Friday Morning Express Drive on 12/04/2013
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quote GKumar:quote wasiabbas:Hi GK, I just badly wanna join my first ever formal registered intermediate drive.
But m stuck with my work here..by the night I shall know tat if m working tomm or not.If in case I can make up can I join the convey?
Yes, provided you reach the meeting place :!!
Wassi, tomorrow morning I am going to keep my mobile switched off till the drive starts :)):thanks: GK, will try my best to complete my job by today.
If not this drive…will be eagerly waiting for your next lead… 🙂
Well, the maiden Intermediate drive was an eventful one, not so much in terms of stucks or breakdowns but in the number of people afflicted by motion sickness (including yours truly) :ymsick: 😀
Those amazing bowls that Ganesh and Kumar took us through, were breathtaking, the pace was exhilarating which meant more concentration than usual. I have posted some pics on DO’s FB page, I am working on the video…
:thanks: to the Marshalls and sweeps once again for your guidance, it was a great drive!
:drive: report
😕 for once I was absolutely first at the meeting point, deflated flag up drinking tea before the next participant arrived, truth insomnia ….waiting for the dawn to get into Gk’s express train 😀
Meeting point timing was more or less correctly adhered to, the express was split into 2 convoys, Locomotive Kumar at the head of one train with Thanseer as the Guard and Locomotive Ganesh pulling the other train with Khalil as the Guard, which seemed to me to be a fairly even match. For some reason unknown to this soldier the jeep’s got to be together… 😉
Our train pulled out of platform 9 3/4’s with Bubban in second coach Rein as third me as 4th and Khalil at the rear, very nice tight group. A straight continuous climb to gain altitude allowed us our first sample of the prevailing weather conditions, not yet grim but windy with horizontal sand piling off the crests making the lea side occasionally tricky 🙁 Equally the wind had the effect of compacting the exposed slope 😀
Well we drove on into the wind, occasional catching sight of Gkumar’s express as it roared past going the other way ….well you know what I mean 😕
There was 1 elevated crossroads situation with 2 Pajero’s in view… you had to be quick to get the right one 😀 No major issues up to the small pyramids, moved around Iftar and the broad slopes looking south towards the Conservation area.It was about here when the first malaise case struck, Khalil called forward for a halt, he was unwell.
A little later both Rein and Bubban experienced the weirdest sort of sickness, almost as if it was seasickness, maybe due to the surface being highly mobile with the wind and the :drive:’s steady rhythm of bowl -crest -bowl.
At one stage I’d wondered if we’d passed through some sort of temporal gate, such was the rapidity of the onset of the ‘bug’… the wind was from the direction of Ghost Town so maybe the malaise that killed off that community came a playing on the air looking for victims :ymdevil:
A couple of hours later with no major issues to impede our progress we crossed over the E44 and headed for Big Red. Khalil still feeling under the weather, decided to quit as we crossed the black-top, wise decision in my view, which left me as sweep for the short ride over to Big Red. The hacked sand around this hill took it’s toll on various vehicles ability to climb and although we regrouped both trains at the top there was a little bit of a hassle getting there.
Our leaders decided that we should move from this point as a single convoy, with Kumar’s express in the lead and Ganesh’s locomotive following.
WE headed out for the short trip over to Pink rock and neatly cut the cliff in half… twice 😀 Descending and crossing the Maleha road on the eastern flank of PR we high-tailed it through a collection of tracks short dunes and various outposts of humanity to Al Faya. Again the hacked sand around this local playground played havoc with traction for some. A quick regroup on the North facing slopes of the saddle before we set off at a cracking pace for the Camel coming in real close from the south west.
No stopping for play today as is the norm at this landmark, not on this train …we had a full head of stream and we were going places :drive:
Off the tops down into the wadi and back up again approaching Fossil from the East, we skirted south about the mountain amongst some quite large chunks of Rock, not the sort of thing one would wish to bump into on a night drive I thought from my lonely position at the back of the train 🙁
In fact Marshall Thanseer was sweep for this section but as we all know he is such a consummate driver and mostly seems to float over the dunes without messing about with all the turning – swooping bit that us mortals have to endure!! More than once I called forwarded to alert the train to the seemingly missing Guard ‘cos he’d disappeared from being a tiny speck in the distance in my rear view mirror ….only to find him sat astride of the dune in front of me!!! 😮 How’d he do that :yesss:
Without stopping we visited the Fossil dike much to the amusement of 2 lonely Jeepers parked there 😀
With only 3,6Kms to exit, suddenly, without warning the GT bug hit again, twice in quick succession. A most uncomfortable situation for Bubban and even worst for Rein brought the train to a halt whilst they did what they needed to do …
It wouldn’t have mattered if we’d been only 300metres from exit..we all go in together and we all come out together Just For Fun
:thanks: to TFT members Gkumar, Ganesh & Khalil and CMT member Thanseer for the :drive: organisation :ymapplause:
:thanks: to you GKumar and Ganesh for Brilliant fast paced leads :-BD
:thanks: to the guys & ladies on board this train for the company 😀see y’all soon 😉
Thank you Brian for the nice and detailed report.
I will comment on the first part of the drive with Ganesh ….
Extreemly enjoyed it and that was my first drive with Ganesh as lead. Commandable Job :ymapplause: :ymapplause: … And this comes from the heart. All of the drivers did well without exception, and I was enjoying seeing the whole group surfing those nice dunes with ease. It is such a nice feeling
Would have loved to continue the drive with you guys … But after multiple stops and me trying to convince myself that it will be alright I decided to abid to rule # 2 of desert offroading: “Leave EGO at home”. Sand driving while sick is dangerous as you lose your concentration and that might have unwanted consequences.
Nonetheless, it was nice seeing you guys after a while.
Cheers
PS: for those of you asking what is rule #1, well… “Never fight the gravity” 🙂
Thanks Brain for the detailed report :thanks:
quote Khalil_mtl:I decided to abid to rule # 2 of desert offroading: “Leave EGO at home”.
for those of you asking what is rule #1, well… “Never fight the gravity” 🙂Absolutely!!! :ymapplause: :ymapplause: :ymapplause: ^:)^ ^:)^ ^:)^
Reading the reports it seems to be another GK’s / Dada super kool lead… :ymapplause: :ymapplause:
Wish i wud have been with u guyz…M still stuck with my job here for another couple of hours. :((
But have registered for Saturday Dada’s drive :drive: …Hope dada will agree to my last min registration.. :thanks:Sorry GK for not turning up…stuck @ work… 🙁
quote Khalil_mtl:for those of you asking what is rule #1, well… “Never fight the gravity” 🙂Yes GK/Khalil i agree with u… 😀 😀 😉 😉
quote Khalil_mtl:Extreemly enjoyed it and that was my first drive with Ganesh as lead. Commandable Job :ymapplause: :ymapplause: … And this comes from the heart.Thanks a ton Khalil….It was my pleasure to lead the convoy with one of my Masters in support….. :ymhug: :ymhug: :ymhug:
Cheers buddy….
A wonderful drive with a wonderful thought of driving it reverse…. Have done plenty of drives from Khatam touching Fossil, Camel, Saddle, Pink, Iftar, Pyramids and Badayer…… but this was a beautiful treat from the great master in command G Kumar to the new Intermediateries along with some old ones and some more selected members….
A nice smile and happiness on our face to see one of our CMTérs Mr. Khalil back on sands after a short break…. Welcome back Sir…
Thanks Brian for the detailed report in the “Yound Man’s” style….I would just like to thank and comment on the participants who joined us today ….
Amin must have had his one of the best days of his life as he experienced the 2nd lead for the first time…. Theres no need to point out at any single person about his skills…….each and every driver in both the convoys were just brilliant…..Amazing drivers and what a great company to have to guys with us….Thanks guys..
Felt sorry for Khalil to leave the drive due to his sickness….. but I had one of the best days in my offroading life with Khalil supporting my convoy…
A very good support from all the drivers to allow me to keep the fast pace and I loved it….Thanks Amin, Rein and Brian…you guys did a FANTASTIC job… :ymapplause: :ymapplause: :ymapplause:
After we reached Saddle point, we decided that Kumar will lead the entire convoy together as Firoz too left us after Pink rock…..
I also got a chance to notice the skills of a couple of members….. Duncan was great with his Jeep, I have seen you earlier too doing extremely well in sands….
Famvilnes (Ole) was just brilliant with his FJ…. I had met him once in one of the newbee drives and this time when I saw him playing with ease with the high tall dunes, I was happy to find a good offroader in our club…… Well done Ole… :ymapplause: :ymapplause: :ymapplause:
Kumar guided us beautifully thru all the points on a reverse track and believe me, its entirely different to feel it….. Thanks Kumar for the wonderful lead during the second part and thanks to Thanseer SIR for the support all the 9 cars…
Overall a fantastic hot Friday morning with some amazing drivers in squad….. Thanks guys…. see you all soon for some other exiting drive…
Cheers 🙂
Enjoyed the drive very much…no stop…real superfast :drive:
Was in Kumar’s convey..following the two jeepers and FJ followed by invisible 😉 SIR at sweep. Real superfast train…Hats of to the lead and fellow team members…everyone had to concentrate hard to catch up… well done teammates :ymapplause: :ymapplause:
I was expecting some stops in between…but the train was so fast that, had to ask for a short break 😉 before crossing the road for the Phase two.
Sorry for not able to continue till the last leg; as Khalil said; just applied the rule # 2 😕 …plus some family commitments.
Look forward for next weekend for another super drive 😕
A great day to celebrate my 50th drive with DO :thanks:
Drive report…Well, all has been covered up in utmost details by Brian and Dada…very precise and all events narrated in detail.
I must say this has been one of the best drives I have had so far, a non stop, fast pace travelling approx 69 kms thru the sands with no breather breaks, but alas then I was forced to take a couple of short breaks due to motion sickness. Ganesh as usual did a fantastic job leading us thru a snake path. The second session lead by Kumar was just increased the ante. Truly a memorable drive.
Thanks to the DO TFT and Marshals Ganesh and Kumar for providing us with another fun filled and save drive. Thanks to all the participants for making this drive a fun and safe one.
I dont think I need to add anything on drive report front. Dada & Brian with detailed drive reports and mini reports by Amin, Khalil, Firoz and Rein covered the whole drive events.
Another great intermediate drive for DOs.. a new attempt of backtrack, fast paced rollercoaster drive covering all common landmarks. Awesome convoy and perfect execution :-BD :-BD :-BD Drive progressed phase by phase to finish at Khatam by 12pm as planned. :ymapplause: :ymapplause: :ymapplause: On a personal note, was quite happy and satisfied with the drive 🙂 A challenging and successful drive after a while 😀
Hope the recent intermediate upgrades had a good test of their new stars :-BD :-BD :-BD Two drive participants Famvilnes and Duncanfield cant cast their feedback here. If you two wish to post your drive report, please send me a PM and I will post on your behalf.
I was surprised to see few of the experienced drivers getting motion sick 😮 was it due to weather, temperature, drive pace, non-stop, drive track…..I dont have a clue 🙁
Everybody did a great job :ymapplause: :ymapplause: :ymapplause: Thank you all for joining this drive. Dada you rocked!!! \M/ \M/ \M/ 🙂 🙂 🙂
Thanks to the seniors, Thanseer & Khalil for their wonderful convoy control & support 🙂 :thanks: :thanks: :thanks:
Look forward for many more such exhilarating drives in future with you all :-BD 🙂
Happy for you Firoz to mark your half century in DO drives with a good drive 🙂
quote famvilnes::thanks: a lot GK for the best drive with DO so far 🙂 🙂Really appreciate that you took the chance and let me attend the intermediate trip 🙂
It was a really nice route we did with all kinds of dunes and crest’s and I was really surprised that the whole convoy was going so smooth 🙂
Was great driving with you guys 🙂 🙂
Great Job Kumar & Ganesh!!!
Good Job by all the participants!!!
Seems like everybody had a great time!!!
:ymapplause: :ymapplause: :ymapplause:
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