Mad dash!

What a mad past few weeks! I´ve been really busy and a lot of stuff has been happening. The training focus has changed towards physical training, since a injury following a crash at this point of the project could prove the end of the dream. I´ve tried to train hard, but my back has not taken the training too well, I´ve suffered from back problems and have been forced to ease off and focus on recovery. Also to sort this out I´ve been doing considerably more strecthing and taking massages, which seems to help.

Preparationwise I´ve also planned and packed the four 60l boxes allowed on the service truck and made packing list over all the stuff in the boxes. The list is mainly for the customs that will check all the stuff, before crossing the borders between Argentina, Chile and Bolivia.

The bike finally arrived to Motopalvelu Niemitalo in the beginnig of this month, which meant I relly had to scramble to get it ready for the boarding in LeHavre, France. The bike prepping was done in the proffesional hands of Timo Virtanen and Mika Sironen of RacePros, and the cool sticker set was applied by MF-Mainos. The time constrictions meant I was hardly able to test the bike at all and getting the paperwork regarding the bike sorted out, proved to be a big challenge.

With the bike already on it´s way to France, I struggled to get the problem sorted out, and despite help from many of my friends, relatives, colleagues and sponsors, it looked like the bike would not be accepted onboard the boat to Argentina and my participation was seriously endagered. Only 48 hrs before the bike was to board the ship bound for Buenos Aires, Daniel Trauner of KTM Motorsport came to my rescue, and fixed the problem, and I would like to present my gratitude to both Mr Trauner and KTM Motorsport for saving my race, as well as all others that went to great lengths to help me. It is really inspiring to see that so many are excited about my participation.

Now that the bike and boxes are safely onboard the ship, I can relax and focus on finalizing my training and focus on the racing aspects. Check out the bike pics below , it rides really well and looks cool too, I think!

Cheers,
Ralf