The Dakar was in our sights, and on
the Friday we finally made it to Lima
after over 30km of stinky bumper to
bumper traffic. Lima traffic is hor-
rendous at the best of times, and the
day before the start of the Dakar was
probably not the best time to choose
to enter. Oh well! Both mine and
Kelvin's clutches were having a meh
and making life very difficult. We fil-
tered as much as humanly possible in
the swarm of coughing vehicles and
honking horns, then finally we made
it to our accommodation, complete
with secure parking.
Woohoo! Shower, change and out
the door ... off to the Dakar Park!
We were unbelievably lucky to ar-
rive when we did. About an hour later,
the non-existent queue ended up be-
ing about 200m long! It was exciting.
I'd always dreamed of going to the Da-
kar but never thought I'd actually ever
get to be at one, and here we were! To
TRAVERSE 38
top things off, the only rider left in the
moto 'parque cerrado' (parque ferme)
was Lyndon Poskitt, the British Malle
Moto rider we'd been following online.
He even took a few minutes to come
and talk to us, which was nice.
We all drooled over the spectacular
machines, and then the next morn-
ing it was off at 6am to scout out the
first Special stage of Dakar 2018! It
did not disappoint. The atmosphere
was buzzing and we felt exhilarat-