Following the Dakar 2009
- Thread starter Dakar Gal
- Start date
Day 6 Dakar Rally: San Rafael to Mendoza
Thanks for all the lovely comments guys. As you’ve guessed it is difficult to motivate yourself to write a report at the end of a hard day, and I am simply putting my thoughts down as they spew from my head, so it’s a wonder they are anyway coherent at all! John, we actually find it difficult to get the updates on the top riders etc, so feel free to update here with any extra news on who’s in/out etc as we can miss some of that kind of information.
After getting an update from the Desert Rose crew as to Phils whereabouts, they advised us to move on ahead to Mendoza as they would have to wait up for Phil and Ennio - another of their riders who was still out on the desert. We only had 100km to make it to the end of todays special, where we would meet the race as it came out onto the road to Mendoza.
Coming down yet another boringly straight long road, we caught our first glimpse of the snow capped peaks of the Andes. Sometimes you just have to pinch yourself!
We spotted our American friends at the special end and they were hanging with Des from Team Destination Dakar (Don Hattons Manager). As we shaded from the sun we shared stories of our experiences so far.
Team Destination Dakar
Jonah Street
We waited for the lead riders to come through, Marc Coma was through first, followed a few riders later by Jonah Street who the Americans are rooting for. We rode in with the 3 lads and had great fun picking our way through the crowds. As the bike riders came along the rode in amongst us and were in great spirits waving and giving us the thumbs up.
Breaking through the crowds in the towns
Mendoza is quite a big city and our hotel people were as friendly as they come. They locked our bikes into a part of the hotel that was being renovated and couldn’t do enough for us. We got up to the bivouac and found Phil. His story of the previous night was hilarious - I think there’s a link to an interview from him on the ADVrider site with Rally Raid radio. (if anyone wants to dig it up and link in here - it would be most appreciated!) http://media.libsyn.com/media/rallyraidio/09D21.mp3
http://rallyraidio.net/
To sum it up, his clutch broke and he was stranded. He walked out of the dunes in the dark (mentioned something about getting a lift on a horse), had the luck of the Irish when some top Enduro racing guy with his wife and daughter picked him up and brought him back to the bivvy. He got the parts for his bike and made his way back with the same guy. After a short search (wandering across dunes in those boots is not easy) he found the bike. He said there was trucks and bikes and cars spread across the dunes as far as he could see. He replaced his clutch, rode 2-3 dines and then his engine died altogether. He had to get it towed out by a local roaming around in a 4x4 and managed to convince them to tow him 70k back to the bivouac (which he said was interesting as it was all dirt roads). He managed to get his bike onto the back of a Dutch truck and made his own way to Mendoza. After the nights messing he was told he would be still in if he could manage to get himself and his bike to Mendoza by whatever means.
Phil calling to say he was safe!
Ewan just in recounting his days riding fun
The rest of the guys appeared in one by one into Mendoza and reported back on having had some nice dunes to ride. Craig commented that they were so nice you could have had a second go at them. Sure enough, when Gary came in he said himself and Aussie rider #205 Chris Vargu had missed one of the Cps and instead of taking the direct route back, opted to take the route through the dunes as they had been so much fun. (the word masochist comes to mind!)
Gary and Chris arriving in
Styled up new bonnet! (note the pink background on the race number - denotes factory standard car with no modifications except for safety items such as roll bar)
We really are starting to get the swing of the bivouac and were sent on plenty of errands (get new wheels, collect oil, get start times etc) which makes us feel more part of it than two eejits standing around in peoples way! The US Monster Hummers team were setup next to Desert Rose, and the bivouac today was in a kind of terraced car park, with each team set up in a section of parking. On return home, the racers can some times spend up to 20 minutes looking for their crew, and one of the hummers found themselves on the wrong terrace above their pits. Instead of driving around, they backed up and a big roar from the engine, he floored it and jumped the entire terrace, landing and slamming on the brakes before hitting the other hummer already pitted up!. I couldn’t get my camera out on time, but it was extremely cool!
The Dutch truck that crashed 15 kn into the first stage - now following as support instead of racing. These are the guys who gave us the treasured race book and maps.
We left the Bivouac after having dinner with the guys and leaving Martin, Phils mechanic starting to take out the 525 engine to replace it with his spare. He wasn’t going to get much sleep tonight!
With stories of 5 hour waits at the border into Chile, we planned on an early start the next day.
Thanks for all the lovely comments guys. As you’ve guessed it is difficult to motivate yourself to write a report at the end of a hard day, and I am simply putting my thoughts down as they spew from my head, so it’s a wonder they are anyway coherent at all! John, we actually find it difficult to get the updates on the top riders etc, so feel free to update here with any extra news on who’s in/out etc as we can miss some of that kind of information.
After getting an update from the Desert Rose crew as to Phils whereabouts, they advised us to move on ahead to Mendoza as they would have to wait up for Phil and Ennio - another of their riders who was still out on the desert. We only had 100km to make it to the end of todays special, where we would meet the race as it came out onto the road to Mendoza.
Coming down yet another boringly straight long road, we caught our first glimpse of the snow capped peaks of the Andes. Sometimes you just have to pinch yourself!
We spotted our American friends at the special end and they were hanging with Des from Team Destination Dakar (Don Hattons Manager). As we shaded from the sun we shared stories of our experiences so far.
Team Destination Dakar
Jonah Street
We waited for the lead riders to come through, Marc Coma was through first, followed a few riders later by Jonah Street who the Americans are rooting for. We rode in with the 3 lads and had great fun picking our way through the crowds. As the bike riders came along the rode in amongst us and were in great spirits waving and giving us the thumbs up.
Breaking through the crowds in the towns
Mendoza is quite a big city and our hotel people were as friendly as they come. They locked our bikes into a part of the hotel that was being renovated and couldn’t do enough for us. We got up to the bivouac and found Phil. His story of the previous night was hilarious - I think there’s a link to an interview from him on the ADVrider site with Rally Raid radio. (if anyone wants to dig it up and link in here - it would be most appreciated!) http://media.libsyn.com/media/rallyraidio/09D21.mp3
http://rallyraidio.net/To sum it up, his clutch broke and he was stranded. He walked out of the dunes in the dark (mentioned something about getting a lift on a horse), had the luck of the Irish when some top Enduro racing guy with his wife and daughter picked him up and brought him back to the bivvy. He got the parts for his bike and made his way back with the same guy. After a short search (wandering across dunes in those boots is not easy) he found the bike. He said there was trucks and bikes and cars spread across the dunes as far as he could see. He replaced his clutch, rode 2-3 dines and then his engine died altogether. He had to get it towed out by a local roaming around in a 4x4 and managed to convince them to tow him 70k back to the bivouac (which he said was interesting as it was all dirt roads). He managed to get his bike onto the back of a Dutch truck and made his own way to Mendoza. After the nights messing he was told he would be still in if he could manage to get himself and his bike to Mendoza by whatever means.
Phil calling to say he was safe!
Ewan just in recounting his days riding fun
The rest of the guys appeared in one by one into Mendoza and reported back on having had some nice dunes to ride. Craig commented that they were so nice you could have had a second go at them. Sure enough, when Gary came in he said himself and Aussie rider #205 Chris Vargu had missed one of the Cps and instead of taking the direct route back, opted to take the route through the dunes as they had been so much fun. (the word masochist comes to mind!)
Gary and Chris arriving in
Styled up new bonnet! (note the pink background on the race number - denotes factory standard car with no modifications except for safety items such as roll bar)
We really are starting to get the swing of the bivouac and were sent on plenty of errands (get new wheels, collect oil, get start times etc) which makes us feel more part of it than two eejits standing around in peoples way! The US Monster Hummers team were setup next to Desert Rose, and the bivouac today was in a kind of terraced car park, with each team set up in a section of parking. On return home, the racers can some times spend up to 20 minutes looking for their crew, and one of the hummers found themselves on the wrong terrace above their pits. Instead of driving around, they backed up and a big roar from the engine, he floored it and jumped the entire terrace, landing and slamming on the brakes before hitting the other hummer already pitted up!. I couldn’t get my camera out on time, but it was extremely cool!
The Dutch truck that crashed 15 kn into the first stage - now following as support instead of racing. These are the guys who gave us the treasured race book and maps.
We left the Bivouac after having dinner with the guys and leaving Martin, Phils mechanic starting to take out the 525 engine to replace it with his spare. He wasn’t going to get much sleep tonight!
With stories of 5 hour waits at the border into Chile, we planned on an early start the next day.
Cal
Guest
Limk to interview
Great work. I look forward to your updates.
Below is a link to the interview of Phil's great story.
http://media.libsyn.com/media/rallyraidio/09D21.mp3
Cal.
Great work. I look forward to your updates.
Below is a link to the interview of Phil's great story.
http://media.libsyn.com/media/rallyraidio/09D21.mp3
Cal.
LiquidLAN
Registered user
Hey Orla, no worries, I've been to a few BSB/WSB, etc races and I always loose track of the big picture, its great being there, but its often not until I've got back and see the whole thing on TV that I catch up with everything that happens.
Excellent report again! I'll have a look at ADV rider and see if I can find the link.
The Mitsubishi you saw being trucked back earlier on (day 2 or 3) was probably MASUOKA (JPN). Most of the lead cars have been taking a beating, Luc ALPHAND (303) rolled his Mitsi end over end a couple of days back and it had to be totally rebuild as did one of the VWs - I think that's what you might have seen being welded back up as it looked like they had a hell of a lot of welding to do. Unfortunately Luc Alphand is no out as his co-pilot colapsed during stage 6 through exhaustion (sounds like he's ok now). I think they might be down to one car now as they had a car catch fire of the stage (not as bad as some though)
Robby Gordon (309) - I'm guessing that might be who you saw jumping terraces - has also been rolling his Hummber a fair bit, but you couldnt tell from looking at it
You'll have to get hold of a copy of the race, there are some fantastic shots of the dunes, Street was just loving it a couple of days back, there's some great footage of him and others having a lot of fun out there - if you get time and opportunity it looks like it would be well worth getting some lighter bikes and going for a play
edit : god have they got a lot to say on ADVRider!?!?! some great pics there and I think I've found a link that works for RallyRadio and I think this should be Phil Noone
Excellent report again! I'll have a look at ADV rider and see if I can find the link.
The Mitsubishi you saw being trucked back earlier on (day 2 or 3) was probably MASUOKA (JPN). Most of the lead cars have been taking a beating, Luc ALPHAND (303) rolled his Mitsi end over end a couple of days back and it had to be totally rebuild as did one of the VWs - I think that's what you might have seen being welded back up as it looked like they had a hell of a lot of welding to do. Unfortunately Luc Alphand is no out as his co-pilot colapsed during stage 6 through exhaustion (sounds like he's ok now). I think they might be down to one car now as they had a car catch fire of the stage (not as bad as some though)
Robby Gordon (309) - I'm guessing that might be who you saw jumping terraces - has also been rolling his Hummber a fair bit, but you couldnt tell from looking at it
You'll have to get hold of a copy of the race, there are some fantastic shots of the dunes, Street was just loving it a couple of days back, there's some great footage of him and others having a lot of fun out there - if you get time and opportunity it looks like it would be well worth getting some lighter bikes and going for a play
edit : god have they got a lot to say on ADVRider!?!?! some great pics there and I think I've found a link that works for RallyRadio and I think this should be Phil Noone
Mariner
Guest
Great report mate.. Thanx for the effort keeping us update real time 
Tomohawk
Guest
Thank you very much for the truly amazing coverage of the boys in green and there adventures so far in this years Dakar Rally. Please don't stop writing your reports even if you are tired and its the end of the day. There are loads of guys over on www.biker.ie following your coverage now. If you're speaking to Philip tell him Tom from the shop in Dun Loaghaire says hello and tell him best of luck and safe riding to both of them. Tell him to "keep her lit!!" and stay away from them horses!! 
(RIP) petcul
Registered user
Brilliant
(RIP) petcul
Registered user
Brilliant
:
:Day 7 Dakar Rally: Mendoza to Valparaiso
Oh no - now the pressure is on!
We had a 5am start this morning (still not as early as the riders who were being called at 4am). As the sun was rising on our backs we rode towards a wall of mountains. The air chilled off quite quickly and soon we were stopping to put on extra layers. The trucks would not be racing today - only the bikes and cars, so we were in amongst all of them. The views were simply stunning on the way into the mountain pass, and we were thinking of the guys on the bikes getting to ride all this offroad.
We got to what we thought was the border. Someone asked us for some document in Spanish - I just looked blankly at him and he waved me on. Ah, we thought that was a breeze from what we were warned we could go through. We came over the pass and were greeted with
Then - as we should have expected, we came upon the queue of traffic for the officialdom into Chile. Of course we were waved on past to the top of the queue. They had set up a special customs post for the rally, but we couldn’t use it as we hadn’t pre-filled customs forms. So we had to go through the regular customs post. That was an experience in itself, for those that may be travelling this way soon, you must go to window 1 first, then window 2, followed by window 3. Then its back to window 1, then window 5. Window 4 must then be visited, but not before first going back to window 2. After that we had to have our luggage inspected to check we had no food of any kind on board. And after that we had to go through a final check with the Chilean police. It was then that we found out we had missed paying a toll back at the beginning, but the look on my face must have been sorrowful, as I was escorted back to take care of that. All of this was done in the best of humour and the people were the nicest and very interested in where we were from, but a lesson in efficiency it most definitely was not!
After all of that we were, in the words of the nice Chilean police man, “free to go”
We packed together all our belongings and took off down the mountain pass. After days of long straight flat roads we were rewarded with this
I think I gave a little shriek of delight before I set off down, trying to remember how to take corners and hoping the tyres weren’t totally squared off from the miles of straight riding. Further on down the road we met into the Desert Rose crew who were stopping in for a coffee, so we joined them. The factory KTM team were there also, and Chris Evans came over and had a great big chat with us. It was interesting to hear about all the rivalry amongst the two teams who are effectively being managed together supporting Despres and Coma. (oh sorry, am I dropping names now?
)
We rode the rest of the way into Valparaiso, enjoying the slightly cooler breeze as we approached the coast. When I saw the Pacific ocean in front, I shouted across to Eoin “weve just crossed South America!”
We booked into the hotel, and got a call from the guys to say they were just finished the Special. It had been fairly tough even though it had been cut short from the initial route plan. Gary had come off on a section and unfortunately put his already badly bruised leg out to save himself. He strained himself fairly bad and was unable to push hard for the rest of the stage for fear of coming off again. But thankfully both were now out of the special and on the Liaison home. 350km, which would take 4 hours. We went up to the Bivouac to welcome them in. I was chatting to Si Pavey and Mick Extance who are 49th and 22nd overall. They commented that being in amongst the top 50 helps to bring them along each day. For the guys that are further down the field, its difficult to make it up as you are riding rutted tracks and have the cars breathing down your neck.
Eventually they all started to come in. Mick Shephard, followed by Gary and Philip, and soon after by Ewan who had issues with oil leaks and radiator leaks all day on his 525. They have all done fantastically to get to rest day considering there is only 139 left out of a field of 235.
Lets hope a day of rest will help sort out any niggling injuries, and they can start reasonably fresh for the stage to La Serena.
Ourselves, we are also glad of a day to chill out and do nothing.
This is the view from our hotel
Oh no - now the pressure is on!We had a 5am start this morning (still not as early as the riders who were being called at 4am). As the sun was rising on our backs we rode towards a wall of mountains. The air chilled off quite quickly and soon we were stopping to put on extra layers. The trucks would not be racing today - only the bikes and cars, so we were in amongst all of them. The views were simply stunning on the way into the mountain pass, and we were thinking of the guys on the bikes getting to ride all this offroad.
We got to what we thought was the border. Someone asked us for some document in Spanish - I just looked blankly at him and he waved me on. Ah, we thought that was a breeze from what we were warned we could go through. We came over the pass and were greeted with
Then - as we should have expected, we came upon the queue of traffic for the officialdom into Chile. Of course we were waved on past to the top of the queue. They had set up a special customs post for the rally, but we couldn’t use it as we hadn’t pre-filled customs forms. So we had to go through the regular customs post. That was an experience in itself, for those that may be travelling this way soon, you must go to window 1 first, then window 2, followed by window 3. Then its back to window 1, then window 5. Window 4 must then be visited, but not before first going back to window 2. After that we had to have our luggage inspected to check we had no food of any kind on board. And after that we had to go through a final check with the Chilean police. It was then that we found out we had missed paying a toll back at the beginning, but the look on my face must have been sorrowful, as I was escorted back to take care of that. All of this was done in the best of humour and the people were the nicest and very interested in where we were from, but a lesson in efficiency it most definitely was not!
After all of that we were, in the words of the nice Chilean police man, “free to go”
We packed together all our belongings and took off down the mountain pass. After days of long straight flat roads we were rewarded with this
I think I gave a little shriek of delight before I set off down, trying to remember how to take corners and hoping the tyres weren’t totally squared off from the miles of straight riding. Further on down the road we met into the Desert Rose crew who were stopping in for a coffee, so we joined them. The factory KTM team were there also, and Chris Evans came over and had a great big chat with us. It was interesting to hear about all the rivalry amongst the two teams who are effectively being managed together supporting Despres and Coma. (oh sorry, am I dropping names now?
)We rode the rest of the way into Valparaiso, enjoying the slightly cooler breeze as we approached the coast. When I saw the Pacific ocean in front, I shouted across to Eoin “weve just crossed South America!”
We booked into the hotel, and got a call from the guys to say they were just finished the Special. It had been fairly tough even though it had been cut short from the initial route plan. Gary had come off on a section and unfortunately put his already badly bruised leg out to save himself. He strained himself fairly bad and was unable to push hard for the rest of the stage for fear of coming off again. But thankfully both were now out of the special and on the Liaison home. 350km, which would take 4 hours. We went up to the Bivouac to welcome them in. I was chatting to Si Pavey and Mick Extance who are 49th and 22nd overall. They commented that being in amongst the top 50 helps to bring them along each day. For the guys that are further down the field, its difficult to make it up as you are riding rutted tracks and have the cars breathing down your neck.
Eventually they all started to come in. Mick Shephard, followed by Gary and Philip, and soon after by Ewan who had issues with oil leaks and radiator leaks all day on his 525. They have all done fantastically to get to rest day considering there is only 139 left out of a field of 235.
Lets hope a day of rest will help sort out any niggling injuries, and they can start reasonably fresh for the stage to La Serena.
Ourselves, we are also glad of a day to chill out and do nothing.
This is the view from our hotel
Looks and sounds like youse are having a grand ol time Orla
Enjoying your reports
Enjoying your reports
Deleted account 220427002
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you could paint that roof on your day off
Take time to try the mussels in the seafood restaurants - they are superb!
Brilliant reporting Eoin & Orla.
BAZZER450
Guest
Hi new here and would just like to say Hi and Mention that Phil and Gary are getting there attention as well over here http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=417706&page=108 . Those 2 are a couple of top notch ... Had the Pleasure of meeting them last Oct in Morocco at the AMV Shamrock ,Rally Du moroc with Patsy Quick . If you havnt Listened to phil's account of " Riding across the desert on a horse with no name check it out on post #1619 of the Link ... If that doesnt sum Phil up in a few words I really dont Know what else will other swillin a few 
with the 2 of them. I really wish the best for those 2 and My Wife and I follow their progress every day. They are in the best of Hands with Patsy and Clive and Martin !!! anyways Cheers !! AND GO GETIM PHIL AND GARY!!
Dakar Girl if you get the chance please give the boys and desert rose our kindest regards and tell them we are following there adventure every step of the way !! We are rooting for you all the way ... Phil tammy never slept a wink or got any work done tell she found out you made out of the dunes alive !!! she watched you go in and gave a bunch of these when you came out
tell them its from
Ken and Tammy from across the pond
... Had the Pleasure of meeting them last Oct in Morocco at the AMV Shamrock ,Rally Du moroc with Patsy Quick . If you havnt Listened to phil's account of " Riding across the desert on a horse with no name check it out on post #1619 of the Link ... If that doesnt sum Phil up in a few words I really dont Know what else will other swillin a few with the 2 of them. I really wish the best for those 2 and My Wife and I follow their progress every day. They are in the best of Hands with Patsy and Clive and Martin !!! anyways Cheers !! AND GO GETIM PHIL AND GARY!!Dakar Girl if you get the chance please give the boys and desert rose our kindest regards and tell them we are following there adventure every step of the way !! We are rooting for you all the way ... Phil tammy never slept a wink or got any work done tell she found out you made out of the dunes alive !!! she watched you go in and gave a bunch of these when you came out
tell them its from
Ken and Tammy from across the pond
Forgot to stick this up. Gives some idea of the crowds that line the streets as we pass through the towns along the route.
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garfield
Registered user
awesome......I have to follow the Dakar at some point in my life......
hondated
Registered user
Dakar Gal...
pleased don't feel pressurised because we all appreciate your efforts and will understand if your extremely interesting and inspiring reports take longer than you expect them to to reach us.It would be great to meet up with you and your Dakar pals at the Excel Centre if your going there at the end of the month. Once again thank you. It is compulsive reading
pleased don't feel pressurised because we all appreciate your efforts and will understand if your extremely interesting and inspiring reports take longer than you expect them to to reach us.It would be great to meet up with you and your Dakar pals at the Excel Centre if your going there at the end of the month. Once again thank you. It is compulsive reading
Fanastic write up.
Great going.
Well done, Orla and Eoin, and a great read, you both have gone a long way since the gentle evening rides in the Wicklow hills, and in a very short time,
say hello to Gary for me, and I wish you all good luck.
D
say hello to Gary for me, and I wish you all good luck.
D
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