographer i.e. my girlfriend.

gives an idea of the conditions - it really was this thick. all these photos are taken without a flash so as to create the same atmosphere as on the day. a flash tends to burn away the fog but that gives a false impression of the conditions

one of the early bikes comes through

On the way up to the start of ‘Special Test 1’ I had my first scare of the day. I was riding nice and slow up the hill and around the first few corners. Just as I got near the barn there was a bit of a bank. Without realising I went straight over (down) the bank and had a ‘oh shit’ moment as the far slope was a lot steeper than usual and was made up of large rocks. Out the corner of my eye I could see people waving like mad but it was way too late for me so I hung on and hoped for the best. Phil and I made it down ok but I noticed they had put up a few packing crates on the next lap to stop riders going that way. We were waved through the first checkpoint and very thick and heavy fog was what greeted us as we started the first untimed lap. It was so bad most people were forgoing the protection of goggles but that is something I just don’t do since a tree branch split a contact lens in half on the Sarn Helen. Using double glazed anti fog lenses makes it easier but the fog was so thick it was accumulating on the outside of the goggles like rain and I was constantly wiping them. Goggle problems aside the fog was thick enough to reduce visibility right down and the track would disappear off into the gloom and then corners would jump out at you at the last minute. At this point I was feeling a bit down. There was no way I could get a quick time in these sort of conditions. I just can’t ride fast if I can’t see properly. I knew it would be the same for everyone but I get too anxious when I can’t see where I’m supposed to go and was already thinking I’d have to write off the results for this year.

Tony

phil aka scott_rider

Rob

I was also feeling a bit sorry for Nicky who had brought along her new out the box canon D7 for the event but had to deal with the gloomy conditions. She doesn’t like using a flash as it gives a false interpretation of the conditions – she likes to capture the atmosphere of the event.

rider 91

no. 46

I wobbled along behind Phil, using him as a guide through the murk. Once we got to the end of the test and Tony had caught up the three of us had a quick conflab and decided to wait for Rob at the start of ST2. Conditions were still just as bad but at least it was only a short hop to ST2. We were slightly grouped back into the correct order at the test and I was relieved to find that in amongst the trees the fog could not penetrate so I could give the bike some welly at last. Having got used to the soft power of the 660 Tenere over the last few weeks, the way the re-built 450 exploded into life once you gave it a proper tweak of the throttle was amazing – it sure does rip now, loads more grunt than a standard exc. Suddenly the bike made sense again and I charged up the tracks having a good time at last. Unfortunately the fog closed back in half way through the test but at least it was feeling comfortable on the bike again – with exception to the rear brake pedal – how the hell did I ride it like that before?

me... then phil and Tony just about to re-enter the pits area

Tony having just gone through a puddle

So we cruised back to the pits via ST3 but all the lovely views were obscured by the murk and I was riding on my own for a long time as I decide to tackle all the ‘green routes’ along the way. Green routes are tracks off the main red route that follow more challenging tracks and are great fun but can be a little difficult for inexperienced riders or competitors on bigger machinery and trail bikes. Once back at the pits/car we refueled ourselves and the bikes and generally chatted about how crap the conditions were. Nicky had made her way back down to the car as well and she reckoned it was clearing up at the top. We could see the sun trying to make an appearance but there was so much low cloud swirling around the conditions could change at a moments notice.

rider no. 2

this is how you ride an XR!

this is how you shouldn't land a bike - he made it!

Lap Two Special Test 1:

Ok this was it, from now on the special tests were timed and we had to get a move on. I waited in line and counted down the mandatory twenty seconds gap between myself and the rider in front of me. Now it was my time so I nailed the bike away from the start and lit up the rear tyre on the tar losing time straight away. Test number one starts off with a mega fast climb up a dirt road that is rutted and burmed up on most bends and a powerful bike is a big advantage here. Thankfully it was clear now but the test climbs up the hill towards the clouds and I was fully expecting the top to be shrouded in fog. Going as fast as I dare I reached the top and spotted the rider in front of me in the distance. This spurred me on and by the time we dropped into the mini mx part I was hot on his tail and took a tight line to overtake on the inside just before the table top jump. Feeling pretty please with myself I kept the pace up as the course climbed out the mx area and got on the fast stuff once more. It briefly dips down into some technical going but by and large the most part of it is power, and speed!

Tony getting a move on too

rider 91 has caught 90 and looking for a way past

Lap Two Special Test 2:

the gathering - waiting a the start of ST2

We all re-grouped at the start of ST2 where Rob and Tony got into a long discussion about where Rob could more over to let Tony past in the test. I was busy trying to remember the layout of the track and sort of remembered that it had a technical bit followed by an open part where I hoped to catch and overtake the rider in front of me before the next technical part of the test. That would take some doing though and I wasn’t too sure it could be done. I set off going like a bat out of hell and sure enough I caught the other rider, but not on the open bit as I’d hoped but in the more technical section. However he was kind enough to make some room for me and I slipped past but should have either got some cornering lessons from the before mentioned bat (or even just remembered what I did last year) as I overshot a bend a few corners later (like last year) and he nipped past again. I caught him up quickly and he again eased over going slightly wide on a bend to allow me past – thanks very much mate, you’re a star.

i just managed to snap Phil as he gets to ST 2

We had a long liaison section between ST2 and ST3 and this lap we skipped the ‘green routes’ to conserve energy for the test to come. Lots of the in between sections are fast fire roads but every now and then you get treated to a bit of technical going through the woods or cleared areas and some of the tracks have a series of natural jumps built into them. The added bonus was that we could now enjoy the riding as the fog had lifted at last and visibility was back to normal.

Lap Two Special Test 3:

Lap Two Special Test 3: this started with a tight right bend that led to a long uphill slope that was intermittently cut by drainage ditches protected by logs laid across the path. Next up was a real tight and tricky left turn followed by another tight right bend. The going was fairly open but the track was so undulating that it was hard to get up any speed as it was so easy to lose control – unless you have some top notch suspension that is, and then I suppose you could float over the bumps. Unfortunately I don’t have WEC level suspenders or the skill to fall back on so I just rode the bucking bronco as fast as I could. I caught rider 49 (me being no.50) on a bend just at the start of the second technical bit and he again eased to the outside so I could nip up the inside.

After the test we regrouped then headed off to make sure we got back in time to have a bite to eat and some more bike work (I just had to lower the rear brake lever) so we were pressing on a bit but nothing too mad. After a bit I slowed down somewhat as the rear end started to feel a little ‘lose’ so Tony took the lead. I was worried that the high speed riding was overheating the mousse as it was already a year old and fairly soft as I was running a 120 mousse inside a 140 tyre. After a while this got to really screw with my brain and I easy up more and more until I just had to stop and check it. Phil stopped to ask if I was ok and to my surprise the tyre was just fine and it was all in my mind! I had a laugh with Phil and explained to him what I thought had been wrong and how I’d just been a drama queen. With my mind at rest I set off at speed again and kept it nailed till I got back to the car…. on my own?

two riders hard at it

Pit Stop - End of Lap Two

I’d already filled the bike with fuel and was tucking into a sandwich when Rob arrived. Rob? Mmm that was strange cos by his own admission he is probably the slowest rider in the group. It could only mean someone had broken down up on the mountain. “Phil’s run off the track and gone down a steep slope” Eh? Oh shit! “He’s ok though and Tony and some marshals are with him”. So a little bit of excitement in the group and you can read all about it in Phil’s own words further down the report in the ‘second opinion’. So lady luck may have forsaken us in the social event but she was certainly looking after Phil today as he arrived back at the car looking remarkably unscathed.

By now the weather had really turned for the better and the sun was blazing down, so much so that you’d never have believed it was so crappy in the morning. Seeing as the temperature was on the rise I decided to bin the waterproof enduro jacket and resorted to just an mx shirt for the third lap. Then I broke out the helmet cam - I’d brought it with me as the forecast had been so favorable, but it had remained tucked away in the car when the sun decided to play hide ‘n seek with us. So with all the excitement at the end of the second lap we were running a little short of time and I followed Phil and Rob up to the start of special test 1. Point of note – Phil almost ran off the tar road on the way there!

Lap Three Special Test 1:

The conditions were great and I was keen to get a good fast time recorded on the cam so as soon as the metaphysical flag dropped I nailed it as hard as I could. It did nearly go all wrong at one point (three minutes in on the video) when the bike tried to throw me off on a bend. I’m not too sure what happened but I took a bend fairly fast and the next moment I was head butting the bars with my helmet and had my left hand ripped off the bars. Somehow the bike kept its feet on the ground and although I drifted wide I kept the gas on barely losing any time at all but boy it was close one.

me trying for a quick time in Lap Two ST1 - it worked!

By now I could see the rider ahead and just before the slope down into the mx area I nipped up the inside. To my surprise I could see another rider on the course and that spurred me on to try harder but it took me until the slope leaving the area to be close enough to attack. I had the power on and was closing in fast enough to pass, but the rider ahead moved slightly to the right making the gap smaller. With the speeds we were doing I wasn’t keen to take any chances so I eased off until I could move to the left and make a clean pass.

BELOW
Helmet cam film of Lap Three - Special Test 1
(The sound got corrupted somehow during the upload, so i got youtube to overdub it with music)

I was pretty please with myself that I’d managed to catch two riders and at the end of the test I pressed on to ST2 as it was such a short section and I needed a bit of a rest having pressed so hard in the test.

Lap Three Special Test 2:

lucky heather anyone?

Lap Three Special Test 2:No problems to report on as it went fine this time round as I never ran off the track after overtaking the rider in front like I did earlier, but I was blowing petty hard by the time I got to the end of the test. The test itself mostly consists of narrow paths, tracking up and down the woods and these have become dug out in time by the passage of 100’s of bikes, so the going is rough and a lot slower than the first test.

So with the second test out the way the rest of the final lap is play time so we traveled in a group popping the odd wheelie and Tony and I took the first green route we saw. I’d already done this earlier in the day and I was sitting behind Tony (but slightly to the right to avoid roost) when the mud got the better of his bikes traction and while he remained upright the bike flopped to the ground, and then got dropped again as the slippery mud played with his footing once more.

Carrying on we enjoyed ride back in the clear skies so all the views were laid out for us like a picture book, a picture book with lots of smelly bikers in though! We caught up with the other two later and while Tony pointed his bike up the steep rocky slope marked out by green arrows I paused to see if Phil was going to do it. I got the impression he wasn’t so I headed up the slope keeping a steady control of the power as spinning up can be counterproductive here. Tony was waiting at the top with mud in his eye so as soon as that was sorted we carried on going. Little did we know that Phil had indeed decided to tackle the climb but got stuck half way up – and we left him there! Oops.

end of the day - time to eat, rest, talk crap......and then face the hours & hours in the car going home

i was so convinced Phil was going to see his arse here i hovered with the camera - no luck

We got back without any further off mountain excursions (that I know of) and for once we had everything packed up and ready to go while it was still light and sunny. All that was left was the finisher’s medal presentation ceremony and we were good to go. What? You never got a medal? Oh well, it must just be us ‘special people’ then!

our finisher's medals

(phil snarls in the face of death - one life down)

yep keep on pushing it......... into the bin!
Club DB push Rob's old bus to get it started.... just what you need after a long day on the bike.
well i suppose with the old PBH gone he has to have SOMETHING to let him down on the day!!!

The journey home was surprisingly clear and trouble free for a Sunday night but drinking coffee on the way back and having to unpack all the gear woke me up so much not even a hot bath helped to put me to sleep. Got to bed gone midnight and the 4h45 alarm call was not something I’d recommend. In fact I was so tried I didn’t trust myself on the bike and climbed into the car instead – with a travel mug of coffee to keep me awake. Thank goodness I had someone to cover the shift at work cos I was bolloxed! Same again next year – oh yea!

Results are out.......
WHAT A RESULT! - I came 16th in the sportbike class! woo hoo! My best finish to date.

Times for the tests below.

50 John KTM EXC450......... 00:10:54 ....00:07:15....... 00:08:15 .......00:10:38....... 00:07:13

53 Tony KTM EXC F 250.... 00:11:52..... 00:08:26...... 00:09:26....... 00:11:46....... 00:08:08

51 Philip KTM EXC-R 449.. 00:12:35..... 00:08:10....... 00:09:51....... 00:12:30...... 00:08:20

52 Rob Gas EC 300.............. 00:15:28....... 00:10:13...... 00:12:12...... 00:15:10....... 00:10:29

See all the photos
(500 pics of riders) - email for full res copies

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Second Opinion - Report by Phil.... aka scott_rider

The annual Hafren Rally is one of my riding highlights of the year and 2010 was the 3rd time that I'd entered the event so as usual I was really looking forward to it. The rally is a great mix of fast liaison sections on gravel and rocky fire roads combined with nadgery bits through the Hafren forest with two or three timed sections per lap. On the liaison sections it's like a fast trail ride with your buddies and on the timed sections it's like a hare 'n' hounds enduro where you ride as fast as you can against the clock. The scenery is truly spectacular, the organisation by the Hafren Club is absolutely first-class, and the usual piss-taking and banter with my fellow Club DB team mates is of the highest order - all in all it really is a top day's riding and this year was to be no exception!

I set off from Aylesbury a bit earlier than previous years and left at 2pm. I headed up the M40 and A44 to Llanidloes which was a journey of about 4 hours and 185 miles. On the way I only stopped at the motorway service station at Warwick where I bought two packs of sandwiches, four apples, two flap jacks, and two bottles of water which came to an eye watering £16.80! After I'd got over the shock of that I carried on and finally arrived at the B&B at about 6.15pm much to the amazement of Redbikejohn, Nicky (RBJ's girlfriend), TwowheelsDad, and RotaxRob who were already there but who were expecting me to turn up a lot later as I usually do!

After I'd shown off my trailer reversing skills in the B&B car park we headed off into the town for the general knowledge quiz and ample buffet that is put on for the riders by the Hafren Club the night before the event. Club DB had great expectations of winning the quiz this year because in the last two years we've come second both times but this year we failed dismally and ended-up in about 6th place! Despite this 'loss', the evening was very relaxing with Club DB's conversation ranged from 'geo-thermo layers beneath the earth' to the 'male assistant at Starbucks in High Wycombe attempting to chat-up a very shocked RBJ'!

The following morning we had a scrumptious full English breakfast at 6.30am and then arrived at the Sweet Lamb Rally Complex at about 7.40am. We'd all signed on the night before so all we had to do was to go through scrutineering. As I said, the organisation by the Hafren DBC is excellent and we'd all finished scrutineering by about 8am so we had a full 90 minutes before our start times at 9.16am. Needless to say in true Club DB style we were all faffing about and only got to the start line 2 minutes before the event!

The rally itself was two-and-a-half laps of 45 miles each with three special tests per lap. The first lap was a nightmare - not because of the course but because of the visibility which was only about 50 meters at best due to the mist that was completely shrouding the mountains. Goggles were virtually useless, visibility was next to nothing, and it was a slow uneventful lap - apart from knocking out one of my contact lenses when I brushed a branch but thankfully I had a spare pair and I was able to put one back in using the wing mirror of a Saint John's Ambulance whilst we waited at a special test check.

Phil in ST 1

By the time we started lap two the mist had cleared and mid-Wales was showing off all of all of it's spectacular scenery. I was also showing off and I was giving my new 450 exc-r the berrys on the fast fire roads. Unfortunately, my bravado got the better of me and on a very fast section I suddenly saw a sharp corner with a 200 meter near vertical drop off on the other side straight down into the valley below. I'd like to say that I skillfully managed to get round the corner sideways, or that I managed to successfully brake before the corner, but unfortunately neither of those two things happened. Instead I plummeted off the side of the road straight down the drop! Needless to say, as I went over the edge I absolutely shat myself. Miraculously, I somehow managed to stay on the bike which I reckon saved me from serious injury and I came to a stop in a winded heap next to a bush and a rock about 30 meters down the ravine. Once I'd got my breath back I climbed up the side of the ravine and pulled myself up over the edge onto the fire road and laid on the gravel whilst I praised the lord for saving me from a certain death! A couple of minutes later Twowheelsdad came round the corner and immediately stopped. He said that he thought I was dead and when he looked over the edge and saw the bike laying on it's side 40 feet away he feared the worst! But there wasn't a scratch on me which was incredible, it could have be so much worse. A couple of minutes later a marshal arrived and we debated how to retrieve the bike. There was no way it was going to come back up so the only option was to go down onto a path that was about another 100 metes below. So, I pushed the bike down standing on the left hand side of it whilst it ungracefully nose dived through the undergrowth with Twowheelsdad holding onto it on the right hand side. By this time the marshal had ridden down to the path and from there we free-wheeled downhill on the single-track whilst he guided me back to re-join the course which was a couple of miles away.

So, having almost had a premature visit to the 'Pearly Gates' I decided to take it easy on lap three and apart from the special tests I cruised round at a far less frantic pace on this last lap, finishing at about 4pm having ridden about 6 full hours and covering 110 miles. All in all it was still a truly excellent day's riding and I shall be back again next year! We all packed up ready for the journey home and then RBJ suddenly produced some gold medallions for all of us! However, they were actually chocolate medallions from Starbucks...I wonder how he got those?!

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