How cool to see Jimmy Lewis on the podcast. I grew up in Somis where Jimmy is from and can remember him as a teenager ripping up the hillsides as a kid and dominating the District 37 enduro scene. Also you guys are killing it with the Dakar coverage!
Heard you guys mention High Desert Adventures on the last show, i did my first ever rally-raid training last October with them, it was the experience of a lifetime! I took seriously early 2024 my dream to do Dakar and coming across Ace and HDA was exactly what i needed. For anyone looking to do Dakar, High Desert Adventures is the way to go, give em a call, look no further! We camped in the desert, rode fully prepped rally bikes, trained navigation and our way through the desert with Ace and Jacob Argubright (12 place right now on Dakars Rally2!).
Thanks for asking my Q on the R2 - and a bonus that it actually stumped Quinn. Love to know the answer on that R2 Qualification/ limit. Love what you guys are doing keeping us informed and that interview with Jimmy was really informative. Quinn and Answer for tomorrow.- When in the dunes You mention CAP headings and waypoints. as former Boy Scout (many moons ago) and having done some orientering, when we had a point on a map we had the whole map and made compass headings backed up with topographical maps and you could pick reference points. How do they do that in an endless sea of sand when you only have waypoint headings and a GPS coordinate ? Tomorrow Fellas. Watching from Aus.
Cheers Michael. We will get Quinn to elaborate but the Waypoint "opens" once you get within a specified range/radius and you are directed by an arrow or similar to it's center, once you hit it, you get a verification and you move on to the next roadbook note for your distance and heading again. No Maps here! They need to rely on their place in the roadbook as their only orientation - tricky at speed!
Quinn and Answer!! What do you all recommend for rally navigation system for practicing! Is there a set up that will do roadbooks and GPS for rally and adv riding! Thank you both for doing this. Love having this show to watch everyday
Tablets are the fit for this, worst case scenario they turn into a GPS. The Galaxy Tab Active is a good starting point. Willem Avenant Racing offers The Rally Tab in 2 flavors. Tierra Pirata as far as apps goes is picking up steam with makers and enthusiasts.
Take a look at the ICO Tower One. It is very durable, easy to use and available now for purchase. We use these on our rental fleet as well and they have been very well received by the riders who have tried them!
Thanks! Great answers here already. Before all that, though, go to Rally Navigator and build a roadbook or two. Reading them is fine, but you will learn a lot by building your own before you ride.
Bike questions are very common for rally use. Basically you will need fuel range of 120+ miles and it should be comfortable and reliable to get you through the long days. Navigation equipment will be required and each race has it's own approved or required pieces of equipment. The race organizers/promoters are very good at pointing you in the right direction for what their race requires, but they all basically need the same bike requirements. Some have ADV bike classes, but most run 450cc off-road bikes with big tanks and comfy seats! KTMs and Honda's lead the way with KTM bringing the 450XCF-W as a competitive off-road race bike with a six-speed. Honda option for a new bike is the 450X or 450RL - both have pretty heavy emissions equipment on them but make good race bikes with some work. Yamaha's WR line is capable but fuel capacity is an issue. And, of course, you can't not consider Kove's offerings as they are actual rally bikes ready to go at a tremendous value!
Definetly look into the Rally Schools that are offered, Willem Avenant and Donnie Reddington Team up to do a class in Colorado. Skool of Moto. Both Baja Rally and Sonora Rally offer Rally Schools. I would do one of those ASAP and then work up to the event on what you feel you may need.
@QUADXTV I'm not sure about the Honda and KTM's mentioned as I've never owned them, but if you go for a WR note if you fit a large aftermarket tank up front it makes the air filter an ballache to change. It's a pain even just on casual multiday rides, can't imagine racing it! - Taz.
Sorry not Quinn 😉 The top riders in the RallyGP class have to declare a single brand and type of tyre they run for the whole event when they register. So once they have chosen a tyre, they have to run it on every stage and terrain.
Cheers, and thanks to LasseJOugaard for stepping in here, too. We chatted with KTM Factory's Stefan Huber about this today, as well. They are not allowed to change tire brand or type throughout the rally, so no sand tires for sand stages, etc.
How cool to see Jimmy Lewis on the podcast. I grew up in Somis where Jimmy is from and can remember him as a teenager ripping up the hillsides as a kid and dominating the District 37 enduro scene. Also you guys are killing it with the Dakar coverage!
Heard you guys mention High Desert Adventures on the last show, i did my first ever rally-raid training last October with them, it was the experience of a lifetime! I took seriously early 2024 my dream to do Dakar and coming across Ace and HDA was exactly what i needed. For anyone looking to do Dakar, High Desert Adventures is the way to go, give em a call, look no further! We camped in the desert, rode fully prepped rally bikes, trained navigation and our way through the desert with Ace and Jacob Argubright (12 place right now on Dakars Rally2!).
Jimmy! So awesome. Great show guys.
Thanks!
Great to see you Jimmy! Another great show guys awesomeness 👌 ready for stage 9 cant wait to see how it plays out!!
Thanks for the support
Thanks for asking my Q on the R2 - and a bonus that it actually stumped Quinn. Love to know the answer on that R2 Qualification/ limit.
Love what you guys are doing keeping us informed and that interview with Jimmy was really informative.
Quinn and Answer for tomorrow.- When in the dunes You mention CAP headings and waypoints. as former Boy Scout (many moons ago) and having done some orientering, when we had a point on a map we had the whole map and made compass headings backed up with topographical maps and you could pick reference points.
How do they do that in an endless sea of sand when you only have waypoint headings and a GPS coordinate ?
Tomorrow Fellas.
Watching from Aus.
Cheers Michael. We will get Quinn to elaborate but the Waypoint "opens" once you get within a specified range/radius and you are directed by an arrow or similar to it's center, once you hit it, you get a verification and you move on to the next roadbook note for your distance and heading again. No Maps here! They need to rely on their place in the roadbook as their only orientation - tricky at speed!
Quinn and Answer!!
What do you all recommend for rally navigation system for practicing!
Is there a set up that will do roadbooks and GPS for rally and adv riding!
Thank you both for doing this. Love having this show to watch everyday
Tablets are the fit for this, worst case scenario they turn into a GPS. The Galaxy Tab Active is a good starting point. Willem Avenant Racing offers The Rally Tab in 2 flavors. Tierra Pirata as far as apps goes is picking up steam with makers and enthusiasts.
Take a look at the ICO Tower One. It is very durable, easy to use and available now for purchase. We use these on our rental fleet as well and they have been very well received by the riders who have tried them!
Thanks! Great answers here already. Before all that, though, go to Rally Navigator and build a roadbook or two. Reading them is fine, but you will learn a lot by building your own before you ride.
What bike do you recommend for someone who is looking to do one of the Mexican rallies within the next 3 years?
Bike questions are very common for rally use. Basically you will need fuel range of 120+ miles and it should be comfortable and reliable to get you through the long days. Navigation equipment will be required and each race has it's own approved or required pieces of equipment. The race organizers/promoters are very good at pointing you in the right direction for what their race requires, but they all basically need the same bike requirements. Some have ADV bike classes, but most run 450cc off-road bikes with big tanks and comfy seats! KTMs and Honda's lead the way with KTM bringing the 450XCF-W as a competitive off-road race bike with a six-speed. Honda option for a new bike is the 450X or 450RL - both have pretty heavy emissions equipment on them but make good race bikes with some work. Yamaha's WR line is capable but fuel capacity is an issue. And, of course, you can't not consider Kove's offerings as they are actual rally bikes ready to go at a tremendous value!
Definetly look into the Rally Schools that are offered, Willem Avenant and Donnie Reddington Team up to do a class in Colorado. Skool of Moto. Both Baja Rally and Sonora Rally offer Rally Schools. I would do one of those ASAP and then work up to the event on what you feel you may need.
Thanks gents!
@QUADXTV I'm not sure about the Honda and KTM's mentioned as I've never owned them, but if you go for a WR note if you fit a large aftermarket tank up front it makes the air filter an ballache to change. It's a pain even just on casual multiday rides, can't imagine racing it! - Taz.
Quinn and answer:
During the stages that are predominantly spent in the dunes, are any of the writers using a different tire choice?
Sorry not Quinn 😉 The top riders in the RallyGP class have to declare a single brand and type of tyre they run for the whole event when they register. So once they have chosen a tyre, they have to run it on every stage and terrain.
Cheers, and thanks to LasseJOugaard for stepping in here, too. We chatted with KTM Factory's Stefan Huber about this today, as well. They are not allowed to change tire brand or type throughout the rally, so no sand tires for sand stages, etc.