LRO 4x4 Training Day

Having never had any proper training on how to drive off road, and with the Discovery having low-range gears and a central diff-lock which the Freelander doesn't, I thought it wise to have some tuition. A friend mentioned that the LRO Adventure Club was organising a training day with Protrax at Rockingham Castle (where I had my Land Rover Experience), which isn't too far away, so I booked on as well.

Arriving at the centre there were a couple of Land Rovers there already (plus the LR Experience ones), and after signing in and a cup of coffee we headed in to the classroom for an introduction on the mechanics of driving off road, where the power goes in certain circumstances and how to use the car's abilities to your benefit. In total there were five Land Rovers and six drivers taking part: two Discoveries, a 110, a 90 with two drivers, and a Wolf (110).

From there we drove down to the off road course for our morning session. The weather was dry but chilly, with a cold wind, and I was wishing I'd brought a warmer coat with me as we were talked and walked through the route we were going to follow around the course: down a steepish slope, across a side-slope, through a section of axle-crossing holes (the section shown in the video in my LRE story on this 'blog), through two puddles, up a steep slope then up a parallel slope to the first descent, stopping half-way up to simulate a failure.

We took it in turns to go, there being plenty of room for three cars to be on the course at a time. I was last, and got to the axle-crossing holes before realising I hadn't engaged diff-lock... Land Rovers really are capable! A lack of momentum meant I got slightly stuck (or temporarily detained as the instructor put it) and needed a gentle shove to get enough wheels on the ground to reverse out again and drive around before completing the route.

As is often the case, the same obstacle in the opposite direction is completely different so next we drove the course in the opposite direction. This meant that on the side-slope the driver was on the downhill side, and it takes a lot of concentration not to steer uphill which would increase the lean-angle and could result in the car rolling over. One of the cars had a roof-tent and spare wheel on the roof-rack, but even the resulting higher centre of gravity didn't cause any problems.

Nobody had any particular problems, although the wet, slightly muddy grass did cause a bit of sliding around - wet grass is possibly one of the most tricky surfaces to drive on and is sometimes referred to as "green ice".

For the afternoon session we were going to relocate to Tixover Quarry, a nearby site used for pay and play days which has more space as well as a lake which we could use to practice wading. On our way to Tixover we stopped to grab a quick sandwich for lunch.

On the way from Rockingham Castle to the sandwich shop, a runaway dog, which was chasing another dog which was running away with its owner, decided to bounce in to the road right in front of me. I had already spotted the two dogs, and seen that one of them wasn't on a lead so I was half expecting something to happen. As a result I was able to stop before hitting the dog - but it was a close-call. The others thought I'd hit it.

Arriving at Tixover we had another briefing from the instructor before a 'follow-my-leader' drive around using some of the site's gentler slopes, the edge of the lake and other features to allow us to get a feel for the place.

The afternoon's first session was wading. The route was down a moderate slope, in to Tixover's lake, through it in a gentle arc before choosing one of three exit slopes: gentle, easy or moderate. When wading, technique is very important: too fast and you'll be swamped by the bow wave; too slow and you again risk being caught by the deeper water than follows your bow wave.

 After a demonstration by the instructor, which we were advised to watch carefully so as to get the right route through the water (there were hidden rocks, and the lake is very deep in places!), we all had a go. Carefully down the slope, stopping at the bottom to change gear before driving confidently in to the water. The aim is to create a bow wave and then keep up with the wave to stay in the shadow of it where the water is shallower. Once out of the water there was a simple drive up the chosen slope and round the top back to the start.

The shore of the lake on the opposite side was a good vantage point for photos, although you needed to be aware of the incoming wave so as not to get wet feet.

Next was the same, but in the opposite direction - the instructor was heard to say "perfect" as I waded past his vantage point - but he could have been speaking to someone else...!

With wading mastered we had another 'follow-my-leader' drive before the next subject: rock crawling. Using an area with some scattered boulders we were talked through how to pick a line, hazards to look for (troughs big enough to catch and stop a wheel, for example) and the risks involved in getting it wrong, such as damage to tyre sidewall if you scrape them along the edge of a rock, and tips on how to make it easier, like having a banksman to guide you from outside the car, or in the case of smaller rocks moving them to clear a path or fill-in holes, as well has driving technique on how to stay in control. When it was my turn, the person who kindly offered to act as my banksman directed me around the rocks rather than over them...

A final session of 'follow-my-leader' covering all the things we'd tackled that day: steep slopes, axle-twisting holes, wading, tight turns and rocks, before a free period where we could go and explore the quarry on our own - with a warning about a particularly technical section where we would get stuck, and we'd be on our own if we did!

Shortly after four, with the light starting to fade, we made our respective ways home having learnt some new techniques, reasons why we tackle things the way we do, and a new confidence in taking a Land Rover off road. A very enjoyable day, and excellent value at £50.

  
Thanks to Lee and Russ for taking some of the photos.

Land Rover Experience

From time to time Land Rover offer places on their Land Rover Experience days, which allows you time behind the wheel both on and off road with an instructor. After seeing the invitation on Facebook I jumped at the chance to try an up-to-date Land Rover and chose a Discovery 4.

My nearest LR Experience is at Rockingham Castle in Leicestershire, so with Mum & Dad coming as my guests, I took a seat behind the wheel of a very new, shiny, 8000 mile Land Rover Discovery 4 HSE. The differences between my Discovery and the D4 are many: the D4 is much bigger and has automatic transmission, leather seats, 3.0 TDV6 engine, seven seats, Terrain Response systems and the like.

The most unusual feature is perhaps the five cameras located around the outside of the car: two in the front bumper, one under each wing-mirror and one at the back for reversing. The rear camera has a number of other benefits in that when you engage reverse it superimposes yellow lines that indicate where the car will go with the steering wheel in its current position. As you turn the steering wheel the lines move accordingly. For hitching up a trailer there is another mode that shows where your tow hitch is in relation to the image, and a yellow line branching from it again shows where the hitch will go as you reverse which should make hitching up a very easy process even when on your own.

Our instructor introduced himself and after a quick overview of the controls and satellite navigation system (which allows you to put in phone numbers instead of Postcodes to find places of interest - I was wondering what would happen if I put in a mobile phone number...!), we went for an
on road drive.

First impressions are how very smooth, quiet and powerful the car is, so much so that it's almost impossible to hear the engine. I loath automatic gearboxes, but this one seemed OK, with normal, sport and manual settings. To use sport mode you move the selector sideways, then the manual mode is a sequential system where you change gear by tapping the selector in sport mode forward to go up a gear and backwards to go down again.

On a quiet lane I was given a demonstration of the effect the Terrain Response system has on the throttle and gears: the grass and snow setting softened the throttle response considerably means a very gentle and smooth take-off, whereas the sand mode sharpened up the response beyond that of 'normal', giving a lot of power very quickly.

The Discovery 4 has air suspension and as a result compensates very nicely for undulations in the road. One of the roads on the route had a series of crests and dips, and even a sharp, off-camber crest failed to unsettle the car. The smooth ride, quiet engine and high seating position makes it very easy to end up driving faster than you think, partly due to the lack of hedges flashing past (you're sat at hedge-top level) and the lack of noise... Officer.

After switching drivers to allow Dad to try it, the instructor demonstrated the emergency braking feature: driving at around sixty miles an hour the instructor pulled on the parking brake. This causes the car to slow to a stop under the full control of the ABS system so that in the event of the driving being incapacitated a passenger can safely bring the car to a halt. In a normal car, pulling on the handbrake is likely to cause some loss of control through locking wheels.

Returning to the Experience Centre we took to their off road course. The cars used are completely standard and are on road tyres, which makes their ability all the more impressive (even although it does cause some interesting sideways moments on wet grass). With low range engaged the car
will pull away in first, second or third gear (third being the equivalent of high range first), and changing the Terrain Response system also adjusts the ride height to help prevent grounding between ruts, or when crawling over rocks.

A number of obstacles have been constructed, including a thirty-six degree sideways slope, which the car coped with easily (and I'm told that even a forty-five degree sideways slope isn't a problem, but thirty-six is the official maximum!). The party piece for the occasion is a series of offset holes that causes a cross-axle situation. With two diagonally opposite wheels off the ground, the instructor opens the driver's door - and more importantly closes it again to prove that there's no flexing of the body going on. Something that my Discovery couldn't do as body flex would make the door difficult to open and potentially impossible to close. The traction control system kept the car moving despite having only two wheels on the ground:



From there I took to the wheel again, and after a couple of rutted tracks, a climb or two (and matching descent) the instructor took us to a harder section - he also asked if I was a mystery customer sent by Land Rover as I obviously knew what I was doing! Road tyres on wet grass with a sideways slope isn't the best recipe for success, but gave the instructor an opportunity to demonstrate the difference that the stability control makes, and how turning it off made for much easier progress off road as the car kept wheels turning instead of braking them. While the technology means you need less skill to drive off road, you do need a good memory to know what all the buttons and dials do, and which setting is best for the current situation!

Cresting a gentle hill, I was told to leave the brakes alone and let Hill Descent Control (HDC) do the work. Think of a ski jump where the track turns uphill after the skier has landed - we hurtled down this slope towards a sturdy looking fence at the top of the 'landing ramp' with me resisting the temptation to hit the brakes! Sure enough, the car brought itself to a halt just as the ground started to rise. Tyre tracks further up the landing ramp, much closer to the fence, were, we're told, the result of people trying to do the braking themselves and not letting HDC get on with it!

Next was a long, steepish, rutted climb with a few lumps a bumps along it. Selecting rut mode, disabling the stability control, increasing the ride height (I think I've remembered it all!) I opened the throttle and we started our ascent... and failed about halfway up despite wiggling the steering from side-to-side in the approved way. Rolling back to the bottom (HDC doing its thing again) we had another go which also failed. It was on my third attempt that the engine started to make a funny noise so the instructor asked me to stop, so I did: the car produced lots of black smoke from the exhausts and stalled. And refused to restart.

The parking brake warning light was flashing and a warning tone was sounding, so we tried resetting the car's computer system by turning it off and on again, opening and closing doors, locking and unlocking it.... Eventually we managed to get the parking brake released using the emergency release under the centre console which allowed us to roll back to level ground, but the car still refused to start. Eventually the instructor admitted defeat, and the group in the other D4 came to our rescue. With two of them, plus three of us and an instructor, I got the opportunity to try out the third row of seats - and they're surprisingly comfortable, with plenty of leg room - for a trip back to the centre's reception area.

With profuse apologies from the instructor I was invited to come back again, which I will no doubt do, and after coffee and biscuits we headed home.

If you are thinking of buying a Land Rover Discovery, Freelander or Defender (or Range Rover - they have RR and RR Sport models available to try too), or if you've just bought one and want to see what it can do, then it's well worth a visit.

Thank you to Land Rover and their Experience Centre at Rockingham Castle, particularly our instructor, Luke, for a very enjoyable afternoon.

Response Call-Out: Lincoln

With the earliest winter snowfall for seventeen years, it was only a matter of time before the Northants 4x4 Response Team was called in to action. I've been a volunteer responder for quite a while now, but this was the first time I was called-out: to assist the Yorkshire & Lincolnshire team in Lincoln.

Heavy snow and sub-zero temperatures had left many roads in a treacherous condition, especially in rural areas where they were all but impassable without four-wheel drive. Responders from groups all over the country went to help out, especially those from areas less affected by the wintery weather such as Northants.

The call came on Sunday morning, so after a quick check that everything was in order in the Freelander I set off up the A1 to Lincoln hospital which was the operations centre for the area. The further north I went, the more snow there was in fields - despite a brief thaw over the weekend (which brought rain, which fell on icy roads making them even more icy than before). Arriving at the hospital I found the controller, who had come from Norfolk, and I was duly dispatched to the nearby village of Nettleham to collect a Sue Ryder nurse and take her to do her evening house-calls.

Roads in the village were icy but passable with care, although some houses with long driveways were a bit more of a challenge as were those in hillier areas. Finding houses in the dark, in snow and ice wasn't always easy, but with the aid of my big torch we could light-up the house numbers without having to brave the cold outside the car. We made a dozen or more visits before I dropped off the nurse at her home.

During the visits I waited in the car, listening to the radio and wishing I'd thought to bring something to read. I'd stopped at a couple of petrol stations on the way up in the hope of finding a Land Rover or motorbike magazine, but I can only assume other responders had got there first because the selection was very poor. In one petrol station the magazine section consisted of only a top-shelf, which while it would have helped to pass the time, didn't seem all that appropriate!

By 21.30 I was finished and stopped for some hot food before meeting up with the rest of the Northants team at a nearby hotel. Two of us were heading home while the other two were staying overnight to assist on Monday. The A1 is very quiet around midnight on a freezing cold Sunday night, and after a non-stop journey I arrived home in the early hours of Monday; exceedingly tired but pleased to have been able to help out.

Some of the RT's calls are exciting and adventurous, but many are far more mundane. Either way, they're just as important and without our assistance a lot of elderly and vulnerable people would not have received their visits and been left cold and lonely.

The Inevitable

I knew that it was likely to happen sooner or later - one of the Land Rovers broke down and needed recovery.

It was the Discovery that let me down yesterday. It had been a little poorly since using it to tow the bikes to Wales for the Cambrian Rally, when it developed a nasty vibration when under load - accelerating, going uphill etc. I thought it was a problem with the transfer box caused when I made a mess of changing from low range to high range, but it turned out to be a badly worn universal joint (UJ) on the front prop shaft. It's possible that my ham-handed gear change was the final straw for it, or it could be coincidence. That's a much easier repair than replacing the transfer box - which friends from Northants 4x4 has offered to help me with.

Setting off home with a nice smooth transmission, I didn't get far. Within a mile or so the engine stalled, the ignition lights came on briefly, and I rolled to a halt at the side of the road. Turning the key in the ignition had no effect - no ignition lights, the engine didn't turn over, nothing. The non-engine electrics worked fine: hazard lights, interior lights, clock etc. but they weren't going to get me home.

Turning again to my N44 friends, the cavalry soon arrived but they couldn't breathe life in to it either.

Time to call RAC - I've paid for their recovery service for times like this, so let's see what they can do! Not a lot is the answer. After fifteen minutes on hold I got through and was informed that it would be
four hours before they could attend. Yes, four hours... An hour and a half later I got another call saying it would be another three hours... At least I had a car to sit in, even if it was unheated, and I wasn't sat on the curb as I would have been on the bike.

Plan B: Tow the Discovery home behind another Land Rover... Which is what we did. I've towed a few times, but never been towed before and it was an interesting experience. There's something slightly eery about trundling along with no engine noise, just the roar of the Defender in front and a bit of wind noise - and by this time it was dark too.

It took a while, but we made it home. I was a bit surprised that the speedo still worked, although it's a mechanical one not electronic so perhaps not all that surprising! What didn't work so well were the brakes and steering. With no engine power there was no power steering and no brake servo to assist either. And when the windscreen mists up you don't have a blower to clear it, nor can you open the windows.

I think I preferred having a mechanical fault because at least the car was mobile whereas now it's not going anywhere. My suspicion is that the immobiliser has died so that's going to be first on the list of things to look at, and hopefully remove.

So as one fault is fixed, another one occurs - but I guess that's the charm of driving an older Land Rover...

 

New Arrival

There's a new addition to the fleet - a 1993 Land Rover Discovery:

Previously owned by a friend, it comes with a very comprehensive history, has been converted to run on vegetable oil and has a remote control winch on the front. Despite having 144k miles on the clock it runs beautifully and I'm looking forward to learning what to do with two gear levers as well as taking it to places too risky for the Freelander.

Now to find a source of used veg. oil...

Abingdon 4x4 Festival 2010

The last weekend of September saw the annual Abingdon 4x4 Festival take place at Dalton Barracks in Oxfordshire. This is an annual event and raises money for local charities. This year, owing to the Cadwell Track Day being the Thursday and Friday immediately before, I arrived at lunchtime on Saturday direct from Cadwell.

The first challenge on arrival was finding my friends who were already there: Bobby with his Defender 90 and Robin with his Discovery. Before I'd even parked I'd found Bobby's 90, but it was parked and unattended. I was at this point I realised that I didn't have mobile phone numbers for either Bobby or Robin - memo to self: plan further ahead next time!

With the power of my iPhone, Facebook and e-mails we were soon in contact and, after pitching my tent, met up for my first lap of the course. First impressions were that it was a more technical course than in previous years - "technical" is a wonderful euphemism meaning bloody hard!

Before you're allowed on the course you have to have your vehicle scrutineered to make sure everything in it is secure and not going to fly around the cabin - this includes the battery in the engine bay. This is why tent-pitching came first!

Dalton Barrack's off road course is used by the army for driver training and has a range of features for the festival's Clerk of the Course to choose from. As in previous years there were "easy" and "hard" routes in many places, although the distinction wasn't always obvious with some of the "hard" bits being fairly easy - so much so I happily went that way in the Freelander - but the truly "hard" bits were just that, and there's no way I'd risk damaging the Freelander by attempting them.

The centre-piece of the course is the Mud Run, which is a deep, muddy water-filled channel much too deep for the Freelander, but that's not to say the Freelander didn't get the chance to have a swim. The course drops down in to a large pond, before the hard route splits off towards the Mud Run. The water level in it varied over the course of the weekend, with it being topped up periodically by water bowser.

© Abingdon 4x4 Festival

With the recent rain, parts of the course were very slippery and on some of the steeper climbs lots of people struggled to get to the top, including some seriously modified 4x4s which demonstrated it's as much about driver technique as vehicle specification. I'm pleased to report that in most cases the Freelander made it to the top - to the surprise of some of the marshals!

As Bobby was only at the show on the Saturday, I left the Freelander and climbed aboard his 90. For the first lap we went the easy route again, and the difference between the two cars was very noticeable, especially in terms of the ride with the Defender making even the smoother sections of the course feel much more dramatic. The limited turning circle of the 90 meant taking a couple of shunts at some of the tighter parts of the course, as did most people - the Clerk of the Course drives a Freelander 2: I'll say no more!

On the tallest, steepest and, that weekend, the most slippery climb we ground to a halt and rolled back. And again. And again. So we were directed around it - and we weren't the only ones by a long-shot as it continued to defeat 4x4s of all kinds.

For a second lap, Robin joined us in the forward-facing passenger seat in the back and this time Bobby decided to raise the stakes and opted for some of the harder sections. All went well until we branched off towards the Mud Run. Having got the hang of a using a heavier foot to get up the slopes, on particularly short, sharp climb over a ridge, Bobby forgot to lift-off at the top and we hurtled down the other side a bit too fast (understatement!). Fortunately no harm done, although how Robin had avoided going head first through the roof I don't know!

From there to the Mud Run, and after some advice from the marshal we took the plunge. The advice was spot on and we made it through where many had failed. Although in keeping with Land Rover tradition in such things, we did have wet feet. By now Bobby was on a roll, and even the highest, steepest mound couldn't stop us this time!

And that was the end of Saturday. Robin and I finished setting up camp and prepared some food as the temperature fell. Sitting out on a cold, clear night was not unpleasant but a warm caravan would have been nicer. It kept the beer (milk and orange juice) cold at least. Turning in for the night I checked the weather app on the iPhone for Didcot and it said 8°C: Brrr!

As the night went on it got colder and colder and I can tell you that my sleeping bag is a bit snug when you're wearing several layers, including a coat, inside a fleece liner. And I was still chilly...

After breakfast Robin and I made plans: a solo lap each in our respective Land Rovers, then we'd have a lift around in the other's Land Rover, then swap and drive each other's. That went well until half-way round the first lap when one of Robin's Discovery's rear shock absorbers broke, allowing the spring to pop-out and foul the rear wheel - it was the smell of burning rubber that gave it away. We discovered later that the mounting for the rear anti-roll bad had also sheared. Thanks to our neighbours in the camp site Robin was able to drive home that evening, very carefully.

So that left us with the Freelander, but the Freelander's time was nigh too and while following a Nissan Pathfinder around the course a lingering smell of diesel pervaded - we hoped from the Nissan, which had beached itself on a couple of humps. Sadly it wasn't, as subsequent investigations showed a burst fuel line where it runs under the suspension in the front wheel arch.

I didn't know about the fuel leak until after I got home, so we carried on lapping the course, being slightly more adventurous with the hard sections (although on one lap I was prevented from attempting the highest, steepest mound by the marshals, despite having already cleared on previous laps!). The video from this year's show on the official web site shows one of the climbs and a number of vehicles trying several times, and in some cases failing, to get over it. My Freelander features in the video, with it going straight over in one shot - very satisfying. [Link]

Right at the end of the course, Beds, Herts & Cambs Land Rover Club were manning a see-saw. In return for a £1 donation you could have a go at driving over it. Last year I'd made a right meal of it and was wary of it this year. On my first attempt I went straight over - gently up the slope to the balance point, stopping, tipping and rolling gently off. On the second attempt I didn't make as good a job of it when I stopped too soon, and in trying to start up the slope again the unmistakable smell of a burning clutch was all too apparent. After that, I decided to give the see-saw a miss to let the clutch recover.

On the Sunday I decided to try something a bit different and entered the twist-off challenge. I lined up in the area with a couple of purpose-built challenge trucks, a Series II, a SEAT Ibiza (yes, really) and a few other vehicles including a mobility scooter. When it was my turn, the commentator noted that my Freelander was modified, and sitting higher than standard - I was impressed because he hadn't been briefed. For those that don't know, a twist-off is a competition to find the vehicle with the greatest amount of suspension articulation. You drive up a single wheel-width ramp until you lose traction - diff locks etc. must not be engaged. Going forwards I didn't do all that well, but going backwards I did rather better - so much so I didn't realise that my rear wheel was dangling in mid-air. Unfortunately that's considered cheating... And probably not entirely safe either.

© Abingdon 4x4 Festival

I'm looking forward to next year's show already, but which Land Rover will I take...?

Cambrian Rally 2010

After a disappointing performance in the Beacons Rally I was determined to do better at the Cambrian. It's also organised by WTRA, but the course is less technical. The start / finish was near Lyn Brianne reservoir, and the weather was just about perfect: cold but sunny.

Unfortunately neither Mark or Craig could make this one, but I wasn't alone as Gareth came to do his first rally on his 950 Adventure. I decided I deserved a bit of a break and left the 990 Adventure at home and used my 250 EXC Racing instead - the first time I've used it in over a year.

Instead of camping, we decided that a B&B was a better option this time, and we found a very comfortable room at the Castle Coaching Inn in Trecastle. After checking in on Friday evening we headed in to Llandovery to meet with our fellow forum riders, Team Bravo Two-Zero - AKA Rob, Gav & Shep in the chippy. And then in the pub - lovely beer, shame I had to drive!

Saturday morning dawned cold: there was ice on the seats of the bikes. The road up to the reservoir was narrow, twisty, and it took a lot longer than we expected - even once we'd arrived at the grid reference supplied, it was another twenty minutes to the start!

Taking advantage of the Land Rover we parked on a handy piece of verge, unloaded, and went to get scrutineered and signed-on. Our start time wasn't until almost 11.30 so we had plenty of time to drink coffee, chat and generally get organised.

Once on the start-line, the clock ticked over to our set time and off we went, Gareth leading. There were two special tests, and we were to complete two laps on Saturday, with the first one an untimed sighting lap.

The first liaison was along some sweeping forest fire-roads, through a timber yard and down on to the famous Strata Florida. The water level was fairly low, but there were still some deep puddles to ford (up to the front mud-guard on the 250), not to mention some tricky sections with loose rocks and a couple of rocky steps.

From there it was a short road-ride up a 25% gradient to Test One - where were arrived over half an hour early because they'd allowed too much time for the first liaison. While we were waiting we chatted to our fellow riders, I drained large volumes of water from my boots, and we gradually shuffled forwards to the start-line.

Rallies work to a timetable, and you are given a time for your start, stage one, stage two, refuel etc. but the time allowed to the first section was far too generous - and the pedantic marshals wouldn't let anyone start until the allotted time.

Despite it being untimed there's always the urge to keep going, and the first test was a fairly fast mix of fire tracks with a few more technical sections of bog and narrow rutted tracks. There were better ruts to pick, and I didn't get them right by any means!

From the first stage there was a longer road ride to the second test, which was not dissimilar to the first, but on generally tighter, steeper trails making it a bit slower. I did better on the second than the first, possibly due to having a smaller bike.

by Michael Davies

The two section tests were more technical than the liaisons, but not especially difficult, so I'd have been fine on the 990 after all.

On the second lap I was rattling along when I spotted a bike off the side of the track, a good twelve foot down the embankment. A black bike. A KTM 950. Gareth.

With the help of another rider, and a couple of marshals when they arrived, we got the bike back on to the track with no harm done. Gareth had over-cooked the corner and gone a bit wide, kept it on the edge, got on the straight, through he'd gotten away with it, then went over the edge...

Next day the route was reversed, with an earlier start time.

Gareth and I rode up to the start line where we switched off and awaited the nod. When it duly came, Gareth roared off down the road, and I didn't. The 250 refused to fire despite having carried me to the start. After a while the battery was flat, so I tried using the kick-start. That didn't work either, and my leg felt like it was going to fall off. Thankfully a bystander, with a fresh leg, stepped in and I was off.

This way round there was a lengthy road-ride to start with before the two timed stages, which were exactly the same as the day before albeit in reverse. And with less waiting.

Gareth and I managed to stay together most of the day - Gareth was a bit quicker on one stage, I was quicker on the other. The only real excitement was a chap who got a bit out of shape on a bend, almost caught it before veering off the track in to the hillside - and amazing managed to find a storm culvert, probably a metre cubed, which stopped him dead. We got a thumbs up, and left him to it - there were marshals close behind us.

At one point on the third and final lap I nipped past Gareth on a 'technical' section where his 950 needed more care, and thought he was behind me as I trundled along. Some time later, I looked over my shoulder and there was nobody there... So I stopped and waited. No Gareth.

I stopped at the next radio check-point and asked if he'd been seen recently. While I was there, a call went out for an ambulance, and I started to worry a bit...

It turns out he'd had a puncture shortly after I'd passed him, and he'd stopped to fix it - I knew nothing about it, and obviously couldn't go back.

By mid-afternoon we'd all finished, packed away and set off for home - I'd finished! And not last either. Shame they decided not to give finisher awards this year :-\

So next year I'll be taking the 250 to the Beacons and the 990 to the Cambrian. Who knows, I might do some of the others too.