Willem du Toit Dakar 2018

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WDT

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So, Dakar 2017 is done and dusted! Seems to have been a tough one, even though the attrition rate was not exceptionally high.
Massive congratulations to our hero Joey Evans! You really kept us all on the edges of our seats. I am so glad for you, and hope even bigger things come from this. Thanks for all the help you already gave me. Walter and David, bad luck! At least I will have buddies next year!

Dakar 2018……
As some of you know, I received the great opportunity to have won an entry for Dakar 2018. With this thread I will try and keep everyone up to date on what is going on. I really want to give you guys a real behind the scenes day to day (OK maybe weekly) account on what goes into a Dakar program, a normal oke`s story.

Where to begin?
Up till now it has been slowish, after the Amageza rally blues subsided, there was a quick flurry of activity, then it was holidays and Dakar 2017 started. Let me tell you, I really followed this year`s race much more attentively!
I met with Darryl Curtis in December, where he gave me a few pointers and his presentation on Dakar and the prep going into it. A lot of info, thanks for your time Darryl!
At Joey`s fund raiser me and Alex RG had a good chat with Brian Barragwanath, they are planning on assembling a team for 2018, so to hear what he had to say and talking about his past experience was great.

Then came Christmas and New Year and I tried to drink 2 month`s beer in 1 week, not a good idea if you need to get fit!

On the physical preparation side of things I started MTB`ing again, after I promised myself in 2015 after finishing the Cape Epic, that I am finished with vehicles without an engine. The Mocke brothers (of West coast Baja fame) offered to help me with training. Had my first session at M Fitness Limited on Monday morning, I didn’t think I was this useless! Had to lie down for 15 minutes before showering, tomorrow is the next session, cant wait………

My short term planning / to do list is as follows:
• Compile a sponsorship proposal (not as easy as you might think)
• Decide on a project title (need some input from you)
• Finnish repairs on my Amageza bike and sell it
• Finnish repairs on my old race bike and sell it
• Finnish my preliminary budget
• Get fit for the national off road series
Mid term:
• Decide on which support team to use
• Start getting my sponsorship proposal out there
• Decide on bikes, practice bike, race bike, renting a bike?

I will write in more detail about these in the near future, if you guys have any questions, comments or suggestions please feel free to comment.

Cheers
 
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