Javier Lucero

Sorry guys. Need to pull out. Thanks 

Good afternoon all. Hope you’re alright. Do you think we’ll be rolling tomorrow? I haven’t seen rain around here but just wanted to check if anything has been heard about that area. Thanks. 

Good evening. Hope all is well. What’s the meeting location for the drive? Thanks. Not finding the link in the description. 

Hey fellas. My temperature gauge is blinking. Not sure what’s going on. Temperature seems normal. Engine a little rough though. Going to have to get this sorted so I’m out for this drive. Sorry. Be safe. 

19 hours ago, Lorenzo Candelpergher said:

DRIVE REPORT 

Dear Desert Wanderers, 

I guess this was one of those drives that will be remembered by all those who attended it for some time. 

After many drives in known areas, today we had a chance to explore a new territory, an absolute novelty for @Carnity drives, and it was certainly a challenging but rewarding experience for us all.

Al Bataeh area, believed for long time inaccessible due to the extensive fencing visible from the nearby roads, is - in fact - a hidden gem, offering a very challenging terrain with beautiful views on irregular an complex terraced dunes, with sudden passages from high grounds to low grounds gifting a great travel experience. 

We started quite on time, making our entry in the desert from the Ibn Rasheed roundabout at 5:25am. 

After crossing a rather flat area with small dunes and some occasional rock formations, we moved past the farms, drove along some long ridges and entered the first technical area of the drive. It was a amazing terrain, with some long east/west ridges mixed with some very irregular dune complexes, characterised by multiple terraced layers, with totally virgin sand, looking incredibly appealing for our a climbing attempts. 

The significant technical level of the drive became very soon evident as we started collecting refusals and stucks one after the other, especially at the back, where the big trucks had to fight through very churned sand: @Ale Vallecchi's drive, after just a few mins, was clearly going to be all about managing such situation, while I had the luxury, at the front, of a couple more breaks than usual allowing me to take a few nice photos. 

As we slowly made our way north, the convoy progressively came to terms with the terrain, which was however extremely technical with lots of complex passages and unpredictable soft patches. 

As @Ale Vallecchi commented, today's drive felt in many way an exploration adventure: we really had to find out way though a totally virgin and absolutely not obvious to read terrain, where we never met a single track of any other car. 

@Arman was a great second lead, always careful and responsive to my last second rerouting and careful at stopping early enough when I had a refusal (and I had quite a few today). 

@imranaasghar81 and @Abdul Rahman AK at their first intermediate drive, were both "tempered" by today's thrilling drive, demanded to get to the very best out of their driving capabilities, which they both brilliantly exhibited..

@Gok Krish, after the last mid-week prep session in Little Sweithan drive, again showed a brilliant performance, including his ever first tug recovery helping @Rizwan Waheed out of a crested situation. His flashing brand new green shackles and rope finally got some satisfaction. 

@Niki, based on a few chats exchanged during occasional breaks, greatly enjoyed the explorative nature of the drive, discovering the new landscape as it materialised after each tricky climbing passage. 

@Javier Lucero led his JK flawlessly, certainly appreciative of his car's great capabilities, especially in this beautiful but deceiving terrain. 

@Rizwan Waheed had a hard time today, driving constantly in churned sand, quite at the back of the convoy, worsened by an apparently leaking valve (best to have it checked). A few stucks and refusals, (including a tug from @Dodi Syahdar quite early in the drive) where to be expected and are only the demonstration that the ride was all but an easy one today. 

@Dodi Syahdar has frequently joined my drives recently, and I am quite sure he found today's drive among the most challenging ones, adding new experience and polishing his driving skills further. 

I often found myself wondering, while leading through some nasty passages, whether I was demanding too much from the poor guys driving those giant trucks at the back, but to my relief they all did well, including @Rob H and @Shehab Alawadhi who both made it across the worst patches of soft sand and the tightest maneuvering spots. 

@Ale Vallecchi was the hero of the day: with so many stucks and refusals he was all over the place, helping everyone out and fighting himself trhough soft and churned up sand. He certainly deserves a special mention today as he managed an endless number of situations. 

Once we reached sufficiently up north, we crossed the sabkha and started the 2nd stint of the drive, by far the most spectacular and emotional one for the day. Our route took us south again via the higher grounds on the west side of the sabkha, from where, bordering the edge of those high terraced dunes, the convoy could enjoy a spectacular view, with the sun already quite high. While driving so close to the edge from an elevated position and with such a view out of the window, I felt a great sense of achievement mixed with gratitude to have the chance to lead trhough such an amazing place. 

As a cherry on our cake, we even met two groups of camels: I took a quick photo, but it doesn't make justice to the beauty of the view from up there:

Even when @Abdul Rahman AK got stuck in a treacherous pocket and was in need of being winched out, the whole setting, landscape, and light was spectacular and I guess was worth the waiting for the rest of the convoy. 

By 9:30am it was clear we were never going to make if for the 3rd and final stint of the drive, the one that was meant to tkae us north again all the way to E102 and then, eventually out in Al Bataeh. 

It was therefore decided that we would cut our drive short, so we hit the sabkha at the bottom of the high grounds we were driving through, and from the sabkha we quickly made our way out, eventually reaching the same roundabout where we had started our journey earlier in the day. 

Overall, we drove 40.4km in a total of 4h 40' of which 2h 40' moving and 1h 40' stopped, with a very low moving speed of just 15.1km/h: these data tell a lot about how technical the drive was.

Everyone did very well today, and I hope you all enjoyed this drive as much as I did. As the 1st @Carnity drive in Al Bataeh, it will always have a special place in my memories and I'm glad I had you all with me today. 

After what I've seen today, I think an Extreme Drive in this area will be coming soon.. Stay tuned! 

Congratulations to all and see you soon on the sand again! 

Well said @Lorenzo Candelpergher 

So much learned on this drive and your pre-drive description was accurate, allowing us to come in with the right mind set. This one seemed to be a cross between rock crawling and dune bashing. Slow and steady with thoughtful coordination and communication. That’s what I like about my experience with Carnity: the mix of terrain is a great preparation for anything that comes our way. Speaking of which, I certainly wouldn’t mind Carnity trying out some mountain or wadi drives. 
 

Overall, a solid technical drive. I personally feel more confident tackling tricky terrain and that’s the point. Glad to have joined in and looking forward to the next. 
 

Thanks to @Ale Vallecchi for the recovery support and clear explanations. 
 

Keep up the good work. 

1 hour ago, Kailas said:

@Mario Cornejo @Javier Lucero @Shehab Alawadhi @Thomas Varghese @Amir Amiri @Ilya Golubinsky @Lawrence_Chehimi @Jeandre Bezuidenhout @Abu Muhammad @Nizam Deen

You're all in the RSVP list for Friday morning's drive. Please let me know if there in any change in your drive plan.

Faqa to Last exit is a long drive, we plan to cover almost 100km. As this is a long drive, the end time may be delayed depending on stucks and refusals, thus please be prepared for it. 

I will be putting out the convoy list tomorrow.

Cheers!

Hey bruv. Thanks for the info. I won’t be able to make it so place the next person on the drive. Sorry about that. Have a safe drive though 🍻

13 hours ago, Janarthan said:

Hello All,

 

Below convoy list for tomo drive and we will be using channel 1 for our communication 

Janarthan - Lead

@Veedooshee- SL

 @Joe Biju Joseph 3rd

@Shaaz Sha 4th

@varunmehndiratta 5th

@Javier Lucero6th 

@amir amiri7th

@Dodi Syahdar8th

@Tbone- SW

 

Cheers,

See you all soon in the sand.

 

 

 

 

Nice ride all. Had a good time. Learned something new, as always. @Janarthanand @Tbone, well done on leading. Always enjoy being in convoys with you fellas. Also always appreciate you showing me the ropes. @Veedooshee Great job correcting the path. Made things smooth. Overall, I’m a fan of exploration drives. Made the drive feel like it was a bit of everything. Like two different drives. Very cool. Cheers all. I’ll catch you on the next one 🍻 

On 4/26/2021 at 8:30 AM, RaYan E said:

congrats bro.

 

Thanks Bruv! Looking forward to seeing you out on the sand again. 

Thanks @Tbone. I'll catch you in the morning then!

@Tbone Good morning. I’m signed up for the Saturday morning intermediate drive now. Was hoping for that one. Happy to go on this drive as well. Since I’m on the list. If I’m not able to do both drives, I can be taken off this list. 

@JanarthanThanke mate. Will see you in the morning. Can I ask: How many fewbie drives have I got logged before tomorrow morning? 

@Luca Palanca Falsini

Hey. Hope all is well. Fuel injector fault so car is in the shop. I have cancel drive so whoever is up next can join. Apologize for late notice. Have a safe drive. 🍻

Hey Kailas. Jeep is in the shop for the weekend so I’m out. I’ll drop from the drive. Hopefully someone else can pick up the spot. Have a good drive. 

@Kailas Great. Thanks for the line up. See everyone bright and early. 

2 hours ago, Ale Vallecchi said:

Dear Desertnauts,

time to prepare for tomorrow's drive. We will meet just off of Solar Park's glass pyramid, after the tarmac road ends. From there we'll drive parallel to the bike track for a couple of Kms, before reaching the entry point into the Middle Earth's long range dunes. We'll warm up to the drive by snaking around long cordons, dotted with quite an abundant vegetation, before reaching, and crossing, a couple of sabkhas, from where we'll arrive at Little Sweihan's western most border. Here the dunes will be quote bare of shrubs or grass, quite tall and close to each other, separated by canyons and sand bowls, that will be the most challenging part of the track. After crossing this whole area, we'll decide, based on convoy's response and remaining time, whether to drive back to Solar Park (on a sand track costing the solar panel installation sites), or continue a bit deeper, into the further reaches of our Middle Earth.

The convoy order will be as follows:

@Rizwanm2 in Second Lead

@Javier Lucero at #3

@Nacho in place #4

@Thomas Varghese at #5

@Rob Harper will be #6

@MUHAMMAD Kashif RAZZAQ will anchor the convoy at #7

@varunmehndiratta will tale the #8 place

@Niki Patel with jersey #9

@Yusuf Esaf will have #10

@Jeandre Bezuidenhout will follow at #11, and 

@Mehmet Volga will Sweep the convoy to safety.

Upon reaching the meeting and deflation point, please tune into Carnity Channel #4 (446.081).

Enjoy your end of the week, and see you out there tomorrow at 6:30 AM sharp.

 

 

Looking forward to it ✊🏼 That said, just a heads up for the ride back. Got this notification from my residence. Not sure if it’ll impact but worth noting. See you in the AM. 

17 hours ago, Tbone said:

RSVP is now closed

I welcome @Matt.T, @Michael Glavanis, @imranaasghar81, @Javier Lucero, @Sreejith Sreenivasan, @Hisham Masaad, @Miamimoe, @Shaaz Sha and @Nivin for joining this drive. Tomorrow we will be using the carnity channel 3 (446.05625).

We start sharp at 7AM tomorrow. The convoy order is as in below

See you all in the sand.

Nice ride @Tbone. Smooth and lively. The weather was absolutely ideal. The clouds were a nice touch. Good trail today. Mix of different driving which helped me learn a few things. Appreciate the tire pressure advice @Nivin. Helped loads to deflate a bit more. World of difference. Thanks to everyone. Enjoyed it thoroughly. Cheers 🍻

1 hour ago, Jeepie said:

After a long wait for the fog to clear and with visibility still pretty bad, @Luca Palanca Falsini set off to lead a drive in an area we both weren't very familiar with. Luckily we had a very strong convoy and everybody showed great team spirit. We had a couple of refusals and stucks but nothing that couldn't be handled by @Veedooshee, @Goutam or @Yousef Alimadadi who all did a wonderful job in supporting this drive.

I must admit, I haven't been second lead in a long time, and I was probably a bit too close to Luca at times, but I could tell he was doing a great job. Especially multitasking looking at the convoy, the map and the terrain and all that with low visibility the first  45 minutes of the drive. @Javier Lucero you did a better job than me keeping some distance and not getting into trouble when I had a refusal . @Harold Roberts you had to take a second attempt a few times but that didn't put you of and you self-recovered quite well.

@Nihal17 and @AlexPol I cannot say I saw much of what was going on in the back, but you must have been doing fine as the back of the convoy seemed to be moving most of the time.

We didn't play much in the big bowls as we were late getting started and still had plenty of other nice area's to visit. Maybe another time. I actually quite liked the mix of the different terrains and I think Margham truly is a beautiful place. So more exploring to do! I hope to see all again soon.

A nice drive with a skilled crew. Loads of fun. Thanks to everyone for a great pace and support. Cheers 🍻 

2 hours ago, Ale Vallecchi said:

LAHBAB - QUDRA MARATHON DRIVE - PART 1 Report

As winter approaches, long drives lasting the whole day, will soon become possible. This excursion was planned as one such drive, but was broken into 2 parts, firstly due to the lingering heat in the middle of the day, and secondly to allow more members to join, in this past long weekend.

This route aims to join one of the least driven areas of Dubai - Lahbab - to the most popular one - Qudra - covering most of Dubai's desert from East to West. The whole drive covers 108 Km of sand, with a break between the end of the first half at Skydive and the start of the second leg at Murqaab (but it could also be Lisaili). 

The first part of the drive, which we are reporting here, took us from a yellow sand area of open dunes, with a few technical areas and sabkhas separating them, to a fun string of red sand low bowls overlooking Nazwa (with Big Red and Badayer's pyramid dunes visible in the distance, then directly west toward Skydive, through technical yellow dunes, and finally, whiter sand open dunes close to Skydive. The drive took place without almost any refusals (save while riding in the bowls), with all drivers displaying very good control of their cars, both in the tighter, more technical terrain, and in the more fun playgrounds.

It is incredible how this area gifts us with no other clubs' convoys zig-zagging through it, in spite of its proximity to the most popular Nazwa/Big Red/Badayer off-roading locations. The only human signs were tracks left by locals training their falcons, and a circuit used by quad-drivers during the previous day, which marked heavily the sand close to Skydive. Other than this, we thoroughly enjoyed the almost unspoiled area.

Congratulations for an excellent drive to @Tamas Hoffmann as Second Lead (waiting to see some of that drone footage), to@Alexander Alcala covering the Center Lead position with abnegation, and to @Foxtrot Oscar (Angela) for her clean sweep of the convoy.

A note of "Very Well Done" to all the drivers: @Javier Lucero, @Athula Dharmadada, @Anand Nataraj, @Senthil Kumar, @Yasas Dharmadasa, @RaYan E, @Jihad Hachem, and @Abu Muhammad.

This first part of the Marathon covered 58.8Km, in 2:55 hours of driving (while moving), at a total average speed of 14Km/h (20 Km/h while moving).

Thank you to all the members, looking forward to another, uninterrupted Marathon drive.

A great drive indeed. Enjoyed it thoroughly. Thanks to all. See you on the dunes soon. 

On 10/26/2020 at 8:48 PM, Ale Vallecchi said:

Dear Desertnauts.

It's time to build the expectation for this Thursday's drive. Better yet, drives. In fact, as mentioned in the post, this has been conceived as a marathon, to be executed in one whole day. Considering the diversity of the terrains, however, it has been divided into 2 parts: the first one from Lahbab to as close to Skydive as possible, and the second part, from Murqaab, across the Dubai-Al Ain highway, to the Qudra area (with Solar park as the minimum objective, and Qudra Parking the ideal finish point.

The first part of this marathon will take us from the low, yellow dunes of Lahbab, through a technical area, to a string of red sand low bowls (very playable), and, time permitting, through a second technical area, all the way to the very nice open dunes stretching between Margham and Skydive. This area presents a couple of tricky, no-go, points, where driving it's forbidden, as marked by some "skull and bones" signs, near an oil and gas installation, and impeded by the endless metal fence surrounding one of the Royal Villas. These same "no-go" areas make this drive not so common among any other off-roading club, which is a plus for us at Carnity. We may share this terrain, if at all, only with locals, engaging in the art of falconeering, or herding camels.

The second half of the drive, will see a change of terrain, starting on a yellow sand mix of technical and open dunes, then across a small sabkha leading to a sand track cutting across a very treacherous area of technical dunes, eventually ending at Lisaili's white sand long range dunes, stretching all the way to Solar Park, and to Qudra proper beyond.

Given the variety of terrains, the driving skills required will be practically all inclusive: finesse driving, controlled straight crossing, side sloping, both low and high, as well as criss-crossing and occasional ridge riding (especially in Qudra).

With this, I welcome to the drive @Javier Lucero, @Athula Dharmadada, @Anand Nataraj, @Abu Muhammad, @Senthil Kumar, @Yasas Dharmadasa, @RaYan E, @Alexander Alcala, @Tamas Hoffmann, @Sinol and @Foxtrot Oscar. 

More details to follow on Wednesday evening. Enjoy your short week. 

Excited about the drive. Says there that the second half is in the afternoon and that it’s and all day drive but the end time is 10:30am. What’s the actual timing of the ride tomorrow? 

Hey all. Jeep giving me problems again. Back in the shop. Need to drop out for this drive. Quite sorry. Hope she’s back and running for the next one. 

Hey all, 

Hope you’re well. Won’t be able to make it. Take me off the list and add the next very lucky person. Cheers and have a Good drive. 

4 hours ago, Wrangeld said:

The Unexpected Newbie Lead

The Carnity Pink Rockers received a surprise this morning, hearing that instead of Gaurav leading the drive, I would have that pleasure. And a pleasure it was. A large convoy of enthusiastic drivers, weather finally no longer hotter than the sun and the confidence that no matter what might happen on the convoy, the Master @Gaurav was on hand, with @Mohamed Seidam ably supporting.

The end of the summer has brought back more drivers to the dunes and the popularity of Pink Rock brought out multiple convoys this morning. I was starting to think that club flags should be color coded so we can keep track when all the other drivers arrive. Either way, looking for a virgin route was a great challenge, and one we more or less achieved.

What did I take away from the drive? That leading Newbie drives is harder than leading more experienced drivers. The margin for error is much smaller and tighter. A crossing that looks simple causes a real challenge for a Newbie. And.... you still need to make the drive suficiently challenging so that every driver can take something away from the experience.

Thanks, everyone for your patience today. Looking forward to many more Newbie experiences.

See you soon in the sand.

Ah mate, well done. Think the newbies got a good run. Enjoyed it. Thanks for leading the way. We’ll catch you on another drive soon. Take care 🍻

12 minutes ago, Javier Lucero said:

Please add to waiting list. Thanks a mil. 

Joined a Newbie drive. Prefer this one if I’m still able to get on. Many thanks. 

Just now, Srikumar said:

wonderful @Javier Lucero well deserved. Yes, now that you have become Fewbie you need to speeden up the signing in on drives as it gets tougher from here on. 😂

Haha. A quickly learned fact. Thanks for always leading the way bruv. Much appreciated. 

3 hours ago, RaYan E said:

very good...congrats.

Man, just so cool. Geeked. Now just need to sign up in time for a drive 🤣