This weekend gone I took part in the GS Trophy UK Qualifier 2015 which took place in the beautiful Brecon Beacons in Wales. I was invited to join along with 8 other customers and Tom, Lottie and James from BMW Park Lane, split into 3 teams of which I was part of ‘Team Tom’.
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| Ready to go! |
We met on Saturday at BMW Park Lane before filtering through the bank holiday weekend traffic out of London at midday, and down the fast but rather soulless M4 motorway towards Wales. After crossing over the gorgeous mile-long Severn Bridge we rode into the Welsh countryside to the registration at the
Ancient Briton pub in Pen-y-cae, before riding to Swansea to our hotel.
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| Parked up at the hotel in Swansea |
On Sunday morning after an early breakfast we had a sprightly ride, led by Lottie from Park Lane, through the mist and fog back to the Ancient Briton to start the challenges. My team included Tom (from BMW Park Lane) and Kamal (with his broken toe) on their R1200GS Adventures and Alex on his F800GS. Our team was due to set off at 9:48 and 30 seconds. While we were waiting, there were a few rain showers but by the time we departed, these had subsided to a few spells of drizzle.
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| Misty morning |
The directions for the challenges were printed with distances between visual points, which meant our GPSs were of little help—for example, turn left and go to the 2nd cattle grid etc. The complete route was about 90 miles. Some of the challenges were simple questions relating to landmarks or signs at each destination, and others included a fitness challenge, a mechanical challenge and several off road challenges.
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| Ready to leave after completing the fitness challenge |
For the fitness challenge we had a choice of riding a pushbike up a hill and back, carrying tyres up a hill and stacking them, or running to the river to fill a cup and bring it back—each was timed and taking too long resulted in negative points. I did the cup challenge within the allocated time.
My only mishap of the day happened then—I got on my bike and put up the side stand, then realised I needed something out of the top box. Of course I absentmindedly got off the bike without putting the side stand back down, so my bike went onto its side. Nothing happened to the bike and I sustained, somehow, my only ‘injury’ of the day—a tiny blood blister on my middle finger. No paramedics required.
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| Sheep... disturbing |
We carried on through twisty forest roads and misty dales, stopping only for a herd of sheep to pass, each giving us the evil eye, and to answer a couple more challenge questions.
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| Rolling hills—still misty |
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| A panoramic shot of the dales |
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| Quick photo opportunity |
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| Finding out the answer to one of the questions |
Next up was the mechanical challenge where there was a choice of changing a tyre (to be clear, using tyre levers to remove it from the wheel and put it back on), an apparently impossible diagnosis challenge (so we heard) and a loading challenge which we did in pairs. This involved picking up an F800GS, loading it into a trailer and securing it with tie straps. I did the challenge with Kamal and it went well, except we didn’t have the bike tied tightly enough so we each earned a negative point.
We went on to the off road challenge which took place at the 4,000 acre Walters Arena Enduro Park. As with the other challenges, there were a number from which to choose, each carried out on one of BMW’s own bikes (not our own). We each were required to take part in 5 challenges and I did the following:
- Accelerate hard on loose gravel between two cones, then skid with the back brake only as far as possible (F800GS)—I made it to the ‘1’ marker which meant 1 negative point (the worst possible was 5)
- Run to a bike, start it and get it through the cones within 11 seconds on loose gravel (F800GS)—I wasn’t given a time but I did it in less than 11 seconds so no negative points
- Ride through a tight slalom/figure-of-8 course on loose gravel (R1200GS) within 44 seconds—no problems, apart from the fact I took 75 seconds which earned me 3 negative points
- Ride a rut course (R1200GS)—I took it slow and made it through without any problems, although I had a slightly panicked moment when I slipped on mud after the exit cone, nearly dropping the bike, but no negative points!
- Tow a bike up a hill and back down, using a tow rope (G650GS x2)—we split into pairs for this and Alex towed me, although while turning around at the top I ended up having the tow rope pull the bike over onto its side, but no negative points
Tom and Kamal’s towing challenge is worth a mention as ‘the most exciting tow of the day’ when the tow rope pulled out and wrapped around the front wheel of the towed bike.
Other challenges included 5 laps of the enduro track (which Tom did), a navigation challenge, hill climbing on mud, riding rocks, a difficult momentum challenge (which Tom very bravely did), jousting (which looked rather difficult), riding electric bikes around a track, and a bike pushing challenge.
Most of the off road challenges were fairly difficult (not carefree byway riding) but great fun, although we made a fatal error of spending far too much time at Walters Arena.
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| Walters Arena where the gravel challenges took place—finally some blue sky! |
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| Riding the ruts challenge! |
On our way to the next challenge we came across the only (known) incident of the day—the lead rider of one of the other teams had slammed on the brakes to turn onto a hard-to-see road and the rider behind had gone into the back of him, rendering both bikes unrideable. Fortunately they were not injured, but there were police and an ambulance in attendance.
We stopped for a much needed bite to eat at a pub, each of us having, of course, Welsh lamb with all the trimmings. Refuelled we carried on.
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| More sun, more dales... can’t get enough of the views here! |
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| ...and a perfect photo opportunity for Team Tom—Kamal, me, Tom and Alex |
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| A brief stop to take in the amazing view |
Somehow we couldn’t find the answer to one of the challenge questions—we were meant to find a bridge with trolls underneath but saw nothing of the sort. Tom rode back to double check but still was unable to find the bridge.
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| Waiting for Tom to return from the bridges |
The next top was at a coffee shop in the town of Brecon before carrying on to Merthyr Cynog to get the number from a telephone box and answer a couple more challenge questions.
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| Parked near the coffee shop in Brecon |
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| Waiting.... |
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| Friendly dog in Merthyr Cynog |
From Merthyr Cynog we got lost and circled back before realising we’d been on the correct road the whole time. This let out onto some fast roads to a stunning viewpoint between Cray and Penwyllt.
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| Panoramic shot of the viewpoint |
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| Cray Reservoir |
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| Starting to feel tired |
Our final challenge was the Absolute Adventure Challenge. Sadly when we arrived there was no one there as we were nearly 3 hours past the time limit. Unfortunately this meant we were effectively disqualified from the GS Trophy so we carried on back to the Ancient Briton pub to hand in our late scorecards and take a photo at the finish line.
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| Team Tom makes it to the finish line (3 hours late)—no reason not to smile! |
Highlights of the day? The scenery and roads were amazing and we all had great fun doing the route, even if we took far too long to complete it. Some of the lanes required a degree of precise riding to avoid the moss, sand or mud between the tyre tracks but this kept things interesting. There was such a sense of wellbeing riding around the Welsh countryside. This was my first time to Wales (apart from a half day in Cardiff in 2005) and I wish I had gone long before now.
There were a few more, of course. Having my bike over because I forgot to put down the side stand. Tom getting stuck on the momentum course (lost Oakleys probably shouldn’t be mentioned). Alex setting a new performance standard for the F800GS, never trailing behind despite having two-thirds the power of our 1200s. And Kamal giving the R1200GS’s rev limiter a thorough test after coming off the bike during the slalom course.
We headed back to Swansea for dinner and a much needed sleep. The next morning I left earlier than some of the others in an attempt to beat the bank holiday weekend traffic returning to London. I had a relaxing, uneventful ride back and was home in the early afternoon.
The GS Trophy made me realise a couple things about myself. I was very happy to find that I had no trouble keeping up with fast riders on twisty roads, even though my everyday riding style is much more laid back. And I’m very comfortable navigating byways on my own, at my own pace, on dirt, mud or gravel—but doing off road challenges in a competitive environment made my confidence all but disappear. But most of all, I had a great time, with some great people, pushing myself beyond my day-to-day experiences.
Were you at the GS Trophy this year? I would love to hear your experience in the comments below.
