Dakar 2015

Jan 5 Dakar

After a busy night of planning it is determined that it would be best to ride out to the closest spectator zone which is about 60km from town. The location is in the middle of the desert and is the transition from the normal stage to the special stage. We found the spectator view point easy enough and after scoping out a spot decided that it would be better to see them in race mode rather than when they were stopped at the check point. This turned into a slight ordeal as we tried to do a little offroading to get a trackside view. We followed a 4x4 across the desert for a ways then it was up to us to forge our way the last kilometer, that didn’t go so well. The sand was very soft and without any real track to follow we were forced to blaze our own trail through the sage brush.

After getting stuck a few times it was evident that we were in over our heads and turned back in hopes of catching the racers before it was all over. In the end we missed only a couple of the lead bikes by the time we returned to the checkpoint. This turned out to be a great spot after all, we met many Dakar fans that had travelled from around the world to follow the race in it’s entirety as well as many local families that were just hoping to catch a glimpse or get a photo with their favorite “local” rider.  Argentina and Chile have many riders in the race.

This is day two of the race and is the longest of the rally. Stage 2 is 918km long and according to the Dakar website the motorcycles started at 6:30am, we are waiting for them at the transition point at 1pm which means that at this point they have been riding for at least 6hrs. The temperature is 42C, but it is a dry heat, and the wind helps with air circulation so that it feels like you are in a convection oven.  Not to mention that the route was very challenging and we believe was designed to separate the men from the boys. In true Dakar fashion many riders withdrew from the race at the end of this stage, some from mechanical issues, others from mental or physical fatique.

At the checkpoint we were parked beside one of the KTM support crews, they had four riders to  keep track of and one was missing. Sam Sunderland from Britain was unaccounted for and after the first three of his teammates checked in, the crew became very nervous as there seemed to be no effective way of determining where he was. Apparently they are not allowed to use SPOT/Inreache gizmos. In any event Sam finally showed up 2.5hrs after his fellow riders, be was extremely dehydrated and physically injured after taking a bad spill. He did not start Stage 3 the next morning. Just one of many Dakar stories that soon get forgotten as the focus is always on who is winning and not so much on who has withdrawn. The only exception is when a competitor dies on the course, and this happens almost every year unfortunately. This year it was Michal Hernig (POL) who died on Stage 3, they have still not determined the cause of death, he was found 300meters off course beside his bike visibly uninjured and the bike undamaged.

But enough doom and gloom, after a while the bikes tapered off and the quads and cars started showing up. Brenda got so excited that she was going to enter the race by stealing a quad. As it turns out #251 Rafal Sonik (POL) won the Rally for the quads, at least she picked a fast one.

Soon thereafter it was time to head back into town where the biovauc was located. This is when I got to enter the race. #51 and I rode together most of the way into town, then he pulled off for gas on one side of the road and we stopped at a station that had a convenience store as we needed some Gatorade and more water.

 This was our first taste of celebrity for a day. It seemed that the locals did not care if we were in the race or not, only that we were on a motorbike and foreigners. People were asking if they could take our photos, kids would stand with us and their parents would snap a couple of photos. Teenagers would be more curious and ask a few questions about where we were from and travelling to. Then a couple of the racers asked Brenda a few questions, one guy even commented that he wished his girlfriend could ride a bike. Then as we rode the rest of the way to the bopvauc it became apparent that we were being treated as racers by the police and military that were controlling the traffic, they would stop all the cross traffic and wave us through all the while the locals are waving and cheering us on. A rather unique experience in an of itself.

Once at the destination we watch as all the drivers and riders enter the secured area where they then repair their machines, eat and sleep. There are lots of people and press roaming around as well as a few food vendors and of course official Dakar merchandise vendors. The celebrity status continues as people want pictures with us and the bikes. An English speaking family was very curious about the bikes as the daughter and father are avid endure riders and by the end of the conversation we learned that she planned to enter the Dakar in 5yrs when she turned twenty.

We also met an abitioius and adventurous couple from the Netherlands who had bought a couple of little Chinese bikes and were travelling around South America. They had recently blown the engine in one of them and were lucky that parts are readily available, after a bit of wrenching the bike was running again. Their bikes were so small, only 125cc and looking more like a miniature street bike than a touring bike.

After the paparazzi it was time to head back to the hotel and call it a night, well after going out for a nice steak dinner to celebrate the day’s events.