Just before we go onto the next stage I thought I would post a pic or two from last night that I forgot. Preparation for Stage 5:
Just look at this road book – Double and triple cautions flow like blood. Those that know how to mark road books properly will know that I left a lot to be desired. Later in the rally I would be see how Marc Coma does it and the difference is unbelievable. I always knew road book marking is very important, but the way it is done can make really make a huge difference to one’s overall speed. It’s critical, not important.
Anyway the most of the stage today was cautions. People in-the-know tell me this rally is more dangerous than Dakar. I believe them.
I was so tired last night, Des pointed out I am loading my road book blank-side facing up. He gives me this resigned but amused look that kind of says "I pity you and your offspring".
“No, Neil no.” I am reminded of that British sitcom called The Young Ones, if you ever watched it, you would know Neil was the really thick hippy. I felt like that Neil right then. And Des sounded just like the guy ripping him off: “Neil! Just stand back and let me do it.” He started to flap and wave me away “Just…Stand back and let-me-do-it, dammit!” :biggrin:
I grinned sheepishly still trying to help. Eventually Marcelo stepped in and waved me away as well. I must have been out of it big-time. Kinda explains why I battled the whole day and decided to take it easy.
Setting off on Stage 5. Bike looking a little worse for wear. The paint is boiling off the left tank in the heat of the day. Really upsetting, but there is nothing I can do about it.
Our support crew had another adventure filled day too. DD ran out of fuel in the Doblo. A kind taxi driver took 50 dollars from him and returned half an hour later with some fuel. Wow. People in Brazil are so cool!
Here he is helping with the refueling. Muito obrigado!
Unloading at the camp in Palmas, at the end of stage 5. We wonder what the car rental company would say if they saw this…
Palmas (palms) strikes me as being a bit of a playground, there is nice beach on the edge of the lake and plenty of nubile women strolling around in bikinis all day. Interested parties will have to speak to the support crew about that. :laughing7:
Sitting in the briefing for Stage 6, I notice that there are considerably less attendees. The attrition rate of the rally has been high so far, but we have made it to the half way mark.
It’s quite an outlandish feeling to think we only have 5 days of racing to go. Unbelievable. But it feels really, REALLY good and we are all exuberant. There is a glimmer of hope that we might
actually have a chance of finishing this thing. Just as long as the light at the end of the tunnel is not an oncoming train!
These are the guys who have laid out the course, they take life seriously. They’re very serious about racing. Concerned that it all goes well. They talk to us about the day ahead, sand, more sand, plenty of tricky navigation and multiple roads that look the same but leads in different directions. We are warned not to get lost.
They tell us that tomorrow is the start of the marathon, and that we will not have the support crews with us for the next two days. We will be given only 20 minutes to work on our bikes at the end of the stage, using only tools and products we carry with us. Thereafter, the bikes will be locked away in the
park ferme until 10 minutes before our start times the next day. This time is only to be used for loading our road books. Anyone caught recieving external support in the next two days will be disqualified.
Our newly found confidence is suddenly shaken. Are our bikes up to it? None of us are that convinced.
The briefing is given in Portuguese, so we get ear phones and listen to an English translation. The soothing and calm female voice is way better than listening to gruff, hard-core bellowing coming from the front. Its a nice benefit the locals don't get.
Here she is. There are only about five of us who are English in the whole competition, it’s basically the polish guys and us. So naturally we make friends with Marieta who we see every evening with her electrical equipment.
We moan and bitch that all our internet fans are not getting live updates. Where are the videos? Where are the promised photos? It’s all a bit disorganized, we learn the guy who is supposed to be updating the site was travelling back to Sao Paulo and is still finalizing the programming. She assures us she will talk to the press crowd and get their act together. Then she invites us into the pressroom. Its air conditioned and has internet, there are maybe 20 people working on laptops. Why the heck is the info not getting out? I guess it's mostly Brazilian sites. Anyway, I get on the web and update the Wilddogs on what has been happening. Very cool! Marieta and Co. are amazed at the level of interest on the forum and support we are getting (thanks guys ‘n gals!!) and so she resolves to personally make sure the video and pictures get out on the net.
I blow a kiss to all my loving supporters out there.
It’s worth saying here that the net is the new medium for following rallies here, TV coverage is always so crap, so the best thing to do is get out the search pages and look up the blogs. If anyone is toying with the idea of setting up a rally at some stage in the future, one of the most important things from a marketing perspective is good coverage, and the internet is the medium for it. Web TV, bring it on!
Stage six coming up…