Dakar – lessons from the longest race on earth. Part 4

People ask – “Do you ship your car over there?”  “Who works on the car?”  “Who supports you?”  I asked all those same questions.  There are 1000 logistical things to do to race Dakar.  It’s 5500 miles!  You wake up in one place, and go to bed 600 miles away!  You are in a foreign country.  You need food, shelter, parts, instruction, and assistance of all kinds.

Fortunately, there is a guy who can help you.  His name is Scott Abraham, and he has a company out of Germany and Portugal called South Racing. 

“Hello, is this Scott Abraham?”…

Weeks before the race, my co-driver, Bruno, tells me he can’t be my navigator.  He got hired by a team who is racing a lot of rallies and he has to take their offer, as I was just racing one rally – the BIG one, but just one.  This is how he makes a living.  He’s a pro.

So where am I going to get a co-driver this late?  I call Jamie.  I call Andrew Short, a former motocross pro who is a codriver now.  He gives me a name of a guy in South Africa – Dennis Murphy.  He’s navigated in the last 6 Dakar’s.  Are you available?  I got lucky.  He said yes.  I hope he is a cool guy because we are going to be sitting side by side in high-stress situations all day for 14 days, and I have to listen to him tell me what to do.

I finally leave for the Dakar Rally on Monday.  I wake up Saturday at 4 am to use the bathroom.  I am walking like a drunk.  I almost fell down.  I had to catch myself on the door frame.  What is going on?

I get back to bed and lay down.  The room is spinning violently.  I close my eyes and wait.  I almost puke.  It subsides.  I worry and wonder, and eventually fall back asleep.  I wake up later – the room starts spinning again.  Each time I move my head, it starts, and lasts about 15-20 seconds.  When I move again, it starts again.

What is going on?  Oh no!  I have to go to Dakar!

I use Chat GPT to find out what it could be.  

Vertigo.

Vertigo?  

“How do I fix it?”

If it is a certain kind of vertigo, and it sounds like it is, the Eppley maneuver can fix it.  I go to YouTube.  I try this series of movements.  It takes five minutes.  I almost puke, but it fixed it!  I feel crappy all day.

Basically, it’s a crystal that gets into your semi-circular tube, and when you move your head, it tells your brain you are spinning. Imagine a snow globe with one flake in it.  The Eppley maneuver gets that flake to go all the way around the circle and drop out of the tube.  A miracle. 

The next morning I wake at 6 am.  The room is spinning again.  I do the Eppley maneuver again.  Chat GPT said that half the time you have to do it twice.  I hope this works.  I have to get on a plane tomorrow, and I can’t even walk! It works again – but will it stick this time?

I am finally on a plane to Dakar.  I have my friend and videographer Ted Waldron with me. 

Getting to the starting line is not easy. 

But I am not there yet…