Alula, Saudi Arabia – Jan 8, 2025
Stage 5 Marathon Stage 1
Without my phone I’ve had no idea of the day’s stage information or results, but it’s actually been good not knowing what to expect the next day – I could sleep without overthinking things!
This morning in the 340 km liaison I thought I had hypothermia. It was the coldest I’ve ever been.
At the start of the special stage I was still shaking and we went straight into 100 km of rocks. At km 50 I had a crash in a big rock section and it hurt bad. It must have woken me up a bit as I got moving and rode at a much faster pace passing quite a few bikes.
After the first refuel I made some good navigation decisions in some difficult areas and made up more ground. The terrain was relentless with a lot of deep sand filled with rocks.
Our destination for tonight’s bivouac was Alula and the final 100 km was through some beautiful deep sandy canyons and rock formations.
Luckily I had a good pace today and arrived at the marathon Bivouac in daylight and had plenty of time to set up my tent and eat before getting an early night.
I’m really happy with today’s stage.
Ha’il, Saudi Arabia – Jan 9, 2025
Stage 6 Marathon Stage 2
We’re back on track!
At the end of the marathon stage I’m sitting 13th in Original by Motul, 4th in the Veterans class and 51st in Rally 2. I’m pretty happy with that given the challenges of the past few days.
Today was another solid day. It was a cold night in the tent at Alula and I was up early at 4am, but I’d slept well. About half an hour later I asked someone when the first bike was away and they told me it’s a late start at 8am.
So I could have got a few more hours sleep, but without my phone and comms I didn’t know.
I also didn’t know yesterday’s results and when I found out my start time I was surprised that I had finished yesterday’s stage so well.
There was no liaison today, we were straight into the special stage of 430 km.
Words cannot describe how demanding the first 230 km were. There were massive rocks and boulders and not a second to lose any concentration.
I rode with three other riders until km 200 where there was some tricky navigation and we couldn’t find a waypoint.
I decided to just do my own thing and didn’t follow the others. My decision paid off and I quickly found the waypoint and rode the rest of the stage by myself.
There were some really dangerous sections not marked in the roadbook and I had a few really close calls. The last 50 km weaved through more rock formations and canyons into Ha’il and was deep rutted sand.
I was relieved to see the finish!
It was only a short 60 km liason to the bivouac in Ha’il.
I have a few injuries from my crashes starting to cause me some issues so I will have to manage them as best as I can.
Tomorrow is our rest day in the Ha’il bivouac. I’m looking forward to that!
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