Post by racaille on Nov 30, 2015 3:08:29 GMT
In every sense.
So, we headed for Arles for the last TREC before the winter and I was lucky, the weather was sunny and quite warm
. We went the scenic way which was a bit of mistake but I'd left plenty of time so didn't stress about it. On arrival though the tiny car park was jammed full of lorries and trailers and the T - who'd come along for company again - had to ask a woman to move her two horses out of the entry so we could drive in 
She wasn't very co-operative ... but we got in and I had the devil of a job to slide my rig into a miniscule slot but there wasn't a lot of choice.
There were only four in my class of individuals but loads of teams and once I was on the POR I understood why. It was horrendously difficult as we were in pine forest and scrubland the whole time, the area crisscrossed by hunters' tracks. Paco seriously didn't like the stony ground and felt footy. We managed to get pretty badly lost and arrived at one control point on the wrong path, having managed to miss out a whole section of the itinerary
There was a young lad there too, also lost, who tried to tell me where we were but for once I listened to my instinct. I used my map and compass properly and managed to work out that we were nowhere near where he thought we were 
I was pretty happy 
and also found the next 'trick' path so got all the markers on that section although it all went wrong again as we emerged onto the scrubland and I somehow managed to do a circle 
So I took time out again to have a proper think and eventually found the right path although out of a total of 10 markers I think I only found about six or seven.
The COP was the usual disaster.
Paco spotted the judges in the bushes and put on the emergency brakes just two strides away from the canter finish line. 
And then the PTV .... we had a long wait for it which did not help as Paco cooled down. I watched for ages and noted that no one was doing the jumps - and no wonder! There were a log over a ditch followed by barrels, a very large pile of logs and a horrendous skinny white upright topped by a hedge that the T estimated at 1m5, much bigger than you would normally expect. The T reminded me that Paco is not a sports car but a diesel 4x4 so he'd need a lot of revs to get over all three.
So. I put him into a good canter for the ditch and he powered in ... and then spotted the scary hole in the ground and hit the ABS. But I kept my foot on the throttle and he then sheep-jumped over it. That left him with no juice in the motor for the second part and I thought he has going to stall but luckily the engine sputtered back to life and he chugged over it although it is fair to say it wasn't my most elegant moment
I changed down a gear for the slalom and one handed figure of eight which both went well but then hit the gas for the big pile of logs. The canter was good but I should have made him sit up a little more because he knocked a couple of logs off as he didn't get the height.
A contre haut and bas went well and then I turned him towards the white skinny with the hedge on top. I gave him maximum revs in the short run-up and he went steaming in ... saw the height of the thing and said: 'Bullocks to this!' At the last minute he swerved around it and I wasn't fast enough to keep him channelled. I was gutted as I really wanted that jump.
On a more positive note, we did the gate beautifully (good boy!)
There was no point in waiting for the prizegiving (the results are not yet on the FFE site but I'm not expecting miracles
) which just left the problem of getting my rig out of the jam-packed parking area. It was pretty horrendous but I managed it after a 98-point turn 
and a nice lady handing out cake (the tradition here is that , after you fall off, you take cake to share although adults tend to share a bottle of bubbly 
) complimented me on my 'beautiful manoeuvre'
A long day with four hours of driving and another four of riding but on balance I did enjoy it and learned quite a few things. I also stressed less and was pleased that this time I didn't rush in the PTV, which was a big improvement on last time!
But watch out Paco, my coach is going to make you pay for that skip-out next time we are on the XC course ....
So, we headed for Arles for the last TREC before the winter and I was lucky, the weather was sunny and quite warm
. We went the scenic way which was a bit of mistake but I'd left plenty of time so didn't stress about it. On arrival though the tiny car park was jammed full of lorries and trailers and the T - who'd come along for company again - had to ask a woman to move her two horses out of the entry so we could drive in 
She wasn't very co-operative ... but we got in and I had the devil of a job to slide my rig into a miniscule slot but there wasn't a lot of choice. There were only four in my class of individuals but loads of teams and once I was on the POR I understood why. It was horrendously difficult as we were in pine forest and scrubland the whole time, the area crisscrossed by hunters' tracks. Paco seriously didn't like the stony ground and felt footy. We managed to get pretty badly lost and arrived at one control point on the wrong path, having managed to miss out a whole section of the itinerary
There was a young lad there too, also lost, who tried to tell me where we were but for once I listened to my instinct. I used my map and compass properly and managed to work out that we were nowhere near where he thought we were 
I was pretty happy 
and also found the next 'trick' path so got all the markers on that section although it all went wrong again as we emerged onto the scrubland and I somehow managed to do a circle 
So I took time out again to have a proper think and eventually found the right path although out of a total of 10 markers I think I only found about six or seven.The COP was the usual disaster.
Paco spotted the judges in the bushes and put on the emergency brakes just two strides away from the canter finish line. 
And then the PTV .... we had a long wait for it which did not help as Paco cooled down. I watched for ages and noted that no one was doing the jumps - and no wonder! There were a log over a ditch followed by barrels, a very large pile of logs and a horrendous skinny white upright topped by a hedge that the T estimated at 1m5, much bigger than you would normally expect. The T reminded me that Paco is not a sports car but a diesel 4x4 so he'd need a lot of revs to get over all three.
So. I put him into a good canter for the ditch and he powered in ... and then spotted the scary hole in the ground and hit the ABS. But I kept my foot on the throttle and he then sheep-jumped over it. That left him with no juice in the motor for the second part and I thought he has going to stall but luckily the engine sputtered back to life and he chugged over it although it is fair to say it wasn't my most elegant moment
I changed down a gear for the slalom and one handed figure of eight which both went well but then hit the gas for the big pile of logs. The canter was good but I should have made him sit up a little more because he knocked a couple of logs off as he didn't get the height.
A contre haut and bas went well and then I turned him towards the white skinny with the hedge on top. I gave him maximum revs in the short run-up and he went steaming in ... saw the height of the thing and said: 'Bullocks to this!' At the last minute he swerved around it and I wasn't fast enough to keep him channelled. I was gutted as I really wanted that jump.
On a more positive note, we did the gate beautifully (good boy!)
There was no point in waiting for the prizegiving (the results are not yet on the FFE site but I'm not expecting miracles
) which just left the problem of getting my rig out of the jam-packed parking area. It was pretty horrendous but I managed it after a 98-point turn 
and a nice lady handing out cake (the tradition here is that , after you fall off, you take cake to share although adults tend to share a bottle of bubbly 
) complimented me on my 'beautiful manoeuvre' A long day with four hours of driving and another four of riding but on balance I did enjoy it and learned quite a few things. I also stressed less and was pleased that this time I didn't rush in the PTV, which was a big improvement on last time!
But watch out Paco, my coach is going to make you pay for that skip-out next time we are on the XC course ....
for so much hard work we thank ye!!
Then I calmed down ..... 
