the first real day was not too bad. i did get caught by a few guys but i expected that i would see a few come through on the faster sections. my top speed on the previous day had been 130 kmh but generally i found it difficult to get past about 110 kmh. that was not necessarily a bad thing: the course was tighter than expected and it was not hard to overshoot turns.
we were not quite sure how day 2 would go after the rain over night, but we started as planned in the morning and as we rolled off the line there was no issue out on the track.
after a short 27 km liaison stage we were off to a 155 km selective. what i remember most about the selective were the restricted speed zones. some made sense, particularly the one that took us through a set of humps about a meter high each – someone would have gotten killed had we been allowed to take them on full speed.
the beginning of the stage was beautiful though and there were a few spots where i almost wanted to stop and take a picture. i also had a little off but it was more emberassing than concerning. it showed me, however, that trying moves that i would hardly consider fancy with an enduro setup don’t work with a fully loaded rally bike.
still i had little to complain about: the desert race & desert mousse front & rear showed no signs of letting go. not that i expected the 250 to shred tyres …
after a short stop we were off to the next stage, a 255 km selective. it started off with a nice winding but slippery track with dry trees waiting to whip the unsuspecting passer by (who miscalculated a turn and ended up a bit more to the outside than expected). then a deep rocky creek crossing with a few photographers who waited in vain for me to throw away the bike. but for people riding around in the watties a little rocky climb does not hold too many terrors.
my issues started around km 80 when the track suddenly disappeared. well, let’s say it was a bit rocky and there was nothing in the way of a visible trail. unfortunately i then found what was probably a cattle trail and saw a few tyre marks there. i followed the trail for a while and ran into two other guys, but it felt wrong and i turned back. i had a little slip on a rock and when i picked up the bike the bars were twisted. for a little while i worried where i was going to get replacement bars from but it turned out the triples had twisted – that was quickly fixed.
i got back to where i knew i got lost and looked around: there were bikes coming and going in all directions. ‘luckily’ i saw the first car coming through and they got it right. the next few kilometers were a bit rough, a rocky twisting, washed out track that was not as bad as they said in the route description but required a little care. still, after a short 35 km liaison i got into bivvi in gascoigne junction, and i actually got there with a lot of light left – unlike many other competitors.
the bivouac in gascoigne junction was pretty comfy, a big grassy patch with enough room for the tents away from the noisiest generators. not bad, i knew that after 630 km on day 2 another 630 km day was coming up. we got two scrolls for day three, a clear sign that the day was not only long but also required more navigation or contained more cautions.
we knew we were going out to mount augustus, apparently the biggest monolithic mountain in the world – like uluru, but not quite as striking. sightseeing!
the first part of the day was a 107 km liaison followed by a 240 km selective. i made a few small navigational mistakes immediately on the first few kilomteres and hit a gutter (i missed the caution) pretty hard so i decided to take it easier. the selective felt pretty fast, and i expected to find the cars chasing me down early, but actually only one car passed me and that was on the final kilometers. he passed me in a section full of big flat rocky slates and send them flying in my direction – thank god for body armour. at the same time i lost power to the tripmeter and the roadbook. i did not stop to check what was wrong because i did not have far to go and did not want to let another car by.
luckily when i stopped at the finish i found that one of the rocks the car sprayed me with must have hit the power switch and cut my gear off. a really quick fix, i just turned the power back on. the next stage back to gascoigne was supposed to be ‘only’ 170 km .. should be easy, right?
well, not quite. my first mistake was probably to fill the bike up completely – i knew i had 380 km coming up without another tank stop and did not want to risk running out of fuel. a few kilometes into the stage i regretted that decision: they routed us through a rock garden and with all the weight the bike really steered like a (drunken) cow. never before have i experienced understeering on a bike in the dry at walking pace!
it did not get easier from there. much of it was really rocky and you had to make sure you stayed on the track to avoid getting onto the rolling rocks. there were heaps of creek crossings, some not too bad and some quite unpredictable.
then about half way through, coming out of a creek, the instructions said turn left following the road but there was not road to the left, only a churned up paddock. so instead i followed the road straight on and there were plenty of tyre marks, but i still had doubts. my doubts grew when a quad came the other way. another bike joind and we went back to the creek crossing. we crossed the paddock and another creek and lo & behold there was a track continuing from there. i later found out that many guys including the top riders had issues at the same spot and some even had to radio in and ask the race hq for help. pretty embarrassing.
it took me almost three and a half hours to complete the selective, but i took it really easy and rode safely. the last bit included a few kilometers through a deep creek bed and then a crossing of a really wide river (no water of course). i was pretty exhausted but still got back to bivvi at a good time. i felt i had been pretty slow but i had also passed a lot of guys who had stopped with technical issues out on the stage. i ended the day in 20th spot, had enough time to service the bike and prepare for the next day. pretty good, right?
unfortunately that’s when it all came apart. when i drained the oil i found a piece of metal stuck to the magnet of the drain bolt. not a big piece, but definitely something that was clearly designed to play a part somewhere in the bowels of the engine. i took it to the resident ktm guru and he had a few ideas. he also said whatever it would turn out to be, there would not be a spare part available.
in the end the choice was simple. with 3.5 days to go chances that the rest of the clip would stay in place and not end up where they would do more damage potentially resulting in a catastrophic failure were too slim for my taste. then there was the question why the clip broke in the first place; something was wrong in there, even if i did not realize it when i rode. so i parked the bike on the trailer and told the organizers i was not going to start next day.
then i called kris & asked if natalie & her could come and meet me in perth. at least we could spend a few nice days together. i booked a flight from exmouth, the next stop on the safari.
i spent the next day following the rally with donat, our photographer. we followed the guys to the start of the first selective, then on to the first service point. there we heard that one of the guys had blown up his engine (properly, not just a part of a clip in the oil) and another had broken his ankle – not a good day for the team.
donat surely does a better job but here is one of my safari impressions: this is a typical creek. were you expecting water?
there clearly is water in them at times and when that’s the case i doubt you would want to be around. most of the times we just crossed them , but sometimes we stayed in them for a while. given the creek beds are sandy you need to get the bike up to at least 60 – 70 kmh to stop the front wheel from digging in. then you try bouncing off the creek banks as the creek winds through the landscape.
of course creek beds are lined with trees and bushes; even when there is no surface water flow there is still water available under ground. this is where the hand guards come in really handy …
to be continued …