RUST magazine: RUST#30

Trente ans est une longue période
From sevignacq-Meyracq it was on to Louvie-Juzon and the first timecheck,
then west on the d918 to the Bois du Bager, the site of the first
special test. the Old Boy reached deep into his memory bank and we
were looking for a woodland track, which ran roughly parallel to the
road. thirty years is obviously a long time in forest management – it’s a
long time full stop – and despite several excursions into the undergrowth
(intentional) nothing looked quite right. the original track had been more
of a forestry road used for timber hauling, and maybe those activities had
ceased due to lack of sustainability and the ‘bois’ had reclaimed it.
this would have been one of the places where an enduro bike
obviously would have been an advantage, allowing some time to be
made up against the more powerful road bikes on that stage. As Charlie
recalls: “the only places the bigger bikes would really overhaul you were
on the longer straights, and there weren’t many of them. Of the bikes
i rode, the suzuki Pe250 was quick and the yamaha it250 in particular
was bloody fast. Obviously in this kind of event good brakes were an
advantage that enduro bikes didn’t really have, so you had to work that