Ola Amigos

Well, it's been a while since I last update my blog.  And many things have happened in the last semester of the year.   If you remember my objective for the year was to participate in the World cup of international Baja.  A FIM sanctioned competition consisting of 4 races in Europe and 4 in the Middle East.  In the first 6 month I had managed to do Saudi, Jordan, and Portugal.  There was one race in Europe I could not attend due to personal commitment and one that got cancelled.   So, there was 3 races left in Spain, Qatar and Dubai.   

I left you beginning of July as I was training for the Baja Aragon in Spain.  Physically I was fit.  I was doing one hour cardio per day and 30 min of strengthening.   So, by the end of July, I left the Dubai's heat and made my way to Teruel in Aragon Provincia for the famous Aragon Baja, 5th race of the FIM Baja World cup.  Considering I don't have one bike in Europe, I rent bike and service from Pedro Bianchi Prata team.  I met Pedro last year at Qatar international baja.   He is a 12th time Dakar finisher who created his racing team early 2000.   Pedro is a great guy and Dakar legend. He is surrounded by a great team, always looking out to make the best for you.  They manage everything from registration, to bike prep, accommodation, etc.....  After an uneventful flight to Madrid, and a smooth car ride, I made it to Teruel on Thursday morning.    

I always appreciate to arrive early and wonder around and chat to people.  The bivouac atmosphere is something particular where everyone shares the same passion and are open to talk and share stories and technical tips.   Of course, pro racing team are more difficult to access but it a very collegial atmosphere.  For example, one mechanic fm Kove Italia showed me how to make the clutch run smoother.  It was also nice to meet Neels Theric, Kove factory rider.   As, it turns out that we are nearly neighbors in south of France.  

and after getting familiar with the surrounding, it was time to do a quick shakedown with the bike I would ride throughout the weekend. 

Jorge, Nuno, Mariuxi, and I, all with Pedro's team, left the bivouac for few hours of shakedown where we ran into Joanna from Duust team also doing her shakedown.   

Seriousness started on Friday with the prologue.  Due to my participation in the whole series, I was starting behind the pro riders.  I am used of always starting in the back, and the atmosphere amongst the participants is very different than the one going for the win.   It was a bit of an awakening to realize; the pro riders were so focus on their race and not ready to chit chat.  I went from been excited to be with them to nearly feeling alone and abandoned.   But then again, I am only here for fun, and they are here to win.  That's the difference I suppose.     

Prologue was bit technical but as usual, I finished end of 2nd tiers.  Meaning starting at the back and eating dust.

Saturday was going to be a long day.  75km liaison, followed by 202km SS, then back with 75km liaison.   1hr break, 100k liaison, 192 SS, then 100k liaison.  

Surprisingly, the day went fast, and I felt very good.   Maybe due to the fact that I had stepped up my physical training for the last few months to be ready for the race.   I made up lots of position and overall, I was happy with my riding and the way the bike handled.  I did not take too many risks and focused on riding a good pace.  I could have gone lot faster but that wasn't the end game.   My objective was to start the next day and not be last.   Both objectives accomplished. 

Sunday, was a repeat of the second SS.  I felt very confident since it was the same track as the day before, but my confidence shattered after I was passed by a quad and I crashed trying to follow him in the dust.   From that point onward, it was "stay chill", ride safe and finish.   

And this is exactly what I did.   I finished the rally satisfied with everything I had accomplished.   There was now only 2 race to finish the World Cup.   

I took few weeks off to France, to ride my vespa and my harley and relax for one month.   So I stopped training and it turned out to be detrimental to last few races.     

I made it back to Dubai beginning of Sept.  The Rally guys (that is the ones participating in international rallies) was still training and bbqing on Sunday afternoon at Al Qadr.  The Rally guys is an informal group of people that share the same passion for Rally raid who meet on Sunday afternoon whenever possible.   I normally work like this:  one guy opens, and we all follow his trace.   The lap is 18/20km long, so we do between 2-4 laps, then we BBQ.   I realized quickly that this gathering was more social things then proper bike training.   Although, we do ride our bikes, we mostly enjoy a good BBQ and shoot the breeze about life, motorcycle and rally.   A brilliant way to end and start the week. 

And as always, Tony turns into the Master cook.   

sometimes, local guys treat us to local feast, and we feel like Bedouin for few hours.   

In October, the local baja season started again.   The local baja (called Abu Dhabi Baja Challenge) are Emso sanctioned competition.  It's mostly a desert race against the clock.   We race for 2 hours on 30/35km loop in the desert, whoever comes first after 2 hours wins.   It is very intensive and physical.  The first race of the 25-26 season took place in Sweihan.   

There is approx 80 to 100 riders participating in the race.  Considering I had not really trained since end of july, I felt bit rusted and completely out of shape.  I finished the race, but I was completely shattered.  But the aim of doing this race was to get stamina for the upcoming Qatar Intl Baja.    

Qatar was my first rally last year.  And I approached this year's edition as redemption.   I had struggled with navigation last year and only finished thanks to Jason and Oran who had led me to the finish line.   It's brutal in terms of navigation.   Some says it is hardest navigation of any rally raid.   

There was no redemption, it was as difficult as last year.     

In one of our conversations on Sunday afternoon BBQ, we decided to collectively raise the bar to another level and invest in proper rally bivouac apparel.  Phil took the lead and ordered branded apparel to have a proper rally team set up.  And what he managed is simply impressive.   High quality bivouac tent, tables for mechanical work, fridge, sofa, chairs, coffee machine, toaster, and everything we need to enjoy the rally experience.  A second home for most of us.  It draws some much attention, that by the end of the weekend it felt like it had become the QIB's Riders HQ.      

Then Thursday we set off for the prologue to decide the starting order.  

followed by the opening ceremony 

With the RNS racing crew and other riders. 

Friday morning was time for racing.   First day, did not go as planned.  I started fairly good, then got lost, and as I was catching up, I crashed trying to overtake another rider.   Instead, of staying calm, and resetting my roadbook, I saw another rider in a distance, and without thinking, I set my sight to him.  Stupid mistake which cost me to miss 2 WP.   I later missed another WP point and although I did not do too bad, I got 45 min penalties.   The 2nd day was much better, but all went to shit as we entered the Sea line.  As a result of my crash the previous day, I had encountered issues with my remote and roadbook.  In the evening Phil helped me with the electric but when I mounted everything back together, I did not tighten the screw holding the roadbook hard enough.   

Qatar is a rocky race, and after 160k, the screw got loose, and the roadbook went flying off the bike.  I tried to fix it with Ziploc but the roadbook was still loose, and it fell twice after that.  Tony and Jason passed me, I tried to stay up with them, but I dropped the bike in the dunes, and off they went.   I was in the dune without navigation.  Got lost again, and ultimately, I found the way and made it to the finish line but not without missing few more WP.   

2 weeks later, we were back in action in Dubai for the last FIM world cup race of the year.  Dubai is famous for attracting VIP of the sport, so had the opportunity to meet Mr Dakar and my favorite rider and the rider's briefing and press conference.  

The press conference and some highlights from last year.   And in the short intro film, they showed a footage of me struggling to pass a dune. 

At the end of the conference, the RNS racing crew took the stage for a souvenir photo  

 

Following day was Prologue.  Similar to last year it took place in Hatta.  

Hatta is in the mountains of UAE and mostly rocks.  It would be the only rocks when encountered in the race as the following 2 days where mostly going to be sand dunes.   As usual, finished in the back of 2nd tiers.   After 130km liaison to get back to bivouac, we chilled in our tent and made our way to the opening ceremony. 

Then time for racing.   Both days comprised of 150km liaison, and approx 200k SS.   The first day was brutal, at least for me.  First, the race start got delayed as helicopter could not take off due to fog.  We waited 45 min.   Whilst it does not seem long, it makes the race harder to read the dune, makes the sand softer and make the heat worse.      

The first part of the race was good; Sultan caught up to me ard 35k mark and we more or less rode together to 1st neutralization.   I started second part of the stage well but dropped the bike in a bowl and it took lots of energy to get her out.  As the race progressed, I was running out of steam.  I crashed another time which made the last 40km of the day a nightmare.   I had simply run out of energy.   

The only positive to take out of day 1, was seeing myself on youtube in the evening of the short race summary.   

The second day was much better, more running track better for my style of riding.  

I had a massive crash about 60k from the end, where my peak gave up. 

But made to the finish line with Tony and Jason. 

We made way back to the bivouac where Azooz who had won the quad category, had ordered some proper local food which we shared with all the people that was around.  A great way to end the day before closing ceremony. 

Anyway, the objective was to finish and this was accomplished.   

With one local race left in the year, it was time to slow down and enjoy the camaraderie of some of the Dakar rider making their ways to dubai for their last training before the Dakar.  

We had a nice diner with Jean-loup, benji and romain before heading out for the desert for some roadbook training.   

The last local race of the season took place in Liwa for 36km loop in the empty quarter.  

Funny enough, Phil, Tony and I started on the same line.    

but I did crash (again) and wasn't able to keep up with them.   I ultimately retire from the race as I had caught a virus the day before and wasn't feeling too well.  

Anyway, the goal was to finish the year in Style.   And we did so by celebrating Jason.  A nice way to end this year of racing.   

As we were all knuckered we skipped our usual sunday afternoon ride and met up at Phil's place for a nice BBQ and house warming party where we conveyed 2 Dakar legend that were training in Dubai.     

Some reflection after 1 full year of rally raid participation.   First, the bike.   As I started this journey, I was not prepared to invest lots of money into a Rally Replica.   So, I went with a standard low suspension Kove 450 Rally.   For those wanting to do proper Rally, the standard version is not made for it.   It's a great bike to have fun and do off road but in my humble opinion it's not ready to race, it needs upgrade.   First, change stock ECU to rally ECU, then put a steering damper, get rid of all the electric and change the electric loom (hint TRC - French Kove racing team have some ready), change the exhaust line, change rear sprocket to 51 teeth, change stock chain to competition chain, and put proper tyre and mousse.  I did few more upgrade such nav tower, wheels and bits and pieces, but ECU, exhaust and rear bracket are the bare minimum upgrade.   Also, don't take the short suspension version.  I had taken due to the shortness of my legs, but it is better to have a higher bike.   Alternatively, you can buy the 450 rally pro version, or the EX model, but both are more expensive.  For a rider of my level, that is novice, inexperience, and in reality, not very good, the Kove with those upgrade does the job and will allow you to enter and participate in all the races.   It's a great compromise for novice to intermediate riders to enter into the sport.  

But the year is now finished, and I have plan to participate in bigger rally next year, so I have decided to go for an upgrade and chose a second hand GasGas 450 Rally Replica 

I end this post abruptly cause I have to run out but will see you next year.   Happy holidays to y'all !!!!!!