Cordoba, Argentina

Dakar conclusion: I’ve just arrived back in Cordoba, Argentina for a couple of days of rest and a Malbec fueled recovery, before flying to Santiago on Monday afternoon, then overnight to Dallas and then on to Phoenix on Tuesday morning. It has been an amazing 13 days!

The trip was difficult but exceptionally rewarding. I came into this knowing little about the Dakar race and have come out amazed at the skill, conditioning and nerve of the riders and drivers who compete – they are true athletes. Think Ironman competition, which is a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride followed by a 26.2 mile marathon, all without a break. Now, do it every day for 13 days, often surviving on 4-5 hours of sleep per night, sometimes less, and you have the Dakar Rally.

Some facts:
- Rear motorcycle tires are replaced after every day, because they are shot. Fronts every other day.
- Roughly half of competitors finish. For most entrants, finishing is the goal.
- The same production company that does the Tour de France, does the Dakar.
- The Bivouac area, set up at the end of each days race, is a traveling city of 2,500 people.
- In following the Dakar race, our group frequently shared the road with those competing in the race – the motorcyclists, quads, cars and the trucks. This produced some of the most harrowing parts of this trip, as well as some of the most rewarding. The local population cheered us as we rode though towns as though we were competitors and mobbed us at gas stations asking for autographs and to have their pictures taken with us or on our bikes.

Following the Dakar race, like we did, demands some fraction of the skill and stamina of those that compete. Not all in our group were up to the task, although every one gave it all they had. Each one on the team exhibited courage, stamina and the will to keep going when every part of them screamed to stop and rest. The odometer on my rented BMW 1200GS showed 4,762 kilometers in 9 riding days (we had days off in Iquique and Copiapo), for an average of 530 km/330 miles a day. Several in our group registered well over 5,000 kilometers. Our longest days were when we went over the Andes, the first time on day 2 was east to west, Tucuman to Purmamarca, and it was 456 miles. The second was coming back across the Andes on Day 10 from Copiapo to Chilecito.

Videos that will provide a flavor for the roads can be found on the official Dakar website. Go to the various race segments and then watch a video summary for each category of competitor – motorcycle, quad, cars or trucks. It is probably the best way to get a taste of the sort of terrain being navigated. They’ve also the benefits of half a dozen helicopters equipped with the latest and best camera technology.

Jim Hyde of RawHyde Adventures pulled this trip together. His blog and some excellent photos can be found here.

Will Travis and Adam Sold were the only ones in our group who managed to keep a near daily update on blogs of each day’s event. You can find Will’s blog here. You can find Adam Sold’s blog here. I encourage to take a look at them and post a comment if you have one. I don’t know what I’m more impressed with: Adam and Will’s skill in handling their motorcycles or the energy and stamina required to keep their family and friends updated on such a regular basis?

After a 340 mi first day and a 471 second day, things are starting to heat up. I’m trying out the SPOT Satellite tracker. I’ve created a page (click here) so allow you to see where I am at any moment in time. From the page, you can view the terrain or go to Google maps and see an overlay of my route and waypoints there. I’m hoping it works and looks cool.

Tomorrow we go over the Andes.

If the above did not work, try putting this into your address bar: http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0MDE6bPzYBnQmeQuGTDXxhnekUovLAGZ4

I arrived in Argentina yesterday for the start of what most off-road riders consider the ultimate test – the Dakar race. Have no illusions – I will be trailing and observing the race on a BMW 1200GS – not competing personally, although we will average over 300 miles per day across the Atacama desert, the driest place on the planet with no rain fall in recorded history as well as crossing the Andes – twice. More photos and reports when I get back to the States in mid-January.
If you are unfamiliar with this historic race, here is link to the Official website of Dakar. This trip is being organized by Jim Hyde of RawHyde Adventures and here is a link to his blog of the trip.

For this story which ran in the December 2009 issue of Motorcycle Consumer News, I spend more time researching than any other story I’ve ever written. I reviewed three years of repair records (nearly 10,000 total), on over 240 police motorcycles. I talked with officers, instructors and mechanics. In the process, I was able to come to a deep understanding of not only the experience the various agencies had when switching from the Kawasaki police motorycle to the Honda, Harley or BMW, but also, the relative strengths and weaknesses of the various 3 platforms for police work. The article is here. Enjoy! This is Part 1. Part II comes out in Jaunary of 2010.

If you are the sort of motorcycle mechanic who does your own work because you know you can do a better job than most local shops, the uView 550000 is for you.
One of the best reasons to live in Phoenix if you are a Goldwing owner is Stu Oltman. He’s the senior technical editor for Wing World Magazine, the Gold Wing Road Riders Association’s monthly publication. The more difficult and harder a problem is to solve, the more he seems to enjoy it. He’s also a great source for new product ideas – especially ones involving the repair and maintenance of motorcycles. I saw him demonstrate the uView 550000 at one of his famous “Garage Days at Stu’s” and so I ordered one. When it came in I took it over to Stu’s garage to make sure I did everything right. That also left my hands free to make notes and take some photo’s.
This review is the result.

While on a ride in Turkey several years ago for RoadRunner Magazine I met Dan Moore, an accomplished entrepreneur from Cleveland. Dan’s an irrasible, irreverant, charming 70 year old with more potential for trouble and excitement than half a dozen 14 year old boys. He’s also managed to create more high-value businesses than anyone I’ve ever met, and I’ve met a few.
Six months after our ride he called me about his friend, Don Frank, who had created a company to build and sell high quality motorcycle windshields. Don sent me one, I put it on my bike and used it for 18 months. It is pretty incredible. Here is the review I wrote about it which appears in the December, 2009 issue of Motorcycle Consumer News.

Christa from Road Runner magazine (a terrific publication, by the way, and if you don’t subscribe you absolutely should) was here a few weeks back and asked me about riding the Mogollon Rim Road. It is a 55 mile forest service road from Forest Lakes to Show Low, AZ and runs 5-10 miles south of Hwy 260 right along the rim. At the time (early spring) reports said it was too damp, too rutted and nasty for motorcycles, so she passed.

However, I was curious about it so I did the ride on Wednesday. Round trip from the house was 396 miles so it made for a long day (of course, the route I chose was partially responsible). However the intensity of the Rim Road ride and especially the last 7.7 miles would lead me to recommend this as “the” primary ride of the day and not to try and put too much before and certainly, not too much after you get off this road – as you will be beat. Here is a more complete description of the road and some more photos. Let me know what you think: mogollan-rim-road

Best bike for this would be a dual sport oriented more toward off-road. I was on my Wee-Strom and would have much preferred a 1200GS or any KTM.