A very nice technical, physical and well organized Enduro in Rocroi, the French Ardennes, where I had the honour to have starting number 1. A bit of rain the evening before but nothing drastic, then a very nice sunny day during the race with around 12 degrees. Some passages where still very wet because we had a very wet winter. 2 rounds of 155 km, 3 tank stops at 50km, 125km and at the end of the loop 155km. Some technical passages with deep ruts, 1 steep uphill with a slippery 2m granite slab and some thick roots for the Ligue 1 Riders and a slippery uphill passage where traction was precarious. All in all a sporting day with nearly 9h of physical effort on and around the motorbike.

2 special tests in the round. The first one after 35km, a nice prairie which was quite slippery in the morning and hence difficult to get the 60 horse power of the 525 KTM on the ground. For the 2nd round the test had dried up quite well and my time was also a lot better. The 2nd special test was 10km before the end of the round, a real Enduro Test with a lot of changes of rythm, first a bit of prairie, then a mais field and then a part of a Moto Cross track. See picture below. I was riding quite well in these tests, no big mistakes. I didn't fall in any special test during the day and all the technical passages went well, I managed to look well ahead and find my way around the worst passages where it would be easy to get stuck for a while and loose a lot of energy to extract oneself from such a situation.

Thanks to Jean Pierre for the "Fast Assistance" and to local "veteran picard" and his wife for their help during the day, petrol was always tanked in time and sandwiches where ready "a la minute". Without a good Assistence team, a Rider gets nowhere, so thank you!

After the race my bike preparation efforts the week before, riding efforts and assistence help efforts on the day where rewarded with a podium place and hence a trophy, 2nd Ligue 1 Category E3(L1 - 290 à 500 2T et 475 à 650)  >> Results

Jean Pierre pour l'Assistance Rapide au plaisir!!!!!!