Sweet Lamb - Baja Rally

During the dark winter months Sarah excitedly approached with an advertisment for the Sweet Lamb Baja Rally series. Beginner friendly it stated, and in June, when the weather would be good and the days long.  Brilliant!! Something to take those winter blues away. 

Fast forward six months and we're nervously  sat at the start the line with 150 riders. The guy with the microphone warning us that the puddles are dangerously deep after the torrential rain.  He'd previously cautioned the faster riders about foul play when over taking, apparently there had been injuries and complaints last year. I'm sure this used to sound like a great idea.

The rally is split into three stages over two days and multiple classes.  I was in the 'almost old and can't ride class', Sarah the only competitor in the 'women mad enough to ride a small bike' class.

Above, we took the kids with us. Fair to say, they hated it. No data signal, just mud.

We started in the rain, obviously - it's Wales, but thankfully that cleared for the two sessions.   

The sweet lamb off road centre is huge, thousands of acres of prime central Welsh countryside.  I'd been looking forward to sampling it for myself after years of being a bystander, reading reports from journalists. It was great in the bright weather. 

It didn't remain dry though, that evening the heavens opened up in monsoon fashion. 

In true Brit style, we donned the overcoats, put a brolly over BBQ (yep!) and sat under the shelter. 

Our shelter, was actually a gazebo kindly erected by old pal, and saviour from the elements, Barrie, from Raid Assist. A man and company who makes adventure dreams come true. thank you Barrie, you saved the day!! 

The Welsh weather gods chose to gaze kindly upon us the follow day, blessing us with a bright and warm climate. 

The riding seems less frantic today, probably because all the nutters had crashed out the day before. I had previously seen a man crash in front of me, who needed help. A man with a broken shoulder and two men ride off the track and tumble down the hill.  I was hopeful there'd be less faster riders, when they overtake the bikes fire rocks like ammo from a catapult.

Bringing the day and race to a close and, would you adam and eve it!, Sarah places first in her class!  A fitting end for the girl that approached with a dream to compete. 

The next round is in October...