Amazing fun and pics, thanks!!!!

Yet another bit.....

Well the final day on the trails began kind of damp with more early rain, so again the gear was packed damp. So on for coffee and croissants. Jethrodog decided to hit the road for home in germany he had a good spin ahead of him on the mighty gs, no bike for the trails though and really fair dues for giving it a try.


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Overgrown?

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Happy trails

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The two groups teed off together unfortunately the bigger the group the lower the speed and after a while it was clear we need to split, so on we went the trails were flowing though rather slippery. The track followed the La Vasere it was rather technical in places with plenty of loose rocks and exposed roots to contend with so a bike or two was dropped thankfully no harm done. We had known it was going to be a long day so we had a lunch on the run resting on pleasant bridge the only thing is the weather had decided to to up the slippyness with more rain ho hum.

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The rightway



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The grand randonee route we were on for some reason has a rather large slippery rock on the trail and to make it more interesting it�s slimy green surface is topped up by being beside a fast flowing river, so no run up, decent drop into what looked like a washing machine, even if I was on my gasser I don�t think I could have cleaned the obstacle. one by one we were manhandled over, I dropped the ten a couple of times as even a steady footing was impossable, it did appear I was struck down from a bout of tourettes. So on we went

Fiona thinking WTF?

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Playing catcher

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Many pics of the lubed rock

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On it goes. a couple of muddy sections had to be traversd then we had the river to cross Charles dove on in, bloody hell it was deep and fast flowing due to the recent precipitation, so as we had a bridge nearby. a narrow pedestrian bridge, why not use it, only thing is it is a rickety old thing, the down bit ends a foot above the upward part of the bank, a tree to the left, a rock to the right, and a fair climb, what�s not to like? So Fiona went first no probs one by one we crossed, I had to remove my bags as the down slope hand rails were not wide enough for my girth. an aggressive burst at the bottom and on we go.

Mudfest

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Magnon braves the river


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Check out the bridge repair, it visibly dropped when Brendan and the 690 started down the ramp, eek

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The path certainly got more technical with some rather interesting challenges, certainly a great end to fantastic 4 days, I had hoped for a fifth day on a loop circuit like last year as it�s a different ride without luggage though not to be.

Mega trail to finish with plus the weather was turning good!

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The Friday morning I had a plan to ride to a mates house on the coast as my return sailing was not until Sunday so I went to change the rear tyre to my �road� (knackered mich desert), bloody hell the cush bearing was really knackered now. So a quick check on the internet showed an early sailing was on that evening and as the bearing is double roller jobbie not something a supplier would keep. A phone call to my friend for a rain check (I think I�ve strained our friendship) anyhow my plan was a hard 8hours to do the 460 miles at least i had a couple of vans (carrying ktm�s) behind to help if need be. Thanks lads!

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Yep I kept it lit up the country, the knobblies were certainly humming on the mainly wet tar, I secured the sprocket to the spokes with cable ties as the cush had began to move away from the wheel. Anyhow I made it with time to spare, only i was 2 days early, thankfully they accommodated me and as they say I was home on a boat� happy days!

Stoic...

Try www.wikiloc.com for some trails in Spain.... There's also a massive off road enduro place somewhere near Toulouse but I can't recall the name at present....

:)

.

Thanks Ohlins,

thankfully i have plenty of trails to do on my garmin, currently i'm in Sort and have done more than 500miles so far. i'm heading back towards Tarbes towards the weekend, need to be in cherbourg for wednesday evening

got pulled by a Guarda Civil in a 4x4, jeez just cos i nearly run into him while drifting around a gravelly bend on a mountain trail, thankfully the Irish card was played and worked

If we ever have an XT meet down here it could be either carnage or awesome, no end of great roads and trails

bernard

looks like some slippery off roading, :bravo: