So what did you do new years day ? Well for those of us mad/enthusiastic/insane (delete where applicable) we were down in Bala for the Wirral Off-Road Sinasalo Forest Enduro. It was 6 months since my last event and the first time out on latest purchase, a 2004 KTM125Exc. Apparently the 125 2-Stroke is a direct competitor to the old steed the Yamaha WR250F.

The event was to be held for solo competitors over 3 hours around a 8 mile forest lap. No beer and a semi early night was the best preperation I could muster. Wet and cold conditions greeted nearly a 100 riders in varying states of well being ! Both myself and George Gordon were riding in the sportsman class so we were last off from the start area. The going was mainly through the wet and slippy forest floor. This got more cut up exposing more and more tree roots which caught out the unwary. We were warned by one of the marshalls that there were no stoppers but it was going to be very physical, never a truer word said !

Not having done an event for a while quickly showed up a distinct lack of fitness ! The lap put together by the WOR crew was indeed challenging which was great as you don't want to travel all that way and it be easy ! Each lap was followed by a well earned rest and re-energising before entering into the next lap. Well only 4 laps could be acheived and was I relieved to see Steve Ireland wave that chequered flag !

So how did the little Katoom fair in comparison to the old 250f ? Well the amount of torque and the soft power delivery when not "on the pipe" was excellent, not once did I miss the chuggability of the 4 stroke. The big difference was the weight. I think theres' a difference of about 20kgs which when out riding such as an event as the one on new years day feels huge. The thing didn't knacker you out when you inevitably fall off and have to pick the bike and all the mud attached to it, back off the floor.

Full race report is available at www.enduronews.com

Next event is the Snowrun in Wales (entry permitting).

Yours in enduro.