UAE
Desert
Challenge
2013
Tried it again at the age of 63 - UAE DC2013!
Prehistory
Since I decided that the Desert Challenge 2014 would be the last rally in my life, I had never been able to let go of the good and bad memories I had made in the Middle East over the past 25 years.
Countless trips into the desert, thousands of kilometers by bike through the dunes & endless overnight stays have a huge impact on life.
It's like a virus that you just can't get rid of! For days and nights I kept thinking about what to do next. There was still the dream of the DAKAR rally, the BAJA 1000, Race to Africa and many others ... But that's why it's also called a dream & it remains a dream! Getting older is always a battle of "BODY & MIND"! The body is slowly fading and the mind pretends an age of only 25 years! What should I do?
In November 2012 I decided to leave the UAE to join my family in Germany in order to prepare my retirement ( selling bikes, cars, furniture, etc.). If not at one day Austrian television - ORF 1 - would have asked to participate in a TV series called "Live Your Dream", everything would have gone that way. The idea of ​​the series was showing Austrians around the globe, in their jobs, in daily life and also some freaks to show their "Unlived Dreams" . For me it was my life in the desert and straight put me back some years and to live my dream of another rallye!
At the same time I discovered a french buddy offering an almost brand new KTM 530 EXC Factory Edition. I immediate bought the bike, still without intentions of racing again. Just wanted the bike for my activities in Germany.
A few days later while visiting the UAE KTM agent, I discovered countless & unused parts for EXC baswed rally bikes on their shelves!
KTM had stopped all local race activities and were ready to sell the parts at a good price! So I decided to buy all the parts which could make my 530 Factory Edition mutate into a race-ready rally bike!
Preparation time
I had raced three Marathon Rallies before and therefore gained quite some experience regarding - "What to do and what not to do".
But this again could not prevent me from making serious mistakes like beginners. If you just list up all of the next, you feel like a beginner and asking yourself - why did I do this - this was so dumb & stupid!
I knew that "upgrading" a standard bike to a rally bike is a nightmare and the result will never be the way you want it to be or even compair to a real ralyle bike. Especially in one of the toughest desert rallies like in UAE DC, where the dunes & sand are so huge!
My approach: Buying a 1-year-old KTM 450 rally in the UAE before had sadly failed due to lack of sponsorship. There is always a lot of money involved. That's why I convinced myself (... basically cheated on myself ) that an upgrade of my KTM 530 EXC Factory Edition with the rally parts from KTM will work and would be good enough for an old man :(
... this is where I started to make my life really difficult!
At first it turned out that some of the parts I bought were quite damaged and took several weeks to rework. Second - I was running out of time - I couldn't even do a proper test run with the bike after I had finally finished it up some 2 days before the start of the rally !! To make the engine more reliable on high-speed parts of the race, I had also decided to install a better "WOESSNER PISTON", which had proved its quality and reliability in many Dakar Rallies!
Here I really have to advise EVERYONE dreaming of their first rally:
Get a proper Rally bike with full support so you can focus on the important things - this is YOU & riding the bike to conquer the desert!
1st & 2nd test run - prologue in Abu Dhabi:
Took the bike into the desert for running in the engine (... remember! New piston). The bike fired immediate, ran well like in the workshop, the basic ride was better than expected and 2 more runs of 20 minutes were also okay. Since this was only 2 days before the rally, I also had to test the feeling and behavior of the bike under "High Speed". Went for a faster ride and immediate disaster stroke! The bike would not speed up more than 130 km - instead giving strange sound and engine stutter came up as soon as the 130 km limit was exceeded!
Called friends, called KTM, Woessner etc.... After all suggestions like different nozzles, spark plugs, valve clearance, etc. were exhausted, I brought the bike back to KTM UAE for analysis. Marc Coma & Taddy Blazusiak with their mechanics were also there, but had no real idea of the problem! We decided to dismantle the engine as the crankshaft seemed to have too much clearance one mechanic opted noise :( ... that's going to be expensive, I thought!
After dismantling the pistron & cylinder, etc. were checked by KTM and also by the KTM Factory mechanics ... nothing that could be considered as wrong!
So we decided to install a NEW crankshaft and build the engine from scratch! One of Marc's mechanics added: Just install a "standard piston" too! We fired the bike and the engine ran just like the other one did before. Fine now? BUT no high speed test done yet!
And there was no time to test this as the next day was prologue day in Abu Dhabi! So I decided to ride the bike on the road to Abu Dhabi using the distance to run in the engine and try the speed test after some 50 km ........
Well - what can I say - magic? It worked beyond 130 km and there were no signs of misfiring even at 160 km. Also the prologue ended in 43rd place ... NOT even last! Ready for the next day's race!
We'll be off soon ...
Meeting with old friends from car rallies at the start
Start List ADDC 2013 - all top riders had chosen to start from the back & flew literally passed me during the race :) :) :)
Day 1 - Abu Dhabi - Qasr Al Sarab:
The first real race stage was to lead from Abu Dhabi to LIWA, where the piwak and turntable for the rally has been for several years.
When driving on the road from YAS MARINA to the start, we already noticed extremely strong wind. When we got to the start area, it became clear that the stage would be canceled due to poor visibility and because the helicopters cannot take off.
And that's how it turned out and we drove to Liwa like on a string of pearls - without timing!
An extremely boring and grueling trip in a sandstorm, where you could hardly see the rear light of the rider in front!
So I missed out on another day where I could have gotten used to the bike. So far I had only trained for 30 minutes in the sand.
What will my first stage going to look like with this preparation?
Waiting for the sandstorm to settle - unfortunately we went like a single line to the padock in Liwa
Day 2 - Liwa - Section 2 - ADNOC - 250 km:
On that day, to be honest, I was really a little "scared" before the start! It was known that this was going to be a fast and tough day - and I had no experience with the bike yet! The best placed riders from the prolog had decided to start from the back in order to be able to drive faster without navigation and achieve some better times.
It quickly turned out that I still had real problems with the Bike and already after 15 km from the start I overlooked a "drop off" that was not noted in the road book with emergency! With full throttle at the last second I tried to reduce the impact a little, which unfortunately only partially worked out! When I landed, I destroyed my GPS with my helmet and my teeth!
I tasted blood in my mouth and feared that this might have been the end to my last rally. Fortunately I was able to continue and since my GPS was already DEAD "I had to follow the tracks and other drivers as good as possible.
Later when I drove down a dune , I thought the end of the world has come! The sand suddenly raged like an earthquake - a roar and brutal sound next to me! But - It wasn't the end of the world.
It only was the group of the top ridershad who started 6 minutes after me! Sunderland, Coma, Gonzalves, Bareda Bort, etc ... they more or less "flew " past me halfway down a 150 m long slope of a dune. They raced like there wouldn't be a "tomorrow"!
It was so scary for me that I probably had stopped breathing till I was down the dune!
After I had recovered from this shock at the foot of the dune, I looked forward and up again for the first time - but there was nobody left there to be seen! They already had put several dunes between me and them. Maybe it wasn't real and just a "mirage".
From that moment on I was really on my own and happy to see my crew and a few people at the next checkpoint. Completely exhausted, I decided to make day 3 my personal rest day. It was just too difficult for me and my life and the family suddenly became more important than I ever had thought or talked about! I had already lost a few friends in the desert and didn't really want to share their where abouts. It was really hard and even my much younger team partner, who later manged to become a Dakar Finisher in South America, did the same for that today.
You don't want to get off with such helpers ... do you?
These are the beautiful moments ...
Day 3 - LIWA - Section 3 - QASR AL SARAB - 284 km - Rest day for me:
We wanted and had to recover in order to be able to get through the rest of the rallye safe. We followed the rally at some very beautiful places and tried to learn from the stars :) - In the evening we went to the indescribable desert resort hotel next to the paddock for mental relaxation - the "QASR AL SARAB"!
But already during the day we both ( Kobus & me ) regretted our exposure and were looking forward to day 4. During the driver briefing it turned out that some more riders had chosen this option of a rest day due to exhaustion and some of them due to minor injuries. Knowing this, I looked at the results for the first time and it turned out that I still had a chance not to finish as "LAST", which was my declared goal! And even better, since I was also separate ranked in the 450cc + class, I was still in 4th overall place!
Could I possibly manage for more?
I just somehow have to get through the rallye on a daily base and hope for a miracle maybe :)
In addition, I also had also made a somehow painful experience! As already reported, quite a few riders had skipped day 3. For example, I went to race organizers and officially signed off for the day - which in my opinion was correct! Others lined upo at the start on day 3, started and then retired only after a few meters of riding.
TWhats the difference?: Simple! My penalty encountered was about 3 times higher than their penalty! My punishment was 102:00 hours - but theirs only 33:00 hours !!! Trust me - I learned a lot I will never forget :) - I was sooo stupid!
Deserved service
My team Buddy Kobus - issues with his wrist ...
Day 4 - LIWA - Section 4 NISSAN - 266 km:
Even if nobody in the world is interested in who would take 1st, 2nd, 3rd in the 450cc+ class - for me it became like a drug! It turned into my "last fight" - the desert, the motorcycle and a few riders in the 450 cc+ class! ... an old, half-broken man against a couple of young "enamies".
Suddenly there was strength back to my arms and legs, where I had never built up muscles before and my head was clear like water! My own little race within the rally was just to begin. To be honest - I was close to give up at least 10 times ... but every time I saw a younger rider ... sweating and also exhausted - I thought "Rather die but give up!"
This helped me through a really great day and still kept me close to a 450+ podium.
Day 5 - LIWA - Section 5 ABU DHABI AVIATION - 266 km:
After making it so far, one thing was clear ... You can't give up! Either die in the desert or finish the race in the style! Fortunately, I also knew the area and the dunes very well from countless trips by car, so I used all of my remaining strength (10%) and my unbroken mind (90%) to make it through the last day - half in agony. Driven by the unbroken will and the remaining adrenaline, I've never been so happy to see my brother-in-law and menthal support at the finish ( he really had beaten me through the rally! ).
THANKS AGAIN Roland !!!
An unbelievable bad luck of my main competitor for third place in the 450+ class - Robin Colgan (GBR) - even presented me with third position in this 450+ class. He fell behind a dune and unfortunately his bike was run over by a following racing car. He was luckily not uninjured but the bike broken and unfortunately out of the race!
His bad luck took me to 3rd place in the 450+ class! Sorry Robin! A race is only over when you finish and I'm not ashamed of my luck! That day I also beat 10 other riders who were much younger than me.
But what really counted: I made it one more time through one of the toughest desert rallies in the world!
Statements from multiple Dakar participants at the driver briefing on the evening of day 2 (.... one of them Pal Andres Ullevalsetter)
" I've never been so exhausted after a Dakar stage in recent years"
" If you include a stage like this in the Dakar, there will probably be 50 bikers out for next day."
I have been following the Dakar Rally for 30 years and am therefore even more proud to have it made my "LAST RALLY".
A huge thank to my wife, who probably suffered even more than I did during this rally!
Summary - it might sound a bit strange - but real RACERS will understand:
It was way too much for me and far beyond my physical limits. Only my age and mental strength took me through the rallye! BUT! I would do it again immediately - an unforgettable experience !.
Results from day 5 - and finally I came home 3rd in the overall standings for 450ccm + class:
It was a great rally and even more a great team!
My team Buddy Kobus Pottgiter # 33 - became wellknown as "SUPERMAN" at the Dakar Rally in South America and also managed to finish the Dakar there as a "finisher" - MABRUK Kobus!