Dakar Rally 24

Hi Dakar24 followers

Have I got some news for you! Not one but two rallies to update you on and the second is live as you read this! (If you’re reading this on Monday morning at least, besides ‘nearly live’ doesn’t have the same ring! )

I haven’t been biking since August so have been off my target of ‘at least’ one event a month, but with good reason as my last -the 2 day Brecon Beacons Rally, was a cracking event if you exscuse the pun!

But let’s reverse a bit, as some of you may know, August was due to be a busy month due to a mid week evening ‘planning session’ early in August with Toby, Patsy and Clive of Desert Rose Racing at their headquarters (Patsy’s house!) Which resulted in a packed plan of events (as well as a nice meal and tales of their previous evening entertaining friend and near neighbor Roger Daltry from The Who!). In order to step up our Dakar training we planned the following:

• Brecon Beacons 2 day Rally on the 14th/15th in Llandovery Wales
• The solo 24hr Dawn to Dusk on the 28th at Walters Arena (the ‘BMW’ Off road training school ground, North of Neath)
• Toby would then do a week’s training in Morocco in September and then do the 5 day Morocco Rally in October.
• I would try and do the 10 day Heroes Legend Rally (original Paris to Dakar route) in October, pending finances and the sale of our flat…

So lots of riding planned which lead us to another trip in Toby’s truck up the M4 late on a Friday night to find the Desert Rose Racing crew camp set up in a wet and rainy Rugby club (well this was Wales so a dry football club would never do!) Patsy and Clive had some pop up awening/gazebos up though so after sitting around chatting for half an hour it was off to our sleeping bags in our individual pop up tents.

Team Desert Rose Breacon Rally Camp

The next day (after struggling to get dressed in a coffin like 2 ‘person’ tent – calling it 2 ‘man’ tent would be generous!) and a welcome full fry up in the team Desert Rose field kitchen we kitted up and the Desert Rose Team rode out about 12 strong! Up to the rally start (with Clive taking the truck and a gazebo to provide pit assistance).

Pics here.

Day 1 was tough enough with the weather but the rain was mercifully not too heavy (more the usual constant Welsh drizzle) and the course was great with 2 well paced ‘special test’ which were only timed after the first lap. As it turned out the timecards (the set times you’re meant to start and complete each section) weren’t being rigidly enforced so although the specials were timed, you could go at your own pace and not worry too much about the sections between.

I had several falls and a few high speed slide outs on the special test fire track gravel roads but I felt pretty good and kept pushing hard to finish the day strong with lower overall lap times despite my special test times still suffering from crashes!

That night we all adjourned to the rugby club for a hog roast and a pub quiz in which we managed to win a couple of rounds!

The next day was drier and faster! The course was also reversed and we were joined by some more one day riders (some on vintage machines). I saw Tamsin Jones (2010 Dakar finisher) with her Dakar bike. She was there to join one of her sponsors around the course (a septargenarian who rode her big rally bike!) I was having a good day and feeling fit and fast and wanted to push for a good result. On the last lap I lined up with Tamsin (on the smaller enduro bike whilst her sponsor was off on the rally bike) we said hi and that we’d go off for the last lap together.

I though ‘this might be interesting’! As Tamsin is a Dakar vet and a BMW Off Road Skills instructor so she’s not only fast but knows what she’s doing! We started off at a quick rate and I followed Tamsin and hit some slower traffic that we overtook, one of whom later overtook us again as we came to a bunch going quite quickly but not at our (or at least my!j pumped-up-last-lap pace, but they were more tricky to pass on the narrowish track. Tamsin was jockeying for position looking for a gap. I didn’t want to push past but the gaps were slim and the track we were on wouldn’t last for too long before we’d be in tighter woods sections again and stuck behind for a long time. So I took a creative line off the track (burning up the grass verge/ditch )to overtake 3 or 4 ikes and pull into the clear to chase the other guy already gone.

Tamsin got past and I was now catching up and battling the other guy who I recognised as someone I had overtaken and swapped positions with on this part of the course during previous laps. Eventually I let him go and waited for Tamsin who told me he was another BMW ORS instructor!

I was really enjoying the ride with a good fast pace and the fun of riding together, swapping between leading and following is much better than riding alone. Tamsin also asked why I didn’t go for the next Dakar as I was fast enough! So that made my day

But after overtaking 2 bikes and chasing Tamsin just before the first special test I got cross rutted (front wheel in 1 rut + back wheel in another = stack!) Thrown down hard I was a bit winded (and probably more bruised or injured than I realised). It turned out I had just overtaken Vince (Dakar24 subscriber and Desert Rose’s Special Attache) and another guy who pulled up asking if I was OK. Not pausing, I jumped straight up with a “That’s what I get for trying to keep up with Tamsin!” comment. Tamsin was half a minute away at the start of the special test. She and Vince went before me and I went tearing off in my minute time slot trying to catch them. As I was behind they didn’t see me go down hard on the same side as I just crashed on a few minutes ago. There was no jumping straight back up this time though – I knew I was hurt as I felt liquid seeping around my back and side and wondered if I was bleeding externally or internally……

Until I realised the cap had come off my camelbak water container and I was loosing precious drink! I then tried to jump up and had a soaring pain in my ribs and sides and knew I had probably cracked or broken them. Trying to lift the bike up was a killer but I wanted to finish the lap and the rally as it had been going well up until then. But riding was a big (and painful) effort now and I could forget about a good time on this test at least so I cruised to the end where Tamsin and Vince were waiting and before heading off to the next special.

At the next special test Tamsin let me go first and told me to go for it, So roaring with pain over the bumps and evertime I jolted, stood up or sat down! (Pretty much all the time off road) I was determined to give it some, for the 6 or 7 minutes on the special test but was screaming into my helmet at certain points! I did well considering my condition and the fact I briefly went the wrong way and dropped the bike turning around – AAAaargh – literally and figuratively) but I got to the end of the special.

After the special I limped back to finish the lap and took it nice and slow helping Tamsin escort her sponsor back. I even had to turn down a ride on her Dakar bike as I was afraid I’d drop it because of the pain and being only just able to ride my smaller lightdr and more familiar bike.

The rest of the afternoon and evening was a struggle – I managed a shower back at camp but was little use packing up. Toby gave me (and Alaistair) a lift back to battersea and I got a taxi home around 11.30pm.

The next week was painful in more ways than one as I was alaso due to do the 24hr Dawn to Dusk two weeks after the Brecon. For one moment (through the haze of pain killers probably) I thought I was improving fast enought to do it. But the small injuries unit confirmed they were broken or fractured (they don’t even X-ray now as it doesn’t help) and movement (especially sudden movements and jolts like those you get riding) remained painful for a few weeks so I had to give the D2D a miss . Toby, Patsy and Zippy did very well though all being top 5 finishers so congrats to them!

So the last couple of months or so I have been off the bike and off the exercise as I couldn’t even bike to work (although I did start again in October and got a few runs in too). But the time has been productive as I joined Lucy on an extreme (for me) diet. It’s a low calorie diet with sachets and shakes and an evening meal etc. But we’ve both done quiet well in about 5 weeks Lucy lost about a stone and I lost a stone and a half!

All of which is handy as I jumped to get a last minute place on the Maroc Rally!! The original plan of the Heroes Legend Paris Dakar Rally didn’t come off as it’s too expensive but I managed to scrap enough for a last minute place (signed up on the final day) on the Maroc Rally! So I’m actually this from in the palm tree shade of a hotel terrace in Zagora in South East Morocco (about an 8hour drive from Marrakesh).

Toby and I flew out yesterday and arrived at midnight after the long car drive (450km of mountain roads for 8 hours in a taxi for €225!) We have spent today sorting out the bikes that Martin and Colin our Team Desert Rose mechanics trailored out this week. There are 5 of us on the team and we start the circus/pandemonium that is registration tomorrow, before the rally racing begins on Monday. So from Monday log on to www.npo.fr click the Maroc Rally (Oil d’Libya) link then the Union Jack for English and you should find a link (it’s usually only posted once the race starts) to track me on line in real time as I race across the desert!

I’ll try and blog a few times this week so look out for some short twitteresque like updates…

Thanks and have a good week (I know I will!)

Pics from Brecaon Beacons Rally below…

Team Talk from the manager

Brecon Beacons start line

Some of the guys on the team

Tamsin on her Dakar bike with her sponsor Charles