Intercontinental Rally - RWTD Day 04
Please, no no no! I say out loud, fears icy fingers gripping hard. I can tell my rear wheel is flat, it's hot and I'm alone in the desert.
As I didn't do the train track desert crossing im still keen to try one. I want to know I can do it. I want to know what it feels like when you only have yourself to depend on. I want to know if I'll cope, how I'll react. I want to know if I've got what it takes to do a loop around the world.
I leave the rally at 7:40am and it's immediately tough going in the soft sand. I'm barely moving, standing in the shadow of self doubt I stop and consider what I'm doing. I decide to let air out of my tires and thereafter progress is much swifter.
By the halfway point I'm feeling confident, I'm definitely going to make it.
I've been over dunes, through open piste, river beds and grass, but now acres and acres of rocks block my path. I try and find a way around them and as I do my back tire punctures. Panic grips. I wanted to know if I've got what it takes and now I'll have to prove it.
'Be calm and be methodical' I say and repeat to myself. It's easy to lose your head, and your tools in the heated sand.
It takes a while as I have no bike stand or tyre soap, I'm careful not to nip the tube and am elated to see the tyre inflate. I'm sweating but I'm less fearful now, the bike, my way out is partially fixed. I couldn't get the tyre bead fitted to the rim correctly, so the tyre is wonky, like a clowns bike, but I have forward momentum. Thank God I bought the compressor I saw Covid Allen carrying last year in Morocco, I owe him a big thanks.
I'm still feeling anxious, I don't know how I'll get around the rocks. I search for a path to the nearest road, but it's miles away blocked by soft sand and more rocks.
Struggling on a short distance I find a hut and a tanned wiry man waves. He's younger than me I think, it's hard to tell, he has no teeth and invites me in for tea. I decline, thanking him, id prefer to keep my teeth and assume his sweet tea is the root of his dental woes.
After what feels like hours I find a path through the rock fields. Following 4x4 tracks the going gets a lot easier. I'm going to make it out.
I wanted to go to the eye of the Sahara but it's taken me a long time to cross the desert. I don't want to be traveling in the dark and my rear tire is not seated correctly. I head back to the bivouac on a corrugated dirt track.
Each night everyone gets busy on bike repairs
'Be calm and be methodical' I say and repeat to myself. It's easy to lose your head, and your tools in the heated sand.
It takes a while as I have no bike stand or tyre soap, I'm careful not to nip the tube and am elated to see the tyre inflate. I'm sweating but I'm less fearful now, the bike, my way out is partially fixed. I couldn't get the tyre bead fitted to the rim correctly, so the tyre is wonky, like a clowns bike, but I have forward momentum. Thank God I bought the compressor I saw Covid Allen carrying last year in Morocco, I owe him a big thanks.
I'm still feeling anxious, I don't know how I'll get around the rocks. I search for a path to the nearest road, but it's miles away blocked by soft sand and more rocks.
Struggling on a short distance I find a hut and a tanned wiry man waves. He's younger than me I think, it's hard to tell, he has no teeth and invites me in for tea. I decline, thanking him, id prefer to keep my teeth and assume his sweet tea is the root of his dental woes.
After what feels like hours I find a path through the rock fields. Following 4x4 tracks the going gets a lot easier. I'm going to make it out.
I wanted to go to the eye of the Sahara but it's taken me a long time to cross the desert. I don't want to be traveling in the dark and my rear tire is not seated correctly. I head back to the bivouac on a corrugated dirt track.
To my surprise when I get back, another world traveler on a DR650 stops behind me! That's three of us now, the other two know one another from Canada. The new chap is called Vincent, he's been traveling the world for years and completed 150,000 km. We swap stories and he takes me through some modifications to the bike.
Below, home for the night.
The usual bivouac activities, of repairs to bikes and bodies, ensue until the canteen opens at 7pm. The evening briefing will begin at 9pm. Many of the riders were surprised at the difficulty of the route today. Two Danish riders didn't make it out unscathed and were taken to hospital, one with head injuries. Luckily all of team Raid Assist made it out, mostly unscathed, and wiser for it ;)
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