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A day at the rally

Rallys are true marathons of the off-road world, where some, like the Dakar, last two weeks. For the pilots, it is necessary to have a kind of routine, in order to better optimize the time in the camp and thus be able to dedicate it mainly to resting... which is always very complex.

The day for a motorcycle rider begins very early, with the alarm clock at approximately 3:30 a.m., where one calculates 1:30 a.m. for preparation in the morning, where the time has to be enough to wake up, put on the clothing of competition, disarm and store your tent, bag and mat, as well as your motorcycle bag. All this has to be done in a very orderly way, in order to facilitate the operation of the equipment, as well as not to waste time later looking for your things.

Meanwhile the mechanic starts up and does a final check on the bike.

After this, one goes directly to the dining room, where you practically force yourself to have breakfast, which mainly includes pasta, since the day will be very long and the energy comes from the meals. Then one quickly goes to the start, where there are many kilometers to be covered that day.

After stage one, if it's a good day, arrive at approximately 16:00. When you arrive at the camp, you talk to the press, in order to communicate the day, then when you arrive at the team, the first thing is to talk to the mechanic, where you tell him about the day and the things to highlight to work on the motorcycle; For example, if you suffer a fall on a particular side of the bike, he already knows that he has to pay special attention to that sector.

Once this is done, proceed to take out your tent, bag, mat and motorcycle bag. You leave everything in order, as well as the equipment that you have to leave in order for the next day, and you go to the showers… Very restorative by the way; If you have a bad day and you arrive late, the bathrooms are disgusting, but it is good to maintain hygiene, since it keeps you more rested.

After the shower you go to lunch, where you complement it with the supplements you are taking. Food and hydration is key throughout the race, so special attention must be paid to this. After lunch comes the grating of the Roadbook, which is the route book for the next day. Depending on the stage, this can vary between two or three hours of study.

What follows is to go to the massages with the kinesiologist, which is very important, to deflate affected and contracted areas, with which you also prevent future injuries, such as tendonitis.

After this comes the briefing, which is the meeting held by the organization where the important points of the next day's route are highlighted. This is already at 8:00 p.m., and you still can't rest.

After the briefing you go to your mechanic to see how everything is going (for him it is usually a long day, and he is working until late at night). There you take advantage of installing the Roadbook on the motorcycle.

After this you go to eat again (you have to force yourself to eat, even if you don't feel like it, this will keep you in good condition during the race, since the wear is a lot)

What comes next is sorting out the apparel: filling camelbak with supplements, food in clothes, charging phones (satellite and normal), charging MP3s for the links, earplugs, etc.

With this, at approximately 11:00 p.m. you can go to your tent to sleep, where with the noise of the generators and motorcycles that they test, it is necessary to sleep with earplugs, since there are not many hours of sleep and these are to make the most of them.

The alarm clock rings again at 3:30 a.m. and here we go again.

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