I've just come back. What an absolute hoot.
My brother's mate organised 4 of us to fly to Malaga and have a 3 day off road tour in the mountains, by a company that specialises in it (Redtread, if anyone wishes to look at the site).
What a laugh. Flat out up a dry river bed on a Honda CRF 450....never thought i'd have the bottle to do that. The stones and rocks were unbelievable, but the faster you went the less chance of getting squiffy on the soft stuff....however the dust from the chap in front meant you'd occasionally miss a bigger rock.
Some of the trails over the mountains were awesome.
Only trouble is I now walk like John Wayne and have aches in places I didn't even know existed.
I only came off once, low speed, on a dusty/dirty trail that needed to ford a dry stream, but at an angle. It was a steep dip and needed more speed...but...as there was also a turn, I went in too slow, lost momentum and when I wellied it to not stall, the back wheel spun...and one minute I was going forwards and the next I was spat off. I forward rolled off the bike and landed rather inelegantly upside down, like an upturned beetle. I managed to get up quickly enough, pick the bike up and get on it, before the next rider came along....but all the evidence (thistles) remained in my clothing...so I had to 'fess up'.
Most people had a tumble at some point, even my brother who is rather good on an off road bike, having raced competitively in the past.
I had three punctures in two days, all fixed by the instructors at the side of the road and I was the only one to get a puncture. I wasn't the fastest rider by any stretch of the imagination and not the most reckless, so it wasn't that. The staff thought there was a fault with the wheel, so on day 3 they swapped it.
The protective kit, bikes, instructors, accommodation, food etc...were all top dollar. The only drawback was it was too hot, next time I'll go in October/November....and buy some padded cycling shorts. I was particularly impressed with the lack of namby pamby 'be careful' attitude, it was a case of 'give it a go'.
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>> Madly jealous ...
Not me.
Well only a bit
Ok shed loads - Well jel.
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Sounds good ....I used to do a bit of quad biking off road on a mountainous farm in west Wales with lovely obstacles like quarry tracks , brambles and mud holes........I had great fun trying to drift the bike round corners in those days .... but I am getting too old now to enjoy going base over apex into unrelenting mother earth...
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>> but I am getting too old now to enjoy going base over apex into unrelenting
>> mother earth...
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So am I really...and the pain from my nether regions hasn't desisted yet.
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Sounds a hoot. Bet it didn't rain.
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Sounds brilliant. Hope the pain remains for a while you lucky swine...(0:-:0)
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>> Sounds a hoot. Bet it didn't rain.
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It hasn't rained there since October, apparently.... and last winter wasn't a heavy rain period, so they are well dry.
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What was the CRF450 like ? Honda are launching a 250 version in the UK - it's billed as a back to basics bike...
G4S headhunted you yet - lot my ex-Police FB are off to fill their boots - SIA requirement suspended.
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>> What was the CRF450 like ? Honda are launching a 250 version in the UK
>> - it's billed as a back to basics bike...
I thought it quite good, although it's seen some life. They have just had a load of new Yamaha's and the Honda's are being phased out.
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>> G4S headhunted you yet - lot my ex-Police FB are off to fill their boots
>> - SIA requirement suspended.
They've tried for the Olympics, wasn't interested as I now live 240 miles away.
Tried registering for a civil service type job they now oversee (or anything similar)...and found it incredibly, frustratingly, awfully, difficult. Website says in effect 'don't ring or e-mail, just fill in the electronic form', then when you have to speak/write to someone to clarify something that you think is important to get right, there's no one to call or e-mail. Quite how they ever get the right person for the right job, I have no idea. I have no confidence they'd ever get anything right, so will not now be bothering.
Last edited by: Westpig on Thu 12 Jul 12 at 20:01
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Off road bike tour in southern Spain - hawkeye
