Updates from David on Patricia's Rally progress.
693 km (of which 123km Special Section)
A good day for Patricia, on several fronts:
TV Coverage : if you are reading this on Sunday evening or Monday morning (UK time) and have access to Motors TV which is running a daily update on the Rally ..... tune in at 23.30 tonight or 10.00 Monday - as the programme includes a special profile on Patricia (and her Dad).
Results : Today was very muddy and a most importantly a very difficult navigation day on the Special Section. Several riders got lost and some for 30 minutes or more. Patricia did not and gained 19th position on today's stage, out of the 55 bikes still in play. That moves her up to 31st overall in the General Classification.
Now is a good time to tell a little story, the motto of which is "think before you speak". During the preparations in St Petersburg one of the male riders (they are all male except Patricia!) came up to Patricia and asked what size her engine is. She told him and he replied "good, I'm in a different category which means I won't have to worry about having a girl in front of me". His race number was a few behind Patricia, so he started 10 mins behind her on the first day. Frustrated , he caught up with her and did a loopy overtaking manouevre, to establish his point about being "faster than girls". 15 minutes later, Patricia turned a bend and there he is in a heap on the floor, with his belongings spread around. He refused to let Patricia leave him for 5 minutes because his arm hurt so much (who's the girl now then !!?). Turns out he broke his collar-bone and exited the Rally on Day 1. It is fine to be competitive, but as they say "better to keep your mouth shut and let people think you might be an idiot, than open your mouth and prove it beyond doubt".
Back to today - the scenery was gorgeous apparently - rolling green hills, just "like Tele Tubby Land" said Patricia. Many people were struggling to keep upright in the thick mud. Simon got lost for 30km and Colin dropped his bike 10 times - sounds like attention to detail and selective pacing were key to the day (he said having never been on a motorbike in his life !!).
Patricia phoned me with 70km of Liaison to go, having just fallen asleep under a (parked) lorry, because she was so tired. She got to camp OK and has just woken up to start Day 5 - during the night, the local fireman had kindly hosed the mud off all the filthy bikes - sounds like the locals are supporting this Rally big-time. Day 4 also visited the home town of Kamaz trucks - many of which are in the Rally - so extra support and excitement was generated because of this.
The main worry at the moment remains the Assistance Van, which is still limping along - plans are afoot to fly some new shock absorbers out from the UK to arrive on rest day - but it seems a long time until rest day, so it is touch and go.
Tomorrow's update (ie today on the Rally) will report on progress as they leave Russia and enter Kazakhstan....the desert stage is looming closer.....
Your humble Correspondent.
Reminders if you are glued to progress and want up to the minute news:
Motors TV is a good watch each night (21.00 GMT and 23.30 GMT) , repeated the next morning (10.00 GMT) , if you have access to it...
Online progress of each stage is alegedly going to be available on the www.transorientale.com website, although it is still not working from what I can see.
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