Paris Dakar Stage 39, first bush camp

Stage 39 of 60, day 46 of 71: 140.9 km, 1987m, 6:21, 399 shifts, ave speed 22.2, max speed 59

This long stage certainly exceeded my expectations! I guess I was biased to think it would be super long, hard and boring based on what riders told me of the previous stage. In fact, it was great.

We left camp about 8:30 and retraced our route from yesterday for the first 15 km. We caught up to Rob in the lead and he and Wytze led for a long way. The riding was varied and interesting and fun. The wind was down so it was easy. We saw the firetruck and our cook crew at a little café in a tiny village so we stopped having cranked out 77 km non-stop. Sodas were Mad 4 (€0.4) and big, fresh, still warm biscuits were Mad 1. We sang Happy Birthday to Willi and posted the video for him to see.

Then back in the saddle. The climb started, with lunch on the first summit at about 88 km. It was slow and steep and headwindy. Lunch was good but Wytze and Rob hatched a plan to go down to the next town for a second lunch. We continued through the headwinds, up and down and got to Igherm at 110 km. We turned off the route and went downtown; it was market day and super crowded and fun. We found a restaurant and had Tajine all around, lots of drinks, persimmons and pastries Daniel bought. It was wonderful, watching people go by, so much activity.

I was pretty full but able to ride, barely. We only had 30 km to go, but lots of climbing still. We took a pee and electrolyte break at a beautiful summit, then stopped for tea when we saw Ype’s van at a tiny café with nothing else around. It was also Rene’s birthday so we celebrated that too.

Then the final bit, up and down beautiful hills, ending at our first bush camp. The trucks were pulled over off the road, nothing at all around. You could pitch your tent anywhere. Rob had even found a cistern across the road with lots of water in it and organized it with a bucket as the shower. We had snacks, “showers” and relaxed until dinner. One thing that’s amazing to me is that we have 5 bars of LTE out here. In fact my phone has Always had a signal in Morocco, what a pleasant surprise.

Dinner was at 7, with a lecture from Rob that included a demo of how to take a bush camp shower and an explanation about how to crap. We are not leaving any toilet paper at any bush camp on this trip, yay Bike Dreams. Dinner was excellent, with French wine to celebrate Rene’s birthday. Massive numbers of various cookies for dessert and a sparkler for Rene.

Today we have another Rider Profile. Sorry these are so intermittent… Today our rider is Liz Donohoo. I did the 2022 Balkan Boulevard tour with Liz. She would probably win a contest of having the most fun on these tours. She always finds cool places to visit and takes more varied photos than anyone else.

How old are you Liz?

54

Where are you from and how much of this crazy adventure are you riding?

Sydney, Australia and I’m riding from Paris to Sidi Ifni (just before the ‘western Sahara’)

Tell us about your bike…

It’s a Giant OCR C2 2007 (yep it’s old). Tires are 28mm and the gears are Ultegra Compact 50/34 11-34.

What do you hope to get out of Paris Dakar? Do your friends think you’re crazy?

I enjoy longer trips especially where there are mountains and different cultures. Unfortunately I didn’t have enough time to do the whole thing.
Nearly all my holidays are on a bike so my friends are used to it, they enjoy seeing the pictures.

What else would you like people to know about you?

I’m a dog person 😁

Thanks Liz, we’ll be very sorry to see you leave soon in Sidi Ifni.