Day 4 leg 4 “ABU DHABI”
Total Distance : 364.10 Km
Liaison : 12.68 Km
Special Distance : 287.32 Km
Liaison : 64.10 Km
The Starting List
I woke up this morning feeling elated. It was time to head back to Abu Dhabi. I clearly remember thinking and feeling that I could have easily carried on for a couple more days. It was also a day of sadness as the rally was now drawing to a close. How quickly 5 days goes.
I got up and kitted up and had to move all my camping goods back to the Gecko Honda van so that it could make its way back to Abu Dhabi. Double checked that all my stuff had been packed up and went to greet Phil, Lee and Hanno.
Now, sometimes you get to see some really great camaraderie between people and with lots of people all over the world in one event pull together to get to the end. Seems I was going to be shocked beyond my own wildest dreams. There was a foreign(I will not give the nationality out for fear of signaling him out) quad bike rider with us in our camp that had 2 or 3 foreign supporters with him. I was standing next to my bike having a chat to Sean and this quad bike rider is having a chat to his mate in their language and he slowly turns around and drops his rods and bends over. His mate then bends down and inspects this quad bikers rear end. He had his nose 6 inches from this guys butt! Just as I thought this could not get any worse he pulls out a tube of cream and proceeds to grease up the quad riders rear end. Now that’s what you call close friends in any ones books!
I got onto my bike and we was wished a good journey by all standing around. I then got to the start and was set off. With a 12.68 km Liaison I made my 2nd most stupid error of the rally. For the 3 previous mornings we rode out on one road to a main road and then turned right. I plodded on with not a care in the world and did not even look at my road book. I got to the road and realized my error. I scrolled forward in the road book and found my error. I was supposed to turn off the dirt road into the Qasr al Sarab grounds around 5 km from the start. I was now 8 Km away and this meant that I had to haul to get back to the start in time.
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Picture Courtesy of MCH Photography
I chased back and then found the turn in and found the start. The marshals were frantically looking for me. I lined up and was confronted by a Photographer “Mario” who said he had some nice pictures of me and he would bring them to the prize giving for me to get from him. Mario Ravaccia If you ever read this you are a Champion! Thank you Sir.
I was set off by the marshals and we were straight into the dunes. The section started with flowing dunes and this eased my fear of what we had experienced on the first day. Having had a couple of beers with the boys the previous night made me over compensate with the amount of water that I had to drink. Within minutes of starting my bladder was telling me to have a pit stop. I shrugged off the feeling and pushed on. It didn’t help that every bump I hit made it feel like the balloon was going to burst. I pushed on at a steady pace and we made our way into some rolling dunes and the track was flowing very nicely.
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Picture Courtesy of Mario
Eventually my bladder got the better of me so I decided to stop at the bottom of a large-ish dune to have my pitstop. What a relief So standing there I decided to take a pic or two to show you guys what I was on about with the very big dunes that we had to ride up on day 3
So I am standing there camera in hand and next thing along comes a bike, Its Sylvia Giannetti again and she comes flying past I give her a thumbs up and she heads up the Dune. I watch in anticipation as she gets about 10 meters from the top and stops falling over. I start walking up the Dune and then along comes Dave Donald and he shoots up the face of this dune to the top. He almost doesn’t make it because he tapped off near Sylvia and then jumped back on the gas. Dave then walks down the 10 meters to Sylvia. I tried to stop him as it is bloody hard to walk up a dune, specially at the top. He helped her turn her bike around picked it up and then tried to start it for her. After numerous kicks that KTM was not having any of that so I motioned for Sylvia to walk her bike down to me. Her language was flowing again! I instructed her to drink water several times as I tried to start her bike. Eventually I got it fired up and handed it over to her and she was off like a lighting Bolt. I pcked my phone away and Jumped on my bike and made it to the top of the Dune and there was Dave Donald having a Smoke. He was really looking worse for wear. He said that he should never have done that as the 10 meter walk up the dune nearly killed him!
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Sylvia not making it to the Top
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Sylvia`s Knight in shining armor!
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Dave on his way to save the day!
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A pic of my bike with the recovery!
I waited for him to finish his smoke and we both set off. I rode behind Dave and after a couple of minutes it became very obvious that he did not like me riding behind him. I then overtook him and started going. In hind sight I think I was going much faster on the last day. In the distance I saw a helmet. I thought it was Sylvia so I pushed on to catch her. It turned out to be a Quad rider which I overtook and then I caught Kaan Bilgen and then I caught Sylvia. Hell I was on a great pace and I was having fun.
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Picture Courtesy of Mario
We came up to the gatch track that would follow a fence around to a place called white sands This is where I caught up to Ivan. I decided to ride with Ivan as we had ridden the previous day. I was on the Fence road and it had a lot of Sand spits. It was very physical and demanding as I had to ride it as a Motocross track/Hoop section. This went on for about 20 kilmeters and then finally I could see the road where we would use the underpass and head into white sands.
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Picture Courtesy of MCH Photography
As we turned along the fence line with the road there were a few spectators and many camera`s out. So twisted the throttle and got going. It is here for the first time in the day and possibly in the rally that I nearly came unstuck. I was doing about 70km/h and just made out a Sand Spit about a meter high. There was no time for brakes or anything so I hit it hard and tried to jump it like a motocross jump. I shot into the air like a cannon ball. I went into a Superman pose that would make Nate Adams envious of. I gassed the bike into a major big panic rev and trust me it was all panic at that stage. When I hit the ground the bike was revving so high that it almost shot out from underneath me. I had hurt my left foot and I honestly thought I had broken a couple of bones. I slowed down and took a deep breath and though what a Chop I was as this was the area that Sean had fallen doing exactly the same thing albeit a lot faster two years earlier which got him a complimentary helicopter ride and 2 operations.
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Picture Courtesy of MCH Photography
Ivan and I headed out into white sands and this would have to be the worst part of this rally. It was High Noon with complete white out. Both Ivan and I had some issues in white sand but we pushed on. We were met by a man driving one of those fancy Buggies who stopped with us to cool it down as it was overheating. I was glad that it wasn’t only us that had some problems. We made it out of the White sands and into Service. I fuelled up and got ready to go. I was almost waiting for Dave Donald to show up. It was after all his Beer run and he is very fast when heading for a beer.
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Picture Courtesy of MCH Photography
I rode with Ivan for a little while longer through the rest of the white dunes and as we got to the gatch I opened up and I did not see Ivan again till the end. We negotiated some turns and then back into some flowing dunes which I for the second time in this rally did a Stupid thing. I saw a Gatch which was going to take us 60km towards the end. Straight as an arrow and I jumped a dune blind thinking it was flat on top but there was a hole on the other side which brought my bike and I to a sudden and abrupt stop. In mid air I crossed up and when we hit the ground my thigh hit my handlebar and gave me a dead leg that would bother me right to the end.
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Picture Courtesy of MCH Photography
I climbed onto this gatch track that has to be the loneliest part of this entire rally. It was 80 odd kilometers straight as an arrow straight. Flat out at 130km/h It was now that I wished that I had put the 48 rear sprocket back on at least with that gearing I could get up to 150km/h.
We had one speed control zone where the UAE government are laying an oil pipe line. For 4 kilometers at 40km/h. After being at 130 for a while l felt like I was crawling, actually going backwards.
The roadbook directed us to the right and we had some small dunes to negotiate and then some sabkha`s. As I came through a sabkha I saw a Toyota Prado with a Blue Shade next to it and I thought that this was the end. I stormed up to it and noticed a lot of camera`s again and saw that the tracks went straight past them and the finish was 2 kilometers further on.
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Picture Courtesy of MCH Photography
As I Saw the Finish line a wave of emotion passed over me. It lasted all of 10 Seconds. I am Finished I made it! Now what? I stopped at the End and had my time card stamped and drank some water. I waited a while and was joined by Ivan. He was really happy to have finished!
I rode back to Yas Island and it felt like the temperature had risen by 10 Degrees. I think that this was mainly due to the black tar. I arrived back at Rally HQ and was directed to the Park Ferme where I was met by people from TDcom and ERTF. They jumped to work to remove all their equipment. I was happy that I had not destroyed any of their equipment.
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Parc Ferme
I had a 3 hour wait till the Ceremonial finish. So I was given a lift back to the Hotel where I had a Beer with Sean and James. We were at the swimming pool which looked very inviting but I refrained because I feared that if I got my boot off I would not get it back on again. Swambo arrived at the Hotel and I could pack all my stuff into our room. We then went onto Rally HQ to have our mass ride to the Ceremonial Finish.
At the Ceremonial finish they placed us in order of completion which meant that I was lying at number 37 in the end. Things took a while and eventually we were on our way to the Finish.
We all lined up and then went up the Ramp. Mohammed ben Sulayem greeted me and shook my hand. A photographer put my medal around my neck. I then rode my bike off the ramp and went and parked it a little further on. We were parked right outside “Stars and bars” which had beer, ice cold beer. I jumped over a Railing and then was followed by Dave Donald. Shortly later there were a lot of us on the veranda all watching the other competitors get their medals.
To finish off this Ride report it would not be complete if I don’t send out some appreciation.
Firstly to my family. Thanks for putting up with me over the last couple of months I know it hasn’t been easy. To Sean, Thanks for all the advice and for having patience with me. You were Instrumental in me getting to the Finish! To Justin Taylor, thanks for teaching me how to load a road book. John and Tonya Colson, thanks for the support at the Bivouac. Thanks to MCH Photo and Mario for the Cool Pics. Thanks to Dave, for being around for the rally. Thanks to my Supporters for coming out, It means a lot to me! Lastly thanks to the Marshals, medical crew and Organizers for an awesome event. I will be seeing you next year!
As a by note I would like those of you thinking of doing a rally to know this. Every challenge can be achieved. A lot of planning, Exercise and determination can get you to the finish. I am by no means a riding star and neither do you have to be one either. Just take one day at a time and you will get there!
Day 5`s Results
Overall Standings FINAL
