When I found out that Repsol had invited us for a trail day at the fabulous Les Comes facilities, I was very happy. The plan couldn’t have looked better: Toni Bou and Gabriel Marcelli, at the time current trial world champion (38 times in total) and 3rd respectively, were going to give us a kind of off-road course, followed by a guided route with themselves and by the Repsol Honda Team Manager, also the 2004 trial world champion Takahisa Fujinami.
The Repsol Honda Team, luxury monitors
The day began with a generous breakfast – sausage through – and the delivery of complete off-road equipment, courtesy of Hebo, which included a helmet, boots, pants, t-shirt, gloves and jacket.
Immediately afterwards there was a presentation of the event, explaining the agenda of the day. Next we move on to the motorcycle assignment. I asked for the lightest possible, in this case a Honda CRF300L, to ensure I could carry out the proposed exercises, which took place on a conditioned track next to the Les Comes farmhouse.
The closeness of the three pilots was comforting (Fujigas is still a pilot), given that you cannot find instructors with greater mastery of technique than the Repsol Honda trial team pilots.
The subsequent route through the landscape of Les Comes was as fun as it was beautiful. The three pilots mixed with the group, controlling the puppies, while they surprised us with unexpected stunts on the back of a Honda Transalp and a Honda CRF1100 Africa Twin DCT, which only confirmed that the Indian is always more important than the arrow.
Few more fun and instructive days, which also show you that the love for off-road motorcycles, however immense it may be, is independent of your riding level.
