What a night for the supporters tour! After a relatively painless border crossing and a few hours of sublime riding the KTM”s started breaking down (Tim’s Tiger seems to be the bike for Dakar). First Mike’s 690 developed its usual electrical problem and a 45 minute repair was required. We then climbed a huge pass and at the top Doug’s clutch had packed in. The only option was to ride without a clutch for 100 km. This meant keeping the bike going in huge traffic down mountain passes and needless to say Doug is a lot older today then he was yesterday. Malcolm and Doug managed to get to the Bivovac and with Jurgen’s help found the KTM mechanic Stephan who repaired the master cylinder seals. This was a two and a half hour job and involved some canabalising of parts from the race bikes. During this time we received a message from Mike saying that Pat’s bike had a fuel blockage and he was stuck in the desert. Mike had to leave Pat without comms (thanks MTN) and after taking the wrong turn and developing further bike travels he reached the Bivovac to try and arrange a rescue. By this time the Maines had reached Pat and they stripped the fuel tanks and pump off the bike in order to clean the fuel filter. Many hours later they all reached the hotel. Malcolm’s bike is also having problems (possibly overheating or fuel blockage) and this meant pushing the bike the last few 100m to the hotel in peak hour traffic. Just another day at Dakar.
