Sunrun report 6th Feb 2005 - Kieron Sykes

A 4 hour journey from Ribchester with fellow TRAC member George Gordon down to Llandovery awaited. A phone call to Colin Newman (He and Rob went on the Alston trail ride) on the Saturday morning raised confidence about the weather conditions. We had to stop off on the way to pick up a pair of the most expensive water and windproof trousers Wales could offer as I had left mine at home.

The digs were very comfortable although a little stuck out in the wilds. We met up in the evening with TRAC's welsh friends Colin Newman and Rob. They were very hospitable and showed us the sights and sounds of a night out in Llandovery. No knickers being worn on the outside of trousers down here !! (aka Alston)

Being English in a very welsh town was a little nerve racking when England were getting beaten be England in the Rugby. We were also introduced to various people who were marshalling and helping out with event the next day, all very friendly I may add. An early night after several orange juices followed as the following day was by all accounts going to be very physical.

Opening the curtains the next morning at 7 brought upon sights of a very frosty forest. Could the snowrun really be living up to its name? After chatting with other competitors over a full english we packed up and headed off through the forest to the main start area. 265 (ish) competitors were all lined up with very clean bikes and brand new tyres all round. scrutineering nearly became a problem as the front wheel bearings were ever so slightly slack, but a friendly scrutineer let me go with a warning. We both signed on then filled out our time cards. 2 checks per lap (23 mile lap) on this event, 38 minutes for the first check, 41 for the second. We had been pre-warned not to worry much about getting in on time as this was very difficult to achieve. Each lap had a special test, only timed on the second lap.

Myself and George had a start time of 10:55. At the very start there was a small shaily hill climb. This normally wouldn't be so difficult on a warm engine, but from a stone cold start it caught out the ones who were too eager to get away causing them to stall half way up. With that lesson learnt, we started our engines as our minute ticked over and warmed them up for a good 20 seconds. The hill was no longer a problem.

Up the hill we went and round the corner at the top with a short 20 yard flat section that lead up to another very steep climb. Here you just had to nail the throttle at the bottom and just roll of the gas as you reached the top. This led into a small opening into the trees at the top where there were plenty of large tree roots to catch everyone out, this soon got you warmed up! A helpful marshal helped me out when I inevitably got stuck with the back wheel spinning up with no grip against one of these roots.

It soon dawned on me that if the whole course was going to be like this it was going to be a very long day ! Well I think the organisers had listened to previous events and there were a few sections of nice short open fire roads to get your breath back. Once recovered (only just mind !) we entered into some light trees upon we seemed to hit a traffic jam. Peering down I saw why.

They called this "nose bleed hill" on the Bob Mullins website and if you click here you will be able to see the reason ! This may not look it but we zig zagged across a very steep bank and one rider had come off causing a queue to develop very quickly.

The technique seemed to be to gently slide down with the back end locked up and releasing the front brake ever so gently to creep, and I mean creep down the hill. There was one big rut all the way to the end. This was the first of about 7 or 8 really long and steep descents scattered all over the lap that were agonising. On some of the descents you could see where peoples boots had been sliding along the tops of the ruts to help stablise them.

The lap consisted of these horrendous drops, one of which you were in the hands of the gods on and just simply dropped down the 7ft banking with marshal's at the bottom to catch you, and snooty climbs up into the forrest. These climbs were deep muddy ruts with tree roots everywhere so momentum was key. I seemed to be coping OK on these but I was still relatively fresh and had the energy to paddle with my legs to help me up through the ruts.

Getting to the first check was great, only 6 minutes down - excellent. I thought to myself, "Great, only one more check to do and we're finished ! Haven't I done well!". I must have been on something at that moment as about 2 minutes later it suddenly dawned on me that I was still on the first lap and I had 3 more checks to do before the finish !!

I simply couldn't keep the pace up that I has set through the first check. Both George and I had rode together up until the special test, which lay 3/4 of the way, round the lap. I had to take a breather here and try and restore some energy, as I had no idea what the test entailed. Thankfully the test wasn't too difficult and I don't even remember going through the end of it. After getting well and truly stuck in a bog near the end of the lap (thanks to whoever you were who pulled me out !!) the end of the lap was close. One more wet rutty open climb and I was there.

I saw Rob in the start area and I pulled in for a refuel. Its amazing how much fuel you go through on one lap when your spinning and revving away. Rob and his two friends refueled both man and machine and I took a well deserved 5 minute break and nibbled on a banana. They jollied me up and reluctantly off I went onto lap two.

I had no idea how much time I had lost on the first lap when going through the check and had backed my pace off to conserver the last remaining ounces of energy I had left. I seemed to get stuck and fall off everywhere where I had previously gotten through OK. All energy reserves had gone. I remember just falling off in the forest in a rut when I was doing absolutely fine. Obviously another rider was feeling sorry for me and fell off in the rut right next to me. We both looked at each other, both completely knackered, red faced and wondering what the hell we were doing here ! He shouted across to me "and we pay to do this !??! ?!!". I looked at his number, it was only double figures which meant he was either clubman or expert which made me laugh as I thought to myself "well if those guys get knackered too, we're all in the same boat". What I failed to realise was whilst I only had 2 laps to do, he was on his 3rd or 4th lap ! Fools !

Well, after what seemed like an eternity, the sight of that last open snotty climb that had greeted me before, once again dawned. The legs had completely gone, not a bit achey or wobbly, gone. I hadn't the strength to lift my feet onto the pegs and stand up so I left my feet dragging behind me until I got to the top where it flattened out and I trickled into the start/finish area to the sight of George with his bobble hat on waving at me - obviously having finished some time ago.

I handed my time card in and asked in sheer hope and desperation that I'd not houred out (houred out= having come in 60 minutes later than the allotted time). They had a quick scan and after a couple of glances around smiled and said "Just, with 2 minutes to spare !", woohoo ! I'd finished the Snowrun and managed to get in without going over time !

When I got back to the grinning George I'd noticed Colin and Rob had gone. George informed me Colin had finished without loosing anytime at all over the two laps and had packed up and gone home, much respect. A big thank you goes out to Colin and Rob for helping us out over the weekend.

A bigger thanks goes to George Gordon and my old man (Boring Barrie) who both helped me prepare the bike and me for the event. Without them the man and machine simply wouldn't have been fit to ride.

For anyone thinking of entering next year, do it - just be prepared to hurt the next day or two ! Brand new tyres and a well prepared man/bike are a must. I saw a few people not finish due to crappy little faults on their bikes which could have been avoided, and its a fricking long way to go to break down !

Kieron Sykes.