Leatherhead and District Motor Club Easter Enduro

Venue : Yately Heath wood, nr Blackbush airport, Hants.

My first ever proper Enduro event as the one on the 3rd March turned into a hare and hound event.
This event was on a course of around 10 miles per lap and a special stage. With 6 laps to be completed each in a given time limit the going got rather tough. The first two laps were fine, having to do them in 50 and 41 minutes respectively. After the second lap I did the special stage which was short but very complex with lots of tight turns and tree stumps to avoid. Lap 3 (38 minutes) started to tell on my body as I became more tired whilst lap 4 (36 minutes) used up most of my remaining energy. At the end of lap 5 (30 minutes) I started to lose time badly and arrived around 15 minutes late. It was at this point, sat within smelling distance of the coffee bar and exhausted, that I had to make a VERY concerted effort to continue. Mannie, one of the other members of the Witley club, told me not to rest but to just get out there and finish. Cass, my girlfriend, and Steve, an old pal, also gave me encouragement to just DO IT! With aching limbs already stiffening, muscles complaining and boots full of sweat I headed out again. I'd gone this far it seemed silly not to finish. If it took me 1 hour 15 minutes to do the lap (expected time 33 minutes) I'd still qualify as having finished. Starting out I informed the time keepers that I may be a while which didn't please them as they'd have to wait for me. 45 minutes or so later I crossed the finish time for the last time.

On the second lap I just brushed against a tree as I passed, thinking 'oh dear that smarts' or words to that effect :o). When I returned to the pits after completing the lap I noticed that I'd torn open my denim shirt and my arm. Not bad enough to require treatment but it did (still does a day later) smart.
On some of the laps I'd be caught up by the better riders and pull over to let them pass. Where I couldn't pull over I'd try and speed up so as not to cause them too much of a delay. This technique seemed to be appreciated but did involve me getting myself stuck in odd places when I pulled off the main track. One of the 'odd' places was laying down beside the tree I'd just hit but the good guys did ask if I was ok before going on their way.
My worst 'off' of the event had to be when I opened it up a bit on a fast-ish stretch. My front wheel caught a tree root just wrong and before I could even think what had happened I got a VERY close view of the ground as my crash helmet bounced off of terra firmer. That slowed me down a bit for the remainder of that lap.

That's about it for this event, Check out the events I've done since thois time and watch my ranking improve.