Humbled by Jason Pires coverage of my story on CTV NEWS. I am without words. Thankful for my amazing supporters without which I couldn't pursue this dream. My training with Innovative Fitness and Meyrick Jones and Keith Sharman, impulse sports, peacemaker film works, Scott Hedlund from Russell prosthetics, and so many others - thank you. Now I have 14 months and lots of training to make it happen The front wheel of the bike crashes against the eroded river bank, the rocks and sand crumble under impact and within a second I’m buried under the bike. The screeching noise of titanium, rocks and metal tells me that my prosthetic leg is involved. I take a big breath in as I hit the ground. Soft landing on river sand – thank you! As I lay under the bike I realize that my prosthesis is jammed between the bike frame and a large rock – sh*t, I yell in my helmet, what the hell am I doing here, this is insanity. I can’t get my leg out as the front part is stuck in a 90 degree angle between the frame and the rock. I struggle for a minute, wiggle my entire body, sweat pours into my eyes as I realize there’s no way I can slide under the bike. I rest my head down, take another big breath and look at the grand clear blue skies above – I stopped fighting. I signed up for a weekend of Rally navigation skills with RMS (Rally Management Services from California). This weekend was my testing ground to see if I can ride a rally bike for long hours over technical terrain while navigating at the same time. To be honest I wasn't sure how I would cope with it and how my leg would react to the constant weight bearing, vibrations, heat and desert conditions. At that point I knew that if I can’t finish this weekend in one piece and walking it will indicate that I have a serious problem and perhaps my dream to race Dakar was too big. Did I bite off more than I can chew? Well, this weekend will show me where I am. “Relax man”, I tell myself, this is part of it all, look at where you are – in the middle of nowhere in the Nevada desert, surrounded by majestic mountains, endless wadies and magnificent weird shaped Joshua trees. I love the desert, it feels like a second home to me. I have never navigated with a roadbook. This is a unique navigation method used in rally raids and a skill I had to master in order to participate and do well in desert rally racing so once again the purpose of this weekend was to see if I can get a hang of it and learn how to use it and try not to get lost or make too many mistakes. OK now what… I try to push the bike with my good leg but I don’t have enough room to move it. Plan B – reach out to the air valve on my socket (the part that joins the residual limb to the prosthesis) and disconnect my leg all together. Yes it worked! I was able to leave my stuck prosthesis under the bike and wiggle my way around. Now I can hoped on one leg, move the bike, get my stuck leg unstuck, put it on, lift the bike and off I go! Sometimes it’s good to have detachable body parts :-) Navigation with a roadbook is an amazing challenge – you have to engage your brain, body and bike all at the same time and all the time. As soon as you lose concentration you either make a navigation mistake and get lost or crash the bike. It takes lots of practice to ride fast while reading and interpreting a roadbook and for me just to get my head around doing it all at once was challenging enough, so I took it easy, stopped at junctions to verify compass heading and correct mileage and just enjoy the process. Next week I will share with you additional experiences I had over this weekend including the heartbreaking situation where I was out in the desert while my sweet 10 years old daughter ended up in emergency and how I learned to value what life has to offer on a day to day basis. make sure you sign up for my blog to receive weekly updates and tips about training for Dakar. I f you find this interesting, please share this on Facebook see you soon
Your ever well wisher Erez Thought Waves in my mind like sand under my wheels
I seek to gain as much personal growth and experiences from the journey to the start line as I search for in the race itself. The lessons and experiences I have learned so far have been remarkable and my wish is to integrate them on this new chosen path and share them it with you. I don’t know, maybe there’s a reason why no one in the race history have never tried it… I guess I’ll find outץץ. However there is a deeper knowing inside me that the lessons I will learn, the people I will meet, the experiences and self-growth gained will be larger than the race itself. Riding in sand was my biggest nemesis (at least in my mind) as I have very little experience riding this terrain (last time I rode in sand was 15 years ago) and have never been on sand with my ‘new’ prosthetic leg. I decided to face the demon head on by just getting out there and see what it is all about. The Dakar Rally route goes through hundreds of kilometres of huge dunes and I know I must be very proficient in riding and navigating them. Here is a video update of my experience.
During dinner which comprised of fresh fruit and bean tortillas with avocado my monkey mind took charge and was yelling at me what a stupid idea this is. "It is impossible, I’ll hurt myself and even if I manage to ride a little how on earth will I survive 15 days of 8-14 hours rides and all this with a prosthetic leg that is uncomfortable and doesn't allow me to handle the bike properly - bad, bad idea!". Folded in my sleeping bag I listened to the “Voice” and at times it almost made sense. Why not admit that I chew more than I can swallow? There must be a reason why no one in my condition have ever tried it so I might as well quit now before I get to involved with it. Fortunate to be trained by top yogi teachers I have learned to muster my mind when it goes off a tantrum like this and allowed the chatter to do its thing while trying not to get too attached to it. Just go to sleep and see how it will look like in the morning. |