Ola Amigos

 It's been a busy couple of months since last update.   Left off with administrative challenges in getting my FIM International License due to no racing record.   

Without the possibility for the Emirates Motorcycle Federation to issue the license I turned to the French federation.  That also was a no go as one must be licensed with a local club to obtain one.  I asked them about racing record, and they mentioned that in France a rider without record must undergo an assessment test with a certified body and if outcome is positive, they issue the license.   I proposed that alternative to EMSO and they accepted.  I contacted Mohammad Al Balooshi, a local legend and multi finisher of Dakar to do the assessment 

which he gladly accepted.  Got to tell you that I was very stressed the morning of the assessment.   Mohamad had told me that he wanted to do approx. 130km in the desert without stop and at rapid speed.   I was so stressed that when I was unloading the bike from my pickup, I dropped it and fell on my head, giving me a small concussion.  Luckily, the weather was with me that morning and the heavy fog resulted in 1 hour delay for our assessment given me plenty time to recuperate.   

The assessment went fine, and Mohamad gave his approval.  I was now a fully licensed motorcycle driver. 

With this in hand, I quickly registered to Qatar International Baja Rally to be held at the end of October.   Meanwhile, I had training to do on the Kove and had to get the bike race ready.   Indeed, the Qatar Intl Baja Rally (QIB) is one of the last rallies to still use paper roadbook and I did not possess one.    Luckily, Jorge A had one for sale that had come on secondhand bike he had purchased and happily sold it to me at a very good deal. 

I also had to get the Stella navigation set up.  As it turned out, I was flying to spain for work, where Stella originates from and had the package delivered to my hotel, avoiding any shipping delays.    Problem solved. 

Then, time for training.  

With the new ECU, the titanium exhaust, the steering damper and 52T rear sprocket the bike handled well in the sand, although it must always be up in the revs and always keep a steady momentum.   But I noticed that the headlight was acting strange and would probably not pass scrutineering, so I contacted Uncle Wang shop, and they send replacement for free within a week.  

Last touch to the Kove was the personalized decal which I had ordered from South Africa.   It had finally arrived and was immediately mounted by Motorzone.  

The bike looked good, and I took it straight back to Robbie at MX performance for roadbook installation.  One last service and the bike was ready for Doha. 

Also heard back from Kenny for my racing kit, but haven't heard back anything from them since...

I was time to shift my focus to Adventure bike with the upcoming first Emirates Adventure Rally.   

The Rally consist of 3 rounds.   First round rocks and waddis, second rounds rocks and sand, and third round sand only.   Navigation through GPX.

Friday was the admin, scrutineering, and prologue.  Loaded the bike on the pickup and headed towards Showka where bivouac was been established. 

Scrutineering and admin went without issues 

And head off to the prologue

Prologue was fairly short but technical.   Many riders did not finish within the allocated time.  As for myself, finished 9th out of 40 something riders.  Could have done better had I pushed a little more but fairly satisfied with the results.  

Then it was time for the rider's briefing and beginning of the race.  

Within the first 45 min, I had already overtaken 4 riders.  I was flying, and I felt comfortable with the navigation as it was a trail I had already done before.  Although I took wrong turns twice, I managed to take short cut and get back on track without many difficulties.   There is always that little voice that tells you to take it easy but when you find your rhythm it's difficult to listen to it.   That would cost me dearly later...

Indeed, as I was starting the second part after completing waddi showka, I took the wrong exit.   To my defense, the GPS gives your position with 3-12 meters, and there were 2 tracks with 5 meters of each other.   One going up a mountain and one entering into another waddi.   I thought the organizers would vary terrain, so I went up towards the mountains.   As the tracks followed each other's, although one was going up, the GPS kept telling me I was on the right path.   Of course, the gps do not take into consideration altitude.   So, I went on for 500m ish until I realized I was slightly moving away from the main track.  I had indeed selected the wrong track.  Now, I was left with 2 choices, turn back or cut in unknown terrain to get back on track.   And again, wrong choice.   I decided to cut rather than loosing bit of time and go back to the waddi.   

I found myself in difficulties with a track that was not made for motorcycles and impossible to cross or to turn back.  I dropped the bike a few times, and hell started. 

I lost a lot of time and lots of energy to finally come to the conclusion there was no other issue than call and wait for rescue.  I walked few hundred meters and decided to chill under a tree in a beautiful environment. 

Luckily, for me after nearly 2 hours of waiting, two riders saw me in a distance and came to assist me.   When they realized that we could not get the bike out, we decided to start removing rocks to create a line.  We spent nearly 1-hour moving rocks to finally create an exit route through the rocks.  I was completely exhausted, had run out of water and had lost nearly 3,5 hours.  I was over the allocated time to finish the race.  I headed back with my tail between my leg to the bivouac and big disapointment and massive dent to my ego although only 9 riders finished that day.  I was furious at myself for overestimating my capacities but most importantly for not having gone back to save a mere 10 minutes.  Lesson learnt. 

It was time to turn the page and start focusing on Qatar International Baja Rally, a world cup event taking place in the outskirt of Doha.   The rally took place over 3 days.  1st day was admin, scrutineering, prologue, and opening ceremony followed by 2 days of racing consisting of approx 400km per day (250 special section and 150 of liaison).   

After few issues at the border where the Saudi Custom took my airbag for an explosive device, I made to Qatar without issues.  

Arrival at the service park, setting up, following by admin and scrutineering. 

All clear, just chilling before beginning of the prologue and the beginning of the race. 

Roadbook installed 

And off for the liaison before prologue 

I took it very easy on the prologue, trying to familiarize myself with the roadbook.   Results wasn't great and I finished amongst the last ones.   I did not really care as objectives of this rally was roadbook navigation training and finishing.   67 riders were registered coming from Canada to Taiwan.   

The evening was the Opening Ceremony organized in center Doha with all the dignitaries.

First day of the race was rocks only.   

I immediately got lost on km4, and I wasn't the only one, when I got there, there was about 5 riders that were "gardening" trying to find the right route.   Luckily, behind me was one of Oran O'Kelly's (Dakar finisher) sponsors that was participating in the race, and Oran was waiting for him to assist him on his first rally.   I knew Oran was a good navigator, so I tagged along behind them familiarizing myself with roadbook navigation.   After 30 min or so of getting used to roadbook navigation, I went on my own until I got lost again.   

Finally made it to end of SS1 for quick refuel before heading out for SS2. 

Then off for another 130k of special.   I started well and stopped after a rider suffered a massive crash.   There were few other riders with him and an ambulance giving him first aid, so there was no point for me to stand there, so I left with another rider until we got lost.  The problem we could not find our way back and I started panicking.   Luckily, we heard some riders in a distance and headed back towards them.  They too were lost but they knew how to get back to last check point.  Rest of the day went fine and I made it safely to SS2 finished line.   After 100km of liaison, I was back at bivouac for last bike check and dropping the bike at parc ferme. 

A good first day, and a big learning curve.  At the end of the night, I had gone from 64th in the morning to 43rd.

Next morning, same story, 100km liason and off for some rocks. 

I quickly caught up with Jason in the morning and knowing he is a master at navigation and carry a decent pace, I followed him in a distance trying to match my roadbook navigation's decision making with his.   I have to admit that hadn't he been there I would have probably got lost numerous times.  

We got to the second special of the day taking place in the desert.   Navigation though cap heading was new to me.    

The bike handled well but I found it difficult to navigate in the sand and dunes while reading and scrolling my roadbook at the same time.   It became even more difficult when we hit the camel grass sections.   Those were totally different than the one I experience in Dubai.   There were massive and surrounded by really soft sand. 

 I dropped the bike once and experienced my first airbag explosion.  It was exhausting, riding only in 1st or 2nd gear.  But that wasn't the worst part.   At 30km till end of the special, we stopped to look where we were.  By then, I have to admit that I wanted to give up, I was so exhausted.  I knew we had passed lots of riders, and knew I was in good position (28th) but I decided not to focus on the ranking and take a break before heading out for last section.   I let Jason go, had some nutrition, drank some water, and gathered my thoughts.   I did not want to commit the same mistake I had made at the Adventure rally.   So, after losing 10 min, I climbed on the bike, to my surprised, she was dead.   No more battery and impossible to move her in the sand. 

So close to the end and yet so far.   I resolved to walk to an electric post to get some shades and call for rescue.   I called for rescue and was told that it would take 2-3 hours to come and get me and the bike as there were many more riders that had mechanical breakdown or simply abandoned.  And like I had done at the Adventure Rally; I lay and chilled by the bike. 

I saw many riders riding by but there was nothing they could do.   The last rider to come by was Oran and his sponsors.   And believe it or not, Oran had jumping cable with him.  I thought the rally was finished for me but he also told me that if I had validated more than 75% of the waypoint and made it to the finish line, I would still be a finisher (should have read the rules !!!)   This news was better than any energizer substance I ever took. So, we boosted the bike and made it to the finish line.   

Hadn't it been for him, I would never have made it to the finish line.   Big thanks to him.

I had accomplished when I had set up to do, that was learning navigation and finishing.   

The evening was great, and the closing ceremony rewarding. 

Now back in dubai, and ready for round 2 and 3 of Emirates Adventure Rally and Dubai Intl Baja.  

As usual random shite stolen from the internet and an old pic of me and my old beamer.   

Till next time folks....