Stage 3 special abandoned due to bad weather - 13 June 2008

Stage number : 2
Stage date : 13/06/2008
Start and arrival city : ROGATCHEVO to PETROVSKY
Special : Zolino to Nijni
Total distance (special) : 736km (93km)
Overall position: 18th

Well, I knew it was going to be a tough rally and I know it's Friday the 13th but I wasn't expecting bad luck this early on. It has really been one of those days. We kicked off at 5am again this morning from the tent city bivouac. It was made all the more pleasant by the peeing rain.

I got to the special stage after a couple of hundred klicks feeling good. The special stage, which is the race part of the rally that we are timed on, was run at a Russian tank base and was 93km of real deep rutted sand. It was soaking, think Weston beach race, but with tank ruts! I did feel quite at home with the Welsh weather though.

Anyway, the special started real well, my mate told me later today that I was up to fourth at one point, but 45kms in I snapped a footrest on a hidden tree stump or something. Well, that's when the fun really started, I then had to ride the rest of the stage sitting on my seat with one foot dangling. It was hard riding as I couldn't stand up on the pegs and I lost a hell of a lot of time to the leaders. Then to top it all sand blocked a breather pipe which made me have to stop again! It was easily sorted and I managed 24th on stage and I'm 18th overall. The thing with rallying is that you can never make time, you can only lose it, but there is a long way to go.

Bernie has scrounged some liquid weld and sorted my Xchallenge now, so it's all good for tomorrow.

Because the rain has been so bad today the special has been cancelled for tomorrow. We were supposed to cross the Volga a few times but the river's too swollen. It's a good call as it means I can get a couple more hours kip. So it's an easy 8am start and only 570K (354 miles) tomorrow!

I'm just off to grab some food now. Linley has had to park our truck about 2km away from the food tent in the bivvy and the place is like the Somme. We've had to hitch a lift on the back of a pickup. Even getting some food is an adventure on this rally!

For more information, or to track Simon’s progress during the Transorientale Rally, please visit www.transorientale.com, Simon is riding number 5. The rally will also be screened daily on Motors TV.

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