Thursday, January 4, 2007

Raiders Take First

So the blog here was not updated as I had thought but there is a damn good reason for that as you can gather for yourself from the title. I can still hardly believe it myself but we covered roughly 3400 kilometers in just 8 days and finished probably 3 days ahead of any second place team. If that's not setting the bar high I don't know what is.
This was no leisure Sunday drive either, after nearly tipping the sucker over in the first 100 meters of the race we finally worked the bugs out (minus a small incident where we almost rolled off the road into a rice paddy) and we were off on a steady pace the rest of the way. After 3 days hard roads and breaking in the new engine we found out there were teams ahead of us, so we decided to forgo sleep and food in search of a first place finish in the first ever Rickshaw Run. Which we have and truly earned.
Words simply cannot describe the racing conditions out here. The pollution, traffic, psycho drivers, pedestrians, cows, goats, dogs, ear crushing horns, dust, dirt, funk, grime and the mighty spirit killer of them all... the fucking shit ass roads of India. Potholes you could lay in, stretches of road that more resembled a piece of tasty swiss than thoroughfare for vehicles of any kind. We saw snapped axles, blown tires and more dead dogs in 100 kilometers then I ever imagined to see in my whole life.
It was rough, nasty, dirty and hard and it's something that I'll never do again but I could not be more proud of the both of us for accomplishing this insane mission. I'll update this later with more stories of individual experiences and what not but for now we revel in the glory of first place.

Thank you to all and good wishes from the Rajasthan Raiders.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

well done......the calamity crew were hot on your behinds tho- they got in today- i got a text this morning saying how beautiful the scenery is as they headed through the mountains.
hope you've enjoyed the adventure and enjoy the glory.michelle-wife of captain chaos.

Unknown said...

You are unspeakable and mighty.

Giddy said...

Everyone back home knew it would be. We love and miss you both. Take care, enjoy the tea, and for god sakes get some rest!!! We are all ready for the tale.
Love you! Dawn

bfr said...

sacre! bleu!

i can't believe it, but then, i can.
can't wait for the stories. nicely done.