The ultimate Enduro of the year is the 4 day Enduro. It is held in a different state each year & it is Australia’s answer to the ISDE.
For 88 it became the International 4 day Enduro or I4DE. It attracted many internationals & was set up as a Bicentenary celebration 1788 – 1988
I chose poorly in 88, I bought a TT 350. It seemed like a good idea at the time, more powerful than a XR 250 & lighter than a XR 600.
It always seemed though that the XR 600’s would go under me in the corners & the XR 250’s would pass me down the straights.
I never really came to grips with it & the disappointment was exaggerated at the I4DE which turned out to be one big mud fest. Being a 4 stroke also meant I had to start at the back, the only class behind me were the 600 4 strokes & with over 300 entries the trails were pretty chopped up by the time I got to ride them.
Starting at the back is one thing that would worry me if I ever got my act together & rode the Masters class.
Interesting that at the 4 day just finished the Veteran’s & Master’s classes were quite popular.
The Park Ferme was at Corbould Park in Coloundra. I think it was a trotting track.
The start was in the park, we had an easy ride out the front gate, hang a left, cruise down the road 50 metres, turn right into the start of the trails & then the nightmare began.
The first trail was down beside some sort of drainage ditch, it was the size of an aqueduct & the dirt that had been dug out was beside the ditch. They had that much rain in the lead up to this event that the surrounding land was almost swamp like. What seemed the best line was to ride the mound of freshly dug dirt. Being higher it was a bit drier but was still rutted & boggy.
People stuck in front of you, no way to get around, having to lift my own bike out of holes to keep moving, their were guys going bush to escape it but I could see them getting stuck worse off in the distance so that ruled out that alternative line. The other tempting line was in the bottom of the ditch as the ground seemed harder down their. I resisted the temptation to drop down into it even though the guys that were doing this seemed to get quite mobile & quickly rode out of site. When I eventually got to the end of this section I found a heap of guys at the bottom of this ditch having all sorts of trouble getting out.
This is pretty much how I remember this event, crawling from one bog hole to the next.
The mud sapped what fitness I had & I found myself houred out after having traveled 200 K’s & still with another 100 to go on day 2
It had been such a struggle I was actually quite pleased to get the hell out of their, & so after parking the bike I picked up the camera……
