 | Patsy and Clive arrived safely in race camp last night thanks to the Mauritanian Army. |
Dakar 2005 10.Jan.2005. Patsy and Clive arrived safely in race camp last night thanks to the Mauritanian Army. Their 3 day ordeal started on stage 7, Zouerat to Tichit in Mauritania. The day did not start well with battery problems again plagued the team but they managed to get a new battery on route from a support truck and back in high spirits they pushed hard to make up lost time but Patsy had a huge end over end crash which left her a bit shaken. Clive said it was one of the biggest crashes he had ever seen.
Luckily Patsy was OK but later on the bike began to use a lot of fuel and eventually stopped after 400 km into the stage. Both Patsy and Clive worked hard to trace the problem but were caught in a sand storm which are not the
ideal conditions for stripping down a carburetor.  | Luckily Patsy was OK |
"I was so frustrated because I felt so strong and confident in myself and I knew I had been
riding well I really felt nothing could stop me this year" said Patsy. They knew they had 10 hours to do the last 250 km of the stage so worked hard to try and fix the bike. But frustration turned to sadness as the realisation came that they were not going to fix it and as the night drew in for the second time in the dunes, thoughts turned to their safety. They set off marker flares hoping to be picked by the sweeper truck. The race oraganisation had parachuted food into them earlier in the day so they knew where they were. But because so many competitors had gone out on the same stage the sweeper trucks that follow behind the race and pick riders and their bikes up were overstretched. They dug a hole and set down with their emergency blankets for the night, but were suddenly woken by military soldiers from the Mauritanian army with machine guns. " it's was a surreal and scary moment at first " said Patsy " we did not know if we were being kidnapped or what was going on because no one spoke English, but once we realised they were sent there to help it was fine". The army took them and bikes to their army camp, where they spent the night in a tent with 10 soldiers who fed them "the best rice dish I've ever had" said Patsy. The next day they were transport by military truck to another camp but on route they came across a French truck with a broken radiator, an American race truck and a Dutch car team. The Military did not want to leave the trucks because they were worried about bandits so they all camped there for the night. The French lent Patsy and Zippy a tent, the Dutch provided the food and the army the security. "it was very strange that there are all the troubles in the world and there we all were getting on together" said Patsy. The next morning they left in convoy across the dunes eventually making it back into race camp in Atar last night. They will be flying to Paris and then home in the next few days.
 | Martin fettling |
Dakar 2005 09.Jan.2005. Patsy and Clive are out of the race but are safe and well. They did not manage to restart the bikes and spent a second night in the desert. The organisation dropped off food and water for them from a helicopter and they were eventually picked up by the Mauritanian army and taken with some of other riders and drivers to a safe army base. Plans are been made to get them to the camp here in Atar where the we will get the full story. Rest day gives competitors a chance to get sleep and recuperate. But for the mechanics its work as usual. Team Desert Rose still has one assisted rider in the race, Gary Ennis No.206, so today Martin and Clive were busy stripping down his bike and preparing it for the second half of the race, which is expected to be just as hard or even harder than the first half. 5091 km down 3948 km to go.
 | Patsy Quick |
Dakar 2005 07.Jan.2005. ...That was all last night 6.1.05 Since then they have been there trying to fix the problem but both bikes have flat batteries. Having talked to Patsy on the sat phone they are hoping to get a jump from another competitor and there are plenty of them still out there even a whole day later. Because of the problem of the large number of competitors not making it in last night on the first part of a 2 day marathon the organisers put back the start of todays stage and made it a lot shorter, in the hope that competitors would catch up at camp tonight in Tidjikja. The latest from the camp tonight (7.1.05) is that there are only 130 bikes, 91 cars and 37 trucks in so far. Team Desert Rose assisted rider Gary Ennis ( 206 Team Ireland) arrived only minutes ago with horror stories of cars and bikes stuck everywhere. Unfortunately his riding partner Darrel Manning 204 went out of the race today with a badly cut leg after a crash in the camel grass. So we believe if Patsy makes it here by the morning there is a small chance they could still be in the race. Keep your fingers crossed. 4154 km down 4885 km to go
 | Patsy in the dunes |
Dakar 2005 06.Jan.2005. As predicted the day was going to be a killer and by all accounts it was. As predicted the day was going to be a killer and by all accounts it was. Patsy and Clive (Zippy) started well and made good time to the first check point at 256 km where they could refuel. But Patsy noticed her bike was using a lot more fuel than Zippys. On the second stretch the problem got worse and Zippy had to share his fuel to make sure they could get through. At the next checkpoint they got some more fuel but as they made their way across the large dunes at around 450 km Patsy's bike just got worse and would not run at all....
 | Patsy enjoyed her day. |
Dakar 2005 05.Jan.2005. Today was the first hard test so far. Starting at 6.30am with a 121 km road section, before a 492 km special. It was very fast going from the start and Patsy was determined to keep a good pace and finish the day in daylight. But the fast pace caught a lot of people out, including in the car section ex. world rally champion Colin Mc Rae and American Robby Gordon who both had big end over end crashes. Patsy enjoyed her day and herself and support rider Clive were in good spirits in the camp tonight. Pleased they achieved their goal of reaching the camp before night fall. But the days drama was not over. As they went to get some food they were met by a fire outbreak in the food tent, which quickly spread to the surrounding tents before being extinguished.  | Preparing the bikes |
Patsy said " it was quite scary we had to grab our stuff and run, but it did not take long before it was all up and running again all be it without a roof." The support crew made up of Clive ( Patsy's Husband and mechanic ) Martin (mechanic) and Andrew (driver) had to follow some of the same route as the competitors today and would not be getting into the camp till late. So it will be another long night preparing the bikes while the riders get much needed sleep, because tomorrow is the start of a 2 day marathon stage, which will be extremely difficult and will definitely see a large number of competitors go out of the race. 3485 km down 5554 km to go.
 | The team support car stopped to help fellow Brit Nick Plumb |
Dakar 2005 04.Jan.2005. The Dakar Picks up the pace. After the disappointment of not been able to race yesterday everyone was keen to get into some racing today. The day started with a 240km road section before a 381km special across rocky dusty tracks. Patsy and Clive found the going very hard on the bike and body with Patsy's recently mended wrist giving her some pain. "This area of Morocco is quite feature less" said Patsy "which is a shame because the Eurosport TV people had fixed a camera to my helmet to get some on board images but I am not sure it will be that exciting today. I am really looking forward to tomorrow though, its the start of the dunes as we cross into Mauritania and that will be very spectacular". Picture shows the team support car stopped to help fellow Brit Nick Plumb who was having engine problems and unfortunately went out of the race today. 2863 km down 6176 km to go.
 | The riders' flight boxes |
Dakar 2005 03.Jan.2005. Fog stops play. Today the weather caused the special to be cancelled for the bikes. The cold foggy morning made difficult riding conditions on the road section to the special and when the fog did not lift it was decided to cancel the stage for safety reasons because the medical helicopter was unable to fly. So it was a bit of a none event but the problems Patsy had been having with the bike battery had been spreading to other competitors. So such so that KTM had to fly in 100 new batteries for their riders, The overnight stop was in city of Agadir as the Dakar circus makes its may south. The picture shows the riders flight boxes into which each rider can put his/her sleeping bag, tent, bike spares and clean underpants etc. These are then flown on to the next camp and are waiting for the riders when they arrive. 2209 km down 6830 km to go.
 | Patsy takes the ferry to Africa |
Dakar 2005 02.Jan.2005. The day started well with a 10km special around the outskirts of an airfield. But problems with Patsy's bike battery plagued the day. Losing all power several times during the day and needing a jump start. Patsy was not the only one. Many of the KTM bikes were having the same problem which seemed to point to the new safety device introduced for the bikes this year. The Sentinel system allows cars and trucks coming up behind a bike to set off a signal on the bike to tell the rider they are there and are about to pass. But it seems to be interfering with the voltage regulation and causing a lot of worry among the riders affected. Patsy's bike ran OK once jump started but she had to ride with no lights after disembarking from the ferry in the port of Tangers after crossing from Spain to Morocco. Eventually ending up at the over night camp at the airport in Rabat at 11pm. 1543km down 7496 to go.
 | Patsy on the podium in Barcelona. Photo:Jonathan Sauer. |
Dakar 2005 01.Jan.2005. After the spectacular super special staged in Castelldefels, just outside Barcelona, day 2 of the Telefonica Dakar 2005 saw the competitors head south for a long 920km liaison to Granada. A long, very long day, for both (wo)man and machine with a stopover in Castellon for a CP and lunch break. Farewell Barcelona and ‘gracias’ for your warm welcome! After a night’s rest (longer for some than for others!) the competitors will face a last European test tomorrow with a fast and spectacular special staged on a military ground outside Granada. After that, it’ll be time for the first kilometres on African soil… Patsy made a brief apperance on Eurosport wishing everyone a Happy New Year.  | Patsy on the podium |
There was a grand podium send off for the riders as they left Barcelona for 920km ride to Granada. The journey was mainly all by motorways with a short stop off in Castellon. Although it quite a long boring day in terms of riding every bridge along the route was packed with waving and cheering fans which helped take the riders minds off the saddle numb bums. Patsy and Clive had time to stop off and drink a toast to everybody who has helped and supported them throughout the past year and WISH YOU ALL A HAPPY NEW YEAR.  | Patsy and Clive had time to stop off and drink a toast to everybody |
970km down 8069km to go.
 | Patsy on the beach |
Dakar 2005 31.Dec.2004. The day started with a short ride to the beach for a 6km Super Special, which gave the riders a chance to test their bikes and help settle any last minute nerves. The main reason for the days test was to put on a show for the Spanish fans, who lined the sea wall in there 100,000s to watch the Dakar spectacle close to hand. Even though it was only intended as a warm up, it managed to catch out a lot of the riders with tricky sand conditions and there were a few big falls including KTM factory rider, Alfie Cox who badly heart his shoulder. Patsy and Clive came through OK, but found the going tricky. Clive commented, "it was just like the Weston Beach Race with all the people along the beach." So the first day over 50 km down 8989km to go.  | Photo: Joan de Déu Fernández i Brusi |
Joan de Déu Fernández i Brusi kindly emailed this photo of Patsy on the beach at Barcelona, Thanks Joan.
 | Patsy and Clive in Barcelona |
Dakar 2005 30.Dec.2004. The team have arrived in sunny Barcelona fit, well and ready to go. Today
was spent in administrative checks and technical scrutineering in and around
the Olympic Stadium and village. This can be a long draw out process lasting
all day but with a record year for entries the organisers had spread the
competitors out over 3 days to avoid problems and it seemed to work as
everything went smoothly. After all the checks were complete the competitors had to follow a route
around the city centre to the Placa d'Espanya ( National Palace ) where all
the vehicles were parked up in rows for the night. Including 250 bikes, 160
cars, 70 race trucks and 225 support cars and trucks it made for a very
impressive site. Barcelona is an ideal place for the start and seems to have really embraced
the Dakar. The organisers are expecting a huge amount of spectators for the
Super Special stage along the beach tomorrow.
2005 Dakar Gallery 2005 Dakar Gallery Slideshow |
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