Regular readers will be familar with the VINCE by now – an event I have participated in for the last three years. It is run by Austin VINCE and takes place in the Spanish Pyrenees and is a bit like an off road treasure hunt on motorbikes. Austin and his team place a number of small metal tags with numbers and characters at obscure locations all across the region. This preparation usually takes place in the two years prior to the event itself. A couple of months before the event Austin then issues competitors with the essential information to be able to find the tags, located at what are called CheckPoints (CPs). It is then up to each team to try to plan an optimum route to visit as many of the CPs as possible and record the required information from the tags. The CPs score different values depending on how far away they are, or how difficult to access. The event is normally run over two days from 8am to 8 pm – that is 2 x 12 hour days in the saddle so endurance is required as well as good preparation. Competitors are only allowed to use the maps provided by Austin and a compass to navigate the trails and find the CPs – no mobile phones or GPS allowed.
In the 2020 event I teamed up with my mate Dougie and we finished second in the map class and were awarded the runner-up trophy. Last year (2021) we actually won the event but were disqualified for not correctly completing the CP booklet – we have entered this year as “Team Disqualified”.
For the 2022 event, Austin is using a new area in the Aragon region which is so large and has so many trails he has made it a 3 day event (3 x 12 hour days). Dougie and I have spent the last few weeks preparing our routes and have decided to forego the maps and compass approach and enter the “anything goes” class so we will be using GPS. This means we won’t get lost but will not be eligible for the winners cup. This video provides a glimpse of the detail of preparing the route…
Our final planned routes cover over 850 Km of mostly off road riding over the 3 days. As the distances are so large we have also had to plan fuel stops, which was not easy as there are only six filling stations in the whole area. Here are the routes:
The final factor which we can’t control is the weather and the forecast is looking pretty grim for next week with torrential rain and thunderstorms. We had a lot of rain last year and it made everything much more difficult, including making some of the tricky sections virtually impassable. Riding around soaking wet on the top of a mountain is probably not the best idea if there is lightning in the vicinity, but it’s sure to be exciting !
We’ll be setting off for Spain on Sunday 11th, wish us luck !