After the VINCE we did one more day of riding in the same area (Arnes – inland from Tarragona), then moved 2h North to the Arragon region to join Austin VINCE for some scouting of trails for the VINCE 2022 event – camping this time as we had been staying in the hotel for the VINCE. Well more like Glamping as we were using Dougie’s van which he is gradually converting into a motorhome. We then came back to Cahors for a bit of local riding, then set off for Spain again to Oleana – just south of Andorra for another few days of riding.

Post VINCE Trail Riding in Arnes

We went out following some trails we had not used during the VINCE competition and met up with the VINCE winners who were very helpful in passing on some tips for the future – it was clear they had done much more preparation than we had and we did A LOT.

The Crew – Nigel, Dougie, David and Richard

Gentle trail ride after the VINCE

Trail Scouting

The trail scouting for Austin was great fun as we were given a GPS route to try out – make sure the trail existed, was rideable and legal. Mostly they were OK but we encountered a couple that were “experts only” or “bring a chainsaw or preferably a JCB”.

Base camp
Campsite breakfast
Trail scouting, I’m standing on what used to be a trail which seems to have been blocked off when the main road was widened..
Just managed to squeeze my KTM through the gap between these rocks, but any bigger bikes would struggle…
Amazing views at every turn…
Mountain scenery…
Back at camp every night to share a meal – some of the guys were staying in cabins and we all took turns at cooking…
Austin still going strong but Nigel feeling a bit tired after a long day…
Dougie had a birthday – the guys managed to source a cake and some candles…
This was the toughest trail we scouted…
Taking a break after fighting our way through an unusable trail…
A rumble of KTMs – we met up with Simon and Amaeus(?) on one scouting run..
Time for din !
This is the summary video that Austin produced after the six days of scouting as a teaser for the 2022 event. Drone footage courtesy of Dougie. Austin was editing recorded footage every night and uploading video snippets – extremely well done especially considering this was on a campsite in rural Spain.

Trail Riding Cahors

After the scouting trip we came back to Cahors for a break, some bike fettling and a bit of local riding…

Run down to And Co in Prayssac for coffee..
The beach at Albas on the river Lot..
Trying to wrestle the 950 along the rock garden and up the waterfall just below the house…
Trail ride into Cahors – view from the Iron Cross of the Pont Valentre
Bit of maintenance on Doug’s Freeride – starter problems…

Back to Spain – Oliana

After our short break we headed back to Spain to Oleana (south of Andorra) and the site of a previous VINCE event for more riding. Only about 5h from my place…

Checked into a cabin (shed) this time – very compact but with all needed facilities and more comfortable than glamping.
Susan supplied us with cake for the trip and Doug’s JetBoil meant that a welcome cup of cofffee was never far away…
Freeride broken down (again) – starter motor running continuously…
A bit of trail-side fettling soon sorted it – bump start only from now on as they don’t fit a kickstart…
As before, the views at every turn are stunning…
Way up above Oliana is a remote church clinging to a rock pinnacle. The narrow access trail runs along the side of a cliff and I made the mistake of following the precipitous footpath that runs right up to the church door…
On one day we rode the old smugglers route into Andorra – no customs or COVID checks at the border…
Our shed did allow more elaborate camp breakfasts…
Views and more views…
It’s over there…
A few of the trails we rode….
Not under pressure to collect checkpoints we even had time to stop for coffee and lunch…
Another church (Ermitage) in the middle of nowhere…
On the last day after a month of riding we did “one more trail” which turned out to be the most difficult one we had encountered…. And I fell off and bashed the exhaust…. Doh !

Plenty of time over the Autumn/Winter to do the necessary repairs – the Freeride needs a complete rebuild, but we’ll be back…