Looper

@Ishak, @DTG, @Shiju Raju, @Johannes Roux, @Sreenath G, @Zulfikhar Naiyar, @Ben Williams, @Deepak Eswar & @Juan R This is your mid-week reminder to check your availability towards the end of the week. The theme of this drive is to drive at slightly slower pace. As you drive in the dunes of Qudra and Lisaili, I encourage you to challenge yourself to drive with intentionality. Feel the gentle press of the pedal, the subtle shifts of the steering wheel, and the rhythm of your breath syncing with the track we draw on the desert canvas. So, let this upcoming Sunday be a celebration of you, your vehicle, and the road ahead a Dopamine Drive.

@Hugo as this is your first drive of the week, I will add you to the drive. Please confirm your availability. @Jona & @Bjoern - this will be the second drive of the week for you. Please let me know your availability in case someone drops out and we are able to extend. @Mohit Gurnani, @Ahmad Nerat, @FERNANDO SYRIO, @Bashar Beasha, @Rk ram, @Andrei S, @Naveen Raj, @Gok Krish - just a mid-week reminder to check your calendars; that they are clear, else you can exit and don't take up slots. @Mehmet Volga, @Rajiv Sam, @Joji varghese, @Pacific looking forward to your support in this drive.

@Abhilash Kottakkal all your issues are from your inexperience and overthinking about the situation. Don’t worry much about anything. Every incident is a learning experience and just go on with the newfound knowledge. Just keep driving and you will find the balance with the experience you will gain. In Newbie drives I often start at 12 just continue with it till the drive end. I can see they being at 14-15 psi. It always depends on the terrain and the intensity of the drive. Specifically Badayer and Tawi Nazwa my opinion is that those areas are well traverses and so the areas are often compacted, you should ideally not face any issues. Having said that if you remember the one time I pulled you, I did so - only to move you out of the situation you yourself put into by digging into to the sand and after that you - YOU Yourself - self recovered. And post that I drove much more aggressively and in much more difficult terrain but we didn’t had any refusals. Often it is just mind game rather than anything else. Be chill about it and just enjoy. Over time you will have the experience to manage the situations you WILL find yourself and looking back on these trivial issues you will have a good laugh.

There is always a non-zero chance of extending the drive 😇, There is also the chance of many dropping out before the D Day comes & it is not a very long waitlist. I, however, will leave the decision up to you.

Please note the nearest fuel station is at: ADNOC Service Station | Al Faya Shahinat - 3 (764) 6 km down the lane. @Johannes Roux it's a FB+ drive so, you would not be eligible to join the drive.

It will be okay without them for this drive. However you should have a set in your car. Please go through the recommended gear post. You can buy AOR or some other brand Rope and Shackels from either Ace/Speedex or Amazon or even brick and mortar off-road shops. I’ll let others also pitch in with their recommendations and you can decide.

Congratulations @Juan R well done.

Congratulations @DTG 👍 well done.

Congratulations @Dev_ well done.

Congratulations @Shiju Raju on your promotion. Well done 👍

DRIVE PLAN Winter is not here yet, but it is going to be a matter of weeks now. We are going a bit far this week and as winter comes, we will continue to explore further and further. Expecting excitedly for a new season of desert off-roading, we start our weekend at Al Faya and explore its dunes and end our drive at Sweihan. Request every member that joins this drive to go through the information below and strictly follow these guidelines, etiquette, and responsibilities. MUST READ AND COMPLY Environmental Policy Offroad Flag Guideline Two Way Radio Guideline Off road Driving Etiquettes Emergency details for all off roaders Off Road Driving - Roles & Responsibilities DRIVE DETAILS Level: Fewbie Plus and above When: 16 September 2023, Saturday Meeting time: 6:00 AM - Sharp (Without any exceptions) Meeting Point: https://goo.gl/maps/cGQ8QKWXD2Zxcapi6 Approximate finish time: 9:30 AM Type of Car: Any proper 4x4 with front and back tow hooks and 8-10 inches of ground clearance. What to bring along: Loads of water, snacks (for yourself), smiles, enthusiasm, and willingness to learn. MANDATORY OFF-ROAD GEAR: Tire deflator & Tire pressure gauge Compressor Walkie-talkie radio Off-road flag Shovel, Tow Rope & 2 Shackles First-aid kit Fire extinguisher LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE This drive is limited to 10 cars only. RSVP will close on Friday If the RSVP is full, you can add your name to the waitlist, once anyone drops, you will be moved to the RSVP list. RSVP will close a day prior to preparing a convoy list. Latecomers will be returned - Without any exceptions. Members without RSVP will be returned - Without any exceptions. Please withdraw your RSVP, if you aren't joining, so your spot can be taken by others. Repeated no-show members after RSVP will have their account suspended for a month. PLEASE RSVP ON BELOW CALENDAR

DRIVE PLAN Let us end the Weekend at Lisaili. We will start at Qudra and trace our way back on the tracks from past back to Lisaili on a relaxed drive. Continuing the theme from a couple of weeks ago, expect a leisurely drive through the deserts of Qudra and Lisaili. It will be mostly technical though some mid-sized dunes and will try to avoid super narrow technical section, but we will follow it up by some long-range dunes ending with another set of technical dunes towards Lisaili side. Join for a Dopamine Drive; a mindful expedition that promises not just to take you places, but to bring you closer to yourself. Request every member that joins this drive to go through the information below and strictly follow these guidelines, etiquette, and responsibilities. MUST READ AND COMPLY Environmental Policy Offroad Flag Guideline Two Way Radio Guideline Off road Driving Etiquettes Emergency details for all off roaders Off Road Driving - Roles & Responsibilities DRIVE DETAILS Level: Fewbie and above When: 17 September 2023, Sunday Meeting time: 6:00 AM - Sharp (Without any exceptions) Meeting Point: https://goo.gl/maps/wFdBEJrXsqk47PyG6 Approximate finish time: 9:30 AM Type of Car: Any proper 4x4 with front and back tow hooks and 8-10 inches of ground clearance. What to bring along: Loads of water, snacks (for yourself), smiles, enthusiasm, and willingness to learn. MANDATORY OFF-ROAD GEAR: Tire deflator & Tire pressure gauge Compressor Walkie-talkie radio Off-road flag Shovel, Tow Rope & 2 Shackles First-aid kit Fire extinguisher LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE This drive is limited to 10 cars only. RSVP will close on Friday If the RSVP is full, you can add your name to the waitlist, once anyone drops, you will be moved to the RSVP list. RSVP will close a day prior to preparing a convoy list. Latecomers will be returned - Without any exceptions. Members without RSVP will be returned - Without any exceptions. Please withdraw your RSVP, if you aren't joining, so your spot can be taken by others. Repeated no-show members after RSVP will have their account suspended for a month. PLEASE RSVP ON BELOW CALENDAR

PS: the black line in the prior post was my over ambitious drive plan. Except for the first part, the rest was a colossal waste of planning resources. I fondly remember when every second drive i used to do was in this area, but it changed drastically since 3 years back when i started to drive here. There is no more desert left in qudra except for the first part where we drove today.

As we reached our meeting point, some of us found ourselves engaging in a mini self-recovery due to the soft terrain. Prior to our combined convoy briefing, I was reminded that Convoy One comprised all the Mitsubishi Pajeros on the expedition. It was then that I playfully brought up the selection process for the convoys, which involved grouping vehicles based on the number of drives and assigning them to Convoy 1 and 2 sequentially. The remarkable history of Mitsubishi Pajero, now known as the Montero, was not lost to me. These vehicles boast an illustrious rally sport heritage and are considered among the finest machines ever crafted. Although they may not be as forgiving in desert conditions as some other vehicles, when guided by a skilled driver, they can match any car stride for stride. While Convoy Two appeared to have a relatively smoother journey, Convoy One encountered the full wrath of the challenging terrain. Initially, I worried that I might have exaggerated the ruggedness of the area, but it soon became clear that the terrain lived up to its formidable reputation. It wasn't exceptionally soft, but it was undeniably technical. We experienced a couple of tire popouts and had nasty refusals in soft sand, necessitating the use of ropes to help pull the vehicles even before we had crossed the 4 km mark. However, as the journey continued, the convoy's performance improved significantly. I took the opportunity to explain the best approaches for handling this demanding terrain, and I noticed a significant difference in our drive once we resumed after overcoming the initial obstacles. Although I refrained from vocalizing it at the time (as I believe in avoiding jinxing things by speaking too soon), I found myself driving at a higher speed through even more challenging terrain than we encountered at the beginning of the drive. To my delight, the convoy exceeded my expectations, and we encountered no further issues in this area. I have highlighted the area in the screenshot above which is a must do area in my opinion. I looped back in the highlighted area one more time before we left. I plan to do it again in the near future. As we left this area, we encountered one of the densest and bushiest deserts imaginable. Hardly should it be called a desert even. I was practically scraping the dunes' base to locate enough sand to continue driving. At this point, my focus was to complete the drive as our scheduled time had arrived. Towards the end I discovered some nice spots where we could do side-sloping on long ridges. We took advantage of this, but just a few hundred feet from the exit, we faced another pop out. Convoy Two also exited at the same end location where Convoy One had completed the drive. @Bravoecho you were excellent second lead to me and perhaps had the most amount of driving done in the convoy apart from me, keeping up with me in all the areas without any issues. @Srilakshman Karthikeyan you too had a good drive. I will recommend that you start to notice what the desert sands are telling you on how to drive on them. The soft sands require that you either drive with very gentle gas or full force of acceleration. You should now focus on the same and understand how to respond to soft sands of the deserts. @Abhilash Kottakkal couple of advises for you. One - do not fret over anything that happened today. All the refusals and popouts are part of the driving experience. You need to focus on how to reduce them - in doing so try to get some reliable pressure measuring device because you told me that you were at 10-12 psi when I checked you were actually at 8 psi. Next try to be gentler with steering. Desert does not like anything abrupt and it will cause issues. You will not only lose control over your car, but you can find yourself in some nasty situations. My second piece of advice is that whenever you change something in your vehicle, start low and gradually go up the levels - without over doing it. @Emanuel you were remarkable with your driving today. @Stumpy Paj thanks for all the help with the popouts and refusals. It was great to have you on the drive as usual. @Mahmoud Taha you definitely had the most driving done today and had some nice skill presentation when the rest of us had our break. That refusal on the crest and self-recovery was quite an impressive showcase of your driving prowess. BTW we would have left you there on the top of the dune to fend for yourself, should you not self-recover yourself. @Benjamin thank you very much for the assistance with managing the convoy and the effort you always put into every drive you join. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank @Kailas & @DP1011 for joining and taking up the second convoy.

Here we go! Thanks to @Kailas for helping with the waitlisted members so that we could accommodate all who could come. Convoy 1 : Channel 4 @Bravoecho, @Srilakshman Karthikeyan, @Abhilash Kottakkal, @Emanuel, @Stumpy Paj, @Mahmoud Taha, @Benjamin Convoy 2: Channel 2 @Zulfikhar Naiyar, @Johannes Roux, @Haneef Thayyil, @Arda Yagcioglu, @Deepak Eswar, @Rk ram, @DP1011