Motorcycle Explorer February 2015 Issue 4 | Page 167

C
ruising into Uyuni’s intense light the
following afternoon, the Dakar rally-inspired
carnival and markets bustled in full swing. An
excited buzz filled the air as locals, bikers and
travellers jostled for space between the stalls
packed tightly with street food, mocochinchis –
sugar-sweetened, dehydrated peach drinks and
an A-Z assortment of Dakar-related memorabilia
and merchandise. We pushed the side-stands
d own to the nearest street vendor, ravenous.
Promptly serving up the Menu del Dia – an
inexpensive, set meal for the locals – we dived
into a steaming bowl of roasted llama on a bed of
hot, fluffy quinoa and fortified ourselves for the
hours ahead.
level stamina and a dogged perseverance to
rocket like a bullet across every terrain known to
man covering up to 900 kilometres (560 miles)
per day. The race kicked off in Buenos Aires on 4
January, headed northwest on a circuitous route
into Chile, as far up to Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni,
south through Calama in Chile and diagonally cut
back into Argentina to the starting point and
finishing line, Buenos Aires.
P
unishingly grueling doesn’t remotely
cover the intensity of racing in the Dakar.
Temperatures of around 50 degrees Celsius were
being reported by riders in the desert while
sustaining hundreds of miles of dunes, mud,
pampas grass, rocks, sand and fesh-fesh (moon
dust), dirt, gravel and riverbeds. Serious altitudes
and bone-chilling cold on top – the riders will
esided to the fact that Uyuni’s
have needed to summon Herculean mental and
accommodation would be four times the standard physical strength to sustain themselves over the
rates – who could blame the locals for making
13-day race. My feelings of inadequacy on the
their moolah over the Dakar rally – we headed
sand compared to what the Dakar guys and gals
straight to the Salar to find out where the
would endure was spectacularly comical.
daredevils would be blasting through to complete Finishing the race is the ultimate achievement in
the seventh stage of the race.
itself, let alone going like a bat out of hell to win
first, second or third place. Rooting for father and
son duo Simon and Llewelyn Pavey comprised a
big motivation in experiencing part of the Dakar.
R
T
he Dakar rally raid is a fortnight long, off-
road endurance race. Riders in highly modified
cars, trucks, on quads and dirt bikes need Trojan-