Here we go again...

Having put my plans for world domination in Long Distance Trials on hold after my less than successful outing to the March Hare Trial, I decided it was time to resurrect my campaign….

My target this time was one of the big three of the classic trials world; the Motor Cycling Club’s Edinburgh Trial.

But no I was not off to Scotland.

To explain, the MCC as it is known is possibly the oldest motorsports club in the UK having been formed in 1901. A fact that is seen in the name, not “motorcycling” as we would say now but two separate words “Motor Cycling” as back then nobody was sure what exactly to call this new-fangled sport involving motorized bicycles.

Soon after, in 1904 the MCC came up with the idea of the London to Edinburgh Trial. This was what was then known as a "Reliability Trial" as motor vehicles of the day had dubious reliability at best, so just finishing was a considerable achievement. The aim was to ride from London to Edinburgh in under 24 hours, which doesn’t sound too onerous in today's world as that would take about seven and a half hours non-stop.

But in those days we were talking about motor cycles with only a couple of horsepower, belt drives, often no clutches or even gearboxes, manual oiling systems and acetylene lamps for lighting, so even on the main roads, which of course were largely still free of tarmac, not to mention the very basic riding gear available, it was a supreme challenge!

The trial also includes sidecar outfits, three wheelers and two wheel drive cars (4x4s being banned from the event) and these have become the majority of entrants these days, this year the 225 entrants comprised:

94 solo motorcycles, 2 sidecar outfits, 128 cars and 1 three-wheeler

As roads and machinery started to improve, the club sought out steep, rough and loosely surfaced hills to add to the challenge and in time these became “observed sections” where the aim was not just to get up them but to do so without putting a foot down or stopping or indeed falling off! 

This is the format that still applies today.

In the 1960’s falling entries forced a change and “The Edinburgh” was combined with the club’s Derbyshire Trial but the name was retained and has remained that way to the present day.

It now forms one of the MCCs "Triple" the Edinburgh and the Exeter Trial and the Lands End Trial. The latter two follow the same format but as the name actually suggests both take place in the South West.

The Edinburgh starts in Staffordshire at Tamworth Services on the M42, the first competitor leaves at one minute past midnight and takes a route to the Peak District on generally nothing larger than a single carriageway A roads. After a checkpoint at Carsington Water, the first observed section is reached (in the dark of course as the first competitor gets there shortly after 02:00 am).

The event continues through the night using a variety of sections, some on private land and some on public rights of way (with permission of course). At around 05:15 competitors start arriving at the Duke of York pub at Pomeroy near Buxton for a compulsory 40 minute rest stop and breakfast. Continuing on minor roads and more observed sections around Buxton to another 20 minute compulsory rest stop at the village of Hollinsclough just after 09:30. The trial eventual finishes at around 1:00pm back at the Duke of York.

Yes that’s potentially twelve hours of riding!

In reality competitors can make up time on the road as there are no penalties for early arrival at checkpoints and the average speed is never more than 30mph and on some roads as low as 15mph so when on A road sections you can obviously go a bit quicker, weather and vehicle lighting notwithstanding and bank some time, this can be vital as it’s also possible to end up queuing at observed sections if conditions are bad.

So that was the plan but first the preparation…

First consideration was what bike to use?

On previous classic trials events I had borrowed Grainne’s KTM Freeride 250F but wasn’t so sure this time round. The bike is lowered but by sliding the forks back through the yokes and winding up the preload on the rear shock and adding several more clicks to the damping front and rear it fits me pretty well and the lowered height can actually be an advantage. 

However it has a low seat on it and even fitting the original seat doesn’t give much in the way of comfort. And then there is the barely adequate standard headlight and the small matter of fuel range. On gentle trail rides it can do 70 miles before the fuel light comes on but the Edinburgh is not going to be a gentle trail ride and the first fuel stop (at 03:30) is 66.6 miles from the start! Could be interesting!

So what else, well in theory I could use the 1090 Adventure R, it has a 200 mile fuel range, a nice comfy(ish) seat, good lights (and additional driving lights) but…

It’s big, tall, heavy and even in off-road mode has 100 bhp, which is way more than is needed. Also these events are restricted to trials tyres only but they are too narrow to fit the wide rims of the 1090 and bikes like it. So there is a list of alternative tyres but this is an issue as a) I would have to buy them just for this event and b) they’re not brilliant when it comes to grip.

So what about my KTM 450 EXC Rally Bike? 

I had discounted this in the past but it started to make sense. A 13 litre tank gives it a range of around 120 miles, the fairing might be a hindrance in the observed sections but would offer welcome protection if the weather got bad. The bike has nice bright LED headlights. As I have a spare set of wheels for it, swapping my Pirelli MT43 trials tyres to them would be no problem and the rims are narrow enough for them. So that was it then!

The slight problem was that since my diagnosis of Myasthenia Gravis the bike has sat in the back of the garage unused since last year. It obviously had no tax or MOT and was in need of some TLC.

First step was a service but that meant getting it running to warm up the oil ready for draining, this was the first hiccup as the battery was completely dead, a couple of days on the trickle charger had no effect whatsoever so a new battery was ordered.

I decided on a lithium battery as these are much lighter and supposedly perform better. And sure enough once it arrived and was fitted the bike turned over easily but wouldn’t start! I soon learnt that one downside of lithium batteries is they won’t crank the starter for long periods of time so soon started to flatten. It turned out that the choke wouldn’t stay out which was why it wouldn’t start either on the electric start or the kick starter. That was easily cured with a clothes peg on the choke to keep in out!

Suitably warmed up, I drained the oil, replaced the oil filters, cleaned the oil screens, added fresh oil, checked the tappets (no adjustment needed), adjusted and oiled the chain, added a clean air filter and did some rewiring to power up the road book holder and ICO trip meter (which were both refitted) and I added a 12v power socket so I could keep my phone charged. 

The Pirelli MT43 trial tyres were removed from Grainnes bike and the original virtually unused Maxxis Trialmaxx tyres refitted but I didn't get a chance to fit them to the 450 before....

The next weekend when it got a shakedown at the TRF Come and Play day, all on private land so the lack of Tax and MOT was no issue and i'm glad to say it all worked fine. Apart from not wanting to start again and needing a jump start from the van. Once it had been ridden a bit it started on the button no problem, so hopefully it wasn't going to be an issue.

After this the trials tyres were then fitted to the 450's spare wheels with new rim locks and inner tubes. and after the bike had a good clean were fitted to the bike.

The next week it went for an MOT and apart from an advisory because half the LEDs in the rear light had died (luckily you are allowed only 50% to be working for a pass). The LED headlights also caused some problems as the test stations Beam setter won't work with the not very defined beam pattern! This should have sent out a warning but more of that later....

Tax was quickly sorted online and the route book for the Edinburgh was downloaded and modified so it only had information for my class (the route splits in places as Class C misses a couple of sections and different classes have different restarts) and just for good measure I increased the size of the font to make it easier to read and after that we were ready to go....

Bugs, Bobbies, Birthdays and Bikes

Motorcycling was put on hold for a while as both Grainne and I suffered a nasty stomach bug although as I was recovering I did manage to spend a day representing the TRF at the Emergency Services Show. 

We were showcasing our work with the Police including the South Yorkshire “Green Road Watch” Scheme and also promoting the use of trail motorcycles in disaster response. This follows the successful assistance given to the Fire and Rescue Service by TRF members during wildfires in the North of England earlier this year and based on the example of Italian trail riders where the Italian Motorcycle Federation (the Federmoto) are in Partnership with the Civil Protection Department (Dipartimento di Protezione Civile).

After this it was Grainne’s birthday so various events were planned. A trip to the Secret Cinema on the Thursday to see Casino Royale was great fun although a very late night! Then on Saturday we were off to Cambridge for a night in a Spa Hotel. This started well enough with a nice relaxing time by the pool although the combined heat of the sauna and Jacuzzi did bring on the fatigue from my Myasthenia but we were there to relax after all! 

A decent dinner followed but then it went downhill… woken no less than five times during the night, first a fire alarm and evacuation saw us standing in the car park for half an hour until we were allowed back to our rooms as it was a false alarm. Then we had the delight of someone in the next room being very noisily sick! At around 01:30 the fire alarm went off again, this time it was soon silenced but we were well and truly awake; it was LOUD! 

At around 03:30 what sounded like a door slamming contest started in the corridor, thanks for that whoever you were! Then to add insult to injury the fire alarm went off again at 05:20. Of course the hotel were very apologetic and offered a full refund… like hell they did, quite frankly their attitude was awful, you get a better level of customer service at a Premier Inn (they guarantee a full refund if your sleep is disturbed and from experience we know they deliver on their promise). So The Hallmark Hotel, Cambridge is definitely on our black list.

On the Sunday we were meeting up with Gina and Mum for a meal in Cambridge as the next day was also Mum’s birthday. Caitlin and Owen were coming over with boyfriend Rick and girlfriend Nicole to meet us. Unfortunately Rick’s car had a blow out on the A421 near Bedford. Thankfully they were OK and were recovered in only 20 minutes and taken to a tyre dealers in Bedford, only to find their compressor had broken, so the car could not be fixed until Monday. We were able to call on a favour and our friend Kate was able to pick them up and give them a lift to Cambridge, so they managed to get their lunch before we had to rush Owen and his girlfriend to the train station for their trip back to Hull. Then it was a drive to Welwyn Garden City to drop Rick and Caitlin off as her car was at Ricks place.

We had been scheduled to take a hot air balloon ride from Cambridge that evening but that too got cancelled due to bad weather. Typically the Saturday had been perfect weather but Sunday it poured down... typical! This was of course to be one off the Sixty by Sixty list but will have to wait for another day.

The next weekend we were back to biking with a trip to the Herts TRF “Come and Play Day” a chance to use some private land in Essex to ride off road. For Grainne this was her first chance to really try out her 250F Freeride. The terrain wasn’t very technical but had enough variety to test her ability and her confidence as this was also the first time back on a bike since breaking her shoulder on our snowboarding trip in March. 

And she did really well! Culminating in the “Ford of certain sogginess” although I did have to promise to stand in the middle of the stream to catch her if she fell off. There was no need of course and she rode through it four times in total and I got soggy feet! 

It was also a chance to try out my 450 that hasn’t been used since my diagnosis last year, a new battery and a full service were done on the Friday night and after a few problems starting it due to the choke refusing to stay on, it ran perfectly. All ready for my next challenge, the Edinburgh Trial, more on the preparations for that in the next episode…..

August was kinda busy too...

After a busy month in July, it didn’t really let up….

After my very relaxed ride around Leicestershire and Rutland doing the first recce for the August Adventure Cannonball, Burt and I headed off to do the final check. This was especially needed as we had just had a week of torrential rain.

• And sure enough, what had been bone dry lanes were now transformed into quagmires!

• Shallow fords a few inches deep were now a couple of feet deep!

• A road closure needed diverting round

• And the byway I had found to be closed for drainage work was still closed but they had moved the works the “wrong” side of a junction so some re-routing was needed for that too.

We managed to re-plan and in the bargain shortened the route and also had a chat with the excellent Dairy Farm Café who confirmed they would be more than happy to host us on the day.

The day itself arrived and rather than take the van, I rode up as it was only an hour and a half from home and the weather was once again glorious.

The café had done us proud and given us a separate field to park in and laid on extra breakfasts. Everyone was sent off and Burt and I headed inside for our own breakfast!

Burt set up camp in the café to do some work and I set off to sweep the course. Guessing how far the riders might have gone, I headed straight for Bruces Lane near the village of Somerby. Sure enough I pulled up just to see the last couple of riders come through, I leap-frogged ahead of them (and a few others) and got some photos and video as they passed. 

Again cutting the course I rode back along it in the opposite direction but only met one rider who turned out to be the lead bike before finding another spot to sit and wait for the others. This didn’t last long as I got a phone call to tell me one rider had snapped his chain!

I wasn’t far away and was able to get there in five minutes. Unfortunately there was nothing that could be done so I stayed with him until he had recovery sorted and then returned to the café. We had a report that the last few riders were still out on course having stopped for a break in Oakham.  I agreed to sweep the course, heading straight to Oakham then following the route back in.

I took the A606 straight to Oakham and decided to take the loop through town in case the riders were still there. They weren’t but I did manage to get stuck at the level crossing in the centre of town for nearly 15 minutes! I had a very interesting chat with a Nepalese rider who pulled up beside me and wanted to know how I could get my bike so muddy around Rutland. Although running riding tours around Nepal, he was completely unaware of the existence of Byways and Unsurfaced Unclassified County Roads in England and was excited to learn about the Adventure Cannonballs, I of course directed him to the RallyMoto website.

After riding the remaining course, mostly fast flowing B Roads, I stopped in Melton Mowbray for fuel when I got the call from Burt that the last riders had turned up only a few minutes after I left!!! Oh well it was a fun ride!

The next outing was a trip to the Lake District to plan Octobers Adventure Cannonball. Grainne and I decided to make a weekend of it. I was going to ride my 1090 R but she decided to take her BMW G310R rather than her trail bike on the basis the route is mostly on tarmac and the few byways could be easily diverted round.  

As it made more sense for me to go straight from work in Northampton, I took the 1090R to work after loading her bike in the van. She drove from home to the Northampton Services on the M1 where I joined her and loaded my bike. We then headed up to Keswick and the B&B we had booked.

The next morning dawned sunny and bright and I unloaded the bikes, no mean feat in the very narrow and crowded street outside the B&B. Grainne was understandably nervous not having ridden either of her bikes since last year as result of her broken shoulder on our snow boarding trip. I had just changed the levers on her BMW for short adjustable ones as the standard nonadjustable ones are impractically large for a bike clearly designed for smaller riders with smaller hands. Unfortunately the clutch was now out of adjustment and the bike stalled every time she tried to pull away, I had a go with no more luck, the cable needed adjusting but try as I might we couldn’t get the adjuster to budge by hand. What I needed was a pair of pliers to get it to turn but of course I hadn’t brought one with us.

We decided to cut our losses and put her bike back in the van and ride the recce two up on the 1090.

It turned out to be a great ride, as mentioned it’s mostly on tarmac but what tarmac! Narrow lanes, twisty mountain passes and spectacular views all round. Unfortunately there is major water main replacement going on around Keswick for several months and three parts of the intended route were blocked, requiring some major re-routing. This will make the navigation “interesting” but after all that’s what these events are all about.

At the end of the day Grainne admitted that she would have struggled with some of the route, after all things like a twisty 1 in 3 (30%) downhill descent would not exactly be easy after twelve months off the bike!

It was a long day too and turned out very hot by the afternoon but the route was all done and dusted.

The next day we played tourists and visited Ambleside, Tarn Howes and Hawkshead before the long drive home again.

A busy month was had in July part two!

Our busy month continued as the day after returning from Verona as we headed to Hull for Owen’s graduation, a brief stop in Rotherham to collect his girlfriend from her home and we arrived and booked into our B and B, then all out for a meal.

The next day we were off to the Bonus Arena in the centre of Hull for the ceremony and of course the ritual of getting gown and mortar board and photographs, funny how somethings never change as it felt no different to my own graduation thirty seven years ago. 

Owen received his degree, a First Class Honours in Computer Science and then it was on to a reception held in the next door shopping centre... somewhat bizarre!

More photos around the City Centre and another family meal followed, this time it was Owen’s choice and we ended up in Weatherspoons! 

Actually the Three John Scotts in Hull was not at all bad and of course being “Spoons” was dirt cheap!

We left Owen in Hull as he now has a job there.

After the long trek back home (I have decided that Hull is definitely the end of the known world) preparations started for the next “adventure”.

Following my visit to Ragley Hall the previous week, I was off again this time with the 1090 loaded in the van (yes it can be made to fit). I set up camp on the Thursday soon meeting up with my friend Andy and an impromptu “Camp TRF” was established in the motorhomes field (the main camping being reserved for those arriving on their bikes). After unloading the bike I set about swapping the van around to become my camper for the weekend.

After that was done, I set off to inspect the course, now fully marked and signed up. 

All was well so after returning to the van and changing we headed off to the main marquee for the exhibitors dinner… free food and bar, what was there not to like!

Concious that I would be on the bike all day tomorrow I was suitably restrained on the free beer and managed not to have too late a night.

The next day saw a dampener to proceedings as a fellow TRF member had a bike stolen overnight and Patsy Quick from Desert Rose Racing lost five bikes! I was glad I had locked the 1090 securely: A large chain to one of the van wheels and through the frame, a disc lock and large steel tent pegs and ratchet straps holding the bike down, these were in case it got windy overnight and pushed the bike over and into the side of the van but had the added advantage of making it that much harder to remove. But of course all the stolen bikes had been locked too. It seemed the thefts were targeted, so I can only guess 1090 Rs were not on the shopping list 

The next three days were great fun, helping out on the adventure trail, with thankfully very few accidents and breakdowns, we had to do a few bits of rearranging as one very muddy section got progressively worse and one particular off camber descent through a gate saw a few casualties! We ended up having to transport straw bales on our bikes to make that a bit safer!

Josh Costa Sa showing how it's done on Dad Mario's bike

All in all it went well and was deemed a great success by all involved, it was great to see so many smiling faces all weekend.

From my point of view it could have been a nightmare for the myasthenia but I was able to take plentiful rests, each lap stopping to check on various sections or to chat to marshals, medics and organisers as well as catching up with loads of friends I kept bumping into. That way I was I was able to keep the fatigue in check and keep going all weekend.

So a great weekend and we are hoping to build on the success for next year.

A busy month was had in July!

As Grainne was leaving her current job for her new one in Oxford she had a few weeks of leave built up so I took a couple of weeks off too.

On the Monday I took the opportunity to ride to Leicestershire to start the planning for the next Rallymoto Adventure Cannonball. This was inspired by my role as Assistant Race Director of Britain’s largest (and arguably the best) international one day cycle race; the Rutland Melton International CiCle Classic. 

Although a traditional road race it is inspired by Continental events like the Paris – Roubaix and the Ronde van Vlaanderen (Tour of Flanders) and therefore makes use of rough back roads and unsurfaced highways. 

Over the 15 years I have worked on the race I have often thought of the potential for motorcycle events and this is the ideal opportunity. As well as several sections of the route both current and previously used, I discovered some ideal additional trails, too rough for bicycles but ideal for adventure bikes.

Two days later I was off to Ragley Hall in Warwickshire to inspect the proposed adventure trail for the Adventure Bike Rider Festival in two weeks time. Being run by the TRF I had been asked to take the role of Clerk of the Course. All was good and it was great fun riding the trail in the magnificent setting of the Hall's grounds.

After this it was off to Oxford for one of my regular visits to see my Neurologist, Dr Leite at the John Radcliffe Hospital. A quick dash down the M40 and I arrived in plenty of time although the heat and effort of riding were starting to take it's toll. 

Having been on the same dose of steroids for three months, I was hoping I’d be able to reduce further.  Whilst she was pleased with my progress, after the usual series of tests it was determined that my performance had declined slightly since my last visit so it was deemed necessary to remain on my current dose of 20 mg for another three months! It was felt that the fact it was hot with temperatures in the mid to high 20s might be a contributing factor as heat does exacerbate the symptoms of Myasthenia. Of course the fact I had spent a few hours riding the 1090 R off road most probably hadn't helped either!

The effect of heat on Myasthenia was something completely new to me as I didn’t develop the condition until September last year so hadn’t experienced last year’s heat wave. But it didn’t bode too well for the next few days.

As the next day and Grainne and I were off to Verona for a long weekend in the city that didn’t involve motorbikes but did involve a fantastic apartment through Air BnB, a lot of espresso, pasta, aperol spritz, opera and e-bikes. 

We had booked online to see Carmen at the amazing Arena di Verona, originally a Roman Amphitheatre. Having printed off our e-tickets I managed to leave them at home!

So on the Friday we walked into the city and visited the booking office to collect some “proper” tickets. Whilst we were there we enquired if there was any availability that night, which there was so we immediately booked to see Aida. After that it was time to find a bar and lunch (and a particularly fine Italian Craft beer for me and the aforementioned Aperol Spritz for Grainne).

Later that day we had hired e-bikes for 48 hours, a brilliant idea as even in the 35 degree heat you can wiz along with the minimum of effort as just turning the pedals (but not actually pushing on them) engages the motor and you instantly create your own cooling breeze, The fat tyres on our “cruiser” style bikes were perfect on the bumpy and often cobbled streets and our apartment had a handy courtyard to park them in.

Certainly a great way to get to and from the opera too!

We duly turned up around seven for the production at nine and of course brought a picnic, only to be told we couldn’t bring a (glass) bottle of prosecco in because of the security restrictions. 

No problem, we drank a 500ml (plastic) bottle of water and replaced the contents with prosecco! The extra we poured into our (plastic) glasses and walked in with them:

Team Ferrari 1 - Arena di Verona Security 0.

Unfortunately our plastic glasses looked so much like the real thing we then got asked no less than eight times if they were glass,,, argh!

Team Ferrari 1 - Arena di Verona Security 1.

It did of course mean we ran short on water by the end of the night as despite the sun going down, not only was the temperature still high we discovered the stones of the arena absorb heat during the day and turn into radiators at night… phew!

Aida was fantastic by the way.

On Saturday we toured the city and visited the Castel San Pietro, this would have been a daunting task on foot or on a conventional bike as it was part way up a very steep hill. But on our e-bikes it was easy, in fact despite taking a wrong turn and going to the very top of the hill, which did reveal fantastic views of Verona, it was no real effort. Grainne even found time for some shoe shopping, well a girl has to do what a girl has to do!

After returning to our thankfully air conditioned apartment for a shower and a change, it was off to the opera again.

After last night’s security problems we decanted a bottle of red wine into a 750ml plastic bottle to go with our picnic and also bought a 1.5 litre bottle of water only to fall foul of security again! Apparently you are not allowed any plastic bottles bigger than 500ml… FFS!

However the water obviously distracted them so they didn’t notice the wine being over 500ml as well. They said I could leave the water in a box just inside the security check and collect it later. So I duly crouched down by the box, waited until nobody was looking and slipped the water back into my bag….

Team Ferrari 2 - Arena di Verona security 1.

Carmen was good but I certainly think I preferred Aida of the two operas. Maybe it's the language? Opera sounds better in Italian than French to me.

Another fun ride back through the city in the early hours followed and back to air conditioned bliss.

The next day we toured round on our bikes and visited “Juliet’s tomb”. What the City of Verona cashing in on Shakespeare’s fictional story? Who’d have thought it! 

Later we returned our bikes and then explored a bit more of the city on foot, discovering just how hot and sticky it was.

Later that day we were treated to the most amazing hail storm....

So how did the Myasthenia stand up? Yes the heat certainly has an effect, everything is that little bit harder, the fatigue seemed to set in quicker and at times I felt like I was wading through treacle, not a pleasant experience but I coped.

The next day we flew home but our busy month was far from over….

Wales 500 Part Two

The Sunday dawned dry but a bit overcast so looked good for day two of the Wales 500. Again an early start meant no breakfast at the hotel so we headed on down to the event site and availed ourselves of the services of the burger van.

The plan today was for me to head out to the furthest part of the course where we were to set up a checkpoint. I was introduced to fellow volunteer Rod Jones who was coming with me; we looked at each other and realized we already knew each other! Thirteen years ago we had worked together as cycle commissaires on the Trans-Wales MTB stage race. Rod had led the race on his Honda CRF230 and I had been the sweeper in my heavily modified Land Rover Discovery… small world indeed.

We set off for our checkpoint taking a direct route rather than following the course, to ensure we got there before the competitors. Taking the A4103 towards Hereford the ride started well until a few miles down the road it started to spit with rain, then the drizzle set in, then persistent rain and finally a monsoon like deluge!

This continued all the way to the BP Petrol Station at Ponterwyd on the A44 not far outside Aberystwth (yes we had just completely traversed Wales from East to West) where competitors had a fuel stop at the garage, whilst this might have seemed a perfect spot for our checkpoint with fuel, toilets, shelter from the rain, hot coffee and food it lacked one vital element…. A phone signal!

So our final destination was a remote car park at Llyn Pendam as despite being in the middle of nowhere it was high enough to have a signal but sadly no shelter, food or hot coffee and needless to say “toilet facilities” were of a very basic nature.

At the garage the first two competitors had just arrived as had the Course Openers, Jonny and Stuart and as we stopped for a hot drink, many more piled in and all seemed very reluctant to leave!

We set of up the hill to Llyn Pendam in conditions that were truly grim, the rain was still hammering down and the cloud had descended so visibility was only about 10 metres at times.

Arriving at the car park we set up shop to await the competitors, they were doing a loop to the north before passing us so we had some time to wait. After several hours without incident, well apart from a few competitors arriving from the wrong direction! The weather improved, the rain stopped and the sun even came out!

We finally got the news that the course was clear as Jonny and Stuart had swept the loop so all four of us decided to set off to clear the final 200km of the course, including the Tarrenig and Radnor Forests. This was done "at pace" as we knew the course to be clear for some distance ahead of us. 

We had a great ride on forest trails and twisty back roads; I lost touch with the other three after I had to stop for an oncoming truck on a single track road section and soon after came across the last two competitors. They claimed not to have seen the other three but certain I was on the correct route I tailed them along the amazing road down the Elan Valley and eventually into Rhayader where I spotted the others, stopped for fuel. Rod headed for home from there and the three of us continued onwards picking up the final competitors again in the Radnor Forest. From here it was a tarmac only ride back to Malvern and a very welcome Paella from the caterers!

The evening was spent working out the results, awarding medals and having a debrief on what was a very successful event. 

I eventually left for home at around 11.00 pm and soon realized I should have included my heated jacket!

By now the fatigue from the day was setting in big time, with very severe pains in my neck, shoulders and back. By midnight I reached the M40 and realized I needed a stop, Starbucks at Warwick Services providing some much needed rest and caffeine. 

I eventually arrived home at 1.00 am, very pleased that the Monday was a Bank Holiday and I didn’t need to get up for work.

Mind you it was a satisfying feeling rolling up to work on the Tuesday with the bike still stickered and muddied up!

And so to the Wales 500….

So on the Friday afternoon I headed off to….

Malvern!

Yes I know that’s not in Wales but it is where the event is based out of, the Three Counties Showground to be exact.

Seeing as last year I had suggested having registration open on the Friday night to ease the queues on Saturday, I thought I really ought to turn up and help, so set off on Friday afternoon to take a direct cross country route to Malvern, via Buckingham, Aynho, Chipping Norton, Moreton in Marsh, Evesham and Pershore.

 I turned up about 20 minutes before registration started and we were swamped! It seem the majority of the 190 competitors decided to turn up that evening and by the time we closed at eight, 130 riders had signed on. 

The snack wagon had pretty much run out of everything except chips but at least the bar was still open. As I had been booked into a hotel in Great Malvern, I couldn’t really partake but had a good night chatting, then headed off to the hotel.

I was up at 07.00 although unfortunately the hotel didn’t start breakfast until 08.00, I headed to the showground on deserted roads ready for the day. Thankfully the snack wagon had restocked and I was able to grab a bacon roll and a cup of tea. 

After registering the rest of the riders and carrying out a briefing the riders set off on their short 106 km training route, that apart from a short off road section in the showground was all on tarmac. 

The concept of the Wales 500 over those at Kielder and on the Isle of Man being to make it more suitable for first timers. I left on the bike before them to ride to my static marshaling point, the idea was that I would check everyone past then move a short distance up the road to a petrol station where I’d see the riders pass me again on the return loop. Well that was the plan!

On the way out I’d passed signs saying “Long Delays” and a diversion. As it was the weekend, I ignored them and sure enough the roadworks were deserted and the road clear, so I didn’t think there’d be any issues. Having arrived at my marshaling point, I called back to event HQ only to discover that several riders had become confused by the diversion and followed it. Although they eventually got back on route, it was not good as the concept of the event is to stick as closely to the road book mileage as possible. 

I headed back, “making progress” on the narrow country lanes, which was fine until I started meeting competitors coming the other way!

Reaching the end of the diversion, I witnessed a group of riders heading in that way but they had clearly worked out how to get back on route as they were indicating to turn back onto the correct route. I rode round the diversion but didn’t see any more riders, getting to the start I parked up and directed traffic. Certainly a lot of riders were indicating to follow the diversion until I waved them to continue on route. I made a “modification” to the sign, Which was fortuitous as I then got a call to say the route was blocked ahead and a diversion of our own was required.

Again I had to make rapid progress on narrow roads but at least this time all the bike traffic was headed the same way. Arriving at the last turning before the closure, I directed all bikes to carry on as they would rejoin the route a short way ahead were I was assured a rider had stopped to redirect everyone.

After some time the last three riders on course arrived (the beauty of everyone being on live GPS trackers) and I led them off. Unfortunately the rider redirecting everyone had gone and we missed the turning back onto the route, so took a bit of a detour before catching up again at my original second marshaling point. After this I was able to tail the riders back to the finish.

That evening we had the fun job of sorting the results, as we deemed those who had arrived early and worked out a way round the road closure to be on the official mileage but also those who had been redirected would be too despite having done a shorter route. Obviously anyone deviating from the route elsewhere was penalised for it but we had to work out a penalty system to account for those riders who had done one of the two “official distances” so that riders who went wrong elsewhere didn’t appear above them if they just happened to get the correct distance. The competition being judged on route keeping accuracy as well as adhering as closely as possible to the official distance. We had previously discovered that you could take the wrong route but still get the “right” distance!

To mitigate this we had to visually check the track of every rider to verify the results from the tracking company but managed to do so before some excellent food from our evening caterers arrived. Sadly the bar didn’t fare so well and managed to run out of beer only twenty minutes later!!!

For some bizarre reason they had not thought to restock after Friday night. At least there was lots of free wine offered and when they eventually got some more beer delivered, free beer! This was good for me as I was leaving the bike at the showground and getting a lift back to the hotel with John. 

After some more good chat and a few beers, we headed the 10 minutes back to Great Malvern and our beds for the night.

To be continued….