Dakar bike crashes into tomb, rescued by helicopter
Swedish Dakar competitor Annie Seel got a nasty surprise when she veered off course on her KTM and suddenly found herself riding into a 16-foot deep vertical tomb. We'll let her describe it, "The track split around some ruins, and joined again after. To avoid dust I cut from right track over to the left, across a small rise. Behind the rise a 5m deep tomb opened, 2x3 wide. I rode to slow to jump and to fast to stop. Put brakes on, slide bike to the left and abandon ship. I managed to jump to the left edge while bike tumbled down. I am lucky not to go down cause the walls were impossible to climb." "Stopped some riders to call for help. A helicopter came and I climbed down with a thin rope to check bike, it was ok. We tried to pull the bike, but no. They said I must wait for the organisation truck to come and help. Took a while but then Mr Etienne Lavigne, race director, arrived in a helicopter instead. Like a true hero he climbed down with a rope, tied my bike with the real tie roses, and instructed the pilot how to lift it. Now I could continue the race, saved by the angel from above. Only suffering from painful swollen hand and aching foot."
via TheDakar.Blogspot.com
Wes Siler. January 14, 2010 — Permalink
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Impressive that she ditched the bike before she fell in the tomb and that she continued on with the race.
Wow, I am really impressed. Even though Dakar is not in Africa any more, it still is very, very dangerous.
Also, kudos to the race director. That is awesome.
Were they lacking content for their blog? I know! Let's say your bike fell in a pit, no wait, a tomb. Yes! A tomb that no human could climb out of. And then, the safety truck comes to rescue you...no...how 'bout the race director! He swoops in on a helicopter and saves the day! Overzealous bloggers will re-post the heck out of this! (C'mon, man! Who's buying this?)
you think they threw a bike down a pit and then helicoptered it out for a blog story?
seems pretty elaborate for something that nets them about nothing.
only question i have is why her helmet is in the hole?
"A helicopter came and I climbed down with a thin rope to check bike, it was ok"
Wearing a helmet when climbing down a helicopter ladder into a tomb is !00% proper protocol.
Believe it or not, been there, done that.
Didn't have a heli to get the bike out, though. Had to do it with manpower.
She's lucky she didn't go down with the bike.
Carry on....
On a slightly unrelated note, has anybody else noticed the affliction ad on the right? The one place I thought I was safe from that crap, totally just got tainted.
Sean,
Get Firefox and install the Ad Block Plus plug-in. I don't see ads or popups any more.
Buh-bye ads!
Amazing story either way. Wish we had a crazy endurance race through Brooklyn. With tombs. Indiana meets bedstuy!
If you ride the Dakar you´re not going to willingly push your bike down a hole just to get som publicity for a blog.
I think I'll do damn near anything to stop Affliction from appearing on my screen.
Thanks for the tip. :D
They should require all race riders to wear a helmet cam, exactly for moments like this....
I wonder if she found any long-abandoned carcasses of Buell Blasts buried in the bottom of that tomb.
Annie placed the helmet on the edge of the tomb as a warning for other riders. But when the helicopter landed its strong current of air made the helmet roll down!
You are not the only one asking this (I did too and some more people)!
Well I must say, it's about time I found a decent site with good info on what I was looking for. Great job on the site and the post. Thanks