Errachidia – Ouarzazate
3rd December 2005
Awaking early in the morning Team Touratech rider Nick Plumb found his mechanic had his bike ready and waiting for him and, after a breakfast of pasta bolognaise, he set off on a short liaison of only 56km for the days 386km special stage.
“This was a bad stage for me” said Nick “About 70km into the stage I hit a big rock with my back wheel while I was going round a corner. I was going pretty quick and it flicked the back end in the air and I hit the deck. The bike fell on my leg, which hurt pretty bad, and I bent the front end and dented in the instrument cluster. I also managed to take a chunk out of my engine but luckily it wasn’t too deep so we’ve patched it up with some chemical metal so it shouldn’t give me any problems. My main worry is that I bent some of the engine linkage bolts but I have the upmost confidence in Bernie, my mechanic, so I’m sure he can make it good for tomorrows stage”
Nicks experience showed, as he was able to fix the bike up enough to continue the remaining 316km of the special stage.
“My leg hurts when I walk now but it seems fine when I’m riding the bike. The main problem from the crash is that I could only turn left so I had to try and slide the bike through right turns and this just made me drop it on a few more right handers”
The stage, which was a mixture of big stones and sand dunes, became a navigational nightmare for many riders, including Nick. Along with about 15-20 bikes and 2-3 cars Nick became lost in the dunes and ended up in a convoy of bikes following a car, as the co-driver can concentrate much more on navigation.
“It was like being back in the centre of Lisbon” joked Nick “ There were cars and bikes coming from all directions”
Despite the days problems Nick was still the highest BMW to finish and is now 71st overall. The Race to Dakar riders finished as follows, Simon Pavey 128th, Matt Hall 124th and Charlie Boorman 127th.