CHALLENGE ACCOMPLISHMENT # 2
THE RESOLUTION: Read 13 books
Race to Dakar
Author: Charley Boorman
If you have ever heard of this race then you know it is one the longest, most treacherous races in the world. Fatalities are nothing new. In short, this is one bad-ass challenge and Charley is attempting to complete the race as a novice off-road biker while documenting the whole thing for TV.
This event, this experience, is exactly the kind of thing that humbles and inspires me. I do love telling stories about my own exciting world adventures and seeing the wide-eyed responses. I feel good about myself to hear other say how brave and lucky I am. Why shouldn’t I? However, as a traveler I recognize two very important things.
- The whole solo backpacker on a shoestring is not for everyone.
- There will always be someone out there doing wilder, longer, scarier, and more unbelievable things to traverse this earth than I possibly ever will.
My own little intro book review:
Charley’s amateur status to this event is a benefit to the reader as he learns and relays to us everything that goes into such monumental a task as the Race to Dakar. The physical toll is only the beginning. Most people train every day for years and complete numerous endurance races around the world before even considering tackling the Dakar race. The investment needed is also stupendous. You need connections and a lot of sponsors if you are ever going to acquire the beastly minimums to survive. Custom bikes capable trudging through some of the toughest and most variable terrain, a reliable team, bikes for them, and a capable support vehicle just for starters.
Charley is lucky enough to get all of those necessities but no one can give him the most desperately important quality required: mental fortitude. For a year Charley struggled through tough training camps and entered multiple races only to find himself in last place continuously or eventually quitting. A victim of his own negative self talk, he allowed himself to withdraw several times due to pain and shame. The responsibility held to his sponsors and his team, not to mention hundreds of thousands of Euro being spent on this quest, his quest; a constant weight on his shoulders. The enormous physical strain has already left our warrior bruised, bleeding, broken and battered - and that’s just the lead up to the race!
Want more? Check out his book. I loved it.
Dakar site: http://www.racetodakar.com/html/rtd.html
Charley’s site: http://www.charleyboorman.com
One woman. One year. 68 down. 101 to go.
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