The day before the rally (well, technically 2 days) are dedicated to tech inspection (scrutineering) of the vehicles. The competitors must mount and attach the roadbook, install Stella safety computer loaned from the organizers and are required to show that the is fit to race.
Affixing the Stella (the purple gadget in the below photo) was fairly straightforward. Riders needed to provide power (which was supplied though the SAE connector) and mount the two antennas on the bike. Minor complication was that I managed to reverse the polarity of my power lead (which I found out when mounting the Roadbook back home), so I had to re-wire the connection backwards. The final connection (data cables to the antennas) was done by a member of the Anube Team, so the device was 100% verified to be functional.
Tech inspection was relatively laid-back. The steward checked my helmet and verified the functionality of the brake light. Final checkmark was for having installed the numbers, which were comically too big for most bikes and as a result had to be cut down. The rest of the time (while waiting in line) was spent picking out interesting characters in the crowd and making friends with Jimmy Lewis and Matt Sutherland.
My team-member Miguel had a small electrical issue where his ICO trip meters lost power due to a bad connection. After fiddling trying to replace the 3-prong connector that managed switched power to the devices we gave up and Miguel used the old-fashioned method of splicing the wires together to fix the problem.
Now it was time to get on the bikes and do a test-run of the practice course! NORRA created a 60km practice roadbook to use as a pre-run for competitors new to Roadbook Navigation. Miguel and I ran through the first 25KMs and feeling that we got the general idea decided to turn back to head into the hotel. It really was time for the pool (at least a quick dip before the mandatory +2h riders meeting!
Tomorrow, we start at 6AM (receiving the roadbooks at 5AM… Let’s GO!
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