Today at 14:30 Local time the fist vehicles to start will be Quads. It’s cloudy and the temperature dropped a bit. All competitors will move their vehicles from the Parc Fermé where they have been stationed after the technical checks to the Av. 9 Julio, close to the obelisk for the official start ceremony. They will then drive 317 Km up to Colon. The Charlies have made the last preparations and are now ready to depart to the first bivouac. I’ll be at the start today, photographing the event. Stay tuned for more updates from the field!

We finally arrived safely to La Rioja at 21:00 on the 14th of January, with no change of clothes, no tent, no other belongings than our toothbrush and a shampoo to share among the 4 of us. Same faith happened to the BF-Goodrich colleagues. The amount of people of the street we saw while driving to the bivouac, gave us an indication about the temperature outside… over 30 degrees. After another night sleeping in the same bus, we woke up this morning. The other busses had reached us, and we are now awaiting for the Loctite truck to reach the camp. At breakfast we spoke to several truck drivers who could not believe the bus driver had taken upon him the challenge of choosing the support road for crossing the andes… Luckily we are all safe (for now) and looking forward to see the first competitors reaching the bivouac this afternoon.

Dakar means adventure for all the participants, not only the drivers. The Loctite Charlies and myself were already stuck for 16 hours in a bus which was supposed to drive us from Copiapo to Fiambala crossing the Andes, when at over 4100 meters altitude and half way to go, road workers would not let the bus pass. “This is a piste, the bus will fall down”… We started getting worried when the bus driver did a u turn at the top of the mountain and informed us we would drive back to Copiapo. 

This turned out to be some kind of misunderstanding between the bus driver and these people. After a second u-turn and 1 hour delay on our schedule we kept going direction Fiambala. However this is not the end… we soon realized that the bus driver was chewing some stuff. After a couple of hours of travel through magnificent landscapes, pistes which are really not made for a bus, and life threatening curves, and less confidence in the driving skills of our driver, we received the news that the bus driver had missed the road to Fiambala, and we were going directly to the next stage, in La Rioja with no change of clothes, no tents, no equipment, no food since this morning (as everything is in the Loctite Truck) and no possibility tonight of supporting competitors. After that, I received a hint that the swollen cheek of the drivers was due to coca leafs, as they say coca minimizes the effect of hight sickness. As I write this post I am still in the bus, and have no idea where we will land tonight. It seems to me we are lost in the middle of Argentina.

Rally Dakar 2009, originally uploaded by dunerider70.

The bike-parts piling up at the Service point in the Bivouac in Valparaiso.

Rally Dakar 2009, originally uploaded by dunerider70.

Dakar happens ones a year only. And it’s OK like this as life as a Charlie at the Dakar is not something anybody can stand for more than one month.A typical day for a Loctite Charlie (and for a press officer as myself) at the Rally Dakar 2009 starts early in the morning

7:00 am – wakeup and packing. The tent has to be disassembled. The Garbage disposed. Although it seems a simple task to do, the walksleeping state due to 3 hours of sleep,makes everything more difficult.

8:00 am – The bus to the airport is waiting. Together with the other (sleeping) colleagues from other teams, team managers and partners start their journey toward the (military) airport. Not a lot of talking is going on. Slowly we all wakeup.

9:00 am – For those who have not waken up, the Hercules C130 of the Argentinan Armed forces will do the rest. Demetrio, Jean and Celio describe this experience more dreadful than washing themselves the dirtiestand coldest shower they have found at the bivouac.

11:00 am – We land and a Bus transfers us to the Bivouac, which at this time of the day is almost empty. Nearly at the same time, the drivers have brought the Loctite truck by motowrway and piste to the bivouac.

12:00 pm – The Charlies start to work. The truck has to be positioned, the toolboxes unloaded. The generator to be started. While I am at the media Center looking for information and news, and finding out the position of the competitors we follow in the bivouac, the Charlies prepare the tent.

2:00 pm – The loctite service point is ready. Now there is time for a Lunch, assembling the tent and sleeping bag, a shower and a change of clothes before the first competitors start arriving

3:00 pm – We start working. Everybody has a task to do and the day gets busier and busier the more competitors arrive to the Bivouac. The first ones to arrive are the Motorbikers, and the most freuent reparations are plastic repairs. Falling at the Dakar is “normal” for bikers. That’s why many of them have kevlar or carbon fibre-reinforced fenders.

9:00 pm – Most of the competitors have arrived to the Bivouac. The Charlies are all busy working, and suggesting the use of products to whoever needs help.

1:00 am – Mostly at that time, thare are no more request of reparations. So we start reassembling all the toolboxes, tents, stands and working tools that need to be places in the truck. It takes about one hour.

2:00 am – The Charlies meet at the Bivouac’s Mensa, and have a beer together before they go to sleep. While the truck drivers wake up, start the Truck and begin their journey to the next bivouac.

2:30 am – The Charlies fall asleep instantly, without the need of any medicinal aid.

7:00 am – The hercules C130 is waiting for a new day…

After having carefully checked all my equipment – which this time is unbelievably heavy!!! -  this morning I am ready to fly to Buenos Aires. In B.A. I will meet Jean and the other two Brazilian Loctite Charlies Celio and Demetrio. Our support team will be very international this year! Later this morning I will catch a connecting flight in Madrid, where I will meet sponsored driver Christina Meier, the only German woman who dears to drive a motorcycle at the Rally Dakar 2009. Follow me during the next days also before the rally starts with news from Buenos Aires. I will post stories, interviews and images from the bivoac day after day. SL