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History made as Team SP FiFTYONE finishes Dakar 2015 Team SP FiFTYONE make motorcycling history and become the first father and son to finish the Dakar Rally. Simon and Lewelyn Pavey have made Dakar history today by completing the 2015 Dakar Rally. The father and son team have had their fair share of problems in the 2015 rally but a true gritty performance right to the end created a new motorcycling mantra: to finish, first you must be determined. As KTM’s Marc Coma was on his way to collecting his fifth Dakar victory, Simon and Llewelyn were slogging it out in what Simon describes as “maybe the hardest day of the rally” towing each other through horrendous muddy conditions. A huge downpour brought the rally to a premature end when the farm tracks leading towards Buenos Aires became incredibly slippery, leaving the organisers little choice but to cut the stage short. With electrical problems still plaguing the number 75 machine, Simon and Llel were forced to tow the stricken bike out of the shortened 101kms stage – not normally a difficult task but in terrible muddy conditions today it became almost impossible. It took them a whopping hour to complete the final kilometres. Without question getting to the end of today’s stage and the rally finish was as much about the sheer dedication of the SP FiFTYONE support crew as it was about the sheer determination of the riders. On a normal day the Dakar is hard on both riders and support teams but the 2015 rally has been amplified dramatically by problems created on stage eight, when organisers sent the bikes across a wet salt lake in Uyuni. Attrition rates were extremely high across the bike entrants, largely due to the salt working its way into all parts of bikes. But for the resourcefulness and mechanical know-how of the riders on the stage and the support crew all night, Simon and Llel would have surely added to the list of non-finishers. What will surely be labeled one of the hardest Dakars in recent history brings Simon’s tally to 10 and has been a tough baptism for Llewelyn in his first. After finishing this ‘extreme human adventure’ Team SP FiFTYONE has certainly earned a beer tonight. Image: Victore Leuterio
Today was a mad day, the hardest of the rally in some ways. Everyone set off at the start like scolded cats in the dry and the dust, which was unbelievable in itself. We just decided to let them get on with it because there was nothing to be gained or lost. Then the heavens opened and half the people who’d come flying past us were laying upside down at the side of the track because they couldn’t ride mud. It was unreal and to be honest really, really funny. But that quickly turned on us. As soon as Llel’s bike got wet it just died so we had quite a few Ks of towing through mud that you wouldn’t believe. Llel was awesome holding on to the tow. Basically a rally bike on desert tyres doesn’t grip too well in those conditions so you have to hook second gear and keep it pinned. I was just filling him in permanently for kilometre after kilometre. The top layer of mud was so thick I have no idea how he held on. I would have given up long before! We got out though and it was fun, I guess. I think we’re both just exhausted. The effort put in by Evan and John has been unbelievable too and there’s no way we could have been at the podium there without them. The rally this year has ticked all the emotions boxes that’s for sure. Despair, hope, tears, highs – all were there. And that was just today!
We began our day steady today, mainly because my bike was running really
badly but also because there was no point in going mental like everyone
else. It was dry at the start and for some reason people who’d been steady
all week went crazy. I don’t really know why. But then the bike just stopped again. The whole front of the bike went live too so the bars, levers anything metal was live. We tried to fix it but just decided to tow our way out. Which was hard, hard work at times, fun but hard. I basically had to guess my way a lot of the time, close my eyes and hold on hard while dad nailed it. It’s hard to say how I feel now, I’m not sure it’s sunk in yet but it’s almost an anti-climax that the rally is over. I’m just tired I guess. I’m not sure the bike would’ve lasted another day anyhow. I definitely feel like we did a good job of getting all the stories packed in there for my first rally!
Rare routine day for Team SP FiFTYONE as riders Simon and Llewelyn Pavey near the 2015 Dakar finish line. Stage 12 of the 2015 Dakar Rally clocked a total of 1024kms, just short of 300kms of which were timed special test today. Much of those kilometres were on loose gravel, on top of hard-packed ground, which was not the time nor place for Team SP FiFTYONE to do anything heroic. Quite simply it was a day to get through with safety and confidence. Which is exactly what Simon and Llewelyn did by setting a steady pace all day to finish together in 73rd and 74th places, with Simon just pipping Llel on time. Overall they have each gained a place, Llel is just ahead in 62nd, Simon is 63rd. Riding together as they have for much of the second half of the rally, Team SP FiFTYONE’s riders were at home among the Sierra de Cordoba hills which were much like the Southern Portugal hills Simon and Llewelyn have done so much riding among. Dare we say the worst of it is over? Surely things were as difficult as they could have been three and four days ago for Simon and Llewelyn when altitude sickness and mechanical problems made life immensely tough. Despite everything they have endured, Team SP FiFTYONE has reached the final day’s riding. By no means a walk in the park with just under 500kms to cover, it is a short day and definitely one to take easy to make sure the bikes make it to the finish. The 174kms special stage is relatively easy-going terrain; fast farm tracks much like stage one was on the way out nearly 100 years ago now - or at least it feels that way. Communication with the riders again proved impossible last night. If we get news later during the day, we'll report it. Image: Jose Mario Dias
Team SP FiFTYONE ‘back on the wagon’ after two-days in the wilderness during the 2015 Dakar Rally. Team SP FiFTYONE riders, Simon and Lewelyn Pavey, have endured an epic few days at the 2015 Dakar Rally but, despite everything, dropped into the Termes Rio Honda bivouac tonight in typical Pavey-style – almost as if nothing had happened. The pair went off the radar yesterday (stage 10), the first day of this final two-day ‘marathon’ stage of the 2015 Dakar. Suffering badly with altitude sickness, extremely cold conditions (-9°C) and yet another bike failure caused by crossing the Uyuni salt flats three days earlier, Simon and Llewelyn’s last two days have been every bit the marathon. Both had to take refuge in a medical vehicle to recover at one point, with Llewelyn needing a drip and oxygen to recover. All of which cost them large chunks of time and they eventually arrived at the stage 10 finish at 4am, just shy of 24hrs after their day had begun. Just a couple hours later, without any assistance on the marathon stage, Simon and Llel were back on their bikes and ready for the start of stage 11, right at the very back of the field. Despite all of this Simon described today’s stage as “really enjoyable” and it has certainly been a huge relief for the dogged father and son team to get back on the Dakar wagon, back in among the bikes and still be alive an kicking in what is turning out to be a legendarily tough 26th Dakar. Team SP FiFTYONE, not just the riders but the support crew of Evan and John, have had their mettle severely tested in the middle five days of the rally. By this stage, of the 168 riders who entered the rally, just 79 remain. Llewelyn lies 62nd, Simon 63rd. There are two more stages of the 2015 Dakar Rally and the end is most certainly in sight but, there is still a long way to go before the final flag in Buenos Aires. Stage 12, Termes Rio Honda to Rosario, has a high distance to cover back across Argentinia. The day begins for the first bikes at 4:50am and totals 726kms of liaison, plus 298kms of special test. Image: Victore Leuterio
Today, stage 11, has been great, one of the most fun days for me. We started absolutely right at the back of everyone so were passing a trucks and cars. We were not alone, there’s a few others in the same boat. And, again, we just rode along and had a lot of fun. Today was beautiful riding. Things can change so easily up in the hills though, we were just talking to Laia (Sanz – Team HRC Rally rider) about the riding and she said how beautiful it was through one bit where we’d had to stop and put all our wet kit on because of a storm – it truly depends how you catch it. It was a fantastic day though, we loved it, but it’s just mad how different it can be at different times. And then back down off the mountain again here and it’s 40degrees! The Dakar is so, so tough. We know that. Once you fall off the wagon like we did yesterday it is so hard to climb back on. It’s impossible and just becomes survival. But then today, after half an hour we caught up with some bikes, passed a few guys and we were like: “yeah, we’re back in the rally, we exist!” That was a really nice feeling actually. Early start tomorrow and another 1000kms but there’s no getting rid of us now.
Yesterday was another nail in the coffin, as they say. Just long, not physically tired, my muscles aren’t sore or anything, you’re not putting out a lot of effort on these stages. Just really, really long days. I’ve heard a lot of stories about Dakar from a lot of different people over the years. I think I’ve managed to tick most of the boxes of other people’s stories in one year. I haven’t been washed down a river and I haven’t been to someone’s house for tea yet but that’s about it I guess. I almost fell in a well in Bolivia, which is close I guess! Everything that could have gone wrong in the last few days has. I think I’m quite lucky with the altitude; it hasn’t been too bad, just that one time. But it’s one of those things – it happens, you fix it and keep going. Tomorrow is a long day but easy really I think. The early days in Argentina put you straight into a 300kms special test but tomorrow is 700kms down the road for a while. My bum will be sore but at this point in the rally I’d rather do that for a while and not have any problems than ride 20kms and sit in a desert all night!
Team SP FiFTYONE hampered by poor weather on marathon stage 10 A very late start time on stage 10 of the 2015 Dakar Rally pitches Team SP FiFTYONE riders Simon and Lewelyn Pavey out in the Argentinian elements on a technically demanding course. Team SP FiFTYONE were late starting today, only beginning the stage 10 special at 14:07 after a long liaison. The late start was due to the late finish the previous night – competitors begin where they left off each day. This means Simon and Llewelyn were working hard again today among the heavily beaten-up pistes the cars and trucks leave in their wake. Poor weather conditions hit the second half of their day too. Early starters getting home before the weather closed in, it was another way in which the late start times hampered Simon and Llewelyn. Things were going well for much of stage 10: Team SP FiFTYONE riders, Simon and Llel, were together and setting good times comparable with riders ten places higher up the order for much of the stage. But somewhere between waypoint six and waypoint seven (of an eight waypoint stage) both rider lost a lot of time. They also gained an hour time penalty yesterday. Unable to communicate with the riders in the bivouac, we can only speculate as to the causes but it was likely to be the weather conditions, which closed in as the riders were tackling a technically tricky part of the special test. They reached the overnight bivouac late too, around 10pm. This being the halfway point in the second of this year’s two marathon stages, any mechanical activity would have been carried out with limited tools by the riders. Riding together all day again they finished in 78th and 79th, in the now familiar order of Llewelyn just ahead of Simon. Their overall standings are now 65th and 66th. Tomorrow’s stage is the last of the ‘marathon’ stages for motorcycles as the rally heads further back east towards Buenos Aires. A relatively short 357kms special drops down in altitude, away from the Andes and finishes in Termas de Rio Hondo. Communication with the riders proved impossible last night, we expect due to the weather conditions. If we get news later, during day 11, we'll report it. Image: Jose Mario Dias
Mechanical woes brushed aside as Team SP FiFTYONE storm stage nine Mechanical problems and battles with trucks doesn’t stop Team SP FiFTYONE from bouncing back up the standings on difficult Dakar 2015 stage nine. After the mechanical difficulties of stage eight, and an 'all-nighter' for Team SP FiFTYONE’s wizard technician Evan Davies, riders Simon and Llewelyn Pavey might have expected better luck in today’s stage. But just 20kms up the road, Llel found his KTM Rally bike was hemorrhaging oil badly. With the support team not far away, they fixed the problem but were by then at the back of the bike running order, in among the cars and trucks for the lengthy special stage. This made life more dangerous as the four-wheeled vehicles can be aggressive overtaking, throw up so much dust and chew up the tracks badly. It was therefore, another typical Dakar day Pavey-style with crashes, great team-work and above all steely determination. Consistent pace through the day’s 451kms special stage ticked off riders above them – making time back they’d earlier lost and pushing on further to claim places in the running order. For both Team SP FiFTYONE riders stages eight and nine have been hard, a fact written all over their faces at the finish today. Llewelyn finished the stage in 48th and Simon 49th which places them 59th and 61st respectively in the standings. Tomorrow’s stage 10 sets out from Calama back into Argentina and is the second of the ‘marathon’ stages, so no support crew overnight tomorrow. The 371kms special stage starts just over the border on the Salinas Grandes, another giant salt flat with potentially cooler conditions and an altitude of 3,600m once more. A lengthy liaison of 520kms concludes along the Paso de l’Acay, at an altitude of 4,970m. Image: Rallymaniacs.nl
The guys did an unbelievable job last night. It was probably 9pm when we handed the bikes to them covered in salt and mud. They washed them first job and both bikes stopped and wouldn’t run again. They pretty much had the whole bikes apart. They worked all night and were literally still putting bikes together at the start time. 20kms out the bivouac today Llel’s bike was steaming and it looked really dramatic. We didn’t have any parts to fix it so I went back, got Evan, who was in liaison so he can come to us. We found out the centre of the oil pressure switch had just corroded through. So I went and got a pint of chocolate milk and had a poo, which seemed like the thing to do at that point! By the time we got fixed and to the start of the special we were at the back of the field. At first they didn’t want us to take the start – they wanted us to wait an hour to let the first 15 cars go. We had a little bit of a heated discussion about that. Common sense prevailed eventually. Those first fifteen cars aren’t the problem. They’re so fast and such good drivers that you’ve only got to roll off the throttle and they’re gone. It’s after that it gets difficult. Usual story – most people are really good but dickheads who didn’t use their sentinels (warning signal between vehicles) and just storm past. It infuriates me. But it all gets to be a vicious circle then – the tracks are destroyed so it’s hard going, then the trucks start to arrive and once they come you just have to stop because the dust they create just makes the sky disappear. Pretty early in the day Llel had a monster crash. He didn’t really do anything wrong, caught a stone in the fesh-fesh and just went boom! A rally bike goes so quickly when it goes. He went down really hard and shook his confidence quite a bit for a long time. A long day totally tomorrow but a decentish liaison then a not too bad special and a high tricky pass but I think we’ve already done it earlier in the rally coming out. I think I remember it and I enjoyed it. So not difficult day we hope!
I wouldn’t say never again but a day like today makes you wonder why! It’s been a really, really tough day for me. Right from the start I think I was annoyed that I was having problems again and it’s no-one’s fault apart from Etienne Lavigne (Dakar race director) and I’m quite happy to tell him that. It made life really hard starting next to the cars. The track was
destroyed and even in the dunes it was really hard to find a clean line. After that it was just hard work. Like 'hare and hounds' racing in the UK but with 500 people taking part, the track is ruined. Rocks, bumps, fesh-fesh, stutter bumps, braking bumps. It beats your hands up more than anything. But apart from that, we made it! It was a proper team effort, this last two days in fact. If we hadn’t both been there I don’t think we would have made it. Mechanically this morning of course but mentally today it was really hard to push through that. Another day tomorrow, a better day I hope!
Live from the roadside 20kms outside the Iquique bivouac, we've just spoken to a surprisingly chipper Llewelyn Pavey. Team SP FiFTYONE truly did have a nightmare yesterday but they were not alone and it has carried on today. So far, but they're not giving up. Llelwelyn has broken down with a blowing oil line from his KTM Rally bike’s engine. Simon has headed back the bivouac to bring the support crew. Llel was hopeful the issue was fixable: “We’ve come too far and it’s been too much like hard work to fail here.” Llewelyn Pavey: "I’m just sat in a random side street waiting for Ev (Team SP FiFTYONE technician Evan Davies) to arrive with the van. My old man has gone back to get them because we didn’t get far off the start before my bike started to leak oil and smoke everywhere. I think it is an oil union really badly corroded and because we were so close it made sense to get the van. Yesterday though was utter carnage. I think the organisers made a big mistake setting us off across the salt flat, for 150kms there were bikes constantly in bits. It was all down to the salt water kicking up off the front wheels and was really random, some people were ok, many weren’t. We rode side-by-side and my bike broke down, his didn’t. We did about 85kms of the 130 or so across the flats before mine just stopped working. Dad towed me for about 50kms and we passed so many bikes it was unreal. Most of them trying to fix their bikes in three inches of salt water and it was really cold up there too. We spent about 2 ½ hours just off the flats literally cleaning up every wire connection on the bikes. Salt was everywhere and so many connectors had already started to corrode. By the time we finished that it was already 2pm and we were well behind but we were not alone, so many top riders too. We rode hard after that to get back but we still didn’t make it to the dunes before dark. It was only 40kms or so in the sand but it was pretty sketchy going down the massive dune to the Bivouac. Mad seeing the lights in the distance from such a height but I cruised down at about 50kmh, I was too scared to go any faster. It was a crazy decision by the organisers to let the bikes go across the salt, the whole day seemed like it was just for the TV pictures to be honest. It was carnage in the bivouac too. KTM must have sold thirty complete wiring looms. Our bikes were so crusted up it was unbelievable, every bit of metal covered. Evan had a hell of a night, completely stripping both bikes down and cleaning everything up. He literally bolted the last bolt at two minutes to seven when we left. He’s been up all night."
Team SP FiFTYONE riders slog out treacherous and mechanically testing stage eight of the 2015 Dakar Rally. The second ‘marathon’ stage of the 2015 Dakar Rally proved to be yet another tough test with the same “Welsh” weather conditions making life hard for bikes and riders. Many riders suffered mechanical difficulties and it proved to be very much a day to remain dogged – a trait Team SP FiFTYONE riders Simon and Llewelyn Pavey are proving themselves good at. The vast Salar de Uyuni, the world’s largest salt plane, was a very cold two degrees at the start, which was delayed while organisers assessed the safety implications of sending competitors across the water-logged surface. Starting off in 30 bike ‘waves’ across the vast salt flats the surface was wet with briny water and falling rain. A long, straight drag across the flats brought carnage for many riders as the salt encrusted the bikes, like a layer of cement over radiators. Overheating and electrical problems caught many riders out. Even the rally leader, Marc Coma had his troubles and later labeled the conditions “over the limit.” Muddy and very tough riding in places, progress was slow through the rest of the 700kms-plus stage. Much of it ran above 3600m, making it cold and wet for riders and reports of riders suffering with hypothermia began to filter through. The start delay caused Simon and Llewelyn to set off later than planned and the knock-on effect was a late finish, a dramatic knock-on in reality because it meant the tough last 40kms in the dunes was also in the dark. Llewelyn eventually crossed the line in 76th place on the stage, Simon in 77th right behind his son. Indeed it was another day where SP FiFTYONE riders worked as a team to make the finish. With such a rate of attrition on stage eight Llewelyn and Simon have moved dramatically up the running order, proving how important it was to use your head and remain determined. Llewelyn now lies in 59th, Simon is 60th overall. The 2015 Dakar Rally will certainly go down in history as one of the toughest – what a time to make your first attempt but what great plan having your dad along with nine Dakars under his belt. By this point in the 2015 Dakar Llewelyn has been riding for 44:48:14hrs, Simon for 45:09:13hrs. Stage nine will be a huge contrast from the riding conditions experienced over the last two days on the marathon stages. 450kms of riding from Iquique to Calama much like riders experienced last week: dry, dusty and hot again. Bikes begin at 6am with the first 50kms in the Atacama Desert before passing though some technical terrain which should suit the bikes better than the cars or trucks. Unfortunately we were unable to communicate with the team at the end of the stage. With time schedules, mechanicing, food, drink and sleep all a priority it is not always possible to fit in the time for an interview or two. Apologies. Image: Jose Mario Dias
Team SP FiFTYONE relish the Welsh conditions to jump back up the order in 2015 Dakar day seven's ‘marathon’ stage. Rain fall in the Bolvian stage of the 2015 Dakar Rally today caused treacherous conditions for many but the Welsh resident Pavey’s had an absolute ball, welcomed the site of green grass for the first time in six days and moved back up the order to 74th and 77th places. Starting down the order, after riding as a team on day six when Llewelyn crashed in the dunes, both riders quickly jumped up the running order – from start positions in the 90s to running in the 60s and early 70s all stage. First on the road, Simon had been on something of a roll up to the mid-point of the special test, shifting up the order rapidly. But the experienced rally rider decided to wait for Llewelyn, who is carrying an ankle injury, and make sure his son got through the stage. The pair rode out the majority of the stage together in fairly normal conditions, if you live in Wales, enjoying themselves in the mud and sailing through deep, fast river crossings where so many others were falling. After crashing heavily on stage six, Llewelyn is struggling on some of the bumpier going still. But by all accounts he forgot the pain in the last 50kms and both enjoyed themselves along an open and wet, sandy piste. Struggling to keep up at times Simon said it was like he’d got a “touch paper under his arse” as they both really enjoyed riding into the very welcoming crowds at Uyuni. The Team SP FiFTYONE rally bikes have been difficult to ride today also, simply because they are gasping for air at the altitude. Yet the KTM package is proving perfect and both bikes are holding up to the Dakar flawlessly on these ‘marathon’ stages. All maintenance is down to the riders overnight and both riders report their bikes needed no work. With the rain slowing things down and with no dust, not even a change of air filter was needed. Tomorrow’s 784kms special is partly weather dependent. If it is dry enough the riders line-up for 100kms of flat-out riding straight across the Salar de Uyuni, the world’s largest salt flats. If yesterday’s rain doesn’t burn off in time riders will skirt the edges of the flats, head into some slower and technical riding as they pass through the Andes into Chile once more. The last 40kms is back in the dunes, some spectacular ones at that with the final drop down to the open arms of the Team SP FiFTYONE support crew again at sea level off a spectacular ‘dune mountain’ on the edge of Iquique.
Today has been a great Dakar day. I’ve loved every bit of it. Like now
(in the army barracks sleeping quarters) there are so many stories from
people about what happened it is brilliant, people finding local houses to
warm up in is true Dakar spirit, there’s a great atmosphere. I soon calmed down though and made the decision to wait for Llel, who started behind me today. You could see he was hurting so it was just better to stop and wait. It was tricky in places too, some of the rivers were really fast-flowing and it was a leap of faith riding in at times but I think a bit of experience showed for us. The bikes are quite hard to ride at this altitude as well. You struggle to pull away in first gear at all, literally you have to ride away from a standstill like a race start just to get going. We had a funny moment early on where Llel stopped and I thought “what are you doing”. He’d stopped by a 'beware of the Llamas' sign. We had a stack of Llama jokes there for a few minutes so don’t be surprised to see some of that on the TV footage! Every bit of the special was great though, slow but enjoyable to ride. Slow right up until the last 50kms or so when all of a sudden it was like an enduro special, he was unbelievable, like someone had lit a touch paper under his arse!
We’re in an army barracks tonight and it’s quite cold to be honest but it was really nice to have my first vaguely warm shower since we left Buenos Aires. Today has been absolutely awesome, the riding in places was flowing and beautiful and a real pleasure. Super nice, just like Portugal in places with some big river crossings you’re not sure about and lovely tracks. The last 50kms or so was snaking, wet sandy tracks that were awesome, really good to ride. The last 100kms in fact were a proper adventure – really slippery in places with people crashing all over the place, broken bikes, people washed down the rivers. It was amazing, like half of them had never seen wet mud before. We just kept plugging on and passing people. I was a bit late starting actually because I needed a poo. It was a long way on the road and I needed a poo by the time I got to the special so I was late starting! Our kit has been absolutely amazing today. The Craghoppers clothing, our gillets, fleeces, waterproofs, I’ve had it all on today and I really needed it. They told us it would be cold and once the rain came we were sorted. We had the bar muffs on from Barkbusters too and truly it has made so much difference. No-one else seems to have heated grips and it makes no sense. We were toasty while other people were having to pop into people’s houses to warm up for a bit. My ankle’s been ok. It was painful for a start because there were a lot of bumps jarring it. A couple of times it was really painful – once I just put my foot down in the mud and it was so bad I had to just sit there for a couple of minutes. Truly though it has been a great day and I really enjoyed it, it was like a winter hare and hounds enduro in Britain!
Navigation issues, beautiful riding and painful crashes With many riders making minor detours, and the overall leading duo of Joan Barreda and Marc Coma having a tremendous cat and mouse battle up front, Team SP FiFTYONE riders Simon and Llewelyn Pavey had a full day of typical Dakar drama yesterday. The first part of the special stage was another straightforward mission through the dust and fesh-fesh which is becoming a feature of this year’s Dakar. Once riders hit the Region Tarapaca, with it’s stunning scenery, the riding improved. Unfortunately the navigation didn’t in what Simon described as looking like a “local riders playground”, tracks in every direction caused a bit of chaos as competitors got confused with their road books. After more confusion in a ‘bike-only’ section the rally regrouped in the Medanoso dunes where disaster struck the Dakar rookie Llel who dropped into a ‘wind pocket’ in the dunes. Although he didn’t crash he hit the face of the dune hard head-butting the bike and spraining his ankle badly. Simon luckily was only seconds behind and so was able to help Llewelyn recover and make it through the rest of the stage. A very difficult sections of dunes it proved to be as well. Simon and Llewelyn ended the stage in 73rd and 74th places overall and welcomed the mid-event day off motorcycle competitors had today in Iquique, which has various facts attached to it but the best we’ve seen is that it hasn’t rained there for 16 years. Tomorrow’s ‘marathon stage’ means the riders are on their own at the end and overnight with have no contact with the support truck, which stays in Iquique. There are no spares, no fresh tyres nothing they can’t carry with them so the stage brings an element of risk but it also gives the support crew a bit of respite from their incredible schedule this week. The stage goes up into Bolivia, at high altitude over the Andes and more or less stays at high altitude for the two days with the overnight bivouac in Uyuni. Day seven comprises 392kms of liaison and 321kms of special stage. The following day returns back to Iquique via a different route but with much of that day hovering around the 4000m mark it will be a tough day for the bikes and riders as they gasp for air. Image: Gustavo Epifanio
Yesterday the riding in places was like it has been a lot this year, long straights with loads of fesh-fesh, dust, holes and horrible. But in the canyon there for a while it was absolutely beautiful. Beautiful to look at and really enjoyable riding and you want a bit of that each day. Those are the places where you want to push on a bit and ride how you know you can just to show yourself really. I road with Llel a bit in the middle of the special. We found each other
going in different directions! After that we had a bit of navigation trouble
through a ‘bike-only’ section which was lovely to ride, like an enduro,
but confusing on the road books, so it took us a while there. I stopped at the check to get some more water so Llel was ahead then and I was just riding at my own pace when the bike alarm went off (to say there was a bike crashed nearby) and it was really weird because there was nowhere for it really to be. I was looking and riding and there was a little wind pocket hole in the sand, I looked back and saw a bike and realized it was Llel. There was a medical car at the top of the hill, they got the alarm too and they came down the hill and had a look at him. They gave us some pain-killers and water and I suppose we were there a while but for an indeterminate amount of time. After that it just made it a long day because it was really hard for Llel to ride through the dunes because, more than anything, I think he just lost his confidence. It was really early on in the dunes and they were difficult. I’ve ridden a lot of dunes and they were difficult, no question about it. They were big and really, really soft towards the crests and that last bit so judging the speed and timing of approach was real hard. The cars and trucks had been through by then as well so it was just carnage. But it’s alright, we got through the day and at least he’s good to fight another day. It could have been worse. It’s not really a rest day today, there’s a load of admin and we did a load of washing this morning which always feels nice to get your kit freshened up a bit. It’s just an opportunity to have an easy workday really, not rest, we have to sort out passport control here today because we cross the border to Bolvia tomorrow. It’s all about getting freshened up: the bikes, the clothing, the body for sure and keeping hydrated. Everyone’s kind of counting the days a bit, naturally. Because it’s so important to get that finisher’s medal you start to want it over towards the end. Tomorrow looks long again but hopefully everyone will take a bit more of a survival mode and not doing anything crazy. I’ve seen it a lot in other years where the day after the rest day people do go out and there’s a lot of crazy racing again like day one. In the past they’ve done that mass start too. As soon as you put twenty riders in a line they put their race heads on. You might go to the start line telling yourself to just let everyone go, but when you’re there you just can’t. So that might be a bit scary if that happens! I’m not a fan of it, I don’t think anyone is. They just do it for the helicopter shot I think really. Anyway, I’ll see you in two days.
I had an unlucky moment today in the dunes, just going through a big wide
sand valley. The sentinel went off so I checked behind me to make sure I
wasn’t going to pull in front of the truck and the next thing I knew I was
flying through the air (the sentinel is a warning beacon on all vehicles,
triggered by a pursuing vehicle to let the competitor in front know to
beware, more often used to say ‘let me past’). I hit the bike and cut my chin, sprained my ankle and did a bit of lying
about on the floor for a bit, some moaning about life in general. I’m
still ok to ride but it hurts a lot. My old man caught me and helped there
and I needed it because I kept getting stuck in the sand because I couldn’t
ride. It meant we were a couple of hours later getting in so it was another
long day. Tomorrow looks like a long day still but although it’s hard to say, looking at the route it doesn’t look too horrendous going into Bolivia. 800-odd Kms each day is long enough but I think I’ll be able to kind of tick it out, cruise along. For me the hardest part has been and will be the dunes, simply because I’m still learning how to ride that bike in them. My ankle should be fine. The only time it was really hurting was on the tracks that were beaten up, and they were really beaten up yesterday. Braking and acceleration bumps into and out of every corner, it’s like there was a motocross on. That was the only time it was real bad. In the dunes I could still stand up and do enough to get through them. Hour by hour it’s getting better, I’m icing it, I’ve taken some drugs and I think we’ll be ok.
Team SP FiFTYONE ‘cruise’ through physically
difficult 2015 Dakar stage five With what many labeled an ‘easier day’ yesterday a distant memory, Team SP FiFTYONE riders Simon and Llewelyn Pavey were faced with a physically challenging but beautifully scenic stage today in Chile. Organisers had warned competitors to exercise some caution and that’s exactly what both Simon and Llewelyn did, albeit with quite different approaches. After some of the crashes that have occurred during the 2015 event, these weren’t unwise words from the organisers. Both riders are settled into the rhythm of the rally and very much adopted the ‘marathon not a sprint’ mentality necessary on days like these to be successful in the Dakar. Very tough in places with many riders complaining of the battering their hands, lower back and legs got holding on to their bikes through long stretches of undulating piste today, that and fighting with the dreaded fesh-fesh. The soft, powdery sand is incredibly difficult to read as a rider and carries a high risk of crashing. Llewelyn’s solution was to get off the main tracks and blast his own lines through the rocks at the side while Simon’s tactic was to not be brave and go “trail riding” to get through the more difficult stretches. Both methods proved effective as the riders arrived in the Chilean seaside city of Antofagasta it was ice creams all round to celebrate getting through a hard Dakar day in 60th and 69th places. That brings their overall positions closer, to 69th and 71st in the rankings. Though Llel dropped a place or two on day five it is clear both Team SP FiFTYONE riders are in a comfortable part of the running order now with a gaggle of competitors of a broadly similar ability. The time difference (time accumulates across each day of the rally) between Simon and Llel is much greater than the two positions represent, with Llewelyn just over 20 minutes ahead of Simon. Simon’s experience is beginning to close the gap though. Day six sees the rally head north through Chile with the Pacific never too far away on their left-hand side and the promise of a rest day at the end of it. The 369kms liaison and a 319kms special stage finishes in “magical” Iguique. Image: Gustavo Epifanio
I’ve recovered surprisingly well. I felt good today but really I knew it was going to be a long day with lots of fesh-fesh, and I hate the fesh-fesh because I’m not brave. I’m not brave on the bumpy sections beside the piste or risking going fast on the fesh-fesh so I’m happy to say I just trail rode today and, as Llel says, cruised. There were bits of it that were really enjoyable and beautiful today, no question about it. Really nice to ride like a lot of yesterday was but there were also bits which seemed to never, ever end. Bits where you thought, ‘I’ve just got to get rid of this’ and then thank God when you did! There was so much across like the kind of braking bumps you find on a motocross track, not whoops but the kind of bumps that beat the shit out of you, just endless and with no rhythm. I must have done the same bump compensating movement with my legs four million times today. It's one of the things that blows my mind about the factory guys, and you can see why they have to be pro athletes. To ride that stuff for 500kms at any kind of speed is mind blowing. We had a bad couple of days there where we dropped down the order a bit too much but now we’re riding in the ‘safe’ kind of area of the entry. I think all of us know we could go dramatically faster but we know we would kill ourselves physically. It’s funny that I have these crazy things going on in my head when I’m riding along, I was thinking ‘wow, those guys who ride the sections where the ground is so hard to find a rhythm on, are just incredible.’ I won’t think about the rest day yet – we’ve got tomorrow to get through first!
It was long but not a tough one for me at all. I started out with the
mindset of not pushing because I knew that if I tried a bit too hard
anywhere, like I tried a bit too hard yesterday in the start of the stage,
I'd run out of energy. When those little bits of concentration go, especially when it’s really hot again today, unless you’re a super athlete you can’t push – it’s dangerous really. I think I still haven’t got over being really dehydrated on day two so I really cruised it today and because of the dust no-one could pass you anyway so it didn’t make me feel bad! Then when we hit all the fesh-fesh I picked my own line a lot and went through all the rocks because it’s much easier I think and I seemed to do really well. I kept passing people and I wasn’t trying to, I was half throttle everywhere, cruising and making sure I was following the road book. Because I was passing people I didn’t have the desire to go full-gas. It’s good for your ego to pass people without trying too much and that stops you from trying too hard like you would if it was the other way around. The good thing is I came to the end without feeling too tired and I needed that. My hands and my bum are sore but apart from that I feel good. One more day to go and then I’m looking forward to being able to sleep for most of a day!
Solid performances on day four of the 2015 Dakar Rally Pushing competitors mentally and physically is part and parcel of the Dakar and day four was no exception, even without the special test. A long liaison of 594 kilometres began from 4:30am and took up much of the day in reality (rally leader Joan Barreda took over eight hours to complete the liaison). The day's liaison was a body-testing ascent up to 4800m through the Andes mountains, across the Argentinian/Chilean border in freezing conditions before dropping back down into ‘the driest place on earth’, the Atacama Desert and the start of the 315kms special test in 35 degree heat. Not only passing this test but getting through it on the front foot and pushing on up the leaderboard is testimony to the legendary Pavey determination. Clocking up some great times between waypoints as the thick of the 315kms stage unfolded, the father and son team impressively finished just under five minutes apart, an hour behind the leaders. It was a far more realistic performance from both riders and puts them in the ascendency on the leaderboard inside the top seventy. It was a particularly strong performance from Simon who had suffered badly with the conditions on day two, resulting in medical attention to help his body recover from severe dehydration. Now in his tenth Dakar, Simon had been struggling with confidence aboard his 450 KTM all week too. Climbing from 93rd to 69th today showed all the steely determination which has helped him complete so many Dakar’s, and not least that there is a good deal of fight in the old dog to catch his son! Up as high as 53rd at waypoint seven, Llewelyn once again proved he has the mettle for this tough event by getting through the natural ‘test’ of this day with confidence. Spare a thought for the Team SP FiFTYONE assistance crew who put in a 12 hour drive on day three, worked most of that night before setting off on a 16 hour drive to meet Simon and Llewelyn at the end of stage four. The Dakar is hard on all who take part, not just the competitors. Day five begins for the bikes at a more civilized 06:30am and covers 174kms from Copiapo to the start of the 458kms special stage. The special begins at 1000m and climbs to 3000m, which will again be tough on the body as temperatures rise and fall with the altitude and they head for Antofagasta and the night’s bivouac.
The stretch up the Andes across the border was easier than it has been in previous years, partly because it wasn’t anywhere near as cold. Llel had been really worried about the altitude because it has affected him in the past but he had no problems which was a massive relief for both of us. The only really problems he had was struggling a bit in the dunes towards the end. For all the riding he’s done he’s never really encountered big dunes on a big bike like this so it was literally a steep learning curve. But he loved it. You can’t fail to really. For me the day went well because I basically remembered how to ride a bit. My energy levels were up again and the riding suited me a bit more. Things were perfect right up until about 15kms from the end when I had a classic desert crash, a pearler right in front of some cameras! I hit a soft-pocket in third gear which stopped the front wheel dead and I did a classic head plant into the ground. There’s nothing you can do about it, it was just unlucky I found it in all that space. My neck was really sore and still was the this morning but we’re all good and, I’d better go mate…”
Team SP FiFTYONE suffer the after-effects of the monumental day two but use their heads to maintain position at the end of an "easier" day three. After such an epic day two it was inevitable Team SP FiFTYONE riders Simon and Llewelyn Pavey were going to suffer physically on day three, despite it being a relatively easier day's riding. After needing medical attention at the end of the stage the day before, an experience Simon described as "horrible", it was understandable he wouldn’t feel strong on his bike during day three. But in very typical gritty fashion he simply cracked on with it at a relentless but steady pace, making sure he got through despite running on empty himself. The knock-on effects for Llewelyn were from his knock on the head when he crashed towards the end of the toughest Dakar stage in recent memory a day earlier. Showing maturity beyond his 23 years, Llewelyn rode within himself and the limits he knows he has on his KTM450 Rally bike to maintain his 82nd place. A grueling 3000m climb in 220kms formed part of day three which also saw the bikes take their own route for part of the stage. Spectacular scenery through La Rioja region of Argentina was difficult to take in for either Team SP FiFTYONE rider. With so many competitors running similar times around them the stage was dusty as well as incredibly hot, well above 40 degrees for much of the day. Tough and rocky towards the end with some patches of hard to see fesh-fesh, both Simon and Llewelyn safely reached the end of day three exhausted, certainly ready for food and water and some much needed rest. An incredibly early start out of Chilecito on day four sees the rally head into Chile at the Paso San Francisco border crossing, notable by name but also its altitude – some 4,800m. The early start, first riders are away at 4:30am, will amplify dramatic changes in altitude and temperature (likely to be below freezing at the summit) for all competitors and will certainly be an unknown entity for rookie Llewelyn. The 315kms special stage takes in the infamous Atacama Desert, regarded as “the driest place on earth”. The last 40kms contain the giant dunes famous to many Dakar follower and will offer a challenging finish to the stage. The race will be on for riders to get through this section before night falls. A special thought to the family and friends of Polish rider Michael Hernik who sadly passed away while competing yesterday.
Yesterday had a bit of a lasting effect on all of us but after going into
the medical centre and throwing up everywhere I wasn’t feeling too good
most of today. It was a horrible experience really but I was not the only
one by any means. I’m not riding well either, I’m struggling a bit with confidence and getting the front to stick in turns on the harder pack going. When you’re not feeling strong on the bike it all gets a bit worse and we dropped a bit further down the order than we want to be so the ruts in the riverbeds are worse and it becomes a vicious circle – all sucking energy out of you in this immense heat. But you’ve got to just soak it up and get on with it. Tomorrow looks like being tough for different reasons: getting up early and heading high into the mountains will be cold and difficult with the altitude. 600-odd kms is a long way but once we get into the desert it will be special and I’m looking forward to that end stretch of big dunes, it could be quite fun.
Like so many people today I was suffering the effects of yesterday, especially after my crash. It was a weird one because I landed on my eye, which made me feel a bit hazy and I couldn’t see for a bit. I think with that and the effects of the heat, I’ve been feeling a bit sick while riding today, taking it a bit easier to make sure of everything was sensible. It’s been hard to concentrate a bit too, I’m not sure if that’s the altitude or just me being me! I’m having to read the road book five or six times to make sure I’m right, which is no bad thing it just feels dozy. It’s ridiculous how good my bike feels though. You have to remember it is a rally bike and it changes quite a lot during the day as the fuel load changes – I think that’s what caught me out a bit yesterday when I crashed. It felt so good I was having too good a time on it. Despite being a bit steadier today though I enjoyed the riding. The riverbeds were nice and I didn’t have any problems. I think the people complaining or having problems with the fesh-fesh today were the ones who didn’t ride it yesterday. It was much easier today. The only problems come when a quad comes past you and creates a massive cloud of dust for the next five kilometres! Day four looks good. I’m looking forward to tackling the desert but I’m
unsure what to expect from myself as we the climb up the mountain in the
morning. We’ll see. It is what it is.
Team SP FiFTYONE battle hard to move up the order as day two of the 2015 Dakar gets branded 'the toughest day at the Dakar for many years'. Extremely long hours and incredibly demanding navigation were only the part of problems Team SP FiFTYONE riders Simon and Llewelyn Pavey faced yesterday in day two of the 2015 Dakar. All competitors suffered in the mighty South American heat, which according to officials peaked at 42 degrees in the afternoon but many competitors were reporting as high as 50 degrees out in the desert. Navigation was incredibly tough, particularly for the bike riders who face the piste first and often alone. The toughest part of the day, just as the riders were at their most fatigued was the final check point where water packs had long since run dry and the incredibly difficult soft sand, or fesh-fesh, sapped energy. By his own admission Simon made hard work of the terrain and lost a lot of energy early in the day struggling to feel comfortable in the fesh-fesh sections. The nature of this soft sand requires commitment and speed or life becomes hard work. That energy lost had a dramatic effect on the tough Aussie by the end of the day where he, like many fellow competitors, needed medical attention to regain hydration levels. It was a case of what could have been for the youngster Llewelyn as he spent much of this, the longest ‘special stage’ of the rally, moving steadily but surely up the leader board. Up as high as 57th position by waypoint 12, from a start position of 84th, things were going well. Very well in fact where others lost their way in some difficult navigation during the extremely long stage, the Dakar rookie was on course for a great result until a “silly crash” due to tiredness. In an epic sections of soft sand undulations stretching for many kilometres, the number 75 rider hit the deck causing some technical issues with his bike. Loose wires caused the battery to fail and needed fellow competitors to help jump-start the bike many times in the last 40kms, costing Llewelyn a lot of time. All this on a special stage 518kms long, which you can draw your own comparisons to but give or take it’s roughly the same as Catford to Carlisle off-road. But this is the Dakar and this is the challenge met by both Simon and Llewelyn as they moved up the running order from their day two start positions. Impressively Simon moved up 14 places to 81st overall while Llewelyn jumps two higher from his start position to 82nd, just behind his father. Day three promises to be much easier for Team SP FiFTYONE, although a total of 657kms is still a lot of riding and the heat looks set to remain. The team are expecting similar technical riding to yesterday with mountain sections at altitudes above 3000m but the course length will be less demanding. Riders set off at 5am local time on a 218kms predominantly road ride connection to the start of the 220kms day three special. Image: Rallymaniacs.nl
I wasn’t riding very well this morning. When we got to a stretch of fesh-fesh early on you had to be on your game to ride it well and not make hard work of it and that’s what I did – make hard work of it. There were long ruts and hidden ruts and if you were making mistakes you were going to be slow and it was hard. And that’s what it was like and that stuck with me all day, it was really hot and if you were using a lot of energy it had a lasting effect mentally and physically.
People were saying it was 50 degrees in the stage, which I don’t know if
that’s true but if it’s ballpark then these are tough conditions.
I started out riding really well actually. It sounds quite silly but I’m quite scared of heights and up in the mountains there were some really big drops so for the first 70kms or so I was a bit scared and bit tentative. Then after that it went more like what I’m good at really: it was fast, then there was sand and the bike felt awesome and I was catching people and passing them and I was really comfortable. I had a little crash this morning which was as silly one, I lost a bit of skin but really I’d made up what felt like 15 or 20 places and I was comfortable. I wasn’t really pushing at all, just cruising along and then at the second check point where they stopped the stage I felt fresh like I’d only just warmed up. Then we started out again, caught a few more people and there was a bit where a lot of people got lost but I got it right, which I was really happy with. I went the right way, I didn’t believe I’d gone the right way but I had! By then we were 450kms in and I was starting to get a little bit tired. We got to this really fast set of sand whoops, it was just straight and you could see for kilometres. I was trying to attack them because they were big whoops and really hard work if you rode slow – for people in the UK it was like riding The Natterjack for 80kms.
I had a really big crash in there just because I was a bit tired. Not bad,
just a silly crash and I ploughed my head into the ground, completely
smashed my goggle lens, I lost my helmet peak and it rang my bell a little
bit. But just a bit silly really, nothing dramatic.
Steady start for Team SP FiFTYONE in day one of the 2015 Dakar Rally. Team SP FiFTYONE riders, Simon and Llewelyn Pavey, both finished stage one of the Dakar comfortably today after a very long day in the saddle getting out of Buenos Aires and into the Argentinian countryside. A 170kms road ride out of the city put the riders into farm country and the first 'special' test of the 2015 rally. At a little over 20 minutes long the 'special' was effectively farm tracks around fields, alongside roads, drainage ditches and over the odd railway line. Presenting little of a challenge for all competitors and with very little to be won (and plenty to be lost with any costly error) the main issue for Simon and Llel were keeping safe on the dusty, high-speed course. Initial, ‘provisional’ results placed Llewelyn and Simon higher up the order but the father and son team finished comfortably inside the top 100, no real difference to their start order on this basic short stage. Llewelyn holds 84th place, while Simon in fact incurred a two minute time penalty which dropped him ten places down the order to 95th. At the time of speaking to Simon he wasn’t aware of the time penalties so was unable to comment. With the stage so close in terms of times, this two minutes amounts to very little across the whole event for the vastly experienced racer. Day two is billed as the longest stage of the rally at 518km and will begin just a few kilometres outside Villa Carlos Paz. The stage features a wide variety of terrain, almost everything you can think of as the Dakar heads into the depths of Argentina. With bikes kicking off proceedings from 06:30am it will be another early start for Team SP FiFTYONE to get packed up, out the bivouac and away towards day two’s finish at San Juan. Image: Rallymaniacs.nl
The clichés come to mind I suppose but it was just something to get us out of the city area and a little bit boring really, just dead straight lines in the dust and not being caught out by a hole that you can’t really see. It was pretty quick with high average speeds and there was a lot of road work which kind of reminds you you’re in Dakar because there was a lot of sitting on a bike seat, even in the special!
We both rode really, really steady to be honest to just not make any silly
mistakes on the first day and get ready for tomorrow which is a whole
different game. All that road work today is part of the Dakar and it was
nice to get in safe, nice and early in the afternoon. It feels like the rally proper now though, we’re in a bivouac, there are vans everywhere and I’m excited to ride tomorrow
Normally I really like going fast! It suits me being tucked in and
hanging on the throttle a bit but it felt really dangerous this morning.
There was a lot of dust and a lot of dry ruts in the ground and I just didn’t
want to do anything stupid so I rode super-steady, I didn’t really push
hard and just kind of cruised the whole thing. It was really hot on the tarmac sections, hotter than the off-road stage this morning but it is what it is. The more you sweat, the more you have to drink – which is good because it taught me a lesson. I had a bit of a headache after yesterday and this morning drank loads of water. But then I had to pee loads before the start and then after about 100km I was busting again. It is so hard to ride when you need to pee that bad! I’m looking forward to day two because today was actually pretty boring and fatiguing on the body sitting still all day. Tomorrow is some proper riding and that’s why you come to this event.
Star Boy Llewelyn grabs a podium selfie and the limelight for Team SP FiFTYONE with an appearance on Argentinian national TV. Just a short spin through crowded streets of the Argentine capital yesterday, Sunday, for the ceremonial introductions of racers brought Team SP FiFTYONE national TV airtime and a few extra fans as Llewelyn grabbed the chance for a podium selfie. Ahead of the event start today all competitors were presented to the TV and public, with both Simon and Llewelyn enjoying the buoyant Buenos Aires atmosphere. The boys head out from a 6am start today on day one of the 2015 Dakar Rally facing a total road ride of 663km. Expected to take them around three hours, long enough on any saddle, the route is broken up by a 175km 'special stage' across typical Argentine farming low-land for the first off-road stint of the rally. Get involved and support Team SP FiFTYONE on Simon’s Facebook page or @SimonPavey on Twitter. ‘Like’, retweet and get crazy with those hashtags. Speaking after their attention-grabbing appearance on the start podium yesterday, both Simon and Llewelyn were impressed with the sheer numbers of locals in the Argentinian capital and the happy spirit behind it. Images: Rallymaniacs.nl
It’s always good to run through the start podium ceremony, especially here in Buenos Aires. There’s plenty of hand slapping, photos, interviews and to be honest stacks of happy faces wherever you go. I had a proud dad moment up there too with Llel doing his podium selfie thing, I’ve said it before but it was a real pleasure to be up there, ready to race and have my son alongside me. I’m not looking forward to getting up at 4am for the stage one start but we’re ready, I can’t wait to get riding.
The 40km or so liaison to the podium was pretty amazing, so many people and it was cool to ride most of the way alongside Jurgen Vd Goorbergh who was messing about popping wheelies and stoppies a lot! The standing around in full riding kit for hours in the 30 degree heat was not so cool but you forget about it with so many people around – the crowd was immense. You can’t walk anywhere without being almost mobbed. Three hours or so in the seat first thing tomorrow is going to drag on but once we get to the special test it looks all straight forward: just farm tracks, mostly flat and straight. The dust might be the biggest problem but there’s nothing much to be gained or lost there. Bring i
Today, Saturday, sees the team take to the ceremonial start podium in front of impressive crowds as the event and riders are officially introduced to thousands of Buenos Airians. Under no illusion that this year’s event will be an easy one, both team riders Simon and Llewelyn have studied the daily routes hard to prepare themselves. The event kicks off, tomorrow, Sunday January 4th, with a mammoth stage one starting in Buenos Aires and covering just shy of 650 kilometres, 175 of which is special test, to Villa Carlos Paz. Simon’s huge experience at the Dakar, in both Africa and South America, tell him this year’s event will be as tough as any. With no ‘easing’ their way into the rally, the stages are long and hard from day one and he’s particularly looking at the difficult high altitude crossings of the Andes mountains, which promise to be both spectacular riding yet physically demanding. For Llewelyn, despite the Dakar being a major part of his life for so many years through his father, his first attack on the legendary event is all about concentrating, conserving and making the finish. With tremendous riding experience for his young age and despite some reservations about his own nerves, Llel can’t wait for the race to start.
I think if you look at this year’s route on paper it looks really tough. The last time I did the Dakar [2013] we had a couple of days that were a little bit of a warm-up, much like it used to be in Africa when you had the European stages to find your feet. But here from day one really we have long distances. I just always feel that whatever they put in front of you each day you’ve just got to deal with it and get through it. Every Dakar is a tough Dakar in some ways, and a little bit of that depends on your own story as well, regardless of what the organisers do. The biggest story for me is that you have to keep going every single day. You have to deal with whatever they put in front of you and you have to remember that if you’re suffering, everyone else is suffering as well. That’s when you have to dig that little bit deeper. From my experience as well, especially since David Castera has been doing the route, he’s a bike rider himself so he knows how to make a course that’s fun but tough. That’s the game, to beat his head, for your head to be stronger than his head. He kinda knows what people’s limits are really well and usually if you can just go past that bit where he’s tried to kill everybody there’s a little bit of relief the other side and you get the good bits!
The rally these days, the fast-moving nature of it, means everybody here is so fast you have to be fit to just keep up and also to make your life as easy as possible. So for both of us it has been a lot of hard work training before we arrived in South America. The riding I’ve done this year has all been aimed at getting ready for here: Romaniacs was designed to be tough and test me physically and mentally, the Serres Rally in Greece was to just learn a little bit more about navigation. Since the start of November we’ve just trained, in the gym, ridden our bikes, mountain bikes, road bikes, enduro bikes – everything to be as fit as possible. I think my riding experience and my ability are good enough for the Dakar. I have some issues with being nervous sometimes and that leads to mistakes. The day I won the stage in Greece and had to lead out the next day I was really nervous and made mistakes, so I have to try and deal with these things. It’s something I have to try and overcome. I don’t really have an ambition to try and get a result at all. It’s a cliché but I just want to take every day as it comes and not look at the results and just try to finish without making mistakes.
Team SP FiFTYONE are ready for the 2015 Dakar. With Dakar just a few short weeks away, Team SP FiFTYONE are ready to go. Their final sponsor line-up has also been announced as team riders, Simon and Llewellyn look to become the first father and son duo to complete the infamous event. After several months of training and riding, both riders feel they are ready to face what looks set to be a particularly tough edition of the event. The team are also pleased and excited to present the team bike and sponsors. TV Coverage The show will be aired on a daily basis from the January 3rd 2015 on EuroSport in the UK and Europe, from January 5th SBS One in Australia. Sponsors.
"Dakar is really close now and it's becoming seriously exciting. I feel really good, both physically and on the bike. The last two months have been really good, Llel and I have put a lot of effort into training and it's been really good. The kit our sponsors have given us really makes like easier, being able to train in all the weather has made it really enjoyable."
"The race is really close now and it's a little intimidating. We've been putting as much time into training as possible and I feel pretty good. You could always be fitter and stronger but with the limited time I feel it's come together well. I'm also riding the bike well now and that has relaxed me. I feel as prepared as I think I can be considering I don't really have much idea what the race is going to feel like. I'm really excited about the prospect of spending two solid weeks on my bike right now. Our sponsors have been incredible to us. It's been quite hectic really, organisation has been a little out the window with us trying to spend as much time as possible training but they've all been amazing and worked really hard, especially our kit suppliers, Cotswold, Craghoppers, Acerbis, Dr Shox and Amped. Thanks for everything!"
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Simon
Pavey - Day 13 - 63rd
Llewelyn
Pavey - Day 13 - 62nd
