Come and Have Go Day
On Saturday and Sunday 23rd and 24th March, with sponsorship from the Womens International Motorcycle Association,* Tamsin Jones and I are organising a fantastic event at Hafod-y-Dafal, Aberbeeg, NP13 2ER, South Wales – in a format which has never been done before! Women and girls: solo rider training in enduro and trials, possibly in flattrack too, suitable for beginners and riders with experience (no licence required). Bikes provided, or use your own. Sidecar passengering and driving (some experience required and is subject to the owners consent): grass track, enduro and trials. Basic camping available – Saturday night social. Motocross clothing available to borrow. *Join here for only £12
More information:
The disciplines are all priced separately so you can choose to do everything, or only one such as the sidecar passengering. Solo riding is women and girls only, minimum 15 years for hire bike, height 5’ and can already ride a bike with clutch and gears. Sidecar passengering and driving is open to women, men, girls and boys aged 15 upwards. Information sheets provided on all disciplines for anyone who is interested in beginning competition.
Trials riding with Inch Perfect with a selection of electric and petrol trials bikes. Price £94.5 per session. Please book direct with them at Ladies Demo Day. This can be found on our website under book now > menu > book now > ladies-demo-day Please let me know when you have booked with them. More information here
Enduro training with Tamsin: hire or bring your own trail, enduro or motocross bike. Price £95 a session with hire bike and clothing; £65 each session on own bike. Bikes supplied are 3 x TTR125 for small ladies and girls, 1 x lowered CRF250L, 2 normal CRF250Ls. If you have your own bike, please state what it is when you book, along with which session you wish to do. More information here.
For the riders bringing their own bikes: Emma Rooney, motorcycle mechanic from Tredegar, is offering guidance and advice, sharing tricks and tips. She will demonstrate useful things with some basic tools.
Provisionally Inch Perfect sessions with trials bikes provided are:
Saturday 9 to 11am: Beginner L1 - on road experience but no trials experience
Saturday 12 to 2pm: Intermediate - suitable for competent motocross, enduro and trials riders
Saturday 3 to 5pm: Beginner L2 - offroad experience but no trials experience
Sunday 9 to 11am: 2 instructors so can do Beginners L1 and L2
Sunday 12 to 2pm: Intermediate if demand
or maybe Sundays will be 9 to 11am: Beginner L1
12 to 2pm: Beginner L2
Provisionally Tamsin's sessions are:
Saturday 9.30 to 11.30am: beginner session – on road experience, little or no offroad
Saturday 12.15 to 2.15pm: beginner session - on road experience, little or no offroad
Saturday 3pm to 5pm: enduro session - for competent trail and offroad riders with their own enduro bikes who are considering competition, or have just begun competition, and will include longer ride around the land up to 7 miles
Sunday 9.30 to 11.30am: beginner session – on road experience, little or no offroad
Sunday 12.15 to 2.15: trail rider – for those with some previous offroad (even if it was yesterday!)
Sunday 2.30 to approx 3.30: trail ride over a longer distance – free for own bike riders who have already done a session, £20 if hire bike required (you have already paid £95 for a session)
Flattrack: awaiting information from Leah Tokelove
Sidecar passengering available on grass track, enduro and motocross sidecars and trials outfits from 10am each day. Passengering is tiring and you will only do a few minutes at a time. The areas are within walking distance of each other but if you are able to bring a mountain bike, it would help you! Just turn up and hop on when you are ready. The drivers will advise, as will any experienced passengers. A full set of motocross clothing including body armour is required for the grass track and enduro/mx sidecars – this can be supplied if ordered in advance. This is likely to be more informal than the other sessions – just turn up and hop in when you can. Driving the sidecar will be at the discretion of the sidecar owner. Price £45 a day or both days if also riding. If only passengering, it is £80 for both days (to cover the land use, your insurance and the sidecar providers costs).
Motocross clothing with body armour is suitable for all disciplines and can be booked free of charge. Please let us know what items you need, your height and your sizes: helmet, boots, body armour (back protector and arms), knee pads, mx trousers, shirts/jackets, gloves.
Our Facebook group is UK Women in Motorcycle Sport https://www.facebook.com/groups/ukwomeninmotorcyclesport (women only, sorry!) and the event is at https://www.facebook.com/events/883630726707803
To book: Remember to add all the sessions you wish to do, and to tell me in an email, along with name, address, date of birth, height, clothing sizes,etc. Sidecars £45 each day or both days if you are doing a session with Inch Perfect or Tamsin; or £80 for sidecars both days, hire bike with Tamsin £95 each session, £65 each session with your own bike.
Please pay Inch Perfect direct – it is £94.50. This can be found under book now > menu > book now > ladies-demo-day
Once you have booked in and your place is confirmed, you will need to buy a NORA one event licence which costs £2. Your confirmation will tell you all about this. Please note that personal accident insurance is NOT provided. If you wish to have personal accident cover in place, the only method I have found is for you to buy a NORA advanced licence for adult competition, which provides cover for a year at all NORA events. It is £90. https://nora92.com/product/annual-licence-2024/ For Licence Club, choose UK Women in Motorcycle Sport as your club (not showing yet – I have reminded them to add it). For Licence Type choose National Advanced. For Licence Class, choose Adult Competition.
Basic camping is available, but the landowner has not yet said whether it will be free for participants or a small fee extra. It is on top of a hill, so we hope the weekend is not too windy or rainy, and might be better for campers and caravans. There will be portaloos, but no showers, no electricity or water. Not sure yet whether we can get a burger van. We will go out for a meal on Saturday night.
The venue is used for the Steelhouse Rock Festival. Access is over a mile on a gravel road which is quite rough but very grippy – it is OK in cars and vans if you take it slowly, but if you are planning on coming on a road bike, you do need to be confident off tarmac. I ride up there on my GPZ500 no problems but a sports bike could be a bit of a handful!
Nearby accommodation to the north and east: Ebbw Vale Premier Inn, Victoria Business Park, Waun-Lwyd, Ebbw Vale, NP23 8AN, 0333 777 4678 (more expensive than the Premier Inn, Pontypool) Level Inn, 7 Bridge Street, Ebbw Vale, NJP23 6EY, 01633 846720
To the south for M4: The Newbridge Hotel, 25 High Street, Newbridge, Newport, NP11 4FH https://www.facebook.com/p/THE-Newbridge-Hotel-100063561131737/?locale=en_GB Brewers Lodge, 58 Gordon Rd, Blackwood, NP12 1DS, 01495 230240 Mehat Six Bells, 2 Alexandra Road, Nr Abertillery, NP13 2LG, 01495 213770
And finally, even if you don’t want to take part, you are welcome to come for the camping, spectating and social aspect.
Tamsin’s business can be found here Tamsin has been teaching offroad riding skills for over twenty years. She is one of the few British women to complete the Dakar Rally, finishing at her first attempt in 2010. In 2011 she and her partner Craig rode to 5359m up Everest, breaking Annie Seel’s record of 5305m set in 2003. Tamsin competed in and finished the Red Bull Romaniacs tough enduro in 2013.
The the birth of her son put racing on hold for a few years. In 2023 the chance of competing at round one of the FIM Hard Enduro World Championship at Zlatibor in Serbia was an opportunity too good to resist. Hard Enduro is one physically demanding motorcycle sports, pushing both rider and machine to their absolute limits. But it’s extremely rewarding too. Often people become focused on ‘the result’ when it comes to competition, but outside of the podium contenders there are hundreds of competitors whose goal of completing the event is like a victory in itself.
“Hard Enduro is pretty special,” tells Tasmin. “There’re not many other sports in the world where you can race across the top of a mountain one minute and around city streets the next. I didn’t have any expectations coming to Serbia, I just wanted to finish the race. Being able to pick a category that matches my ability is huge too, it makes it enjoyable. There’re tough bits, really tough bits, but lots of awesome riding.”
In the past she has competed in enduro and roadracing, both solo and as a sidecar driver, and in 1991 was the first woman to become an ACU qualified coach. She begun competing in 1978 as a righthanded grass track sidecar passenger, then had a go at trials, before concentrating on enduros, solo from 1981 to 1997, sidecar until 2006. Also a brief spell in 1989 and 1990 road racing a Yamaha 250. From 2010 until 2021, she road raced a sidecar in the FSRA pre-injection championship. After selling the road race outfit to her passenger, not quite ready to stop competing, she began grass track on a 500 “continental” sidecar. For the 2023 season she swapped to an “old and new” sidecar. Both outfits have been passengered by her daughter Barbara Springall, and both outfits are available at the event. Since 1983 she has organised many offroad events to encourage women, and first met Tamsin at one of these (a long time ago!)
Marianne runs Trail Rides Wales with her husband Colin. In the past she has competed in enduro and roadracing, both solo and as a sidecar driver, and in 1991 was the first woman to become an ACU qualified coach. She begun competing in 1978 as a righthanded grass track sidecar passenger, then had a go at trials, before concentrating on enduros, solo from 1981 to 1997, sidecar until 2006. Also a brief spell in 1989 and 1990 road racing a Yamaha 250. From 2010 until 2021, she road raced a sidecar in the FSRA pre-injection championship. After selling the road race outfit to her passenger, not quite ready to stop competing, she began grass track on a 500 “continental” sidecar. For the 2023 season she swapped to an “old and new” sidecar. Both outfits have been passengered by her daughter Barbara Springall, and both outfits are available at the event. Since 1983 she has organised many offroad events to encourage women, and first met Tamsin at one of these (a long time ago!)