Dakar Inspiration

In January while watching the 2022 Dakar Rally, I got a wild hair and decided to enter the race myself. A few years ago I trained for and finished a 100 mile ultramarathon for basically the same reason. It's big and it's out there. I entered my first motocross race because a buddy at work offered to let me race his bike and I like to take the opportunities that come my way. Over the last 20 years, I have watched the greats of Dakar like Stéphane Peterhansel from a distance and occasionally imagined racing it myself - but never seriously. The same goes for the Baja 1000. I had watched Dust to Glory as a kid and imagined what it would be like to ride it Ironman. One motorcycle, one man, one thousand miles. The Malle Moto class now called Original by Motul is the Dakar version of Ironman where you also have to navigate solo. For 2 weeks you turn your own wrenches with only the most basic spare parts that fit in a trunk while trying to navigate trackless dunes as fast as humanly possible. Exactly the kind of adventure that I live for. Even though floating over the ground in a million dollar trophy truck like Robby Gordon looks amazing, I always knew I would do it on a bike.

From the comfort of my couch

I started doing research. What does it cost to race Dakar? What kinds of bikes enter? what are the entry requirements? I quickly found a video series by Manuel Lucchese on his 2017 Dakar race where he went through the basic race costs including the entry fee, bike prep and training.

Manuel is now managing the Yamaha Tenere 700 based Africa Eco Race entry where Alessandro Botturi and Pol Tarres will try to take the title. Pol makes the T7 perform like a trials bike and hopefully some day our paths will cross. While Manuel's videos were informative, I didn't need to know that racing Dakar was expensive, I needed to know how expensive it was. Years ago at a track, I asked someone how much it cost to race street bikes and the answer I was given was "everything you have." In many ways that means more than your pocket book. It also takes time. Hopefully it doesn't mean your life. Sitting there watching the TV, I told my wife I was going to race Dakar and she jokingly said it was fine because I had life insurance. She knows that Ill actually go on the wild adventures that my path crosses. With that, it was on. I started following social media of all the Dakar entrants and Baja riders that I could find and chatting with any of the riders who would answer the phone. If you have advice, reach out to me and I would be more than happy to listen.

4 basic things I need to prep for Dakar

• Learn to ride fast enough off-road to finish the race without hurting myself.
• Practice rally roadbook navigation so it takes a minimal toll on my riding.
• Qualify for the race by finishing at least one other international rally raid like the Sonora.
• Build a race bike and pay for my entry. This is eventually going to mean that I need sponsors.

Bike Upgrades

Still on my couch with Cheetos dust on my fingers, I started ordering parts to build my 2021 Yamaha Tenere 700 into a rally training machine. My Tenere was still stock, if not showroom floor shiny, and I was going to need it to be a battle axe.

The next few posts will be about my Tenere build including crash bar install, tire choices, suspension upgrades, Rally Navigation Digital Roadbook options, Bluetooth buttons to control the roadbook, and more.

Welcome aboard, follow along to live vicariously through my next adventure as I work through what it takes to finish the toughest race on the planet, The Dakar Rally.