competition
Rest Day (is it ???)
ENGLISH
The past days have been tough. The first stages were rather easy, but 5 and 6 were really challenging. The sixth was the same as last year where I almost fell in that deep tomb. This year the competitors got warned about it in our briefing.
My riding strategy has been successful. I started easy, but after I got a good rythm I could ride faster at the end of the stage. Many other contentants lost strength by then making mistakes too, but I still got energy and kept my focus – overtaking several riders, thus improving my standings.
Now I feel just great! I got muscle relaxants and painkillers yesterday and today to avoid seizures.
Photo: Annie and a mechanic
Restday means sleep-in, on the race days we started very early in the mornings. But there is quite a lot of work. All service on the bike – fix the fork, new chain and sprocket, tires, oil and filters. I will have a new engine as that fesh-fesh gets everywhere inside, which might cause a major engine failure. That i sure don’t want to happen during the remaining race days!
And a lot of planning and organaizing for the second week of dakar rally. Also i must find a laundry place in the city…
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Interview Annie during the rest day: contact Marie Hessel phone +46 763 18 88 22. Chile time -4h compared with Europe.
Photo: Annie and fellow bikers making marks in the roadbooks.
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SVENSKA
Det har varit tufft de senaste dagarna. De första etapperna var ganska lätta, men sträckorna 5 och 6 blev det allvar! Sexan var samma som förra året, där jag var nära att köra ner i det djupa schaktet. I år blev förarna varnade för det i den gemensamma genomgången!
Min körstrategi har visat sig lyckosam. Jag tog det lugnt i början av etapperna men när jag hittat rätt rytm kunde jag gasa på i slutet av sträckorna. Många andra förare började tappa orken då och gjorde misstag, men jag hade styrkan kvar och körde om flera, vilket gav allt bättre placeringar.
Nu känns det bara toppen! Jag fick muskelavslappnande och smärtstillande medel igår och idag för att undvika kramper.
Vilodag betyder sovmorgon, under tävlingsdagarna har vi ju gått upp mycket tidigt. Men det finns också mycket jobb. All service på hojen – fixa gaffeln, ny kedja och drev, däck, olja och filter. Ska byta motor, eftersom fesh-feshen täpper till varje vrå och det innebär risk för haveri. Det vill jag ju slippa under resten av rallyt!
Därtill planera och ordna för den andra veckan av dakarrallyt. Och så måste jag hitta ett tvätteri på stan…
S6. Leading lady!
ENGLISH
-It was a really tough stage in the desert today, I was longing to reach the end of the stage and pass the finishing line. Of course I feel good about increasing the gap between me and my competitors, but it only takes a small error to loose that advantage, thats the way the Dakar works, Annie Seel says. So far navigation has worked like a clock, and that is a benefit out in the desert.
-I will enjoy myself tomorrow in Arica, and rest my hurting back.
Then we start again on Sunday. I will ride safe and not take any chances, taking one day at a time. My goal was to defend my title, and thats what I intend to do.
Position 38 in total.
Photo: Checking news and results
SVENSKA
– Längtade till målgången, det var en riktigt hård dag i öknen. Känns såklart skönt att ha utökat minutrarna till Laia, men det krävs bara ett endaste litet misstag, en navigationsmiss eller ett problem med motorcykeln så har man tappat försprånget, så fungerar det i Dakar, säger Annie Seel. Hittills har jag träffat alla waypoints rätt, och navigationen har fungerat perfekt.
– Ska bli jätte skönt, fick en rejäl sträckning i ryggen som störde, och nu får jag ta igen mig. Sen är det som vanligt, att ta en dag i taget säger Annie Seel. Och jag kommer inte ta några risker, som jag kanske har gjort tidigare år, nu är det säker körning som gäller för att säkra titeln ytterligare en gång.
Photo: Iquique finishing area
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Video from the start in Buenos Aires, sent by a fan José Oviedo on Facebook. 6 seconds worth gold!
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1648740930660&oid=93236292126&comments&ref=mf
Facebook Log-in needed!
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Pressreleases
Swedish Pressroom, updates: Kontinuerlig Svensk pressinfo
2011-01-07 “Annie Leading Lady”: English • Français • Español
Video Australasian Safari 2010
Great event. Here is a great video from Transmoto.
Admin and Scrutineering
Everything is always hectic before the start. From the tech scrutineering in le havre my exhaust was to noicy, so i had to order en new silencer from KTM and bring it to Buenos Aires. Befor tech control her I had to pass admin control and get all the stamps in the control bookelt when passing all checks for documents etc. i was all ok until i had to show my racing license… where had i put it. i had it in my racing folder before at home in sweden and now it was gone. track back in my mind… oh no, i forgot it in the scanner at home because i scanned it as back up on to a usb stick, and then forgot the original in the scanner. disaster, because no license = no start! luckily my sister could go to myplace and send it from my computer to my hotmail, and then i could show my mail to the licens controllant…
after this i had to pass the exhaust check. the new silencer was within the new regulation of 96 db and was mounted with an extra “pacifier plug” to make it even more silent. downside on the plug was that the engine felt very tired. so i took the chance of running it without the plug and test if i could pass – and i did. so now i have the right sound and right power!
after this i parked the bike in the “parc ferme” outside in the big “Dakar City” festival area. big crouds of 80.000 meeting and greeting as i passed on the bike.
in the evening i was invited to the KTM pressmeeting with the official factory team, all superstars Cyril Despres, Marc Coma, Jordi Villaoms and Alain Duclos. And me! We answered questions from newspapers and mingled with guests. I felt proud to be invited to this event.
on friday we have the riders briefing at 11, and at 16 the ceremonial start at the podium will take place. Annie
Annie Seel - Rally Princess of Dakar 