Down through Tunisia and Libya everything went according to plan. The day’s were as long and as tough as Patsy had expected but her bike was running fine and she was maintaining a good rythme. With the sole goal of getting safely to the finish in Sham El Sheik she wasn’t too concerned about her overall position.

As long as she got into the bivouac at a reasonable time every evening and managed to squeeze in enough sleep to start reasonably fresh the next day she was happy.

It all started to unravel for Patsy however on the first day of the only marathon stage on the rally. Normally competitors can rely on their assistance to service their vehicles while they get some rest but at least once every Dakar the organisers send the assistance on to the next bivouac forcing the competitors to fend for themselves.

With a solid grounding in motorcycle mechanics and equipped with everything she might need to fix her bike Patsy set off not unduely worried about the two days ahead of her. Just 50 km into the stage however quiet confidence turned to serious concern when she fell heavily and hurt her knee. Unable to stand up on the bikes pegs and therefore unable to fully control it she finally struggled into the bivouac at ten at night.

“While I was out in the desert I didn’t dare to stop and look to see how bad my knee was, it was only when I got to the bivouac that I realised that my knee was actually cut open to the bone. At first I was relunctant to go to the doctors fearing they’d put me out of the race but eventually I was persuaded by friends and the flow of blood that I had no choice. Fortunately for me there was a woman doctor on duty and she did a fantastic job cleaning the wound and patching me up with 14 stitches.”

With her knee bandaged up Patsy then had to work on her bike late into the night before she could finally grab a couple of hours sleep prior to restarting the second leg of the marathon stage.

“The next day was really tough. The doctor had bandaged me up so I could just about move my knee but it was extremely painful and made riding the bike very difficult. To make matters worse we were riding over talcam powder fine sand that swirled around us in the strong following wind and was thrown up in blinding billows every time a four wheel drive thundered past us. It was like riding the whole day in a choking fog, there were moments when I thought I would never make it back to the bivouac. By the time I finally did it was after midnight, I was completely and utterly exhausted.”

Fortunately Patsy’s husband was there to welcome her and in her tearful state gave her some badly needed moral support but the downward spiral of injury and fatigue that every Dakar competitor dreads was starting to bite.

Patsy’s goal now became to to survive the next gruelling three days to make it to the rest day in Siwa. She desperately needed the recuperation and knew that if she could make it to the oasis she had every chance of she realising her dream of finishing the toughest race in the world.

“The day’s that followed my knee injury were some of the hardest I have ever known. I was getting in a later and later each night and starting each morning more and more exhausted.

Sleeping in the bivouac is a nightmare, with mechanics working under bright lights on the bikes, car and trucks all night, hundreds of generators pumping away, not knowing which way to lie to relieve my injuries and my mind racing from the days riding and concern for the next day I was finding it harder and harder to get the essential rest I needed.

Not being able to ride the bike properly meant that I wasn’t racing but merely surviving from one mile to the next, but as I started the last day before the rest day I was convinced I could make it.”