For years I have been dreaming of doing the “Dawn 2 Dusk Motorcycle Enduro Race” but as with most enduro events you need a lightweight off-road bike under 450cc. Sadly I can’t afford 2 bikes, so I had to content myself just green laning on my larger KTM LC4 640 Adventure, which also doubles as my ride to work each day.

Then I heard that this year they were doing a Big Bike Rally! The full 24 hours was not permitted due to the size and danger of using such big machines off-road for that long, but they were offering a 10 hour version, at night!

Arriving early Saturday afternoon I was nervous but more annoyed as my bike had developed a problem on the drive down to the race! Every time I came off the rev’s the bike would cut out. With help from the Desert Rose racing team (one of whom I still owe a beer!) they stripped my carb but it still didn’t help.

So after a few photos outside the Cotswold tent and some good luck pats on the back from my support team, which seemed to be 5 times bigger then anyone else’s, I headed down to the start line.

At 6.30pm, I’m sitting on the start line warming up my bike, with it cutting out when I lowered the revs and with petrol shooting out the carb if the revs were too high.

I’m looking at the start of the course and getting more worried by the minute. The start of the course, before it heads off into the woods, is motocross style, with hairpin turns, jumps and some off camber hill climbs! At 6.59pm the engines are switched off and we stand 20 metres in front of our bikes, ready for a Le Mans style start.

At 7pm the gun goes off and I’m running to my bike, jumping on, starting the engine and shooting off the line, I get away well into about 5^th, being beaten off the line by Patsy quick and some other Desert Rose racing members. Within 2 corners I let the revs drop too much and for the first time of many my bike cuts out, in front of the whole crowd. I get it started quickly only losing 2 places. At the hill climbs I’m impressed with the bikes abilities and its climbs smoothly to the top with no dramas and I’m right on the tail of the Yamaha just ahead. The down hill is very different! With the revs problem I can’t engine brake and with the slippery mud making using the breaks useless, all I can do is hang on and hope for the best, but luckily it works well.

The course then heads out into the woods on the fire roads, with a few big ditches and lumps to negotiate. I manage to get past the Yamaha just as we turn onto a smaller muddy trail, and seconds later I’m off! I quickly pick up the bike and jump back on, just to drop it again a few hundred yards later. Picking up a bike that size is exhausting and I start to wonder if this was a big mistake. The course gets worse, going down to a just tire wide track with massive ruts and slippery mud. All the big bikes are finding this bit hard but then it turns into a hill climb and although I make it up clean. I pass 3 or 4 bikes on their sides with riders standing exhausted next to them. The lap then gets a bit easier and I pick on time and by the end of the lap, and I was relived at the previously daunting motocross section.

7 miles completed and 40 mins later, I start my second lap without a stop, this time with more speed and less falling off. After the second lap its getting dark so I stop in the pits to clean my lights and have a quick mars bar. With all my light on I started my 3^rd lap, my first in the dark. In the dark is very different, the lights give strange shadows and the terrain gets much harder to read. Lap times for everyone drop dramatically. For me down to 45 mins. With many bikes already out of the race, the officials cut out 2 of the steepest hill climbs. It makes sense but I’m a little disappointed as my bike has no problems with these and I actually enjoy them

The night goes on and I now pit every lap, as do most people, mainly to get the mud off the lights and to eat. With 2 hours to go I have another problem, my back brake stop working, so now it’s the front brake only. Making the down hill sections even more worrying!

At 4.30am I went out for the final lap with 2 riders I had been racing closely, Chris and Graham. Chris would normally be a lot faster then me, but having gone over the handle bars the lap before, he dropped behind me.  The last lap was great. I was gutted, I finally felt comfortable on the course, but now it was ending! Just before the line Graham and I waited for Chris so we could cross the line together.

I finished on 9 laps in 10 hours and in 7^th place. I was chuffed, just finishing one of these races is so hard, but to finish top ten on my first ever race felt amazing! I collected my finisher’s medal and got some much needed sleep.

I loved every second of the race, and hope to do the whole big bike series next year, if I can fix my bike that is! I now have problems with my carb, my back brake, front brake leaver, my instrument panel has stopped working.

Looking forward to next year.

Thank you to all my supporters especially, Richard, Mike, John, Phil and Al.