Dakar 2012
Archive for January, 2012
Peru and the finish
Jan 16th
The last few days we have been traveling through Peru
It is very remote and just finding there currency was tuff enough
Jamie has done really well
Over the last few days after he left the marathon stage he has gone around 700 km per day and they ended up being the toughest yet
The organizers through everything at them including just as every one would go to bed they would change parts of the maps so they would have to get up and redo part of them in the end Claire would do the maps
Jamie has place himself around 54 overall which he will be now until the end
He had a chance to take himself up to the around 40 th but got lost the other day and lost a lot of time
At the marathon night they where given a pillow and all just slipped on a carpet rug they all said it was very uncomfortable
Finish line in site
Today we left at 4am and headed to Lima to the finish line
When we arrived there was people everywhere
As far as you could see in the streets it felt very dangerous but also exciting
We were shuffled by bus to secure area one after another before finally getting to the finish
area
That was full bore but leaving there area was a lot tougher as we were in a bus just pushing people out of the way for kms
Jamie got to the finish line around 11am and we were all able to get to him and have photos on the finishing dice
He was very happy and we were all very proud
After this was done Jamie went on to the hotel and I drove the vechiles back to the whalf just out of town to get reloaded on the boat to leave for France
I got back to the hotel and the whole team went out for a few drinks and a great meal down town
We have got today before flying out tommorow
The whole trip has been a great experience and we thank Jamie for the adventure
All the other riders and team have told me that what Jamie has achieved is over and above as most people don’t finish on the first attempt some never do
The best was to explain Dakar is that it takes everybody to the edge everyday and for the ones that survive around 40 per cent gives them a chance to to take it to the edge the next day Again and to make the whole 15 days takes a special kind of person
Thanks again Jamie for letting us share your dream can’t wait for the next adventure
Mike Chittick
Mike@liquorhomedelivery.com.au
Day 11 and 12
Jan 16th
Day 11
Today they traveled to Arica in the top of chilli with a distance of 694 km
Jamie had a good day with the weather cooling of now
He had a trouble free run Today except for losing a couple minutes with a small gps issue
He got himself p to 43 for the stage his best yet and 61 overall
He was very happy with the result
Day 12
Today Jamie travelled 704 km in distance leaving chilling and going through Peru for the first time
The day was the hardest yet with more people pulling out
He had a fall and broke his brake pedal other than that all good
Today is what. They call a marathon stage
Jamie will race the day and stay 200 km out in the bush away from the team
They are given just a shirt and pillow and some food and will only be able to do work on the bikes if they have the parts in the packs
Jamie finished today with the best result so far with a stage time of 35 th place and overall time of 54 place
We won’t see him till tommorow night now
We think it will be tough riding all day then spending the night somewhere
Tommorow they will have another 500 plus km to complete and the organizers say this will be the toughest day yet
Mike Chittick
Mike@liquorhomedelivery.com.au
Day nine and ten
Jan 16th
Rest Day
The rest day was spent doing exactly that for Jamie, catching up some well deserved sleep.
The mechanics spent the day putting a new motor on the bike and getting it ready for the last half of the race.
Day Nine
Day Nine commenced in Copiapo with a 6.48am start for Jamie with a 722km ride ahead to Antofagasta. This included one of the longest special stages of 477km which was set to be a fast pace section. The bike did well for majority of the race but unfortunately broke down 10 meters from the finish line. Again the problem with the bike centered around the ignition.
Jamie finished 69 for the day to put him 70 overall. The night was spent compiling one of the hardest road books provided at the Dakar so far for Day 8.
Day Ten
A bit of a sleep in today with a 8am start. Day eight’s ride included one of the shortest liaison stages of 9 km before the special stage of 556km. The special stage included a couple of dunes, but with majority of the race being soil -stones. The end of the race proved a highlight including a 5km sand dune which the riders rode straight down into the bivouac. The Hummer that won the cars special stage for the day took this sand dune at 205km an hour and reached the bivouac in only 2 minutes 40.
Jamie had a great day with the bike going well (ignition problems all fixed). He started at 69 for the day, finished 55 and is now 66 overall.
Mike Chittick
Mike@liquorhomedelivery.com.au
Day six
Jan 8th
Jamie recovered well after a good sleep and was ready to go some of the other guys are having trouble even standing up
Today we are crossing the andies into chili
The end stage has been cut short as the weather destroyed the race stage high up in the mountains
Jamie left when thee temp was around 36 degrees and was dressed in full snow clothes as the temp during the day got down to 0 degrees and by the end on the 665 km trek across the andies is was again around 30 degrees on the other side over the top it was snowing ,I think we got up to around 5500 mtrs some guys were using oxygen to get them through but Jamie was fine
At the end of the day his bike broke again and he had to push it home it was not far as it was near the finish line luckily
They have finally worked out that the ignition system Was failing and replaced it and turned off some of the items drawing the power
Hope this works
It took us around 9 hrs to drive across the andies into Chile It was great with the snow and different contrast of rock all day
After setting up it’s now around midnight
We have now arrived in Chili on the coast
This camp is a lot better as the previous camps were in the sand and with high winds you could see anything as the dust was so bad
Every ones gear is full dust sleeping gear included
Jamie is still in around 80 spot as the stages didn’t count for time yesterday
Mike Chittick
Mike@liquorhomedelivery.com.au
Day seven
Jan 8th
Today was some of the biggest dunes of the race Jamie had a good run running around 60 on stage not sure of his overall position yet buy should look a lot better had some fuel issues today and lost 15 min but over the day tomorrow is a rest day and the back into it for the last seven days
Jamie ended up around 77th overall in the end
Last night was spent putting new motors in all the bikes which we should finish today ready for a start to the second week
Mike Chittick
Mike@liquorhomedelivery.com.au
Day five
Jan 8th
Today we travelled north to Chilecito still in Argentina
The weather is still hot and Jamie started 45 th today after a great day yesterday
They left early and started in the sand dunes again during the day Jamie bike broke down causing him to lose over two hrs which has no put him back in around 80 th spot he was not very happy when he finally got in as he had run out of water and with the heat he nearly passed out as he was walking his bike through waist deep dust ,which is like our bull dust for a long time ,every time the bike stopped he would have to drag through the dust until it cooled down to restart he couldn’t stay where he stopped each time as is was on the race line
He said he nearly pulled out as his throat was burning and was suffering bad heat stroke but then the bike restarted and finally got to the finish.they still can’t work out what is wrong with the bike to date so far he has lost around 3 hours through break downs
Mike Chittick
Mike@liquorhomedelivery.com.au
Day four
Jan 8th
Jamie woke up very tied today
The heat is still here but he got on the bike at 6.15am and was away
He rode great getting 48 on the first stage and 45 on the second stage
Which gave him a 60 position over all for the week so far
The temp in the afternoon has cooled a bit to around 38 degrees
This will help a bit
We drove over the mountains for the first time today is was very interesting to see how they lived
We are staying in the mountains at the moment and it is 38 here and we a looking up at the snow on the top feels strange
Mike Chittick
Mike@liquorhomedelivery.com.au
Day three
Jan 8th
Jamie is going well
He start of 87 and finished 77
The day was very rocky and hot today it reach 49.6 degrees
Jamie said the rocky hill climbs he wasn’t very good at so took a steady approach which in the end paid off as a lot of people got a bit lost
He was very tired as he was on the bike for another 11 hours today
Another one of the team pulled out today leaving only 7 out of 11 riders left
Mike Chittick
Mike@liquorhomedelivery.com.au
Day Two
Jan 7th
Jamie left at. 5.55am
He had a small problem with the bike at the start line with a broken oco metre but the mechanics fixed it in time so no penalty was given. he then had a long road section around 500km before entering the sand dunes
Jamie said the sand dunes were tough and has never seen any thing like them a lot of bikes broke down but Jamie went from 107 to 54 then the fuel in the bike started bubbly and was boiling in the tank as the temp today rose again it was way over 40 where we were so it was very hot in the sand dunes. Due to this his biked stopped and took over 30 min to cool down enough to restart and had to ride the final 20 km slowly to get the bike home so he ended up 83 rd over all at the end of the day
Some guys still are out there and it is after 10pm now
One guy was taken away by helicopter after hitting a cow ,he hit it that hard the motor came out of his bike and a few cars caught fire and burnt to the ground in the middle of the day
At this stage it’s the heat that is causing most people problems as a lot have come from temp around 0 and snowing
Jamie is holding up well overall
With a lot of guys already totally exhausted and they have only done 2 days you can start to see how tough this race is
See ya soon
Mike Chittick
Mike@liquorhomedelivery.com.au
Day one
Jan 2nd
Hi guys
Our day started at 3am and headed to the start line to drop of the truck drivers then back to hotel to get the riders
We drop Jamie of at 5am
Jamies start time was 6.30
After leaving the start they had to weave through the spectators which lined the streets for around 800 km
The first stage Jamie started 159 place after the first day is is up to 107 position
He came of twice but wasn’t hurt but towards the 600 km mark a bug got caught in his googles and bit him. His face puffed right up and at the end of the 800km stage his went to the medical tent and after some treatment will be fine
The temp has now reached 39 and is getting quite hot
We are now in Santa rosa staying on a large oval
One of the local bike riders Died yesterday he was the same age as jamie
not sure what happened as we dont get that much info here and at the moment we have found a casino with internet on the way to the next stop so we can send this info through there wifi system
jamie started well today they hit the big sand dunes in the afternoon
will try and up date asap again
Mike Chittick
Mike@liquorhomedelivery.com.au
