Bamako - Labe
12th January 2006

Stage 12 was the beginning of the Dakars infamous marathon stage. The marathon stage is two stages run as normal (stage 12 and tomorrows stage 13) but leaves the riders and drivers with no assistance at the bivouac. This means no mechanics and only the spares that are transported from bivouac to bivouac in the official Dakar aeroplane. This can spell disaster for some of the competitors and also tests their mechanical skills as well as their riding/driving skills.

Leaving Mali on the 197km liaison stage today was the first of the Guinean special stages that send riders and drivers away from the fast tracks onto more trial style tracks with lots of vegetation and several water crossings.

"This was another enjoyable but tiring stage," said Nick "It went pretty well until about 70km away from the end of the special. I was riding along and suddenly the back of my bike dropped and I lost my rear suspension."

Nick stopped and found that one of the pipes to his rear suspension had failed and he had lost all the air in his rear shock. This left him with approximately 70km of the special and a 307km liaison to travel with no suspension and no mechanic at the end to work on the bike.

“I could have cried,” explained Plumb “I had a long way to go and my rear wheel was almost touching my mudguard, it was like riding a cruiser bike off road! Luckily for me Simon Pavey was nearby when it happened. He told me to keep going and went off ahead of me to get to the end of the special and make some phone calls to see if he could find another shock.”

“If this happened on a normal stage it would have been bad enough, but with no mechanic and next to no spares at the bivouac I though that this was my Dakar over.”

Nick pushed on and finally arrived at the end of the special to find Simon waiting. They then travelled the final 307km liaison together over rough potholed roads that send the back of Nicks bike weaving and bouncing almost all the way.

“I was so lucky today,” Said Plumb “With the Race to Dakar team starting with three riders they had loads of spares on the plane. Simon sorted me out with another rear shock and a gear pedal and we changed the wheel as well. I hope that nothing else has been damaged, I covered about 370-380km with no rear suspension it can’t be good for the bike.”

Despite his disastrous day Nick still managed to finish the stage in 71st place putting him in 83rd place overall. Simon Pavey is currently in 91st place overall.