Rally du Maroc Etage 5

22 10 2010

Or day 5 to you and me :-)

 

A quick update whilst our bikes get refueled and washed at the Total garage in Zagora that has a garden and Wifi! (only place I can get my phone online!). Another good day today! (And possibly another stage win in our class!) and much shorter and easier than yesterdays ‘Sea of Dunes’…

 

Paul and Toby at the top of a dune (with cover over phone lens!)

 

 

Yesterday we had a crazy 4.30am rise for the day in the dunes. 320km with nearly 100km liason (ride to/from the start/finish) made for a long tough day. The course was 2 laps of mostly sandy tracks, small dunes and big dunes. Toby and I caught Paul in the dunes as we rode through, Toby’s navigation frame broke at the mounts so we had to use zip ties to make a quick repair (that will probably last the week), The big dunes weren’t too bad once we found a rythm but we all dropped or crashed at some points or just plowed into soft sand and got stuck up to the axles in seconds!

 

Quick Guide to Dune Riding:

There’s a skill in riding the dunes that we honed by gunning the bikes at an angle up the dunes so as not to approach the crest head on as the other side is unknown and can be a drop-off. It’s a balancing act as you need enough speed to make it to the top (in soft sand), if you fall even a few feet short and run out of speed and power you won’t make the top, it’s impossible to push up hill in sinking sand so you have to turn around accelerate downhill (to stop the front sinking in and going over the bars!) and have another run at it. It’s not easy and Toby came over one dune a bit quick and went over the bars the overside and landed badly on the shoulder he crashed on a month before. I stopped on the other side of the bowl at the top (never stop at the bottom of a dune bowl) and saw him in agony at the bottom. The NPO Rally helicopter was overhead filming the action and I was waving at them for help fearing that Toby had broken something when the bikes proximity alarms starting going off warning us that something was coming just as a car crested the dune and narrowly passed us. I helped Toby who recovered well (his shoulder popped out and then back in again!) and like a true trooper was able to carry on. Whilst signalling to the helicopter that we were OK, the proximity alarm bleeping, Toby’s iphone was ringing and the Iritrack tracking device started saying “Bonjour!” as someone was trying to contact us to see if we were OK (atleast we weren’t short of company in the middle of the desert!)

 

The rest of the lap was OK and we were OK within our time limit this time (unlike day 2) so we could do the 2nd lap. The second lap was harder as we were tired and the tracks a lot more churned up and soft from the cars and trucks, but the navigation was easier. One section that Toby and I really enjoyed was about 20km through a dried sandy river bed. The sand was firm (if you didn’t follow any tracks) and it was a twisty undulating (sometimes jumpy) course that you could do most of at full whack around 90 to 110kph in the sand creating your own tracks and lines. I was whooping in my helmet as we carved up the course and raced another quad through the turns! AWESOME! It was just like a computer racing game (but without power-ups and more consequences if you crash :-) )

 

Today we had a more reasonable start and we were out for about 4.5hrs in a mixture of rocky and stony mountain passes with sheer drops (which tends to improve concentration on riding!) to gravel tracks with dry river bed crossings (which are more like trying to ride over boulder fields!). The day went well and apart from a few spills and low speed drops was thankfully not too eventful. We kept up a good pace and had minimal stops at checkpoints to refuel. (We also nticed a few other Enduro Cup guys having problems and turning back for fuel so are hopefull of a good result today!)

 

(Note on Enduro Cup – Toby and I are in the Enduro Cup Class which follows the same course and everything else as the Production or Super Production Classes that the professionals are in but simply has more fuel stops to allow you to use a normal Enduro bike (and tank size) with the extra navigation gear added. You don’t look as cool as thr riders on their ‘proper’ rally bikes (with the extra large tanks in the long fairings) and their bikes a bigger, faster and better, but our bikes are smaller and lighter but we loose time filling up 2 or 3 times more than them around the course.

 

We finished by 1pm so after a quick dip in the pool it’s time to get the bikes sorted, do our roadbooks and prepare for tomorrow – the final day! Tomorrow is all in the dunes :-{ 4 laps with minimal navigation (GPS directions unlocked?) so track me on the Iritrack website (see link in the post below) and see how we get on!

 

 

Cheers

Jago!

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Categories : Bike Training & Events, The story so far

Morocco Rally Update….

20 10 2010

Hi All

I’ll keep this brief as unfortunately I don’t have the internet access I was expecting throughout the week (the ‘organisation’ has now password protected it and we have to troop up to another hotel!) – Basically we have just finished day 3 with stonking results!

Also if you want to to see me racing alongside (all right several hours behind!) world champions Cyril Despres and Marc Coma in real time check out this link:
http:vulcain.iritrack.net/tdcom/eviewer/shamrock2010
(click on Moto and tick my race number 207 to see where I am!)

It’s been a hectic week or two since I decided to go for the Morroco Rally at the last minute and the pace has been even more frantic since arriving!

After 14 hours travelling on Friday (including an 8 hour taxi ride), and then prepping and sorting out the bikes on Saturday.  On Sunday we had a full day of admin checks (all our documentation, licenses paperwork etc) which mostly consisted of paying large amounts of money out! Followed by a timed session to fit all the GPS, Satellite comms and navigation gear we had just bought or hired to our bikes and then present our bikes for scrutineering checks. We then had Navigation and safety talks to attend before getting our ‘roadbooks’ (navigation icons on long scrolls of paper used to navigate like orienteering) marked up and fitted – We were finally done in time for the official dinner and race briefing at 8.30pm!

 

Cyril Depres (World Champion) bike gets inspected at Scrutineering

 

 

Day 1 – was a 6 hour long race with a very varied course with a bit of everything – stony tracks, sand dunes, gravel and river beds etc. Toby and I planned to race together and worked well (especially when my navigation gear packed up – my ICO or mileometer packed up which makes navigation very difficult!) We did OK for our first day and made it back in our allotted time.

 

The Pilots Instruments - (from Top: ICO, Balise ditress alarm, Roadbook and GPS (on top of the Iritrack gps tracker)

 

 

Day 2 – through the dunes! This was a harder day both in terms of riding and navigation. We were due to do 2 laps of 130km, we also picked up Paul (another Desert Rose rider) along the way and ended up as all riding together, but didn’t make it back to the end of the first lap in time. After 4 hours we were 2 minutes over and they wouldn’t let us out again which meant we incurred a 5 hour time penalty overall. But we made the most of the afternoon spare!

Day 3 – Ideal conditions (some rain overnight so less dust, cloudy so not so hot and a bit of wind) Very fast tracks that were mostly well defined so navigation wasn’t a problem and Toby and I were on it only stopping once outside our scheduled checkpoint and refueling stops. As a result we had a blast of a day topping out at 145kph across a chod/dry lake bed and hitting some brilliant tracks. We also managed to win our class for the day! Check out the results at the NPO tracking webpage (Although I started first and finished first today, Toby and I will be swapping places as we take turns starting and leading through out the week and today he took the win but we’re effectively riding together – honest! ;-) )

 

So today was great and we’ll see how we do tomorrow! For Fuller reports see Toby’s Site and I’ll try and update you before the end of the week with a fuller report and action photos to follow!

Cheers all

Jago


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26th & 27th of June Irish Enduro Championship Round

10 09 2010

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!


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Categories : Bike Training & Events, The story so far

Family Fun on the Farm

1 07 2010

SUMMER IS HERE!

And the football is over (for England anyway :-( ) so it’s down to the tennis and enduro where Britain has existing world champions in the form of David Knight who’s on his way to do it again this year!

The last few weeks have been lovely in the UK and I think it started when we had a half term holiday/training camp at Wheeldon Farm in Devon in the first week of June. We had a great family holiday in the Devon countryside, with the kids enjoying the usual holiday fun like swimming, playing on the beach and racing round on dirtbikes!

Wheeldon Farm Adventure Cottages (about 20mins from Totnes) are a collection of 4 or 5 converted farm buildings nicely done into self-contained cottages around a grassed courtyard.

Great facilities at Wheeldon Farm...

There’s entertainment for the kids with a playroom, little footie pitch, commando zip wire and an indoor swimming pool! But the icing on the cake (and no small reason for booking ;-) ) Is that Wheeldon Farm is also Wheeldon Suzuki Off Road Training School with an indoor motocross track and off-road training for adults and kids!

 

That’s right – an indoor motocross track! OK, it’s designed for beginners so it’s no supercross track, it’s pretty compact and looks looks like a farm building from the outside (wonder why?!). But at about 16000 sqft it has everything you need with flat and bermed turns, whoops and (small) jumps and doubles. Certainly enough to practice various techniques and knacker you out after 15minutes.

Weather proof motocross!

Under the same roof there’s also a small starter track for kids. Wheeldon do kids motocross courses from 7 years old upwards and if you stay at the cottages you get a free trail lesson.

We had been here about 5 years ago with my dad and brother Kirk and his family. The three of us had a weekend training course. We had a lot of fun starting off with the basics on a field before progressing to the track and then trail riding on Sunday. We all had ‘offs’, but my dad had the worst – getting cross rutted down a tight trail and going over the bars. He did his ribs in and had to retire early. But at 64 years old with no dirtbike experience he was a star!

That holiday was the second step that led me here and on the mission to Dakar. The first was the awesome 30th birthday present my lovely wife Lucy got me – a 10 day BMW off road experience tour of New Zealand’s South Island (with Lucy also secretly training & taking her motorbike licence so she could ride!) That trip with the amazing scenery and adventure riding re-awoke my dirtbike and Dakar dreams. So I did a few courses (including Wheeldon) before I started racing in 2007 with Martin Chappell through his AJP Enduro Experience Days.

 

N-eeee-way, back to the point we knew Wheeldon would suit us all well – some nice accommodation and the kids could amuse themselves or we’d go swimming and I could get some bike time and tuition on the track :-)

 

So after an all day drive (with a couple of stops at Glastonbury Tor and Pizza Hut!) We arrived on Saturday night. Exploring the next day saw the kids running/racing around the track on imaginary bikes to Brrmmm Brrrmm sounds!

The kids ready to ride

Sunday we spent exploring the farm and local area with a trip out locally but on Monday the kids wanted to ride! Jed was a little small as he couldn’t get his feet down on the mini bikes,  although they are small they are wider than expected (I might look into getting the kids a mini Osett electric trial bike but that’s another post!). So it was left to Teagan to fly the mini Pickering flag! She got kitted up like a cyborg and headed to the mini track where another family were also being introduced to dirt biking. Kirk (not my brother this time) his wife Tanya and their teenage son. Kirk had was a road rider (and racer) and had done some off roading but hadn’t been properly taught and Tanya and their son were on the mini track finding their feet!

Ready for action!

Teagan did fabulously from her first wobbles to quickly getting confident and quite impressed Andrew Savery who runs the centre and coaches the riders. She got the hang of the little track and soon progressed to the big track over the whoops and bumps! In fact the one thing Andrew had to tell her was to slow down! She forgot that she should also stop as well as go, she came into a few corners a bit quick and couldn’t make the turns so rode up the banks and dropped the bike a few times! No drama and no tears so no biggy and overall she was excellent (even without the ‘proud dad’ hat on!)

Round of applause for Teagan!

Teagan setting a new lap record? !

She rode for about 40 minutes then decided that was enough (done that – next!) she hasn’t been begging me to get her a bike since so I’m not sure if she’s a convert but she enjoyed it and showed she could do it (she probably thinks ‘I don’t know what dad  makes all this fuss about!’)

That evening I also got some track time and some one to one tuition with Andrew which as great – he gave me loads of pointers to and a few things to concentrate on lap after lap such as how to seat bump over certain jumps to compress the suspension on the jump and give you extra lift off the top of it and which corners to sit or stand for etc. I was doing 10-15 minute sessions full on then stopping for a breather and a debrief for 10minutes before repeating and after 3 or 4 round of this I was whacked!

The jumps weren't big but in true motocross style immediately after turns!

 

Jed, Teagan and Tate at work

 

On Tuesday and the rest of the week were out and about in the Devon country side, we went into Totnes, found nice pubs and went to some good beaches! We tried to meet up with my mate Jim in Salcombe a few times but couldn’t manage it for various reasons but we managed to get Andrew’s son to babysit (very good service!) a couple of times so Lucy and I also got out for a couple of meals together (Crab Shack! for fresh lobster and crab!) which was good.

 

 

Jago on the trail at Wheeldon

 

On Wednesday afternoon after a nice morning at the beach I went out trail riding with Andrew, Kirk and another guy Adrian who was a regular yearly visitor to Wheeldon but didn’t off-road in between. We were out on the new Suzuki RMX450Zs which I found to be very good (probably because they are very similar to my KTM4oo exc ;-) and an excellent tool for the green lanes and trails around Devon. The routes were a bit tame for me, Andrew was surprised (and disappointed) that some had actually been graded and maintained by the council (taking all the fun out of them!) But I really enjoyed the afternoon as it was just nice to be out in great weather and getting some bike time in and it didn’t stop me having a little close encounter with the grass when I was admiring the view too much! I know Adrian and Kirk found it challenging enough and as the novice Kirk did very well especially as no one wobbled or dropped it in the famous ford crossing in front a pub garden full of onlookers!

Thursday and Friday we were out beaching it and playing again,  but I managed to squeeze in one more track session with Andrew (concentrating on brake turns and and bermed corners!) on Friday evening. It was another good session and I got a lot out of it.

Super fast (camera movement - not me!)

It’s inspired me to get more motocross track time in and Andrew recommended a track/practise day at a motocross track as well so I may see if I can get the time (from somewhere!). So it was a good fun packed adventure week which didn’t stop there, as late that night Lucy and I were watching a film/snoozing on the sofa when a van drove past the cottage (bearing in mind this is an isolated Devon farm with no through traffic!) 20 minutes later there as a semi regular thumping sound coming from the barns…. Wondering if someone was trying to break in I went up to the barns and found at the back of the mini track an enclosed space I didn’t see before complete with an indoor ramp set up for push bikes/bmx! It was professionally kitted out by Redbull and there were three local lads there practising all kinds of gnarly stunts over these ramps at midnight in the middle of the Devon country side – bizarre (but pretty cool). I watched with another guy Ian who turned out to be the manager of Suzuki GB and down with his son for his first race inthe GBXC round that weekend!

Overall we had a great time at Wheeldon. Plenty to do for the kids (who actually enjoyed the large see saw obstacle on the motorbike trials course as much as any ‘real’ toys at Wheeldon!) and they had some playmates around as well. So it’s possible to combine a family holiday with bike training if anyone fancies it!  A big thank you to Andrew (his son for babysitting!) and all at Wheeldon Farm for a great week!

Lance's Lobster Lunch!

We came home Saturday morning and broke up the journey by stopping at Lucy’s parent’s in the New Forest overnight – we also brought a belated birthday present for Lucy’s dad Lance, who was a surprised when he opened the box to find a live lobster and two live crabs going for him! But they did make an excellent lunch to finish the week!

I’ll try and keep my updates briefer and punchier going forward as I am getting behind with the long versions! I need to tell you all about how Toby and I got on at our first international event! Our first proper Enduro and and Championship level one too! So stay tuned for that and a few smaller titbits as I am launching ‘Dakar Data 24′  24 bits for facts and figures about the rally to educate you all!  (Maybe the Dakar vets who read this or anyone who know any interesting titbits could also comment?)  - as always feedback, ideas and comments welcome!

Cheers

Jago


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Categories : Bike Training & Events, The story so far

What a Blow

21 05 2010

Hi and thanks for tuning in - 

Just a quick one this week  as the plan was to do a Hare and Hounds 3 hour race down in Dorset on Sunday as we’d all be down in the New Forest for the weekend, but  frustration, frayed nerves and disappointment took hold and prevented any riding happening! 

Lucy had agreed to help her school with a Duke of Edinburgh weekend expedition in the New Forest very handy as staying at her parents meant she didn’t have to camp and we could all join her for the weekend too! 

So after an 8am drop off for her to get the coach down with 70 odd girls, Jed and I went off to do ’boys stuff’, like going to a couple of motorbike shops and a computer shop! After a brief visit to the park to meet my mum who had Teagan and Tate, I set off with the kids and bike in the trailer about 12.30pm. The traffic was bad getting out of London and we ended up down the A3 just past Guilford  - when the trailer weaved and I realised we had a flat! 

Gonna need a few patches I reckon!

Gonna need a few patches I reckon!

The A3 at this point is pretty much as 3 lane mortorway, but with only a soft verge and no hard shoulder,  I was lucky to find a hard standing spot.  With no trailer spare (and no match with the car spare) a call to the AA put us on the high priority list (dangerous locaton with 3 small kids) and a half hour wait for recovery. 

2 hours and several calls later (with only one text from the AA!) the cavalry arrived in the form of a recovery truck and Police patrol car. But all they could do was escort us half a mile down the road to a parking layby! 

Rozzers Rolling Road Block

Rozzers Rolling Road Block

As I had previously tried to explain over the phone – the recovery truck was no use as they don’t fix tyres! So only then did they decide to call out a mobile tyre repair service (which I suggested 2 hours before! – not that this whole blog is turning into a rant or anything! ;-) The closest they could find was NORTH LONDON! (for those that don’t know this is the opposite side of London to Guilford and a good hour and half to 2 hours away!). 

The kids had been pretty good up to this point (thank god for handheld games!) and had lunch just before we left so were managing. Before we got to the layby they had been in the ca for about 3 hours  (apart from a few roadside toilet trips whilst waiting for the AA). Letting them play in parking layby by a three lane road would probably be frowned upon by the polite parents of the kids school friends! So after getting confirmation from the tyre service that they would about 90mins I decided to unhitch the trailer and drive the kids to Lucy’s parents in the New Forest and then come back for the trailer. 

I was still a good hour away from Lucy’s folks so this was gonna be tight! But in true Dakar style I burned down to the New Forest, dropped the kids off, said hi and bye to Lucy, Penny and Lance and turned back around to get the trailer (as I was worried about leaving it there overnight and the tyre service wanted me present before they changed the wheel). I got back with a few minutes to spare before they turned up. They changed the wheel (note to trailer owners out there – make sure your tyres are ‘C’ for Commercial rated on the side of the tyre as car tyres aren’t as strong, will deform and may burst!), I re-hitched and drove back to the New Forest arriving after 8pm.  So what should have been a 2 hour journey took 8 and wiped out a day! 

Repair man notices possible cause of flat - running someone over.

Repair man notices possible cause of flat - running someone over.

So having lost a day, messing Lucy around (who was expecting us to arrive at lunch time and rescue her from the D of E camp) and not doing anything nice for the  kids, the trailer and I took the brunt of the heat and things weren’t too harmonious that night and Sunday morning.  I felt bad that everything had been messed up and thought that buggering off to go motorbiking on Sunday (and having to borrow Lance and Penny’s car to do so) might not go down so well! 

It was very disappointing and frustrating not being able to race just due to a flat tyre. I had set myself the goal to do at least an event a month and thought that if I can’t even manage that then maybe the Dakar is biting off a bit more than I can currently chew with family, work and other commitments.  It was a time to reflect as the continuity of training and riding frequently is important in progressing my skills and once the time has gone it’s difficult,  if not impossible get back or make up.  

I am also considering doing the Paris -Dakar in October! Not THE Dakar but a rally called Heroes Legend that follows the same route as the original Dakar in about the same time but with less support/infrastructure/media frenzy and cost and therefore gets back to the original adventure spirit of the early Dakars. This is still a BIG event, 15 days riding and average of 500km off-road though Europe and Africa to Dakar and so takes a lot of physical and bike training. It’s now only  4 months away and I am struggling to get out once a month! 

But that low didn’t last long! (another worthy Dakar skill – head up and move on!)  A few calls, emails and arrangements later have secured a place on the Chiltern Hills Enduro Club (CHEC) Hare and Hounds at Tunbridge Wells in Kent this Sunday! Toby, Patsy and Zippy are also signed up! So with good weather forecast it should be a great day! So what with this and with the first week of June booked up at Wheeldon Farm off-road centre (for me and the family!) I’m back on plan!  

Race report and update to follow next week. 

Cheers and have a good weekend…
Jago


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Categories : The story so far

Planning with the Pros

30 04 2010

Hi all 

Had a great weekend – of Dakar planning, riding and partying! It was busy travelling around the country but worth it as things are hotting up on the 24 Step Dakar Plan! 

Lucy and I dropped the kids off at her parents in the New Forest where we met Toby and all went off to meet Patsy and Zippy aka the Desert Rose support team. We had a good chat about the Dakar, our plans, what we should be doing and where to concentrate on until 2012. We had a few difficult questions to determine how much we want it  and I think a quote from Simon Pavey (multi Dakar vet and BMW/ Off Road Skills fame) about crawling over broken glass was used!  It’s obvious we have a lot of work to do and a lot of fitness and riding time is required but the good news is that we have started early enough and I think (given the right preparation) Patsy and Zippy believe we can do it too! 

Desert Rose Adventure Riding Academy 

One thing that came out, I half suspected (but was pleased to hear) was that our bike training should include play biking and messing around! All these Hare and Hound events are good for fitness and some technique but you don’t learn new things too often in a race environment! You are concentrating on getting round as quick as possible and that means choosing smooth safe lines, not being ambitious and sticking to what you know. Play biking is almost the opposite – you can try new things and be adventurous to see what works and what doesn’t (and of course you can keep practising till it does!) We also identified a few bigger events and practise sessions, like desert riding and road book training in Morocco and the Tuareg Rally in March 2011 that would be good for Toby and I. 

Toby and I have had a few email exchanges this week too with some exciting ideas and rethinking others that maybe too time intensive ( like setting up a charity!) 

So check out the updated The 24 Step Plan as I have updated the events and timescales and rationalised/re-prioritised a few ideas! 

 

The next day Toby and I unloaded my bike from the trailer and put it on his truck (which I was quite impressed with and took a shine to – I keep trying to persuade Lucy that a 5th wheel trailer (like an articulated hitched caravan!) would be an ideal holiday/bike base addition for the family but I’m not sure she’s buying :-) We went down to Somerley Park near the Matchams motocross track in Ringwood Hampshire where Desert Rose Adventure Riding Academy run their courses on a private estate. The place is really nice - hundreds of acres od deer park used for all sorts of things from horse events, 4X4 driving and paintballing (not with the deers obviously!) Toby and I had secured rides/assistant/dogsbody places on a KTM60 Try Out Day for riders to try out a KTM690 (duh!) Numbers were diminished due to the ash cloud causing a few cancellations but we were joined by Rob and Bob (who I’d met previously on an Ady Smith KTM course) and Vince who was in Malaga with us and had since completed the Tuareg Rally that Toby and I are now scheduled to do. 

The not posed-at-all loading shot

Loading Up

 

The day was great – a relaxed pace for Toby and I but just what was needed to practise a few techniques and play around a little at the back of the group! We were mostly just trail riding around but Zippy did introduce a few little technique sessions to keep it interesting and make sure we all got something out of the day! From jumps to dead engine descents and a little special Dakar type training for me alone with Zippy sending me on an impossible ride up a hill through a maze of dense rhodendrum bushes!  (Toby was lucky he was on the 690 and not the slightly lighter 400 like me!)  From the fact you couldn’t see any of the path from 20 metres from the bottom of the hill I was obviously being set up  – “easy just follow the path round to the right” – I as up for it! So of after getting stuck near the top and hefting and heaving the bike up the top of the hill I came to a dead end by a thick tangle of bushes with no way out! After exploring a lot of dead end paths on foot for 5 minutes I did find a way out – although it was tight and involved a bit of bike throwing to get it through! Zippy reckons that’s the type of Dakar training you can’t get on regular rides or down the gym! 

 But it was a great day and I think everyone enjoyed it. I know from my ride in Malaga that the 690′s are great and I think Toby liked them too – especially after they reset the fuel mapping switch to ‘beast’ and let the power rip off road! 

Toby getting Air on the 690

Toby getting Air on the 690

 

After a nice supper at Lucy’s parent’s Toby drove back to London and Lucy and I drove a couple of hours to Didmarton near Tetbury for our mate Ceri’s 40th birthday party which was good with a bit of dancing and Singstar (karaoke) on the PS3! Lucy and I had a leisurely morning without the kids and a pub lunch on the way back to the New Forest which was great for us and made a nice change! So after a walk in the forest (to try and expel a bit more energy from the kids ;-) we hooked up the trailer and drove back to London to get back about 10pm! 

I know Toby and I both want to get more bike time and there is a Midwest event on the 16th (back at Tetbury!) but he is laid up for a few weeks as he had a knee op on Tuesday so we’ll see – we do have Wheeldon Farm (the Suzuki training school) booked for the end of May where the kids are going to have a go too! 

I’ll try and update the blog before then so I’ll be in touch soon! 

Cheers 

Jago


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Categories : Bike Training & Events, The 24 step plan, The story so far, Uncategorized

Red tape (life!) stops play

19 04 2010

Hi all - 

Just a quick update as I have been working far too hard recently and haven’t had any time to ride or update the blog. I had a few people comment and give feedback that smaller more regular updates might be better than the once a month epics I have done up until now. So I may try and do 2 or 3 smaller entries per month to keep you all informed of the latest trials and tribulations of my Dakar preparations! (Maybe I#ll turn this into a rhyming blog!) 

So far this month there hasn’t been time to do much of anything (that alone drive a couple of hours to an event, ride for 3 hours and take a few more getting home!) I have been working full on with my team mates at Burbery putting in the hours and weekends for the final run up to our project Go Live. (A SAP HR employee data system those wondering).  The last couple of weeks have certainly had some ups and downs! But things are pretty much on track now for a Go Live tomorrow. (Fingers crossed!) 

Course cutting? Moi? Surely not!

Red tape (life) stops play

So I thought I should take a moment to get back to the important things in life – Bikes!  Well not just bikes or blogs or Dakar etc but the whole going-for-your-big- life-changing-event-thing! One of the reasons I started this blog was to tell the tale of a normal 9 to 5 father of three doing something out of the ordinary and hopefully spark the idea in a few readers to do their own thing and follow their dreams. So don’t delay, time is slipping away, and life is what happens when your making other plans (apparently!) 

So enough life coaching ;-) – back to the riding – or lack of, as I missed last Sunday’s MWMCC race at Chavenage Farm near Tetbury in the Cotswolds – always a good event and at the same venue as the Bristish XCountry Championship next month.  (Which I quite fancy as it’s only a 3 round championship although one of those will be up North somewhere miles away…!) 

But -Lucy,  Toby and I are meeting up with Patsy Quick from Team Desert Rose this Friday to talk tactics and longer term Dakar plans – which events we should be doing, where we need to concentrate our effort on, when and how to start planning finances etc It will be good to get the plan formalised with some professional input so keep a look out for an update next week. 

We are also hoping to get a ride on Saturday at Team Desert Rose Adventure Riding Academy’s training grounds at Ringwood on the Saturday. Patsy has a couple of courses going on and Toby and I have volunteered to help as trainers/sweepers/general dogsbodies etc. But failing that we might take our bikes and see if we can get a ride at the Tonymoto  training track in Winchester or somewhere else. 

So I might be hooking the trailer up again to drive Lucy and the kids down to the New Forest this weekend. Should be a good weekend as apart from the biking stuff we are also leaving the kids with the grandparents so Lucy and I can head off to our mate Ceri’s 40th birthday (near Tetbury as well!) on Saturday night.  So should be pretty busy with plenty to update next week! 

Cheers all! 

Not a lot of this, this month - Jago (right) trying to stay with Canadian team mate (& 2010 Dakar Vet) Ken Wortman on the the Morroco Rally 2008 (double click for full screen)


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Categories : About me, Plans, The story so far

Step 3 (and half!) Bike Bought and First 2010 Event Completed!

25 03 2010

Wow what a great Day ! :-)      

Blurry backgrounds make you go faster!

 

 Great weather, good course, good result! But I’m getting ahead of myself…    

As you may have gathered I’ve got a bike and did a race on Sunday. I’m now the proud owner of an ex Desert Rose Adventure Riding Academy KTM 400EXC school bike. Check out the bike story and photos on the The Bike Plan.     

Laying it over...

 

 Unfortunately I didn’t get my bike in time to be able to set anything up at the Docklands Riders for Sport Relief  and all although some people think I’m a little wide – I’m not wide enough to take money for a charity ride when I don’t even have a ride ;-)  

So I hooked up with Toby who as doing a 2 and half hour CEC (Cotswold Enduro Club) event on  Sunday the 21st of March called ‘Slow Pete’ – no kidding, it’s aimed at clubmen and novices (as opposed to Experts with no hard or extreme sections). It’s also filmed by Pete from Endurophotos so thanks to him for the photos here, check out his site for other events and action shots! 

I trailored the bike up to EnduroLand Brick Hill near Milton Keynes, after an early start (thanks to my 3 mobile shouting/crying/laughing alarm clocks) I sorted out the kids (as Lucy was away with friends this weekend) with my parents who had the girls and dropped Jed off at 7am with his cousins. 

I got to the race venue in good time around 9am, not too early but just enough to get registered and changed before the race starts (which doesn’t always happen and makes a good result difficult when you arrive to find the rest of the pack already gone!) 

I happened to arrive at the same time as Toby (and dog Chobie) so we parked and prep’ed together. The day was looking good – the ground was soft has it had rained for a few days but it was a sandy track so apart from a couple of bogs, traction wasn’t going to be a problem, and now the sun was shining with few clouds in the sky.     

  I signed up for Enduro Clubman 4 Stroke (Although there were apparently no Experts in this race there was a Clubman Plus class for people who were moving up to Experts?) and the Slow Pete series rotate the classes that start each race so I found myself on the start line with about 20 others waiting for the dead engine start (the other classes were in the rows behind with  Toby in Sportsman class a few rows back so he’d be waiting a few minutes to go after me). 

First corner wasn't as busy as it should have been!

 

This being the first race of the season and the first time I had ridden my new bike (note for future reference – practise on bike before start of a race!) I didn’t get the best of starts and managed to stall it and in my panick to restart I was left as one of the last few on the line.  But no biggy – I enjoy overtaking and making my way through the pack on the first few turns so by the time we got out of the fields and into the woods (after 5 or 6 turns) I’d over taken 6 or 7 people to mid pack and had got up to race pace.    

 The race went well – a mix of motocross style grass track on a field, into woods with tight bermed turns, out to criss cross a valley with nice long hills and a couple of boggy sections then into a wooded valley with a couple of hill climbs and tight turns before coming back along a whooped section to the start field.   

Toby emerging from the bog

 

Each lap was taking about 10 minutes and after the race when I got a print out of stats I was surprised at my consistency with all laps within 30 seconds of each other! I was going well probably less than 10 crashes altogether, but one larger one occurred when I was committed to passing someone on a  line in the whoops when the guy in front weaved and we connected and went down. Turns out it was Toby!  - Sorry about that mate, but I’m sure you wobbled across at some point! (That’s the story I’m sticking to anyway ;-) Turns out Toby had to pit stop to straighten his forks and lost some time (that’s the story he’s sticking to anyway :-) check out his version on his Journey to Dakar blog.     

  

  Fitness wise I wasn’t too bad either – my consistent lap times showed I wasn’t tiring too much and did manage to push hard for 2 and half hours but I did cramp up in my arms and my thumb (getting ‘trigger thumb’ and not being able to ungrip) and had to consciously relax and try and stretch out – difficult when your either on a bumpy straight or tilting it round a corner! 

I must admit though that the next couple of days afterwards I have been as stiff as a board and suffering from severe DOMS! (Delayed onset muscle soreness – apparently !) I also managed to get 10 blisters on both hands that will probably heal just in time to get them on the next event!       

In the end it was a good event – I did 15 laps and came 5th in class, and 9th overall out of nearly 150 bikes which is a pretty good result for me!       

  

The New KTM400XCE with optional 'Halo Effect' accessory

The New KTM400XCE with optional 'Halo Effect' accessory

 

The 'After' shot

 

It was a great day, great riding on a great bike – the new bike is AWESOME! – I did enjoy my two stroke 300EXCE feeling lighter on the front wheel but the motor, torque and traction on the fourstroke 400EXC is just great and makes it so much easier definitely making up for the slightly heavier feeling (not sure it’s really heavier – more of heavier flywheel effect  than actual weight). Luckily I think it came away pretty unscathed from the offs and close contact encounters!     

   The race was great but a huge difference to the Dakar. One of the best sites that sums up the Dakar was sent to me by friend and blog subscriber Becky – check out link and photos from on the Dakar in 24 Steps page. It’ll be a couple of weeks until Toby gets back from ski-ing in the States, then we’re hoping to hook up with Patsy at Desert Rose Adventure Riding Academy  in Ringwood for a planning session (and maybe a ride!) In the meantime Lucy and I are trying to get away for a quick Easter break as I’ll be pretty busy in April with my Go Live at Burberry!       

Jago after Slow Pete

 

 So until the next installment – Cheers.


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Step 2 is complete and the word is…. HEADUP!

24 02 2010

Wow what a fantastic couple of days with the Adventure Riding Academy in Malaga!     

 Great riding, great crowd, great weather (well at least for the 2 days we were there eh guys?) – What more could you ask for? Set up by Patsy Quick (of Desert Rose Racing, rally support fame) the Adventure Riding Academy offer the unique package of tuition and support from novice all the way up to Dakar level.     

Jago on the Sierra de Las Nieves

After a busy week working at Burberry and preparing for a work trip to Hong Kong the following week, Toby and I met at Victoria station on Thursday the 18th of February at 3.20pm on the platform for the 3.30pm Gatwick Express. I should add that Toby and I met at 3.20pm minus my kit bag which was the other side of the station in Left Luggage! (Nothing like fitting in a bit of CV training every chance you get so the mad-heavy -weight-bearing-sprint  was err…obviously all part of the plan…!)     

Patsy picked us up at Malaga airport, and I think the 4 time Dakar vet and owner/manger of an international support team and rider training company made a positive impression on Toby! This was confirmed when we met the Adventure Riding School/Desert Rose Team as they included multiple Dakar vets Zippy (Clive Town) and Matt Hall and local trail guru Paul. We we’re also lucky that the other clients (Chris, Vince and Paul) were great guys and experienced in their own right with Vince having done the Heroes-Legend Rally (along the old Paris- Dakar route) and Paul was preparing for the Tuareg Rally in Morocco in March. With all the experience and advice, time in the bar with the guys can be just as valuable as the riding time (honest Lucy – it’s all research!)     

Apart from being lucky with the weather (apparently they’d had enough rain for 5 years in the week before we arrived, it was then lovely for our two days!) We were also lucky enough to get a tailor-made package as we were straddling the end of one two-day course and the start of another.

     

DAY 1     

So on our first day we had Matt Hall leading Toby and Myself followed by Patsy and Vince – that’s what I call a good instructor-student ratio! All of us were tooled up with KTM400exc’s (which I wanted to get re-aquainted with as it’s a candidate for my training bike) We headed out to an area East of the hotel to get back into the swing of things after both Toby and I hadn’t been riding for 6 months. The terrain was great either wooded or bracken covered moor and mostly with a dirt or rock covering. But with trails everywhere! (OK some are only goat tracks – but still rideable!)     

The KTM400 admires the view to North Africa

      

Matt and Patsy were great, teaching us various general trail and technical skills such as extreme downhills on and off the bike,  with the engine off, and clutch braking and more rally applicable skills such as obstacle/river crossings requiring team work to manually haul the bike across. Not all the techniques were new (such as pre-loading the front suspension to lift or float the front wheel over obstacles) but knowing them in theory is very different to being able to do them whenever required! They are always worth practising and the that’s the great thing about these weekends  so you can practise and learn! (and why we were there) Racing Hare and Hounds events every month is good for fitness and consolidating skills but you haven’t got time to try anything new and can’t risk it in a race situation anyway!     

The riders from the left; Vince, Patsy, Matt & Toby

The most helpful thing I’ll take from day 1 is also the simplest – HEAD UP!     

Matt was shouting this at us, as we attempt technical rocky and rooty climbs and it was not in vain! Looking well forward makes such a difference to your balance, planning, composure and ability on the bike. But thinking about it afterwards I came to the conclusion that it’s good advice for any sport (for largely the same reasons) and taken further – looking ahead and holding your head up high is good for life in general (both physically and metaphorically!) So remember….HEAD UP!     

       

DAY 2     

That was more difficult the next morning after beers at the bar (rally research) the night before  we didn’t go mad but it was already dehydrated after a day on the bikes! But we were soon freshened up by a short blast up the road to the Sierra des Nieves mountains. I chose to ride a 690 today for a bit of variety and I knew it would be well suited to todays riding….     

Today was more rally focused. This means less technical trails- more gravel tracks and rocky mountain pass roads that requires a nice smooth flowing style at about 65% effort. This is for a number of reasons:     

  • At 65% effort you should still be able ride at 70-80% of your max speed (in any sport and mechanical effort the last 10-20% of speed always requires a disproportionate amount of extra energy) so the tortoise and hare scenario is very applicable, but that doesn’t mean you can pootle round on the Dakar, you have to cover up to 900 kms a day so have to be going at a fair pace all day everyday, so you need to be able to do it all day…
  • At 65% you’re saving yourself and your bike and more importantly you aren’t right on the edge so you can react to the unexpected when it happens (as it will, in the shape of a car coming round the next blind mountain pass or turning a corner to find the track gone under a landslide).
  • 65% also allows some brain capacity to be given to higher mental tasks such as looking down to quickly read the road book directions, checking your bearing and making mental adjustments to your trip meter reading etc whilst trying not to hang the back end out over a cliff edge or letting the front dive in soft sand.

So we learnt another life applicable maxim – 65%  makes it easier and gives you spare capacity. Rallying is like life,  BETTER IF ITS EASY – WITH CAPACITY TO SPARE!     

Toby & Matt checking the pocket map

      

We had a blast along some great dirt, rock, chalk and gravel roads. Even though we were in a National Park (that you can legally ride dirt bikes in!!! How cool’s that?) The terrain was so varied it was great, one minute you’d be going through a lush pine forest on mud then gravel roads (with the sun streaming through the pine mountain vista views, feeling like your in some American dirt bike lifestyle advert!)  only to climb up above the tree line (but below the snow capped peaks) over rock and chalk. The roads were good training, and there’s nothing like a single lane track with no barriers but a few hundred feet drop off to make you try and ride SMOOooth! !!     ;-)      

A nice piece of feedback from Matt let us know that we are on track as far as ability and pace are concerned!   

    

Jago & Toby Catalogue Shot!

      

We got back for 4pm so Toby and I could catch our plane home, the only benefit to come out of the 9 hour journey home (usual end-of-day-Easyjet-delays meant missing the last train home and getting back to SE London at 1.30am!) was the planning session that Toby and I did. We looked at what experience we’d need to get before 2012 Dakar and lined up rallies and events until the end of 2011. It’s not finalised as we wanted to run it past Patsy but look out for updates to the plan soon!  If you’ve made it this far you should also check out Toby’s own write up and blog at his Journey to Dakar blog.

So a big thanks to Patsy and Matt for some great rides and training and to Zippy, Vince and the Pauls for the advice and banter and a great weekend!     

Cheers – I can’t wait for the next Adventure Riding Academy weekend at their new venue at Ringwood!


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Categories : Bike Training & Events, The story so far


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