Saturday 20 June 2015

The VINCE - Austin Vince's Navigation Event in the Pyrenees - Planning

The Turtle and the Chicken get to go ride dirt bikes in the Pyrenees with some friends... Whoop, Whoop!!!

So our little blue pack arrived about 2-3 weeks ago, Lucy & I eagerly opened it to skim through the contents and have a brief look see what we'd got for our £250 each... Basically, two maps, loads of points to go to and an information booklet. It doesn't look much when you lay it all out, but I can only guess how many hours of trail riding have gone into that planning process! I guess this is what you pay for with your entry fee really.



For those of you that don't know, Austin Vince is a bit of a legend in the biking world, so is his lass, Lois Price. Both have ridden around the world on little trail bikes like the Suzuki DR350, Honda XR400 and a Yamaha Serow. They have been an inspiration to loads of folks to get off and play on their bikes...


Two things these guys do is to arrange various biking events in the Pyrenees, one is the VINCE.

Lucy & I heard about this awhile back, intrigued we thought we'd try one out and see what it's like, we threw out an invite to various friends and we now have Geoff, Lee, Lucy & I heading to Spain in July!

The header on the explanation page on AV's website has the following warning: .. Inspiring eh!


For me, I'm a bit of a geek about planning trips, it's what I do for a job these days, so to plan something with a few friends is great. I was up until 1.30am last night putting all of my points onto the big map, Irish whiskey in one hand and a red pen in the other... Fab!

The process I've used is as advised by AV on his website: This is how to prepare for the VINCE. I like the KISS principle, 'Keep It Simple Stupid' and this embodies that concept really...

Pretty simple, it just takes time and patience...



At the Haggs Bank & Adventure Spec weekend awhile ago now, I got chatting to Dave who is one of the main guys at AS, he was one of the team who rode the trails used in the VINCE this year, apparently there is a small group of people who go out each year with Austin & Lois and just go ride the trails, then it all gets turned into an event for the rest of us to experience... happy days...

Lee managed to scan and copy all of the maps and notes at work for all of us, we divided the trails into groups of 20 points, roughly, North West, North East, South West and South East on the map, allocated them out and now each of us has a section to lead and navigate.

We're operating as a 4 man team, each with a section to set up and navigate around, then the others will do the detail work at each checkpoint. We'll collect the necessary information as we ride then compile it to a master copy back at camp...

Once I've got the mapping and route sorted I'll look to building a road book, that should be a big bugger though as my eyesight is getting worse!! Can you buy plates of plastic magnifying sheet??? Hee Hee...


Have fun...

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