Morning Newbie Desert Drive - Lahbab: In The Locals' Den - Dubai - 31 Dec 2021

[Ale Vallecchi]

14 minutes ago, Emanuel said:

@Ale Vallecchi looking pretty wet here Dubai at the moment. Please confirm if we'll be driving this morning. 

From the attached screen cap of from National Meteorology Center looks like Lahbab is included in this zone.

Yes @Emanuel. We will drive. No worries. 

[Emanuel]

@Ale Vallecchi thank you for the confirmation. See you soon.

[Markus B]

Thank you Ale and the other supports for the great drive!

This morning i considered not showing up because of the rain (i have my hardtop off and nobody to help me to put it back on) but i am glad i joined, it was good fun!

[Nathan]

As always, a great drive! @Ale Vallecchi thanks for guiding us on a brilliant and interesting route. Enough technical to pushing the learning, whilst also being easy enough to keep up with. plus we missed the rain at the end! 
 

great drive everyone, thanks again 

[Emanuel]

Thank you @Ale Vallecchi and @Russ for an enjoyable drive today. Like most of us probably, I also had a wadi in the streets of Dubai to play in for a bit while on my way home.

[Russ]

A great last drive of 2021 @Ale Vallecchi!

A rainy start to our morning left the sand very soft underneath and churned up as the convoy went through, and although the ropes and shovels did make a few appearances - mainly due to moments of hesitation - overall there was a brisk pace and we covered good ground in a fantastic area.

Well done, good driving and Happy New Year  @Jose Thomas @Azeem M @Quresh Motiwala @Emanuel @Rajat Verma @ASAD. @Nathan @JERINE_B @Justin Ng @Tareq Al Turq @Markus B @Mo. @Karthik Raptor @Mark D

PS - Some pics in the gallery 📸

[Mark D]

A great drive to end the year!

Thanks to @Ale Vallecchi for leading an awesome drive and to @Russ for his recoveries. 
And of course to @Nathan for taking the centre role and relaying communications and his own advice to the rear end of a very long convoy!

Some great technical dunes at the end of the drive, that were nicely churned up by the first 13 vehicles, leaving the Raptors of myself, @Karthik Raptorand @Russto plough through!

Have a great new year all, and I look forward to driving with you in 2022!

[ASAD.]

thanks a lot @Ale Vallecchi , @Russ and everyone else for making a memorable drive. Wish you all and your families a very happy new year and hope to you see you in the sands soon. 

[Rajat Verma]

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year.

And thanks to @Ale Vallecchi (leading to great technical dunes) @Nathan (pushing the large convoy) & @Russ (Pulling the people around) and making the last drive of 2021 a great one.

Looking forward to many more in 2022.

[Ale Vallecchi]

Lahbab to Lisaili: The Local's Den - Drive Report

"If you will find all your roads and paths blocked, he will show you a secret way that no one knows" - Rumi 😉

Dear Desertnauts,

those who have driven with me before know that I like to quote from Rumi (occasionally from Shams Tabrizi) to describe the nature of the drive. This time the quote is meant as a pun, referring to the bit of struggle and re-routing we had to endure while crossing the technical area along our track, adjacent to the gas line, as well as the curvy paths we took to cross the long range dunes on the 2 plateaus we passed (one closer to Margham, the other just before the exit).

I hope it was fun for the convoy as it was fun for me to lead into the tight dunes: everybody drove well, in such long convoy, and on sand already bearing the signs of the rains from the day before. 

The itinerary is apparently an easy one, yet the terrain offers areas of technical dunes, alternating with areas of long range dunes, the crossing of which we managed by staying high on the slopes, as close to, or often on top of, the ridges, thankfully made a bit more firm by the recent rains. It turned out to be a small training on ridge riding, albeit on the flatter dunes, which are always available for an easier crossing, if one is willing to patiently look for them.

All drivers did great, especially knowing that this was an Almost Absolute Newbie convoy, with @Emanuel, @Rajat Verma and @Karthik Raptor out for their first actual Newbie drive, and @Quresh Motiwala, @ASAD., @JERINE_B, @Justin Ng, @Tareq Al Turq, @Markus B and @Mo. with only 1 Newbie drive under their belts. Well done also for the more senior Newbies, @Jose Thomas (with a excellent Second Lead), @Azeem M, @Nathan (assisting from the center of the convoy), and @Mark D at the back. Impeccable support, with just enough tugs, and a lot of good advice on self-recoveries, from @Russ. 

In the end, the drive covered 44.8 Km, driven in a total of 3:23 hours (1:53 of which while moving), at an average moving speed of 24 Km/h (13 Km/h total).

Thanks to all for joining, and see you soon out there.