STAGE 4, Chilecito - Copiapo
Liaison sections: 594 km
Special stage: 315 k
Total: 919 km
Morning came early, finally our service truck arrived and our mechanic, friend Enkzolboo, did some quick maintenance to our bikes before we left for the start line.
I cleaned my goggles, filled up my hydration system and took the start after very long liaison, right away there was a climb a trail around a mountain and I felt good on my bike for the first time since the Dakar started. We reached paved highway that had a 40 kilometer straightaway, I hit an indicated 162 kilometers per hour and decided I didn’t want to push it faster even though the KTM had more speed.
Once again there Fesh Fesh waiting for me at the end of this nice, paved road. The bottomless silt pits were my main nemesis. There is nothing more feared than Fesh Fesh, I truly began hating it. There’s simply put, no way to ride when powdery dusts sprays over you, you can’t see, breathe or move forward. Your front wheel blasts a dust cloud over everything when you hit it. The fine powder is so irritating my fingers became chafed and inflamed. It was so tough to keep moving I tried wheelie over it but I fell hard. I was shocked and dizzy because I hit something with my chest so hard that I couldn't respond to two riders were behind me stopped and asked if I was all right.
I took a moment to rest and regroup, I was suffering but somehow they managed to calm myself down and lift my motorcycle up. My right hand and chest were in pain. I had a lot of soreness in my side, I thought I broke my ribs but did not, only possibly cracked. My carbon fibre neck protection that my friend Ganaa Bazargur gave me served its purpose well. Unfortunately it broke and became useless. For the next 20 kms I rode very slow because of the pain. I came across a medical support team and they gave me some painkillers. I told the doctor I was fine when he asked me if i was. The he looked at me very seriously and said “Are you sure?”. I told him “No problem” because I didn't want to have my Dakar end then and there.
Shortly after I encountered a major dune which was very high and rocky near the top, the course required everyone must climb the dune to continue on the correct route. I made several attempts to get to the top but failed, I lost a lot of time and my progress became increasingly difficult as cars began to try the climb as well. This made things worse as cars can run over bikes and riders easily, they can’t see you or your bike lying in the sand. I along with a few other riders waited off to the side to catch our breath then the large trucks came into the picture making things worse. I tried another line off to the right but once again did not make it. I noticed another line that went up towards the tallest part if the dune, I took a big run at this line hitting it in third gear. I almost reached the top coming to stop and tipping over about 5 meters from the peak. A number of local spectators came down to me and said I should take another run at it but I said “no, no amigo I will push it to the top, six or seven people then helped me push the KTM over the top of the dune.
Once again I saw bike number #121 riding around trying to locate one of the difficult-to-find hidden waypoints on the GPS and also trying to climb the dune. I walked down to assist him on my way back to my bike I very nearly was run over by a white Land Rover Defender. I had to dive out of the way to prevent being run over. I cursed, I hurt a lot from my previous injury and could barely breathe. Somehow I made to to the following CP, I had a rest, took a few painkillers ate some food and had to leave the CP just as darkness was falling. I didn’’t care there were only 50 kilometers left to go and I had plenty of water. ASO lifted the water restrictions they had in place prior to a Polish rider dying of thirst on the previous day. The ASO doctors forced to drink water non stop and stuffed extra water in our backpacks. I thought I could breeze through the final 50 kms of the day but I was mistaken, it was extremely difficult going with plenty of dunes and hidden waypoints that I had trouble finding. I rode with several other riders including Chilean rider #91 HEILENKOTTER AXEL, Turkish rider #166 OZKAPLAN KORAY, all of us were completely lost in the dark. AXEL wanted to spend the night in the desert and proceed in the morning, there were only 20 kms left to the finish line but we didn’t know which way to go. I wanted to try and continue as it was only 8pm. We decided to continue but made up only 4 kilometers by 1am we followed 2 MAN trucks using their lights as guides. We lost track of 2 riders in the darkness, we picked up one of the five riders many times, he kept falling from exhaustion, the trucks became stuck in the sand so decide to stop and sleep in the desert. There were a few other riders who decided to do the same, we camped out on top of a hill so we wouldn’t become victims of a car driving in the darkness, we lit a fire and I spent part of the night collecting branches for the fire, I was in a lot of pain from my sore ribs if I lay down, it didn’t help that I lost my survival kit.
At first light we got back on our bikes, we came across an FJ cruiser and 2 Russian G-force cars stuck in the dunes not far from our camp, we thought it would take on hour to ride the final 18 kms but it took us two hours to cross the finish line.
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