03 JANUARY 2005 – SLEEP DEPRIVED

Rabat to Agadir (666 kms)

Liaison 122 kms
Special 123 kms
Liaison 421kms

Note - Click here for the CMG Dakar Glossary (just in case you don't understand some of the terminology used).

At 2:00 am I woke up, feeling a full-on panic attack brewing. I was so stressed out that I couldn’t sleep; the less I slept the more I worried about not sleeping. The more I worried about not sleeping, the less I slept.

I think we're going to end up using this pic of a very tired Bob quite often ... Photo: Sharon McCrindle

What had I gotten myself into?

I had taken all of my wife’s and my own savings and blown it on this cockamamie idea. I had only 20 kms of special tests behind me and I was crumbling like a stale soda cracker.

I only had two options: to quit or to carry on, both of which appeared to be horrible. If I quit, how would I ever be able to face my wife and friends again, let alone deal with my own conscience for the rest of my life? And carrying on was so overwhelming that just the thought of the pain and suffering that lay ahead made me feel sick!

The next thing I knew, the alarming was going off at 5:30 am. I had obviously been asleep and that was all I wanted to do, although I could do with more. But this is the Dakar, and you don’t get to do what you want to do!

I got dressed and packed the tent and sleeping bag in the dark. I choked down some breakfast and coffee, hopped on the bike and just made it to the CP for my start time. The trouble was, I had no idea where I was going; I was so tired that I just stuffed my road book into my pocket and followed other bikes through the fog and darkness.

Heading into the mountains. Photo: maindruphoto.com

At the first fuel stop I loaded my road book and tried to relax as the 122 km liaison took us out in to the foothills of the Atlas Mountains. There had been thick fog on the coast but for some reason it was also foggy heading into the mountains. I had to go so slowly that when I finally reached the start of the special I had taken significantly longer than the two hours allotted to get there.

When I arrived to have my time card stamped at the start of the special I was told “pas du special”. The fog was so thick that the helicopters couldn’t take off and therefore they could not assure our safety. Instead, we rode the first 70 kms of the special as a liaison instead.

I have to admit that I was somewhat relieved, it was nice to ride the special without the time pressure, but it was still proving to be a long day on the road.

By now it was mid-afternoon and I could barely keep my eyes open, even though I was travelling across the pavement at over 100 kph. It was time for a coffee and I decided to pull up to a café in the next town for a much needed caffeine fix.

The café had a big patio that was full of men dressed in Berber coats sitting around sipping mint tea. As I walked up in my bright orange Sinasalo riding gear, I immediately became the centre of attention.

Cash, or lack thereof. Photo: Richard Seck

I ordered a coffee in my best French and was beginning to enjoy this relaxing moment when I suddenly realized that I didn’t have any money. Well, I had Euros and U.S. dollars but no Dirham. I tried to explain this to the owner but it just caused more confusion.

Strangely they didn’t want anything to do with Euros, but we all came to an agreement when I pulled out 2 U.S. dollars and stuck them in his hand. I figured this was fair as this is how much it would have cost at Starbucks!

The sun was setting when I rolled into the Bivouac in Agadir, but I would have enough time to prepare for the next day. I fit a fresh set Michelin Desert tires and Bib mousse, changed the oil and air filters, loaded the road book and GPS, and was in bed by 8:30 pm.

Since I would have to be up at 4:30 am to do a 240 km liaison before sunrise that was still only going to be eight hours of sleep, but it would prove to be the best chunk of sleep to date.

Links:

Official Dakar website – Daily updates of the 2006 Rally.

Maindru Photo (who graciously supplied us with pictures) – Check out their daily update of pics from the 2006 Dakar.

Eurosport – Dakar 2006 coverage.

Total Motorsport – Latest news from a Dakar sponsor.

Adventure Rider website forum on racing – Lots of Dakar threads going on.

ODSC website – Read all about how Bob prepped his KTM 660.

Thanks:

Bob would like to thank the following people for helping make his Dakar adventure possible:

Jim, Colin, Richard and the crew at Cycle Improvements.
Michel, Paul and Jocelyn at Kimpex.
Guy, Patrick, Bill and Mario from KTM Canada.
Digby and the ODSC posse.
Lawrence Hacking.
The Harden off-road crew.
Everyone on the U.S. Red Bull KTM team.
And of course Sharon McCrindle.