Dakar 2011: Day 11

Jacob Smith managed to stay in the top 20 all day en route to San-Juan. In his own words, he just “cruised”. He still lost 34 minutes to the top runners, but finishing remains his number one objective – a noteworthy thing now that half the field have retired through injury or mechanical failure and just how few first-time competitors make it to the end.

The first part of the special before the neutralised sealed section was the most conservative but it did take some time for Jake to feel comfortable after coming off yesterday.

The service crew had an interesting encounter and made a new friend in the Renault truck team when the GHR camper was run over by his much larger vehicle. We don’t have pictures yet, but Glenn said it was quite remarkable. The campsite today was so congested that everyone was tripping over themselves and each other. Because the truck driver was a Frenchman, he was able to enlist the assistance of the Loctite shop. In no time flat the front of the camper had been disassembled, panel-beaten and replaced such that the damage was hard to spot if viewed from more than 10 feet away. Another truck actually destroyed one of the race stands by accident too.

There were more adventures for Glenn in his truck. Once again, fuel rationing was in force and finding enough diesel to fill both tanks was somewhat challenging. The first “fuel stop” was one in name only because they had none to sell. The necessitated a 60km detour to find a supply, but even then the service station had a 100L limit per customer. That wasn’t enough to fill to capacity so Glenn stopped at the next one encountered about 200km further on but found that it had a 20L limit. He filled, and then drove the truck out of the service station and back again. The smiling attendant knew exactly what was going on and played along with the little charade when Glenn went inside to greet him and pay for the fuel, and was rewarded another 100 pesos for his trouble. Filling up away from the main convoy avoids the queues at the main towns.

Everyone remains committed to finishing and they are sticking to the routine to make it all happen. Spirits are good. The team have made a huge number of contacts in Argentina and Chile so the world has suddenly become much smaller than it was a couple of weeks ago. While the disappointment with the various hiccups and penalties remain, all members of the team are talking about what they will do differently next time – a sure sign that this has been a positive learning experience.

The issue of the three hour penalty should be clarified at this point. That particular stage meant that the bivouac did not move.  The day was unlike any others in that the crew driving the service vehicles were not given directions for travel by the “trippy” – the device supplied by the organisers to help the convoy navigate on the transports. There was no transport or convoy to drive, so the crew decided to do some sight seeing and to try to watch some of the competitors start the Copiapo to Copiapo loop. It was an absent-minded oversight that put them foul of two rules relating to where they could and couldn’t go. Firstly, no service vehicles are allowed into the stage areas, and secondly, the crews were allowed out of the bivouac but no further than 15km from it. The crew actually did nothing but attend the start line but that was the first transgression. The second was the 30km they had traveled to the start. Jake had long since departed the stage, but there was one competitor with bike issues still at the start line. He was receiving help from a group of other people, not GHR crew, however by virtue of their presence at the start the GHR crew – and therefore Jacob – were given the penalty.

The severity of this penalty seems excessive, but the organisers had issues last year with some competitors trying to circumvent the registration fees payable to enter official support vehicles in the event. By using “planted” unregistered support vehicles throughout the course, these competitors managed to save tens of thousands of dollars at the same time they short-changed the ASO. The competitor in question at the start line received a penalty for receiving outside assistance. The spectating GHR crew were in a vehicle bearing a number tied to Jacob Smith so they were easily singled out as an example to others, albeit harshly.

To clear up any misconceptions once and for all, this penalty has absolutely nothing to do with Jacob giving Helder Rodrigues the precious fuel he needed to finish the special on Day 9. Competitors are allowed to help each other and exchange parts or tools freely. That’s part of the Dakar tradition.

Glenn and the crew were philosophical about this and the other penalties collected by the riders and conceded that such lessons were best learned this year, especially seeing that Jake’s chances of a top 10 finish were dashed on the first stage as the fuel tank problems emerged. The three hours on Jake’s time constitute difference between his current 37th place and the 26th place he would have otherwise held at this point in time, but even 26th is lower than Jacob had been aiming for. It’s been a tough year at school for all the riders!

Jake had a few things to say…

“I was pretty buggered this morning. I was very fatigued from the stage yesterday. That was one of the longest 170km rides of my life. I just coasted the first 240km this morning, I didn’t push the limits at all. I got my breath back after that and my second wind and did OK for the rest. I have every tough day tomorrow so I’m not looking to the finish yet. The race is far from over, but if I can get through tomorrow I should be sweet.”

“Today was tough. I was very glad to be up near the front. We’re out after the trucks tomorrow, so the track is going to be badly cut up. I’ll just be doing whatever is needed to get home, not anything silly. The special is 555km.”

“This thing is a see-saw. If we came here and had a clean race, limiting the down times, who knows where we could end up. Early last week I was catching as passing some of the fast guys, so there’s confidence that we can do well. But now that we are where we are, there is still a lot of determination. I’m not going to sit down and give up. I really want to reward the boys with a finish , and reward everyone back home who have been following… especially the people from Condo. They’ve been writing in on the forums, Facebook and the website – it’s been crazy! I’d really like to get it to the finish for all of them. Their support is what has helped keep me motivated. I don’t want to pack up and quit that easily!”

“I do want to say a special thank you to my girlfriend Rhiannon. She’s been unreal through the whole event. I talk to her every night… she’s been awesome. I also want to thank Mum and Dad, my brother, my two sisters, and everyone from Condo. You’ve all been amazing with your messages and support. Thank you all so much!”