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GS Trophy
2010
Day 2 of the race that’s not a race
„Just wait till I get my hands on
him! “ That’s probably what most
of the riders are thinking when an
extremely loud air horn snatches
them rudely from their sleep at
5:30 am on the dot, a half hour
before the official wake-up call.
The jet-lagged teams from overseas
are particularly inclined toward
revenge. But the perpetrator
is never found...
It‘s still raining, and it has gotten
down to 12 degrees Celsius
in South Africa. Today, though,
things should really be heating
up: 225 kilometres and four
special challenges are waiting
– the first two without bikes. For
“Farmer’s Life”, it’s the quickest
and strongest men that are in demand.
Here they arrange themselves
like oxen in front of a red
Porsche tractor, using ropes and
giving everything they have to
pull it from point A to point B.
The team journalist sitting behind
the wheel has the coolest job –
cheering his team on!
Balancing a tractor tire at
an elevation of 1,500 metres
around a series of cones without
letting it tip over also leaves those
that don‘t live at sea level huffing
and puffing. Even the sun
doesn’t want to miss this and comes
out from behind the clouds.
60 bikes with German license
plates suddenly rolling up to the
TROPHY
GS
DAY 2
15.11.2010
South African border post at the border to Swaziland abruptly
turn what is otherwise a rather calm life on its head.
Against all expectations, however, there are no long, drawnout
procedures! Surprisingly, the stamps are pressed down
quickly and amiably into passports and carnets. Is this
perhaps due to the natural charm of the Trophy participants?
Or is it because they are flirting with the female border
officials and taking loads of photos?
The ladies of the immigration department come up with
the idea of trading black baseball caps with the Trophy logo
for condoms. Since the Kingdom of Swaziland has the highest
AIDS rate in the world – more than a quarter of its 1.1
million inhabitants are infected – a special service is offered
at the border: free condoms.
On a red sand trail, the route passes through green hills
adorned with pine trees to special challenge number 3:
“Mud”.
Once again the riders are faced with real dirty work,
struggling to keep the enduro bikes on a course marked out
through a deep mud pit. Getting stuck in the mire up to your
seat is basically a foregone conclusion and so it happens to
just about everyone! Only the right riding technique will get
Overall rankings after the 2nd stage: