Not sure whether I am looking forward to it or dreading it - never done deep sand before other than Kenya red sand so will be interesting.

DakarXT600 wrote: Tue Apr 25, 2023 8:47 am Not sure whether I am looking forward to it or dreading it - never done deep sand before other than Kenya red sand so will be interesting.

I think that's stage 3 - Tissint to Mhamid onwards.

Made it to the hotel around 6:30pm today.

Wasn't sure I was going to make the start line today as my 3AJ was completely dead at the starter switch. Eventually the Sandraiders Mechanics traced the fault to a lose wire in the connector block.

Stage 1 was much harder than I expected and actually fell off 2 times with my front wheel sliding out approaching a corner or going up a narrow technical curve.

A few more scars on my 3AJ...

Hows the heat ?
I hear it way up there....

Missinglink wrote: Sun Apr 30, 2023 9:42 pm Hows the heat ?
I hear it way up there....

Was OK, until we got near Tissint.

It's too hot for them to put the tents up so we are all chilling at a hotel pool

Clever boy....

The 250K, Stage 2 of the Sandraiders Rally was extreme in many ways.

There were a number of bikes breaking down, and broken bones; perhaps because the scenery was so epic. You can check it out here https://www.wikiloc.com/trail-bike-trai ... -132657273

I really appreciated the torque of the 3AJ, as a lot of the piste had switchbacks, tight roller coaster sections and ascents going up for more that 3,500 Meters. And 2K of rocky oued!

The suspension seemed very bouncy for the tight, rocky roller coaster sections, so perhaps I need to adjust the dampening?

Only fell off once, high-siding it round one of the switchbacks. Broke the front screen off

Scenery looks Epic.... What a place for a ride...

Stage 3, Tissint to Mhamid featured sandstorms, Auberge Atlantic, 20K of deep soft sand and 70K of stony piste.



https://www.wikiloc.com/trail-bike-trai ... -132657243 (GPX)

I was thankful again of the Tenere's low end torque which helped me keep going in the sand. Some pilots fell of 9 times in the sand and had to be rescued by the mechanics or medics.

I was determined not to fall off or get bogged down as I had an aborted trip to Lac Iriki in April 2022.

It was great fun riding the first 50k as the terrain was smooth and hard.



When the sandstorm came up, visibility dropped down to 10 feet and eventually one of the pilots in front had a big wipe out due to an erosion gully.





I almost fell off myself as I suddenly came across a section where the hard crust had been blown away. Fortunately, I had slowed down to help my buddy.



You can see how twisted my handlebars are from my crash on day 1. Riding flat ground was OK but became hard when riding fast through the Whoops as the front wheel would be off-line.

Auberge Titanic was a welcome rest point whilst we waited for all of the Sandraiders to arrive so we could leave together with the breakdown trucks and medics.



The 20k of deep sand was really difficult and exhausting to ride through. I managed to make progress going in a straight line in third or fourth gear but having to turn around a dune or change direction was very hard.

One pilot crashed going over a small drift of sand and was lucky to fall to the side as one of the dune buggy's came over, crashed and somersaulted right where he had been. He hurt his arm and had to drop out

In the end, I managed to make it all the way through without falling off or getting stuck

Need to change the airfilter!

Well done fella, Sounds like your getting a real taste of desert riding, Is the sand really that fine. I'm told its like talc powder..