It's a bonkers event for starters. We drove 1100 miles there for under forty minutes of racing but plenty of crazy time. I took my 690 and Mav took his HP2E. 1800 entrants with about fifty of those on big bikes. Plenty of comments from the spectators that we were crazy for attempting it on big bikes.
We arrived late on Thursday, having driven all day and missed the course inspection, so the first time we saw it as the when the flag dropped on Friday. When we arrived we had to run through the paddock to get registered, followed by unpacking the van, getting the bikes out in 30C heat and dust, repacking the van and then running the bikes back through the paddock to get through scrutineering. We made it with half an hour to spare.
Friday we rode up from the campsite to look at the start and as much of the course as we could see. We had a 4pm group start time so had a ton of time. An old boy on a BMW spotted the HP2E and got talking to us. He'd done it 11 times previously and asked if we'd seen the climbs.
"Err, what climbs? It's the prolog, fast mine roads with a few technical bits."
At which he pointed into the belly of the mine and the small dots wiggling up 'the climbs', some making it more than a few not. Bear in mind these were mostly 250 and 300's.
Balls.
He had decided to not even tackle them and was going to ride around, even if it meant disqualification.
Even more nervous than before we rode back to the campsite to kit up and get ready. Having not seen the course we both decided to have a go and see what happened. We rode back up for 2.30, expecting to line up at 4 ish. We ended up waiting in the heat, dust and noise from the bikes and a mix of helicopters ferrying injured rider and joyriders until 5pm before lining up.
The course was already pretty cut up from the previous 1500+ riders and not knowing what was to come we both rode conservatively. Mav went first and I caught him at the bottom of the first climb. A couple of riders were down hafway up, the run up was tiny and across grapefruit sized rocks. Mav went first and binned it halfway up. I followed and buried the rear wheel in the grapefruit boulder field, stepped off the bike, dragged it out of the boulders and pointed it downhill. At the base we were taken round by a marshal, having both lost a ton of time, but satisfied we'd both tried to get up. The rest of the course was great fun, except having not seen it previously and now being passed by the smokers, it was cloaked in dust.
We both made it up, waited for the group of 100 riders to finish and then rode down to the paddock which was as fun as the Prolog!
A couple of well deserved beers were sunk. We then took part in the raid on Eisenerz. A couple of thousand bikes riding thought the local town, burnouts, wheelies etc. Brilliant fun.
On Saturday we again rode up in the morning. It was much calmer and it was obvious that a ton of riders weren't going to do the Prolog that day. We rode back up at 3 to see how busy it was and went straight through to line up for the second Prolog race.
A much better result for me. Tons more confidence despite the course being markedly more cut up and rutted than the previous day. I managed to knock a minute off my time. I was only passed by one rider after hitting two whoops, bottoming after the second and the bike cutting out. After a few seconds I realised the side stand had come down, whipped it up and was back on my way.
The after event party was as bonkers as the event. Walkners dakar bike on stage doing burnouts from cold up into 6th gear. The poor mechanics looking on from the side of the stage in horror!
An epic event. I'd love to try again but with a ton more practice beforehand.
We arrived late on Thursday, having driven all day and missed the course inspection, so the first time we saw it as the when the flag dropped on Friday. When we arrived we had to run through the paddock to get registered, followed by unpacking the van, getting the bikes out in 30C heat and dust, repacking the van and then running the bikes back through the paddock to get through scrutineering. We made it with half an hour to spare.
Friday we rode up from the campsite to look at the start and as much of the course as we could see. We had a 4pm group start time so had a ton of time. An old boy on a BMW spotted the HP2E and got talking to us. He'd done it 11 times previously and asked if we'd seen the climbs.
"Err, what climbs? It's the prolog, fast mine roads with a few technical bits."
At which he pointed into the belly of the mine and the small dots wiggling up 'the climbs', some making it more than a few not. Bear in mind these were mostly 250 and 300's.
Balls.
He had decided to not even tackle them and was going to ride around, even if it meant disqualification.
Even more nervous than before we rode back to the campsite to kit up and get ready. Having not seen the course we both decided to have a go and see what happened. We rode back up for 2.30, expecting to line up at 4 ish. We ended up waiting in the heat, dust and noise from the bikes and a mix of helicopters ferrying injured rider and joyriders until 5pm before lining up.
The course was already pretty cut up from the previous 1500+ riders and not knowing what was to come we both rode conservatively. Mav went first and I caught him at the bottom of the first climb. A couple of riders were down hafway up, the run up was tiny and across grapefruit sized rocks. Mav went first and binned it halfway up. I followed and buried the rear wheel in the grapefruit boulder field, stepped off the bike, dragged it out of the boulders and pointed it downhill. At the base we were taken round by a marshal, having both lost a ton of time, but satisfied we'd both tried to get up. The rest of the course was great fun, except having not seen it previously and now being passed by the smokers, it was cloaked in dust.
We both made it up, waited for the group of 100 riders to finish and then rode down to the paddock which was as fun as the Prolog!
A couple of well deserved beers were sunk. We then took part in the raid on Eisenerz. A couple of thousand bikes riding thought the local town, burnouts, wheelies etc. Brilliant fun.
On Saturday we again rode up in the morning. It was much calmer and it was obvious that a ton of riders weren't going to do the Prolog that day. We rode back up at 3 to see how busy it was and went straight through to line up for the second Prolog race.
A much better result for me. Tons more confidence despite the course being markedly more cut up and rutted than the previous day. I managed to knock a minute off my time. I was only passed by one rider after hitting two whoops, bottoming after the second and the bike cutting out. After a few seconds I realised the side stand had come down, whipped it up and was back on my way.
The after event party was as bonkers as the event. Walkners dakar bike on stage doing burnouts from cold up into 6th gear. The poor mechanics looking on from the side of the stage in horror!
An epic event. I'd love to try again but with a ton more practice beforehand.
