ET James Welsh solo enduro championship 2014

I managed to get myself registered in the Sportsman class, albeit a little late! This year won't be a competitive one for me, but since I'm planning to ride a few rounds of the ET James championship anyway, I thought it would be interesting to see how I get on.

I hope to compete in the Sportsman class of the championship next year, so this will give me some good experience and an idea of what to expect. One thing's for sure, getting good results is far from easy, the competition is fierce.

Rounds:

• Jack Frost enduro (Sportsman only) - 16th March
• Llyn y Waun enduro - 20th April
• Caio enduro - 17th May
• Outrax sprint enduro - 25th May (cancelled)
• Welsh 2 day enduro - 26th & 27th June
• Knighton BEC (Excluding Sportsman) - 19th & 20th July
• Bwlchciliau enduro - 10th August
• Rhayader BEC (Excluding Sportsman) - 30th & 31st August
• ADMCC enduro - 7th September
• Jacko Memorial enduro (Sportsman only) - 14th September
• Fowlers Enduro - 19th October

Welsh 2 day creeping up

Less than 3 weeks to go until the Welsh 2 day enduro now, I've been training hard on the mountain bike in the last few weeks to try to make up for my lack of time on the motorbike. As you may already know, the Wales Air Ambulance EXC is poorly at the moment and needs an engine rebuild, so riding it is out of the question.

During the winter I trained relentlessly in all weathers and at night on the mountain bike, trying to keep my fitness up. When the season started, I took a week off leading up to the first event, then a week off afterwards to recover, then I failed to get back into my routine! I did a few races but until May I'd pretty much been off training for 2 months. I wasn't happy and motivated myself to get out on the bike again and went straight to the hardest training loop to see if I could still do it. It turned out I could, so that was all the encouragement I needed - back to it!

Since then I've been out riding twice a week. They're mostly road/track loops but they have some huge hill climbs in them (22%) and a distance between 16 and 18 miles, the harder ones have an elevation gain of 1700ft. I tried out a new loop last night, despite battling with an ear infection and completed the on/off road 21 miles (1850ft elevation gain) in just under 2 hours and not feeling too bad.

Hopefully this fitness training will give me the endurance I need to maintain my technical skills throughout the days during the Welsh, I'm really looking forward to it now, but I'll feel a lot happier about it once I get my bike back and run it in. More on that in a couple of weeks' time when it's ready.

Website traffic: 1000 visits!

A milestone of 1000 visits has just been reached since I launched the Io Racing website in November! This may not sound like a lot but I'm happy to see that people have been reading the blog and continue to do so. Thanks to everyone who has visited and bring on the next 1000 :)

Disaster strikes the Wales Air Ambulance EXC

Well I just can't believe my luck. After only 100 hours on the engine, I'm faced with a rebuild. The problem manifested itself as an abnormally loud engine noise and a vibration through the bike. I'm absolutely gutted, not only because I look after my bike really well, but the cost of the repair could put an early end to my season.

I haven't had confirmation yet from the mechanics as to whether it's a full rebuild or just(!) the top end. Worst case scenario would mean new internal engine seals, con-rod kit (including main and small end bearings), piston and rings and maybe even re-plating and/or re-boring the cylinder. Best case from here as far as I can tell is a new top end (piston & rings), but even that isn't exactly a cheap job, especially when I need a new set of tyres as well!

It's being fixed as we speak by the good folk at ET James, but I'm worried that I won't have much time to run the bike in properly before the Welsh 2 day. More soon when I have a full report of the parts needed and work that needs doing...

ATRC Standings: Round three

I couldn't race at the K2 Rally in Kielder, but a lot of others did, and had a great time doing it. I was at the Caio enduro that weekend, so no points for me! Here's how the class standings look after round three of the 2014 All Terrain Rally Challenge, I'm narrowly holding on to the lead at the moment, but that will change over the next 2 rounds. The full standings can be found here:

Bike prep for the Welsh 2 day

The next event I have coming up is the biggest of the year, the Welsh 2 day enduro. I need to make sure the bike is spot on, so here's a list of what I'm going to do (other than the usual checks) between now and then, but I'll also need to squeeze in a decent ride to make sure it's OK after all the work:

• New clutch saver
• New chain
• New front and rear sprockets
• New Michelin Enduro Comp tyres front and rear
• New air filter
• New gearbox oil
• Exhaust re-pack
• Investigate a vibration coming through the bike

That last one worries me a bit. Best case scenario it's all in my head, next best thing is a loose engine mount, worst case is a worn main bearing. If that's it, the engine will have to be stripped down and I'll have a top end rebuild done at the same time. If that happens though, there will be a few events coming up that I won't be able to enter and that would be a disaster for me! Fingers and toes crossed for the Wales Air Ambulance EXC...

Results: Arwyn Rees Caio Enduro

I'm happy to have finished 4th in the Sportsman class in the Caio Enduro, it's another step in the right direction in what was a pretty tough enduro with stiff competition!

• Sportsman: 4th / 28

By my calculations, if the club were giving out sub-class awards, I would have had a Gold medal and Best E3 in the Sportsman.

The full results are out on the Dyfed DBC website.