munkybizness

@Kailas, my sincere apologies but I too have to drop out as I have an urgent family commitment this evening, that I need to prioritize. I was really looking forward to driving with you as it’s been much too long. And looking at the convoy, it’s already a license to push the envelope 🚀 Will make amends soon. Apologies for the last minute notice.

Get well soon, Doc @M.Seidam! I think that being kept away from the desert for two weeks, you will come back and do three drives in one weekend

And together, your convoy will be...

My mind immediately went to the Rolling Stones 🙌

Update: This was a test post. Please ignore.

@Thomas Varghese thank you for opening a discussion on this topic. For me, it's not just about the heat either. As offroaders, we do need to be able to traverse all forms of terrain. Anybody who has ever talked to me knows that while I do enjoy being in the the desert riding ridges and climbing bowls, I'm more keen to do long-distance overlanding. To this end, I've been exploring different wadi trails over the past six months when I'm not driving with Carnity. Some of the key challenges that are cropping up on this are the following: 1. Due to extreme littering and the exclave/enclave situation of the UAE & Oman borders, many of the famous wadis that we grew up knowing are all being cordoned off. For example, the famous Jeepers Mountain (Jebel Al Faya) is now entirely closed off. Wadi Sal was closed for some time, but I was able to do the trail over six weeks ago. So there isn't a good repository on which trails are open and which aren't. Most of these drives hence will be purely exploratory in nature so if we don't get any luck, we're not returning disappointed. It's going to take a lot of time to find gems. 2. Driving on rocks is slow and requires a very different mindset. In many cases, because of point #1, we will also be limited only to driving trails which are more designed for the connectivity of villages in this hills. The villagers here (unlike Omanis) don't like large crowds of cars constantly disrupting their paths. Our convoys will therefore need to be a lot shorter. 3. Camping & hiking are the biggest components of the rock-trails in the Northern Emirates. So when organizing these drives, it's important that we consider that we won't always be moving, and that our goal may be to drive to a point, park there, and do some hiking to setup camps (for the day or overnight). This requires a different form of commitment than the 5am ride & go desert format. Last year in November, I spent over ten days exploring the Jebel Akhdar and Jebel Shams range in Oman. And the culture towards offroading there around trails, riverbeds, rocks and oases is completely and refreshingly different than that in the UAE. The locals there were also incredibly helpful in pointing me to some hidden trails and gems that I just have not gotten when I go up to Fujairah or RAK. All in all, you can certainly count on me to get involved in setting up offroad drives outside the desert. If we can get a few more, perhaps, we can organize some under the "Wadi Campers Club" here on Carnity. If we get enough traction, then it will give more confidence for the Carnity Crew to start looking into how to create more active drives around this.

A dark indigo hue sets in across the night sky. Slicing through the middle, a string of white lights mark their way to the edge of a city known for its golden hues. Threading the needle of this dark night and this string of white pearls, thirteen wagons powered by thousands of horses, pull off the side. As night falls and a dewy moisture coats my skin, these thirteen metal boxes ditch the beaten path to tread into the wilderness. Unaided and only driven by the intrepid, these wagons form a new string of pearls. Glowing bright in the darkness, this string swirls and flows unlike the static path they’d left behind. Ahead of them only stretches the inky black night, above them a star studded spectacle, and behind them fly plumes of unsettled sand rising and falling quickly again. Such is the magnificence of a night drive. And once every revolution around the sun, the intrepid light leading this string has cause to not just celebrate the splendor of the night, but also a new revolution of life in years. As Offroaders, we’re so lost in the revolutions of our wheels, we often forget there is a cosmic revolution at play, and last night, we celebrated both - ours and that of Dr. @M.Seidam’s. Here’s wishing you an even more magical revolution around the Sun through the millions of revolutions for every distance you’ll take to get there. With the magic set aside, let me take this moment to recognize some of the shining beacons within this string. I feel a certain likeness every time I meet @Gregory. In his eyes sparkle the spirit of a good human being. And he carries that through with the care he extends across the entire chain. He exemplifies the lead in SL with much gusto. Elsewhere, at the end of this string, the childlike naughtiness of @Ranjan Das was pushing the chain forward like a child meandering his train through obstacles. In the middle, @Zixuan Huang - Charlie and his stoic demeanor keeps the string steady lest it fall apart in this darkness. These human contrasts are what make being a part of this string so rewarding. There are then the new pearls beginning to cast their glow and exemplifying their strength. @Joseph Raju, it was so refreshing to see another Y61 driving with care and good pace. As long as I saw those lights peek over the ridges in my rear view mirror, I knew I had nothing to worry about. Ahead of me, the inseparable young birds @Dinesh Kumar A & @Tareq Al Turq learning to take night flights (sorry, for stealing this metaphor @Ale Vallecchi), showed their exuberance. At times it caught them off guard, but they will come out of this with experience to boot. They say the roughest seas make the best sailors, and it is truly in this stead that we got to see the strength of this string of pearls. Key among them @Haitham Khattab, @topgear, @Amr Aydin& @Simon Dawood who not just put their brawn on display but also their ingenuity in the understanding of how levers work. Such is the magnificence of a night drive, that you see not just the magic of a strawberry hued Luna shining above, but also the immense ability that comes when so many lights shine together. Collectively, they solved challenges as big as the one @Ashutosh Garg had to face. In doing so, I left not just enriched by the experience but also the new knowledge of so many minds working together. Thank you all for a beautiful night. As we escaped back to golden hues of the city, these thoughts fogged up my mind, just like the ambiance I was now piercing through. See you all out on the sands soon [ 🐵 ]

@Vanessa8580, was really looking forward to finally joining your drive, but I have clearly not planned this very well I finish @M.Seidam's Night drive at 1.30am so I don't think I'll have it in me to do the 5am soon after. My sincere apologies for dropping out at the last minute.

Congratulations @Jose Thomas - enjoy the new level

@Gregory! It's been ages, good Sir! Supremely well deserved and the heartiest congratulations. Can't wait to see you on a drive soon

Congratulations @Jona! Enjoy the new level

Well done, @Stan Hassett! This is where things get exciting

Well done @Beide Worku - time to put the truck through some faster pacing

Like a fresh university entrant, who's been away from it for some time, I've been auditing Newbie drives over the past couple of weekends. Where last weekend was a double feature in the sands of Sharjah, this weekend too came in twos - except that it was the pleasure of joining @Ale Vallecchi on two extreme ends of the spectrum. Having averaged 27km/hr this morning vs. the 28.1 km/hr in the IM drive, I think the Newbies showed us up. And with good reason. With fresh knowledge from the master himself, the drivers today could see exactly what practicing theory looks like. Therefore, a return to the classroom - in the field - with Ale, as a cool breeze wafted through Al Qudra this morning was the perfect pick-me-up after he had washed us through almost 90 kms last evening. I came away from today, with a lot of my fundamental knowledge bolstered through affirmation and new information that had previously been more hand-me-down than academic. So many drivers just jump into the seat and get driving, but it is only when you truly break apart the individual physical forces, the effect of the prevailing winds, the context of where you are, only then do you realize that there's more science to this than just pushing a pedal and swinging a wheel. Thank you Ale, for firstly just taking the immense amount of time that you do to host these drives, but then to also leave us at the end, enriched by it all. This morning, we also had the extended honour of @Brette joining our convoy. Having driven with him last weekend, and seeing him again this morning, I recognize now why he's the gatekeeper for Newbies. Cool as a cucumber and a calming force in the convoy, he immediately helps take away any of the nervousness that you are bound to face when you're just starting out. Where last week he was far up ahead in the distance finding fresh tracks, sitting a few cars behind him today meant I also got to see his lines. They mirror his personality. Soft, confident, and collected. For my cross-crested situation, he was on the radio in a heartbeat, having given me the adequate amount of time to do a self-recovery. And as soon as my hand went up, he was there, lining up to pull me out. Sweeping in the back gives you plenty of time to contemplate about life. Up front, the elasticity of the convoy feels almost electric as it heaves and thrills. And where the marshal defines where to go by seeking fresh sands, the sweep sees the wake of what this herd is leaving behind. This is a unique opportunity, and one I enjoy in great detail. It also enables me to live out that naughty side of me that I couldn't muster to showcase in a strictly academic environment. Here, in the back, I'm up to my monkey business. If there's anywhere where the academic importance of the concepts of "momentum" were felt the most, it was in the bottom end of the convoy. With the day coming upon us, the sand began to lose any remaining moisture, and softened up even further under the blending motion of the wheels running through it. This practical experience of how much power is enough power was an excellent lesson for the drivers in the back. @Azam V2.0 and @Nitin Mohan both had to deal with their share of losing steam - either due to hesitation or simply not choosing a cleaner line. Neither of you should feel anything about this. This is completely natural, and every driver has been through it. As you get more adept with your machine, you'll find where those limits really are. Currently, your mind is imposing even bigger limits. In most cases, as you gents did, reversing and trying again is the best solution. I would only advise that unlike tarmac, where you will get instant grip and traction, increase the length of your run-ups. After backing down, give yourself an additional 10m to 20m if it's available to you. It will make all the difference in carrying more rolling momentum as you ascend. @Jad Moussalli, after the last weekend where newbies were limited from climbing higher due to safety, sitting behind you and seeing the lines you were choosing was a nice comforting place for me to be in. In most cases you had enough momentum, and even if you didn't you reversed and gave it another shot. This is good presence of mind. You're going to be scaling through these next drives quite quickly. For the gents in the back, and up front, the only lesson I can implore you to practice more and more in your subsequent drives is to get comfortable riding the ridge. Regardless of the steep drops on either side, the day you crack riding the ridge, with just enough power to gently coast through, it will become the most pleasurable experience of your drive. And it will make criss-crossing even more fun. You should feel completely levelled out at the top of the ridge. If you're leaning in either direction by more than 5 degrees, you should be preparing to exit out or quickly levelling yourself up. Once again, thank you @Ale Vallecchi for correcting some of the incorrect notions I've been carrying with me with that informative classroom session. For the rest, thank you for a wonderful day out. See you all out in the sands again soon [ 🐵 ]

Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, so right back at you 🙏🏽

For those coming from Dubai on E66 (Al Ain Road), ADNOC Al Hayer-2 (659) is the last gas station. https://goo.gl/maps/6xkAVeMznmGMe5ZZ8 It is 17kms from the meeting point. If you’re coming from Abu Dhabi city, ADNOC Nahel (658) is probably the last station for you. https://goo.gl/maps/XJPRnpBYvrJ2Uzru9

Amazing news, and supremely well deserved. I haven’t yet had the opportunity to be on a drive led by you, @JeromeFJ, but your supportive and calm spirit always adds the right tone to the drive.

@Ale Vallecchi 😎

Well done @Amr Aydin! Enjoy the change in pace