Dreaming of Dakar

I think it was around 900 or so when we left the pit area where we met up with Jane.  5 hours of riding so far and about 1/3 of the distance done.  We were a little behind schedule for when we expected to be there.  We knew that the later part of the day would be on harder terrain so we wanted to make up good time early to leave enough time for that.  Still, we were making decent time considering my earlier wipeout.

Not long after we left the pit area I noticed a few drops falling on my face shield.  So far the weather had actually been very nice.  We had high clouds which helped when riding into the sun in the early morning.  We knew this would not last from looking at the weather forecast however.  Since it was supposed to be wet and not too warm I had warn my riding jacket over my gear.  I had expected I would need to take it off before the end of the day.

The rain started to fall a bit harder and this part of the ride was still mostly on regular roads where we were moving along at a good rate of speed.  It didn't take long for the rain to soak into the deepest layers of my clothing.  Honestly all I remember about the next few hours was being very cold.  I kept thinking we would hit a trail section soon where the speeds would slow down and I would be working harder (to help keep warm) but it was just miles and miles of roads.  In retrospect it probably wasn't that long but it felt like it with the cold.

At the next gas stop we had a much longer than usual stop.  I figured it was critical to eat something since the cold was sapping my strength already.  Robb went into the gas station and got a big trash bag which he cut holes in to make a makeshift rain coat.  I wish I had done the same but sitting there I was starting to warm up (because we were not moving).  We were probably at that stop for 20 minutes or so.

Eventually the rain did let up and we started hitting more interesting terrain.  We were at about the 1/2 way mark on distance.  400km (250mi) down, another 400km to go.  That is when we got to what was probably the most amazing thing I think I have done on a motorcycle.  That is when we hit the big crossing.  Someone else posted some video of it:

 

We had been told ahead of time that your bike needs to be able to handle 18" of water.  There were times I am certain this one was closer to 2 feet deep.  It was a lot longer than I would have imagined, I heard it was about 1200 meters long.  With the small trees overhanging the "path" you could not see the other end.  It just felt like it would go on forever.  The trick to these is 1st gear and keep moving.  Try to create a bow wave and ride at that speed.  Of course the real tricky bit is it isn't just flat ground under the water but loose round rocks.  I would be going along just fine and bounce off one.  As long as I kept myeyes forward and stayed loose on the bike I was fine but I still kept wondering if there would be a really big rock or a deep hole that I was about to hit.

I would have never thought my DRZ would have handled water like this but it made it without as much as a sputter.  I had put dielectric grease into most of the connectors and sprayed them with silicone on the outside as part of my prep.  After hearing of others who didn't make it through this without stalling I was glad I had done the extra prep.

We had some decent but somewhat slick trails after this but then made it in to the lunch stop without much trouble.

to be continued....

 

Sorry for the delay.  Been busy with work and some projects around the house that I promised Jane I would get to after the P2D.

One thing I ment to add to the first post was this link:Local TV news story on the P2D.  Ignore the fact that they say "motocross riders".  Few of us consider ourselves motocross riders, that is what the 18 year old kids do.  Also they pronounce Dacre several different ways, none of which are correct (it is "day-ker") but otherwise it is a good little bit with interviews.

Ok, on with the story....

4:31 am and we are off.  Due to the luck of the draw we were the final team to leave so only the sweep riders would be behind us.  It was still quite dark at this point.  The full moon was low enough on the horizon to not give much light and we would not see the light of dawn for another hour or so.  In previous years they had said the fog was very thick at the start but it wasn't too bad this day.  Robb was in the lead followed by myself and Brad.  The first couple of miles were pavement then we turned onto the first gravel road.  This part of Canada really does remind me of where I grew up in Kansas.  Lots of farmland connected by gravel roads.  The roads were in good shape so nothing tricky at this early hour.

The organizers loaded the route into each rider's GPS the night before.  Even though Robb was leading I was still watching my GPS just to make sure none of the turns surprised me.  The speed limit on most of the roads we were on was 80km/hr (about 50mph) and we keept the speed fairly sensible at around 95km/hr (a little under 60mph).  According to my GPS the fastest we hit all day was 105km (still under 65mph).  The pre-dawn hours were fairly uneventful, or at least that is what Brad and I thought.  Later Robb mentioned he nearly hit a deer standing in the road.  Of course it was so dark we never saw it.

About 20 minutes in we passed a team on the side of the road.  They appeared to be working on one of the bikes but gave the thumbs up that they were OK.  We keept on going, happy that we were no longer the last guys on the road.

We were 100km in to the ride when we hit the first gas stop.  My DRZ has a nice large tank so I was no where near needing fuel but Brad and Robb have smaller tanks like most dirt bikes have so needed to stop.  Nutrition is important on a long day like this so I figured I should eat one of my cliff bars.  This is when I learned my first key lesson of the day.  A proper helmet should fit snugly and put a little pressure on the cheeks.  The good news is my helmet fits properly.  The bad news is when you quickly bite down on a cliff bar with your helmet on you bite your cheek!  Ouch!  Normally I take my helmet off to eat but I was trying to save time.  I learned to eat more carefully after this.

Not long after the fuel stop we hit the first section of off-road trail.  It was muddy and rocky but nothing too difficult.  It was probably under a mile long but had some sticky mud and rocks.  I had to slow down and be careful but was certainly no more difficult than many of the trails I had been on in the past.  However we managed to pass several other teams in this section.  There were several BMW 800GSs and KLR 650s stuck in the mud and lying on their sides through this bit.  These bikes are really a bit heavy for real trail riding and the riders were finding this out.  My DRZ400, Brad's Husqvarna 450 and Robb's Yamaha WR250 were great bikes for this kind of trail.  It was nice to know that we most certainly were not the last team on the road at this point.

The morning continued on with mostly gravel roads and a few trails here and there.  I was feeling rather confident - perhaps too much so - and was doing a decent job of trying to keep up with Robb.  Robb is a big enduro racer and also is on a nice lightweight 250.  So, of course whenever we hit a trail section he speeds up.  I had told myself I wasn't going to worry about keeping up on the trickier bits.  No sense in wiping out and hurting myself.  However, did I say I was feeling confident?

We were on what in New Hampshire we would call a "class VI road" which means unmaintained and travel at your own risk.  It was in pretty good shape so we were carrying a good amount of speed.  This is when I learned the second, and most important tip of the day.  PAY ATTENTION!  It is roads like this that will bite you.  I am not sure if I was checking my GPS or looking in my mirrors to make sure Brad was still behind me or just daydreaming but we came up over a little rise and suddenly there was a giant washout in front of me.  It was about 4 feet deep and had a nasty rut at the bottom.  It was too late to miss it but I thought I could still ride through it.  Most of the time if you keep your eyes forward and don't panic you would be surprised at what the bike can get through.  Well, not this, or at least not for me.  I flew down the 4ft washout and landed in the rut and went a bit sidways.  I came off the bike and tumbled pretty good.

Now, that alone would have made it a good wipeout.  But the nasty part of it was I landed right in a wet mud puddle.  As I slid through it water was forced up and into my helmet.  Add to that the heavy breathing and I injested a bunch of muddy water and for a second felt like I was drowning in my helmet.  Granted, it was only a couple inches of water but when it gets shoved up your nose it is unpleasant to say the least!

Thanks to the miracle of modern off-road safety gear I was unhurt.  I really am amazed at how I can bounce right back up after a spill like this.  Makes me feel like I am 20 again.  I am sure one of these days I am going to injure myself but so far knock on wood I have done well in that regard.

Once I got my face sheild up and had some fresh air (fresh being not filled with mud) I was OK and got going again without too much delay.  Robb was waiting a little ways down the trail and just as I had almost caught up I managed to get my wheels into a deep muddy rut and went down again.  Where the first one was mostly wet this one was much stickier mud so I really looked the part of a "dirt bike" rider.  Or perhaps a "dirt" bike-rider is more appropriate.  But, once again nothing hurt but my pride.

I managed to keep in upright for the last bit of this trail then we were on regular roads again until we hit the first pit.  The organizers give 2 GPS routes.  Once is the bike route and another is the support truck route.  There are 3 areas where they have pit locations to make it easy to meet up with the trucks.  My wonderful wife Jane was driving the truck and meeting up with us at the first stop.  I was able to get a cold gatorade from the cooler and had a spray can of cleaner and a clean rag to clean the face sheild of my helmet (inside and out).

I said goodby to Jane and off we went again.

and then the rain started.....

I was excited that the day had finally arrived.  I had spent the last several months training and planning for this event.  Jane and I had just arrived in Burford ON where the Paris to Dacre would start at 4am the next morning.  I had gone through tech inspection and spent some time getting organized for the next day's ride with my teammates Robb and Brad.  It was 11pm and I was too excited to sleep.  Luckilly I had a good nights sleep the night before and had a nice relaxing day.  I got to bed a little after 11 and rested but never did actually sleep.  At 3am when I started to hear other people moving about I decided to hop out of bed and start getting ready.

It was a beautivul clear morning illuminated by a full moon.  I was able to get most of my gear on without using a light.  The organizers had set up some breakfast so I grabbed a muffin and some coffee but was too excited to eat much.  I knew I should probably eat what I could since it was going to be a very long day.

Teams are started in 1 minute intervals starting at 4am.  The starting order was drawn at random and our team wasn't so lucky.  There were 31 teams, and we started 31st!  The nice  thing is that meant we had an extra 31 minutes to get ready to roll but I would have preferred to have the extra time.  We got into line at about 4:25 and watched the teams ahead roll out one by one.

At 4:30 when the team ahead left we rolled up to the starting line.  Here you can see Robb and you can just partly see Brad right behind.

4:31am and we are off, 800km to go!

to be continued...

 

It is monday mid-morning so I need to get back to work but really wanted to post a quick update about the P2D. It was an amazing day filled with great riding, some freezing cold rain, some wonderful blue sky, some fun fast trails, some slick greasy mud trails (which I can't seem to get the hang of) 1 deer in the road, 1 dog who wanted to play, long stretches of deep water crossings, one really good wipeout, several easy drops, and a few instances of getting stuck and needing a hand. But, after 17 hours of riding team "Roll Me Away" arrived in Dacre.

If anybody would like to keep track of my progress on the P2D this weekend I have a satellite tracker I will be carrying with me. You can see where we are at using this link: http://share.findmespot.com/shared/gogl.jsp?glId=0HVTxaYt1GUNNUkadsrBYBCAyoEopWyJk Had a very nice night at the camp and slept very well, will be good to be well rested at the start. We roll out at 4am tomorrow (saturday) so not likely to get much sleep tonight. Today should be a nice relaxing day, we drove most of the way yesterday so we can take it easy and get to the start early afternoon. That will give me plenty of time to get my bike through tech inspection and fix any issues they find (however I think it is good to go).