Sardegna Rally

A beautiful rally run by people with a true passion for the sport. Obviously this year was not meant to be for me. I went out on only the 1st day with a major mechanical failure. Luck hasn't been on my side this year, but trying to do a rally a month on a budget is complicated, time consuming, and I guess asking for trouble. Drilling holes in your bike 10 minutes before a prologue is never going to be good!

My rally started from the back of the pack as always. I like trying to work my way through the field - I just enjoy it! The clutch lever once again was ineffective after 10 kilometres in the 1st special and I had an off. It was only in the 2nd that I gained the confidence to ride smoothly without the clutch and consequently gained 9 places.

The riding was great with a mixture of fast fire tracks and technical rocky sections. The day included a wonderful tight section in the forest which included a great climb.

The road book was accurate but nether less you had to concentrate with the navigation. Temperatures were uncomfortably hot. Drinking often was a must and I was constantly running out of water. 45k into the last liaison the bike decided it had enough and stopped without any warning.

Many locals tried to help but eventually we had to throw in the towel and I was collected by the organisation (via a bar, some wonderful Italians, and some interesting methods of pushing a motorcycle with a car).

I spent the rest of the rally with the service team and although I enjoyed helping my team mates it was sometimes hard to hide my disappointment.
The service from Nomade Racing was fantastic and as always I made new friends and was reacquainted with old ones. A big thank you to Team Rally-Raid Products and especially Phill Gunn for getting my bike and gear to Sardinia and back.

It will once again be a rush to get the bike back to the UK and fix it for its next event. I now have 3 months to build my new bike (a 2015 Husky - but more about that later) and get ready for my last rally of 2014 which is the Merzouga. During this 4 month rest from rallying I will take part in the Welsh 2 Day, 24hr Dawn To Dusk, and cycle 1,000 miles from John O'Groats to Lands End. More importantly we are expecting our 2nd child in October so very exciting times ahead.

Click here for more Sardegna Rally pictures

Berg Ready For FIM Sardegna Rally

After some long days and nights in the garage the Husaberg is ready for its journey to Sardinia. Team Rally-Raid Products will be taking my bike, box, and kit to the start line of the FIM Sardegna Rally. I will fly out in 10 days time to take part in my last rally for this half of the year.

Hellas Rally 2014

I was never going to do well in this event, but used it as a lesson in fatigue and how to overcome it. Coming from the Libya Rally (via a few days spent with my son) I was ready for a tough time. Back to back rallying, doing my own bike maintenance, sleeping rough in the Bivouac, and riding a fully loaded rally bike pushed me to the limits of my physical abilities.

By the end of day 2 I was struggling and wishing for a smaller bike. The going was tough, technical, and contained long days in the saddle. Liaisons were sometimes long and sometimes off road. While not an enjoyable week I sure learnt a lot about myself.

The 1st pain was in my hands. I was unable to hold the bike, use the controls properly, and that muscular pain slowly started to travel through my body. When fatigue set in I basically rode like a novice, made silly navigational errors and kept crashing.

I really had to will myself on and dig deep to complete every day. I ended up 64th overall and was just happy to complete all the days and collect my finishers medal. The Dakar is 7 months away and the registration process starts next week. More immediately I have the Sardegna Rally to get ready for in just 3 weeks time! Busy busy then

More Hellas 2014 photos can be found here

Libya Rally

This is my biggest challenge to date. Long liaisons and specials. 2,400 kilometres of riding from Fez to Agadir.

Day 1 - Long day with typical Moroccan terrain. 4.00am start - 6.30pm finish. Had to change the Road book 2 times during the day - lots of navigation! Spent most of the day at a very gentle pace as I normally do on the 1st day. Started racing on the 2nd special mixing it up with many cars, some bikes, and the fastest truck I've ever encountered. Scary but thrilling! The only part on the bike that failed was the steering damper when the front wheel lodged itself in a washout at high speed trying to find a way passed a car.

Day 2 - Time to start racing. Very quick morning and passed many riders. Very exciting riding and all going to plan until I hit the dunes. After 5k the clutch fluid boiled over, the fuel was boiling over, and I was starring to feel sick. It was hot and my heart rate was going up and the breathing was getting shorter. I stopped to rest a moment but the heat was unbearable. Battled on for 24k but eventually the inevitable crash happened. Woke up with the bike on top of me on the downside of a dune, and desperately tried to get out from beneath the bike. I was riding alone and there was no way to warn others of my predicament. Got free and then passed out again! Some cars found me (amazingly they didn't flatten me) and phoned for help. They managed to get me conscious and remove my gear. I then threw up which is the 1st thing I remember - Nice! Breathing was a struggle and I just wanted to sleep again. Long story short I ended up in a helicopter. The medics got fluids in me intravenously. I had heard that many riders had suffered with the heat and didn't finish. A driver and rider were in hospital with various injuries. The mechanics fixed my bike after the sweeper truck picked it up, and I did my road books hoping that the next day I could ride.

Day 3 - Was allowed to ride but only on the condition I did not do the 1st 20k of dunes! I protested but to no avail. The doctor and the organisations decision was final! Thanked the medic, and headed out. 1st part of the day was the usual Moroccan tracks, where the only time you saw a rock was when you hit it! No working clutch again, tank leaking in 2 places, and the steering damper is merely an ornament! Today was supposed to be at a take it gentle day but after the 1st fuel stop there was some 70 kilometres of flat wide open terrain. Had to keep the wire tight! It was lovely. Arrived early but tired. I'm still struggling with the heat. Now have a long afternoon sorting out the bike issues. Just heard another of are team has crashed heavily and in hospital with concussion!

Day 4 - 250k of rocks, which included trials/enduro like sections. This was broken up by a good stint in the dunes around lunchtime. Navigating today was sometimes difficult. Many times I thought to myself "surely they don't want me to ride over that!" No working clutch again but I'm kinda getting used to it! No joke - it was that bumpy today, I lost a filling! The dunes were great and definitely my fav part of the day. A sand storm gained momentum after I completed the dunes and visibility was really poor. I hear they later shut the dune section down for safety. Finished in very good time today and I generally feel good. There have been a few crashes resulting in bruised ribs and a swollen ankle. It's now dark, the sand storm is still happening so well have to service our bikes first thing in the morning. Some vehicles spending the night in the dunes. 440k tomorrow. 340 of those is the special.

Day 5 - Day started with a sea of rocks to get through. After 50k of this I had no feeling in my hands. Fast bit next, then sandy pistes, then the dunes. After was pretty much flat out with some dry river beds thrown in to keep us awake! Finished in good time again. Bike needs some TLC. One rider has broken his wrist coming off the back of a dune. Finished 14th today and now placed 20th overall.

Had time to reflect on the 2nd day incident in the dunes. No working clutch didn't help but no excuse. Really stupid of me too push on like that. The heat was like standing in front of an open oven. Was so determined to get a good result and finish the last 6k! Lesson learnt!

Day 6 - Flying! Caught up very quickly with other riders only to have the bike start playing up and then finally break down just before CP2. Checked the usual things but guessing it's the fuel injector. Was at CP2 for 2 hours. A few riders bailed out at this point and headed back to base via tarmac. Meanwhile the rider (Alex) in 1st place in the rally crashed badly and was flown to hospital (broken shoulder and concussion). The organisation were trying to work out how they could get his bike safely out of a canyon. Long story short - I was back in the helicopter, dropped off next to the bike, and was asked to ride it back to base. There's a little more to the story but that will have to wait for another day! The ride back was 70k of technical and slow riding. Rocks, water, dry river beds, climbs, etc, and on someone else's bike. Got in around 7.00pm. My bike was collected by another service truck along with a quad that snapped its swing arm, and delivered back later in the evening. Position is 17th overall.

Day 7 - Got up early(ish) to replace the fuel injector. Bike working fine. Many riders has similar problems, so I'm guessing there was a bad batch of fuel yesterday morning from a local gas station. Started last on the grid and just went for it! Was around the 14th bike in. Lots of over taking, and perfect navigation. The bike stopped suddenly half way through the special - the rear fuel tank was blocked. A bit if time wasted sorting that out! The last 20k was flat out across a beach. Beautiful! Good way to end a rally. Lots of fun watching the trucks racing each other and drifting in the sand to the finish line. Finished 17th overall and got my best result on the last special of 10th.

Although not a great result I'm confident with my riding and navigation. Fitness wise I'd be happy to race another 7 days. I'm ashamed with the incident on day 2 in the dunes but lessons learnt. I have a mass of information from previous Dakar rides on how to combat the heat.

The Libya Rally was very professional, friendly, well organised, and I will definitely go again. The service team was Rally Maniacs and again they were very professional, massively knowledgeable, and great fun.

More photos can be found here

Tuareg Rally 2014

16 riders from the UK, Sweden, and Japan went with Torque Racing to the 2014 Tuareg Rally. It was good to see the truck, some of the riders, and service team that will form the 2015 Dakar team at the event.

Day 1 - Thrown into the deep end with a long day of small soft dunes. Never ridden in sand this soft. Couldn't get a rhythm going and was like Russian roulette never knowing if you were going over the bars or not on the next dune.

Day 2 - Took it easy and finished early. The day included a steep down hill rocky section which saw many a rider take a tumble.

Day 3 - Had no sleep the previous night with dodgy guts and basically just got through the day saving my energy for what I knew was coming on day 4. Again finished early.

Day 4 - Never ending laps of whoops, camel grass, and the bigger dunes. Was in my element and knew that a good day here would put me in the top ten. Going really well when 10k into lap 2 my clutch started to fail and I had to nurse the bike round the course. Got back to the service area, changed the clutch plates, and headed back out for the 2nd half of the day. Completed the 4 laps but was some 25 minutes late at the final check point. Gutted! Was 16th overall at the end of the day.

Day 5 - Upped the pace to get to the Sillies Pass (rocky and twisty hill climb) to avoid the inevitable mass of fallen/stuck bikes. Thankfully was one of the 1st bikes to arrive and got up the climb quickly and moved on. Later on in the day another sand storm blew up making the rest of the day hard to see and navigate. The last section in the dunes was a little hairy with most riders having to take a gamble getting over a big dune with next to zero visibility to get back to the hotel.

Day 6 - The rain came in and the morning was going well with more dunes and more sandy pistes when the bike started to splutter.  No fuel was getting to the fuel pump! An hour of messing about with the bike and grabbing fuel off other riders and the orga sore me back on my way but I had to take a 1/2 hour penalty for the fuel. The old red mist set in and I was flying trying to make up time. Caught up with the back markers quickly but then hit a dune too fast sending me into a rock edge. Had to sit down for a while as I landed on my head and then proceeded to sort the bike out. Had to navigate without the trip meter and my position slipped down to 19th.

Day 7 - More laps of dunes, camel grass, and sandy pistes. Starting at the back of the field the sand was even softer and totally rutted up from the other bikes. Lost the 5 minute lead I had on the next rider and finished 20th.

This years Tuareg Rally was by far the hardest rally I've done. It really was relentless on the last 3 and 1/2 days and it felt like the orga was really trying to break you. Spent a lot of the rally on my own and I feel I have the navigation very much dialled in. I did what I needed to do on this rally but feel a little cheated as both a top ten place and the Tuareg gold head was easily attainable. As usual met old friends and made great new ones, and the Dakar is certainly a little closer to reality. Libya Rally next.

More Tuareg 2014 photos can be found here

2nd visit to Dubai

Really enjoyed my 3 days with Gas Gas Moto Tours UAE. Last trip to the dunes in preparation for the Tuareg Rally in a weeks time.

Bike finished for 1st 2014 event

The bike starts it's journey to Tunisia tomorrow morning to take part in the Tuareg Rally.