In early September Victorian Moto Trials rider Brooke Lonie formed part of the first ever Australian Womens Trials des Nations team.

Whilst Brooke was away she agreed to write a diary for www.motorcyclingvic.com.au  to give people an insight into the goings on behind the scenes of an Australian team, and we are pleased to bring you the next extracts from her diary.

Day 6

This morning was delightful. Croissants, juice, toast, cereal, fruit, muffins and Spanish yoghurt had us all frothing at the mouths and fuelled up for the day ahead.

We went to the TopFun Factory at 10am, where I invested in a new set of Gaerne’s for dad. Afterwards, we swam in the pool at our hotel, and put together Kristie’s Scorpa. More accurately observed Kristie put together her Scorpa. Working up a sweat in the sun led to another swim, then a stroll through Caldes for the afternoon.

I must admit I felt considerable tired this afternoon and spent an hour sleeping when we returned to Broquetas. After showering up for dinner, we returned to the same restaurant as last night, then indulged in some ice cream for the fifth consecutive day. Nothing like consistency.

Day 7

We met up with most of our Men’s team today at a pizza place on the main street in Caldes, all but Colin Zarczynski, Neil Price and his father Simon, who were at Jordi Pasquet’s place in Le Seu.

We drove out to the Sherco Factory in the afternoon, but learned that the bikes weren’t yet ready to be picked up. Whilst there, however, I was lucky enough to meet and get a photo with the 2008 Junior World Champion, (and Sherco rider) Frenchman Loris Gubian, who made me weak at the knees. I’ve always picked out famous faces and planned to get photos with them, but when it comes to asking them I just turn to mush and go red like a little schoolgirl. So I must thank Kev Zar for introducing me to Loris and encouraging me to bite the bullet.

After hanging around the Factory a while longer talking to Loris and the rest of the French Team, we began the drive to Jordi Pasquet’s holiday house near Andorra, where we’ll be staying for the remainder of the trip. It was about an hour and a half drive, and the view of the mountains all the way there was breathtaking.

Upon our arrival at Jordi’s I caught up with Neil and Simon Price (who I’ve never met before and turned out to be top blokes), and Colin Zar.

There was definitely much more happening at tea time with a table of ten than our previous dinners, and it was good to have all of Team Australia together.

Day 8

I slept in for the first morning of the trip. Ahhh it was the best, and probably the only late start I would get.

I met Jordi Pasquet who had come out for a ride, and was kicking myself that I was bike-less. Jordi was an awesome guy, who knew how to have a laugh, and was an unbelievably talented rider and teacher.

I spent most the morning waiting around for a call from Sherco regarding the bikes, and eventually geared up and straddled a GasGas 125 Jordi had sitting in his workshop. Woah that thing was different to ride!! Despite all of the awesome places to ride on Jordi’s property, I could only withstand the bike for all of an hour before returning to the house. Luckily, we’d received a call from Sherco and the bikes were all good to come and collect, and I was out of my gear and in the van set for the drive within 10 minutes.

The 2009 Sherco’s are slick, they look damn fine. It was so exciting helping Toby load mine into the van, I couldn’t wait to ride it. The mechanic who’d been assembling them and making sure they ran okay was a previous minder for Adam Raga, and was a very nice fellow. He was interested in knowing what we were planning to ride during our trip, and wished me luck for my World Round this Saturday. I was going to need it!

We returned ‘home’ just on dusk to a pack of hungry dogs waiting for their bikes to be unloaded from the van, and once the doors were opened they went pretty quickly.

I started to make small alterations to mine, like putting all my bits and pieces on it, fuelling it up and making sure I had spares, just in case. I soon retreated to the house though because dinner was almost ready, and here, if you’re not in quick, you miss out. Too many mouths to feed.

Day 9

I was up pretty early this morning; the bike had been calling me. I set the bike up entirely today, had lunch, and then went out riding with Kristie and Michelle in the afternoon for about three hours.

After a small break to re-hydrate and have a bite to eat, I went back out riding with Jamie, Kyle and Kristie, and we rode until we couldn’t see what we were riding. The beauty about Spain at the moment is that it doesn’t get dark until about 8pm at night, so there is heaps of time to ride.

More to follow next week...

Brooke's Trials Tales - Days 1 to 5