Desert Dash 2023

[Stephan]

Doing my first Desert Dash this year. We are a team of 4, so doing the relay. 

Does the route stay the same every year? Or does it change? Last year it was:

Stage 1: 100km / 1223m 

Stage 2: 76km / 1470m

Stage 3: 86km / 377m

Stage 4: 83km / 164m

Stage 5: 47km / 451m

https://desertdashnamibia.com/rider-info/the-route.html

Can anyone give some advice on how difficult or easy each stage is? We need to figure out which rider does what leg of the race. 🙂 

 

[Thornman]

1 hour ago, Stephan said:

Doing my first Desert Dash this year. We are a team of 4, so doing the relay. 

Does the route stay the same every year? Or does it change? Last year it was:

Stage 1: 100km / 1223m 

Stage 2: 76km / 1470m

Stage 3: 86km / 377m

Stage 4: 83km / 164m

Stage 5: 47km / 451m

https://desertdashnamibia.com/rider-info/the-route.html

Can anyone give some advice on how difficult or easy each stage is? We need to figure out which rider does what leg of the race. 🙂 

 

Stage 1 have a few nasty rollers at the start. 

Stage 2 is tuff. Lots op punchy climbs.

Stage 3 lots of sand.

Stage for is a very nice stage. But remember the rider doing 4 is also doing 5 with the rest of the team. They are then well rested and like puttingvyou in the hurtbox.

[sias]

14 hours ago, Stephan said:

Stage 1: 100km / 1223m:  Put your strongest rider on this stage - it is a hard stage, especially when the wind comes up. The pass is not that tough, but it will be hot there, last year was 42°C. The Us pass down has 2 or 3 sharp corners and lots of dust from the team cars. The last 12km on this one is not nice. My advice would be to get down the pass before dark.

Stage 2: 76km / 1470m: This stage is very tough as Thornman said. I would put the best climber on this one. It is grannygear-flattaps-grannygear-flattaps for the first 70km. Once he sees the christmastree, he knows he can relax.

Stage 3: 86km / 377m: Mostly flat or downhill(ish). Some thick loose sand in the middle section. Put the least strong rider on this one.

Stage 4: 83km / 164m: Very fast stage with a crappy section (15km) along the pipeline. The downhill section into the moonlandscape is a jol. Put a strongish rider here that can recover quickly for the last stage.

Stage 5: 47km / 451m: The first 17km is tough as it's mostly uphill/drags and, depending on what time you go through there, it is hot. I measured a 37°C going through there once. Once you get on the salt road through the plots, the wind will pick up so you will need to work on your echelon skills.

Don't make the mistake of thinking the three riders not riding is going to have plenty of rest between the stages - there's a lot happening at the checkpoints and with the speed limits for the cars, you don't get there very long before the first riders start to arrive. 

Have some warm clothes for checkpoints 3 and 4 as it gets cold from about 04H00 to about 06H30.

That's all I can think of for now...

 

 

[Stephan]

That's very useful! Thanks @sias and @Thornman

[waveduke]

I heard rumours that you are riding into a headwind the whole time?
Is that correct?

[sias]

2 minutes ago, waveduke said:

I heard rumours that you are riding into a headwind the whole time?
Is that correct?

Mostly yes. It does die down somewhat during the night from about 20H00, but picks up again as you get closer to the coast. We once had a tail wind most of the way in 2015 and rain in 2019 on the first 2 stages, but other than that, it was hot, dusty and headwind most of the way.