See extra photos of the event.

It was back in the earlier part of the year and I was looking at the Easter holiday dates hoping to incorporate a race into the time off work. I hatched a plan to enter a race near my mum and sister in Hereford, so they could come and watch me take part. I scanned the ‘events’ section on www.enduronews.co.uk and ‘Pit Stop’ on the TBM forum and on one of those I found out about the Snow Enduro being re-run on the Easter Sunday. This sounded promising so I sent of an email and ended up with an entry but didn’t really know much about the event other than it fitted in with my Easter holiday plans.

A few niggly little doubts started to wave a red flag when no one else on the few forums I post on were doing the event. Mmm what had I got myself into I thought? Someone did eventually post on the tread that I would have a great time and although it would be tougher than a normal southern counties H&H, it would still be do’able. Well he wasn’t wrong – I had a fantastic time!

Having decided to stay over at my mum’s place on the Sunday night after the event, (driving home from the Hafren was bad enough), Tony backed out as he’d have difficulty in getting the extra time off from the head of the household ;)
I toyed with the idea of sleeping over in Brecon at the B&B we’ve used in the past, but opted to get up early and drive over from Hereford instead. After a very fitful night with hardly any sleep (I kept on thinking someone was after the bike) I dragged myself out of bed at 5am and we set off for Llandovery at 6am.

the early morning mist and sunlight made for an interesting pic

Finding the venue was easy enough and although the sun was already out the air was cold and it made for a chilly unpacking of the bike and gear. I took the KTM450 up to the scrutiners straight away and promptly failed as the ‘stroke’ wasn’t written on the engine cases! Ok back to the car only to find my marker pen missing. Normal pens were no good and no one else appeared to have one at hand. Nicky dug out a pencil that worked but I then realised that they wanted the ‘bore & stroke’ measurements (not just the 4T or 2T – hey this is all new to me – I need an idiots guide, not all the gobbly gook in the ACU handbook). Ok so now I needed to walk around looking for another 450 ktm which wasn’t that easy as nearly the entire field was made up of 2T dirt bikes. Eventually I found one in the pits and the owner had a marker pen in his pocket - result! But he didn’t know the dimensions either and had guessed them, so I copied his and that was that, I got through ok. Incidentally when I went through I told the (different) scrutiner that I’d already been checked and just needed the bore and stroke and he replied “oh not to worry - we don’t have a noise test today”??!!!

through scrutiny and into the pits - time to relax for a while

Sorting out the times was the next issue to deal with. The only other time card event that I’d done already had our times worked out, but this time I needed to do it myself. Cue copying off a friendly competitor’s wife, who was starting at the same time as me! I then handed it over to Nicky to double check and she found a mistake so I popped back to the others to inform them but they had already spotted it and had been looking for me to let me know. Just as well I had the help, as by now my nerves were getting the better of me and I didn’t feel like trying to work out the hours and minutes. Once all that was sorted it was time to relax a bit. I asked one of the marshals if there was a good spot for Nicky to take photos from and he told us about the small water splash or ‘puddle’ that was just down the road. ‘But most people go round it now-a-days” he said so I made a mental note of that one.

the "puddle"

it can turn out deep!

Waiting for our start time I casually asked one of the guys what the terrain was like. “Last year I hour’ed out due to the condition – but this year it should be ok” was the reply. Mmm that didn’t help the butterflies! Being number 139 I started fairly late and we left the start area up a short rocky slope then followed a fire road for a short distance, turning right up a slightly longer slope that was already rutted and very soft under the wheels, with roots starting to show. I made it ok, but did wonder what the rest of the lap was going to be like. As soon as we got to the top we were off on the fire roads again until we got to the puddle mentioned earlier. Looking at the water and the mush on either side I opted to swing to the far right and edged round on a dryish line. This earned me a bollocking off Nicky later on for not giving her any goods photo ops, but I think having dry gloves and clean goggles are a priority at the start of a race!

some were just in a hurry to get wet!

The road turned from a smooth fire road into one with frequent rocky patches and protruding lumps of rock that could catch you out and pinch puncture a tube, so I was very glad of the mousses even though the front was too soft by now and klonked through to the rim several times, nearly pitching me off on one occasion. I’m not sure in what sequence the following came, as we only did three laps and it was all new to me so I’ll describe it as best I can. We continued to head away form the start area and even joined onto the tar road briefly at one point. Turning off the road into a carpark at a picnic spot (!) we hammered off down the hill on a track, before climbing back into the forest again. At some point we got to the first of several very steep slopes. Having never gone down such a steep gradient before it was a bit of an eye popper with both wheels locked and trying to steer between the deciduous trees as we weaved down on the narrow single track path. This opened up and flattened out onto a small footpath like track which in turn joined another rocky road.

More fast tracks (?) and somewhere along the way we came to an even steeper hill that was in the fir trees. The reason I mention the type of trees is that the fir trees coat the entire forest floor in needles and branches. These are very soft and cut down into some pretty evil ruts with exposed roots to die for (if you like that sort of thing!). Anyway the first part had a nice rock slab that caught me out and made the bike shoot forward as both wheels skidded across it, before gripping just in time to make the turn. A few more fast roads interspaced with more technical off road bits eventually led to the ‘Special Test’ section. This was run through the fir tree woods and was badly cut up by the time we got to it. As it weaved backwards and forwards beneath the trees I was a case of keeping up your momentum and picking good lines through the ruts, roots and fallen branches while still hanging onto the bike on the few slopes (both up and down) that were added for extra affect. On more than one occasion I was very grateful that I’d fitted a new seat cover to the bike, as I didn’t slide back down the seat while bouncing the bike over obstacles and footing the bike at the same time. Thanks Tony for pointing out the fact the old one was worn out – sometimes you just don’t notice something is wrong with your own bike as you just get used to it. Breaking out into the sunshine I breathed a sigh of relief that it was over – but then noticed it carried on into the trees again! Luckily it was only a short run.

how to stay dry.......
(i love the reflection in the water!)

and how not too!

Breathing a fair bit harder now I carried on. Looking back now I can only remember bits and pieces. Like the small drop down that lean to a small little wooden bridge. On the other side it had cut up into a horrible bog. Luckily I went to the right and sailed through. On my second lap I forgot, but when faced with the bog I managed to stop and peddle backwards far enough to allow me to jump out the rut I was in and clear it again on the right. Another point of note was the steepest slope of all that got so rutted the footpegs started cutting their own larger rut into the soil. Although this one was difficult due to the fact that you couldn’t use the back brake it wasn’t as bad as the one with the rock drop-off at the beginning. I made it fine the first time but managed to miss it on the second and third lap by sticking to the right hand side. By now I was thinking that all this downhill stuff must end at some point and we’ll have to start going back up again. I must admit I was a little worried it was going to be the same sort of hills and I had visions of me pushing the bike up them until one of us popped a gasket!

I got to the first checkpoint with a few minutes to spare, not even realising it was only half way round the lap! I asked one of the other guys why we stopped at this one and not the other spot and they were kind enough not to poke fun at the fact we were still only half way round the course! The second half went fine and it was again made up of short sections of fast roads, more technical climbs on tracks and a few forest runs through the ruts. We came out into some sort of quarry at one point and then blasted up a nice little bank of shale before being greeted by more ruts that had cut deep into the soft forest floor. Only bit I wasn’t enjoying too much was one of the last sections through the forest. This went on for a while and was (of course) cut up into some fairly good ruts. Being fairly narrow ruts I ended up sitting down most of the time with my legs out and by the time I got out of that my legs were killing me and I was breathing hard from the effort (probably holding my breath going over all the fallen branches and roots).

me .... making sure i stayed dry

I got back to the pits with time to spare and re-fuelled the bike which seams to becoming a lot thirstier lately. I quick hot cross bun and I lined back up for the second lap, starting the helmet cam up at the same time. Again no problems to speak of on this lap but I did tip off in a rut during the special test which was annoying but didn’t lose too much time. Being an enduro and not a H&H there didn’t seem to be much point in overtaking slower riders on the laps as there was nothing to gain from it. The whole event was going to be decided on the timed ‘special tests’ and baring a mishap I knew I could make the check points on time. I had expected the times for the second lap to be dropped but we were allowed the same amount so arrived at the first checkpoint well within time.

Riding back to the start on the second half of the lap some of the championship guys started coming past. I kept an eye out for them after the first one came by and moved over while pointing with my leg which way they should pass. One rider caught me up on a fast section of road and as I moved over he came flying past just at a bend. He was completely sideways with front and rear locked up going straight on. “Shit he’s not going to make that and I’m going to have to stop to see if he’s going to be ok” went through my mind just before he dropped down into the drainage ditch – using the graded waste as a natural berm to fire the bike around the bend and away! Impressive and hopefully caught on the helmet cam. Pulling into the pits again I had more than ten minutes to spare and Nicky was there to help out. I asked her to get my other helmet and camelpack so I could dump the heavy film setup and concentrate on riding. I topped up the fuel again while downing a relentless energy drink and half a pork pie.

me leaving the pits with a fresh helmet and camelpack - minus helmet cam

I felt much more relaxed on the third and final lap. Any doubts about the course had gone and I was riding with more confidence and the speed crept up even though the time allowance on this lap were slackened off to allow more time to complete the sections. I began to catch some of the earlier riders now and worked my way past when I could. The timed special could have gone better. I had to change lines in the ruts as there was a stuck rider and I managed to get the rear wheel stuck on a root so had to pick the back end out of the rut to continue. The rest of the final lap went well and I was really enjoying the event now but that last rutted section of woods was killing my legs. The ruts were so narrow that it was hard to stand up so I ended up skiing along with my legs out bumping over roots and fighting the front end, my legs felt like lead after that.

Rolling into the pits with loads of time left we were allowed to clock out early and were each presented with a lovely little ‘finishers’ award in its own small display case. A nice touch and finish to a good days riding. One of the only disappointments of the day was discovering that the camera setup only recorded sound! To say I was gutted was an understatement. I was looking forward to showing it to my mates and putting it onto youtube to show you how it compares to one of our home races. I think it’s about time I upgraded to a purpose made recording device and dumped the camcorder setup. I so disappointed I haven’t check to see if it’s the camera, leads or the camcorder yet.

The results were out the next day (?) and I managed to finish more or less mid pack in the clubman class. Not great but then the level of rider is higher in this race. Also it was impossible to make up time or places anywhere due to the good riding conditions make the times slack.

Would I do it again? In April you bet – in full on winter like it’s normally done? I’m not so sure about that as riding is supposed to be enjoyable in my mind and battling through atrocious conditions in the depths of a Welsh winter might not be my sort of thing. However if I can convince some of the other Club DB guys to come along I might just do it!
Just checked the bloody helmet cam and all of a sudden it’s working fine! No idea what was faulty so I’ll give it another go this weekend at Lane End in the CHEC series.

Extra photos of the event.

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