Dakar Rally 24

The first Enduro!   

Our trip begins several weeks earlier when Dakar Vet (and DakarRally24 subscriber!) Philip Noone invited us over to do a ‘proper’ enduro that he was competing in, which was organised by Trail Off Road Club - TORC ar Mt Leistner, Bunclody, County Wexford, Ireland. I rode with Philip in the 2008 Maroc Rally (he’s a sound guy who did the 2009 Dakar  with Team Desert Rose and then went back to finish the job this year with Tamsin Jones) and he was great helping us out with arrangments, entries and even got a deal on the hotel room!  

Leaving Tobys Cottage next stop Ireland

Toby and I left London on Friday night and stayed over at Toby’s place in Bibury before heading off about 9am Saturday to get the ferry from Fishguard, West Wales.  

Fishguard Rosslare Ferry

It was a lovely day – sunny and a calm crossing.  

"I am Sailing" - The album cover

We managed to get Toby’s truck parked out of the way with the bikes locked to together on the back. We met Philip who rocked up a Guiness or two later and after a bit of Blue Peter number plate making to get Toby and I legal(ish), we spend the night gathering Dakar tips and tricks from Philip (e.g. extra support crews never a bad idea!) and getting the heads up for our first enduro!  

Yup, although Toby and I have done quite a few ‘Hare and Hounds’ we hadn’t done a proper Enduro. Hare and Hounds is a simple 2.5 to 3.5hr race around a marked circuit of a few miles taking between 10 and 20 minutes per lap. Usually with (fun!) mass starts the riding is usually fairly technical and challenging with busy racing but a simple aim of doing as many laps as possible.  Enduros are more like rallies in that they are over much longer times and distances (up to 30 miles and can be lapped or not), the course isn’t as obvious (but doesn’t require maps or navigation like rallies) with a mix of fire break tracks, single track and some technical/tough bits.    

But the big difference is the timed element and staggered starts. The field is started in pairs and given a set target time to get to the first ‘test’, then a time to get to the second test and so on with 2 or 3 tests per lap and overall lap target time.  Each test  is timed and goes towards the overall results in addition you have to meet your set times, if your late for one you need to adjust the remaining times accordingly and if you become too late you may ‘time out’ and be disqualified. With penalty points, fuel stops and other things to figure out it’s more tactical, more of a thinking mans off road race.    

Philip and Toby, fresh at the start after registration.

The next day we got to the start and registered and filled in our time cards with our target times etc.  We had 3 laps in the clubman class with two sections per lap with the second section getting shorter per lap. Philip set off just in the senior class just before Toby and I in the Clubman class. The course was a fairly hard across forestry commission land and a lot of forest tracks, fire breaks and single tracks up and down the mountain with some tricky but not unrideable bits (thankfully it was mostly dry otherwise it would have been a completely different story!)   

We rode most of the first lap together but Toby was having a tough time with clutch problems (and I found out later that he had lost the valve on his camelbak drink which makes it a lot tougher!) We made the first check point in plenty of time. Waited for our next start time and then set off for the second half, but you don’t know if how long or tough the section will be so it’s very difficult to pace and I think we had a false sense of security from making the first check early as the second section was harder and longer. I wanted to push on and make our lap time but wanted to help Toby as well.. In the end I left Toby as he wanted to go at an easier pace  but I left too late 10 minutes before the end of our time and finished the lap 10 minutes late.  

The next lap I managed to get in on time which I was pleased about but the last lap I had  big ‘off’ on the second timed section.  I was making good time down a particularly debris laden track (logs and bits of tree everywhere!) until one log/stick lanced my bike stopped me dead and sent me straight over the bars. That’s not unusual in my races as I tend to crash a lot but it was the first time I had been properly concussed!  

I tried to get up and everything was seriously out of focus! I felt like a cartoon character with stars whizzing round my head. Luckily someone helped me up, I sat down for a few minutes as I had also hurt my wrist and had to get myself together before setting off.  The last lap was hard and seemed to last a long time, especially as I could see my end time drawing ever nearer and now knew the course a bit more and new I had to push hard! I finished the last lap about 15 minutes over and was pretty whacked! I think my total time was just over 5 hours and when I got back to the truck Philip was already back after 4 laps!!  

But I was quite happy with my effort for my first enduro – I think I could have made the first lap time if Toby hadn’t had problems, I made the second and only just missed the third with a big off and my fitness was up to the job (but could be better – as always!)   

Toby happy after 6 hours of hard enduro!

Toby rocked up a while later -knackered but pleased he finished!  

We then went back to the hotel where we waved off Philip and Toby and I got cleaned up and enjoyed the spa facilities! (If only all enduros where topped off with a hot tub and sauna!) We had a bite to eat and then headed off to catch the 9pm ferry. Toby wisely booked us a cabin and we got our head down for a couple of hours before landing in Wales at 12.30pm facing a 5 hour drive back to London and work the next day!  Toby and I shared the driving and after the ferry congestion all the way through Pembrokeshire and Carmarthen to the M4 it was pretty clear until London which arrived at dawn.  

Just as we were approaching the M25 we had one more high octane experience – we were in the outside lane just moving over to the middle doing about 90mph when we were overtaken like we were standing still on the inside by a grey Aston Martin. No sooner had we seen it than two more went past us on the outside before screaming off in tight formation! We reckoned they were doing about 140 at least!   

We got back at a more reasonable pace about 5.30am to finish a great weekend (and had a quiet day at work the next day! )  

A big thanks to Philip who was a great host and made us very welcome, taught us the ropes and made it a special weekend! (He even sent us our finishers medals even though I’m not sure we appear on the results list!). So thanks Philip!   

Cheers also to Toby for his truck, doing most of the driving and putting me up on Friday!