Bob Perring Enduro - 19 Nov 2004
Words and Photos By Ben Falconer
I'm in a bloody hard Enduro – get me out of here!
Tony and Ben ventured to Halfway and beyond for the Bob Perring Beacons Enduro – off-road purgatory or another man's pleasure. They dragged along some poor CHG saps for the ride, some did very well, others not so. They'll all be back next year (ahem).
It wasn't lost on me that the best ride of our lot at the Bob Perring Beacons was on a 125!
Guy Mansfield-Smith (KTM 125) did no less than 3 laps in the veterans class, losing 48 minutes in the process – about the same as Steve Venn (CRF 250) and I (Gasser 200), except we "only" had to do 2 laps.
To be fair, this year's Perring was a bit easier but everything's relative. The WTRA event was still harder than the Snowrun, with 95 per cent technical going and no respite. Imagine an 18 mile trials section and that's basically it. Twice for sportsmen.
Sometimes there was no chance to get your breath back before another chance to get royally stuck.
In fact, if you were cute, there was no need to but tired limbs made for poor bike control and bad decision making.
So it was comforting to see some experts (no name, no pack drill, number 1) land on their ears and find that bogs swallow bikes even if they have got red number plates.
Funnily enough Taff was seen at that point earlier in the day with a spade. I think he was burying an old Maico in deference to the Gods of Enduro.
Other CHG members Sam Wilson (CRF 250) and Dave Johnson (Husaberg 400) did 2 laps too – Sam just inside his hour, using his carried minutes, while for Dave it added up to a DNF, as he was riding the veterans class, which covered 3.
Championship class were in for 5 laps!
Despite its reputation it was kind of enjoyable and very satisfying to grab a finish, even if it was in the sportsman class. With clubmen covering 3 laps, there's little chance of the likes of us finishing, we were certainly not pot hunting on the bottom rung.
Sincere thanks to WTRA for a truly classic event.
Results: Guy M-S – Veteran Bronze, Steve Venn – Sportsman Runner Up, Ben Falconer - Sportsman Best 250 2T (third), Sam Wilson – Sportsman Bronze.
Full results on Bob Mullins' site