The 43rd edition of the Dakar Rally is underway in Saudi Arabia. We?ll be sharing daily updates from our friends at WESTx1000. Stay tuned. 
Begin Press Release: 

SS7 Marathon Stage: Waiting to Exhale
A Marathon: the Fast Way to Weed Out the Weak from the Winners

The problem with a break is it cuts the adrenaline. The mind relaxes, revisiting old worries to dwell on causing a loss of focus on the race, and the week ahead. The body also cools, remembering what rest feels like and what it?s been missing all this time. So finally, when the normal amount of sleep is allowed, and the perpetual motion grinds to a halt, it almost weakens you. If you only know pain, then you accept it. If you know what the opposite is like, then you, consciously or unconsciously, strive for it ? making pain all the more noticeable. As the race ventured into the following week, and with new terrain towards Sakaka waiting to be imprinted by treaded rubber stamps, rain welcomed everyone down the liaison. A quick reminder not to become too content at Dakar. The weather didn?t let up as pilots rolled across the DSS, unrelenting until the cold permeated the skin, and keeping the dunes ahead wet, moldable, precarious.
BAS DAKAR KTM rider Skyler Howes (#9) found the deep, sharp grooves ? created by each pass of a vehicle ? volatile, catching front wheels and throwing riders any which direction it chooses. Which is typically not the direction they?re intending to go. This area slowed many vessels down,...