"I crashed, but I'm very pleased with the result..."

39:th of 140 starters, 101 finishers (one with a broken wrist).
2.328 km total, 1.810 km special stages.

Before going to Tunisia I worked as a motorcycleguide for MotoAventures in Morocco.
1 month of bikeriding, service and changing tyres. Immediately after this I went to Tunisia and there waited my Husaberg 600 which I had not ridden since Dubai.

31/3 Prologue in Nice Prologue didn't go very well, I felt uncomfortable, it was hard to swap from a Honda 400 to the bigger bike. Anyway, ended up starting as no.100. After the boattrip to Tunis ther was a 500 km transport to the first campsite. arrived late night in the rain, slept with riding gear on.

2/4 Day 1 in Tunisia: 240 km special
My tripmeter didn't work, soI had to go slower because I didn't want to navigate wrong. But I started passing some people further on and that made me feel better. Still I hadn't got used to the bike. 68th place that day, which was OK.

3/4 Day 2: 266 km special
Me and the bike were not friends, I over-shot corners and felt very "stiff" on the bike. Then i had a flat front tyre after 100 km, and I had no spare tube or tools. OK, so I continued the remaininh 160 km with the flat front, riding as carefully I could over the rocks.
Lost maybe 30-40 min that day, finished 72nd. Now I put mousse in the front, had it in the rear already.

4/4 Day 3: 280 km special
This was the DESERT day, only sand and dunes. But my day started very bad, my mechanic had gone for breakfast and my helmet was locked in the car, he had the key. I ended up 10 min late for start and got penalized. Started as no 95 or something. Had some catching up to do and was flying through the desert, falling off a couple of times, but no big ones. Was really enjoying myself and wasn't even tired at the end of the day. Finished 53rd which made me feel much happier.

5/4 Day 4: 326 special
Hardriding little dunes in the beginning and difficult navigation. Everyone were getting lost, and I thought I did too when I found myself totally alone in the dunes - only following the GPS and compass. And I turned back to find some other riders, when I met 2 others following me, so we continued my original heading... and guess what. Perfectly right on spot!! So I made up a lot of time there. Then there was very fast rocky section and I was flying here because I knew I was going to do very well this day. The bike was bouncing and jumping everywher, felt just like a flat tyre again. But now I had mousses so I just ignored it and continued. When I arrived to the bivouak Andrea Mayer was still on her bike... that meant I was not to far behind her :o). I also noticed my rear mousse was flat, it had melted. No wonder the bike was behaving bad. Result of the day, 34th (Andrea 31st).

6/4 Day 5: 269 km special
Little dunes in the morning, no problem. I was now riding with faster guys and I got an even better pace on the fast rocky section. Then came the BIG challenge, the WHITE dunes. Ultra soft white sand, no definition and absolutely unreliable to ride on, suddenly the bike would just sink into it. A bit tricky navigation and Imissed a checkpoint by 100 m without seeing it on the other side of a dune... When I realized (thank god I did) I had to go back and get my stamp. Lost maybe 20 minutes. After this some very fast dual sand tracks with whoopies and hidden rocks that made you fly bigtime. I did!
In the end dry lakebeds which meant full flat out riding. When I passed the finish Andrea Mayers service truck was still there... so she must have arrived not to far ahead. Another good day for me, I was 30th.

7/4 Day 6: 299 special
The most dangerous day. I started by missing a bridge and jumping out across the dry steep riverbed... I made it but fell off landing on the steep other side and ripped the front off the bike. Fixed it with tiewraps and continued after trialing up the rocky climb to the track again. Thought I better slow down so I'd survive the day. So I started "tour guiding" (as in Morocco) to pace down a bit. It worked fine, but still the deep ruts and holes in the track would almost get me... It was hard pacing down when I had been going so fast the days before.

I had survived the most dangerous part of winding mountainroads, off camber corners BIG ruts and wash-outs. The rally winning car SABY overtook me 8 km from the end and I got lazy and let him navigate, I mean he has a co-pilot. But, never trust someone else. He got lost! And when we found the right way we had lost several minutes which irritated me because I had a tight race with another swedish girl (Maria Sandell). I had to calibrate the trip and find my point in the roadbook which ofcourse made me unconcentrated.

And then it happened, coming off the tarmac onto the gravel, I hit a rock that made me go into the ditch hitting a very big rock! The bike and I flew up in the air and hit the ground hard. I smashed my wrist, shoulder, elbow and hip. The tank, saddle, brushguard, front and trip switch came off or broke. I could not lift the bike because my wrist hurt so bad, but another rider stopped and helped me. then i had to fix the loose parts, and fuel hoses to be able to continue. Lost another 15 minutes and i was waiting for maria to pass me. (Imagine what I sid to myself out there.. not very nice things). I managed to get everything together and ride to the finish.

Then there was another 130 km to the service and bed. the doctors said there was definitely something broken and I should come back for X-ray. But I fell asleep after having a shower and painkiller so I didn't get the X-ray. Luckily there was a girl that was an expert on taping snowboarders, so she did my wrist. Exellent, now I couldride again!! But it hurt as hell. The days result was 47th, and I was still ahead of my swedish competition...

8/4 Last Day 7: 100 km special
The shortest day, but a nightmare for broken wrists. The first section was nice winding forrest trails and I thought this was easy. But after 19 km we hit really soft and heavy sand, winding thrugh bushes, climbing up hills. I was not the only one falling here, even Meoni and Sainct did. But I did it maybe 20 times.
I had absolutely no strength in my right hand and therfoer the bike took me off track and spit me off all the time. i could not use the throttle, brake ocr push the bike in the corners... then its hard to ride. Add a little pain on top of that. For a moment I thought I was giving up, but NO. I had done 6 days, and done them well. i refused to stop here 75 km from the finish. So I continued, determinated to beat that last big sandy climb from the beach. And there it was, the finishline! I made it! Lost a lot of time, I was 94th, but I finished. That's all that matters. Overall I finished 39th and I was very happy.