On Saturday morning My mate Hoddy and I set off in his (t)rusty pickup for Wales, his Beta Alp and my Super Sherpa loaded on the back. We got to Carno (near Newtown) at about 3, where we unloaded our bikes, subjected them to scrutineering and left them in the tender care of the park fermee. We repaired to our B&B, the Mount Inn in Llanidloes where, together with 3 other friends who had also entered the Powys Enduro, we proceeded to drink them out of draught Bass.
Sunday morning dawned very early and we were back at Carno in good time for our start time of 8.10 (on a Sunday morning!). We started on time, a single lap of 150 miles. A mile or so of tarmac led us to the first, timed, special stage consisting of several miles of twisty tracks through woods, across bogs, several stream crossings with steep entries and exits and a high, steep grassy climb that got steeper close to the top.
On section 2 we climbed to a hilltop where there was a fabulous view of spectacular scenery (Hoddy took photos, to follow, hopefully) then went down the other side of the hill, until we had to cross a boggy ditch, where several bikes had got stuck. After waiting for a while, watching how other people were doing, I had a go and got through the ditch but got stuck in a rut in the mud on the other side, so I pulled the bike out of its rut and onto firmer ground, then rode it to the top of the hill and waited. Hoddy and another of our party did not try to follow so, after a while, I pressed on on my own.
After a while, heading towards another hilltop, I found another bog. The middle path looked difficult so I decided to go to the left and gassed it. This worked for a while until I hit deep, wet bog. The front wheel dug in and I flew over the bars and into the bog. Eventually I managed to pull the bike out of the bog and took the course to the right (the moral of this story - wait to see who gets through and who gets stuck - follow the ones who got through). I arrived at the next time check 9 minutes late. After a short tarmac interlude it was back onto the difficult stuff and a wet, rocky climb. I was doing OK until I came up to a faller. If I was better or crueller I could have carried on, but I stopped, and after that it was hard work to get up the rest of the hill and I was very grateful for the help of the marshals who helped me to get going again.
The next section was the Dyfi forest with several steep descents. I had had problems with this sort of terrain in the past, but this time I had replaced my Michelin T63s with Bridgestone Grittys (a proper enduro tyre), so I was able to cope with them rather better. Despite this, after a while I had got stuck in deep mud, so I left my bike, stood upright in its rut, and sat to one side waiting for a quiet time to do somtheing about it. After watching many other riders pass through, trying to bury my bike in roost, I pulled it out of its rut and found a relatively easy way out.
I continued for a while longer but was fading, crashing at speed once, then reached a forestry track. I was exhausted, so I waited for some marshalls to arrive then checked my exit route and returned to the start. I went to the tea hut and had a sandwich and a cup of tea while watching MotoGP on a portable telly. What a great race. Almost as good as the one I’d just been riding.
Do some dirt riding.
Try a long distance trial
Or a rally
And maybe then an enduro
It’ll be a laugh
Duncan
