Day 2 / SS-1 (bought to you by Baker Hughes)

The UAE CC Team joined up at our designated meeting point at 5:30 am and made the 1 hr journey from Dubai down to Emirates Palace, Abu Dhabi in convoy. The mood was clearly one of nervous anticipation. The team has trained for almost a year to get to this point. Now we get to see whether our skills and endurance are up to the challenge. This is when the real rally starts.

The official race start begins with each rider making his way up the race Start Ramp to be announced to the spectators. Speaking to the team I know that all of us were feeling the adrenaline rush at this point.

The days riding started with a 53km liaison section on tarmac roads from Emirates Palace to the start of the 1st Special Stage (SS1 – Al Dafra, Abu Dhabi). We were given 1 hr to complete this which turned out to be plenty of time and allowed us to top up with fuel at one of the local petrol stations. It also allowed for a relaxing ride and an opportunity to deal with the initial adrenaline rush of rolling of the official Starting Ramp.

Liaison Section (aka Road Section): This is a non-competitive Section of the daily route that simply needs to be completed in an allotted/ target time to avoid a time penalty.

Special Stage: These are the official timed competitive sections of the Desert Challenge. The cumulative times required to complete the 6 Super Special Stages adds together to make up your official time for the 2008 UAE Desert Challenge.

Here things got serious. SS-1 was a 281km route covering primarily open desert and track. It was a predominantly high speed run with limited technical sections. There we three PC’s (Passage Controls) where riders could take on additional water if required. PC3 (service / refueling point) at the 180km mark came as a welcome opportunity to stop, refuel, eat, replenish the camel back and relax for a few minutes.

Mandatory Stop: The service/ refueling PC serves as an opportunity to refuel the bike and carry out any necessary maintenance. It is a mandatory 15min stop for all competitors so that no time is lost.

SS-1 was highlighted by 22 single hazards, 21 double hazards and 5 triple hazards. During the stage we passed a number of competitors that had come to grief on one of these hazards. One driver appeared to be seriously injured and was air lifted to hospital with suspected fractured vertebrae.

Hazards: These are points along the planned route where competitors need to take particular care. A single hazard can usually be negotiated with simply good technique. A double hazard requires you to slow down and maintain good technique. Whilst a triple hazard simply requires you to simply SLOW DOWN!!!

The first of the cars caught up to us at around the 60km mark into the stage. You cannot appreciate what it is like to have one of these cars cannonball past you. Blinding dust, loose rocks flying everywhere and the iritrack alarm screaming in your ear to warn you – as if the two tonnes of angry steel hurtling past you was not enough warning. The bad news – the first car simply means that there are more cars right behind it. We stopped counting the numbers of cars that passed us on the stage today. It was perfectly suited for cars today – but tomorrow that all changes.

The good news is that all the team made it safely to the end of SS-1 without any problems and within the Maximum Time Limit.

Maximum Time Limit: This is the time limit that each competitor must complete the liaison and super special stages to avoid incurring a time penalty.

The days riding finished with 119km liaison section on tarmac roads from the end of SS-1 to the Bivouac at Moreeb Hill. The Bivouac at Moreeb Hill was going to be home for the next three days. Here we again met up with our Support team – Sharon and Alessia. The girls had done an amazing job setting up the camp. It was only 6pm in the afternoon but already the blow up mattresses inside each of our tents looked were looking like a luxury suite in the Burj Al Arab. However, our immediate attention turned to the two most important priorities when finishing the days racing - refuel and rehydrate.

The times and positions for the UAE CC Team at the end of SS-1 are as follows –

Name / Time / Cumulative / Position / Overall
Steve You / 05:04:42 / 05:07:45 / 22 / 59
Jonathan Quan /05:06:18 / 05:10:01 / 24 / 61
Paul Anselmo / 05:09:08 / 05:12:18 / 25 / 62
Sean Curnow/ 05:13:00 / 05:15:55 / 26 / 63
For full details of the entire field – please see the official UAE Desert Challenge Website (www.uaedesertchallenge.com)

The feeling around the team is basically all smiles coupled with a real sense of achievement. We are here now, the adrenaline is gone and we have completed the second longest day on the 2008 UAE Desert Challenge. We know that there are much harder days to come and fatigue is going to play a bigger role with every passing day – but for now, the guys are just happy to have made it to this point and are justifiably feeling part of the rally.

The Driver Briefing for the next day’s riding was held at 19:00 pm after which we picked up our Road Books for the next official race day along with the modification sheet. We went back to our official UAE CC tent and marked up our road books before loading them into the units on the bikes. The Gecko mechanics were busy servicing the bikes for the next day’s riding.

Then it was off to sleep for a 5:00 am wakeup call to do it all over again – gotta love it!

Please see our Photo Gallery for photos of the UAE Charity Challenge Team. These will be updated on a daily basis.
For detailed information on the 2008 UAE Desert Challenge please see the official UAE Desert Challenge website at www.uaedesertchallenge.com.