Ever since I was a kid, I always look forward to January. Sure, new year, new beginnings, blah, blah, blah. What really got me excited was the anticipation for the Dakar Rally. Reading news and updates about this wild race — its successes and its failures — made me imagine myself being as good as these riders one day. I even went as far as to write a speech about it in elementary school, titled The History of the Dakar Rally. 

Of course, it’s a far-off dream for many of us, to be able to race one of the toughest and most gruelling races in the world. It’s one that few riders are skilled enough for, and few have deep enough pockets to fund the venture. Realistically, perhaps Dakar isn’t in the cards, but I thought trying rally racing might be a good way to dip my toe in the sand, literally. 

So, where do you start? First I started looking at options to take a course. Perhaps the most important factor of rally racing is understanding how to navigate using a roadbook, count kilometres and follow degrees of direction. 

I had gone up to the Boreal Royale event, held in Fort McMurray. A place that, when mentioned, sees most people’s faces instinctively twitch with the thought that there’s nothing there but big oil factories and natural disasters. It might not be commonly known, but the area north of Fort McMurray is home to the most northern active sand dunes in the world — an area with the finest sand one could see that spans throughout the Wood Buffalo region. 

We were joined by Willem Avenant, a well-known rally racer. He’s raced Dakar, and multiple other arduous rallies throughout the years, and is also one of 2024’s rally organizers for the Baja Rally. He attended the event to give a two-day roadbook course for riders that were interested. First, we went over how to use a roadbook, how to count kilometres and how to use the buttons installed on the bikes. We went over general rules of a rally and then we set off in a staggered start down the sandy road. I immediately felt as if I was up against the clock. Sure, there was only one way in and out of the sand dunes, but navigating with the roadbook gave a whole other sense of urgency to the ride. It was exhilarating. On top of that, we had the honour of having Lawrence Hacking, Canadian Dakar racing legend, join the ride. We got a taste of what rally racing would be like, and I was hooked. 

After the rally I decided that it was time to really test my skills by entering my first real rally race. Here’s where the Baja Six-Day Rally comes in: with over 1,000 miles of off-road covered over six days, the rally was the perfect stepping stone for me to try rally racing without the hinderances, expenses and risk that a rider would inevitably endure in one of the many European rallies offered around the world. 

So I signed up, and over the summer I trained, saved my pennies and planned on how I would get down to Mexico for the rally. Unfortunately, I injured myself in late July, creating another hurdle to racing, and this one was on me. I had injured my foot, and although I could ride for some short distances, it had become tough to walk. That, along with the logistical nightmare that became getting the bike down there, meant I had to make the call to postpone my race debut until 2025. 

I was disappointed in myself for not following through on something I so badly wanted to accomplish. Mentally, I anguished over this decision for more than a month, but my intuition knew that I may have to do what my ego didn’t want to admit. It’s not easy to say you’re going to do something and then cancel. But then I began to realize I had made the mature choice, making sure I would set myself up for as much success as I could. Although I decided not to compete in the race in 2024 it now allows me another year to train harder, prep more, ensure my bike is capable and ensure I do things right. 

It’s tough to realize that some things just don’t work out the first time, but sometimes, things are better done right than half-assed, like a dream trip you may have planned that, for some reason, didn’t work out the first time around — but when you finally got to experience it, it became so much more worthwhile because of the anticipation. It can be tough when your ego tells you it’s a failure if you don’t follow through, but it is even more admirable when you realize that the wise choice, ego aside, is what’s best for you.