rallye du maroc - race day 3 "la passe de maharch"

the daily stats
338km
9km liaison to the start of the special, given 2 hours
281km special stage
48km liaison back to the hotel, given 2 hours
start time 0730hrs from hotel reda
return time 1300hrs to hotel reda

the race course was double booked today!! can you believe that with so much desert two events could clash? well the heroes legend was passing through on it's way to dakar and would be trundling across our course by late morning, so we had to starting the special early. however, this was to be a short day as jago and i absolutely flew the course! having said that we'd take it steadily, the course was so inviting that we established a great rhythm and had the throttles pinned most of the time - at one point jago recorded 145kph, which on a 400cc off-road is quite something!

today i was living the dream. this was the scene i had witnessed on french television and eurosport all those years ago, bikes and cars flying across vast desert plains, with huge plumes of dust rising up behind, trailing the adventurers, unable to keep up. on numerous occassions the sentinal would sound, i would look round to see a speeding rally car approaching rapidely, and with such wide, flat open spaces, i could drift across to allow the car past. but this time it was a race and so jago and i would try to hang on to the car for as long as possible! cars and bikes racing three abreast, incredible, i wish you could have seen it!! i was in my element, grinning widely and at times laughing wildly, it was f*&^ing awesome!! wow!!

we crossed some of the most stunning landscapes, squeezing between mountains from one plain to the next, or climbing rocky passes with sheer drops on one side and at times washed away. sometimes the ground was hard and flat, other times deep, soft sand, it continuously changed, as did the flora, and together with the rains during the previous night, the scents varied too. in fact all your senses were flooded, all of the time, from what you saw and smelt, to what you could hear and feel; the roar of the engine and the air rushing past, and the vibrations you feel through your entire body, even with the front forks  and rear shocks oscilating in response to the ground as the wheels tore over.

coming into the check points and fuel stops, you were always greeted with a smile and a "ca va?", the marshals would even open your pockets for you to get the time card they needed to stamp. with a quick piss, swig of water and a wipe of the goggles, we were back on the gas! and before we knew it we were on the final 10km straight, a long track with thick stones and loads of unmarked (on the roadbook that is) wash outs, which we jumped or bounced over as the speed we were traveling did not allow for stopping (patsy, zippy, sorry, i know this not what you taught us!!) and there were a few hairy moments as you flew into a dip knowing that you had to  throttle out the other side or you were going to be in trouble, but by the time you said "f*&@" you were already in the air!! the hard vibrations, the whoops and bumps, i was laughing out loud all the way to the finish!!

no sooner had we come back to earth, ben norman sent a text from jo'burg to say that jago and i had come first in our class*, the enduro cup! we had travelled 280km of moroccon desert in 3 hours 43mins, that's an average of 67kph (i think?), including fuel stops, check points and a forced 15 min stop half way round, so we were on the pace which is what is important to me at this point. however, not to do us or the event a disservice, we had won a stage of the rallye du maroc, bloody marvelous : )

*ben was following our progress live on the iritrak website
http://vulcain.iritrack.net/tdcom/eviewer/shamrock2010/ 

log onto npo website for latest info and updates
http://www.npolive.com/maroc2010/en/etape.php?stage=1&rub=include.php
 
and if you live in france, jago and i made it onto french tv again today as a round up of this event is broadcast in france daily!!

photos to follow