Mark Ackerman and myself left from the truck road early this morning and had a quick run through to the petrol station at Al Faqaa on the Al Ain highway, +- 60Km’s. From there we kept to the right of the Al Maha fence. By pure luck we ran straight into the spot where Chris Jackson, Mark Fourie, James West, Bradley Manser, Joe Derbyshire and a large group of other people were camping. Quick greetings and soon we had a group joining us for the run to the Al Madam roundabout and back. Mark Fourie, James West, Bradley Manser, Joe Derbyshire all joined. A few of the other campers looked way to tender to join, something about the previous night.

The route to Madam was great, it was only on the way back that things became interesting very quickly. Just before the turn in the Al Maha fence I came over a small drop off, opened up the CRF as I hit the sand and proceeded to move forward for a few meters at a snails pace. Still revving beautifully, there was just one small problem, no movement at all. After dropping the bike on its side and opening up the clutch cover, the problem became evident quite quickly, the clutch was gone, as in broken clutch plates, only two were not broken into pieces. James quickly offered to ride back to the camp, which was only 4km away from where I broke down to fetch his truck. An hour or so later James was back, closely followed by Brian Florance in his Nissan Patrol. Brian could not resist the temptation to join the dune bashing expedition. There are rumors that he was practicing in the dark the previous night with limited success.

Back at the camp we quickly transfer my bike to Bradley’s truck as he is going to Gecko Motorcycles to drop his bike off so there is no use in James driving all the way to Dubai. Simple, problem solved, a hour or so and I should be back at my car. While James came to pick me up the camp was packed so all there is to do is drive back to Dubai. Brian, Joe and Bradley all in a row leaving the desert. As we drive in Bradleys truck, following Joe in his Nissan Patrol, I get the distinct smell of a burning clutch in my nostrils. When I took my bikes clutch apart, where it broke down, I put some of the clutch plate pieces in my tool pack and was hoping Bradley is not too upset with me bringing the smell into his car. Just one problem, my tool pack is on the back of the truck, not in the cab. As these thoughts go through my mind Joe starts slowing down waving out his open window. As we stop end exit the car it becomes apparent where the smell comes from, Joe has cooked the clutch on his Patrol !!

Can you believe it, first the clutch on my bike and now Joe’s car as well. Took three tow ropes and Brians “I can go anywhere” foot on the gas to get Joe out of the sand and onto a harder surface. Thanks to Bradley we towed Joe’s car to Mirdif, dropped our bikes off at Gecko and drove to my car that was still standing close to Abu Dhabi border where Mark and myself left from 7 o’clock in the morning. Worked out to be a long day, woke up at 05:45AM got back home around 05:45PM. So much for the quick 180Km run, “back before 12″. Still managed to get +- 115Km’s in before the breakdown, worth while even if it took nearly 12 hours door to door

	Partdistance	Parttime	Partspeed	Distance	Time	Speed
	0.000 km	0s	-	0.000 km	0s	-
	2.024 km	6m 38s	18.31 km/h	2.024 km	6m 38s	18.31 km/h
	2.002 km	1m 34s	76.68 km/h	4.027 km	8m 12s	29.46 km/h
	2.005 km	1m 41s	71.47 km/h	6.032 km	9m 53s	36.62 km/h
	2.072 km	1m 49s	68.44 km/h	8.104 km	11m 42s	41.56 km/h
	2.151 km	2m 32s	50.95 km/h	10.255 km	14m 14s	43.23 km/h
	1.776 km	1m 34s	68.03 km/h	12.031 km	15m 48s	45.69 km/h
	2.036 km	2m 32s	48.21 km/h	14.067 km	18m 20s	46.04 km/h
	1.954 km	2m 28s	47.54 km/h	16.021 km	20m 48s	46.22 km/h
	1.990 km	2m 15s	53.06 km/h	18.011 km	23m 03s	46.88 km/h
	2.013 km	2m 29s	48.65 km/h	20.025 km	25m 32s	47.06 km/h
	1.995 km	2m 08s	56.11 km/h	22.020 km	27m 40s	47.75 km/h
	2.041 km	3m 54s	31.39 km/h	24.060 km	31m 34s	45.73 km/h
	1.955 km	2m 35s	45.41 km/h	26.015 km	34m 09s	45.71 km/h
	1.989 km	1m 46s	67.56 km/h	28.004 km	35m 55s	46.78 km/h
	2.016 km	2m 14s	54.15 km/h	30.020 km	38m 09s	47.21 km/h
	1.998 km	2m 44s	43.85 km/h	32.018 km	40m 53s	46.99 km/h
	1.988 km	2m 53s	41.37 km/h	34.006 km	43m 46s	46.62 km/h
	2.031 km	2m 37s	46.58 km/h	36.037 km	46m 23s	46.62 km/h
	1.983 km	2m 32s	46.97 km/h	38.020 km	48m 55s	46.63 km/h
	1.982 km	9m 29s	12.54 km/h	40.002 km	58m 24s	41.10 km/h
	2.040 km	2m 47s	43.98 km/h	42.042 km	1h 01m 11s	41.23 km/h
	1.968 km	2m 06s	56.23 km/h	44.010 km	1h 03m 17s	41.73 km/h
	2.015 km	3m 29s	34.71 km/h	46.025 km	1h 06m 46s	41.36 km/h
	1.990 km	3m 17s	36.37 km/h	48.015 km	1h 10m 03s	41.13 km/h
	1.997 km	2m 36s	46.07 km/h	50.012 km	1h 12m 39s	41.30 km/h
	2.095 km	1m 45s	71.83 km/h	52.107 km	1h 14m 24s	42.02 km/h
	1.968 km	1m 44s	68.11 km/h	54.075 km	1h 16m 08s	42.62 km/h
	1.936 km	4m 32s	25.63 km/h	56.011 km	1h 20m 40s	41.66 km/h
	2.075 km	2m 52s	43.44 km/h	58.086 km	1h 23m 32s	41.72 km/h
	1.965 km	28m 03s	4.20 km/h	60.052 km	1h 51m 35s	32.29 km/h
	1.958 km	1m 54s	61.83 km/h	62.010 km	1h 53m 29s	32.79 km/h
	2.102 km	3m 40s	34.40 km/h	64.112 km	1h 57m 09s	32.84 km/h
	1.890 km	3m 23s	33.51 km/h	66.002 km	2h 00m 32s	32.85 km/h
	2.111 km	2m 09s	58.92 km/h	68.113 km	2h 02m 41s	33.31 km/h
	1.978 km	14m 35s	8.14 km/h	70.091 km	2h 17m 16s	30.64 km/h
	1.941 km	2m 00s	58.24 km/h	72.032 km	2h 19m 16s	31.03 km/h
	1.970 km	2m 36s	45.45 km/h	74.002 km	2h 21m 52s	31.30 km/h
	2.067 km	4m 28s	27.77 km/h	76.069 km	2h 26m 20s	31.19 km/h
	2.024 km	4m 09s	29.26 km/h	78.093 km	2h 30m 29s	31.14 km/h
	1.938 km	2m 21s	49.48 km/h	80.031 km	2h 32m 50s	31.42 km/h
	2.059 km	4m 04s	30.38 km/h	82.090 km	2h 36m 54s	31.39 km/h
	1.930 km	3m 09s	36.76 km/h	84.020 km	2h 40m 03s	31.50 km/h
	2.006 km	4m 46s	25.25 km/h	86.026 km	2h 44m 49s	31.32 km/h
	2.027 km	4m 19s	28.17 km/h	88.053 km	2h 49m 08s	31.24 km/h
	2.007 km	2m 24s	50.19 km/h	90.060 km	2h 51m 32s	31.50 km/h
	1.994 km	2m 09s	55.65 km/h	92.054 km	2h 53m 41s	31.80 km/h
	1.947 km	3m 52s	30.21 km/h	94.001 km	2h 57m 33s	31.77 km/h
	2.052 km	15m 33s	7.92 km/h	96.053 km	3h 13m 06s	29.85 km/h
	1.972 km	3m 22s	35.15 km/h	98.026 km	3h 16m 28s	29.94 km/h
	1.992 km	2m 58s	40.28 km/h	100.017 km	3h 19m 26s	30.09 km/h
	2.010 km	4m 17s	28.16 km/h	102.028 km	3h 23m 43s	30.05 km/h
	1.977 km	2m 34s	46.21 km/h	104.004 km	3h 26m 17s	30.25 km/h
	2.008 km	3m 12s	37.65 km/h	106.012 km	3h 29m 29s	30.36 km/h
	2.034 km	3m 06s	39.37 km/h	108.046 km	3h 32m 35s	30.50 km/h
	1.960 km	3m 05s	38.14 km/h	110.007 km	3h 35m 40s	30.60 km/h
	2.018 km	3m 47s	32.00 km/h	112.024 km	3h 39m 27s	30.63 km/h
	1.982 km	3m 27s	34.47 km/h	114.006 km	3h 42m 54s	30.69 km/h
	0.796 km	1m 37s	29.53 km/h	114.801 km	3h 44m 31s	30.68 km/h