Powys Enduro 2009
Report by Vess
The Powys is always a favourite amongst those who like big lap timecard events. This is like one day of the Welsh, probably 120+ miles of very mixed terrain, rocks, bogs, moors and tracks, mostly fast and flowing, as long as you don't get stuck of course!
Saturday afternoon, myself, Ant, Mike and Chris met at the start at Carno, scrutineered then signed on. We had no assistance for fuelling, so went down the road and hid our cans in some bushes for our first fuel stop, then returned to walk the second test. This was much the same as previous years, a motocross style layout over a rough hillside, but it's always useful to checkout the real boggy bits! The first test was a long cross country test same as last year so we had a good idea of what to expect without walking it.
Then it was back to the chippy at Caersws for an excellent fish and chip supper, followed by a few beers back at the start, then bed. I was woken in the middle of the night by heavy rain which was a bit ominous.
It was still warm in the morning, so no jackets were required. From the start, the course went straight to the cross-country test which proved to be the expected challenge, rocks, ditches, gulleys, slippery climbs and off-camber traverses, thankfully considerably more grippy than last year!
After the next check, we were up the hill onto the Trannon moor. Here there were a number of bogs and climbs which had to be carefully negotiated to avoid getting stuck.
There then followed some road work to the rocky lane by Ty-nant. Here there was a queue on the steep slippery bare rock and a number of marshals pulling up the strugglers.
After fuelling from the cans in the bushes near Cemmaes-Road, we were into the Dyfi checks. The first used some new going in farmland on the forest edge with some brilliant views over the valley back towards Cemmaes-Road, before taking us up onto the going high on the moor. the course then entered the forest with a couple of excellent steep rocky descents and climbed back up to the next forest check. After that it was back up onto the top, followed by more of the regular Dyfi going, including the Dyfi enduro test, and then back out onto the road, and up to the petrol station for fuel and a mars bar (Thats a short paragraph to describe 2 hours of brilliant enduro going).
We were dreading the next check, which in the past couple of years has set off straight up a steep gnarly whooped out rooty hillclimb through the trees. Thankfully it had been cut out this year, so the next check was a few singletracks plus a load of fast and occasionally slimy forest tracks.
The next part was over some tarmac backroad to the 2nd special test. Even though we had walked it, we were all surprised at how wet the boggy bits really were. Even so, we all managed to scrabble around without major mishap.
Then came the last check. This was mostly the first special test in reverse but with a couple of interesting additions. All classes were given 5 minutes to ride this, which was an impossible time, even the fastest experts lost a minute. The off-camber bank at the end which nearly houred me out last year was ride-able this time thankfully. The CoC showed his sense of humour when near the end, the route went down a step bank, into a farmyard, into a barn, did a left and came out the side! The rider in front of me stopped at the barn, looking at the double crossed-arrows, but I went past as I could just see the arrows pointing left nailed to the back wall!!
Brilliant ride, probably the most enjoyable Powys for me yet. Generally the same route as the last few years, but with a load of different going in, and good stuff too. Hard and challenging but not too difficult and the weather was perfect. A couple of cooling showers, but not enough to make the course too wet.
Thanks go to MWTRA for a superbly organised event, and to all the landowners for providing such excellent ground to ride on.