Tunisia 2018: with Tonda at the Dakar training camp

Second time with Big Shock Racing

A year after our first Tunisia we went again. Big Shock Racing was once more training for the Dakar in the Ksar Ghilane oasis and we got to be there: quads, bikes, the race truck and the yellow support Toyotas.

This time Tonda came along too, at home we call him Tony. The rest of the crew was Mirek Knotek, Adam, Jirka Reich and Honza Souček. Honza and I know each other from the Italian beach camps where our kids play together, and I arranged his trip to the training camp with his wife Jana 🙂

Jan Brabec, a multiple national motocross champion, was training with the team as well.

Tonda had a blast and handled everything the desert threw at him.

Saturday 26 May 2018, Prague – Djerba

An evening flight from Prague, Tonda by the window with a yellow toy car on the tray table. We landed on Djerba after ten in the evening and after midnight at the hotel Tonda couldn't take it anymore, he fell asleep on the carpet in the corridor next to the suitcases 😄

Sunday 27 May 2018, Djerba – Ajim – Matmata

Morning at the hotel pool and the beach, Tonda straight into the water. Meanwhile the team was gathering by the pool and the bar.

Just before eleven we loaded up the white Land Cruisers, luggage on the roof, and set off for Ajim. At the ferry they were selling plush camels, one next to another, with a live cat hiding among them.

On the ferry Tonda got all the way into the wheelhouse to the captain and sat down at the controls. It took us about half an hour from the port in Ajim to Jorf. We stopped for lunch in Matmata, at the underground hotel where Star Wars was filmed. Tonda loves Star Wars, so he was thrilled 🙂 Then on south into the desert.

Monday 28 May 2018, Ksar Ghilane

Morning in camp under the trees: the truck, the Toyotas, quads and bikes. The team was heading out into the sand, we sat in chairs in the shade and sand was flying off the back of the bikes. At noon, the pool at the camp.

In the afternoon a Toyota got stuck in the dunes, and properly. We dug with shovels and with our bare hands and Tonda, dressed in white, was working away with a shovel right alongside us. Meanwhile the quads rolled up and parked on the ridge above us, so that we'd have an audience 😄

In the evening the pool again and at night some sitting around in the camp.

Tuesday 29 May 2018, Ksar Ghilane

In the morning Tonda put on a helmet and headed straight for the race truck to check it out up close.

In the afternoon we drove the Toyota out into the dunes, roughly 15 km southwest of the camp. Tonda drove part of the way: he sat on my lap, held the wheel and drove about 20 km like that 🙂

Once in the dunes Tonda lay down in the sand under the truck all by himself, in the shade, and fell asleep 😄

Then the quads were out in the dunes, across the sand and over the stony plain, and Tonda got a ride on one too, up front in a blue helmet.

In the evening Tonda up on the terrace above the camp and then the pool once more.

Wednesday 30 May 2018, Ksar Ghilane

In the morning Tonda and I lay in the shade by the pool.

On the second to last day Adam and Jirka talked me into riding out into the dunes on a bike with them. Macík Sr. had said last year that the dunes are hard going and that we shouldn't do it. But Jirka and Adam rode a lot, so they talked me into it. Adam gave me a crash course. When you're riding at a dune that looks impossible to climb, give it more gas. When it starts to drop out from under you in a turn, give it more gas. When you feel the rear wheel digging in, lean forward and give it more gas. And when you don't know what to do (that bit I added myself...), give it more gas.

So off we went. Since I knew I'd be the slow one, I set off first. That day the dunes were blown the right way, so I was riding downwind. That's easier, the windward side is packed and hard, and coming down the steep side of the dune goes fine. So I'm riding along and it's going better than I expected, so I just keep going and don't look back so as not to hold anybody up. After about half a kilometre I finally stop on top of a dune to take a look. The guys are nowhere! So I wait and wait, confused. In the end I think I rode back (harder, going against the dunes) and ran into Jirka. Adam was on his way back with a guy who was also riding for the first time, he hit a pankáč, flew over the handlebars and broke both wrists 8-(

After that the three of us just rode on to the fort, it went brilliantly, I was amazed at myself and pretty proud.

The next day we set off again, in a bigger group. But too late. And we didn't check the fuel. And when it started to get dark on the way back, I ran out of petrol. That's where Adam really shone. He came back for me, figured out what to do, turned the bike upside down to get the last of the fuel from one side of the tank to the other, talked it over with the mechanics. In the end we siphoned petrol from a quad and headed back. It was dark by then, bikes don't light much, it was only the second time in my life I'd ridden a bike in the dunes, I was tired already and you can't see a damn thing out there. Suddenly right in front of me, a pankáč (that's what we call the desert grass that packs the sand around itself so hard it'll catch even a car). I had the chance to try and swerve, but out of laziness and fear of falling I decided to ride straight through it. Suddenly a bang, I'm doing a somersault and landing on my arse in front of the bike. Behind the pankáč there was a hole scoured out deep enough to catch a mammoth, let alone a bike. So I patted myself down, nothing broken, Adam helped me pick myself up and off we went again. Phew.

Back in camp it turned out I hadn't run out of petrol at all, I just should have switched to reserve. Nobody thought of that 😄

Three days later at home, after a shower, I'm standing in front of the mirror wondering why I've got bruises the size of a house on both thighs... Well, those are the handlebars printed on me 😄

Thursday 31 May 2018, Ksar Ghilane

In the morning out to the dunes with the truck and the Toyotas. The truck took a few steep descents, in one photo it's standing in a dune almost on its side.

And then it happened. Martin Macík Senior, the team's big boss, has done several Dakars himself and had spent the whole week making fun of us for spending more time with a shovel than behind the wheel. And now he got stuck, and brutally. The Toyota buried in a dune and shovels in action just like with us, see the photos 😄

In the afternoon Tonda got a ride as a co-driver in the race car, in a helmet and strapped in with the shoulder harness. Then Jan Brabec took him out on a rally bike, Tonda in a helmet up front.

At six in the evening a group photo under the palms: the truck, the Toyotas, the bikes and the whole team. Then the quads in the dunes again, clouds of sand behind them and jumps over the ridges in the setting sun.

Friday 1 June 2018, Ksar Ghilane – Djerba

In the morning one last loop around the oasis, Tonda by the pond under the palms.

In the Ksar Ghilane oasis there's a hot spring that feeds a small pond. When it gets dark in the evening and the desert turns cold, we go for a swim in the pond. It's pitch black there and we call it "Let's go swimming in the turds". The water suits some kind of floating plant that forms little floating islands strikingly reminiscent of a poo. When a slimy brown thing like that brushes against your arm in the dark, even someone who knows the drill yelps. Let alone the newbies 😄

By lunchtime we were back on Djerba, in the same hotel as last year.

Saturday 2 June 2018, Djerba – Prague

In the morning a palm-lined avenue and a beach where a camel was grazing among the sailboats. In the afternoon the flight home, and Tonda waved into the camera by the window.