"The Dubai Rally was SUPERSTUFF"

49:th of 109 starters.
2.055 km total, 1.506 km special stages.

I'm back and I made it!!!
I had never expected it was going to be so much fun. It was all a very new expierience. I had never ridden my brand new Husaberg 600 before, and I'm used to riding 125cc 2-strokes. But the week riding in Morocco on Moto Aventures' Honda 400 made the swap easier. I had also never used a roadbook or GPS for navigation, which made me nervous.
It all started badly when my flight to Dubai was 24 hours late and my luggage got lost. Then the big fueltank was missing when shipping the bike. But everything solved in the end.
Believe it or not but it actually rained twice, it hasn't rained for 2 years. First before the rally with some sandstorm, then on day 3. Packed the sand up a bit and made it heavy.

Prologue:
Waited for the big tank to arrive,but no. We had to borrow one from the local dealer in town. Because of this I was late for my prologue and also got lost on the way there. Luckily John Deacon passed by and guided the way. I arrived when the last car was out, so I had to ride my prolouge without timing which gave me last startingposition.

Day 1, 308 km:
I started as last moto, nr 109. Felt a bit lonely first I got out in the desert. I also had to learn how to navigate by the roadbook and GPS, that slowed me down a bit but I had to get a hang of it. After a while I started catching up and passing some other riders, and felt that riding wasn't too hard at all. And by the end of day 1 I was 64th! Was I surprised...

Day 2, 413 km:
Much harder riding, big soft dunes, very hot and some trouble with the little sidetank that would not empty properly. I had to lay the bike down on one side so it would fill the big tank. Riding the dunes was super. I kept passing people all the time, and soon had a tail of other riders following my line. Got a little lost in a village at the very end, but still advanced to 60th. Some riders didn't make the last bit and got time penalty.

Day 3, 380 km:
Started to feel a bit tired so I paced down a bit to make sure I would stand all day. Started raining midday and the sand became very heavy. 8 km before tankstop I ran out of petrol. Had to stop a fellow competitor and with a little plastic bag I got 1/2 litre, just to make it to the petrol station.
After 3/4 of the day there was a very inspiring section of flat "sabkha" (like dry flat lakesbeds of soft sand) and rolling dunes with jumps like a motocross track. Now I speeded up a bit and was flying past 6-8 people in just one hour. Maybe half an hour before the end of the stage my roadbook jammed, so I slowed down not to get lost as I had done the day before. Becuse the track was so rutted I rode beside it, on the rolling little dunes.
Then... CRASH! I got a big kicker and flew over the handlebars getting the bike on top of me. I immediately felt my ankle was broken but managed to lift the bike, fix the smashed headlight and roadbook and continue to the end. Some of the ones that I had passed before, now passed me, but still I advanced to 51th.
I could feel the foot was swelling inside the boot, but was determined to continue. I was going to sleep with the boot on, if that was what had to be done. But as I had Alpinestars tech 8, with the separate innerboot, I took the chance of taking my boots off. I slept (not very well) all night with the foot on ice while my mechanics were fixing the bike - it took them some hours.

Day 4, 405 km:
The foot was big, blue and stiff. Alain Perez, my team colleague put some tape on the foot and I managed to put the boot on (without the innerboot). First half of the day was easy riding and caused no big problems, but in the afternoon we got into very soft sanddunes where you have to contain speed over some drops and jumps. I had major problems here and fell over and dropped the bike. Lifting it was really painful. Now I started making more errors and went over the handlebars once again, and smashed the roadbook.
30 km from the finish I made a wrong choice when following the tracks. There were several of them, and the ones I followed soon led me into the softest sand I had ever experienced. Ofcourse I got stuck. I thought this was it, the END, I could not lift the bike. I could see the other riders passing 2 km away not seeing me.
But NO, I was not going to give in so close to the end. I let some petrol out to make the bike lighter and lay it down onto each side to wiggle the rearwheel up, then started it and pushed it a meter before it dug the rear wheel down again. 5 times I had to do this before I reached firmer sand - took me at least one hour.
The last 30 km were the longest of the whole rally. When I finally reached the finishline I was so tired I almost could not get off the bike. 500 m later I also ran out of petrol... Lucky it was after and not before the finishline.
Then there was a 70 km transport to the hotel, good hot shower and then the Banquet - but no dancing for me. My foot was like a blue football.

I had completed my first ever rally, and I finished 49th overall!
And this was not going to be my last, Tunisia next....