A 100 Miles

Well a 104 (167 kms) miles actually is what I did yesterday,  sat  for  6½ hours running the dunes & sabkhas during good winds. This ride included what we call the Fence run because it runs over 40 kms from the ghaf tree through the desert before arriving at a camel fence were there is a road on the other side. I was with Angelo who insists on using a back strap even though he’s been kite buggying about 15 years.  I was a lot quicker and had no problems while he was struggling in the dunes (dropped his kite a few times).  Still, he was enjoying himself & that is what it’s all about.  The last leg to the fence is 11 kms and we had to head into the wind, which meant plenty of long tacks.  He was so slow so I told him I would meet him at the fence. Brig followed me to the fence & we had our sandwiches there. Sandwich was the appropriate name yesterday as the sand was being whipped up coating our sandwiches so that you could feel the crunchy sand grains in the teeth.

I changed down from my 5m Blurr to my 4.0m Blade and headed quickly back down the sabkha.  I caught sight of Angelo who was waiting under a tree. His PL had broken a side rail.  I will not comment on what I said but just imagine some Sand-Yeti sarcasm & muffled laughter.  Still, it was bad luck for Angelo. We were unable to carry the buggy on Brig’s already overladen Razor, so he left it hidden behind a dune  & recorded the position on his GPS so that he could collect it later.

Angelo accepting the ‘Ride of Shame’ in Brig’s Razor followed me back to the ghaf tree. I made some interesting detours while Brig left the GOPRO running. Playing back the vid. last night I could hear a few yelps of fear from Angelo as Brig threw her Razor through the dunes to keep up with me.

Arriving at the Ghaf tree, Angelo departed with his 4X4 to pick up his PL.   As there was still some wind and about an hour of daylight I buggied up to the Buggydrome 12 kms in the opposite direction to the Fence. I arrived back at the Ghaf tree as the brilliant orangy red ball of the sun dipped down below the pylon lines in the distance.

My last big run was in 2008 when I clocked 172 kms, so I was certainly chuffed with yesterday’s performance. I had no OBE’s or near misses, just sunburnt ankles below my knee guards where I forgot to put some sun block on. Needless to say, I slept well last night.

Today, is the Prophet Mohamed’s birthday so it’s a public holiday.   The wind isn’t  too exciting at the moment but forecasted to kick in kick in around 2 pm.