Afternoon drives

[Niki]

@AlexM when winter drives do start again and you have to wake at 5:30 to make the 7am meet point - you will feel spoilt with sleep  consider the summer as conditioning for making you appreciate the winter even more. 

My experience - even 2 hours sleep is better than 0 so don't sacrifice that small period of rest thinking it would be hard waking up.  The closing 1 hours of our drives are the usual periods where we find most of the refusals (when you are stuck but can self recover without leaving the car) or stuck (when you will need shovel/rope/winch/helicopter support).  The lack of concentration/tiredness is the usually cause and those 2 hours sleep could be the difference here. 

My other experience having had my first taste of summer drives with Carnity this year - waking at 3am (with limited sleep), returning home around 11am - I am struggling to function for the rest of the day.  I found myself exhausted by early afternoon and not much fun (too tired to play with kids etc) for the rest of the day.  I have had to take 2 weeks off driving recently.... WELL each of those 2 Fridays i felt an over-whelming sense of under-achievement.... I may have slept more but by 9am when the kids crawl out of bed - i was thinking.... i would be airing up by now.  By 10am when they have finished breakfast and finally awake, i was thinking if i don't wash the car, i would be home by now!  Basically its a pain, its a struggle to wake, it a struggle to function for the rest of the day HOWEVER it feels better being tired than feeling a sense of under achievement... so much so i have got myself back on the wagon and doing a Friday drive (family are complaining but i think i can manage that). 

 

 

[AlexM]

Thanks Niki for the insights, agree on all points. Just need to come to terms with waking up at 3am) Really want to start exploring and learning, waiting for the courage to RSVP to a drive and stick to it) Didn't know that we will have options of starting later in the morning come winter, but thats me being new to the club and the region. Anyway, hope to see all on the sand!

[Gregory]

Hi @AlexM

Just like you, I also don't really like getting up at 03h30 (even though I do it for for work) for an early morning drive. The idea of driving in the afternoon (now in summer) is different to the reality. The early morning temperatures are bearable, and one can exit by 9/10am (as @Frederic has mentioned) - having the whole day ahead of you even if you take a 2 hour nap after getting home and showering. I've found the afternoon (summer) drives tough on the car, and me.. due to the heat. I've also noticed some members are, shall we say, less patient 🤣

During Covid, we don't always actively participate in recoveries, meaning more stress and physical work for the marshals/leaders, which may not be fair, and take longer than if we were participating. This picture may look different in winter. 

Something which may likely be good for you are the summer night drives - normally starting at 9 pm or 10pm in summer, for 3 or 4 hours. A different experience, and much cooler. While not as common as morning or afternoon drives, they are an option. Sometimes a marshal may post a drive (depending on their availability) for the next day - which may start at 5pm until 7 pm for example, meaning you're still ok for work the next day. 

As others have said, personal preference. I had in my mind though that I would be doing afternoon drives most of the time when joining Carnity - after experience, my drives are either morning or night. Try different ones and decide for yourself! Welcome to the club. 

[Lakshmi Narasimhan]

On 7/5/2021 at 10:27 AM, Niki said:

will feel spoilt with sleep  consider the summer as conditioning for making you appreciate the winter even more

👍👍👍👍

On 7/5/2021 at 10:27 AM, Niki said:

those 2 hours sleep could be the difference here.

Totally agree, even if its power nap helps a lot in pushing ourself for 4-5 hours.

On 7/5/2021 at 10:27 AM, Niki said:

it feels better being tired than feeling a sense of under achievement

Lovely, cant be explained better

[Varun Mehndiratta]

On 7/4/2021 at 10:01 PM, AlexM said:

I guess it will be a bit of a change for me... I dig the idea of the morning drive, but waking up at 3am when you get to sleep at 1am is a bit of a challenge.. may as well don't sleep at all like the uni times before the exam. how do others manage? this goes back to the whole "larks vs owls" chronotype discussion, but it seems that the club caters for the morning birds. Happy to be proved wrong.

Hehehe can relate so well to the owls vs larks comparison...

Begining of April hated the idea of such early morning drive (purely due to challange of waking up),

Tried an afternoon one - hated it more - no one could even dare to try a recovery by shoveling and one pop out through the drive with a team member was enough to consume all energy, don't even ask about inflating and deflating experience ,

Then gathered courage to try a night drive - found them the worst (without i put in additonal lights i am not going to try it again) 

Since May being doing early morning ones, no parties on Thursday but it's worth it - the sight of early morning sun through the desert is really rejuvenating after a crazy week. And no complains from family as by 1pm i am done with my sleep and ready to be a chauffer/valet/buttler to family for their outings and my chores..😎 - i am still the self designated boss of my home and life (at least for 4 hrs in the desert) 😎😂😂

 

 

 

Now don't even need to put an alarm i am usually fast asleep on Thursday by 11 and up by 230pm..it's just too addictive. 

[Looper]

I hate hot weather I can’t bear it at all. Continuing with @varunmehndiratta’s post; summer drives made me invested in quite a few stuff.

Since I wanted to experience driving in the nights, I installed lights. But night drives drain you a lot. They take up so much energy and concentration, it’s ridiculous. Many might enjoy, but I personally like to limit my night drives to to early morning darkness or late evening darkness.

Since I had fast deflator valves, deflation was not a issue like he had but inflation was. It was exhausting to hold on to the inflators for each tire. After inquiring a bit bought a 4 tire inflator, which made the job easier.

Leaving the preparation issues sorted out, yes mornings are better time to drive than afternoon during Summer, for Sand in the afternoon is super soft and less experienced drivers see themselves having greater chance of facing refusals. Believe me, unless self recovered, digging sand or fixing pop outs in the afternoon is extremely unpleasant. Reason why I haven’t had many afternoon drives.

In the winter seasons all that I did was mostly afternoon drives. In winter, another reason to afternoon drives is not to be bothered with fog situations.

I wasn’t in town mid Feb till end March. In April tried everything a bit.