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6 DAYS IN THE SAND! :) My 2000km CHALLENGE in the EMPTY Quarter!
- Thread starter Kenisis
- Start date
Kenisis
Race Dog
If you join me next year I'll join you with Dakar '14 , busy programming SWAMBO! Watch this space!BlueBull2007 said:
nreyneke
Race Dog
:happy1: :happy1:
Kenisis said:
I have the bike for Dakar, need to make a decision in the next 30 days if I am going to do Dakar 2013 or 2014....
Decisions, decisions....
Next year DC would be awesome, but only if I am not going to Dakar in Jan. :thumleft:
superten
Race Dog
Fantastic reading.on this end we are sharing your nerves and anguish,even if it happened a while back.
Thank you for sharing!
Thank you for sharing!
Kenisis
Race Dog
Day 1 leg 1 “AL GHARBIA”
Total Distance : 297.7 KM
Special Distance : 285.05 KM
Liason : 12.65 Km
The Starting List
I woke up on Day one in the hotel at 5:00am. I was really nervous and the feeling whelmed over me again, why am I doing this? I am no Rally Pro? I got dressed into my Gear. Checked that my Asterix Knee braces and my Alpine stars Neck brace were adjusted properly.
We went down to the lobby to be met by a frenzy of Competitors who all were packing in calories for their Breakfast. Honestly i could not stomach a breakfast right now so I threw in a Banana into my Camelbak to get me through the Day.
SWAMBO then drove me off to Rally HQ where I met up with all the guys in our Camp. I was going to ride with Sean and James to the Start of Leg one. The first problem i had was that the Frenchies were late picking up their trailer with my Bike on it. I stress a little about them not being there and Decided that my fate lay in God’s hands. If I were meant to ride my bike would be there! Aldrin drove us to the Start of the Stage in his Nissan Patrol.
The trip was filled with Small talk and we all voiced our disappointment in the farce of the Prologue. I actually saw one KTM mechanic with stop watch give Marc Coma a nod when enough time had passed for him to complete the circuit. This putting him at the rear of the field. This would mean that Marc Coma and several other very fast riders would be starting behind me. Frankly the Speed differential is scary and was a worrying me a lot as I did not want to get ridden over while they chased their way to victory!
We arrived at the start and I still had no Bike. So I waited around whilst everyone else got ready. I had to find Marie our Riders Rep to get my time card from her.
Getting Ready for the Big Ride
Here is a Pic of the Time card that they give you.
Time cards are folded up and put into a pocket on your seat. When you pass through Checkpoints they Stamp your card to verify that you have been there and they keep your card while you are at service or fuelling up monitoring your time so that your do not go under the time limit.
Finally my bike arrived and I prepare to get going. It’s really funny how time suddenly seemed to speed up. They were starting the first ten riders one at a time and from there we would go off in pairs. I remember thinking how wonderful that was as i could then follow my “Partner” through the Stage and then it dawned on me what if he was hoping for the same. So it was better that I rode my own Ride!
The Start
At last they called my number and I moved forward to get to the Starting line. I was starting with Stephan Preuss. We got the Countdown and we were on our way. Stephan surged forward as the 660 has way more power than my 450 and we both sped up the dirt road. After about 10 Km I was caught by one of the KTM riders. I think it was Jordi Villadoms. He came past me so fast that i felt like I was a real amateur. He put me in my place so I decided to proceed with caution. Literally one min later I notice a Tower where we were supposed to turn right and I see that he has bulleted straight past like a Freight train headed to the next town. I turned right and about 3 minutes later he came past me again only this time with a big thumbs up and made me look like I was being pushed backwards in the Time-Space Continuum!
I was soon caught and passed by some other riders 2 of which I have ridden with before. I realised that I was riding really slow and decided that it would be bed if i get my A into G and Keep up. That thought just passed like a fart in a desert storm and I got the Fright of my life as I Saw Mattew Trehy take a tumble in a Clay section which caught us all by surprise. This was the worst type of clay you could get with sharp edges and basically a 70 metre Hoop section that you do not want to fall in. Just as I passed Matt I felt a whoosh of air and there was Joan Barreda-Bort, I think he hit this Clay section at about 130Km/h and if there was another 10 meters he would have had a nice trip to the hospital in a lovely red helicopter! I say this because he was so far out of shape when he came past me that I could hear how he panic revved the crap out of his Husky/BMW when he got bounced into the air. At this point you realise why he is one of the fastest in the world. Only one way and that`s Flat out! I am clearly out of my depth here!
A little while later my mate James west came past and then there was Sean Gaugain and then Marc Coma. Pretty much after that I did not see any one else again until about 30 min later and there is James west playing with his back tyre. I stopped and offered a hand and gave him some large cable ties to tie his rear tyre to the rim to get him going. We both headed off and clearly I could see he was in for a long day as that rear tyre was in poor shape!
We headed up to PC 1 which was the plateau. It was ontop of a hill that was about 150m high in the middle of the dunes. I came past 2 riders that were battling to get to the top and when i reached the PC Matthew and Matts Lundgren were at the top pulling off. I stopped to drink water and then looked at the spectacular “White Dunes” Ahead of me.
White Dunes would end up being a lot harder than I expected. Having ridden here before i forgot how soft it is and I also forgot about white out! Now for those of you that have never had the privilege of experiencing white out it is basically when the sun goes directly over head and there is no Shadows to determine the height of sand spits and dunes. So when you are riding you all of a sudden end up kissing the Nav tower and end up being bucked like you are on some rodeo bull!
Luckily for me I learnt how to panic rev a bike too. This Most certainly saved my bacon once or twice that afternoon.
The Going was slow through white dunes and this was made worse by a tail wind. This causes the bike to overheat as I could not get fast enough to get air through my radiators. I tried at one point to get some speed going to cool the bike and as I crested a dune at a slight angle just off parrellel to the top of the dune I gave a little too much throttle and ended up getting my front wheel over and then spinning the back out. This all happened so fast that I was still holding onto the bars and i Head butted the Dune. I ended up with Sand in my goggles, actually I ended up with sand in every orifice you could think of. Ears, Eyes nose the works. I picked my bike up and sucked on my Camelbak. I reminded myself that this was a Challenge and it was 5 days long not a one day event and stupid things like concentration lapses could get me hurt. Luckily nothing broke only a cracked Visor and a whole lot of swallowed sand.
I continued for a little while and I Stopped on top of a dune to let my bike cool and to drink from my Camelbak, when A white KTM approached and I gave thumbs up. I quickly saw that the rider had intended to stop but overshot the crest and went flying down to the bottom of the dune falling over. It was then that I noticed the Purple plate indicating that it was a female competitor. Stefani Giannetti . When I got to her it was evident that she could not speak a word of English and my Italian is non existent aswell. All i could make out was “Kie Katso! Kie Katso!” over and over again. So i picked her bike up for her and then she pressed the starter button and the bike would not start. Then came more “Kie Katso!” I don’t know what that meant but I am sure it was not to invite me around for tea and scones. I then as a responsible male jumped to the aid of the damsel in distress and I kickstarted her bike for her. I got a Thumbs up and she took off like a rocket! A very Shaky rocket.
Stefani Falling in action (Courtesy of MCH Photography)
A Tired Stefani (Courtesy of MCH Photography)
I came through an underpass that goes under a Highway and there were a lot of people around. This was PC 2. There was Steffani`s bike and she was no where to be seen, I was later to find out that they evacuated her out of the desert with serious Dehydration. I passed another rider at PC 2 who was giving an interview to a Camera crew?? What was that about? I don’t think he finished the day either.
(Courtesy of MCH Photography)
We hit a couple more dunes and then we were on the Gatch track to the Service. I am not used to speed but with my 14 48 Sprockets I was Maxing out at 152km/hr Much faster than I am used to but Service was calling!
I stopped at Service and was told that they had extended the service time from 15 Min to 25 min due to a problem with the front runners as they could not get them fuel in time. In the que I was greeted by Matt`s Wife Murph who gave me a banana and some water. I fuelled my bike and went to Djilal from Gecko and he checked my bike. Dave Donald arrived and pulled out a smoke and puffed away!
I had been told that the first day was the easiest and I figured that after white dunes that the worst was over with. How wrong they all are and I remembered that no one finished the first stage the previous year as the fuel tanker had not arrived.
The dunes got progressively bigger and the sand got a little looser. Dave Donald flew past me shortly after Service and a little while later I found him having made a camp with his shirt tied to his bike so that he could escape the fury of the sun. He was out due to a flat front tyre!
I continued at my slow and cautious pace and then about 40 km from the end there was an amendment to the roadbook showing a detour. But they did not say how far the detour was so a road/path that we were ended at a T junction with a Sabkha in front of us with 4 tracks going through the Sabkha. So i followed them till I thought better of it and looked behind me to see a Car turn to the left at the T Junction. So I decided to turn around and head back. As soon as I got back on track there were 2 BMW`s X3`s stopped. One had helped to pull the other back onto its wheels. Both cars had extensive damage that would take them all night to repair.
X3 Spare parts.
I made it to the end and was greeted by the final marshal who offered me some water which I gladly accepted. I asked him how he is and he replied “Much better than you!” I must admit I did not feel that bad but it must have been because I had taken so long.
I rode into the Bivouac. Handed my time card in and was found that I missed 2 way points which resulted in a 30 min Penalty.
The Bivouac
I headed to the Gecko Honda pit area. I was greeted by Sean asking me if I had a long day. We checked my bike over and then i headed off to find a place to sleep which was right next door to the BMW`s that had crashed. They would keep me up almost all night while they banged away at those cars!
I set up camp and got the next leg`s road book marked it, Loaded the road book and then ate showered and off to bed! I lay in bed thinking that I had bitten a little more off than what I could chew! That feeling would stay with me the entire night!
The results from Leg 1
Total Distance : 297.7 KM
Special Distance : 285.05 KM
Liason : 12.65 Km
The Starting List
I woke up on Day one in the hotel at 5:00am. I was really nervous and the feeling whelmed over me again, why am I doing this? I am no Rally Pro? I got dressed into my Gear. Checked that my Asterix Knee braces and my Alpine stars Neck brace were adjusted properly.
We went down to the lobby to be met by a frenzy of Competitors who all were packing in calories for their Breakfast. Honestly i could not stomach a breakfast right now so I threw in a Banana into my Camelbak to get me through the Day.
SWAMBO then drove me off to Rally HQ where I met up with all the guys in our Camp. I was going to ride with Sean and James to the Start of Leg one. The first problem i had was that the Frenchies were late picking up their trailer with my Bike on it. I stress a little about them not being there and Decided that my fate lay in God’s hands. If I were meant to ride my bike would be there! Aldrin drove us to the Start of the Stage in his Nissan Patrol.
The trip was filled with Small talk and we all voiced our disappointment in the farce of the Prologue. I actually saw one KTM mechanic with stop watch give Marc Coma a nod when enough time had passed for him to complete the circuit. This putting him at the rear of the field. This would mean that Marc Coma and several other very fast riders would be starting behind me. Frankly the Speed differential is scary and was a worrying me a lot as I did not want to get ridden over while they chased their way to victory!
We arrived at the start and I still had no Bike. So I waited around whilst everyone else got ready. I had to find Marie our Riders Rep to get my time card from her.
Getting Ready for the Big Ride
Here is a Pic of the Time card that they give you.
Time cards are folded up and put into a pocket on your seat. When you pass through Checkpoints they Stamp your card to verify that you have been there and they keep your card while you are at service or fuelling up monitoring your time so that your do not go under the time limit.
Finally my bike arrived and I prepare to get going. It’s really funny how time suddenly seemed to speed up. They were starting the first ten riders one at a time and from there we would go off in pairs. I remember thinking how wonderful that was as i could then follow my “Partner” through the Stage and then it dawned on me what if he was hoping for the same. So it was better that I rode my own Ride!
The Start
At last they called my number and I moved forward to get to the Starting line. I was starting with Stephan Preuss. We got the Countdown and we were on our way. Stephan surged forward as the 660 has way more power than my 450 and we both sped up the dirt road. After about 10 Km I was caught by one of the KTM riders. I think it was Jordi Villadoms. He came past me so fast that i felt like I was a real amateur. He put me in my place so I decided to proceed with caution. Literally one min later I notice a Tower where we were supposed to turn right and I see that he has bulleted straight past like a Freight train headed to the next town. I turned right and about 3 minutes later he came past me again only this time with a big thumbs up and made me look like I was being pushed backwards in the Time-Space Continuum!
I was soon caught and passed by some other riders 2 of which I have ridden with before. I realised that I was riding really slow and decided that it would be bed if i get my A into G and Keep up. That thought just passed like a fart in a desert storm and I got the Fright of my life as I Saw Mattew Trehy take a tumble in a Clay section which caught us all by surprise. This was the worst type of clay you could get with sharp edges and basically a 70 metre Hoop section that you do not want to fall in. Just as I passed Matt I felt a whoosh of air and there was Joan Barreda-Bort, I think he hit this Clay section at about 130Km/h and if there was another 10 meters he would have had a nice trip to the hospital in a lovely red helicopter! I say this because he was so far out of shape when he came past me that I could hear how he panic revved the crap out of his Husky/BMW when he got bounced into the air. At this point you realise why he is one of the fastest in the world. Only one way and that`s Flat out! I am clearly out of my depth here!
A little while later my mate James west came past and then there was Sean Gaugain and then Marc Coma. Pretty much after that I did not see any one else again until about 30 min later and there is James west playing with his back tyre. I stopped and offered a hand and gave him some large cable ties to tie his rear tyre to the rim to get him going. We both headed off and clearly I could see he was in for a long day as that rear tyre was in poor shape!
We headed up to PC 1 which was the plateau. It was ontop of a hill that was about 150m high in the middle of the dunes. I came past 2 riders that were battling to get to the top and when i reached the PC Matthew and Matts Lundgren were at the top pulling off. I stopped to drink water and then looked at the spectacular “White Dunes” Ahead of me.
White Dunes would end up being a lot harder than I expected. Having ridden here before i forgot how soft it is and I also forgot about white out! Now for those of you that have never had the privilege of experiencing white out it is basically when the sun goes directly over head and there is no Shadows to determine the height of sand spits and dunes. So when you are riding you all of a sudden end up kissing the Nav tower and end up being bucked like you are on some rodeo bull!
Luckily for me I learnt how to panic rev a bike too. This Most certainly saved my bacon once or twice that afternoon.
The Going was slow through white dunes and this was made worse by a tail wind. This causes the bike to overheat as I could not get fast enough to get air through my radiators. I tried at one point to get some speed going to cool the bike and as I crested a dune at a slight angle just off parrellel to the top of the dune I gave a little too much throttle and ended up getting my front wheel over and then spinning the back out. This all happened so fast that I was still holding onto the bars and i Head butted the Dune. I ended up with Sand in my goggles, actually I ended up with sand in every orifice you could think of. Ears, Eyes nose the works. I picked my bike up and sucked on my Camelbak. I reminded myself that this was a Challenge and it was 5 days long not a one day event and stupid things like concentration lapses could get me hurt. Luckily nothing broke only a cracked Visor and a whole lot of swallowed sand.
I continued for a little while and I Stopped on top of a dune to let my bike cool and to drink from my Camelbak, when A white KTM approached and I gave thumbs up. I quickly saw that the rider had intended to stop but overshot the crest and went flying down to the bottom of the dune falling over. It was then that I noticed the Purple plate indicating that it was a female competitor. Stefani Giannetti . When I got to her it was evident that she could not speak a word of English and my Italian is non existent aswell. All i could make out was “Kie Katso! Kie Katso!” over and over again. So i picked her bike up for her and then she pressed the starter button and the bike would not start. Then came more “Kie Katso!” I don’t know what that meant but I am sure it was not to invite me around for tea and scones. I then as a responsible male jumped to the aid of the damsel in distress and I kickstarted her bike for her. I got a Thumbs up and she took off like a rocket! A very Shaky rocket.
Stefani Falling in action (Courtesy of MCH Photography)
A Tired Stefani (Courtesy of MCH Photography)
I came through an underpass that goes under a Highway and there were a lot of people around. This was PC 2. There was Steffani`s bike and she was no where to be seen, I was later to find out that they evacuated her out of the desert with serious Dehydration. I passed another rider at PC 2 who was giving an interview to a Camera crew?? What was that about? I don’t think he finished the day either.
(Courtesy of MCH Photography)
We hit a couple more dunes and then we were on the Gatch track to the Service. I am not used to speed but with my 14 48 Sprockets I was Maxing out at 152km/hr Much faster than I am used to but Service was calling!
I stopped at Service and was told that they had extended the service time from 15 Min to 25 min due to a problem with the front runners as they could not get them fuel in time. In the que I was greeted by Matt`s Wife Murph who gave me a banana and some water. I fuelled my bike and went to Djilal from Gecko and he checked my bike. Dave Donald arrived and pulled out a smoke and puffed away!
I had been told that the first day was the easiest and I figured that after white dunes that the worst was over with. How wrong they all are and I remembered that no one finished the first stage the previous year as the fuel tanker had not arrived.
The dunes got progressively bigger and the sand got a little looser. Dave Donald flew past me shortly after Service and a little while later I found him having made a camp with his shirt tied to his bike so that he could escape the fury of the sun. He was out due to a flat front tyre!
I continued at my slow and cautious pace and then about 40 km from the end there was an amendment to the roadbook showing a detour. But they did not say how far the detour was so a road/path that we were ended at a T junction with a Sabkha in front of us with 4 tracks going through the Sabkha. So i followed them till I thought better of it and looked behind me to see a Car turn to the left at the T Junction. So I decided to turn around and head back. As soon as I got back on track there were 2 BMW`s X3`s stopped. One had helped to pull the other back onto its wheels. Both cars had extensive damage that would take them all night to repair.
X3 Spare parts.
I made it to the end and was greeted by the final marshal who offered me some water which I gladly accepted. I asked him how he is and he replied “Much better than you!” I must admit I did not feel that bad but it must have been because I had taken so long.
I rode into the Bivouac. Handed my time card in and was found that I missed 2 way points which resulted in a 30 min Penalty.
The Bivouac
I headed to the Gecko Honda pit area. I was greeted by Sean asking me if I had a long day. We checked my bike over and then i headed off to find a place to sleep which was right next door to the BMW`s that had crashed. They would keep me up almost all night while they banged away at those cars!
I set up camp and got the next leg`s road book marked it, Loaded the road book and then ate showered and off to bed! I lay in bed thinking that I had bitten a little more off than what I could chew! That feeling would stay with me the entire night!
The results from Leg 1
Amazing RR , thanks for sharing it with us in such detail. I almost did not click on your RR as did not realise it was a Ralley. So glad I did ! Can't wait for the rest . :ricky:
Shame Im sure that hard fall of Stefani must have added to her shock and dehydration . Good on you for helping her . Btw Katso is what you have in your lap . :mwink:
Shame Im sure that hard fall of Stefani must have added to her shock and dehydration . Good on you for helping her . Btw Katso is what you have in your lap . :mwink:
SACK
Race Dog
:thumleft:
Riveting stuff!
Riveting stuff!
Lekker stuff, living the dream with you.
How did you find the navigation? Did you resort to following tracks more than reading the road book?
Awesome that you helped Stephanie. Sounds like she was already going into heat stroke when you helped her, if she was being a little aggressive/irrational then she definitely was. Your actions could have saved her life! :thumleft:
How did you find the navigation? Did you resort to following tracks more than reading the road book?
Awesome that you helped Stephanie. Sounds like she was already going into heat stroke when you helped her, if she was being a little aggressive/irrational then she definitely was. Your actions could have saved her life! :thumleft:
Dunno if you saw this...check out Manuel Lucchesse being crazy at 1:25
[flash=600,400]https://www.youtube.com/v/CWzPSh-yYJ8[/flash]
[flash=600,400]https://www.youtube.com/v/CWzPSh-yYJ8[/flash]
Aquatic
Race Dog
- Joined
- Oct 19, 2007
- Messages
- 1,907
- Reaction score
- 2
- Bike
- BMW F650GS / Dakar
BlueBull2007 said:
There is a fine line between looking good and fucking up! Manuel has said line all smudged and stained into his underware!
Absolutely awesome
Kenisis
Race Dog
I must admit that for the first two days I only used the Road book and the repeater heading on the GPS. Mainly becuase i did not know how to get the GPS to point to the next way point. It was very easy as there were lots of tracks in the sand to follow. The only problem with this is that there are many easier ways to get through the dunes and if the front runners had chosen a tough line you were bound to what they did. I will mention a little about this in Day 3.BlueBull2007 said:
I have more about Stefani on the last Day. What amazes me about her is that she is an excellent rider, She completed the Dakar earlier this year aswell! I think her problem was only becuase she was not so used to Drinking so much water.
Kenisis
Race Dog
I made freinds with Manuel at last years challenge after I had taken photos of every one.BlueBull2007 said:
He is one hell of a nice guy. He was so amped every day to get going but sadly his Husaberg was not so willing. A little more about Manuel on Day 3.
Kenisis
Race Dog
Gat Slag said:
See Duiwel said:Gooi nog!!
superten said:
Rynet said:
SACK said:
I am glad that i could get to write this. There are so many things that I end up remembering of each day as i write things down. I made notes for each day to put into the RR but there is really so much more!
Glad you guys are enjoying.!
Kenisis said:
I am so pissed that I did not get to see some of the Sealine Rally here in Qatar, I have been to Sealine a number of times, and the sand and dunes are pretty impressive there. There are always a lot of bikes playing there it is really awesome riding area!!
Kenisis, I am not sure if it is the same in the UAE as here in Qatar, but these type of events never get any advertising or promoting before the time, so you never know that they are happening. It is only afterwards that you read about it in the news papers, then it is everywhere, but nothing before the event. It is very frustrating! The same is happening to all major sports events here in Qatar, even the MotoGP had nothing promoting it before the event, but after the event the news is everywhere.
Awesome report so far! :thumleft: :thumleft:
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