The Great Escape Rally

[slanty]

In January Pole and I decided to do an off-road enduro rally as we had never done one before but are both fans of off-roading, so after searching for a suitable rally we decided to go for the Great Escape Rally, in Zagan Poland on the 27th of March.

We spent the following couple of months preping the bikes and hired a van and headed for Zagan.

We arrive the day before the rally and found and a place to stay before registering for the rally


Team Polirish had arrived



When registered, they told use we were the first to arrive so we could choose our numbers so we obviously went for 1 and 2 We also met 2 guys Pole had been talking to about the rally while we planning the trip so team Polirish gained two guest team-mates and conveniently they were numbers 3 and 4



The guys we teamed up with were Rafal (KTM 640) and Michal (Husqvarna).

We were a little overwhelmed when we saw the other teams arriving... most of the teams were really well kitted out and some had Dakar experience!!! We felt a little out of our depth with our rental van etc but everyone was very welcoming...







Some of Poles friends, Marcin and Adrian, also came to the rally and they supported us throughout the rally, sorting out fuel, food, drink, making up roadbooks, helping with the servicing of the bikes (and translating for me...)

The morning of the rally, we had the briefing (all in Polish, so I found it very useful ) and got our roadbooks... hightlighters, sellotape and scissors at the ready for your best Blue Peter challenge:



and then did some last minute work on the bikes:






Then it was time for the off and nerves started to set in (well for me anyway )...


Pole approaching the starting grid:

Me and Michal follow:


Pole starts his bike with one of those new drink and drive prevention ignitions


Then we were off... the starting stage was very slippy as you'll see in the video


The start of the off-road section:




more to follow soon...

[micksylver]

Fantastic!

Can't wait to see more. Keep em coming.

[phil w]

Been looking forward to this

[boboneleg]

bring it on guys

[slanty]

Stage one was quite difficult, the mud was really thick and slippery



and unfortunately the track was not easily accessible so we don't have pics or vids....

But there is some good footage from Team Caroline (and if you look close enough you might even see a glimpse of us in the background )



Unfortunately me and Pole got separated early on in this stage as Pole got a little stuck and I got a little lost however I managed to catch up with Pole again when he stopped to help Milosz Jaskolski who had misjudged the depth of some water and ended up with a two wheel submarine that didn't want to start when it got on dry land again. So Pole stopped to help as he had experience in sorting out water logged bikes etc.

After just under 4 hours, I made it to the finish line (following Rafal as my KTM tripmaster switch had failed and I could no longer judge the distances on the roadbook... Doh!!). By this stage I was exhausted but really enjoying it too... this rallying stuff is quite a rush!







Shortly after Pole arrived in after helping Milosz getting going again. We then heard the good news that Michal was in 4th and challenging for 3rd.

Unfortunately for Michal, the next morning he realised he had problems with the bike and he lost compression and could no longer compete so he headed home Such a pity cos he was doing so well...



That evening we went for some well deserved beers (and some Polish vodka too ) and chatted about the day's stages but we didn't last long... it's amazing how tired you get after the rallying...



The next morning we got up early and started working on the bikes... changed all the oil and air filters, valve clearances etc etc. The second day's roadbooks were very confusing even before we set off!! I ended up with the wrong roadbook through translation difficulties but it didn't really matter because I was going to have to follow Pole anyway as my tripmeter switch needed to be replaced and could not be repaired.

It was much dryer the second day thankfully and we thought it would be an easier day until we were introduced to our first experience of riding on sand (well mine anyway)!!





Riding the sand was very tiring and I found it tough to begin with, but it's not too bad when you get used to it, however if you lose concentration (or go too slowly) it can catch you out very easily!!

The following video shows the mix of sand and mud we had to deal with on the Saturday...



It was pretty energy sapping stuff so it was a great relief to me and Pole that when got to the check point Adrian and Marcin were there with food and hot tea... glorious, amazing... HOT tea!!






Above, me looking a bit shocked after having a near miss with this:

That truck has an almighty horn... I'll never forget that sound...

Some people have the perfect setup... Milosz hands his bike over to his support crew for a service while he has a rest and something to eat (we weren't jealous at all... honest!! )



The second stage that day also included a deep water crossing , this was freezing cold and deep but it was great fun too... Here's to sealskinz socks, the are great to for keeping your dry... that is until the water goes higher than the socks... then it keeps the water in!! great eh??

At about 2:20 you can see us approaching the river and the look of disbelief in my face when I see the 4x4s stuggling to cross it!!


We decided it was best to walk the the bikes across because the last thing we needed was water in the engines so one bike at a time Pole and I jumped in the river and guided them across. We then tool a bit of break the other side to empty our water proof socks and a local woman took pity on us and gave us some cake

My favorite bit of the river crossing was how all the cars, bikes, quads etc struggled and used winches etc but the bike heavy lorry just steamed through it like a puddle...



more soon (probably Mon/Tue as I'm away for the weekend....)

[HUDDERS]

Great pictures, awesome video clips

Well done

[meljordan]

top job Slanty it looks like you and Pole had a ball.

[Paul-S]

Awesome

[stanbloke]

Good effort Steph.....

[phil w]

Great stuff you guys At times it looks a bit mad max!! I guess a real sense of achievement, and a lot of effort and cost to do. The clips are great especially the water one must be a bit disheartening riding up to that and seeing everything trying to get through being swamped before you get to have a go yourself. Top effort