RAF Enduro Team Training Baskerville Hall
The RAF Enduro and Motocross Championships came to a close in November 13, with the last round held at Bagshot Test Track. The next round wasn’t due until January 14, and with such a long time between rounds it was the perfect opportunity to get in some extra training in challenging winter conditions.
Eight team members met on a cold blustery evening on 16th December at Baskerville Hall, Hay-On-Wye. The Hall is were Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote the Hound of the Baskervilles novel, and whilst the story is set in West Country, the original Hall and home of the Baskerville family is in mid-Wales.
We met our instructor, Lee Walters and fellow student Emily Davey, in the hotel bar. Lee began sowing the seeds of terror with tales of extreme hill climbs and descents, log crossings and even riding down a narrow gully river! It turns out that Emily is preparing to ride in the 2014 Redbull Romaniacs; an extreme enduro race held over 4 days! Her ambition to compete is even more remarkable given she is recovering from breast cancer. The gauntlet had been thrown down; if a young woman recovering from a serious illness could ride these obstacles, so could 8 semi-talented RAF team members…
Lee had agreed to break us all in gently, and the first days training started with bike setup and riding position. Needless to say some of the more experienced individuals were surprised at how quickly their riding improved once they had the controls in the right position and sat in the right place! We quickly moved onto slow speed control doing figures of 8, and front and rear wheel skids. It was during this simple stage that we became familiar with Lee’s tenants of riding (shouted at us in a full Welsh accent): sit forward and look up!
We quickly moved onto some more technical riding, such as bermed corners, short vertical climbs and descents, off camber ascents and riding in tight woodland. There were plenty of slow and high speed crashes, dropped bikes and sweating and swearing trying to manoeuvre 100kg of bike down a slippery vertical or extracting it from between tress.
The day finished on a high with ‘log crossings’ of various sizes. Some of which were crossed with style and others by shear luck. There was one large log hidden around a corner, and one of our most competent riders, Wg Cdr Martin Pickard asked the instructor Lee for a quick ‘how to’, and was promptly told he could give it a go but was unlikely to cross it. How right Lee was… Martin lined the bike up, opened the throttle, compressed the suspension and raised the front wheel; he swiftly fell off as his front wheel jammed in the log! The team packed up for the evening and relaxed in the hotel sauna and swimming pool before heading to the bar for more tale telling.
Day two started with Lee telling us how easy the previous day had been (those with bruises and aching bodies disagreed!) and how we would be heading into the woods for some ‘extreme’ obstacles. We played follow the leader up some muddy trails into the woodland at the back of the Hall. The first lesson of the day was how to recover a bike from a failed ascent. A tool that was to become infinitely useful during the rest of the day!
We went on to do some more severe ascents and descents with technical entry and exit lines. This was followed by another 9 foot vertical slope over roots, and a further short technical climb with a switchback. There were lots of ‘offs’, dropped bikes and the occasional spectacular launching of rider-less bikes up hills, and the attrition was beginning to tell with injuries and a growing number of bent bikes!
After a quick break it was back to the hills and a small waterfall; a very technical rock step area with no run up and a tree to avoid at the top! Even our best rider acting as a demonstrator took several attempts to clear the obstacles. There were several minor injuries by this stage and a lunch break was called; there were damaged digits and one rider got stuck under his bike for 15 minutes and got covered in petrol!
A slightly smaller group started the afternoon with a treacherous descent into a narrow ravine complete with welsh slate stream at the bottom. Fortunately everyone made it down without incident, but the only way out was back along rocky, slippery stream! The team eventually made it to an exit point, and riders were given the option to get out or turn around and go back up the stream! Obviously there were mixed reactions and the majority took up the challenge and turned back up the stream.
For many this was a mistake, and already tired damaged riders struggled for half an hour to get back up the 500m stretch. By the end of the afternoon there was a steady stream of broken bikes and riders heading back to the hotel…
Overall the event had been a success. All the riders had learnt something and overcome challenges and obstacles they would have ridden around before! A big thank you to our instructor Lee Walters and the Baskerville Hall Hotel.