One of my favourite things about racing motorbikes is that there are so many ways to do it. I?ve been lucky enough to have a go at quite a few of them, and I like them all. But I think I?ve got a new favourite. It‘s a test of riding skill, endurance, navigation as well as how good you are at looking after your bike. It is motorcycle rally racing, and I fell in love with it in Andalucía a few weeks ago.

It?s safe to say that my debut rally didn?t go to plan. Fagan and I, as well as Ant and Gwion, our Dakar Rally teammates all headed to Spain to compete in the Andalucía Rally as part of the qualifying process for the Dakar Rally. The plan was to get to the end of this one unscathed, to cement our entry for the main event in 2022. Unfortunately, for me that didn?t happen, all thanks to an engine failure on day one. But I?ll tell you what did happen? I got the bug.
What is it"

That doesn’t mean I caught a tummy bug and had diarrhoea all week (that?s what the Spanish tap water?s for). I mean I caught the rally raid bug. In a nutshell, a motorbike rally is a bit like an off-road enduro, but instead of doing multiple laps round a long circuit, you ride from point A to point B. And instead of the course being closed off and well-marked, you have to navigate your way through the course using a ?road book?; which is a long list of instructions, diagrams and compass headings that you mount to the front of your bike.

It doesn?t sound that hard, do...