Living the Dos Sertoes Dream - Racing 4,500 km accross Brazil

In February, I got a hare-brained idea to ride the Dos Sertoes Rally in Brazil this August.


Boy what an unbelievable 10 days it would prove to be.

With no rally experience and little riding experience apart from a few years of weekend DS riding under my belt, most considered it a little ambitious (read stupid)to be entering the second longest rally in the world. Admittedly, I have done a couple of hectic rides on my 800GS with Mrs. Bluebull on her 650 but that's hardly the experience needed to enter a 4,500km cross country race, the [sup]2[/sup]nd longest in the world after the Dakar. But you have to start somewhere, and years ago someone had told me in Potgietersrust, South Africa that “Pissies will never be heroes”. (A pissie is someone who gets scared easily)

I wasn’t about to be a pissie.
:

It made sense to team up with other guys to reduce the shipping and support costs on the rally. Our team of riders consisted of:


Antonio Narino – KTM 525 (Colombian);


Yours Truely - Yamaha WR 450 (South African);


Dave Peckham - KTM 525 (American); and


Phil Bowman - KTM 525 (American).

Antonio lives in California and is great friends with Phil and Dave. Unfortunately Antonio fractured his leg 8 weeks before the rally, and though he turned up to start, he had to return home on urgent family business during scrutineering: Just as well, we thought he was crazy to try and compete so soon after his injury. I met Phil and Dave at the rally school earlier in the year. In fact they were instructors at the school. Both have a lot of desert racing experience, but had never competed in a major rally like the Dos Sertoes before. They seemed like good guys and were very keen on the rally so it made sense that we teamed up, especially seeing my bike was also in California (I had it built there because importing everything to Peru would be much more expensive and tedious). The other guys named the team “Wild West Rally” and managed to raise some money for their effort though the San Francisco Motorcycle club (SFMC). I was unable to raise funds, so ended up funding myself apart from a few small items donated by some kind Wild Dogs and an off-road dealer (MX1-West) in SF.

Unless you’re the ex-special forces type and able to do everything on your own, you need someone to help you with logistics and bike maintenance between stages while you rest. As it was our first rally, we agreed that we would outsource the maintenance and use friends for support.


We initially hoped to have our own dedicated mechanic, but he had other commitments and in the end we went with the Laurent Lazard’s Uruguay team pictured above. Left to right is Marcello, a magician when it comes to bike maintenance, Mauro, sponsor of team Uruguay, Laurent and Antonio. Laurent & Mauro expanded their team to 4 mechanics so they could work on our bikes as well as Laurents 690 and Mauro's monster quad.


Here are the real hero's of the rally, always helpful, always smiling, the mechanics left to right Ivan, Fernando, rider David Casteu, Marcello and Fernando at the finish. Clearly they are well connected too! Working with these guys was really awesome. Check out Laurent’s website here www.laurentlazard.com, he is running in the Dakar in January.

Dave had a friend who had been the team manager, Des McDonald, on the 2006 or 2007 Dakar with Charlie Rausseo and South African rider Elmer Symons. Elmer was sadly killed in a high speed crash on day 6 of the rally.


Des would bring plenty of rally experience, and has more recently been involved in managing a number of very successful Baja 1000’s as well as some races with Rally Panam for super fast American Jonah Street, who has won a number of stages in Dakar and recently won the Mongolia rally.


Randall Fish (also known as Randy Fish ;D ), a good friend of Des came as technical support and backup mechanic. Randall is also a qualified EMT, masseur, and extremely experienced endurance nutrition specialist. He has done some crazy American 40-hour bicycle endurance race four times, so when he says “drink this” at the end of a long day you drink it. He is also a helluva nice guy.


Last but by far not the least, came Diederik Duvenage – One of my best friends and fellow mining engineer, super skilled at organizing and logistics, He paid his own way to come along to offer traditional boer support. I figured I would need his support and help, especially towards the end of the rally.

Earlier this year, I bought a new 2009 Yamaha WR 450F and had it done up for rally.


This became….




….This and later on it turned into…


…This.

I borrowed Mrs. BB’s KTM 450 and joined the guys who like to do enduro and trials style riding in the Atacama desert. It was a baptism of fire – I was unable to ride with them for more than 15 minutes before being totally poked. This was a whole new level of riding. The riding terrain was awesome though, perfect for any rally with dunes, steep mountains, rocky trails, you name it. You can see lots of pictures, video and read all about it in this thread:

A N00b goes rally racing.

All the details of the rally kit and build is also in this thread. Also there is a parallel thread about our team preparation in my signature line that may be of interest as well.

In April I went to an informal four-day “rally school” event in the Nevada Desert in the US, tested my new bike and learnt all about navigating using standard rally equipment: GPS compass, electronic road book and “ICO” odometer. This was my first taste of rally, and I loved it, especially on the new bike with super aftermarket suspension. There is something to be said about flying across the desert at high speed. You can also read the RR in the above thread.

By July most guys entering the race had shipped their bikes and only worked out in the gym. I continued riding on the weekends with my enduro buddies, but extending the trips by riding through the desert from my house to the various destinations. This way I could ride for 8-10 hours instead of the usual 4-6. I also started riding solo during the week: A hazardous practice in the desert but with no-one around to train with this was the only option. I decided that I was risking too much, experienced rally guys had advised against training on bikes close to the rally, because too often one gets injured at number ninety nine. So I changed my tactic and started out for the first time on an MX track. Constantly aware of the danger of breaking something, I took it easy. I found this was by far the best way to train,
getting very tired very quickly after only a few laps. Those MX guys are really awesome, but they only do 10-20 laps in a session. But two hours of riding on a track is like 10 hours of tough enduro riding. By the end of July I was riding 50 laps 5 times per week. I think this gave me the edge I needed, my hands had developed nice calluses and I was riding fit. MX was becoming quite monotonous on the wrong bike. I stopped riding just over a week before the rally started and enjoyed the rest.

Now we find ourselves on the day before the start. I am ready, and my bike is ready.

I hope you are ready too - Please join me in re-living the my story: Living the Dos Sertoes Dream, a journey filled with bike bling, dust, rocks, sand, water, blood and chocolate.

Thanks for all the encouragement guys!! Its much appreciated.

You will, prepare yourself.

Jaaaa, swaer, they were removed in the second upgrade, I need to ask lastplace why. That suspension is really terrific! Saved my life a couple of times.

Time for a bumper picture fest.

The Mad Rush at the Start- Two days to go


We have been staying in Goiania, a city of one million, for four days. It’s a nice place, with great people, but it’s also expensive. Earlier we got to walk around a bit and get a feel for the lay of the land.


Preparations are underway to get the start track ready for the big kickoff. There is a feeling of expectancy in the air as the VIP area is constructed.


The layout for the Box area, park ferme, start track and support infrastructure seems to indicate the rally organization is on top of things.


It’s exciting to see the advertising boards displaying Dos Sertoes everywhere.

Two days before the race and we spend the morning with the organization doing administrative checks in the shopping centre across the road from the official start.

The shopping centre is packed with people, an unusually high number of beautiful women. Most of the married guys pretend to be blind while the single guys stumble around, staring and mumbling exclamations and falling in love.

The place must be an anomaly in the universe or something.


There is a stand selling Dos Sertoes gear doing a roaring trade and elsewhere...



..they are selling tickets to the start show out of booths shaped like rally truck cockpits. Sorry for the poor pic quality.



At the administrative check, everything looks pretty well organized.




Again, everyone is super friendly. It’s so refreshing. The check is mostly a formality because a month ago we couriered copies of drivers licenses, passports, medical insurance, doctor certification of health, echo-cardiogram results etc.



Mr. Ferretti the Italian FIM official picks up a problem – I don’t have a World Championship Cross Country (WCCC) license, but an International Cross Country license. This means I am unable to enter under my allocated WC number and category, but only into the Brazilian Championship, which means a number change and a daily start much further back in the field. Confusion reigns because I was sure I had applied for the WCCC.


I get on the phone with the American Motorcycle Association (AMA) who issued the license while Ferretti stands by to explain that If I can get the license changed in two days he will let me keep my number, 111. The AMA is awesome, and issues a new license the same day, emailing the organization a scanned copy. Ferretti is kind to me, it is clear I am new to this thing and overlooks this issue once he sees I have the right documentation the next day. The original license would arrive by courier later in the rally. Most importantly for me was that I would be putting a good 40 riders between me and first cars and trucks, something I considered high on my agenda. Another advantage was that I would be riding with the more experienced international riders, I am sure I will learn a lot from that.

I also learn that it’s a bad idea to try and shortcut the rules and especially not screw with the FIM officials under any circumstances. Des tells me that a senior American rider on his Dakar was once hit with a 300 Euro on-the-spot fine for swearing in front of these guys after becoming frustrated with their attention to the smallest details. They are the epitome of professionalism, they have seen it all, and if you cross them you could find yourself never being able to race again. Mr. Ferretti is the same guy who does scrutinizing at all WC rally events. It’s vitally important that they get what they want, when they want. If you have your act together, they quickly warm to you and things generally go more smoothly. I found it’s also a good idea to actually know what the FIM guidelines are for each category and in particular the category you choose to enter.




We all our official photos taken, here is Randal and DD getting theirs done. I don’t think the organization planned for such a big, tall participant. The organization sponsor's logos can't even be seen. None of the team shirts could fit him either.


I get handed my folder with a race number of a bib, and race No. decals for my bike, a permanent colored wrist band, a competitor ID card and a brochure on the rally with useful info about the rally and contact numbers in each town we will be staying at. You can see Des in the background talking to the guys in America about my bike and what to do next.

After the paperwork ordeal I rush back to my bike and continue with the carburetor adjustments with Randall and Des. The fuel in Brazil runs on 25% ethanol and if we don’t rejet the bikes we will lose an engine really quickly. We joke that the Yamaha design engineers obviously don’t like mechanics. It’s a bullet proof engine and rides really, REALLY nicely, but working on the bike is a real PITA. The rally kit does not make access any easier.


This and the following is what we have to do in the basement of the hotel to get access to the carburetor.













Randall and I get the needle adjust up two notches, fit a 180 Main jet, and a 145 pilot jet.

I take it for a spin, but the bike sounds like it’s bogging - too rich. Worse after filling up at a fuel station I cannot get it to start. Eventually it fires and I limp nervously back to the hotel. I’m running out of time and I’m beginning to panic. The day before I took the bike for a run and confirmed the bikes jetting was too lean, but also found out that I have major power problems. I have got to finish the bike today, because tomorrow is scrutiny and briefings! Des calms me down and says he will take it to the Uruguayans tomorrow where it will all be sorted out. He convinces me that in less than 20 minutes they will have it right as rain. Amazingly, I believe him. Perhaps it was my subconscious way of preventing a meltdown taking place in my head. I mean you need to understand there have been months to prepare, and huge dollars spent to get this far and now the bike is not working properly. I’m a mechanic’s nightmare so this stuff stresses me out big time. They have just arrived, driving five days from Uruguay and are setting up camp outside in the box area.

That night we go through our budget. It’s been decimated, it looks like everything has already doubled in cost so far and we are not sure if we will have enough cash for fuel, accommodation and food to last the next 12 days. There are rental cars to pay for as support vehicles, hotel accommodation and meals everyday for the whole team, increased mechanics fees, paid race entry fees, and bought a lot of gear and camping stuff that we did not bring with us. The total is adding up big time.


The horrified expression on Dave's face as he looks at the new total on the spreadsheet says it all.

We are all stressing out a bit and getting on one another’s nerves. Lots of self-control needed all round, because we are all difficult, driven people.

Why cant we just go riding??

T Minus - One Day: Scrutinizing

It’s the day before the race and we have been running around like headless chickens in Goiania (Goiaz province), for five days already trying to get the bikes prepped and jetted correctly for the high ethanol fuel they have here in Brazil. Apparently it’s the worst fuel in South America, and from experience, that’s pretty bad.


Dave and Phil’s bikes are fine, Phil had a major drama class with his new engine and had to fit another engine just before he shipped the bike as well, but in the last couple of days its all come right for him. In fact both Americans had no problems with jetting and general setup after their adjustments.


They sure know a lot more about bikes than I do, I feel woefully inadequate. At least I am learning fast with their help! Phil and Dave's bikes are now run in nicely. They had time yesterday to go for a ride and see what the dirt around Goiania is like. I wanted to do the same, but my bike won’t let me yet! This is also stressful because I want to get a feel for the bike. Just remember, I last rode the bike back in April for only four days and Im not convinced the place to get a feel for bike again for the first time is on the starting circuit!

There is not enough time to start stripping my bike again, but we put the battery on charge last night so we can get it through scrutinizing - we hope. In the Dakar immediately after scrutiny the bikes are locked up away from the teams in the park ferme until the start of the race, but in Brazil they are more relaxed and the bikes are locked away in the park ferme only a few hours before the start of the event. This means we can still have just under a day to work on my bike once scrutiny is done. Wonderful. Nevertheless, I try to remain positive and calm: Having a bike passing scrutiny will take a lot of worry off my shoulders. This a journey, its fast leaving my domain of control a having a panic flap about it will not help anyone, least of all the guy who has to ride the bike and finish this race - me.


We get the bikes started and nip 600m from the hotel over to the box area.

Scrutiny is a process.


You line up with the other vehicles (notice our dodgy support vehicle trying to blend in with the fancy race cars) and start with a series of checks, each check having to be signed off and stamped on a sheet. It’s here that the reality sinks in BIG time that we are actually going to be racing in a serious event. This is not a weekend ride or even an enduro event. It a freaking ten-day rally! We stare and smile at each other. The feeling is one of indescribeable joy mixed in with a healthy dollop of anxiety.







Seeing the cars and bikes lining up with feverish activity happening at each of the checks is a really amazing feeling, very cool, we are part of a small group of people who have fought the difficulties, trained hard, paid their dues and actually made it to the start without incident. Holy shit, we are SERIOUSLY going to be doing this thing!! It feels like a tremendous achievement getting this far, I’ve been grinning so much my cheeks are beginning to hurt. Yet I am still anxious because we have never done this before and the anticipation of the unknown ahead of us is unsettling.

We dont have much time to reflect though, there is lots still to do. Each check takes place or next to its own “easy up” tent. I have been often asked what this is all about, so please bear up with me while I explain:

Each of these checkpoints cost money (usually in the form of rentals of essential equipment and services) and at each point you have to prove you have paid your dues in advance or pay in cash right there before you are allowed to move on. Its well organized and very well controlled with documentation.

The first check comprises confirmation of bike and decals corresponding to the rider. They check to see decals are on the bike in the correct positions, and on our helmets, and also our Identification. I get my first stamp. Whoohoo! That was the easy one.

Next up is the Sentinel installment and checking. This is an alarm device that emits a loud beep-beep-beep sound when activated by a rally car or truck approaching from behind. The idea is the rider hears this and gets the hell out of the road before he is killed, and allowing the safe passing of the vehicle. It has to be connected directly to the battery, and tested before you get your stamp. It is considered an indispensable safety device. In characteristic fashion, getting to the battery is a real PITA. I also need tools to install it so I would have to come back for final testing later.


Third check is the installation of the “Spot” or independent GPS transceiver that has buttons that send signals to via satellite to activate live tracking on the web. More importantly there is a help/911 button that can be used to send an alarm to the organizers in the event of a serious accident requiring helicopter rescue. Normally this is activated by the first rider on the scene.

On the fourth, the Organisation takes my Zumo 500 GPS system and programs with all the main (un-hidden) way points for every step of the rally, including the box areas each day. This will be used in the GPS navigation section, but is not a replacement of the roadbook, which has much more detailed path. Again on the Dakar, they use a special ASO organization GPS system, the IRI track. Some of the guys had these on their bikes.

Fifth is the radio check, where we each received a two-way hand radio that can be used to contact the aircraft monitoring the race in the event of an emergency.

Sixth is the Rastro stop, where we are issued with two smallish independent GPS tracking devices to put in our jackets. These are replaced at the end of every day, and the info from each rider is downloaded and checked on a daily basis. It is the Rastro that helps the organization confirm riders have reached all the waypoints, including the hidden ones. It also records rider speed and is used for imposing speed penalties in the various radar zones where applicable. Simply put, it keeps the competitors honest.

Finally comes the technical scrutinizing stage, done by the organization in conjunction with the FIM officials. First they check you have passed all other checks and have been correctly signed signed off. Just then I bump into Marc Coma. Holy moly, the big legend is shorter and smaller than me. And they always describe him as a big rider. His bike is not there, it will be taken through scrutiny by his support team later. I shake his hand excitedly and tell him he is the reason I am here and that he has been a huge inspiration to me. Marc smiles at me briefly and abruptly turns away to start a conversation with Ferretti. Clearly Ferretti is much more important than just another arbitrary pilot/fan like me. Somewhat disappointed at his reaction, I tell myself that this is his job, and I shouldn’t be surprised.

Finally it’s my turn to meet Mr. Ferretti this time with four other serious-looking officials helping him and I am suddenly glad I took the time chatting with him beforehand. He could see my nervousness and was quite encouraging. I am nevertheless caught out on the sentinel, because it was not yet attached to the bike. He tells me not to worry I just have to get it checked later and come back with the signed off documentation. I can continue with scrutinizing.


Ferretti clearly seems intrigued in this fancy-looking bike.


Probably he was looking at the ADV Rider- Ride the World and Wild dog stickers.


On the other side are my sponsor’s names, as promised!! THANKS GUYS, you are awesome! All are proud Wild Dogs

MX1West is an ADV Rider inmate and runs a great accessories outlet in San Francisco, specialising in Acerbis gear. Check it out: WWW.MX1west.com


They do all the normal checks as for all the bikes: Tail lights, brake lights, headlight (thank the Lord my battery was still charged up), chain guards, bark busters etc – All the basic safety items. Phil & Dave had to swap out some kit, for example, the bobble on the end of Phils clutch lever is still lying somewhere in Nevada.

In my case, my bike goes through a much more thorough and detailed examination because my entry is firstly in the WCCC, and secondly in the production category. This means that I cannot change the engine, forks, exhaust, triple clamps or shocks during the rally. Just as well, because I only have one set of all those, and anyway, unlike Marc Coma I don’t have a guy with a mustache to hide spare wheels and other equipment in the desert for me. (You'll only understand what I mean if you know the story surrounding Mark Coma's penalty in the Dakar this year.)

They also check other things that the Brazilian championship guys don’t need like additional rear lights and 3l of drinking water capacity mounted safely on the bike.




They also check the sound output on the bikes running at high rpms, with me knuiping big-time that everything holds together, that the bike actually starts and everything works out fine. You can see them standing some regulation distance away and measuring the noise, it has to be below 85dBA. I pass, Ferretti nods, apparently very satisfied, and they move onto the next step which is marking of the bike.


Randall & I take a tank off, and out comes the paint and they start painting little green squares on all the irreplaceable parts, the engine, the frame, the forks, the triple clamps, and exhaust. I will be able to do the valves or clutch if I have to, thats it basically. Most top competitors race in the Super Production category, which allows them to burn engines out. I like to use the excuse that Im a purist that believes that real rally riders only need one engine to get them to the finish rather than admit I cannot afford a new engine every 3-4 days.




They also write my race number with a special pencil into the wet paint. This will all be checked in during and at the end of the rally. It’s fascinating to watch.


There’s 10 places on the bike where they paint green squares, in this photo there are seven; can you spot them all?



After this I am released, pending only the sentinel install, they are happy with my bike. I am over the moon. It’s taken 3 hours but now the bike is in the race.


Now I need to get it working properly, so I rush it over to the Uruguayan angels to sort out and take a couple of hours to walk around the bivouac and see what everyone else is up to.

Its…well its busy. And there is lots and lots of bike porn. It is amazing to see.




Marieta Moraes, a lady competitor also riding a Yamaha WR450, she has done this rally (I think) 8 times.


These rentals are going on the “Sertoes Series” rally, which is the 1st four stages of the Official rally. It’s a great option for DS riders who want to get a feel for real rally at a lower cost.





By far the most impressive setup was Coma & Casteau’s support area. Totally outsourced to local logistics company “Off Rush”. The company offered me a package for accommodations, food and transport for only $15,000.00 excluding maintenance. Needless to say it’s a little above my pay grade.


…David Casteu’s famous French Sherco. Watch this bike on the Dakar in January. In the background you can see two Off Rush rental KTM’s to be raced by more shit-hot international pilots and also a light lunch of fresh salmon sandwiches and salad for our heroes. Lucky bastards!


Even the smaller guys seemed to be better setup than we were.

There were a lot of large trucks and converted coaches used as support vehicles. Most were pretty impressive.






Others were more functional. You could see years of experience in some of the setups. Totally independent.






These beasts cast fear into any biker running in a special stage.


Another group of Brazilian competitors.


A card game before the storm.



These Polish guys are awesome and very serious, their lead rider Kuba Przygonski, a serious contender for the world championship, turns out to be a very nice guy who offers me a lot of support and advice.


Their support truck is the Mother of all trucks that won one of the Dakar’s a few years ago. More on this later.



Then there’s us. A Fiat Doblo and


Model 1973 VW Kombi for support vehicles!


Complete with a superhero in the support team



Yet somehow, our classy support vehicles attracted a lot of the local talent,





Admirers of Dave’s KTM 525 while helicopters buzzed overhead, note the green decal denoting Brazilian Championship.



At least the Uruguay team had a Sprinter, trailer,


And a little bike to get around the bivouac.


Laurent’s 690, a true work of art.


Mauro Almedia’s quad. No, wait that’s not a quad, that’s a freaking monster!


By late afternoon, the Uruguayans have not yet opened my bike up but as soon as I open my mouth to say anything they’re waving their arms and saying “No problemo, no problemo!” Ok then, I shrug. It’s time for me to take my bike to get cleared for the Sentinel. It tests fine and I am formally passed.

This time I get to see a lot more bikes than in the morning.




David Casteau with his team. I get the opportunity to have closer look at this beauty.






No.05 Luiz Octavio’s KTM 530, the white sticker is for WCCC over 450cc class bikes.


Little do we know this was to become a Did Not Finish (DNF).


Ike Klauman’s Yamaha WR 450 also to become a DNF.




The Uruguayans are passing through scrutinizing with flying colours.




Leandro Pires is a guy I would get to see many times in the field on his Honda 450.


The trucks are passing through as well, its bit of a rush as Scrutinizing closes at 6 pm, with no further vehicles permitted.








Inside the cab of the Ford truck.

It’s serious eye candy. You should hear the sound of the trucks and cars when they rev up their engines, it’s magnificent.

We are all in better spirits and enjoy another evening at a restaurant eating great food before turning in early. Lots of meat, perfect for us South Africans, but overwhelming for our US friends, who are not used to eating so much meat. We think it’s quite amusing.

Tomorrow is the big day! Whether my bike will be ready or not is a question that will be answered in one way or another.