gold .
Take Zolt , or as he tells us how to pronounce his name ‘ Zolt – like television ’?! He ’ s an ex-Uranium Miner and businessman from Hungary , who made national television in his home country for being in the race . He invited me to jump into the camera shot , but I didn ’ t have a clue what was being said . He ’ s a giant of a man , who rides his AT like it ’ s a tank , regularly crashing into things at astonishing speeds , breaking many of its expensive parts , but rising to dust himself off unscathed and continue regardless .
We can barely understand each other at times , but we speak through the riding , and the conversation flourishes . We often bowl about on the specials , or hack around on the liaisons together . He has absolutely no respect for road rules , which is saying something coming from me . He maintains a surprising level of energy , but somehow always seems to end up in some drama ( again , much like me , minus the energy ). It ’ s a fascinating feeling when you don ’ t speak the same language as someone yet know they would save your life if required . Zolt ’ s kindness is blinding , and his character is even bigger than he is .
Or take Jhoop (‘ Hoop ’ to us in English ), an A330 pilot for KLM , who has lived all over the world and seems to know something about everything and ends every sentence with laughter . He is probably the sanest of us all and becomes well connected to absolutely everyone in this travelling circus and thus , a great source of information . We often meet out on the track and ride together for a few enjoyable hours . One day we share a beautiful afternoon riding through the vineyards of Tuscany on some long gravel tracks that sticks out as a poignant memory .
On a particularly difficult special
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