The F5 Bivouac (rallye raid news) and W2RC - World cross country rally championship

I imagine the voice being Bruce from Family Guy saying... "Oh nooo, Whatcha doing over there?"

I'd be getting way too many "Off route - re-calculating" calls, for my liking...

Anyone remember the movie Timerider where Lyle Swann puts a cassette tape in his bike and it plays course notes in his helmet?

What is a "Cassette Tape"?

The records used to skip too much....

And wax cylinders used to melt in the Sahara sun...

and the abacus beads... well.....

I think the stone tablets were the worst, though.

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Ah, but you tell kids that now and they don't believe you!

I'd never seen or heard of that movie title... so went for a google... and ended up in the catacombs of youtube somewhere.

Unbelievably, ufortunately I found it... and watched the trailer (and then purely by way of morbid curiosity) I forced myself to watch the first installment (yes, some poor sick twisted individual has put the whole godawful debacle up in segments for our viewing pleasure! :huh).

The plot and story line are about as thin as hot 5w forkoil... and the dialogue...?! :huh The dialogue...? Obviously they had the same researchers and story writing team as the old 80's Charlies Angels and Knightrider TV series (anyone who has seen one of the various episodes from either of those shows, that had any form of "racing" as part of the storyline/plot will get my drift ).

After the first 10 minutes I was in stitches (@ the first "pitstop" after the title credits; where Lyle puts his HogWild audio-roadbook Vers.1.0 into the eight track cassette player on the handlebars... ) by then, I could not force myself to watch any more...

But I'm gonna try again today... just out of curiosity...

You know something, this hollywood flop... banished to the video shelves so long ago... just might garner itself a retro F5 Dakar cult following...

I think that is telling?

The problem with Audio, is the speed of the playback - your eyes are far quicker at taking in data and processing it than your ears ever can be...

Also, with a paper or at least 'visual' roadbook, you are able to make your own notes - colour being a typical example, for danger, waypoints and other cautions - often you don't even need to look at the actual symbols themselves, just see the colour and the kilometer readout - which I might add, corresponds with the readout on your ICO.

As for warnings if you are too far off course etc. - seriously people?! - learn how to f**king navigate... the Iritrack tells the organization exactly where you are already, and they don't come and get you unless you're hurt...

With the exception of Hogwild, it seems most of these suggestions for changing the roadbook format are coming from people who don't regularly (if ever) ride roadbook rallies - and by that I mean proper sanctioned FIM events.. not speedy dual-sport rides... There are fundamental reasons they use and still use paper you know!

Sure I can coincide the roadbook going digital at some point perhaps - but only if you can edit it in exactly the same way as you can with paper - which of course you can't, because entering your own text (erm, quickly, with like, a pen) and cutting it with scissors is never going to be efficiently replicated. Fundamentally though, as I've said time and again - a paper copy is a HARD COPY - power and batteries (or a cracked screen in an accident for example) can fail - with paper, even if your roadbook motor jams, you can still roll the paper forward manually (or take it out) and see the instructions...

I really don't understand the preoccupation with wanting to change the roadbook format? - it works, and fundamentally IS THE SAME FOR EVERYONE!!!

Bring in electronics, and link it to GPS etc etc and you just open it up for nerdy types to devise ways of cheating - the point is to process the instructions in real time and base your pace on that... You want to race at full speed on essentially a 'marked' course? - then do Baja type events...

Anything I've ever read is all about making it 'easier' for the riders/drivers - THAT ISN'T THE POINT - a rally is a NAVIGATION EXERCISE!

Rant over.

Jx

ps. there is one more reason why a paper roadbook is best - then you can have one of these on your wall! (genuine framed Dakar 2011 roadbook page - available soon via the webshop on Jennydakar.com):

I watched it....


... never mind...

Here's an article on Don Hatton from the Vancouver Sun:

Motorcyclist on a mission to complete Dakar Rally
Vancouver Island man has taken four runs at gruelling journey and been robbed of this year's try, but is determined for 2013

A story on Dakar Team GB:


Dakar Team GB: An Inspirational Story

From the article, Toby:

and

related:

Toby mentioned his blog

looking for sponsors

http://www.dakarrallyteam.co.uk/

Just saw this RawHyde Adventure update come through my inbox and thought some here might be interested.



"Its official. The 2013 edition of the Dakar Rally has been scheduled and RawHyde will be taking a few lucky riders on the adventure of their lives. Would you like to join me for this amazing ride?

We have a very special addition to this years tour! I'm really pleased to say that 6 time Dakar Rally competitor Jonah Street will be riding with us on the 2013 tour and providing his personal insight into the rally and how it all works. On top of running the Dakar 6 times, Jonah is also a 2 time "stage winner." and the only American rider to do well in the Dakar over the last few years. Jonah is "taking a break" from Dakar and is going ride with us for the fun of it. This is an amazing chance to get a very personal & first hand perspective of the race on a day to day basis from a guy who really knows what its all about.

The dates for the Dakar Rally are January 5th to the 20th. We are only taking a dozen riders with us - so if you're interested you should "put your name in the hat early"."



I'm not affiliated with RawHyde other than having done one of their camps which gets me on their mailing list. Just thought people might like to hear what Jonah is planning for next years Dakar. Some here may have an issue with them since I think it was one of their riders that crashed in the middle of one of this years stages and caused a bit of an issue.

Now Troy...

I'm sure it can't be as bad as Silver Dream Racer...

Actually, can anyone explain the ending to Silver Dream racer to me?

Why did the main characters bike blow up?

Was it written by a kid as a school assignment, and as soon as he got to the allocated word count, he just ended it by writing "and then he died... The end..."?

Woah! Spoiler alert!!!

Jx

Hi Jen hi tREV

Now as far as spoiler alerts go... I think in reference to Silverdream Racer (made also in the 80's) and Timerider... raising a flag on the endings for the poor anaware masses out there would be deemed "services in the best interests of humanity" as opposed to "spoiler".

Mind you, anyone who hasn't yet seen either of these two 80's moto-cinema-masterpieces... you have been warned.