I don't know how many kms were involved, but we were told that it would take about 30 minutes to complete a loop. I managed to complete all but one loop in well under 30 mins, (and I'm not a particularly fast rider). I stopped to take a few pics and watch other riders during one loop, so that one took a bit longer.
It was great to see so many trail and enduro bikes in the Parc Ferme. My IT250 looked right at home for once! After the rider's briefing, the first bikes were away at 10am.
Setting off from the starting gate, there was a short blast through a paddock and then into some gently undulating single track. A hard right turn and into the first of several hills. This was followed by some fairly technical single track and into an open paddock with the course marked out before it snaked it's way back into the bush.
Back in the bush and for tight single track, and plenty of it. A few logs to get over, and some sharp corners to keep you on your toes. Man, some of those trees were close together too. No barkbusters for me but I still counted ten fingers at the end of the day. The country was quite hilly, but I didn't find any of the hills too hard, though none of the climbs seemed to have any run-up at all! For me some of the hardest parts were riding along the sides of these slopes.
The course broke back into open country for some time with a series of corners set on the side of the hill which made them pretty slippery (I went down here once).
Back into the bush and a long downhill that had me certain the first time round that I was going to see some water. The ground was a little moist, but no real mud or slop to be seen. Didn't stop me falling off here once as well though!
Some more single track, a little more paddock time, then a short ride through the bush to get to the finish gate.
Everyone was free to do as many or as few laps as they wanted. An awards ceremony was called in the early afternoon, with some random merchadise prizes given out, before rider's time cards were drawn out of a bucket. I even scored a litre of two stroke oil, so the day just kept getting better.
A few diehards (myself included) begged to be allowed back out. The organisers relented, and so I found myself chasing Nathan S, who'd borrowed a DR250.
When's the next one?
Tex
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