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Experiencing red mist during the Kalahari Rally
Season 5: Destination Unknown
15 October 2021Red mist. I had never heard of this term but definitely experienced it when I entered the Kalahari Rally 2021 in South Africa.
It all started with an accidental meet-up with James Alexander in the Botswana bush (Episode 71). His fascinating stories about Dakar and me pushing myself to ride faster with James and his friends, sparked a new interest in riding a rally myself one day. Well, honestly the day after I had met them I already started researching where and when the next rally would be that I could participate in.
First time Kalahari Rally
Soon I found out that the Kalahari rally in South Africa was only one month away and I could still enter it. I soon found out that this rally is a large, professional rally. The Kalahari Rally is in fact an official Dakar qualifying rally and it received the ‘road to Dakar’ status. The winner of the Kalahari Rally wins a free ticket to the Dakar rally. A serious prize for a serious rally. You can imagine that I was a bit intimidated by all this as a rally new-bee.
But it didn’t stop me, and I registered myself for the Kalahari Rally! As I was still in Zimbabwe, I sped up my travels and pretty much raced back to South Africa so I could prepare myself for this new experience as well as I could.
When I arrived at the first bivouac in Mafikeng, South Africa, I felt even more intimidated. There were all these professionals with their big support trucks setting up camp. I was very happy I came with a van, and my own support team: my good friend Mandy. She would help me with all the logistics and the filming. We set up camp together and pretended that we belonged here, had done this many times before, and knew exactly what on earth was going on in this busy bustling bivouac.
My goal for my first rally
I had entered the rally in the Adventure Category, which meant that I would not be competing for any of the prices. Besides that I had zero experience with roadbook navigation and didn’t have a navigation tower set up on my bike, I didn’t want to either. All I wanted was to get a taste of what a cross country rally would be like and to see if I liked it enough to do more rallies in the future.
Entering in the Adventure Raid category meant I was navigating with GPS, something that I am used to! ’I have nothing to prove here’, I told myself the day before the first stage. My goal was not to end up in a hospital, so I was going to take it easy and just try to finish the rally. No crazy racing, just slow and steady riding.
Guess how long I stuck to that goal? Yep, not long!
Experiencing Red Mist for the first time
The first stage, called the Super Special, was 100 kilometers long and went through an area close to our camp at Mafikeng. The results of this stage determined the starting position of the competitors for Stage 1. Somehow, as soon as the guided safety convoy ended and the race was on, all my good intentions for that day went out of the window.
Every rider in front of me turned into a strong magnet that I had to try to get closer and closer to. Every rider behind me turned into some sort of predator that I desperately tried to stay in front of. There I was on my little CRF250L, riding faster than I had ever ridden before. I was drifting through the sand in sharp corners and flying over the tracks.
I had forgotten all I had agreed to with myself before the actual rally started. I even didn’t want to stop to turn on or off the cameras as I had planned to do so. I just wanted to ride the best I could, the fastest I could, and truly compete with the other riders.
With the spectators lining up alongside the trail, seeing other riders, buggies, and race cars doing their thing, it all made me feel like I was in the middle of a race. I was riding on a massive adrenaline rush that started at the beginning of the stage and lasted until a few hours after the race. It made me feel so incredibly alive, it’s hard to describe. For the first time since I started riding a motorcycle, I understood the feeling that riders get when they race. And why they keep on coming back for more.
Photo: Rallymaniacs - Marcel Vermeij Pushing my boundaries
Later, during the other stages, I found out I could even ride faster. Blast through thick sand and ride those technical dune sections I didn’t even know you could do on a 250cc motorcycle. I still wonder how my riding would have evolved if the rally had 10 or more stages.
Of course, the red mist appeared in front of my eyes at every stage. Even though the Adventure Category officially wasn’t timed and therefore not considered a real race, it was a race to me. Why else would I come here to the Kalahari Rally if it wasn’t a race? So I treated every stage like a race and made goals for myself at what position I was trying to finish that day. Top 5, Top 3, or even arriving as the first rider. Just to set a goal and push me through the inevitable fatigue to get there.
I realized that if I want to become a better rider, this is the way I should do it. Riding outside of my comfort zone, finding my own limits, and push just a little beyond that. Probably not everyone will understand this. Some consider riding a motorcycle around the world exciting enough. Which of course for some is! But I have been doing that for several years now, and am ready for a new challenge. That is who I am, I take calculated risks on a daily basis and I thrive on that. I do this to feel alive, to grow, and to live my passion every single day.
Experiencing the red mist has learned me many things about myself, my competitiveness, and my riding skills. I would not have wanted to miss it for anything in the world. When is the next rally??
Your reply
Yes I did the same when I bought a motocross we in about 1975, was not going to race just ride my bike on weekends 6 months later entered my first race, was bitten by the race bug carried on for many years met a lot of good people all are still my friends enjoy the experience!
Recklesseric59
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Noraly, you are fantastic !!
But be careful, that you are also a little crazy !!!
:-) :-) :-)
Mauro Transalp650
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Noraly, this is a very well written blog. You have captured your thoughts in a way all can understand.
Scratcher
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Hi Noraly, They say the path of life is layed out before you, and you will do what you think is right, and I'm sure you will just do that. Jumping on a bigger bike like a KTM is a different kettle of fish, and lots of practice is needed. I'm sure you already know this. Take care and ride safe.
Les moore
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Watching the last video it didn't take long to realise the "red mist" had kicked in. Your speed is scary even from my armchair in Derbyshire England. I think I'll stick to my leisurely rides in the Peak district on my Triumph T120. hahaha. Keep up the fantastic video. xx
Dave Marriott
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Hi Noraly,
The Red Mist you mention is addictive. There's been many a crash and burn because of the high it brings. Having said that, part of the joy of it all is keeping control, letting the red mist seep out in a controlled manner. It can be your super-power under the right conditions.
Also, check out Charlie Boorman's Road To Dakar. Very inspiring. Have fun.
markincornwall
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and we are so happy to have you here with us in Southern Africa for the past few months
you show the world that responsible biking is a lifestyle, a world-view, a place of belonging, and so much more
be safe out there - Q (ThinkBike Marshals)
Quinton
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Ever since you popped up on my YouTube feeds with Basanti, I have been hooked.
What you have done, what you are doing and I hope what you continue to do has been nothing short of amazing. Unlike most people who just live day to day, your passion for living and challenging yourself is a gift.
Jay Zed
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That was soooo good. Took me back to my racing days and doing almost the same as Recklesseric59 except I am still 'Recklessjim1946!'. if you have it in you, the 'Red Mist' comes into play quite often for sometimes no reason at all. After all those km. you have ridden off the tarmac it is not suprising that you 'suprised ' yourself, we could all see your level of riding getting better especially if we re-watch those early days videos. You probably will take a tumble at some point, but dust yourself off, have a little rest then get back on. Most of all, STAY SAFE!!!!
Jim Payne
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Dear Noraly,
what I have to say will probably earn me your boot up my sternum, but here I go anyway, I need to get out off my comfort zone as well 🤪:
That red mist you talk about makes comfort zones entirely irrelevant, it shifts them to where you are comfortably taking potentially deadly risks. This is why I am slightly tired of hearing people I like so much (Besides you I have Vanessa Ruck on my mind there) talk about comfort zones so often as if they were a bad thing. There may be a difference in interpretation, I don't read comfort zones as being the couch, but situations one feels on top of. If not in control of the situation, then aware that one has the means and skills to cope with eventualities.
Red mist is nothing but a colloquial term for a flight-and-fight modus. Physically, it's panic mode, mentally it's being focussed and awake and present. It's what nature invented to enable our likes to fight off lions with sticks and stones. Thing is, evolution has it that the survival of the *species* is helped by that, not necessarily the fighting individual's.
You are a highly educated intelligent person, you have degrees in natural sciences and are ever interested in those topics, I am sure I told you no news there. Knowing that you know all this, I can only say that I hope you will sit back over a good cup of tea and, when the red mist has settled for a few weeks, reconsider with a calm mind what situations you went into there and if you would have been able to cope with, let's say 90% of eventualities you could imagine there. Let your fantasy scare you…
Broken bones heal, severed nerves down your spinal cord most of the time don't. I lost my father to an accident and a few months after you were born, I got my paralysed mum back from a hospital (Not related to dad's accident). I saw many other people who were in similar peril in jobs I worked in. I know you want to keep your blogs and videos and life focussed on the positive sides of things, but here you are tempering with the dark abyss that comes right next to them. And Dear, did I see much of that abyss, delivering supplies to nursing homes, I wish I could get rid of the images that fuelled my nightmares for ten years now! I dread the image of you having to live out a life in a place like that after a split second on a rally went beyond your red-mist-shifted comfort zone and luck and means to save it.
Please, Dear Noraly, get rid of that red mist-feeling before it tricks you into situations that ruin everything.
It is a drug.
You may get away with riding the red mist for years unharmed. It may get you on the first corner just the same, though. Your mind always has to stay ahead of things. From my aviation background I know the proverb "There are many old pilots and there are many bold pilots, but there are very few old bold pilots!"
Motorsports and a wild adrenaline rushes just don't match. Your adrenaline rushes are made to make the most out of one human's power. In motorsports, you deal with the strength of hundreds of horses!
It took all of the universe's time and wonders to make the humans that made you, thus to make you. It took so, so much to make that one wonderful you, the superbly smart, kind-hearted adventurous lovely lady that just like that bedazzled hundreds of thousands of people with the story of her journey and all the almost accidental education you give.
Don't risk to waste it on a hype of your own body's mind expanding drugs.
You are a treasure. Please don't waste that treasure. Time will do that way too soon anyway.
Lots of love,
Jürgen
…who now turns around an bends over, expecting the boot. 🥴
Zweispurmopped
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