Mad Cow Racing

I'm still bored!!!!!

2012-01-18T14:52:00.000-08:00

Well where do I start?
Having been sat here for several weeks now waiting for my leg to heal, there's not much to report so I thought I'd update you on the bike preparation, or at least what little I'm able to do.

As mentioned I got the new wheels and the intention is to keep these as race wheels to preserve the tyres as off road tyres don't last long when trail riding due to the amount of tarmac miles you end up doing.

These will be fitted with a Maxxis Cross enduro tyre on the front as I have already been using and as I need a new rear tyre, this will most probably be a Mitas C02 road legal motocross tyre, which is very popular in Rally Racing.
The spare wheels will be fitted with the Pirelli MT21 rallycross' that came fitted on the new wheels, I also have another nearly new set of these that were fitted to the bike when I bought it, so that will keep me in trail tyres for some time to come. The Pirellis are not my first choice but as I already have them it would be daft not to make use of them.

The 260mm disc currently fitted on the front "race" wheel will be fitted to the "trail" wheel and that means I need another disc. Ebay came to the rescue and instead of spending £88 on a new disc from CCM, I obtained a very nice stainless steel "wave" disc from Race discs for only £29.98

I was quite amused to see that it turned up in what seems to be a pizza box!

I'm currently investigating how to improve the bikes lighting, either by utilising some existing lights that I originally used on my mountain bike or going for a "bought in" solution from Trail Tech. This is due to the Sprint Rally in April having a "night stage" and the current headlight is truly abysmal.

I did some experimenting a couple of years ago with the MTB lights, these are a 10 watt and 30 watt halogen lamps and as you can see make quite a difference...

View from the garage with the standard headlight:

And now the view with the 30 watt light added!

It's just a matter of fabricating some mounting brackets and working out the wiring but that will have to wait until the leg is better.

Regarding the leg, I'm still waiting for an MRI scan to determine at long last whether the tibia is in fact broken and hopefully identify any other damage if not. Then I can get on with the lengthy process of getting it sorted.

I'm Bored!!!!!

2011-12-27T06:49:00.000-08:00

Currently sitting here slowly going crazy with boredom! So I thought I'd update my blog but was wondering what to write? Turns out I had more than I realised!

I'm keeping myself amused watching videos of the Dakar Rally for inspiration and wondering how long it's going to take me to get back on a bike. This is my favourite so far

The UK Rally season doesn't start until the new BBRC Sprint Rally at the Sweet Lamb Rally Centre near Llangurig in Wales on Sunday 22nd April, so I've got a bit of time yet!

I have reserved a place on a BBRC training course on the last weekend of March so that's currently my target. I suppose I'll know more after I've been back to the fracture clinic tomorrow!

I've been acquiring a few bits for the bike to get it ready for the new season, including a spare set of wheels (newer and in better condition that my existing ones), they also came with the correct sized 260mm off road front disc brake and the corresponding brake caliper mounting bracket required. Until now I have been running with a 320mm supermoto disc on my trail wheels which has made the brakes very grabby and to be honest over braked for racing,

I have also picked up a new silencer for the bike, the CCM runs best with the competition can fitted and it currently has the carburettor jetted for it but it's just too loud for race use (94db noise limit) so I have to run with the standard can in place. However when I last attempted to re-jet the carb for it, I managed to run the engine too lean and it overheated causing the piston to seize in the bore. This resulted in a second hand replacement engine! As a result when I rebuilt it I stuck with the bigger jets/needle settings so it doesn't run as cleanly as it should.

After a bit of research on the CCM Riders forum, I came up with the solution. Several owners are using the silencer from a 2001 Suzuki GSXR1000K1 with an adaptor to fit it to the CCM exhaust pipe. This is free flowing enough to allow the bike to run with the bigger jets and gain a useful power boost but being designed for a larger four cylinder and higher revving bike is sufficiently silenced. The other advantage is the silencer is made from Titanium so also represents a significant weight saving over the standard can.

The problem is that whilst you can pick these silencers up on eBay for not much money, the guy making the adaptors is no longer a member of the CCM forum.

One member of the forum was breaking his bike and selling off a GSXR silencer with adaptor, I contacted him only discover two other people had already expressed an interest but he mentioned his brother had sold his CCM so was sellng off various bits he had left, including a GSXR silencer.

So after contacting him, I discovered he also had the wheels for sale, including discs, sprocket, spacers, tyres and tubes so a deal was done for them and the GSXR can and he delivered last Friday evening.

Unfortunately I am in no position to even get out to the garage at the moment, so apart from a quick look when he turned up I can't even think about fitting them, so another job to go on the list for preparing the bike for the 2012 season.

Oh well back to my Dakar fantasies.... only five days to go to this years race!

Sh*t Happens!

2011-12-20T01:57:00.000-08:00

Well what a couple of weeks I've had!

Things started OK the week before, when I was officiating at a Mountain Bike Race at Thetford Forest. I rode up on the CCM and took a bit more time, plotting a route that stayed on minor roads all the way, with even a couple of green lanes thrown in on the way.

Once on site, I was able to do my course inspection on the bike and once again got asked to sweep the course at the end of the 4 hour race. All great training for rallying and keeping me "bike fit", the ride home on the back roads was fun if very cold!!! And I really must sort out better lights, the standard 35watt headlight really is woeful.

The following weekend I decided to go out green laning, despite the weather being very cold and icy. All went well with the lanes quiet and in good condition.

After an hour or so it was getting pretty cold and a coffee stop was the order of the day. I rode up what must be the strangest Byway I know in the Ashridge Forest, for a start it is tarmac and a dead end leading only to the National Trust Visitors Centre and (most importantly) Tea Shop. It is also the only byway I know with a night time Traffic Regulation Order (TRO). Now most TROs are permanent or seasonal i.e. Winter only but this one comes into force at dusk every day and is enforced by locking the gate, now most people would assume that to be a private drive rather than a public right of way but it is recorded as such on the Hertfordshire Definitive Map, as I said... strange!

Heading for home, I rode the excellent Nortonstreet Lane near Whitwell. After the loose stony climb from the village I rode the flat section at the top, breaking the ice on the puddles as I went. Exiting the lane I headed the short distance to what was to be my last lane of the day when disaster struck!

Heading into a junction near Easthall, I noticed the puddles at the side of the road were still frozen so backed off the throttle accordingly....... too late!

The back wheel snapped round to the left on what I later discovered to be black ice, my off road racing experience kicked in automatically (much to my surprise) and I stood up on the footpegs, applied opposite lock and cracked open the throttle much as I would on loose surfaces when the back wheel loses traction. Amazingly this worked for a millisecond and the back wheel came back into line but still being on ice, it just continued sliding to the right.

By now I was across to the right hand side of the road and the back tyre hit the grass verge. Of course this meant the back tyre now had grip whereas the front was still on the ice covered tarmac and the bike immediately decided to try and spin round and the front tyre let go. At this point I hit the deck on my right, I know this as I was covered in mud all down my right hand side and had the wind knocked out of me, even though I don't really remember this bit.

The bike wasn't finished yet and now flipped to the left and in trying to catch it, I put my left leg out. Big mistake, the bike immediately rotated round my knee and then dumped me on the road, with the bike landing on the inside of my knee. Although by now I was only travelling at walking pace it still hurt a lot!

You can see in the picture where the the back wheel tried to get grip on the grass verge and the scrapes on the road from the left handlebar and clutch lever. After picking the bike up (and swearing a lot) I was amazed to see the only damage to the bike was a scraped left hand guard and a broken clutch lever. Neither was there any sign of significant damage to my riding gear, just a few minor scuffs and lots of mud! My left knee on the other hand was very sore.

I'm not sure the clutch lever should point that way!

Afterwards there followed a rather painful ride home with a very sore knee and having to make clutchless gear changes, crossing Stevenage through the Saturday afternoon traffic was fun!

Once home I did all the right things, elevated the leg, applied ice and rested it but by monday morning it was clear that something wasn't right and a trip to A&E was in order.

Well the initial verdict was a non displaced fracture of the left tibial plateau. Now the non displaced bit was the one bit of good news in all this. The A&E Consultant told me that had the bone displaced, it would require an immediate operation to screw it back in place but this would almost certainly guarantee arthritis in the knee. The alternative as he put it was "my knee never working properly again". He was a cheery sort... not! I was duly slapped into a "back slab" temporary cast and an appointment for fracture clinic arranged for the Wednesday.

A bit of research on-line discovered that this type of fracture usually results in a plaster cast for a minimum of six weeks and no weight bearing on the joint for at least twelve weeks.... deep joy!

On the Wednesday I returned to hospital and saw an Orthopaedic Registrar who was not convinced that the bone was broken, although the level of pain and it's location wasn't consistent with the alternative diagnosis of ligament damage and indeed was more like what he would expect from a break. After more x-rays, he still wasn't sure and decided he needed to look at it again after the (considerable) swelling has gone down. As a result I have to go back on the 28th and in the meanwhile rather than the back slab cast, I've been put into a full length leg brace.

So that's me for Christmas, at least I don't have to worry about who's driving over the holiday!

It's for cherridee mate!

2011-12-06T14:23:00.000-08:00

Following as I am the exploits of Dakar Team GB, I went along last week to their launch event and charity fundraiser in West London.

As you can see the charities in question are:

Shelter Box
The Nelson Mandela Childrens Fund
The Royal Marsden Cancer Research
ARK (Absolute Return for Kids)

Deciding that I would save a few quid and some time over going by train, the weather looked OK so I decided to ride the bike down. Choosing the Triumph Tiger over the CCM due to the desire to ride a bike with weather protection, a comfy seat and luggage to throw my gear in when I got there!

All seemed OK after I had fueled up and swung on to the A1(M) to head into town, when.....

The heavens opened!

Well riding a bike in the wet down a motorway is not too bad but it started to get worse. Just after Hatfield the traffic (now only two lanes) ground to a halt and I was forced to filter between the stationary cars for six miles to the M25, not much fun when you have (wide) panniers and 125 bhp on tap!!!

Luckily the traffic cleared when I passed South Mimms Services and I had another clear run until Apex Corner where I joined the A41, from here on in it was typical London traffic. I was following the sat nav down to Notting Hill and was surprised to find I knew most of the roads, as I went very close to where a friend used to live and have travelled both to his house in Brondesbury and had on many occasions driven westwards out of London from there, along the same route I was now following.

I arrived in time, having taken just over the hour and still dry thanks to my waterproofs, which were working fine.

After meeting up with few friendly faces, Paul who I met on the London Dakar Convoy and Michael who I race with in the Big Bike Rally Challenge, we settled down for some freebie eats and a glass of coke (well I was riding my bike)!

The evening was being hosted by comedian Ross Noble, now I gather that he was to introduce the guests, do some interviews and a Q and A session but first we got treated to an impromto stand up show. Coming on to do the introductions he picked on a couple of audience members to gain a few laughs, however one chap clearly had never learnt the first rule of going to watch stand up... when the comedian picks on you keep your mouth shut.

He started arguing with Ross, to whom this was a gift horse he definitely wasn't going to look in the mouth! Well it had to be said, he was an incongruous looking character in leather jeans, a shirt and cravat (as Ross pointed out... what sort of biker wears a f***ing cravat)! as well as sun glasses (remember it was December, after dark and inside a theatre) and a baseball cap, a strange ensemble indeed.

This went on for about half an hour, with the rest of the audience reduced quite literally to tears of laughter. He was delivering Ross with just what he wanted, the guy just didn't know when to sit down and shut up. We learnt he was American, called Andre and did ride a bike but refused to say what it was, so of course we all assumed he was embarrased to admit what it was. On our table we guessed at it being a scooter.

Eventually the show got underway and we had interviews with the three riders entered in the Dakar in January and forming Dakar Team GB. Toby Younger and Jago Pickering for whom 2012 will be their first Dakar and Stan Watt, who finished in 38th place in the 2009 Dakar.

Later there was a Session with Patsy Quick of Desert Rose Racing who has competed in the Dakar four times herself and was the first British Woman to complete the Rally and Chris Evans (no not the ginger haired DJ) the UK agent for the Dakar and Team Manager for Cyril Despres, the KTM Factory Rider who won the Dakar in 2010, 2007 and 2005 and has obtained one third place and five second places since 2003, including coming second behind KTM team mate but great rival Marc Coma in this year's (2011) Rally.

The question and answer session later was fantastic with a whole host of UK Dakar veterans joining Ross, Toby and Jago on stage. Obviously Stan as 2012 will be his second rally (he had an entry in 2008 but that was the year the Rally was cancelled due to a terrorist threat) as well as Patsy, Clive (Zippy) Town, Nick Plumb, Craig Bounds and Tamsin Jones as well as Chris Evans who although has never raced has probably attended more Dakar Rallies than any of the others.

A fascinating session followed about the true face of the Dakar, far removed from the glamorous images we see of the elite riders, a tale of dirt, extreme fatigue, loneliness and hard work. Amusingly a (light hearted) argument almost broke out between the two sides of the stage, one side representing the old school African Dakar competitors and the other the new breed of South American racers over which was the harder event. Interestingly nobody present had done both.

It was agreed that the remoteness of Africa made the Dakar more of an endurance event where finishing was the only goal for most riders, whereas the more varied terrain and regular proximity of civilisation and the accompanying thousands of spectators made racing for a position more crucial in South America. The comfort zone, even if only perceived, of South America forcing riders to ride that much harder.

I did manage to get a photo of the proceedings but apologies for the quality!

Interestingly Craig and Tamsin were just back from Tibet where they had attempted to beat the world altitude record for motorbikes on Everest. Riding hired Chinese bikes of dubious quality they managed to get beyond base camp but unfortunately not high enough for the record. Tamsin did set a new "Everest record" for women reaching 5359 metres beating previous holder Annie Seel by 54 metres.

The evening ended with a raffle (no luck there) and a charity auction, which was way beyond my pocket! I then had to ride home, it was still raining and now considerably colder but at least there was little traffic on the roads compared to earlier and I eventually arived home at 01.00 having to dive into a hot shower to warm up before I could even contemplate going to bed. Needless to say Annie was sound asleep and remained that way!

NEC Bike show Part III

2011-11-30T15:39:00.000-08:00

Had a mooch round the KTM stand, still quite fancy one of these, a 690 Enduro R

This was the new 350 Freeride, part Trial Bike, Part Enduro I think it could be popular.

Next stop the Kawasaki stand to take a look at the new Versys 1000, I wasn't too sure about the idea of a four cylinder adventure bike but then I suppose the concept is no different to my Tiger 1050?

Considering it's largely a parts bin special, it doesn't look too bad...

Strange to think it can trace it's heritage all the way back to the Z1, talking of which they had a beautifully restored example on the stand.

Then a quick look round the Honda stand, I had thought this was the new VFR1200 engined Cross Tourer but it turned out to be yet another variant on the new NC700 that powers their new mega scooter, very strange....

And talking of strange, if you were going to ride the length of Africa or round the world, would you choose a race replica like the Yamaha R1?

No I didn't think so but Nick Saunders thought it was the perfect bike. I did get to chat briefly to the man himself and he actually appears quite sane?

Well by then I had seen enough, so it was back to the bike park for a chilly but reasonably quick ride home, once again I was glad I'd left the Land Rover behind.

NEC Bike show Part II

2011-11-29T12:45:00.000-08:00

Immediately across from the Kriega stand was Touratech, lots of very desirable stuff and Adventure bikes wall to wall!

BMW F800GS

BMW G650GS

Another variation on the Yamaha XTZ660 Tenere

And the XTZ1200 Super Tenere

KTM 990 Adventure

Then it was on to the Triumph stand to take a look at the new Tiger 1200 Explorer, you know how it is at bike shows... almost impossible to get a photo of bikes, especially one as anticipated as the Explorer. And Triumph in their infinite wisdom decided to provide their own "person in the way" in the form of a dummy!

Not really my thing but the Steve MacQueen signature Bonneville did look rather good.

Then a visit to the Norton stand to take a look at the 961 Commando, the first time I'd seen one in the flesh. Certainly an improvement on the Commando of old. This is the Cafe Racer variant.

To be continued....

Day out at the bike show

2011-11-28T00:42:00.000-08:00

I got a bit of good luck on Friday, I happened to post on the ABR Forum that I was thinking of going to the Bike Show and someone posted that they had a free ticket as a friend had cancelled, so got myself a freebie!

I haven't been to the NEC show for over twenty years so I thought it was about time, I rode up on the Tiger, a bit chilly and the wind was very blustery but saved me a considerable amount in fuel compared to driving the Land Rover.

Getting in was a bit involved but glad I didn't take a car as I sailed past the couple of miles of queing traffic and it cost them £8 to park.... another saving!

Another advantage was that the bike parking was not only free but indoors, so was able to do a quick change act in the bike park and get rid of most of my bike gear in the panniers/top box.

First stop was the Yamaha stand as it was not far from the entrance and obviously I was drawn to the Adventure bikes, so ignoring the R1 and the other race replicas I found a nicely prepped XTZ660Tenere

Followed by a similarly prepped 1200 Super Tenere and I must say that the Yamaha "Speed Block" graphics still look really fresh despite having been designed back in the '70s.

And lastly a rather special Super Tenere, Nick Saunders' bike that was used on his record breaking attempt to ride the length of the Americas in both directions. Although he also "warmed up" on his way to the start in Alaska by riding up from Argentina. So this bike has ridden from the ends of the American continent no less than three times, not looking too bad for it.

Yamaha had a large display of race bikes from their 50 years of racing but I was disapointed to see they were all track bikes, I thought they might have included some of their Dakar winning bikes?

Next stop was stumbled on by accident, I came across the Dutch Track bikes, a diesel powered bike that I had only seen on the internet. Using a derivitive of the three cylinder diesel engine from the Smart Car complete with CVT gearbox, this bike is capable of 100mpg!!! so with a 20 litre tank has a theoretical range of 400 miles (I hope the seat's comfy).

Not entirely sure about the looks but I was able to sit on the bike that unlike most was not bolted down to the ground. It carries the weight low and felt nicely balanced, although the "missing" clutch lever felt a bit odd.

The bikes do look nicely built with high quality components (White Power Suspension, Brembo brakes) but still the inevitable signs of a hand built small volume product, the wiring could have been tidier although being a diesel, there's not much of it. The company now importing them into the UK will have demo bikes available in the new year. I was invited down to their base in Dorset to try one out, although they also mentioned the price.... £16,000 seems a bit steep to me!

I then found myself on the Kreiga stand chatting to Craig Bounds, fresh back from his trip to the Himalayas with partner Tamsin Jones. They had ben attempting to beat the world altitude record for a motorbike and although they were not successful, Tams did set a new Everest record for a woman at 5359m.

On the stand they had a wonderful "old school" BMW R80GS, just like the one I started my serious green laning on, although this one had been upgrade considerably.... luverly!

Well that's all for now folks..... to be continued

Another cool photo from London Dakar Day

2011-11-22T05:51:00.000-08:00

I thought this picture from Parliament Square of Jago's Tatra Support Truck was pretty cool too!

Cool Picture from London Dakar Day

2011-11-19T01:30:00.000-08:00

Just had to post this really cool picture from yesterdays Dakar day at Canary Wharf

London D Day

2011-11-18T14:22:00.000-08:00

Well what a day!

Left home just after eight o'clock and gave the bike a thrashing down the A1 (great fun on knobblies... Not!) then a slightly slower trip round the North Circular through the near stationary traffic to arrive at Chiswick, where I joined the planned route.

I was surprised to see it was still only 9.10 and a check on Twitter found nothing posted in the last hour, so I decided to head down to Twickenham on the basis that I was bound to meet the convoy coming the other way.

I needn't have worried as I arrived at Twickenham Stadium, to find a whole bunch of bikes, the Dakar Team GB Tatra Support Truck and the Desert Rose Racing Nissan Patrol still there.

The big pile of cans is the new energy drink "Pussy" (I kid you not)! who were supporting the Team and the event. Which needless to say produced no end of puns throughout the day.

And a very neat Polaris buggy that can be carried on the back of the Tatra truck

And Simon Pavey's 2011 Dakar Bike

With some really neat details

However we were still waiting for the arrival of Patsy Quick of Desert Rose Racing with the Dakar Race bikes. So a trip over the road to the local Tesco for breakfast was in order.

We arrived back to find the bikes had arrived and a few photos outside the front of the stadium were in order. Unfortunately we hadn't counted on an absolute jobsworth who threw a wobbly when we tried to park the bikes on the pavement. Even a decision to line up on the road instead seem to cause extreme concern with what was now a whole team of jobsworths! A few photos were quickly taken and we all trooped back to the car park. It seems they were fine with us doing something for charity as long as we did it out of sight of the public.

So we retreated back to the car park for more photo opportunities:

Toby and Jago's 2012 Dakar bikes

And the guys themselves posing with their bikes

The impressive looking Desert Rose Racing Ford F350 Truck

We eventually got on the road at about 11.00 am and what followed was a hoot, the Dakar bikes led off followed by the Ford, then the Tatra truck with a bunch of bikes then the Nissan; I followed up behind in another group of bikes.

We wound our way towards central London, with the convoy getting broken up several times but always managing to catch up, we had bikes boiling over, bikes running out of fuel and the odd wheelie! Standing up, off road stylie was the order of the day! lots of pussy was handed out to passers by who asked what it was all about. We eventually had a brief stop at the Royal Albert Hall. Unfortunately I didn't get any photos although we did have loads of pictures taken as we wound through the streets.

We eventually made our way to Parliament Square and did two (rather slow) laps getting stuck on every traffic light. Time was running short so we turned onto the Embankment and headed straight towards Canary Wharf. By now the numbers were looking severely depleted and less than a dozen bikes arrived at the finish.

The Dakar bikes were lined up on display and the Desert Rose Racing crew set up their truck and lots of Pussy was dispensed (ooh errr missus).

Rotary International with their Shelterbox initiative, one of the charities Toby is raising money for were represented. Those of us left, having made some new friendships on the day had some food and a chat and agreed to met up at the Dakar Team GB fundraiser on the 1st December.

I eventually left Canary Wharf about 4.30 and made it home by 5.45 despite having to thread my way up the highly congested A12 to the M11.

Dakar Rally comes to London?

2011-11-17T14:25:00.000-08:00

Just getting prepared for tomorrows London Dakar Convoy organised by Dakar Team GB www.dakarteamgb.com A convoy of Dakar Rally Bikes, Cars and Support Trucks going from Twickenham to Canary Wharf through Central London.

The Organisers have asked bikers to join in, preferably on "Off road bikes and wearing off road kit" so I've just put the finishing touches to the CCM. Including putting the old side panels on for the day as they are still wearing my race numbers from the Cambrian Rally... well you have to look the part don't you! You might also note I bolted the mirrors back on, fairly essential for riding into London methinks!

I'll be taking the camera along so hope to post up some photos tomorrow of lots of cool Dakar machinery.

A chance to catch up....

2011-11-14T12:54:00.000-08:00

Well despite the Rally season having ended, I've still been engaged in a few bike related things.

First off on 31st October I went along to see Charley Boorman's live show at the Gordon Craig Theatre in Stevenage.

To be honest i wasn't sure what to expect, you know the sort of thing... "failed actor friend of Ewan McGregor gets to ride round the world on the back of his famous mate" But in fact it turned out to be a very entertaining evening with tales of growing up in Hollywood (if you didn't know his father is film producer John Boorman), his own intermittent acting career, he admitted to actually being a painter and decorator at the time of Long Way Round. He was quite candid about the whole film and book affair coming about because he couldn't afford to to it otherwise. So I suppose if we had a famous mate and the chance to fund a round the world trip, we would jump for it too!

Quite interesting was when he was asked as he often is, will you race the Dakar again? Instead of his usual "maybe" he answered "most probably".

At the end of the same week, I went to the International Dirt Bike Show at Stoneleigh Park. To be honest it was pretty much dominated by motocross and there wasn't a great deal for the Rally Bike rider but an interesting day out. That day did host the awards ceremony for the Big Bike Rally Challenge so it was a great chance to meet up with several of the other competitors in the Challenge.

And on the way home I popped into see a contact from the CCM Riders forum who lives only 20 minutes from Stoneleigh and picked up a new (straight) subframe for the CCM, a new rear rack and a pair of side panels for considerably less than new parts would have cost.

On the Saturday I got to rebuild the bike and it looks pretty good with the new subframe on

OK it's grey instead of black but otherwise fitted perfectly and even better it' straight!

The side panels went on OK and look quite smart, being the opposite of the sub frame as they are black, replacing grey ones! Especially as the old ones were scratched and the exhaust had melted a hole in the right hand panel.

On the Sunday I was officiating at a Mountain Bike race in Thetford Forest so took the bike for a shake down run and even got a couple of laps of the course. The race was pretty neventful as this picture of Rich & Gary from Extreme Know How International shows, they were there to provide medical cover but as you can see, weren't exactly snowed under with casualties!

Big Bike Rally challenge - Final results

2011-10-30T12:33:00.000-07:00

Well the results have been out nearly two weeks but i've only just got round to writing them up for the blog.

The series runs over six events:

Tarrenig Rally
Ryedale Rally
Keilder K2 Desert Rose Rally
Beacons Rally
Hafren Rally
Cambrian Rally

With the top five results counting towards the final results. Actually nobody in the Challenge seems to have done all six, so for all competitors it's just their five results (or less) that count.

And the good news is that with only two rallies under my belt, I managed to get joint 29th place in the singles class out of a total of 45 entries. Not bad for a complete beginner even though I say so myself!

The singles class was won by Craig Bounds, with a clean sweep of five victories and 100 points. Craig started the series on a BMW 650 X Challenge but switched to a Husqvana TE610 halfway through. Steve Hague came second with 92 points on a KTM 690R and Craig's fellow Dakar veteran Patsy Quick took third with 77 points, also riding a 690.

In the twins class it was another clean sweep for Lyndon Poskitt also with five wins and 100 points. Lyndon rode a KTM 950 Adventure. Stuart Carling was second on a KTM 990 Adventure S scoring 77 points and in third place was Jonny Morris on a KTM 950 Super Enduro with 66 points.

It's little wonder Lyndon won, take a look at his performance in the final special stage at the Cambrian Rally:

And Now For Something Completely Different!

2011-10-25T03:32:00.000-07:00

So having confused several Monty Python fans with that title, here's something not about Rally Racing...

But it does involve motors, off roading and mud (well it would have done if it had rained, which it hadn't)

Well first off you should know that I hold the exalted position of Chairman of Hertfordshire 4x4 Response.

Wossat? I hear you cry!

4x4 Response is a charitable network of thirty one groups around the country whose volunteer members turn out to assist the Civil Authorities during adverse weather or in the response to emergencies and major incidents through the use of capable 4x4 vehicles and equally capable drivers. Although most agencies will pay a contribution to our fuel costs, our members give up their time and provide their vehicles and expertise for free. We also assist other charitable organisations, often for no charge as after all we are all in the same game of chasing ever decreasing funding opportunities to provide our services.

We have carried out tasks as diverse as transporting the Police, Paramedics, Doctors, Nurses, Patients and even Registrars in snow and floods, delivering water to households cut off after the 2007 floods, delivering antiviral medicines during the swine flu pandemic, rescuing stranded motorists and getting vital supplies through to cut off villages. In fact any task that needs reliable transport in adverse conditions we can usually oblige.

So anyway back to the plot!

On Sunday Hertfordshire 4x4 Response held it's first ever training and assessment day. Having been offered a site free of charge, 27 members turned up to have their driving abilities, vehicle recovery knowledge and navigation skills assessed.

I think next time we will need a bigger field!

Colin and Pete demonstrate safe recovery techniques

Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and I'm very pleased to report that everyone showed a very high standard of ability. Even those who by their own admission had less experience were able to demonstrate safe control of their vehicles and everyone was prepared to ask questions and listen to the advice on offer.

For further details check out: http://www.hertfordshire4x4response.net/

Results from the Cambrian Rally

2011-10-21T06:53:00.000-07:00

The finalised results are now out!

Although I felt that my riding hadn't been as good as on the Hafren, I seem to have managed 23rd in Class which looks like a good improvement from my 37th in the previous rally.

OK there is a marked difference in that the Hafren lumps all Trail bikes together in one class, whereas the Cambrian splits it into Trail being below 575cc and the big bikes are referred to as the "Rally Class".

However if you combine both classes, I would still be 29th so yes it does look like an improvement. The other big question is of course "23rd out of how many... 23?" well in fact there were 28 finishers in Rally, with a further nine DNF's so i'm pretty pleased with that.

By comparison in the Hafren I was 37th out of 45 finishers, so it doesn't look too bad.

Now I have too see how that compares to the results in the Big Bike Rally Challenge, where the Rally Class gets split into singles and twins but also competitors on "big bikes" who entered other classes will get included, I spotted at least one CCM (a Suzuki engined 644) in the Sports Bike Class (the one for "proper" enduro bikes).

And I finally discovered that someone got a photo of me, having a bit of a splash on the Strata Florida track; picture courtesy of Enduro News

That's not right

2011-10-17T10:22:00.000-07:00

Got the bike cleaned up today , i'm really glad I a). drove home last night and b). took a days holiday today!

The sub frame really is quite bent...

Oh well, as the Cambrian was the last Rally of the Season at least I've got all Winter to sort it out. Being fairly thin steel tube it should be fairly easy to bend back again.

Cambrian Rally Race Report

2011-10-17T04:04:00.000-07:00

Here's my first impressions of my first two day rally

Headed off to

Wales

on Friday afternoon and traffic was horrendous, six and half hours to do 200 miles with only one quick fuel stop.

Pitched the tent and wandered into town to meet up with some of the others of the BBRC crew.

Friday night was COLD!

Saturday dawned bright and sunny so got an early start to get a good parking spot

Just before racing was due to start, we were told there would be a 30 minute delay because St John Ambulance hadn't turned up yet!

We eventually got started two and a half hours late!!!

As a result we only did one lap, this was untimed and it was decided it would be the sighting lap for Sunday when all three laps would be timed.

Went off with Michael and we rode together on a long and slightly boring ride for twenty minutes on fire roads until we reached the Strata Florida track.

Lots of rocks, big puddles and river crossings followed.

Then back on fire roads, these were more interesting as they were a lot more slippery.

Then a short bit of road work up to the special stage at the top of the Devil's Staircase.

First special was a bit rutted and snotty in places and I had a bit of a lie down in the middle of it.

Bruised and battered I carried on and on reaching the road, we turned right for 50 yards to the second special.

This was mostly fire road but with a range of different surfaces from flat out to slippery as heck.

The final section was five minutes on tarmac back to the start

Quickly packed up, I put the bike on the trailer only to realise I had bent my subframe.

The rear mudguard was now about two inches further to the left than it should have been

The exhaust was being hit by the wheel (AGAIN)! cured with a bit more modification of the mounting strap (read: hit exhaust with a big rubber mallet)

Back to the campsite for a hot shower and got changed

Met up with some of the others at the Kings Head, not much chance of getting a meal as it was heaving so end up in the chippie's restaurant, actually very good!

Saturday night was a lot warmer

Got up early packed the tent by the simple method of stuffing it in a black sack!

Got to the start, all on time today.

Lap one, riding well, Strata was fun despite having to avoid parties of 4x4s and mountain bikers coming the other way but then I seemed to loose it and my riding was getting ragged.

Bike kept cutting out and had to stop twice to empty water out of the carb

Got the first special, nearly came off again in the ruts and got passed by Michael who was 20 seconds behind me.

Second special wasn't much better, as I ran out of fuel and lost precious seconds switching to reserve.

Got back to the start for a quick refuel and a bar of chocolate and the luxury of changing to a pair of dry gloves.

Second lap did not start well and I was really struggling but Strata went OK and I started to feel better.

By the time we arrived at the special tests, I was fired up and managed to ride both better.

Michael went first this time and I managed to get him in sight on the second test but couldn't catch him.

Topped up with fuel, food and drink changed to another pair of nice dry gloves and went out again for the last lap.

Riding much better and really kept up a good pace on the fire roads.

However then Michael dropped his KTM 690 into the river on the Strata!

The bike wouldn't start and looked like it was full of water.

Luckily some marshals arrived soon after and we were able to:

Tip it vertical on its back wheel and get about a gallon of water out the exhaust.

Then we checked the air box to find about two inches of water. We laid the bike on its side and then tipped it upside down to pour loads of water from the air box.

Then the plug was removed and the starter was now happy to spin the motor over, ejecting a lot more water from the cylinder head!

After a thorough dousing with WD40, the plug went back in, the air filter was refitted and it fired up again... RESULT!

And then on the next river crossing, I fell in!!!

Luckily I managed to keep the bike from going under and I was rescued by one of the marshals, the bike fired up again and I was off to catch Michael who had carried on oblivious.

Despite the long delay, we were still within our schedule and a spirited ride got us to the specials on time.

Michael went first but I never saw him despite what felt like a pretty quick ride, mostly because I managed to go "off piste" at one point after missing a corner and then dropped the bike in the ruts.

I was only riding at walking pace (to try not to fall off) so no great drama but it wouldn't have done anything for my time.

I arrived at the second test and this time I went first, I had a real flier and felt the quickest I had all day, conditions had improved considerably with the slippery bits actually improved by the passage of hundreds of bikes.

Apart from the final descent which was truly horrible, snotty and rutted, you had virtually no choice on your route and just had to slither and slide your way down the track.

It took Michael slightly more than 20 seconds to arrive, so I think I might have finally beaten him but only just!

Back to the finish, load the bike, get changed and hit the road.

This was a better run at only five hours including stops for fuel and dinner.

I now have a big pile of filthy gear, a wet tent and a very mucky bike to sort out!

Oh! and as you may have noticed, I forgot my camera

Getting Ready for the Cambrian

2011-10-17T02:12:00.000-07:00

I had meant to post this up before the Cambrian Rally (15th/16th October) but didn't quite finish it but thought i'd post it anyway.

In the interests of improving on my performance from the Hafren Rally, what have I done to better prepare myself for the Cambrian Rally, only three days away.

First off was the obvious stuff, give the bike a good clean after the weekend's laning trip and strip off the race numbers from the Hafren. This also helps in checking the bike over for faults and thankfully there are very few.

The stretched silencer mounting strap has been replaced by a nice new one complete with new rubber, that sounds quite simple but it took me two hours to get it to fit right and required a bit of modification!

The full size and therefore extra prone to breaking, number plate was to be replaced by a smaller and flexible plate. Unfortunately it turned up in the post on Saturday, the day after I left!

Whilst not strictly legal, it's far better than some of the so called number plates I spotted on the Hafren, a bit of yellow self adhesive vinyl on the rear mudguard with digits written in black marker pen was one I saw. Other competitors simply took theirs off, despite the requirement for bikes to be "road legal".

One problem I had at the Hafren was blisters on my hands, so in an attempt to prevent this I replaced the rubber grips with Progrip foam ones, these were tested on Sunday and were a marked improvement.

Remarkably the chain was not in need of adjusting after the race and only required a very small amount after the weekend's outing. It was duly sorted and re-lubed.

The carburetor is still set up for the CCM race "silencer" (oh no it's not) that the bike came fitted with and although I have re-fitted the standard silencer to ensure I comply with the 94db enduro noise limit, I have not attempted to change the settings as last time I did, this resulted in the engine running too lean and seizing on me. This required a replacement engine so I'm loathe to go there again!

That being said the bike runs OK even if the throttle response is a bit "soft" as its over-fueled at wider throttle openings. I have considered changing the carburetor needle position to improve pick up but with no time to really test it out before the Cambrian, I have decided to leave well alone.

Ever since I have had the bike the front suspension has felt a bit harsh so I have experimented with the rebound damping by softening it up a little, this did seem to have an effect but I'll be the first to admit I am no expert on suspension setting.

I think I will be treating the bike to a proper professional suspension set up over the winter as well as attempting to get the carburetor settings sorted, possibly by running the bike on a dynometer.... oh err this is all getting a bit serious!

I had thought that if I get hooked by the Rallying (I am already) I might consider a new bike for next year but to be honest I'm really pleased with the CCM especially as I have done nothing to it prior to racing, so it will be interesting to see how it goes after some professional fettling! Plus there is the minor problem of finding the money!

One minor problem I had at the Hafren was knowing what the time was to ensure I was ready at the right time for starts etc. I have in the past used an old sports watch strapped round the handlebars but just before the rally the battery died and the strap snapped, well I suppose it was about 15 years old! Trying to find my watch under moto cross jersey and body armour jacket was a pain, so a trip to Argos and a shiny new Casio (actually the same model of watch) was obtained, a bit of a result as it had been reduced from £19.99 to only £8.99.

And of course the vital preparation, some new Mad Cow Racing Stickers for the bike! It is still wearing silver stickers on the polished aluminium swing arm but these are not very visible, so some new black ones were obtained. Unfortunately with all the rush to get the preparation done, this got pushed to the bottom of the "to do list" and didn't get done!

A day out around Thetford

2011-10-11T05:06:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday saw me out on the green lanes of Suffolk and Norfolk with three members of the Adventure Bike Rider forum for a day out around Thetford Forest and the surrounding area.

This was rather different terrain from Wales as it's obviously a lot flatter! Also the soil is very sandy, which is a bit of a challenge to ride, requiring a modified technique but one that is excellent for building up your bike control skills.

The bike had to hurriedly be got ready, so after a thorough clean, the addition of my spare full size number plate and a temporary bodge for the exhaust strap by packing it out with a strip of rubber cut off some rubber matting, I was on my way.

We met at Walkers Cafe near Mildenhall, with Mike who led the trip, riding up from Bury St Edmunds and Darren from Norwich. I trailered the bike up as 50 road miles on enduro tyres was not a pleasant prospect and I wanted to have some tyres left at the end of the day! Jim completed the group and although he hails from Birmingham, had the shortest journey having stayed overnight in the neighbouring Travel Lodge.

Not my "best side"

We set off with the first lanes coming up quickly, these were very narrow and overgrown. In fact they had been even worse a week ago but Mike had been out gardening.

A few more relatively easy lanes led us to one with a prominent sign warning of "No access for vehicles - weak bridge" we rode as far as the bridge and had a brief stop.

The original bridge had collapsed and the land owner had replaced it with a foot bridge, however Mike explained that the Trail Riders Fellowship (TRF) of which he is a member had obtained permission to use the bridge as long as we pushed the bikes across.

After this a bit of road work took as far as the the Weststow Road (also known as the "Kings Reach") through the Kings Forest where a brief stop was required to retrieve Darren's rucksack that had fallen off the back of his bike. After we caught up again with him and Mike who had both carried on oblivious, a few borrowed straps sorted the problem.

A further circuit of lanes around West Calthorpe Heath and we had a "photo opportunity":

Then a few lanes around Culford Heath led us onward around the south of Thetford and down towards the village of Colney Weston and then on to a fuel stop at Stanton.

Heading back northwards we passed to the East of Thetford and over the A11 onto that rare thing a "permissive byway" again a result of local negotiations by the TRF and onto the Peddars Way and under the main Railway line via a "cattle creep"

We carried on as far as Wretham, where we turned South again, passing the end of the road where my Brother in Law lives. Sorry for not popping in Mike but I wasn't sure you would appreciate four (by now) very muddy bikers popping in for tea!

Soon turning off tarmac again we turned right onto the "Hereward Way" and then onto a tarmac section before returning to dirt on the Harling Drove. This is a dead straight unsurfaced road, that is very sandy and has therefore to be ridden at a reasonable pace to stay in control. it also has a number of "whoops" that because you are trying to maintain momentum, can be a bit amusing with a fair bit of "air time" resulting.

Reaching the end of this section with big grins, Mike suggested we do it again in the opposite direction, which we duly did and all completed successfully. Turning around to ride it again we had another fun ride but arriving at the far end, Darren who had been at the back, was missing.

We couldn't hear his engine so Mike headed back to see if he was OK. Jim and I waited a while and then decided to turn back too. We came across them a short way up the track where Darren explained he had "parted company" with the bike and he did appear OK as did the bike, although the forks seemed to have twisted in the yokes.

Tools were duly broken out and we stared loosening off bolts. It transpired he had hit a very large tree trunk sitting just to one side of the track (on the left in the above picture). A large gouge in the wood matched up with the wood fragments still stuck to the end of the front wheel spindle!

We discovered the bike wouldn't even roll forward. The cause was the front brake caliper having been twisted round into the spokes of the wheel, which of course can only happen if you bend the brake disc....

Well and truly bent

It was clear that we were not going to be able to fix this on the trail so a "get you home" solution was required. A piece of plastic found on the trail was wedged between the brake pads and secured with zip ties to prevent the pads falling out or worse, the pistons being forced out of the caliper. We then bolted the caliper on back to front to clear the offending bent disc.

OK so Darren now didn't have a front brake but the bike was still rideable with care and still stoppable by using the rear brake. We then took a gentle ride to Brandon for a (very) late lunch stop.

After lunch Darren headed (slowly) back home and the three of us continued around a few lanes near Brandon and back along the Harling Drove and Hereward Way.

After riding through Thetford, we rode the New Barnham Slip/Old Barnham Slip Lane, followed by The Dukes Ride and onto Seven Tree Road (known as "the Gates" because it has a number of gates... naturally). This was too be our last lane of the day and at the end we parted company with Mike turning left to return to Bury and Jim and I turning right for the short ride back to Walkers Cafe.

Here we found the car park locked with my Land Rover and Jim's van still inside! Our trackside repairs had put us about one hour behind schedule and our previously planned return at four thirty had become five thirty and the Cafe had closed (and the gate locked) at five.

After loading up bikes and changing out of muddy gear, we were contemplating whether we could squeeze out the gap between the gate and the public toilet building beside it. At about 7 feet I was certain the Land Rover would go through but we were not sure about Jim's van. When suddenly the cafe owner turned up and unlocked the gate for us, talk about perfect timing.

All in all an excellent day out and a good opportunity to stay "bike fit" for the Cambrian next week end. Of course the bike inevitably needs some more fettling, with a good clean required and my temporary repair on the silencer had failed with the rubber packing no where to be seen! The stainless steel strap had well and truly stretched and needs replacement. A new one has been ordered along with a bendy (hopefully unbreakable) number plate, which will both hopefully turn up before the weekend.

Some more photos

2011-10-08T05:20:00.000-07:00

Found a couple more photographs online, courtesy of Enduro News

Got some good photos

2011-10-06T13:09:00.000-07:00

I ordered a couple of official photos from the Hafren of me "in action"

They look pretty good even if I say so myself.

Results are out!

2011-10-05T06:30:00.000-07:00

The provisional results for the Hafren Rally were published today

http://www.mx247.com/home/Hafren_Provisional_Results.pdf

I managed 37th place out of 45 finishers in the Trail Class, which doesn't sound too impressive but I'm well pleased as I managed to meet my primary objective, just to finish. Especially as I chose to do the whole rally rather than the shorter beginners class (1.5 laps instead of 2.5).

In the Big Bike Rally Challenge (BBRC) my result looks a bit better, remember this is for bikes over 575cc so approximately half the trail class can be eliminated as too small.

The BBRC is divided into twins and singles, so at a first glance I was the 16th single over 575cc, which would score me three whole points and thus met my secondary objective to get into the points scoring.

However it later transpired that one rider, although on a BBRC eligible bike had entered the sports class (for "proper" enduro bikes) but under the terms of the BBRC he also gets included and sure enough he had a better overall time than me!

So that's 17th place but still a score of two points.

This meant an unlucky break for Dave as he was two places behind me so was pushed out of the points into nineteenth. This was entirely down to his one disasterous stage, which took him over 12 minutes, whereas on the next lap he did it in 6 minutes 24 seconds (26 seconds faster than me).

Had he not lost these 6 minutes he would have placed above me as our total time difference at the end was only 4 minutes and 14 seconds. So it goes to show that one simple mistake can make all the difference. Indeed out of the five timed stages, Dave was faster than me on three of them, so it looks like we have a little battle within the championship next year!

My times were:

Special Test One: Second Lap - 00.06.30 Third Lap - 00.06.50
Special Test Two: Second Lap - 00.14.35 Third Lap - 00.15.22
Special Test Three Second Lap - 00.10.34

Overall time 00.53.55 (which was 15 minutes 58 seconds behind class winner Craig Bounds)

I’m no longer a Rally virgin!

2011-10-04T11:20:00.000-07:00

And I managed to finish my first race (largely) intact.

I headed off to Wales on Saturday morning having checked everything twice, threw in lots more gear than I thought I would need, just in case.

Lunch stop on the way to Wales

The trip up was uneventful and I arrived at the B&B in Rhayader and asked if there was anywhere I could leave the trailer and bike when I headed off to Llanidloes Rugby Club for the pre race get together that night.

I was directed to the very small parking space behind the pub which was already full (with only three cars) but was told I could park the trailer at the end of the narrow lane. Access was “round the corner and through the arch”. I drove round to find the street was extremely narrow and the arch even narrower. The easy solution might have been to stop, unhitch the trailer and push it through the arch but the road was so narrow I would block it, so decided to give it a go!

Needless to say the limited lock on a Land Rover let me down and I managed to wedge the Defender in the gap with the trailer sitting across the road. I was just about able to squeeze out the door and had a look at what to do. Luckily traffic could just about get past, one vehicle at a time. Even luckier, two guys from the pub who were also competing in the Hafren, appeared round the corner and offered to help. We bounced the trailer round so it was straight and I was able to drive through, taking the reflective tape off the tree slider on one side as it scraped on the old and very battered remains of a gate post.

OOOPS!

The lane, actually no more than a glorified alleyway was only about six inches wider than the Defender in places but opened out sufficiently to allow me to unhitch the trailer and push it past and park it up. I locked it up and was just reversing back again (the only space I could have turned in was now full of trailer)! When a woman came out from the house next to the pub and delivered that familiar line “Oi! You can’t park that there”. It turns out that was her property and the turning point for her car. Then her husband arrived and the chef from the pub restaurant came out to see what all the fuss was about.

After much discussion we decided to try and squeeze the trailer onto the pub’s parking space beside one of the parked cars and we managed to do this with about two inches to spare by parking over the top of an old tree stump with one wheel shoved into a bramble bush!

Reversing out of the archway was another challenge as I couldn’t see a thing behind me, so I just put on both my hazard warning lights and amber beacons and crept out an inch at a time hoping traffic would stop for me. Luckily it did and I was able to go and park the Land Rover in front of the pub. All this and I hadn’t even got to go racing yet.

After a quick shower and change (I was a bit sweaty after all that), I headed off to Llanidloes and the pre race “Social”. This was at the Rugby Club, which I had spotted a month previously when driving past on the A470. Taking a back route that knocks off five miles over the A road, I arrive at the rugby club and follow another car in, where we found…. Absolutely nothing!

A quick scan of the documents with the two guys in the other car who were just as lost as me and we found the post code for the “rugby club” and plugging it in to the satnav discovered it wasn’t the same as our current location but a mile away in the centre of town. It turns out we had found the Rugby Club OK but the Social was at the Rugby Clubhouse on the main street of Llanidloes.

Five minutes later we were both parked up in the town car park (which would have been near impossible with the trailer) and soon entered the heaving Clubhouse and joined the queue to sign on for the event. I then had a natter with some of the other big bike rally entrants and managed to win a prize in the raffle…. A Terry’s Chocolate Orange!

I headed back to Rhayader to get an early night ready for my rally debut in the morning. Again I managed to find a parking space outside the pub, checked the bike and trailer was still in place round the back and headed off to bed for some much needed sleep.

This was not to be as it was very hot but too noisy outside to leave the window open and no doubt nerves were playing a part. I eventually remembered I had some ear plugs in my bag and was able to leave the window wide open and get some zeds.

I awoke to the sound of the alarm at 6.00am and after a quick shower I was downstairs in the pub to see what breakfast could be had. I had arranged for some stuff to be left out as cooked breakfasts were not available until 8.00am. To be honest I don’t think I could have faced a fry up before the race so the cereal and fruit on offer was possibly a wise choice.

By 6.30 I was able to reverse the Defender back into the archway, the road now being thankfully empty of other traffic and hook up the trailer, no mean feet as it was still pitch black and did I mention the tree stump, bramble bush and a car only two inches away? I drove the 15 miles to the rally venue as a fantastic pink and orange dawn broke over the hills of Mid Wales, truly inspiring and I really should have taken a photo.

Arriving at the Sweet Lamb Rally Complex, I parked up, found the Big Bike Rally Challenge “bivouac” and met up with a few more people I knew from the training weekend a month before.

The BBRC Bivouac

At 7.20 a queue was already forming at scrutineering (bike check), so I stuck my race numbers on the bike and headed up to join it and the bike went through with no problems.

All ready for the start

Of course they tell you that scrutineering starts at 7.30am but don’t say when it finishes, so all of us first timers were there at the crack of dawn, in fact I had finished and got back to the parking area before 7.30. Of course I spotted that it was still open at 9.00am so maybe I could have had longer in bed! As it was I had two and three quarter hours to wait until my start at 10.15!

After chatting with Dave from the ABR forum who was riding his Yamaha XTZ660 Tenere, also in his first ever rally and picking up bits of advice from the others present, we wandered over to watch the first bikes off at 9.00am. After that the time seemed to go quite quickly and I checked the bike over for the umpteenth time and race gear was donned, camelbak filled with drink and race times written down and taped to the handlebars. At ten o’clock, I went for a quick spin up the access road to warm the bike up and discovered I had set my handlebars slightly too far back when I had fitted the risers. A quick return to the “pit” and a couple of minutes with the tools soon had that sorted.

At 10.14 I was on the start line under an overcast sky and although temperatures were rising, it was very pleasant conditions to be racing in. I was flagged away at exactly 10.15 with very little drama with two other riders and headed off the few hundred yards to the start of the first special stage.

This turned out to be largely made up of the loop we had used for high speed cornering practice on the training course, so at least I had the advantage of knowing where it was going. Of course on the training course it had been pouring with rain, now it was bone dry with dust the consistency of talcum powder, being behind the other two riders meant I could hardly see anything for clouds of dust and had to back off, this worried me at first until I remembered the first lap is not timed as it is designed as a “sighting lap” to allow you to learn the stages, so I just got on with it.

It was a short stage of only a couple of miles so soon finished. A quick blast through a ford and up the hill into the first liaison stage, this took us past a large flat area with many jumps and banked corners (berms) that seemed to be full of bikes. However we bypassed it down a steep rocky bank and behind a building and after a short fire road descent onto a narrow tarmac road. This was great fun, even on enduro tyres as it twisted and swooped along the valley to the start of special stage two.

This took us up a rocky ascent and then out onto open moorland on some flat out fire road with turns and twists a-plenty. A steep rocky descent took us down to the arena area I’d seen before and this was a blast, jumping the bike and nailing it round the berms, this then went out onto more familiar trails from the training course, albeit ridden in the opposite direction, with some more fire roads and the odd mildly technical section before a rocky climb and subsequent descent into the Hafren Forest and onto yet another fire road that wound its way through the forest to the end of the stage.

Stopping for a breather and a drink, I was starting to get concerned at the rate I was having to drink, with a two litre camelbak I wondered if it would be enough to last the lap. A narrow trail led us onwards and turned out to be trickier than it looked with numerous “whoops”, consecutive humps and dips formed by the action of numerous bikes. The problem being that the CCM has a long wheelbase, so rather than riding over the whoops, tended to constantly crash into the face of the humps. I certainly learned to appreciate the performance of the excellent White Power forks.

After this the lap became a bit of a blur, with long fire road sections, narrow rocky trails with steep climbs and steeper descents, long sections through dark impenetrable forest, where you half expected to meet a Hobbit round the next bend. On one narrow forest trail, a small splash through a stream was followed by a very tricky climb, a combination of wet peaty soil and loose rocks where I had my first “moment”. I lost grip and ground to halt with the back wheel spinning, no amount of effort could get me moving and I inevitably stalled. A marshal was thankfully on hand and by dismounting and pushing alongside with him pushing from behind I was able to regain momentum and get to a grippier section where I could remount and fire it up the hill.

Eventually after several punishing miles we arrived at special stage three, this was nasty with a short section of fire road to start but very soon a sharp hairpin right took us up a long, steep and very rocky climb. The stage continued by throwing everything at is, technical descents, a long rutted forest section where I got stuck behind two very slow riders but just as I was about to try a do or die overtake, I remembered once again that we weren’t being timed on this lap so it didn’t matter, I was able to pass them as the trail went into more rocky climbing, long rutted sections across open moorland and the inevitable flat out fire roads. It certainly took it out of you. After reaching the end of the stage a few more miles of largely fire road eventually brought us back to the start area and thankfully sufficient time to attend to the bike (not to mention the rider)!

Getting an energy bar inside me and a long drink of water were first priority followed by topping up my nearly empty camelbak, it had turned out that 2 litres was just about enough for a lap. I took the opportunity to refuel the bike and check the chain that only needed oiling but no adjustment. I also lowered my tyre pressures as I was struggling to get grip in the loose dusty conditions. My final task was to clean my goggles that were thick with dust.

I still had a bit of time before my next lap so took the opportunity to catch up with some of the others; it seems that most had had a fairly uneventful lap.

Soon after I was away again and straight into special test one, this time against the clock. Although we were now set off at 20 second intervals, I wasn’t long before the rider behind me, in the “sport bike class” i.e. quicker, lighter and most probably more experienced than me passed me on a fire road section and I was forced to ride in his dust. By now I was getting used to this and was able to keep going but obviously not as fast as if I had been able to see. By the end of the section two more sports bikes had sneaked past but I was reasonably pleased with my progress although I doubt I was very fast!

The second lap seemed to pass much quicker as far as the end of test two but the long liaison stage then seemed to go on for a long time. It was noticeable that I was now riding on my own for long sections, whereas the first lap had been busy throughout. I can only assume a lot of riders had dropped out as I certainly wasn’t failing behind my time schedule. All was going well and the nasty climb that caught me out on lap one was dispatched with no drama this time.

However another rocky climb up a narrow winding gully through the forest was another matter. Having the choice of a rocky slab to the left or a rock filled gully on the right, I chose to go left. Unfortunately as I crested the slab, I inadvertently knocked the gear lever from second to third and the bike decided that was asking just too much and promptly stalled. Of course rather than falling left against the nearest bank, it went right and I ended up upside down under the bike in the aforementioned rock filled gully, getting a shower of petrol from the now upside down tank breather! A couple of riders managed to pass me as I struggled from under the bike and thankfully one stopped further up and ran down to help me. We got the bike upright and pointing up the hill and he left me to get on with it. I had lost the end off my brake lever, although it was still useable with two fingers and snapped my number plate in half. I tucked the broken piece into my tail pack as it just didn’t seem right to leave “litter” in the forest.

The damage, photographed at the end of the lap

Another rider managed to squeeze past on my right and promptly bogged down in the gully and proceeded to pepper me with rocks as he spun his rear wheel in his attempts to get going again. I was also caught in the same situation with no grip at all on the loose rocks and eventually had to manhandle the bike backwards a few feet (all the time with passing riders firing tennis ball sized rocks at me) before I could get enough grip and momentum to fire it up the hill.

The hill seemed to go on for ever until I got on to a fire road where I could safely stop and get my breath back. I have no idea how long it took me to extricate myself but it must have been a while as I arrived at the start of special stage three with only a couple of minutes to spare and just enough time to thank my good Samaritan from the gully.

Stage three went without too much drama and I wasn’t held up this time and although I was able to allow a few sport bikes past before hitting the technical sections, hopefully earning myself a few brownie points in their eyes, again I felt good (if not overly quick).

At the start finish, I went through the same ritual, adding a banana and some ibuprofen to my energy bar and drink. Again the camelbak was virtually empty so got refilled. The bike got the tank topped up and the chain oiled again and I took the opportunity to replace the broken brake lever with my spare. Goggles cleaned and I was still with enough time to catch up with a few of the others before getting going for the third time.

At the end of lap two

This time the course seemed even emptier, OK some of the top riders were finishing as I headed out but the attrition rate seemed high. Whereas for lap two I had to work my way through about thirty riders to get to my correct starting position for special stage one, there was nobody to be seen. The starter gave me twenty seconds to get ready and I was away. Again the section went OK but the surface was extremely loose with getting drive out of the bends very difficult at times.

Near the end I was passed on a tight right hand bend by a sport bike and trailed him onto the last bit of fire road descent sitting in his not inconsiderable cloud of dust. As a result I was completely unsighted coming round a right hand bend and rode off the edge of the track into the deep rocky gully beside it. Remembering the advice from training to look ahead and keep my weight forward, I hammered it down the gully alongside the straight and was able to use the wall of the gully as a berm to ride the bike out and straight into the next right hand bend and back onto the track, I was quite pleased with that the fact that I hadn't fallen off, even if it most probably did nothing for my time!

The ride to special stage two went quickly and whilst waiting for my start Dave turned up, he recounted his less than successful time on the last special. The track at one point crosses rough ground between two fire roads, at first boggy then up over rocky slabs. Whilst trying to avoid a slow rider ahead of him in this section, he dropped his bike, bending his hand guard so that he was unable to use the clutch. He was forced to get his tools out, unbolt the hand guard and strap it to the bike, all the while of course with the clock ticking! He didn’t think his time would be very good as a result.

Just before I was due to start, I saw something hanging down from the exhaust on my bike. The rubber strip between the mounting strap and the silencer itself had been shredded as the bolt holding the strap had come loose. The silencer now was just sitting loose in the strap with loads of free play. With very little time, I had to just carry on and was soon starting this, the last special stage of the rally as we didn’t do stage three on the last lap.

It's not supposed to look like that!

Afterwards the ride became a bit of an ordeal, with another twenty odd miles of liaison to complete, fatigue was setting in fast, first I suffered terrible arm pump and then I started to get cramp, first in my right leg and then as soon as that went away in my left. I had been riding all the fire roads sitting down to preserve what energy I had left but now the only way I could prevent the cramp was to ride standing up with my legs locked straight, not the most comfortable option. Once again I had ridden for a long time without seeing another rider until I came across a large group having a breather, as I passed them two riders peeled away and I dropped back to follow them without sitting in their dust cloud. At a right hand junction, they went left and I had to stop and check the direction arrows, which definitely pointed right. Obviously without the third special stage, the course had to have been changed somewhere and I did wonder if they had seen something I had missed but I couldn’t spot anything, so carried on.

Soon after I reached the site of my crash in the rocky gully and this time chose the right hand line and plenty of momentum, which got me up with no difficulty at all, apart from the silencer sounding like it was about to shake off the bike at any moment. At the end of this section, the track ran down a short piece of fire road divided by cones and tape as the course ran back along the other side, it then headed off into a large open area of clear felled forest.

Now my mind started to play tricks and as I traversed across the desolate area of tree stumps and open moorland I was even starting to doubt I was on the rally course, although there were plenty of tyre tracks, there were no course marker arrows to be seen and not another bike in sight and I simply didn’t recognise the track. Just as I was really wondering if I had taken a wrong turn, I recognised a section, spotted an arrow and arrived back at the two way fire road, just as another rider appeared towards me, so at least I knew I wasn’t the only rider out there. A short while later I had turned off a fire road onto yet another rocky climb, this loop went on for quite some time before eventually dropping back to the same fire road 50 metres further on. As I turned left I spotted Dave on his distinctive black and yellow Tenere turning onto the climb… so that’s at least three of us still out here I thought!

Soon after I was made to jump as I rounded a corner to see three marshals riding towards me! We managed to avoid a head on collision and soon after I arrived a junction where two more marshals were sitting, they waved me left and I realised I was now onto the final run in to the finish.

The finish was a bit of an anti-climax, I was expecting a finish line and for riders to be checked off, if only for reasons of safety to ensure everyone who started the last lap had returned but there was nothing and you just rode back into the pit area.

The bike was still in pretty much one piece, with the silencer and strap having been “modified” a bit by the back tyre, half a number plate and a substantial quantity of Wales stuck to it.

All packed up and ready to go

I had decided not to drive back straight after the event, so headed back to the B&B, had a fantastic hot shower and popped down to the pub for a huge meal and a beer, shortly afterwards to sleep for a solid nine hours before getting up for breakfast and a gentle drive back using the A44 all the way from Rhayader to Chipping Norton in Oxfordshire, then a cross country route back home. Much more relaxed than just sitting on the motorway for four hours.

So at the time of writing, I have finished my first ever rally, the bike has had a quick clean but needs a proper strip down and wash, not to mention a new number plate and the exhaust remounting. All my bike gear has been washed and is ready for the next outing.

Me? I’m aching but nowhere like what I had expected and a couple of nice big blisters on my left hand, a few bruises on my left arm and an exhaust burn on my right wrist, both presumably from the rocky gully.

So here’s looking forward to the next race, the Cambrian Rally in two weeks time. This is a two day event, so having done it all on the Saturday, we have to get up and do it all again on the Sunday. I’m told the Cambrian is the “most big bike friendly” of the Rallies, which I’m hoping means the “easiest”; somehow I doubt it!

One sleep to race time!

2011-10-01T15:30:00.001-07:00

10 hours 45 minutes until start time!

I've got to be up at six as scrutineering starts at 7.30 and the race venue is 14 miles up the road.

At the moment I just wish I could sleep!

Two sleeps to go!

2011-09-30T05:05:00.000-07:00

Only two days left until my first ever race at the Hafren Rally.

Well the bike is all ready, since my last post I have fitted a pair of 20mm handlebar risers to improve the riding position and make it easier to look ahead and hopefully making progress easier!

Ever since i've had the bike I have had problems with the petrol cap leaking (a common proplem with the Acerbis plastic tanks on CCMs), this recently got much worse and a quick investigation showed the rubber gasket inside the cap was missing, I can only imagine it fell at the last time I filled up. So a new cap and gasket were ordered direct from CCM and arrived the next day, so hopefully that is sorted.

The weather forecast looks fantastic for most of the country although there is light rain forecast in Mid Wales tonight and it looks like being cloudy on Sunday but still 24 degrees! Hopefully the rain will dampen things down nicely so it isn't too dusty (but I doubt it) but it looks like taking on liquids will be crucial during the event.

So it just remains to pack all my riding gear, fill up the bike and spare fuel can, load up the trailer and head off to Wales tomorrow.

The final start list is now out and i'm now confirmed as number 226 but i'm still showing as being in the beginners class!!! Another thing to sort out before Sunday.

So why Mad Cow Racing?

2011-09-27T05:38:00.000-07:00

An obvious question really!

Mad Cow Racing started back in 1990, when three friends, myself, Graham Pentney and Pete Davis decided to have a go at the then new sport of Mountain Bike Racing.

Decidedly mediocre in our performance we decided that what we need was some decent bikes and that could be acheived through sponsorship but to get sponsored we would need to perform better... a bit of a Catch 22 situation.

So instead we decided to look for a gimmick to get some attention and somehow (I do recall it involved many pints of Guiness) we came up with the idea of sticking small plastic horns to our bike helmets!

We then had to think of a suitable name, after working on various permutations of devils, vikings and cows we finally settled on "Team Mad Cow" partly as a result of Pete being a dairy farmer back then and the BSE crisis being front page news. This then switched to Mad Cow Racing at some point in our early history.

We raced under the team banner in a number of sports both collectively and as individuals and got involved in a very wide range of sports and gave ourselves the title of "International Multi Sport Race Team" we never actually raced at an international level but calculated that with my Italian ancestry and Pete's Mum being Swiss, we were truly "International".

Our mission in life was...

If it's fast, unstable or has the capacity to cause fear and great harm, we would race it.

Approaching the Team's 21st Birthday we recently listed the number of different sports and adventure pastimes we had participated in over those 21 years, OK so not all of them were under the banner of Mad Cow Racing but all were done whilst members of the team, it makes quite a list...

Cross Country Mountain Bike Racing
Downhill Mountain Bike Racing
Slalom/Dual Slalom Mountain Bike Racing
Cyclo Cross
Time Trialling
Marathon Mountain Bike Racing
Mountain Bike Orienteering
Enduro

Running (5km to ultra Marathon including cross country)

Fell Running

White Water Canoeing

Kayak Slalom

Canoe PoloRock Climbing

Dragon Boat Racing

Dualthlon

Triathlon

Mountain Triathlon (kayak/fell run/mountain bike)

Karate

Judo

Ju Jitsu

Surfing

Skiing

Snowboarding

Open Water Swimming

Moto Cross (Beach Racing)
Side Car Cross

And now of course... Rally Bike Racing

As noted above we are now 21 years old and clearly a commerative T-Shirt was required

Available to buy from HERE

And did we ever get the sponsorship we were after?

Well never really as a Team but both Pete and Graham went on to get sponsored rides with other mountain bike teams and we certainly got the recognition; to this day I get approached at bike races and get told "I remember you, you were one of the guys with those horns"

My Bike

2011-09-26T05:27:00.000-07:00

I thought the petrol heads out their might want to know a bit more about my "Rally Bike"

Well to be honest it isn't a Rally Bike!

It's a 2002 CCM 604E Dualsport

A what? Well that's what most people say, CCM stands for Clews Competition Motorcycles, based in Bolton, so let's have a bit of history...

CCM was born out of the collapse of BSA’s Competition Department in 1971. Alan Clews, founder of CCM, was a successful Trials and Scrambles rider in the late 1960s. He wanted a lighter, more nimble and modern motocross bike, like the BSA factory engined 500 cc works specials. When the BSA Competition Department went out of business, he saw his opportunity and bought all the works parts that were available. Clews started building motocross bikes in his garage. Not having works engines just made Clews develop his own extensive improvements to the standard BSA B50 500 cc engine which could be had by breaking up existing B50 MX bikes. His reputation grew as a builder of four-stroke motocross bikes that were capable of competing with the dominant two-stroke bikes. In the mid-1970s, the CCM racing team achieved respectable results in the 500 cc Motocross World Championship, with rider John Banks placing in the top five several times. The full story can be found here – Wikipedia

CCM have been through many owners since then and have produced bikes under the name of various owners and made a name for themselves in the 1980's building military motorcycles (although never badged as CCMs) based on 350 and 500cc Rotax Engines.

Between 1998 and 2004 CCM was in the hands of the Robson family when the range of 604 bikes using Rotax 600cc engines and 664 using Suzuki 650cc engines were built. There was also a 404 based on the Suzuki DRZ 400 motor than continues in sporadic production to this day, the factory having come back to the ownership of Alan Clews in 2004.

My bike was built in 2002 with a Rotax engine and is essential a large trail/enduro bike, however CCM did cash in on the growing popularity of Super Moto, essentially a racing series that combines tarmac race circuits with dirt sections. This started as a "made for TV" event in the USA called the "Super Bikers" that pitched Road, Flat Track and Motocross (MX) Racers together on a circuit that included all three surfaces. I remember seeing the show and was amused to see the Americans, who had chosen Harley Davidson XR750 TT Bikes (TT being a form of flat track race where the infield of the tracks are used so bikes have to be capable of right hand turns and jumps) being trounced by the largely European Motocross riders who were on 500cc two stroke MX bikes fitted with 17" road race wheels and huge brakes. I was hooked!

The idea took off big time in France in the late eighties and the name morphed into Super Motard (essentially super bikers in French) and eventually Super Moto (super bike). Naturally enough road bikes using this format started to appear in the mainstream.

CCM originally built super motos to go racing, with WSB world champion Carl Fogarty famously riding for them. And of course they built essentially the same bikes for the road in the form of the 604E Supermoto.

No not my bike, but a very similar CCM works bike based on the 604 ridden by Carl Fogarty

So the 604 was built in three versions, the 604 Enduro in full trail trim with 21" front and 18" rear wheels and long off road suspension. The 604 Supermoto with 17" wheels and 1" shorter suspension and finally my bike, the 604 Dualsport.

This was basically an Enduro with the longer suspension but also came with a pair of 17" wheels, allowing the owner to switch between enduro and supermoto guises, hence the "Dual Sport".

Although technically a "British Bike" it is in fact a largely European sourced machine, "assembled" in Britain.

Whilst the frame and swing arm are produced in the UK as are the handlebars (bought in from Renthal), it has a chequered origin...

The Rotax Engine and Remus Exhaust are both sourced from Austria
The Dellorto Carburetor, Brembo Brakes and Acerbis Seat and Bodywork are all Italian
The White Power Suspension is from the Netherlands
The Wheels are made in Spain
And other parts are sourced from the USA and Japan!

So a real parts bin special but those parts were some of the best available at the time, this shows in components such as the White Power suspension, which is hardly any different from that fitted these days to the Dakar Rally winning bikes from KTM (Who now own White Power).

My bike is in largely standard condition with only minor changes:

30mm handlebar risers (actually KTM ones) to improve the riding position.
Hand Guards (again by KTM) to protect hands and levers
Mirrors have been removed
Maxxis Cross Enduro tyres with heavy duty inner tubes
The chain guard has been removed to assist rear wheel removal (and is not legally required on a single seat "off road" bike).
The large, heavy and breakage prone rear light has been replaced with a lightweight Acerbis LED one.
This has required the rear indicators to be relocated forward into a more protected position.
The front sprocket has been replaced by one with only 15 teeth (standard was 16) to lower the gearing

So hopefully that is all it needs to survive it's first rally this coming weekend!

With thanks to http://ccmriders.co.uk/ for much of the information

All sorted for the Hafren Rally

2011-09-25T10:26:00.000-07:00

I got a quick response from the Club Secretary, with an apology, so all is well.

I am now starting in 220th place an improvement of 115 places and I'm back in the Trail Class.

I did some final preperation on the bike today, subjecting it to a thorough check over, to sort out those few outstanding jobs and to ensure there is nothing that it might fail on in scrutineering.

Spokes all checked and OK.
Brake pads have plenty of material left on them and work OK.
Wheel bearings, swing arm bushes and head bearings all checked and no play in any of them.
Replaced my bent brake lever with a new one (and strapped the old one to the fork leg behind the headlight as a spare).
Degreased, then re-lubed and tensioned the chain.
Tyres all OK with no obvious damage, tyre pressures set.
Rims OK with no dents or dings
Replaced the bent pivot bolt on the side stand and retensioned the springs so it now sits against the stop like it's supposed to and not dangle about an inch below it and flap around in the breeze!
Topped up the engine oil.
Checked the air filter, it's nice and clean so left it alone.
Re-taped the wiring alongside the headstock as it was looking a bit tatty
Fitted a spare clutch lever taped to the frame.

So all looking good for next weeks Rally debut, not sure if i'm more excited than i'm nervous, or maybe that's the other way round???

All stickered up and ready to race

Possible set back for the Hafren?

2011-09-23T12:42:00.001-07:00

The final instructions and start list for the Hafren Rally have been published.

Unfortunately despite having received email confirmation from the club secretary that I had been upgraded from beginners to the Trail class on 6th September, I appear on the start list in the beginners and 327th out of 331 starters!!!

Not happy!

Needless to say an email has been despatched

Big Bike Rally Challenge

2011-09-23T04:54:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog in which I will be charting my progress in my racing campaign for the "Big Bike Rally Challenge" or BBRC

So what is the BBRC?

Well it is a race series based on the sport of Motorcycle Rally Racing, these are cross country races on road legal "enduro" bikes designed for more road biased machines, known as Trail Bikes and were traditionally known as "Trail Bike Enduros" to differentiate them from those for purpose built and more off road oriented Enduro Bikes.

Over the years these have adopted the name of Motorbike Rallies as the format is very similar to Car Rallies:

In a typical event competitors compete on a large lap of 40-50 miles up to three times over the course of the day, this will be gravel or dirt roads with more technical sections over boggy ground or through tight forest sections and occasionally stretches of tarmac road, so all bikes must be road legal. This is largely comprised of what are known as liaison stages and has to be ridden at a minimum speed of 18mph. This may not sound much but as an average speed, competitors will often have to ride much faster to finish within their time limit. And of course they always run the risk of loosing time through crashes, breakdown or punctures. Finish a liaison more than 30 minutes late and time penalties are awarded.

Two or three times a lap riders have to complete a special stage, typically four or five miles long on faster terrain, competitors start at 20 second intervals and have to race as fast as they can against the clock. The times of these “specials” is what determines the overall result. And some Rallies are held over two days, so on Sunday morning competitors wake up and go and do it all again!

So what is the BBRC? Well another development in recent years is that of the "Adventure Bike" or "Big Trail Bike" Most probably started by BMW in the 1980's with the introduction of their R80GS, an 800cc twin cylinder trail bike. It was originally marketed as a Tourer for rough roads and could be fitted with hard panniers to carry luggage, it soon gained popularity amongst the more adventurous bikers and "Round the World" types.

Soon other manufacturers were offering similar machines and their popularity grew but were still a bit of a niche market in the UK. However in Europe they were very popular especially as events like the Dakar Rally in which competition machines based on these bikes raced increased the popularity of the type as they were perfect for this high speed racing in inhospitable terrain where competitors had to carry large loads of fuel at speed for many hours, day after day.

In the UK the TV Series "Long Way Round" in which Actors Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman rode round the world on BMW R1150GS bikes brought the big trail bike, now known usually as Adventure Bikes, to the public's attention.

As a result an upsurge in sales models like the BMW R1200GS, the KTM 990 Adventure and others occurred and of course it wasn't long before people wanted to race them on the domestic scene. Rallies were the obvious arena and more and more "big bikes" were appearing against the more traditional smaller trail bikes and enduro bikes.

As a result the Big Bike Rally Challenge was born, piggy backing on the six main rallies in the UK

The Tarrenig Rally (Mid Wales)

The Rydale Rally (Yorkshire)

The K2 Desert Rose Rally (Northumberland)

The Beacons Rally (South Wales)

The Hafren Rally (Mid Wales)

The Cambrian (Mid Wales)

Open to road biased trail bikes over 575cc the BBRC has grown in popularity in recent years and offers an exciting racing experience to those who might not have traditionally gone out and bought a competition bike to race on. Indeed many competitors use bikes that are their everyday transport and even ride to the events (and hopefully back again)!

This is where I come in! At the age of 50 I decided I needed a new challenge and although I had been riding motorbikes off tarmac for 25 years, this had been in the pastime of green laning, the relatively slow speed riding of unsurfaced roads as a form of enjoyment so I have no experience at all of actually racing.

Having discovered the BBRC website, my imagination was fired up and I entered the Hafren Rally on 2nd October 2011 as a beginner on my trusty green lane machine, a British Built CCM 604E. The beginners class start at the back and only do two laps of 45 miles as opposed to the full rally which is three laps.

Determined to learn more I spotted that the BBRC were organising a two day big bike rally training weekend at the Sweet Lamb Rally Complex in Mid Wales and the venue for the Hafren', so I quickly signed up.

The weekend was a great success and both my ability and skills received a massive leap forward, as a result I was encouraged to move my entry for the Hafren' from the beginners class to the full Rally and this was duly accepted.

I was also inspired to enter the last event of the year, the Cambrian Rally also held in Mid Wales only two weeks after the Hafren'. Although run on the same basic format, the Cambrian is a two day Rally, taking place on the 15th and 16th October.

So this blog will chronicle my preparations and provide reports on my success or otherwise in Rally Racing.

Learning to ride rocky gullies on the Big Bike Rally Training weekend