Tough One's Brother - Nov 2008
Report from Steve Biddle
I managed to get a last minute entry for the W.O.R Tough One's Brother extreme enduro at Wern Du quarry at Corwen North Wales.
Left on my tod at 4.30 sunday morning, I needed to be there for at least 8 O'Clock to sign on and sort out my entry, also my bike wasn't ready - had to change tyres and mooses and a few other jobs. All done by 9 so I had chance to walk the course. I already knew it was 2.5 mile long so I missed bits out and checked out the really extreme parts to find some lines.
I've been to all the tough one events so I, sort of, knew what to expect, it was much the same as previous times really, apart from the obstacles were more natural than man made but still very hard. The hill climbs were all very steep and the down hills were very frightening. Four rocky stream beds down hill washed right out from the rain the day before, were very tricky and nasty. Two of the steep down hills had tight right turns at the bottom. One offset camber up hill about 200 yrds long. The steepest hill climb on top of the quarry did have a chicken run for the not so brave, it was the steepest down hill I'd ever seen, but it did give you a real shortcut, the rest of the course was tough, offset cambers, rock piles, bogs, root strewn hills, there was no let up at all on the whole course.
The start was at eleven and for 2 hrs. There were some good riders along with me in the expert class. I knew a few of them from other races and some were good trials riders aswell. Up on the pro line were Eddy, Sager, Braybrook , Mick Exstance, Brewster. The mystery guests were meant to be Knighter and Taddy, but they didn't turn up. I had bad start, I think I was last but I did get a few places back further on around and I didn't take the chicken run either so I took 2 more places there as well. There were 4 short hills by the start area for the spectators to watch and at the bottom of one of them I got caught up in some rope and lost a few places.
On the 2nd lap we caught the back markers so there was a bit of carnage about then. I wanted to take it easy if I could becuase I was up there on my own and didn't want any problems and also I was carying an injury on my wrist from the midwest race the week before. I had it strapped up but it was giving me a bit of gip. I had a few nasty off's on the rocks and twisted the bike about a bit, I knew then I just wanted to finish. You just couldn't ride that fast, You just had to pick your'e lines through everything and the course did get cut up and you had to find other routes around fallen and tired riders, I did manage to keep going all the 2 hrs without stoping. My fitness is for 3hrs so that did help and I have been doing a few tough events lately, including weston under a cancelled riders name. Fairplay, the KTM stood up to everything I threw at it, my exhaust is going to take a bit of blowing out though.
I think what makes this event so hard is that you are not allowed any outside help at all, if you fall off, no matter how tired, you've got to help yourself and that's that. Everbody just watches you struggle, even the marshals, if anybody touches your bike you are disqualified. Not even help in the pits. I didn't get the best result, in 12th, but I got a finish and that's what these events are about. I did 13 laps and enjoyed every second of it.
If anybody likes trials or extreme events I recommend it. I was a bit worried at first because of the damage you could do but 'sod it, just do it', the buzz is great, loads of people watching, good atmosphere, top riders, loads of photos, filming crew, it really was a good day and I'm definateley going back next year , I've got a bit of pressure off my mates now to do the tough one in January, but I don't know yet what to do because of the cost. My next race is the Ceri Enduro then the final Midwest.