Hi Experts,

As I said this area is a huge off-road park almost the size of Singapore. So there are a lot of variants possible! With enough experts we can have a special CH that would only be taken by the expert group and that connect 2 different parts of the Rayu area.

Have a look to this album picasaweb.google.com/o...reaToRayu#
The pictures have been taken on a 4kms long trail that connects to the main loop I presented before. I don't think the average rider could take it but maybe a small group of experts helping each other could do it. We managed to do it entirelly after 3 expeditions, this was a trail lost 10 years ago so there is a part of 300ms which is completely lost in the forest.
The link with the main loop passes by a river crossing that would be bery interesting, but not deep.
picasaweb.google.com/o...nAndLinus#
This photo album was taken on a part of the loop we plan to use that goes through the forest and climb some nice hill. This an abandonned logging trail. Few pics of the river crossing.

We must try it before to verify that this is really possible.

Personnaly I'm not a mud expert, south of France is damn dry! But I'm learning!

As I said there is no problem at all in this area to make things extremely difficult, more difficult is to find challenging enough but not too much! This is Borneo, land of one of the most extreme Camel trophy and of the Trans bornean raid.

See you

Here's some pictures

If possible, could the dates be like a week after the Chinese Lunar New Year?

Hi Oliver,

Looks like awesome terrain!
I don't think you should have too many issues what takes a 4WD 1 day to complete can typically be done on a bike in 30min - 1 hour. We used to ride a lot of 4WD tracks in NZ which were always muddy and the only time the 4WD's were at an advantage is if the rivers were really deep and the bikes would get washed away. Looking fwd to the event and even perhaps 3 or 4 day trail riding over there in the near future if it can be arranged.

I know that a bike can cover in 1 hour what some 4x4 may take a day. However the terrain in Kuching is like notyhing I've seen before!

I've seen parts that were quite easy under dry/normal wet condition become absolutely extreme under the rain. This because of the nature of the mud that transform the grip of the terrain to something close to ridding in the snow or on ice.

I participated to 2 enduro with snowy and icy condition which are the closest to what I experienced in Sarawak,.


Take this for exemple. The guy is seating on a 1m high rock step and there are ruts of more than 70cm deep just before the watery part. There are 3 sections like this in less than a km. This is possible under normal dry (it's rarely dry!)/humid condition, but if it rains it becomes really extreme!


This is the rut before the step! The good thing, it's large enough for a bike!

If you want to organise a long week-end there I can try to arrange this. I'm close to the only off-road bike dealer of Kuching and he expects to have some chinese 250 4S enduro bike soon. Those are not KTM but according to what I've seen should be enough to enjoy some enduro there. Have a look at one of my album when we tried the 450 Asiawing with Philippe. There are pics of the new engine from Zhoncheng that will power those bikes.

So as soon as he has some I can arrange something, the list price of those bikes would be around 8000RM in Kchg so rental won't be high!

Olivier

I am just looking through the pics and am seeing a lot of washed out jeep tracks, but not much in the way of enduro trails, do you have any pics of the trail for the enduro bikes.


Chris

You're right that there are a lot of 4x4 tracks because this is Borneo! The jungle here is very dense and only bulldozers and 4x4 can open trails through it.

This is very different from Europe where there are many trails opened by pedestrian treckers and mountain bikes.

However an obstacle is an obstacle and it makes no difference if it was made by a 4x4 or anything else.

Also don't be fooled by few pictures, the place as I said is huge and offer hundred of kms of trails.

In fact most of the huge ruts and obstcales are not made by 4x4 but by the rain that washes away the trails few weeks after they are abandonned.


Look at this passage. We did it many times in both direction and everytime it was different. No trace of our previous passage. The heavy rain simply transformed it completely.

You won't have to bare with a lot of 4x4 ruts but for sure with a lot of difficult obstacle in the expert category!

My main concern with using roads cut for cars and trucks is how do you control the speed, I have no doubt about the severity of the terrain.

Chris

Hi Chris,

The trails will be closed for the event. Most of them are simply abandonned and only our 4x4 are using it.

There will be marshals with 4x4 and bikes to control the trafic. There is no speed limit but the terrain is such that there is no many places where the speed can be very high.

There is only one possible access to the loop in Rayu and the loop is Semantan as well. Sematan is a completely abandonned trail.

In Rayu there is still a bit of exploitation but we will arrange the security for that perticular day.

/Olivier

It kinda looks like Baja man.. instead of high speed just abit more technical stuff i guess. Looks like my girlfriend and myself will be signing up for this race. I think it'll be a great way to check out East Malaysia too!

Please, just don't organize it during the Lunar New Year weekend.. it's like having a race during Christmas for us. haha

Baja are desert races in South California. This is not really the kind of terrain that you will find there.
Trails may look large but they can be very challenging. Conditions are quite different from those found in Johor.

If you can both tackle the expert level then you can register in this category as there will be some nice passages where you will be able to push your bike in the mud and under the rain.
Rain is a quite constant parameter at this time of the year this is why we prefer to go off-road with our non aircond 4wheeler during this period and also because it's more interesting when it's rainning.

We will avoid the Chinese New year and if it's before you will be able to rest during the festivities...

This is a 3 days race, in the expert level you can expect to ride more than 400kms in 2 days, the first day being a kind of prologue. There should 2 different special tests that you have to do 3 or 4 times each. Each special test maybe be between 4 to 10mns. This means that you should be racing against time more than 2 hours. For those who never did an enduro special test it's giving your maximum speed during 4 to 10mns, a bit like a qualifying lap in motocross.
You have to repeat that few times a day. Normally racers would walk through all the special tests before the race to memorise the lines and the difficult passages. This is not possible because people are coming from far and cannot do it. This will be more like for a long classic where you discover the special test on the spot and improve your chrono at each new lap.

You will for sure enjoy it!

Don't mind the noobness, what about abit more desc about the beginner entry of the challenge. Seems interesting. Nowhere near expert, but feeling of participation is intriguing me. :S

New updates

Date of the event should be confirmed soon and before CNY.

The tracks will use some moutain bike tracks around Kuching and Lundu. There will be different tracks to allow Novice and more expert riders to enjoy at their level.

Guest international riders.
Philippe confirmed me that Cyril Esquirol will join the race as a demo pilot. Cyril is a former international enduro rider and he is preparing himselff for the Paris-Dakar rally this year, so no doubt that he will be perfectly fit!
Here is an extract of his ridding history:
- Vice world Enduro champion
- 4 times winner of the Gilles Lalay Classic once the world toughest enduro, that was the inspiration for the Romaniac, Hellsfgate and other Herzberg rodeo.
Cyril won the GLC against riders like Edmonson, Karlsson or Stephane Peterhansel who was 2 times enduro world champion and multiple winner of the Paris-Dakar both on bike and car!

No doubt that he will do some show for us. We are still looking for another rider of his class.

News update.

We are still looking for a proper date. The event is postponed after the CNY as we think this will be easier to gather more competitors.

The license will be a week-end license, so you don't have to worry about licensing issue. The format of the race remains the same, 3 days with 2 days of enduro like race. The loop in Sematan should be 80 km of mountainbike trails, so get fit because 2 or 3 laps of this loop won't be that easy.

Entrance fee for motorbike including hotel nights and assistance to carry your petrol and tools as well as transportation for you and the bikes should be around 1000RM (around 400S$)

So be a part of this first event in Borneo and we will make it a success for the coming years.

We have 2 international riders who will come for the show, Cyril Esquirol (3 times winner of the Gilles Lalay Classic) and Stephanie Buisson (5th of the EWC women categorie this year) and we may get more.

Philippe also met some riders in Dubai who are keen to come to taste the mud of Sarawak.

Olivier

Hi Olivier.
Any update on when the race will be?
Thanks!
Richmond.