Rydale Rally 10/11th June 2006
The Rydale forms one of the rounds for the BigBike
challenge so I hoped as a result it would be relatively
fast flowing with little bobbing through the trees
nadgery stuff that I’m bad at!
Held in Copton and Langdale Forests in North Yorkshire
we trekked up there the night before as it’s
a heck of a long way and in true LARF style had a
couple of beers to settle the old nerves ;)
Race day dawned and the weather was gorgeous (not
at all grim oop north!) straight over to scrutinnering
and leave the bikes at the start line. I was due off
at 11.07 with PaulG and TonyB, we were given time
cards to fill in to remind us what our check point
times were – I have no idea how this works!!
Off we went with a 30 mile trek through Copton Forest
and over the dales (beautiful scenery) and into langdale
for the special stages on day one.
The first lap is a sighting one and I think I’ve
said it before – it takes me an ages to remember
Brands Hatch at 1.5 miles so imagine the use of a
sighting lap for me across 20 miles!!
The trail was fantastic, a mix of fast fire roads
(where braking or the corners is interesting!) sandy
trails, bumpy godawful bone shaker trails, muddy descents
and the most awesomely HUGE puddle you’ve ever
seen in your life as the last part of the special
stage – LOVE IT!
Got round the sighting lap without too many offs
and after 5 minutes reprieve went straight into our
first “real” lap. Off across the bumps
(I’m crap at these but the standing up is getting
much better thank gawd!) down through the fire roads
(the fireroads were kicking up horrific amounts of
dust to ride though, not easy when they’re fast
and you can’t see much!), through the forest
onto the steep downhill with left hand turn at the
bottom crossing a small stream – if you forget
to turn left (which I almost did on a couple of occasions
you’re head first off the edge into the stream
bed! :eek: ) back up a steep very muddy climb that
a lot of the big bikes seemed to be having a little
problem with, and into the times stage. Go like buggery!!!
Only remembering halfway through the deeeeeeep puddle
that the faster you go the wetter you get! :D:D:D:D:D
Giggling like a loonatic I got a mouthful of the stuff
– bleeuurrggghh! And finish… that lap,
only another two to go!
By the fourth lap I was remembering a couple of the
sections and although I was definitely tiring I really
was enjoying the lap! Last stage I’d caught
up with another girl infront of me and was desperate
to get infront of her (me competitive? Noooo!) as
we came around the corner off a fire road I saw Tony
and Paul pulled over, obviously a problem but Paul
waved me on and I got my head back down racing the
other lady, backed off through the puddle this time
and she just beat me over the end of the stage line.
Mikey and Bill were there waiting for us all, told
them about Tony and Paul and we decided to wait for
a while and see whether we could help… sure
enough around they came (nutters!) but Tony was obviously
in a huge amount of pain judging from the colour of
him. A medic on the scene quickly assessed him and
Tony was carted off in an ambulance whilst someone
took his bike back.
Back to the start line Tony was desperate to get
back on his bike but took the advice from the medics
and wouldn’t be persuaded to take my bike so
I could have a ride in the army ambulance at all LL;):D
We were told it was a 30 mile ride back to the start
line, 15 on road and 15 off, oh how they lied!! Yes
it might have been 15 miles on the road but as we
got back to Copton Forest we were sent off, on what
we realized on Sunday was they second day's route
and boy by this time did it feel like a gazillion
more miles!!!
Not expecting this the tiredness overtook me, pace
fell to pieces and I struggled the whole way around,
tomorrow all of a sudden, a long days riding that
I might not have the energy for was looming and the
fear was building again! Surpsingly enough I was out
of the bar by 10,30pm having not touched a drop of
alcohol – what’s going on?!
Sunday everything hurt! But off we set an hour early,
different time card checks to contend with (nope still
haven’t got a clue how they work, jsut ride
til tehy stop you and start you again!) and a different
course. It didn’t take long to work out this
was what we’d done the night before, a totally
different kettle of fish!
Still lots of fast open fire roads, prepared against
the dust today though having reverted back to goggles
rather than glasses, lots of the fire roads were up
and down steep hills so the braking discussion we’d
had in the pub the night before helped greatly! Fantastic
grassy lanes with hard packed gravel through the trees,
short nadgery section taped off in between trees that
as the day progressed I got the hang of slowly, tight
downhill through the trees with rock boulders to go
over / around, no puddles unfortunately and a really
arse section in and around tree roots and chopped
down trees that I kept insisting on falling off on
:unfair: f'kin hurt too as more often that not I managed
to aim exactly right for landing ona tre stump! Ouch!!
Again we had a sighting lap and three “racing”
laps, I lost the boys quite quickly today though not
being able to get into it at all on the first lap
but slowly improved over the day and despite feeling
like quitting a number of times I kept going and finished
the event – wooooohooooo!
I have to admit I found the two days pretty hard
work, approximately 270 miles off road through awesome
terrain but definitely a test on stamina! The day
in the Peaks taught me how to deal with so many different
situations I'm really pleased the boys had taken the
time to take me there and I’m definitely getting
better!!
Results came through and I got 55th out of 71 bikes
in my class (sports enduros) and 87th out of the total
120 bikes. so really really pleased for my Third event!
I even beat Paul – hell I don’t have to
tell anyone that he stopped for 10 minutes with Tony
on the timed section Tony injured himself do I?!
This is one rally I’ll definitely be doing
again next year, the weather was fantastic, the course
awesome and the organization and resources second
to none – thanks hugely to Yorkshire Enduro
Club and the army guys supporting them – a brilliant
event!
OWLS Long Distance Trail, April
2nd 2006
tri•al P Pronunciation Key (tr l, tr l) n.
1. A state of pain or anguish that tests patience,
endurance, or belief: “the fiery trial through
which we pass” (Abraham Lincoln).
2. A trying, troublesome, or annoying person or thing:
The child was a trial to his parents.
3. A preliminary competition or test to determine
qualifications, as in a sport
In this instance the “T” in “LDT”
definitely stood for “A state of pain or anguish
that tests patience, endurance and belief”!
(Although some of the lads might argue I was number
2 ;))
Turning up in a muddy field at 8am on Sunday morning
following a night of fine foods and plentiful alcohol
with 5 others of the LARF crew and some of the Kent
boys sounded like such a good idea… in the planning
weeks ago!
Still it was dry as we unloaded our bikes, scrutineered
and signed on even though it was very apparent how
much it’d been raining last night.
Having failed miserably at even finding the hotel
last night, I took one look at my road book (A series
of boxes with arrows, distances and junctions “marked”)
and decided that I’d follow the boys!!
I was supposed to be setting off with Araf one of
the Kent boys but still had some last minute fixes
to do to my new KTM, namely change the blown fuse
that was stopping me from using the magic button.
I missed my start time so pottered off behind Ian
T-B (who roosted me off the start line the *****er!)
and stopped around the corner to wait for the rest
of the team.
The first 20 minutes was all road work, nice easy
pace with Virge getting used to the road book, onto
a lane that was heavily rutted with thick gloopy mud
and my first off of the day, oh and second one within
about 10 m! We had the first two special stages on
these ruts, the main idea is to have a lovely gentle
ride out on the byways and “pass” special
tests by not putting your feet down around the obstacles
whilst riding in between gates.
First special I think I dabbed numerous times but
go through without crashing so that should be 3 points,
the second one, slightly easier I managed most of
the way through without a dab until the last bit so
gassed it hoping my foot would go down after the end
of the stage – think I was lucky!
Next couple of lanes were a little dryer and less
rutted with a couple more sections coming off the
main route, up over a bank, around a tree and back
down type thing, needless to say lots of dabs, one
fail (5 points) as I fell off at the top of a hill,
I’m still not sure that I should be finding
falling off quite so funny – the marshals seem
a bit baffled by it! We then had a special stage with
our engines off, down hill with a couple of left and
right turns ending up with a section you couldn’t
put your feet down on and a “line” you
have to cross to clear the stage. Again I think I
just made it without a point! Woohoo 2 out of about
8 cleared.
From then on in the lanes seemed to get much tougher
with lots of deep ruts, very wet snotty mud and some
HUGE puddles. Now I love puddles and usually fell
off in them, these were that deep though that they
were coming up to mid thigh when standing up *eek*.
Unknown to me you’re supposed to gun the bike
and keep the revs up high to stop them stalling, first
one through and the bike cut out, magic button wasn’t
firing the engine back up so Ian and Tony came to
the rescue and helped me drag it out.
I really wish we had some pics of these lanes, seriously
they were sooooooo muddy and rutted and deep with
water. We all set off again after going through a
gate to have half a mile of nice trails before the
ruts and deep water came again, I just had time to
see Ian walking back towards me as I hit the deep
water around a corner to realize, as my engine cut
out, that he was coming to tell me to keep the revs
up!! Doh!
I was starting to find it all a little tough now
but determined to carry on (that and the fact I didn’t
have a clue where I was anyway!) I managed the last
few specials with lots of dabs but hopefully no fails
and was relieved to see the entrance back to the start
/ finish line appearing in the distance!! Woohooo
we’ve finished – what’s that? We
have to do one final test that’s times to sort
out any point ties? Oh arse!!
Last special was an open field with a basically a
rectangle marked out across the wet grass, with a
half log to go over then come straight back over on
the way down and three full logs in a Z shape on the
way back. Second from last to try it out of the LARG
crew I watched trying to get some tips on how to handle
these things – LOL no one did it the same way!
It ranged from total Banzai (Slick!) to 3 point turns
(Ian), all I knew was I had to keep the speed up as
I approached the Z, 5m away from the finish line.
Vroom vroom, over the first half log, didn’t
take it wide enough and had to jump off he bike to
turn it around to get over the second, haring off
down the field around the bottom corners hanging on
for dear life, eyes closed, to approach the Z logs
– screaming! *embarrassed* Managed to get over
the first two and think I must have hit the third
at a slight angle – I went flying off the bike
and landed with a bump on my head! Sat up a little
dazed to find one of the guys had picked up my bike
and was holding it expectedly for me to ride the last
4 m to the finish – do I have to?! Managed to
swing my leg over, hit the magic buttom, poot poot
poot to the finish line – thank goodness!!
All in all we’d ridden about 90 miles (doesn’t
sound much does it?!), (road book logged 84 I think
but we had a couple of detours!) the roads were fantastically
twisty, managed to back it in to one corner (unfortunately
cannot take any credit whatsoever for that!) and lots
and lots and lots of mud, 8 crashes, 12 special stages,
2 cleared and mud everywhere – trust me I mean
EVERYWHERE *eek*
But even though I really did find it a battle of
endurance and incredibly testing I feel I’ve
learnt a few more things, I certainly had a fantastic
laugh and as always would like to thank all the LARF
crew for their patience, help and encouragement and
roosting *Bstids!* and of course the Kent boys and
Rich for showing us around and generally being fab
hosts!
PJM Memorial Rally - loosing
my cherry! 11th & 12th February 2006
________________________________________
What a totally awesome event!
This was my first ever race type thing and working
out on my way up there that best case scenario I've
only ever ridden off road 10 times previously I wondered
if perhaps I was running before I could walk!
Arrived in Wales on friday night and managed to crush
my hand between my trailer hitch and the car Not a
great start to the weekend as it started to swell
and bruising came out on the palm and across my knuckles.
Saturday dawned and as we were eating breakfast it
started to snow Fortunately what little settled disappeared
pretty quickly and we had the most beautiful sunny
day, perfect riding conditions as it was cold enough
to not overheat on the special stages, got my hadn
strapped up and off we went!
First lap was about 30 miles sighting lap with 2
special stages, the first one rutted climbs and descents
with some steps thrown in Fell off once coming down,
back onto the fire roads and through some really gloopy
muddy trails (fell off again!), a few rocky climbs
and a couple more descents thrown in lead us to the
second special stage, through the woods with loads
of little whoops and puddles - fantastic Out of there
and on back down the fire roads to the pits for a
quick refuel and back out for our times lap. The fire
roads are really odd to ride, they're basically mainly
compacted gravel so you cn get a fair bit of speed
up, what you need to remember is the really tight
turns along the way LOL!
Determined not to come off in the special stage I
took the down hill more carefully then eager to catch
back the time I gunned it getting back onto the fire
road at the bottom and fell off! Arse!! Side stand,
re start and damn me I have soooooo got to make up
the time so legged it up and down the fore roads til
the second special. Made it through with no more offs,
second special was soooo cool I was giggling and shouting
through my lid enjoying it so much, as I rounded the
corner I was greeted by about 6 of our team all taking
piccies, hope to gawd they didn't hear me The end
of day one, more of the same plus some harder bits
to look forward to tomorrow!
Saturday night was spent having some medicinal drinks
in the bar with all the guys (17 of us in total in
the LARF team ) getting advice on how to tackle some
of the trails I'd not had previous experience of and
getting wound up about the infamous Shaley (sp?) climb
Sunday dawned and it was raining, the gazebos had
all been blown apart and broken over night which was
a bit of a bugger. Started at 10.30 with our first
sighting lap, the other way around the course this
time with extra sections and specials thrown in.
First special was fine, uppy / downy nice tracks,
second special was part of the whoop run we'd done
the day before but with even more parts to it, fantastic
Back up the fire roads to the Shaley Climb Fortunately
there was an alternative route for novices, I'm not
ashamed to say I took that one instead!! Thinking
I'd been jammy enough to miss out the trickiest bit
we came to a section with a marshal only letting one
bike through at a time. As my turn approached I looked
down through the 2' break in the trees to see the
darkest, steeped muddy descent I've even seen in my
life, through the trees with ruts to follow You can
imagine what I said to him!
No worries, they'd taught me about this last night,
gently hold the front brake on as you go over the
lip and let first gear and the front brake do the
braking for you, over I went.... FOOOOOOOOOOOK! No
front brake, faster and faster and FASTER (whoever
said accelerating down hills was a buzz is a very
sick man!!) I had absolutely no way to slow down and
thought as it leveled out a little, this is ok I can
do this I CAN DO THIS! as I hit a tree and stopped
LOL! Bike flew one way, I flew another and all I heard
from the top was (You ok?!) LOL. Hope they didn't
hear my language!
Unfortuantely I couldn't get the bike up on my own
as it had ended up a bank so the marshal came down
to help me, team mates whizzed past with the inevitable
"'AVE IT!" comments (Fekkers! ) the same
marshal discovered that I'd lost the use of the front
brake so he showed me how to get down the rest of
the hill with the engine off using the clutch as a
brake Got through most of it til it speeded up again
at the bottom and I managed to bump start it by using
the clutch LOL, bit of a heart topping moment as I
rapidly caught the people in front of me without any
control over my bike but managed to miss them!!! Quick
inspection at the bottom showed no obvious problems,
tried to warm it up a little thinking it was covered
in crap but that didn't work so I bimbled back to
the pits.
Couple of the lads had another look when we got back
but it seemed to have dropped the fluid and spread
it around the disk so I called it a day, I'm not brave
/ skilled enough to have carried on without it!
So unfortuantley my first race I DNF'd which is a
bit of a shame, I really wanted to finish, even if
it was last but it wasn't to be!
I did learn so much though, loads new terrain I've
not come across before which was fab and look forward
to heading up to the Peaks with the guys so they can
show me the really scary stuff!
Think I'll throw me and the bike off a couple of
cliffs to prepare for that rideout
It may be some time til my secnd race report LOL!
PS Apologies for the typos, my hand is hurting LOL
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