Dacre Dual sport Challenge 2019

So who's thinking of going solo this year?..... Anyone other than Ivan?... )

Hard pass.
I’m dumb but I ain’t stupid.

Is the solo gold class confirmed? I’m totally in if it is!

I've been told by a RallyConnex team member that it is, but conditionally.
You will need to carry certain pieces of equipment including an InReach GPS.
That doesn't come from Lee or Laura...

The way technology and equipment currently stands going solo is an expensive ordeal. To have to buy another piece of equipment on top of what I already have is too much considering the grass roots nature of this event. We’re just a bunch of hacks showing off and some of us are more hack than others.

I'd like to be known as King Hack if the position is still available.

Anyone know if Lee sold his 500? I saw it on kijiji for about a week.

It wasn't sold last week, but he had a bunch of offers on it. None of the offers seemed super serious.

So how does it work for him being a brand ambassador? He got to borrow the 1290 and had to return it in resale condition but did he buy that 500? Looks like it has all new plastics cause I’ve seen him loop that thing bending the tail plastics.

I can't remember if it's all new plastics now, or if he bought new plastics when he got it and boxed all the OEM stuff for when resale came along.
He's certainly "used" the bike!

I'm not totally sure of the details of his deal. So don't take what I say as any form of gospel. But I think that he gets given the ADV bike for the year since his title is "Adventure Bike Ambassador" and not general "KTM Ambassador". So he has to buy the dirtbikes outright, but I think he gets a pretty sweet deal on the purchase price.

Looks like he took a ton of the OEM stuff off when it was still brand new and boxed it up, and then put it back on the bike now.

For an adventure bike ambassador you figure he’d make it more friendly to them and not torture. That being said I’ve never done the adventure ride in EOAR or the fall tours.

I've never done much with ADV bike stuff other than ride a 2016 Tiger800 around for year or two with some occasional offroad...
I liked it a lot, but with my current job it just isn't worth owning. I only have time or ability to streetride very occasionally now. So I just stick to dirt.
Lee certainly does enjoy torturing people, although I think EOAR and Fall Colours were a LOT tamer than Dacre or Rock Hound!

According to the website, single rider is available in all the classes. The only one they are recommending to not do it in is the Bronze class.
The km difference between silver and bronze is huge! Silver 430km and bronze 936km!

That's cool, I'll definitely be signing up as a solo rider in the bronze class.

There was rumor that to run solo you had to qualify be completing the event as a team first. Personally, knowing what I know now, I would not recommend attempting the Dacre solo if you have never done the event before and at least done 80-90% of the course. The last 25% is the hardest physically and mentally and it's dark and far from everything in that part of the world.

Rumour also is that Lee is trying to make it a LITTLE bit easier for everyone except the Gold Class... Last year no teams were able to finish in Gold, and I think he's keeping it the same route again, but he also realizes that while the Bronze, Iron, and Silver riders want a challenge, they also don't need to be left for dead in the bush.

We never leave them for dead, provided they stay in course. We will run across them before the end of the day.

Keep in mind the silver/gold is mostly single track and quad trails with minimal road allowances. While the bronze and iron are more road allowances and less off road sections. That is major reason why the huge difference in kms.

Sweep riders are legit at Dacre. Legends in my book.... It ain't an easy gig. That said, I hope to never see one again.

Thanks for the props, but it’s you guys that finish it that are legends of stories told, we are mere clean up crew making sure you guys get to come back for many years. And believe me, we all hope to never see you guys either so we can simply enjoy our ride as well

There is a fine line between making it a fluffy trail ride and a hard core enduro challenge that most are not up to and those that are normally get paid for such athletic accomplishments. Its in human nature to seek out tests, particularly those that others would walk away from or lack the experience and commitment or mental and physical fitness to complete. The idea of the Dacre was about an extreme challenge for the everyday Joe riders. Broadening it out to have many classes makes sense from business model to get more participation, so that addresses the Joe rider group and opens the door to those others who are more masochistic. That said the full on gold class still needs to be an achievable challenge for a good portion of the people entering that class given who it should draw in. That should be people with experience in endurance events and riding skill, fitness and mechanical ability. Some practical first aid skills for the woods wouldn't hurt either .