Awright lads, I have been busy with bikes, life and work so I haven't had any time to post anything until now.
So, beginning of the year started with the opening of new place in UAE. 2nd Gear Enduro park, a taylor made pure enduro place near Showka managed by Seb and Marvin.
Ideal place for those looking for light enduro but also for those looking for extreme sensation. There used to be a time I was interested in extreme but no longer in shape or willing to put my body through the hardship. But it's always good to show support for the local community and I know Seb and Marvin from the Motozone days. It was a great opening ceremony with GOT crew doing a scooter race on enduro track, some bloke doing a stunt show followed by the 1st UAE enduro race.
Then, it was time for the first World Cup baja Race in Hail Saudi Arabia.
Hail is located 1700km north of Dubai. A good 1,5-day ride. Living in the middle east, I have lost the habbit of checking the weather forecast. And it turned out to be a big mistake. North Saudi in January can be cold. And unfortunately for me, it was.
By the time I reach the place, solely wearing a short and a t-shirt, the temperature had dropped to freezing level combined with rain and wind. I was not equipped for it. Luckily, I found a local shop to buy pants, underpants, coat and warmer clothing.
But when this was done, I was ready to set up camp and do the admin papers before attending the riders briefing in the evening.
The Prologue took place near and after the opening ceremony. It consisted of a 6km track that was very slippery. I was so excited that I took off faster than I should have and almost went crashing on the first corner. A good warning sign to take things easy, so for the rest of the prologue, I focused on staying on the bike. As usual, I finished in the last tiers of the riders.
Then we were off for the first day of riding. It started with 130km liaison with minus temperature. It was a nightmare. I was completely frozen when I reached at the beginning of the Special Section and did not have the opportunity to warm up before heading out. I was still shivering when I started....
The first part of the day went very well. I passed 6-7 riders and was riding at a decent pace. At the first refueling, Jason and Tony had caught up to me.
We were all cruising nicely until I made one stupid mistake and crashed. Nothing bad, but hard enough to see stars. I picked up the bike, fearing it would not start like in Dubai, but it did. However, 5 minutes later, it lost power and died on me. Same situation as in Dubai in December. I dismantled everything on the bike, checked all the electric but simply had no power and the bike would not start.
Once again, I was stranded in the middle of the desert calling for rescue. We loaded the bike on the pickup and the Marshall dropped me off at refuelling for my "service team" to come and pick me up
Problem is: I do not have a service team. So, I was stuck with the Marshall until the remaining of the day, until last vehicle was on the track until they could drive me back to bivouac, 1,5h away fm where I was.
Luckily, there was some locals who had set up camp near the refueling zone who took pity of me and invited me on their camp for food and rest.
And when the sun set and no more vehicles were on course, the Marshall brought me and my bike back to the bivouac.
Another disappointing DNF, especially after I realized that I was 4th in my class when it happened.
At the bivouac, the official told me that I could resume riding the following day with a massive time penalty but as the bike was not starting, I started packing. I was not going to spend another day at the bivouac on my own. As it happens, I was not the only one with mechanical problem. Maki had blown his piston, and there was nothing he could do, so we both decided to ride back to Dubai together the next day.
That was it for me in Saudi Arabia. Such a shame as the course was really fun, and navigation forgiving. Another lost opportunity to sharpen my skills and score points in the championship.
On the way back, I was telling Maki the recurrent issues with the electric on the bike. Maki is a helicopter mechanic, and a guy wo did Dakar in Malle Moto, so his mechanical skills are unquestionable. After discussing the various possibilities of the short, he concluded that something was wrong with the ignition as the power out of the battery was still there, but nothing was engaging when turning they ignition key. During one of the fuel stops, he started playing with my bike, and touching one cable after the other. And suddenly, one cable who appeared to be connected came loose. The ignition cable.
Had I reached the bivouac earlier the day before, Maki could have found the short and I would finished the race, but I had arrived too late. Needless to say, had I had found this on the track I could have simply jump started the bike by connecting the red and orange wiring. I could only find recomfort in what my Saudi Marshall had told me the day before. It only happens for a reason, so just feel lucky you are going home safe tonight.
So, as soon as I got back to Dubai, I took the bike to Robbie who changed the ignition system for a robust one. I have ridden the bike 4 times since, and fell once, and it has worked without issue.
Two weeks later, I was off for work to Houston. Back to where it all started. But this time it wasn't for offroad riding but proper Harley cruising with my good friend Jean-Louis who let me use his fatboy.
We started with a morning coffee at his local hang around club.
A place called wolfsmith, which specialized in custom motorcycle. And we headed over for full day of back country riding coupled with few stoppages a local Ice House.
It was really nice to ride on the hill countries.
Then back to training in Dubai the following weekend. This time, I went with some of the "Get Out There" crew to Tilal Sewan a dune section outside Abu Dhabi.
It was more or less same place where the Abu Dhabi baja took place last year. But unfortunately, the day got cut short when one the rider had a bad crash and suffered concussion.
And that was it before I flew out to Portugal for the 2nd race of the Baja World cup.
The race took place in Castelo Blanco, at the border of Spain. I rented a bike from Team Pedro Bianchi Prata, a former Dakar rider (12 times), who has his own racing team in Portugal.
I arrived on the Thursday while the team was setting up camp. It was raining and freezing. It felt like I was back in Hail one month ago....
Pedro's team is top class, always ready to help. They even had a chair with my name on it. Felt like a pro rider
The support team did the last check on the bike before I went for a quick shakedown.
It was so cold and raining that the opening ceremony got cancelled. Only the scrutineering took place
And Friday, we were off for the prologue.
Escuderia Castelo Blanco is a ribbon and arrow pointing race, meaning that even if you have a Stella navigation box, you mostly follow the ribbons and the arrows for navigation.
But it is not always happening as it is supposed to. With the winds the arrows sometimes change direction. Other times, you have riders that goes too fast and rip-off the ribbon leaving no indication of where to go.
And on the prologue, that's exactly what happen to me. I went right when I should have gone left costing me a good minute and putting me on the last position to start the race.
As you can see above, the arrow points in the opposite direction of the track.
Anyway, more reason for me to catch up the riders upfront the following day. Which is exactly what I did by passing 7 riders.
But what a day. It was 0 deg, there was snow, fog, rain, mud and everything you could imagine. They organizers even shortened the course by 11km as it became too dangerous where rivers were overflowing.
There was no rain on the second day but the "plat du jour" was mud, mud and more mud. Just to give you a taste, below is a pic of another french rider crossing a paddle.
My second day started good.
I was making up time on the rider in front of me, until I got into a river at the bottom of a steep hill. And crashed in the river. The hill was so steep and muddy that I could no longer climb it. I had been at it for about 30 min, picking and dropping the bike 6-7 times, until a rider came back and help me. From that time onward, my race was over, and the only focus was finishing. I crashed another time in a river which had water above the waist and could not get the bike to start. I lift the bike up to get the water out of the system, roll it on and off on 5th gear to get the engine moving and the bike finally fired up to finish the race.
And after a long day in the mud, I finished the race last, completely drenched and exhausted. But 7th in my class.
And to finish this update, I said goodbye to my beloved CRF
and replaced it by a Husky 450 FE. I will tell you more next time.
Until next time folks. As usual some stuff shamelessly stolen from the net.
