Firstly, sorry we've been a bit behind with keeping our Blogs updated. We promise we'll be better at this!
So, Rallye Du Maroc... where to start!? It was a really big build up to this rally, getting medicals/licences/insurance/funds, the list goes on, none of which we were familiar with. We were a little taken back at how much we had to get done for the entry, but we got it all in place. There were also some things ticking along timewise in the background that was kind of going to plan, for example;
We ordered the Husqvarna FR450s rally bikes through Marsh Powersports in Merthyr Tydfil (South Wales), they were really helpful. The bikes are limited to 80 units a year, but Marsh got us a couple sorted, we just had to wait for them to arrive. And we waited, they actually only arrived a few weeks before we set sail to Morocco. We rode them in locally on tarmac, put the graphics and nav equipment on, then they were loaded up!
In the meantime Dad aka Andrew was sorting out a vehicle for us to take to the rally. There were options to rent, we went to military auctions to look at buying a 4x4 type lorry and converting it, but time was against us. So he ended up selling a few of his toys and buying a 4x4 Iveco lorry that had already been already converted by Derick Edmondson. We were blown away by the size of it, well we still are really. Again, time was against us a little bit with this as well, by the time we made a few changes and loaded up it was literally time to leave.
So with the admin in place, bikes set up and lorry loaded we set of for Agadir Stadium in Morocco. Andrew, Carl & Dave drove the truck down which took three relatively chilled days to get there, Craig flew out and we met him at the stadium. This where we soon realised that we were very small fish in a very large pond! The scale of the set up there was insane, we pulled up in what we thought was a big set up... then Audi rolled in behind us with 6 artic lorry's, numerous vans and a vast amount of staff. And they just kept coming, Red Bull KTM, Husqvarna, Gas Gas, HRC Honda, their set ups were unbelievable. We were taken back by it all in all honesty, unreal. But we were there, in with the big boys!
All went well with the admin checks & scrutineering, there was a fair bit to it but we had everything in place, which was a massive relief. We had visions of getting down there and then being told we didn't have something in place, imagine that.
So we were ready! Go time! Bare in mind this was our first rally (Rd5 of the world championship), first timecard event, the first time we had ridden the rally bikes and the first time either of us had ridden in sand.
We pulled in from the prologue and were both super pleased with how the day went. Bikes were awesome, navigating with the digital roadbooks went well and worked all the other little bits out fairly easy.
Day 1 of the rally was a long day, it was a 4am start with total distance of 720km. The bivouac was also moving from Agadir to Zagora so Dad and Dave also had a good drive for the day as well. We tried to ride together for the first half of the day, but the dust was incredible, it was too dangerous so we decided to ride apart. Carl rode ahead of Craig and waited at the stage finish for him.
Unfortunately Craig had a fairly big crash, unbeknown to Carl at this point. The info back from Helite (airbag vest) stated that Craig crashed doing 86kmh! Carl waited for him to come through, when he eventually got there, Craig's bike was in a mess and he wasn't much better. The BMW helmet was completely smashed in, along with tears in his jersey.
We got back to the bivouac fairly late, Dad and Dave made a start on the bikes whilst we got some food in us. We then all chipped in to get the bikes together and ready for day 2. We'd been up since 4am that day and worked on the bikes until 2am the next morning, we then had be back up at 6am... so not a lot of sleep.
But we got at it, kept it going and just took each day as it came. Tackling all the different terrains that Morocco has to offer, fast open lake beds, rocky tracks, sandy dried up river beds and of course the big sand dunes. Although there we no more 'big' crashes, each day we got better, more comfortable with everything. The lack of sleep was difficult but manageable, other than that everything went well.
Dad and Dave kept us on point and honestly without them two there we would have really struggled. They couldn't have done anymore for us, the bikes were prepped, the kit was cleaned as soon as we took it off and they constantly keeping us topped with food and water. We've said it time and time again, we owe a huge thanks to these two!
The rally finished up in Merzouga, which we know well from the days that we used to spend with Protrax doing navigation challenges across Morocco. So we knew we had some dune work to do, both of us found the dunes harder than we thought we would. Neither of us thought they would be easy but we thought we would be able to adapt to them fairly quickly, which wasn't the case. So the last day (5) we both decided to ride it in together, side by side and relatively chilled. There were some big crashes in front of us, and that kind of hit home for us, it could all end so easily if you weren't riding within your capabilities.
And there it was, the finish line of this epic journey! Job done! We came in with mixed emotions 'thank god that's done' 'is it really over'. It was so cool to be crossing that line side by side as brothers and we were very proud of what we achieved as a team. We've learnt so much, loads to be taking on our journey to Dakar, not only as individuals but as a team as well. The amount of support we had from family, friends and sponsors blew us away, it was incredible and we can't thank you all enough!
We've tried to keep this Blog trimmed down as much as possible, we hope it's given you an insight into this journey. Thanks for taking the time to read it, if you haven't already been to our YouTube page, head over there and check out the Vlogs of this event.
Cheers
Carl & Craig
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