Joined Nov 2001
17K Posts | 773+
Ely, England
thanks for the comments boys. I guess it is long winded but I write as much to record the event for me to look back at in years to come as I do it for others to see.
I've also printed my mistakes so that others can learn a little from them and avoid some of them as well.....
DAY 8 - the final day
having arrived at the new camp in Germany (just outside Leipzig) we no longer had a gazebo as the electric storm of the previous evening had wrecked it. luckily 'Bazza' the owner 'acquired it' so he doesn't want any money for it. so we make a canopy from the van to Mike's tent.
there is no water. the water truck was in the rally and broke down in the mud pit and so there's no water. so that is 2 days without cleaning me or the bike. we still have some drinking water but new supplies had better get here soon!
My rear tyre could do with changing and has been bad for two days now but I no longer want to worry about it. because I'm the only one with a running bike a feeling of Lethargy comes over the team. Mike and Tony ask if I want to get to another camp site with showers but I say that even smelly: I want to be there for the final party! I owe a few people a drink and anyway, I delayed the flight just for this.
we are delayed for an hour waiting for the course to clear and this gives everyone a chance to talk amongst ourselves. you are where you are and if you were going to do it you should have done it by now!
eventually we get the 'go' and we set off, we seem to be in some kind of sand quarry. the navigation is shocking with all the distance co-ordinates being out. many times we stop to help 'ourselves' and then it is back to 'racing'. My Garmin suddenly stops. my own stupid fault! two days ago when all 4 fuses got knocked out I only put one back in for the roadbook. this meant that the garmin was running off its own batteries and it had warned me the day before that the batteries were low and I'd forgotten it when we got to the new campsite in Germany.
So I followed a German pair. It then started raining hard just as we were required to go up a steep hill. the three of us just couldn't get any grip so I helped them both get their bikes down (yes down!) and then we rode around the hill using the sat/nav and picked up our position that way = very clever!
I traded the two Germans for an Italian (who lives in Estonia!) and we rode on together.
the rain was very bad and what with the heavy sand underfoot the bike ran out of fuel at 60KM ok lets say it was 70KM with all the running about but jeez! 8.5 litres and 70KM.....
so I lost Stefano and carried on by myself. suddenly I cross the front of a car just he leaves a CP into a long left, there's a bike ahead of me and the driver, with no hesitation sprays us both. ******! totally unnecassary.
I go down a track the cars are using and realise I've overshot, I go back against the cars going around some blind corners = hairy!
suddenly I turn a left and we are back at the camp and the finish line! It's over and I've finished! the commentator mentions 'Taffy Lloyd from Cambridgeshire in England'.
I pull over and Tony thrusts a beer in my hand, the congratulations are warm and well received! other riders come in but we must have been the core as 15 bikes came in together. Tina Miaer is nearly at the bottom of her beer already! I like to tell myself she drinks very fast for a woman but I also know she rides even faster!
I have a chat with the other lady in the race. I eventually shower up and go back for more beer. I have a good chat with the french team. two lads on gas-gas machines and their crazy bearded friend.
[youtube:11cud8ux]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDhQRh1Y0_A[/youtube:11cud8ux]
THE VIDEO BELOW
41 seconds is Mike with the beard, Tony and Roy with their backs to the camera and the other guy facing the camera is journalist Martin.
50-54 seconds is me in the aussie bush hat talking to the french lads...
2.10 is the german winner. He broke his gearbox on the wednesday, called the factory in Austria from where he stood and a new bike was waiting for him the next morning. they reckon the new bike had left the factory in 20-minutes...
Tina is also in view on the le....look you know what a woman looks like OK! :cheers:
[youtube:11cud8ux]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJzquyUAgCE&feature=relmfu[/youtube:11cud8ux]
later at the party I buy
two beer for the driver of the side-by-side
two for his passenger.
(i wish I could show you a photo of these two, they look just like Terence Hill and Bud Spenser from the 70s)
a beer for my DR450 suzuki friend
a beer for the German who'd let me follow him today when my Garmin stopped
a beer to the polish speed gun operator for the SH** I gave him on the 4th day - and a coke for his son!
so what did I think of it?
while I did it, I was relaxed about what I was achieving but now I've stepped back I would say that YOU'LL HAVE MEMORIES TO LAST THE REST OF YOUR LIFE from it and you have to decide if it was worth paying £900 to enter, £1,000 for equipment, £500 for the Van, it's diesel, the ferry. then about £500 on either preparing the bike or repairing the bike! £200 for fuel while you race.
I definetely have UNFINISHED BUSINESS there as I could have been far quicker and also far better prepared as well.
worth £3,000? probably not. but you're only here once.
regards
Taffy
I've also printed my mistakes so that others can learn a little from them and avoid some of them as well.....
DAY 8 - the final day
having arrived at the new camp in Germany (just outside Leipzig) we no longer had a gazebo as the electric storm of the previous evening had wrecked it. luckily 'Bazza' the owner 'acquired it' so he doesn't want any money for it. so we make a canopy from the van to Mike's tent.
there is no water. the water truck was in the rally and broke down in the mud pit and so there's no water. so that is 2 days without cleaning me or the bike. we still have some drinking water but new supplies had better get here soon!
My rear tyre could do with changing and has been bad for two days now but I no longer want to worry about it. because I'm the only one with a running bike a feeling of Lethargy comes over the team. Mike and Tony ask if I want to get to another camp site with showers but I say that even smelly: I want to be there for the final party! I owe a few people a drink and anyway, I delayed the flight just for this.
we are delayed for an hour waiting for the course to clear and this gives everyone a chance to talk amongst ourselves. you are where you are and if you were going to do it you should have done it by now!
eventually we get the 'go' and we set off, we seem to be in some kind of sand quarry. the navigation is shocking with all the distance co-ordinates being out. many times we stop to help 'ourselves' and then it is back to 'racing'. My Garmin suddenly stops. my own stupid fault! two days ago when all 4 fuses got knocked out I only put one back in for the roadbook. this meant that the garmin was running off its own batteries and it had warned me the day before that the batteries were low and I'd forgotten it when we got to the new campsite in Germany.
So I followed a German pair. It then started raining hard just as we were required to go up a steep hill. the three of us just couldn't get any grip so I helped them both get their bikes down (yes down!) and then we rode around the hill using the sat/nav and picked up our position that way = very clever!
I traded the two Germans for an Italian (who lives in Estonia!) and we rode on together.
the rain was very bad and what with the heavy sand underfoot the bike ran out of fuel at 60KM ok lets say it was 70KM with all the running about but jeez! 8.5 litres and 70KM.....
so I lost Stefano and carried on by myself. suddenly I cross the front of a car just he leaves a CP into a long left, there's a bike ahead of me and the driver, with no hesitation sprays us both. ******! totally unnecassary.
I go down a track the cars are using and realise I've overshot, I go back against the cars going around some blind corners = hairy!
suddenly I turn a left and we are back at the camp and the finish line! It's over and I've finished! the commentator mentions 'Taffy Lloyd from Cambridgeshire in England'.
I pull over and Tony thrusts a beer in my hand, the congratulations are warm and well received! other riders come in but we must have been the core as 15 bikes came in together. Tina Miaer is nearly at the bottom of her beer already! I like to tell myself she drinks very fast for a woman but I also know she rides even faster!
I have a chat with the other lady in the race. I eventually shower up and go back for more beer. I have a good chat with the french team. two lads on gas-gas machines and their crazy bearded friend.
[youtube:11cud8ux]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDhQRh1Y0_A[/youtube:11cud8ux]
THE VIDEO BELOW
41 seconds is Mike with the beard, Tony and Roy with their backs to the camera and the other guy facing the camera is journalist Martin.
50-54 seconds is me in the aussie bush hat talking to the french lads...
2.10 is the german winner. He broke his gearbox on the wednesday, called the factory in Austria from where he stood and a new bike was waiting for him the next morning. they reckon the new bike had left the factory in 20-minutes...
Tina is also in view on the le....look you know what a woman looks like OK! :cheers:
[youtube:11cud8ux]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJzquyUAgCE&feature=relmfu[/youtube:11cud8ux]
later at the party I buy
two beer for the driver of the side-by-side
two for his passenger.
(i wish I could show you a photo of these two, they look just like Terence Hill and Bud Spenser from the 70s)
a beer for my DR450 suzuki friend
a beer for the German who'd let me follow him today when my Garmin stopped
a beer to the polish speed gun operator for the SH** I gave him on the 4th day - and a coke for his son!
so what did I think of it?
while I did it, I was relaxed about what I was achieving but now I've stepped back I would say that YOU'LL HAVE MEMORIES TO LAST THE REST OF YOUR LIFE from it and you have to decide if it was worth paying £900 to enter, £1,000 for equipment, £500 for the Van, it's diesel, the ferry. then about £500 on either preparing the bike or repairing the bike! £200 for fuel while you race.
I definetely have UNFINISHED BUSINESS there as I could have been far quicker and also far better prepared as well.
worth £3,000? probably not. but you're only here once.
regards
Taffy
