Camp RZR UAE wrapped up on Saturday leaving the camp to the cleanup crew Sunday. We found out the machines would still be around so RJ, Brian from Walker Evans and myself decided we should peel back out to the dunes and go get some good old fashioned dune bashing out of the way! What we found when we arrived was a lineup of freshly prepped XP1000 RZRs and a gazillion miles of Dunes that were empty and ready for us to shred. It was like we had just sat down to an all you can eat dune buffet and we were STARVING!
What took place for the next 4 hours would be some of the most fun we would ever have behind the wheel of a UTV. We emptied the tanks, rolled a few beads and ate tons of roost from one another. At one point Brian, RJ and I pretty much raced each other through an improvised dune MX track that could never be duplicated.
We banged doors, touched tires, skyed jumps, hit the bumps and tore the lips off of some of the freshest dunes we had ever seen. It was truly a free-ride free-for-all and we got every ounce of fun out of those RZRs that one could get. Belts got hot, goggles got sand blasted, and our faces hurt from the smiles that were spread across our cheeks for those 4 hours. There wasn’t a care in the world once the throttle was smashed, we only drove to impress ourselves, to see just how hard we could push and to find the ultimate line.
This session was the closest thing to a true surf or skate session one could have in an off-road machine. 3 buddies pushing the limits of their driving skills and their machines swarming the terrain to be the first to try something and then once someone hit a line the next would attempt to do it better, faster, harder. To session is to push and one up each other with each turn, each roost, and each dune we would discover. We were like 3 kids hopped up on Mountain Dew, strapped to the ultimate toy and set free in a sand box. We pushed each other, we high-fived, we debated, and we laughed.
I hope everyone who reads this has the opportunity to enjoy this sensation of freedom and danger. You know you are on the edge of disaster with every turn and every unknown dune transition at full speed yet you feel so much confidence in yourself, your machine and the guys around you that you feel no fear. Fear at this point does not exist, the only thing that does exist is the will to push the skinny pedal and see just how hard you can make this machine corner or fly.
It was a session I will not soon forget. As I grow old and surely lose my desire to take chances I will always look back onto this free-ride session in Al Badayer Dunes outside of Dubai as one of the highlights of my career. 3 friends made through a sport that has taken me places I never fathomed possible. Just 3 American dudes in Dubai having the times of their lives, not a care in the world, no bad days…
We have had these sessions in Glamis and on the race track, but never had we raced 3 wide across a barron dry lake bed through the center of a herd of Camels. At one point I raised my fist up in the air as we ran wide open, as if I was signaling a charge, leading an army of 3 off-road maniacs into one of the coolest non-deadly battles of all time. We came, we saw, we conquered….
Joey D.
Photos by Vincent Knakal // UTVUnderground.com – Mad Media
