Atar – Nouakchott
7th January 2006

Almost mirroring yesterdays stage today was made up of two very short liaisons and a massive 508km special stage. The special stage, which started with a series of windy roads and tracks crossing canyons and wadis, included a very fast stretch, which threatened to catch out the over-confident riders.

“I am well happy after that stage,” said 28 year old Plumb “I woke up to find the bike ready and waiting for me again and, after a short liaison, I started what I though was a long but quite easy special. It was a fast stage today although we kept blasting in and out of the dunes.”

The main problem for a lot of today’s competitors was the navigation. With the new system that omitted the directional arrow and waypoints it was very easy to get lost and many bikes and cars did.

“I got lost loads of times,” explained Plumb “The changes to the navigation system has made it really difficult”

"On one section I got lost with a few other bikes and spotted a camera helicopter hovering nearby. I headed for it and found that a friend of mine [Patricia Watson-Miller] had been in a pretty big crash. She seemed okay and wanted to continue, so we rode the rest of the way together. I lost a lot of time doing this but we still managed to get to the Bivouac before dark"

“I had to go to the medic tent when I got back,” said Plumb “I cut my hand open in an accident a few days ago and it’s started to get infected. The medics had to peel off the scabs to let the infection out and then cleaned it up and put some proper dressings on it. It hurt like mad but I did get a massage afterwards so it was all worth it.”

In general the stage was an uneventful one for Plumb and on arriving at the Bivouac he is looking forward to tomorrows rest day. The rest day is an important day on the Dakar as it gives the riders a much deserved break to recharge their batteries and the mechanics time to overhaul the vehicles before the longest special stage so far, a massive 599km set for Monday.

Plumb is currently in 70th place overall with the Race to Dakar riders, Simon Pavey in 103rd and Matt Hall in 100th. Nick is currently the highest placed BMW rider and 2nd highest British rider (behind Mick Extance in 36th place).