Dakar Rally 2004: The big one

Simon Pavey and Nick Plumb have once again entered the Dakar - to take on the desert and pit their talents against the world's best rally riders. Are they mad? Only time will tell, they both have a fire that just can't be put out.

If you're sitting comfortably reading this, with your bike safely tucked up for winter, then spare a thought for BMW Off-Road Skills instructors Simon Pavey and Nick Plumb, who will once again campaign BMW motorcycles in the world's toughest motor sport race.

The event is addictive; if you fail to finish, you have to go back again and prove you can. If you do manage to finish (and it's a big IF) you tell yourself that you can do better the following year. Last year Simon failed to finish and it's been niggling away at him ever since. Less than 200 kilometers into a 584km stage - the longest of the rally - Pavey's mousse-filled rear tyre disintegrated.

Simon's team-mate and understudy, Nick Plumb was the youngest Brit to compete in last year's event - his first-ever international rally. With Simon out, he somehow found the resolve, courage and strength to continue on his own. Two-and-a-half weeks and almost eight thousand miles later, he finished.

"I had no idea what to expect when I entered the Dakar," said 25-year-old Nick, "but there's no doubt that it was the toughest event I'd ever taken part in. I knew it was going to be physically demanding, but I had no idea of how mentally tiring it was."

It's true. The top riders have a support team of mechanics. They're the world's best (and fittest) off-road riders and superb navigators (getting lost can easily mean the end of your rally, or worse). After completing each stage, they hand their bike over to the mechanics, go for a meal in the bivouac and then have a decent night's sleep. But not for Nick.

"I was riding up to 17 hours a day, then I'd have to work on the bike myself. With little sleep, I'd be back on the bike at 5am the next morning. I felt so alone riding through the desert. Anything could have happened and there was no one to help."

Five days from the end of the 2003 Dakar, Nick had a major incident when he lost control of the bike and crashed. The bike somersaulted over him and he severely twisted his left leg and almost broke an ankle. "The last five days were the hardest, I couldn't walk and I could just about ride. I was riding a lot slower than before and that made me fall off even more. The bike was okay because it had been fixed, but I was the one that was struggling. I was told to withdraw and come back next year, but to me, there was no next year. I was determined to finish. I needed to get to the end."

Things are in much better shape for the 2004 rally, according to Simon Pavey. When he lines up with hundreds of other riders in Narbonne, France on 1 January, it will be his fifth Dakar and he's finally got the support he needs.

"This year, our main sponsors Dome, World of BMW and Touratech have confirmed their support already and we've had plenty of time to prepare. Nick and I had to do all of the work ourselves last time and we really struggled. It meant that we were making sacrifices. This year we have two support team members - John Hall, our technician and Selwyn Kendrick, who will drive the 4x4 support vehicle."

The hundreds of World of BMW members who have completed the Off-Road Skills courses will have received instruction from Simon or Nick. Simon will be riding the same BMW F650 GS Dakar that he rode in last year's Dakar, while Nick has converted one of this year's Off-Road Skills course bikes for use in the rally.

However, according to Simon, this year the Dakar is going to be a lot harder than last year. The format has changed and will return to the classic Dakar format. After setting off from France, the rally crosses Spain and (after embarking at Algeciras) Morocco. The riders will head south towards Mauritania, Mali and Burkina Faso and finally cross the finishing line in Senegal on 18 January. "Mauritania and Mali are both large countries with no roads - only huge sand dunes," said Pavey. "There will be plenty of physical stages where bike speed won't count, it'll be down to the rider's ability. I'm really looking forward to it. When the rally is difficult, you feel a big sense of achievement when you get to the end."

With longer stages than last year's event and lots of specialist navigation required, bike fitness, endurance skills and road-book know-how will be the keys to success. The plan is for the two riders to help each other get to the finish line on their BMW F650s, which have had no engine modifications, in order to retain maximum reliability.

Now he's no longer a Dakar rookie, Nick Plumb can't wait to return to the desert after the traditional fanfare start in France on New Year's Day. "The Dakar is an amazing event. In the European stage there are so many people seeing the competitors off. The atmosphere is fantastic but for me the actual racing doesn't really count until you hit the desert. Some of the sand dunes are as big as 12-storey tower blocks and you have to accelerate coming down them or risk sinking into the sand and flying over the handlebars. It's mad."

Too Fast For You.com Rating
Adrenalin Factor: 95% - 17 hour of riding per day across the Sahara Dessert you will need to be up for it

Injury Factor: 95% - high speeds, exhaustion, foreign roads, the dessert, a recipe for pain.

Expense Factor: 95% - And you thought track days were expensive, you can't do this sort of thing alone, you will need a very well prepared bike and a support vehicle with spares just to compete

If you are serious about off road action then Paris-Dakar is about as serious as it gets