Hafren Rally 2011

See all the photos
(800 pics of many riders - not just us) - email for full res copies

So how do you write a report nearly two months after the event took place? More to the point why would you? Well actually I had already written a rather good report, but I’m afraid that it went the same way as some of my other reports did – stolen by some crackhead when he nicked my laptop.

So the Hafren Rally 2011. For some reason Tony decided not to join in this year, sighting that he had ‘been there and done that’ enough already. Rob was nowhere to be seen but we later found out he was out of circulation for a while – in china! Phil signed up straight away which is surprising as he near enough came to a sticky end there last year, when he overshot a bend on one of those sections that you look down and think “bloody hell - I wouldn’t fancy going over the edge there!” His near death experience hadn’t put him off at all and he was well up for it again in 2011. Having bigged up the event to Steve and co so many times, Steve eventually relented and decided to come along, even though he had some serious misgivings about driving all the way home late into the night after the event. Darren on the other hand only needed one sms asking if he was up for it and I immediately received a positive confirmation back. So this year would be an even mix of two seasoned ‘rallyists’ and two rally virgins. I was well up for the event as every year I’ve managed to better my finish of the previous year. However in 2010 I came home in 16th place so I wasn’t too sure I’d be able to better that but I was sure going to try!

what the f**k are we doing here at this time? The sun's not even up yet!

Keeping up with tradition Nicky and I stopped off at a Little Thief to tuck into an Olympic Breakfast – even though I had to take a 10 mile detour, some things just shouldn’t be messed with! I spared a quick thought for Tony as I tucked into the calorie loaded wonder food. Phil, Darren, Nicky and I were all booked into the same b&b but ol’ mister late comer Steve had to book into a hotel. He’d had to go onto the ‘reserve’ list for the Hafren as he’d not gotten his entry in on time and it had filled up. Unfortunately the b&b needed confirmation before he was granted a last minute entry, so his room had to go to someone else.

the road into the venue

a scenic shot

a view of the pits. still nice and early ie empty....
the road going up the hill on the far side is the route to special test 2

Meeting up at the social event the night before (as always) we hoped for a better showing in both the pub quiz and the raffle. For the first few years we were on the top of our game in the raffle. Recently however we’d slipped a bit in the quiz standings, having dropped from a consistent top two placing, to scrapping our butts on the last place step. Not only that, but our raffle luck had gone form red hot to icy cold in the space of one year. We were dire in the quiz (again), but I was actually very proud when none of us knew the answers to the questions relating to the mind numbing soap operas on TV – then Phil spoilt it all by coming up with answers to questions the rest of us didn’t even understand. Things went a little better in the raffle this year though as I won a big box of wine gums, yay!

time to get ready

time to 'man up'.... i mean gear up

The early morning wake up was a little hard on the system but the full English with lots of tea and coffee made up for it. I like to get to the site early and this year we were blessed with fairly decent weather. Once we had all parked up and gathered round I was a bit taken back when Darren bemoaned the fact that there was no mobile phone signal, “I’m on call” he said – eh?! Good luck with that! In no time we were through scrutineering and back at the car to fully prep the bikes for the day. Times were written on tape and general checks made for the long laps ahead. When we arrived at the site I had noticed that there was tape spanned along the far side of the stream, so it looked like we’d be using that side of the valley for the event, which was new to me. I went and found one of the organisers and quizzed him about the route. He told me that they had changed the setup a little as they’d had such an increase in the entry, especially the trail bike class, no doubt thanks to the ‘big bike challenge’. So it looked like there was going to be two fairly fast ‘special tests’ for this event.

Nicky takes some early shot of riders starting earlier than us.
These guys seem to be in a hurry!

Fair play to the pair of them....are they supposed to be ridden like that ?

Nicky had taken a few scenic shots but now she set off up the hill to get to the best photography spot, which is part of the second special test down in the hollow that is known as the mini mx track, but in reality it’s just an open area with a few tiny humps and turns. The event was just getting underway but I needed one last pee-break, so I walked down to the stream in front of the car and nearly got run over by a pair of bikes! I had no idea the track was following the stream mere feet from the front of the cars.

Lap one.

Lap one is really only a sighting lap, so none of the specials are timed. This enables you to have a relaxing ride round the course and also to get a feel for the ‘specials’ for the forthcoming timed laps. The four of us set off and I took the lead. We started from the area just in front of the sheds and the track soon dropped down into the dry upper section of the stream bed, crossing the water at the bridge. Once on the other side of the river the test start point come up fairly quickly, but of course on this lap we rode on through the checkpoint.

The start of the test consisted of some quick dirt roads with the occasional off road section linking to another dirt track/road. The first of the off road bits was just after the start of the test, where it peeled off the road to the right. A couple of steep but short slopes bought us back onto a road where we headed downwards, back towards the stream. Then we angled off to the right where we looped round the whole hill and at the back we cut off the road to the right, onto another technical section. This was a track that curved back and forth, up and down before re-joining the original road. Now it was time for full throttle up the hill back towards the beginning, but there was quite a few twists and turns before then and it was all high speed stuff.

Getting to the end of the test we had to cross the stream and this time we had to go across the concrete ford, through the water. It was only a few inches deep but I was very suspicious of it as I’ve seen just how slippery these crossings can be. However much I wanted to wheelie across, I resisted the urge. We continued on upwards, towards the start of the next special test. Once you get to the top of the hill there is a few buildings and a drop-off which catches me out every time. I gave the throttle a little last minute tweak to get the front up to clear the rocks and carried on down the road and up to the start of ST2.

First lap is a sighting lap but seeing as Nicky was taking pictures.......
i speed up a bit to try and make it look good

watch out Phil ...Darren is on your tail!

Hey Darren .....Behind you! ....
Steve lurking looking for a scalp

Getting to the start of test number two we re-grouped and had a little chat while waiting in number sequence to start. In previous years we’ve just rolled thought the first two tests on lap one, but for some reason the organisers had decided to set us off in sequence in a sort of mock test. I was still conscious that this lap didn’t count but I thought I better get up to speed a little so instead of just cruising the test I took it a bit more serious and took it at speed, not ‘race speed’ but enough to get the blood going. For those that don’t know this test, the first part is made up of a very fast dirt road that winds its way around and then up and over a large hill before dropping back down into the depression that holds the mini mx track. Then you make your way back out the opposite side on a mixture of fast tracks and semi off road paths before curving over the top of the hill once more and onto a fast fire road through part of a forest on the final leg to the finishing point. This is quite a long test but it’s all straight forward with only a few tricky bits to contend with.

Steve coming in to land

Phil still holding the other two off on the way out of the mx arena

I took it fairly easy in the mx section and waved to nicky & Steve’s wife Sarah who was trying her hand at getting some action shots too. Sarah rides as well, but opted to be support crew this time round to check out the lay of the land so to speak. Who knows, maybe next time she’ll be taking part too? After the test we had another re-group and set off to the next test in formation. Soon after the second test the course dropped off the main track and compared to the previous two high speed test the following long liaison section was a welcome change. I took the lead and rode conservatively as we had plenty of time to spare, which is one for the nice things about the Hafren. Another reason for taking it easy was the dust. I’d not seen anything like it before at the Hafren as it was a complete contrast to most years. It was so bad that it became like a ‘white out’ when someone gave it full stick in front of you. Many times I just backed off as there was no point hammering along only to end up in a ditch or flying off the edge ala Phil, just because you couldn’t see which way the track went.

The going between ST 2 & ST3 is a mixture of fire roads and off piste tracks, with the occasional ‘green route’ thrown in for fun. Green routes are slightly more tricky routes that offer a challenge to the more adventurous types out there and I always like to do them on the first lap, for several reasons. One is that they won’t be in too bad a condition so early in the day, and two you have plenty of time to muck about on the first lap. Thirdly you are nice and fresh so if you do get stuck you have plenty of ‘get up and go’ to get yourself out of whatever happens to grab hold of you.

Continuing on we eventually came to the first green route and this one was new to me as I can’t ever remember it being in the rally before. The track started out a couple of feet wide but then narrowed down to a few inches, before dropping down a steep slope made up of pure rock, so I was glad that we were going down the climb and not trying to get up it. A short open section led to a moderately steep climb back up to the track proper. Nothing too tricky but a nice distraction from the high speed runs.
At about the midpoint of the course there a great little piece of track that winds its way through the conifer woods and has loads of little water runoff jumps intersecting the track. I love this bit of the course and when I was following everyone on the second lap doing a bit of filming I couldn’t help but wonder just how good it was to be out in the mountains riding with a group of mates, if only we had freedom to roam in the UK, like in other countries!

Halfway through this nice bit of track there was another green route marked out so I gave it a go on lap one, but it was a particularly nasty bit of track as it was nothing more than a tyre width rut snaking through the woods, so unless you had the balance of a circus clown you ended up paddling along like a novice. As soon as we broke cover from the wood plantation we were back onto small single track paths again and these are what really make the Hafren for me. To be honest I’d love it if the whole course was made up of these nice single track paths. The vast majority of them are just as easy to ride but there is so much less chance of a mega crash – unlike the blisteringly fast fire roads, and they are loads more fun too.

Eventually we came to my favorite‘green route’. It’s a steep climb off to the left from one of the faster sections of the main track and is very easy to miss. I stopped in time and paused long enough for us to group back up, and then I sent the 450 up into the trees to tackle the slope. At this time it hadn’t become too bad, so the bike was able to find enough grip on the slippery rocks, even though I was running a hard compound GT219 on the rear. The way to get up steep tricky climbs like this one is to keep a steady throttle without too many revs and to make sure that you have good forward momentum right from the very first section. You can’t accelerate on these climbs as more often than not you’ll spin up and go nowhere. There wasn’t anyone else on the climb so I made it to the top just fine, then paused at the top for the others to clear it. Unfortunately some of the group got cold feet and never attempted the climb, so after a short wait we carried on down through the deeply rutted tracks to get back to the main course where we once again all grouped back together.

There was one more ‘green route’ and again it started out with a steep’ish climb that had some rock slabs thrown in for good measure and it was easy to lose tractions on these parts, so while it wasn’t too difficult, you still had to be careful with the throttle to stop the rear spinning up and getting you stuck. Once at the top the going turned into a very narrow path with the occasional stick on the track to keep the concentration up. Actually this bit was so narrow that it was easy to over balance, lose momentum and end up sitting down in the saddle, struggling like a novice once more.
Eventually we got to the third special test and again we were sent off in sequential number order, so we had a while to wait before it was out time to go. I took this one a bit more serious as the next lap was going to be timed, and I had to get my race face on so to speak. It starts out with a short sharp blast then climbs up the hill on a track that has plenty to drainage pipes/logs and switchbacks to contend with. Then once we’d gained some altitude it switched back down the hill on a narrow path that had plenty of bumps that really tests your suspension if you try to go too fast. It’s easy to get out of control here if your damping isn’t set right, as you can be bounced off course by a hump just as you are recovering from the bump before.
This undulating track finishes at a fire road and you follow this flat out for a while until you turn off onto single track again. The first part of the single track is a flat path but it soon turns into a rut but I’m not sure if it’s just me or if the rut has got easier to ride, but this part can be taken faster than I remember from the past. After dipping down and through a small stream you get back out into the open. The track remains narrow but thankfully not rutted. It then makes its way down the hill even further and again there are quite a few humps that are interesting if taken at speed. Unfortunately this bit is quite narrow so it can be a bugger getting past someone should you catch them in the test. After the downhill part you once again end up on a very high speed road so it’s full throttle all the way to the end of the test, my bike (ktm 450) was running out of steam here later on in the test proper, as I kept it pinned! After ST3 it was a short ride back to the pits for a quick re-fuel, chat and to get some food inside us. We were all having a good time and while we ate I listened to a few tails of near disasters averted at the last minute – despite this being our ‘sighting lap’.

End of Lap One

Seeing as the weather was holding out I decided to pull out the helmet cam for a bit of filming. First I had to perform some DIY to Phil’s new Contour HD camera. I felt a little guilty as he’d bought the camera after I pointed them out on Amazon (the price had been reduced) and it had filled with dust within minutes on the first lap! I pulled the front apart and noticed there was no o ring between the outer glass and the inner lens. Once I had it apart I cleaned off the lens and we popped a bit of tape over the joint but I wasn’t too sure it would help as I was pretty convinced the dust was getting in at the front glass. All too soon it was time to get going again so we headed up to the start of the lap and rolled on through the beginning of the lap and up to the start of ST1.

Lap Two

Special Test 1.
I sat behind Phil on the start line and fired up the helmet cam ready for the off. I was really fired up for this and nailed it away from the start but the adrenaline took effect and I almost lost my way on some of the early bends. I got through the first section and onto the fast back track and I could see the dust left by Phil as I got closer and closer to him. I had hoped to pass him before the off road part round the back of the hill but didn’t make it in time and he was just climbing the slope as I came flying up to the turn-off. Phil was riding in the right hand side rut so I quickly switched to the left side and accelerated to overtake. Once past I switched back but then run wide onto the left part again just as I went through a small puddle. It may have been small in size but it was deceptively deep and the spray covered me from head to toe. I kept the bike flat out as we headed up the hill and I’m sure I was pulling over 80 mph at one point just before the breaking zone. I kept the speed up until the end of the test and everything seemed to have gone ok so I pressed on to the start of Special Test 2.

Helmet cam footage of the first special test on lap 2

Special Test 2.
Once again we sat about waiting for the start and eventually I was my turn. I was pretty keen on this one as I knew the layout well enough and was keen to get a good time. Pulling away from the start I’d mucked up and I’d left the bike in second or third gear so it was decidedly sluggish as I accelerated up towards the first turn. After that though I was on fire and it wasn’t long before I’d overtaken Phil on the way up the hill and I was lucky enough to have a clear run through the mx section. Once you leave the mx area you climb once more and the course alternates between fire track and narrow paths. On one section you are on a narrow bit and it sinks down into a sort of quarry like area and the surface it made up of a darker gravel. I had a massive front end scare there when the front tucked and for a moment I was convinced I was going down. The bars were almost on the deck as both wheels slid, when it suddenly gripped and the bike flipped back up straight and kept it shinny side up. That was quite a scare but the rest of the lap went smooth enough. I’m not sure if I passed any more riders at this point as I can’t remember now and I have no helmet cam footage to review – yep I’d forgotten to press record at the start of the test – doh!

Test is now for real, so time to get serious

i like this one...

this too

Darren is flying now too.......
he's already overtaken Phil - who you can see in the background

Phil is all up in the air

Steve is chasing hard too......

maybe too hard?
the back end of his bike steps out a bit when the throttle is hammered open

random shots of other rider's below

oops!

looking good
(but it nearly went pear shaped)

another one down

So now we had the nice long ride up to the third test so we set off again riding together as usual and I filmed most of the interesting bits. You can see most of the nice single track sections in the video below.

a collection of clips sowing some of the better off road and green routes of the hafren rally

I decided to do all but one of the green routes again as I now had the camera rolling so I aimed the bike up the steep slope of the most technical of the green routes and a third of the way up I noticed several bikes were stuck and going nowhere. I hadn’t been able to see this from down below or else I might not have started the climb. Not wanting to stop, as it can be tricky to get going again, I changed course and climbed out the rut onto the grass bank and overtook the stranded riders and then I could see they were waiting for another rider who was in all sorts of bother further up. Keeping to the grass for traction I sailed up to the top.
Again we had a longish wait at the third test but it’s a welcome break to take in some food (if you have it) and water, as well as catching up on the gossip of who went off track where.

Special Test 3.
During the test I caught one rider very early on and he had started in front of Phil so I think he’d oversold his ability on the entry forms. He gave me loads of room to overtake though so I didn’t lose any time, as I now had Phil set in my sights. I caught him just as we got to the bottom of the single track section and where you drop onto the first section of fire road. He knew I was there and moved over to give me room but unfortunately I was too hard on the throttle and the bike lost traction so I lost ground. At the next bend I went in tight to make the pass stick. A longish section of fire road led to another single track run and just as you dip through a stream I caught another rider and overtook him on the climb up the slope on the other side. Then we turned off this track and made our way down the hill on an even narrower track. Unfortunately I caught yet another rider and the visible track was too narrow to attempt a safe overtaking maneuver. I had to wait with gnashing teeth to get to bottom where it opened up enough for me to get past, and after that it’s a very high speed run to the end of the test.

Helmet cam footage of me overtaking FOUR riders in the third special test

Once again we stuck together for most of the remaining lap and stocked up on more food and petrol when we arrived back at the pits, i.e. our cars. By now we were absolutely covered in a thick layer of dust. Clouds of the stuff were billowing everywhere and it was too dangerous to follow one another too closely. It got in everywhere too so my nose and throat was particularly gritty.

coming in at the end of lap two, phil musty like the dust!

time to re-fuel the bikes

an time to re-fuel our bodies too!

Phil's happy face

Darren's happy face :)
(not that you can tell mind you!)

Steve look's like he's in pain!

Lap Three

On the go again. right at the beginning of the lap on the ay to SP1

Special Test 1.
In the first special Phil must have got a move on as I didn’t catch him until the long up hill on the way back. His bike has a lot of top end oomph where mine is all about hard punching out of corners so I kept up with him but couldn’t make it past until the breaking zone at the top. Once the test was over and I got to the river crossing I noticed Nicky was standing there ready to take pictures, as was Bob from Enduronews. Mmm show off by wheeling or not? I then opted for one of my party tricks by jumping up onto the seat and riding across the river standing on the bike. Apparently Bob was well impressed but Nicky gave me a telling off later on as she wanted me to wheelie across.

this is what Nicky wanted me to do

but this is what i chose to do instead
wheelie's are sooo last year darling!

Darren

Steve

Phil

Test two went well, so well I can’t remember it at all, but I do remember I took it a little easier at the spot where I nearly lost the front on the previous lap. After the second test on the third lap it was pretty much game over for the rally as the third test isn’t run on the last lap. All that was left was to make our way back to the pits. This of course meant that we could ride any old way we liked ie like fools! I hoiked the front end up at every opportunity and there was plenty of sedate cruising interspaced by wild antic lunacy as everyone relaxed on the way back to the pits. I convinced Steve to do the green routes and I led up the steep slope only to get stuck half way up! The right hand rut had taken a hammering and the rocks were spun clean so I lost grip at one point and the bike ground to a halt. This ensured that Steve and Darren also got stuck. I jumped off and began pushing like mad and slowly got the bike going again till I could jump on and ride to the top. I parked up and went back down to give Steve and Darren a hand and it wasn’t long before we were all on the go again.

Nicky spots me way off in the distance somehow

A bit of high speed lunacy and a few wheelies and we were rolling back into the pits – another Hafren Rally finished. As usual we took a while to get packed up and on the road again. Sitting on the road on the way back I tucked into wine gums and the rest of the food we’d not eaten during the event. An hour later Nicky and I, along with Steve and Sarah were sitting in a services munching on burger king’s finest. Yep it’s a long day getting home from these Welsh events, but the terrain you ride over during the event makes it all worthwhile.

Woohoo - finished 15th in the main sportsbike (ie enduro) class!!

Time to pack up and hit the road

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Darren's Second Opinion

So after reading previous reports about Phil’s mountainside adventures/rescue I thought it high time I had a crack at the Hafren! RBJ had organised everything including B&B which was great value and a bloody good breakfast to set us up for the day. I arranged to meet Phil at M40 jct 8 services on the Saturday and I could follow him and his amazing high speed trailer!! What a boring road once you leave the M5 (note to self: stop at Starbucks just before leaving M5 next year!)
Made it in time to the rugby club for free buffet and the quiz...great atmosphere and lots of alcohol being drunk. Plus the timings were all written up on a board to be copied down.

how it should be done

We all got to the rally in good time in the morning and it was filling up fast including some stonking big bikes...would love to have a go at the big bike rally sometime. Scrutineering was quick and easy and before I knew it we were off to the start of lap 1. This was my first proper timecard and so luckily RBJ provided yellow tape, permie marker, etc...things I hadn’t even thought of needing!
Well all I can say about the rally is...unbelievable! By far the best enduro type event I have done so far. The guys said ‘oh we take it easy’ between the specials...err really!! I must have missed that lap because there were many times my life flashed before my eyes until eventually I overcooked a corner and ended up down a small 6ft bank. Luckily a chap and his partner stopped to help me & Steve retrieve my bike. It took a good 10 minutes to get me and the bike back on the track (think it was no.84 and 85)...in fact I have just remembered this was actually the 1st lap on untimed special 3...what a rookie!

Darren

After 3 laps and I think about 140 odd miles we finished all together and I was completely chin strapped...oh well only a 4.5 hour drive home! Oh and I do remember the dust, dust and more dust along with some amazing scenery! Although this added to the whole adventure! Will be doing as many rallies as possible in 2012 and RBJ has already convinced me to have a crack at the Snowrun in February along with Tony! Best get some training in first though!

*********************************

The Hafren...well, what can I say again without repeating myself but this really is the highlight of my riding year! But this year it was completely different from a weather point-of-view because instead of rain and cold there was so much dust I had to pinch myself that we weren't riding in the Sahara rather than in mid-Wales!

For the event I'd bought a new helmet cam - a Contour 1080p - and I was looking forward to getting a complete lap captured on it but in fact it only lasted 14 minutes until the mahoossive dust clouds thrown up by all the riders got through the lens rim and completely fubared it! RBJ took the lens cover off it and cleaned it up for me at the end of lap one but a couple of miles later on lap 2 and it was covered in dust again which was a real bummer so I took it off and put it in my rucksack. Since then I've read elsewhere that other users have had the same problem with the Contour but other than that it's a good bit of kit and simple to use. The dust was exceptionally bad so I'll give it another try in different conditions before I decide to change it or not. As an aside, I was going to send it back to Amazon but a few days after the Hafren I took the camera out when I was on my 1050cc Speed Triple and filmed myself acting like a lunatic (which isn't big and clever I know...but it was fun) and I promptly knocked it off my helmet onto the floor as I got off the bike in my car park! So, no way is it going back to them now because it's a bit bruised and battered to say the least.

Phil

Anyway, back to the Hafren and thankfully this year I wasn't bruised and battered as I was last year when I went off the side of the mountain on one of the fast fireroad sections and got 'rescued' by one of the 'Jones enduro god family' (to whom I'm still very grateful). This year I took it a bit easier and decided to keep my wits about me at all times and I rode a bit more cautiously on the fast sections. It was a truly great race, about 45 miles per lap on fast fireroads, forest tracks, and 2 or 3 special tests per lap where we were timed. We completed 2.5 laps as per the schedule and the scenery that we rode through was simply spectacular. Yet again the 450 exc-r performed marvelously and I have to say that the bike is a complete joy to ride. It's got power everywhere, supple suspension, and it's comfy too.

Before the event I'd fitted a new heavy duty battery with a higher cranking power and that was a real bonus because whenever I stalled the bike it just sprung into life after a couple of milliseconds which is a real bonus when you're stuck in the middle of nowhere and think that you're bike isn't going to start!. Talking of cranking, I also cranked up the steering damper from position 2 on the first lap, to position 3 on the second lap and to position 5 on the final lap! At position 5 it feels as if the bars are held in a forwards direction by a block of concrete but it was really such a fast event that even that didn't feel enough at times and the bars would still take a quick flap from left to right at silly speeds as they hit a rock. And when I say silly speeds they were really quite fast this year!

Some film shot by phil
(real good until i come past at 5 min in and cover lens in dust!)

On the first special test I was pulling an indicated 80mph on an uphill section of one of the fireroads and I think RBJ has a video of the same section where he was pulling a similar speed! It was a really fast and great race. A truly top day. I rode well and even though RBJ, Stevobuild, and Darren came past me on some of the special tests like I was standing still I still gave it the berries to the best of my own ability which was really satisfying. I'm glad to say there were no mishaps this year apart from missing a left-hand turn somewhere in the depths of the forest but I realised I'd done it straightaway and soon made my way through the undergrowth and back onto the course. On the next lap I did exactly the same again but no harm done! So, another excellent long day's riding in beautiful mid-Wales accompanied by Club DB riding buddies and with the usual exemplary organisation by the Hafren DB Club. Thoroughly recommended, I can't wait for next year!

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