The first round of the SACU Adult Hare and Hounds was cancelled in December due to the poor weather so the new first round was Sunday at Tain, about 60 miles north of Inverness.
I've never been to Tain and had heard good and bad things about the track there. Meant to be an excellent track but unfortunately someone died in an accident there last year. He was pretty handy too.
Anyway they have built an enduro loop for the H&H. H&H is basically a 5 to 10 mile off road course made up of sandy sections, obstacles, bogs, mud, woods etc etc, and the idea is to do as many laps as you can in 3 hours. Simples!
So anyway I set off about 5am to get there and get ready for the 11am start. Weather on the way up was attrocious and I nearly died in a flooded section of motorway which I hit at about 70mph, (didn't see it at all), and couldn't see a thing for about 3 or 4 secs whilst in the flood. It was a bit like a log flume.
Made it through though so carried on North.Got there signed on and changed and ready for start. First part was a section of the mx track which I wasn't looking forward to with big table top jumps and very deep sand. after that it was a mixture of wooden log obstacle sections, a ramp with a 5 foot drop off and some very very boggie sections. In total about a 7 mile loop.
It was a great work out and about half way in I was really enjoying it and getting much more confident and quicker. Unlike car trackdays where I am usually quite quick from the off I am really slow on my first lap at these events. Surprisingly my favourite section was the mx track, I started to really get the hang of riding through the deep sand which is all about momentum and keeping the speed up. The jumps were great fun even though I wasn't going that high or far. Watching some of the experts taking these was really impressive. I just had to make sure I didn't fall or break down in the landing areas.
The bogs were actually not too bad either, whereas last year I would have been stuck in lots of them, I am much better now and can carry my speed over them. If you go too slow the tyres get caked in mud and you have no grip so you need to carry enough speed to clear the mud from the tyres. Usually what I do is try and take a different route to others which can involve me going through fresh heavily reeded areas which is fine except you can't see any hidden rocks or ditches. I hit one reed at a fair speed, 3rd gear, on Sunday and there must have been a rock behind it as I hit it and shot into the air quite a bit. Ok when you know it's coming but not so when you're not.
Normally I have to stop after about an hour and have a rest/get fuel but I didn't stop at all on Sunday except when I stalled or to think about an obstacle and see how it should be done or to help someone else get their bike out.
This was probably partly becase there weren't any steep hills which are my nemesis.
Anyway great day, I am in agony today so must have been a good work out.
My arms are particulary sore and I think this is because my gloves got wet in the first puddle and stayed that way throughout so my grip was not as good as it should have been, hands sliding off the handlebar grips so had to grip tighter. After:
