Rally Pan Am

NEWS

January 11th, 2007

Into Mauritania... and mud.

Last night was a long night, as the winds picked up and the bivouac turned into a dust and trash storm. Everything is covered with dirt and sand, and likely will remain that way for a while. In the midst of this, Niles performed a flawless engine replacement on Steve LaRoza's bike... and Sid did routine maintenance on Casey's ride.

Today the rally entered Mauritania with a very long stage for both riders and assistance. And surprisingly, there was a lot of mud for all. Usually a fast and dusty stage, there was mud from rains the night before and the morning of.. Niles got a faceful of muddy water when Robb hit a puddle with his window open. Oops.

Casey finished well, moving up to 33rd place overall. The rest of our ragtag group is also in. For us assistance folks, today was our longest day, covering 450 miles, most of it off road. We made it into the bivouac about 10, Charlie and his truck arriving about midnight. The riders are already asleep, but the mechanics have stolen their bikes and are working quickly..

Tomorrow we head to Atar, and the rest day. We need it. Of course, the rest day is a bit of a misnomer for the mechanics, as this is the day they go through the bikes and rebuild whatever is needed to make the bike last for another 8 days...

Also, a quick a note of thanks for the continued support from our sponsors, especially Frank Ryan from Top Oil and Michael Kiley from PAi.

Finally, some photos...