Seventh heaven for Pavey - 27 June 2008
Stage number: 15
Stage date: 27/06/2008
Start and arrival city: BAYAN HOT to HOHHOT
Special: Lang Shan Pao to Shih La Chao
Total distance (special) : 740km (121km)
Result on stage: 7th
Final position overall: 22th
Hold on, I'll just put the beer down!
It was the last real racing stage today and the end of the rally tomorrow is just a 30km run to the Great Wall for the podium, so we're having a few beers tonight.
I had a mega awesome day. Our two fan mod has worked wonders and it was like being let off the leash. I'm so pleased to get seventh on the stage and I would have been sixth if I hadn't have had a minor fuelling problem which meant I had to siphon some fuel from my rear tanks to the front one. It cost me a few minutes but I was only two minutes behind the guy that finished sixth.
The special today was all the most excellent dunes and I loved it. It's just been one of those days when the bike was perfect, it could just go anywhere. At one point on the navigation we had one compass bearing for 60km. So I'd be going a bit left here, a bit right there and then trying to bring myself back on to the bearing and the bike was just great taking me wherever I wanted. The last couple of days were tough in that the bike would struggle over big dunes, but not now. I could climb over anything today. I'm well pleased with the bike.
Running out of fuel was quite funny though. I was banging on over the dunes and with 20km to the finish I was making my own way. I wasn't following any tracks or trails; I was cutting my own route through the dunes. I dropped into this big bowl between two dunes and as I hit the bottom the bike just died. I thought that if I'd run out of fuel I'd blown it as I was going my own route so the chances of anyone going past and spotting me and giving me a hand was bloody unlikely. Luckily though it was an easy fix and I siphoned a bit of fuel from the rear tank, so easily sorted, but it did make me think for a second as being stuck out in the middle of the desert, in that kinda heat, wouldn't be a picnic.
Another funny thing happened today. I'm flying over the dunes with only a few km to the end of the stage. I knew I was running well and in with a chance for a top ten finish. In the distance I could see a lot of TV crews and photographers at the top of this normal looking dune. So feeling good about everything I decided I'd go past in style so I headed straight for them. As I'm going up and over dunes, I'm getting closer and closer so I speed up. Then, just as I come up to them at a fair old pace, I pile straight into this massive, hidden hole right in front of them, It'll make for good TV anyway! I should have really known better, the only time you ever see this many people in such a remote place is when there's something interesting to film, like me crashing!
After the special, there was another 300km liaison. It's amazing how your brain recalibrates over the course of the rally. At the start when you know you've got 300km to go it's a bit of a downer. That's like riding from London to Manchester on a dirt bike; you just wouldn't want to do it. Now, it's like second nature, you just shrug you shoulders, say OK, and bang it out. No sweat. I try to amuse myself on the long liaisons though. I've fashion a cruise control with a zip tie around the hand guard and the throttle. So today, and 'don't try this at home', I was going down the motorway, side saddle without my hands on the bars. I was that bored!
I had a mega day; an awesome ride, a top ten finish, a big crash in front of the cameras and a few beers to end. Not bad at all!
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