dakar stage 3: san rafael to san juan

day 11 - 3rd january 2012

liaison 291km

special 270km

total 561km

start time 06:00

jago and i had ridden two desert rallies together, the maroc october 2010 and the tunis in may 11. both 6 day events in the deserts of north africa, so we were accustomed to each others perculiarities, and on the dakar it was great being able to share the good as well as the not so good moments, helping each other after a fall, checking the navigation, even taking a photo, but it also created challenges; mainly about riding at your own pace. after tunis, jago and i did not ride together really until a week in morocco in november. we trained on our own in terms of cardio and gym work. we both lead very busy lives and had our own little projects; jago's truck and south american tour and my breeding and rearing of 9 rhodesian ridgeback puppies, in between managing a fulltime job. so, even though patsy and zippy had encouraged us to talk about how we wanted to ride together, we did not, relying on our previous rally experiences. and became apparent - well it is easy to write with hindsight - that we were approaching the riding differently.

i had prepared for 12-16 hour days based on the distances and times acheived on previous desert rallies - incidentally mark coma and cyril despres took part in the maroc. however, jago and i had ridden hard and fast in those events and between us acheived a first place and a number of second and third places, so we were on the pace on our lightweight 400exc's. my approach therefore on the heavier, fuel and tool laden 450exc rally bike was to ride at between 50-80% of my capacity, i needed to finish, that was all.

the ride today was quite technical as we climbed a river bed for what seemed like hours. we were gaining some significant altitude too, up to around 3500m. the higher we climbed the narrower the river valley became. criss crossing the river all the way to the top was quite exciting, but demanding. we all appreciated the cooler climate too, the altitude and steep valleys kept the sun off or backs at times. this particular route was for bikes only, trucks and cars were diverted at a particular point in the road book. this was great as it meant no cars or trucks were going to try and race past, for a while at least. but the river valley was only the begining as soon after, we had caught up with about a dozen or so bikes who had been unable to connect the roadbook to the terrain. we also found the disconnect, but since the others had all tried the alternatives, we took the only option available which led to one hell of a steep climb, in first all the way to the top, it was a struggle to keep the momentum. but this was to be the first of some very impressive mountain tops, the final climb was incredible, it was like climbing up the pig track to the top of snowdon or the main route up ben nevis, but the views were even more impressive

i was alone at this point having lost jago in one of the valleys in the gaggle of riders. i had gone back at one point but could not find him and then thought he'd gone on ahead. so i was relieved when he turned up about 45 mins later. turned out the fairing on his bike had come off - his bike was struggling a little after the big fall the previous day and there would be a few stoppages to strap parts of his bike together as a result.

patsy and martin working on our bikes 

jago, extremely happy to be here ; )

the bivouac was located on the edge of a small town positioned in this vast canyon. having had cooler temperatures during the day it was a struggle when the place we were resting in was a cool 48c! the canyon behaved like an oven, absorbing the suns rays during the day and radiating them out during the night. it was so hot that i slept outside on top of my sleeping bag, having to roll over just to avoid sticking the material. together with a very strong wind and the odd spot of rain, combined with the din of the mechanics working, i did not sleep awfully well. in fact, it was almost a relief to get up the following morning!