Now the dust has settled and the hard miles are done it is awesome to see that the 1983 bmw has made it through the grueling 2012 Australasian Safari. How hard was day six? Here is what Jason wrote about the leg over on Adventure Rider.

“Yesterday was the Kalbarri Death March, haha.. It started off well, nice fast 100k stage, fast and flowing. Second stage was a reverse of an earlier one, and halfway through I lost the back brake cable. Ironically, brakes allow you to ride faster. At first I used some fence wire to bodge it, but could never really get enough tension so it was really just to hold the brake pedal up out of the way. As someone pointed out, its a BMW and therefore doesn’t really need a rear brake. Just downshift and BBBWWOOOAAA down you go.
Fixed it at service.

Stage three was a 200k that at 80ks into I hit a dip and broke the left footpeg off. I found out later this is where the #14 yamaha crashed, and also Manuel. I went back and found the footpeg remains, and someone later pointer out it’s a BMW and comes equipped with two substitute footpegs sticking out from each side. I used some more fence wire to sew the peg remains back on the bike, but it just barely worked. Not proud to say I borrowed the footpeg from #14 bike which was there, in case the bodge job I did failed somewhere over the rest of the stage. It only kind of worked, I was forced to sit most of the rest of the way, or stand on one foot, and when I got back to camp I gratefully returned the borrowed yamaha peg.

The final 20ks were just brutal. As I said I saw Ivan (a very surly Ivan) at km 112, not interested in making convo of any sort, and at km 140 I found Dave Blight who was nursing his bike through a series of electrical shorts brought on by dumping too many times. We rode out the final k’s together, and when we finally reached the finish, I looked over at him and spontaneously starting giggling like a little girl. Couldn’t stop for about ten minutes. Arguably the hardest ride I’ve ever done. They save the best for last.”

Jason’s effort was rewarded with the ‘Andy Caldecott Award’. Andy Caldecott is an Australasian Safari legend who passed in the 2006 dakar rallye. Ross Briggs snapped this picture of Jason with his finishers medallion.

Granted, Team Rooney may not have finished the Safari in the top three. But the fact that a 1983 Bmw that Jason had never even ridden only days before the event was able to conquer such a grueling event is testament to the man and the machine.

Well done Jason and Paul, I hope this blog provides you with a useful record of your extreme undertaking!

For anyone that wants to read the full adventure I have posted the whole episode here reconfigured into chronological order.

Lucky Stu