The extreme mid-afternoon heat in the middle of summer would normally be a deterrent to outdoor activities of any kind. 

It would take a human being of considerable will power and determination to leave the comfort of their air conditioned  homes and brave the dashboard melting heat out in the middle of the desert. Well, it seems that we have such superhumans amongst us. They call them – The Dune Crawlers.

Our Juniors were so eager to hit the sand that they completed tire deflation and had flags mounted well in advance of the scheduled start time.

Almost immediately after entering the desert the convoy achieved a smooth and well paced flow, and our second lead (Rathica) and sweeper (Sujith) kept it that way. The sand on today’s drive had a texture that was unfamiliar to many of our Juniors who started their offroad journey in summer. It was wet from the previous night’s rain despite more than 8 hours of blistering heat today. Wet sand is less forgiving when cornering and increases the risk of pop out – which we got to witness  later in the drive . As with all my drives so far, the technical area claimed some casualties. This time around, it took the form of two pop outs and a stuck which our sweeper managed admirably.

We soon navigated away from the treacherous technical area and found ourselves in side sloping heaven. Long rows of high dunes that were.just waiting to be imprinted upon by the Dune Crawlers. The total silence of this area was shattered by the roar of the ten vehicles in our convoy and the  voice of our second lead commanding the convoy – “catch up, catch up…push your cars….let those engines scream so that you can really enjoy these slopes”. And the convoy replied in kind. Up, down and straight across every obstacle I threw at them. These guys were unstoppable. Three hours into the drive they were as focused as they were at the start, if not more so.

Alas, all good things must come to an end. The end of this drive was a perfect salute to the setting sun – ten sweat drenched, exhausted offroaders bowing to the setting sun as they inflated their tires.

If the Dune Crawlers never want to see another side slope again, that would be perfectly understandable. But my gut tells me that… they all want more