A group of us Dakar bike veterans and Dakar hopefuls have been going out to the Death Valley area to hone our rally navigation and riding skills. It’s not an official event, but rather a gathering of rally enthusiasts pulling together our knowledge and resources to have a few days of fun and solid rally training in the desert. Our first training session two years ago was a great help to many of us rally novices, plus it was a hell of a lot of fun. Last year was even better! This year we’d like to welcome others who have their eye on doing Dakar someday. Although we are a bike oriented group, there’s no reason an off-road car/truck/buggy couldn’t join us. The Dakar style navigation and roadbook is the same either way. If you’re interested in joining us, contact Charlie Rauseo HERE.
Some details:
Dates: September 22-24, 2006 (a week after the Nevada Rally Experience). Plan on arriving the evening of Thursday the 21st.
Bivouac Location: Little Dumont, 30 miles North of Baker (California) on Highway 127.
Conditions: HOT (~92 degrees average high).
Terrain: Dirt roads, sand washes, dunes, elevation 250ft-5400ft, dry lakes, etc.
Rally Routes: We plan on doing three routes, one each day, for a total of over 500 miles. These cover a huge region, from Death Valley all the way to Primm Nevada.
Evening Entertainment: Videos & slide shows from past Dakars.
Show & Tell: Paraphernalia from past Dakars (maps, airplane boxes, real Dakar roadbooks, etc.), not to mention bikes that have been to Dakar, loaded with all the cool rally gear, and new bikes that are going to the upcoming Dakar.
Charlie and others who have learned by making all the rookie privateer mistakes will be offering advice on all subjects related to Dakar. If you want to learn the tips and tricks, this is the place to be!
This is not an official event with all the handholding that some deluxe fully organized events offer. You’re on your own in every respect except asking questions, having the roadbooks available, and hanging out with the hard-core Dakar privateer gang. Everyone brings their own food, drinks, tent/motorhome, gas, etc. There is no medical support, no insurance, no helicopter, and no sweep crew. It's a lot like any other desert fun day you go on with your buddies.
We'll be out there for a few weekends ahead of time preparing the routes and burning lots of gas, and spending time on our computers for about as long, so we may ask you to chip in to help cover our expenses.
Your bike/car/truck/buggy will need:
- to be street legal, since small parts of the routes are on the highway.
- an odometer, preferably one that is easily resetable, like an ICO, IMO or similar.
- a GPS or compass for heading info while riding/driving.
- a Forestry approved spark arrester.
- 150 mile range, or have a support truck that can meet you at an appropriate place with gas (we have easy road access points already figured out). Or, there are shortcuts that can reduce the route length.
- If you're going to free-ride in the dunes, a flag is required by BLM.
Each year we develop new rally routes, fully documented in Dakar style roadbooks. This year we are adding some additional amazing routes. These routes are anywhere from 40 miles to 300 miles in length, and cover all sorts of different terrain. Several of the routes will have roadbooks available in both wide and narrow format (or 8.5x11 sheets for cars). So, if you only have the narrow roadbook, you’ll still be able to do most of the routes. As an example, here are the first three pages of one of the wide roadbooks. The whole thing is 42 pages, which is a 36 ft long roll!
One of the short routes we’re working on now is viewable in Google Earth (GE). This is a MUST SEE! If you don’t have GE, get it free HERE.
Once you have GE, do this:
1) Click here to open the rally route.
2) On the GE Tools menu, select “Play Tour”. This will fly you through the whole route automatically.
3) If the terrain is fuzzy in the beginning, it’s playing to fast. On the Tools>Options dialog, set the tour speed to a lower level and try again. The rally route has to be selected in the left side “Places” window, and it has to have a checkmark in it before starting the “Play Tour”.
4) If it doesn’t play through the tour when you select that menu option, try configuring your settings as follows:
Under Tools > Options > Control, make sure the tour "Speed" isn't set at zero. Mine plays well with a speed setting very close to "Slow", like maybe 10% of maximum speed. Set the "Pause" at zero to get it to flow well.
If you go into the Control "Advanced" settings, I have "Fly-To Speed" at 5.0, Tour Speed at 0.26.
Also (in GE v4), under Tools > Options > View, I have:
1024x1024, High Color, Off, Medium, Atmosphere, Exaggeration = 1, Terrain Quality ~15%, DirectX.
And under Tools > Options > Cache, I have 32MB and 400MB.
Keep in mind this particular route is still under development, so there will be changes, possible re-routes, and added miles as we continue the work.
In addition to riding the documented rally routes, we'll have time for some independent dunes riding and you'll have some time to practice creating your own mini roadbook route. Overall this is great stuff for anyone dreaming of Dakar.
p.s. Duane and I are skipping Dakar 2007 and aiming to return for Dakar 2008.
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Originally Posted by Jarvis
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