The Wife takes on Chlamydia. A South American Retrospective

Day 7 of the '16 Dakar, night of the 8th and morning of 9th January 2016, near Turpiza, Bolivia

When following the Dakar, it’s important to find out about road closures occurring the night before the next stage. Often the access-road to the viewing point is also part of tomorrow's race track, so you have to arrive there the night before and in plenty of time too.

Nick and I rode back across the Salar towards Uyuni town and the next viewing point, maybe 80km (?, I really can’t remember) beyond Uyuni town, near Turpiza. A (4x4) car full of (drunk) Bolivians from Santa Cruz (the ones in the green/white flags in my last video) asked if they could follow us back across the mostly flat and featureless salt lake. Local knowledge and all

In Uyuni we ride along a bit of the trail from the stage finishing line towards the bivouac and got overtaken by some race cars.

The police were already out on the way to Turpiza, ready to close tomorrow’s racetrack and we made it to the next view point just before dark. The question: Where to camp, especially as we’ll have to leave a lot of stuff and the bikes unattended tomorrow? Why not befriend the local police and pitch our tents next to theirs?

An attempt to shoehorn another Goaty picture into this bit off the RR. In 2001 I did once sleep at a police station in NE Peru when I couldn’t find any accommodation in that particular hamlet. Just asked nicely…



Anyway…



Letting the local police have a sit on the bikes. Nick carefully holding on to make sure the guy doesn't drop his 690.






Hangin' with t'lads






It's cold, so we'll just torch a few bushes in the desert, thought the policeman. Hope my tent doesn't burn down, thought Chris....






Possible Biblical connotations ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_bush ) , or just keeping warm? The temperature drops dramatically at night at 3500m above sea level...

nice write up chris you have me wishing I was back in south America. I'm interested in the story of how you imported your bike into the UK on your trip if you want to share

Glad the RR brings back pleasant memories, Dave.

Turpiza race bike pictures and video

A quick fast and dirty video, not made with love, but still… Why am I panting. No air at 3500m...









Just a little experiment with making an animated gif. Sorry, I’m bored at home at the moment. Even flash animations have been superseded because they won’t run on Apple devices and were good for getting viruses onto your machine. Here is the top lady Laia Sanz, again.





Now loads of race bike pictures. Taken in the order I took them. I struggle to edit the number down any further. And this thread is pretty much a personal and public diary anyway, so why not? ;-)




Toby Price, Australia, winner





Kevin Benavides, Argentina, 4th





Xavier de Soultrait, FRA, dnf





Olivier Pain, France, 22nd





Armand Monleon, Spain, 10th





Ivan Cervantes, Spain, 16th





Fabricio Fuentes Bolivia, 38th, getting some air!





Jun Mitsuhashi, Japan 56th. Japan’s only m/c competitor. On a KTM!





Sjors van Heertum, Netherlands, 51st





Julio Quiroga, Argentina 66th bike and Alexis Hernández, Peru 8th quad





Enric Martí, Spain, 77th





Jose Garcia, Spain dnf on the only BMW in the race. More about him a subsequent chapter. Here he still looks happy… I first met Jose at the Perito Moreno Glacier in Argentina in 2001.





Sylvain Espinasse, France on a 125cc 2 Stroke Husqvarna! And he reached the podium in Rosario!!! Serious respect!





Yesterday’s Suzuki Man… Gone are the gaffer tape, cable ties and webbing. And the bash plate is bolted on properly…





Chris Cork, UK, dnf

Turpiza to the Bolivia/Argentina border: Must ride far and fast to keep up with the race!

Very tragically today one of the race buggies hit and killed a young Bolivian boy. What a crying shame!

It was time to break camp and say my goodbyes to Nick. His route was different to mine. We met again at the Fin del Mundo in Ushuaia.

He went west back to Uyuni town. I headed east towards the main road and then south to the border with Argentina. As a Dakar chaser there are many miles to cover every day.

The following video is self-explanatory…



After dropping down from the mountains it became dryer and warmer.





Interesting rock formation



Upon arriving at the main (paved) road there’s a traffic jam. I ride to the front. The road is closed until 10pm as it’s currently being used as a liaison stretch for all the race vehicles and their backup teams heading to Salta in Argentina for a rest day. Bollox! It’s 5pm now and gets dark at 8 or so. Ok, sob story = marginal BS story…. "As I’m on a bike I need to ride only in daylight as it’s dangerous to ride in the dark". The policeman believes me! And I’m through! It must be that cute innocent face I have




No difficulty in working out what this guy does for a living!



I was overtaken by several race trucks, with friendly toots from them. Also overtook one truck that sounded severely sick. If they could get to Salta they would have a day to fix it. Hope they did. Coming into Villazon, the border town to Argentina, I can’t say how many spectators thought I was a racer… In my dreams!




And friendly locals at my hotel….

Salta to Belen

After a good night’s sleep at Villazon, I slept in too. Should be an easy day as the Race was having a rest day at Salta in North West Argentina, where I had already visited in November. Oh no… I can’t calculated in the 5 or 6 hours to cross the border into Argentina. It hadn’t occurred to anyone in the Bolivian immigration service that as they hadn’t let anyone apart from racers pass the day before, there might be more people today… And all those people following the race too. And from 1 til 3pm, let’s only have 1 person stamping passports as there rest are out to lunch. All part of the fun, I suppose.

So I crossed the border at about 5pm. The 5 hours I planned on taking to Cachi situated on the Ruta 40 to intercept the race took 9 hours! I had to eat, find fuel and riding mountain dirt tracks in the dark isn’t possible at 55mph! I slowed it right down. Best to arrive alive! I got to where the road was closed pre-race at 2am. Lots of Argentines still partying!

In the morning, I met a couple of Dutch people supporting one of the race teams. In a rented 4x4. In the back a brand new ktm450 engine amongst other spares. Should any of their team have a problem, a car would get to them much quicker than the big lumbering support truck. They gave me a cap and some water to drink as my supplies were dry.




Another map someone showed me





Despite the slog down the highway, it’s always possible to stop for a quick picture





Up early after 3 hours sleep





Antoine Meo, France, 7th





Paulo Goncalves, Portugal, one of the favourites, dnf





Gerard Farres, Spain 8th





Helder Rodrigues, Portugal, 5th on the first Yamaha home





Emanuel Gyenes, Romania, 14th





Milan Stanovnik, Slovenia, 79th riding Malle Moto. That means you ride all day and then maintain your own bike at night! The ultimate respect! A bit of the fairing missing from the bike.





You can always tell when one of the famous names is going to pass. There’s a helicopter above. In this case Stephane Peterhansel





7 times winner on a bike and this year his sixth win in a car. I give you Mr Dakar…




Erik van Loon, The Netherlands 13th car





Carlos Sainz, Spain, dnf this year. I was in the bivouac at La Rioja when he was towed in. A 2010 winner and 29 stage victories

I hate wet bollox as well, anyway thanks for taking the time to write this report and get well soon.

Thanks Bob!

Riding into that hole, things were looking ok, then I started to dive. When the sludge and water level was close to the headlight I was seriously concerned. Then the bike stopped (probably carb breaker blocked) and and I nearly dropped it. The wet butt and bollox quickly focused my mind. After a minute or 2 stopped in the middle I tried the electric boot again and she started.

Conveniently, things then became shallower