HUMM 2009 - Riding Day 2

Thursday 06 August 2009 at 10:30 pm Day two of the competition, and Stephen decides that today, he's going to be ready early. He manages it, sat astride his bike before the rest of us even have our riding kit on, but then gets bored waiting for us and wanders off, so once again we are late departing the hotel. We're less concerned today though, having basically given up on taking the competition seriously in favour of having more fun. This is also the day that all four members of Team Furieux manage to actually ride together, Pieter having either recovered or just decided to ignore the pain. Pieter's presence means Dave is riding the RXV, having yesterday opted to use the DR-ZE that Pieter should have been riding. As a result, I am riding with a 5ltr jerrycan strapped on the back of my bike which will almost double the RXV's pitiful tank range and put it on a par with the more frugal Suzukis. (more)

HUMM 2009 - Riding Day 1

Tuesday 04 August 2009 at 9:53 pm
Photo by Pieter Jellema. Note the complete lack of other riders waiting to leave.

Tuesday arrives, and Team Furieux show their high level of commitment by failing to be ready for the 8:30am start (mostly because we don't have a clue where Stephen is), but we eventually check out about 15 minutes later. We are down to three riders already, Pieter having decided to rest his knee today in the hope of being in full health tomorrow. Dave, Stephen and I cross the 'start line', bounce over a couple of kerbs, cross the hotel car park, and set off along the road towards Ribes de Freser. From there, having only overshot one turn-off, we leave the tarmac behind, and start to climb out of the valley along a gravel trail. The going is good - technical enough to be fun, but not to slow us down too much. It should be a matter of just following this trail a kilometre or so to the top of the ridge and looking for the checkpoint. (more)