‘Ride for Life’, the raid organized by Riders for Health and Yamaha to support health workers in Africa by giving them means of tough and reliable transport has successfully reached its finish line in Marrakech. Ride for Life started in Paris, on May 4th 2010 where Yamaha Dakar legend David Fretigné kicked off the ride. Followed by Franco Picco and Stéphane Peterhansel they took the Super Ténérés as far as Lisbon, Portugal passing by Toulouse and Madrid.

From Lisbon on it was up to seven privileged customers to take over. Together with Helder Rodrigues - 4th in the 2010 Dakar Rally - they rode from the Portuguese capital down to the North African coast.
 
The raid went through all type of terrains and weathers. It started off with sunshine in Paris which quickly turned into rain and snow in the Massif Central. It encountered sunshine and fog in the Pyrenees and North Portugal. It crossed the choppy waters of Gibraltar to get some warmth in the Moroccan sand dunes and to finally cross the extraordinary Atlas Mountains to reach its end destination: Marrakech, the red city. It was here that on May 17th Yamaha and the 7 selected customers donated the 5 Super Ténérés to Riders for Health.
 
This is the story of their adventure:

Seven total strangers. Seven brand new Super Ténéré motorcycles. One 2100km ride from Lisbon to Marrakech. All in six days. The mission? To deliver five new Super Ténéré bikes to an African representative of Riders for Health. The reason?  To save lives.
 
Riders for Health was co-founded back in the late eighties by Barry and Andrea Coleman and Randy Mamola, so it was fitting that the ex GP racer would kick start the event together with Yamaha’s representatives at the official press conference on 12th May from Lisbon’s prestigious Fontana Park Hotel.
 
Millions of people in rural Africa die from treatable diseases, others fail to receive adequate care and medicines simply because the health care workers in their region don’t have enough support. Each carer can be responsible for up to 20,000 people, spread out across 300km of the country’s toughest terrain. Access to patients is limited to walking and using unreliable public transport. It’s an extremely ineffective way to deal with the huge number of HIV and TB sufferers as blood tests results are often destroyed by the searing heat, vibrations from unsuitable vehicles like buses and push bikes or simply from the length of time each journey takes. Reliable, capable transport is the absolute key to saving lives, and with Yamaha’s Ride for Life campaign delivering five Super Ténérés to the charity’s one year old project in Zambia, the waiting time for blood test results will be slashed from a dangerously late four months to a far more productive two or three days. Powered two wheelers are the perfect solution to the travel problem as they offer the freedom and capability to tackle the roughest routes. Most of Rider’s existing bikes are lightweight with small capacity engines. These larger Super Ténérés will be used for the longer trips to and from clinics. And up to forty blood samples can be transported at once, suspended in a specially designed back pack. That’s forty lives potentially rescued in each 50km journey. So far, Riders is estimated to have reached out to over 10.8 million people over the last twenty years with 221 four wheeled vehicles and 1092 motorcycles. Yamaha have now added to that number with five brand new Super Ténérés, destined to carry hope to the Chadiza District in the Eastern Province of Zambia.
 
Randy Mamola and Dakar star Helder Rodrigues joined the seven competition winners who were selected from hundreds of hopefuls keen to join the adventure. Each entrant was asked to complete a series of questions, ranging from their biking experience to date, their yearly mileage, current motorcycle and knowledge of the Riders for Health organisation. Finally, they had to explain in fifty words or less why they should be the first to ride the new Super Ténéré. After whittling down the applicants, seven were chosen; Jonathan Geoffrey from the UK, Yiannis Fanourakis from Greece, Germany’s Wolfram Fees, Spanish Javier Lavernia, Alain Antal from France, Tijn Den Hartog from the Netherlands and Davide Biga from Italy. All seven were joined on the first leg of the trip by Randy who led them 530km to the evening’s rest stop in Jerez.
 
After a brisk morning’s first ride through Evora’s protected landscape, the team arrived at Aracena for lunch. Each of the seven winners had settled into the rhythm of the ride and despite his many legendary biking achievements, Randy Mamola embraced this adventure as if it were his first.
Unable to resist the temptation of power wheelies for the camera, Randy told the crew that no matter how many years he spends riding bikes, or how much he has achieved in doing so, each ride still brings new experiences, makes new friends and offers a different perspective. That’s why motorcycles evoke so much passion. That’s why Riders for Health was born in his paddock and the charity belongs to bikers all over the world. The afternoon showed emerald green lakes flanking the road to Nerva and blood red rivers in Rio Tinto lining the base of huge mounds of earth that had been carved away in the mining process. Iron stained the exposed soil in great layers of oranges and golds, poisoning it with a beautiful toxic blend of minerals. The sweeping curves stretched out towards the motorway and the homestretch to Jerez, where Randy would join the group for a farewell dinner before waving them off in the morning.
 
The second riding day began with a short sprint to the ferry, but as with all true adventures, things didn’t go according to plan. The choppy two hour crossing to Tanger turned a few of the riders a distinctive shade of pale green. And once on dry land, officialdom and endless red-tape slowed their progress for several hours, until the paperwork was finally stamped and approved and the team were allowed access into Africa. Waiting so long at the boarder meant the riders peeled off towards Fes as the day drew to a close. Strangers littering the roadsides waved at the two wheeled procession like old friends, united by motorcycles and the spirit of exploration. And as the night closed in, the small convoy eventually arrived at the hotel, just in time for a delicious evening supper.
 
The next morning gave everybody a taste of what was to come. The view over Fes was incredible and the temperature had all the riders removing jacket linings in favour of lightweight neck scarves and gloves. 450 km of switch backs and long sweepers lay ahead and every corner signalled a change in scenery. On one side, rich golden brown mountain ranges faded into soft yellows and purples which stretched away over the horizon. On the other, snow capped mountains with white peaks poked the pale blue skies. It was impossible to predict what nature would offer next, rich greenery, bright blue lakes or colourful towns.
 
Children ran to the bikes at every stop, hands outstretched, eyes hopeful for pennies and sweets. It was a world away from European life, where clothes are washed mechanically, not in nearby streams. In our world, grandmothers can rest and enjoy their retirements, not carry great bundles of grass on their backs to feed the family donkey. The difference between the cultures was as stark as the changes in landscape. The two wheeled procession weaved along under the gaze of the draw dropping Atlas Mountains towards Merzouga, where the Super Ténérés left asphalt and ventured off road. After a few kilometres of riding into apparently nowhere, the black rough ground began to soften. Sprawling deep sand led to the foot of the Erg Echibbi dunes, which stretch across thirty kilometres in width for around nine kilometres into the distance towards Algeria and the eventual expanse of the Sahara Desert. Cosy bivouacs were arranged in a semi circle at the foot of the dunes, and as the motorcade was welcomed with traditional music and mint tea, each rider was given their own private quarters to shower and change for the evening’s dinner and entertainment.
 
The desert’s complete silence ensured the group were well rested and ready to push on for the fourth riding day towards Ouarzazate. As Helder Rodrigues put his stock Super Ténéré through its paces in the dunes, a group of children appeared as if by magic, selling newspaper-wrapped trinkets and gemstones, in any language you choose, with any currency perfectly acceptable.
 
The day’s shorter ride was ‘just’ 350 km, complete with yet more stunning backdrops. Sand dunes disappeared into the distance and endless white tipped mountains continuously pierced the heavens. Villages were lined with brightly coloured scarves for sale and locals weaved through the streets on tatty bicycles. Most of the women were covered from head to toe in black ‘Nekabs’ and a few even carried their babies on their backs, hidden away beneath the folds of the fabric. Lone walkers paced themselves in the heat, miles from any recognisable civilisation. And the previous encounters with stray kamikaze dogs and the odd monkey hardly seemed worth worrying about when the present hazards were scabby camels loitering in the middle of the road, way too big for a Super Ténéré to argue with.
A gorge was lined on one side with a stunning rock formation, aptly named Monkey Paw (or Tiger Paw depending on who you ask.)  It looked like God had carved great fat fingers into the rock face. And around the corner, the earth was a deep burnt red, the colour you’d expect to find on Mars. After riding for hours, through every imaginable curve and drag-strip straight, the Super Ténéré cavalcade negotiated fresh streams of scooters and push bikes in Ouarzazate to a traditionally styled oasis called the Kasbah Riyadh Hotel Darchamaa.
 
Day five and the caravan of bikes embarked on the final ride to Marrakesh and the ceremonial handing over of the five Super Ténérés that would Ride for Life in Zambia. On the way, the convoy climbed to the top of a hillside to witness what appeared to be a forgotten land, a thought obviously echoed by the locations scouts for the movie Babel staring Brad Pitt. The view seemed quite literally to be of a lost world, born before the dawn of civilisation. It was beautiful. Pressing onwards and upwards, the group stopped at the mountain’s summit for mint tea refreshment and some bartering with local salesmen for pannier- sized souvenirs. 250km later, a bridge on the outskirts of the rambling city crossed a dry river bed, exposing the rubbish and rubble normally hidden in the depths of water. Once across it, the madness of Marrakesh descended. Tourists in horse drawn carriages bravely bared their pale skins in the plus 30 degree heat as their guide negotiated the organised chaos. And in the city’s Djemaa el Fna square, snake charmers, story tellers, food stalls and women offering temporary tattoos all fought for attention and money. The Super Ténéré troop finally arrived at the Hivernage Hotel with mixed emotions.  Everyone was elated that they had made it bubble side up, and each had a grin as wide as the Sahara Desert itself. No one could hide the tinge of disappointment in accepting their fabulous trip had come to an inevitable conclusion. But everyone had a sense of pride in having brought the bikes to Africa to save lives. Lives that needn’t be lost.
 
Cherno Jallow is the African representative of Riders for Health and as he was handed the keys to five Super Ténérés motorcycles, he seemed almost overwhelmed by the generosity of Yamaha and the good will of everyone involved. In addition to Yamaha dedicating the five bikes to the project, the charity will receive enough replacements parts to keep them running for the next three years.
 
Each African rider will also be given extra riding tuition, along with simple but necessary maintenance skills. Reliability is the key to success, so they are taught to care for their bikes with the acronym PLANS; Petrol, Lubricants, Adjustments, Nuts and bolts and the tyres and brakes are checked with ‘Stop’.  Health care is so often taken for granted in Europe, but the villagers in Zambia are not afforded that same luxury. The Super Ténérés will make a huge difference to their world, covering an estimated 1000km every single month. Cherno’s final words summed up Yamaha’s 2010 Ride for Life success. “Your adventure is over, and we thank you for everything you have done to bring us these wonderful bikes. For us now, the adventure is just beginning.”

A video of the Ride for Life Raid can be found here: http://rideforlife.super-tenere.com/

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