Experience from the Roadbook Rally: At first, you might “miss the mark,” but later, you’ll be riding smoothly through the forest!
“Why are you going to race with a motorcycle?” my newly five-year-old daughter asked on Friday afternoon as I tried to pack and find all my motorcycle gear that had been unused for two years. “Good question,” I had to admit. “Probably to feel alive, to challenge myself, to shake off the home routine a bit,” I continued, but I kept pondering it for a long time.
Story by Maria Karumets, photos by Eva Koger, Tuljo Martin, and Maria Karumets, event report from Estonia
Indeed, why? Why go racing on a motorcycle? Besides, I hadn’t ridden a single meter on a bike since my last baby, almost two years ago. The newly purchased Yamaha WR250F was waiting for me on the trailer, and I had no idea how we would get along. Honestly, it would be much easier to stay at home, clean, tend to the garden, and do all those endless tasks that always need doing. But no! That’s not life! Life is about shaking yourself out of your comfort zone and feeling truly alive!
The goal was to reach the shore of Lake Võrtsjärv in Estonia by five o’clock on Friday, where the first stage of this season’s roadbook rally series, Tour de Võrts, was taking place. We hadn’t had time to prepare the bike or ourselves. At least we managed to attach a phone holder in a hurry. In fact, I hadn’t even thought of participating and had planned to just watch the event over the weekend and then head to Põlva for a motocross event where my partner was supposed to race with a sidecar. However, Põlva was off the table for us because the sidecar passenger had not yet fully recovered from surgery. So, we quickly revised our plans, and I decided to compete myself! I had no clue about road books or anything, but luckily, the 37-kilometer prologue on Friday evening was meant to get the hang of it.
I started the evening stage at 18:13. To participate; I needed to mount my phone on the handlebars and download a special roadbook rally reader app, where the route instructions keep rolling. I received a quick, roughly one-minute training, but I still missed some information on how to use the app.
I set off from the start – the first instruction indicated to keep left after 850 meters, then left at the intersection after 150 meters. After 340 meters, turn right off the road, then a right turn after 300 meters, a left turn after another 300 meters, and turn onto a small forest path after 240 meters. Somewhere around here, I got completely confused, as the forest path didn’t seem to match the roadbook instructions. I started doubting myself and turned around to start again from the intersection where I turned off the main road.
