Ciscos Race Tuning

25/06/2025

11/01/2025

11/01/2025

11/01/2025

A quick update: 6th outright today after a long 430km Stage. Boy was it flat and fast. The terrain was like mars. No hills or anything for reference points. We had a cross wind that was a real challenge to ride in and covered previous tracks very quickly.

A couple of the front runners went astray early and lost more than an hour. My nav was on point today and it was good to be challenged by not having much track to follow.

An Italian guy passed me early after we came out of the dunes and reminded me we were in a race. So, I tacked onto him and the kilometers rolled on pretty damn quick.

Rest day tomorrow. I’m keen to service my bike today so I have tomorrow to do other things and relax.

Two days of fast pace in the rocky Moroccan desert is all you can ask for from any tyre. These Mitas Rallystar’s handle everything you can throw at them. Some tyres changes tomorrow for good measure.

11/01/2025

I am glad that I was standing at the finish line of AER 22 in Dakar at the Pink Lake. It is the goal and dream of all racers who do cross-country races all over the world.

11/01/2025

Ok, so today was massive. Everything started out well. Some riders in front of me made some navigation errors and I made up some spots early. Then it was my turn to follow the wrong guy at a critical point and lost about 15 minutes. You can never recover time lost, regardless of how hard you ride!

The refuel point was after the first 250km. From that point on I was literally a passenger. I’ve had a virus that’s been manifesting over the last two to three days. There was nothing enjoyable about the last 250km of Stage. So many rocks on very high speed tracks with a cross wind that meant you had to ride on a lean.

To top it off, they threw us into some soft dunes at the 400km mark. I tacked on to the back of a fellow Malle Moto rider. He’s done Dakar 17 times and knows his nav. My only focus was staying on his tail and letting him do the nav to get us home.

We arrived and our trucks were not here yet. So I parked at the mess tent and scoffed some pasta and hot chocolate. Then passed out it on the floor for at least an hour in cold sweats. Feeling a bit better now, but have to ride to a servo to refuel.

The bike’s not getting any TLC tonight. No crashes. So nothing to fix and I doubt I will be pushing too hard tomorrow. Time to give up some time and hope that I recover quicker than most here with the same symptoms. Several have withdrawn as a result.

I had been palling up with a Brit guy. Unfortunately, he crashed out big time and got a ride in the helicopter. From what I have heard, he has a broken ribs, a punctured lung and broken arm/wrist.

Two of the three guys who I shared a boat cabin with are also out. One a broken collar bone. The other a broken pelvis. Serious s**t. There is no forgiveness in a fall at speed in so much rock.

Time to refuel before the night cold sets in and get myself some drugs and calories on board.

It’s not easy to get photos of anything decent other when stopped. Hopefully anybody interested is getting their fix from the organisation coverage

11/01/2025

Stage 3 done and dusted. A long 450km Stage with another 120 odd km of liaison.

I managed to hold it together all day. I took it easy in the dunes. There were plenty of broken crests to keep you honest. So I took it easy and tried to be smooth and find my own path. I treated it as a bit of a training session for things to come. The rest of the Stsge was very rocky and high-speed.

The bike is running sweet and I only have a basic service to do. The tyres will have to last another day, but I might get my groover out and give it some fresh edges at least.

Blister on the palms already. That won’t be great going forward!

I made it into the bivouac before our assistance trucks. So, I made the most of things and get some calories on board.

By the look of the results board, I finished the day in 14th. Very happy with that, but will have to work hard to keep it.

I believe tomorrow is going to be another big day. I guess there aren’t too many otherwise….

11/01/2025

Well guess who’s the last man to bed!!
No time to pitch a tent. It’s 4:00am. I need to be up at 7:00. Never got dinner, but I’ve got a replacement engine in the bike and I’m still in the game.
34th today, but that doesn’t mean anything if you don’t get to Dakar. Let’s see what tomorrow brings💪

10/01/2025

How about Scotty Britnell, Scott Britnell - Go Ride It he is competing in the Malle Moto (solo rider without assistance) at the Africa Eco Race (basically the old original Dakar course). He has had to overcome engine problems, illness, limited consumable parts, thousands of kilometres of extreme terrain, and he’s still plugging away!!! I’ll share his posts so you can see what he has been through.