Well the bikes are sitting in a crate in southern Spain at the moment and I have gear spread from one end of my dining room floor to the other right now...trying to figure out how to jam it all in two luggage bags... My good racing buddy Dan and I are catching our flights tomorrow to Almeria Spain where the rallye starts. Sign in and tech inspection are on Sunday, then we will be taking a ferry overnight to Nador Morocco where the action will begin. More information on the rallye itself can be found here: http://www.tuareg-rallye.com/index.htm I should have internet access up until this Sunday, so I'll try to post some pre-rally shots of us getting ready and doing a bit of riding in southern Spain before we hit Morocco. If I manage to get access during the rallye I'll post what I can here. Here's a couple of shots of us getting the bikes shipped last weekend: Dan unloading the Yamaha Quad crate for us to load our two Husaberg FE550's into: Here's a shot of my Berg before disassembly for crating: At this point the crate looked pretty sano Once we got all our stuff jammed into it, the thing looked like a bomb had gone off inside of it. Still, there was plenty of room for two bikes, four spare wheels, two additional spare tires, helmets, boots, tools and a kitchen sink. Unloading at the freight terminal then it's off to the airport. OK...better get back to packing....I'll post more when we get settled in Spain. Hasta la vista baby.
Good luck guys!!! Have a safe ride and an experience of a lifetime. As you said Ron...CARPE DIEM!!! P.S. Good shot of you Dan at the start. Nobody can see your face so you look younger and we can't see the cigar either .
All the VERY BRST, GOOD LUCK and ride SAFE and trust me on this one "ride your own rally" Do you have RallyRadio phone #"s?? if not send a PM to Packmule I'm sure he will give you them and details.It would be great to have up to date phone calls.
Thanks for the sage advice! I'm waiting on Packmule to PM me the numbers. If I've got cell service along the way I can call in some reports.
Anyone know if there is viewable tracking? ( besides the SPOT that Canadaler has) & daily standings updates?
The Dutch www.enduro.nl had a daily update (in Dutch) a lot of pictures and a little video http://www.myvideo.nl/watch/6184958
Hi all....sorry for the lack of information or RallyRAIDio updates...no internet or phone access once I got into Morocco. I´m back in Spain today and will post a blow by blow account of the trip over the next week or so. There were certainly some highs and lows during the rally. The best part was the people we met. It was truly an adventure ride! Don´t even know where I finished...somewhere way down in the pack, but it didn´t matter in the end. Pic´s and day by day stage diary to follow.
One of the dutch entries, Erwin Dobbelaar (XR400) was really impressed by "a wealthy Canadian guy that helped warming up a very cold navigator of a drowned Desert Warrior". Was that you, Canadaler?? The organisation has the results untill day 6. According to the Dutch entries it may take some time before they have a complete result. http://www.tuareg-rallye.de/2009totalday6.pdf Ron Golden (#33) the only Canadian i could find the rides a Husaberg is on the 69th place (of 136). Daniel Clark - # 68 has no bike listed, but still finished 114??
I just checked my wallet...no that's not me! Actually there is some truth to the story. I'll detail it in the day by day trip report I'll post here. There were several Canadians on the rally, myself and Dan Clark were both Husaberg mounted and the only bike riders. There were at least 4 or 5 Canadians (the wealthy ones ) driving/navigating cars. We were hit with freak weather on day 6 resulting in flash flooding. One of the Canadian/Rally UK cars tried to cross a raging river and didn't make it. The driver was (rather unwisely) trying to exit the car when the current caught it and rolled it over on top of him...twice. He suffered some significant injuries and a number of bike riders, including myself gave assistance. Bobby..the injured driver was...IMO...in danger of suffering from hypothermia in addition to his serious injuries. In order to try and get his body temperature up I took off most of my riding gear and lay next to his back as other riders covered us with their jackets. Thankfully it helped and Bobby stopped his violent shivering after about 15-20 minutes lying next to him. It took almost 2 hours from the time of the accident unil the medical FWD could make it to the site. Bobby was one very, very, lucky guy that day. Pretty scary for all of us involved actually. There were probably 20 riders who stopped and helped, all of their efforts contributed to a sucessful rescue of the injured driver. Ron
