Day 4 Dakar Rally: Jacobacci to Neuquen
Wow what a day. We’re both exhausted but have had such an unbelievable day! The plan was; ride out 25 km to the end of todays special and meet the guys arriving in. The bible (our assistance road book blagged from the dutch truck racer - who incidentally was knocked out of the race after a crash 15km into the first stage) said the first rider would arrive in at 11:30 and going by the other days we reckoned the lads would arrive in at maybe 1-ish.
So we ride out what is described as Rippio (someone can correct my spelling) its basically untarred road and can vary from loose gravel to sand and big potholes. The country is full of them - we could do with a few more roads at home left like that! As we left our hotel, the streets were already lined with crowds out to see the first bikes in. Everybody was waving at us and taking pictures. We pulled in to a garage to buy water. It was preparing for the Dakar vehicles to come in, with crowds already gathering. People were running up taking photos of us. It was a bit intimidating, so we got going fairly quick.
Out towards the stage end the police had cordoned off the road. As we approached I thought ”ah well, this is as far as we get”. But the police man waved me over asked where we were from, and waved us through. We were now riding on dusty track against the race towards the special. First through came Marc Coma, following after by some of the other top riders. When the support trucks started coming through and kicking up so much dust we couldn’t see a thing, we decided it was far enough and pulled up to watch the rally from there. The road was lined with supporters, and everybody thinking we were part of the race.
One big crowd of Argentinians came up and started chatting to us.
Watching the race bikes and soon after the cars was excellent. Even though they were only on the liaison section to the bivouac, their speed was unbelievable. I can only imagine what it must be like to be on a bike and have one of those cars up your behind. The whine from the car engines is almost scary.
As we waited their, we cheered in Si Pavey, Stanley Watt (who wears an Irish Helmet!) Ewan Buchan and Craig Bounds. Then we waited. And waited. No sign of the two Irish lads. As the afternoon wore on we really started to get worried. The fact that both were missing, meant that possibly one had an injury and the other was helping. All sorts of scenarios were going through our heads. But as there was still the odd bike coming through, we were hopeful that we might still see them. I texted Si Pavey to see if he had any news from the bivouac, and then Daithi to see if he could give us some news. He got back to me with news of both guys getting to the end of the check which was very helpful (Thanks Lad!)At about 4:30 we saw the first Irish bike, at last, Gary was home safe. He pulled up along us and explained that the Canadian Don Hatton, had a bad fall on a jump. They had to call in an airlift for him as they suspected a back injury. I’ve since heard he has damaged one of his vertebrae, but I don’t know the full story. He is in hospital tonight. That ate up and hour of the guys time, but worse still they were now in amongst the cars and the trucks, and with the trucks chewing up the track in to an un-rideable state, their progress to the end of the special was very hard going. Gary was glad to be in and looked exhausted even though he said he was feeling fine.
He said Phil was a good bit behind, and we planned to ride back with him and hopefully blag our way into the Bivouac. What we didn’t know was that all the trucks had been through all day and chewed up even this part of the road. What was a doddle for the rally bikes wasn’t so easy for us. I hit the first piece of sand and had a serious wobble. I carried on keeping an eye out for further sand traps. After a while I realised Eoin wasn’t behind. I pulled up and so did Gary. Immediately we were mobbed. Gary got a free bike wash. Some locals got to work washing his bike, which he was delighted with, while I was completely mobbed, and couldn’t shout across to Gary to say I had to go back. Once they realised I was female, I was getting offers of marriage, and I’m not sure what else! Eventually I turned around and drove off with half a dozen “fans” hanging off the bike. When we got back the road a bit we found Eoin. He had hit the same pool of sand and his wobble hadn’t worked out so well, sending him rolling through the dust. The bike came down with him and the whole front end was squashed in, the pannier broken off and clutch lever broken. He had a few war wounds and was mainly just shocked, so after a push he managed to ride the bike clutchless after us in towards the bivouac.
With the traffic building he had to eventually abandon the bike at the side of the road, he hopped on mine, and I went on the back of Gary’s 660.
We passed through the high security into the bivouac, with Eoin having to leave the bike outside parked up. Its amazing the security blocks we have been waved through just because we look the part. After a bit of driving around (you don’t get the size of this thing until you have been here) we found the Desert Rose Truck, with a mechanics work area set up, and all the guys tents set up in front of it. This is the guys home every night when they get in after a hard days riding. Just to see all the different team set ups was really cool. The massive support areas for the top race cars down to the lone privateer area. These guys work on their own bikes, after a gruelling days riding. I went for food with the guys as Eoin headed off to find a spare clutch lever for his bike. The company we rented the bikes off has a guy racing a BMW 450 in the rally and he eventually found him. He got some local guy on an 1150 who took him through the streets (no helmets!) to find a shop where he woke up the owner to get the parts, and brought him back to his bike to fix it up.
Meanwhile, I was lapping up the atmosphere around the bivouac.
Martin, the lads mechanic
Gary
Phil
Ewan Buchan and Phil
People working on machines everywhere - I saw one guy welding a part on a car. People fixing themselves up (had to visit the medical tent to get heavy duty drugs for damage that Gary had done on an off 2 days previous)
The food in the catering tent was top notch. With wine, beer, soft drinks served also. And all nationalities sitting in filling up, and thinking about the day just done and the days ahead.
The news on the camp is that out of 230 odd riders at the start, there are now only 140? After 4 days riding that’s an awful lot of people knocked out. I’m not sure what the car and truck status is, but just chatting to a few of them, they found todays stage very difficult.
Discussing the days stage with Si Pavey
Simons Xchallenge
Injuries so far. Gary with badly bruised leg that hes limping with and Phil has bruising all down the front of his shin.
Eoin looking like a genuine Dakar rider after his tumble in the sand. Note he’s still smiling!
As it got dark, the guys headed off to their tents to sleep, as the mechanics were carrying on working on getting their bikes ready for the morning.
No major work being done so far, just basic maintenance, and tyre changes etc. They have a 6am start in the morning, and a very tough day ahead by all accounts, with the first dunes to negotiate. Eoin rang to say his bike was fixed, and I met him outside the bivouac where we were again mobbed by the crowds (this country just loves the Dakar!) People were looking for all our gear, and to take photos with all their children. It was all very good natured and as we were now getting used to it, not intimidating at all. We drove through the crowd, back out onto the main street and back to the hotel for the night. Absolutely knackered now, and the face burnt off me, as I hadn’t planned on being in the sun for so long. Will report back again as soon as we get more news.
