A write up of Taicyd Trec event in Brechfa last weekend by Lesley Lewis. Hosted by our own Trec Club, Red Kite Trec. Amazing venue with stunning views, Taicyd Healing Retreat. Fabulous welcome from Windsor and Tirion.
Massive step up to Level 3 individual as they weren't running my usual Level 2 but I'd put in some training on grids and bearings for the orienteering phase and thought if I get lost in the forest, it's fairly local so I'd find my way home eventually. I'd decided beforehand to treat this as a training exercise rather than put myself under pressure to compete.
This was a one day comp so that was all 3 phases in one day, so extra miles, extra map difficulty and extra energy required. The energy was lacking on Saturday morning due to a sleepless night due to rough weather and feeling the after effects of an unscheduled dismount from baby Kay 48hours before. Bit battered tbh! Getting a bit too old to hit the deck.
However, the POR orienteering went better than expected. Couple of moments of head scratching here and there, and stupid me rode one loop the wrong way round not paying attention in the Map Room I blame lack of sleep! That cost some serious points but on the plus side, the route accuracy and km timings were spot so I settled for that philosophically.
Being new to this Level, I didn't appreciate the Grids and Bearings sections were actually 2 separate phases.....point now learnt! So when I thought I'd finished and was off home and was very happy with the Grids sections finding all the tickets in the forest , the Checkpoint took my map off me and gave me a Bearings Section.....that's a series of compass Bearings and distances to ride to the next point....no Map! I collapsed on Sofi's neck , hugged her and apologised that we had to go again. By now I struggling and exhausted, I was told after it was only 25km, it felt longer but the speeds were set slow as the tracks were hard and the Grids took me twice as long as they should've due to me being a first-timer. We made it back to base at the end of the Bearings a whole 5 and a half hours after starting!
Somehow my beautiful Sofi was still on her toes, after a 2 hr rest I dragged myself off the bunk in the trailer and we headed out to do the MA (paces) and PTV (obstacle) course. I was exhausted! Sofi dragged me round somehow scoring full marks on our canter and most of the PTV passed in a blur and was rather hit and miss but we completed which I was pleased about.
Amazing food in the evening provided by Molly Whyatt Watts' catering services and Sunday was a training day to review the maps and techniques and a rerun over the PTV course at leisure. Needless to say I didn't ride Sunday, Sofi had a rest as we had a 3rd comp next weekend and I re-did the Bearings section on foot for practice. It was great to have this extra training opportunity which doesn't usually happen. So off home to rest both of us up, physio booked for Sofi to keep her in tip top shape ready to go again next weekend. Thank you to Red Kite Trec and all the helpers over the weekend. 2 out of 3 complete.
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