Dirt and Trail July 2018 issue 2

Day 2 (Scouting) 280 km
Started early as this was the trend for the
next few weeks. 100 km’s into the route I
“accidently” rode right into a rock that was
flying towards me from another GS and
destroyed the front rim. 600 km’s in and
I already had damaged a wheel. Not too
impressed with myself. But the mechanics
were there in 5 minutes. A quick wheel
change and we were off again. By this stage
we were heading more and more South
towards the Gobi desert and you can see the
landscape change. But the sand was always
a factor.
Every end of the day was celebrated with a
local “Gobi Beer” very, very nice.
Competition day 2:
We called this the Camel Head challenge. All
3 team riders, without the journalist had to
start directly after each other on a twisty trail
over rocks and through some sand. Halfway
through, they had to lay the bike down, walk
around it, pick it up and push the bike with
the engine running on the RIGHT side to the
next point get on as quickly as possible and
finish the course.
Time starts when first heel crosses the line
and time stops when last riders rear wheel
crosses the line.
No penalties for drops or dabs. Skill was
very important here and I think South Africa
had a brilliant run here. The ladies struggle
a bit as this is a very physical and energy
tapping exercise. Sadly… We had to timebar
both ladies teams just for safety reasons.
There were still 6 days left. Gert and I
finished cleaning and with the open road
ahead we thought it would be a nice ride.
Boy, were we wrong. About 2 km from the
stage it was just bikes scattered all over.
The AusAmerica and EurAfrica team was
together on this day, with Brian Kiely as the
Marshal. It was like a beach with a traffic jam.
You can imagine 100+ bikes already passed
this river bed and the sand was all worn out.
Unfortunately the AusAmerica Journo Jamie
hurt her ankle and she could not proceed.
This was around 1:30 pm and there was
still a good 200 km’s to home and the next
special stage ahead. We decided to stay
with Brian and the ladies and help them get
trough the next 120+- km of sand sections.
This was no easy task but the girls spirits
were good and at the end we made it to
Special stage 2 for the day. This was a quick
exercise as they had to brake and powerslide
through rocks. Easy job? The last stretch of
+-80km home was no easy task. With loose
sand allover and trails looks like spaghetti
lines. We just had to go on and on. After
a quick long overdue lunch we took the
shortcut back to camp.
A 12 hour day but very proud of all the
ladies for not giving up. Even after a day like
this there is not much sleep as dinner follows,
then briefing and points tables. Few hours
sleep and repeat…
Day 3 (Scouting) (300km)
This was a day with mixed scenery. We
started the day with a brilliant ride in between
canyons, in and out of a small river. Quick
stop to plan the special stage for the day.
Next moment as we went around the corner
there was this massive ICE bank, yes ice.
This was unbelievable. Just weeks before we
were there it was -47 Deg and this day was
+30 deg. We had to pose for the cameras to
make a movie and we had some fun on the
ice. From there, we took a detour over the
mountains. We stopped at a small village and
then we were heading for the desert dunes.
We were looking forward to this. Through
and over some camel grass bumps and the
next thing we ended up at some iron look
alike umbrella. In the middle of nowhere. We
stopped before the dunes to deflate the tyres
to around 0.5-0.8 BAR. This is where the
fun started. We had some time to play in the
The dash
on the
new GS’
76 DIRT & TRAIL MAGAZINE JULY 2018