Rallye Aicha des gazelles its a wrap!

Thanks to Tim for putting this blog up for me and I'm sorry I didn't post anything till now.

being in the desert with the camels was a life time adventure that I will never forget. Marie-France and I had a blast.
When I left for this adventure I didn't know M-F at all . So for me to go there as a women and not an athlete was already a challenge but on top of that I was with someone that I didn't know.
I can not tell you how grateful I am to Marie France to have done this with me. I can be a pain sometimes..! She was always there for me no matter what and I really appreciated every minute we spent together. Sometimes, you have friends that you will maybe spend a couple hours with in your life time well we are already like sisters!

Morocco was a first for me and what can I say...what a wonderful country and people. They want to share everything they have and they don't have much..they are very friendly , helpful and smiling. Do you know your neighbors? Do you try to get to know them? What about the cashier at the grocery store? Do you buy cookies for the girls scouts? Do you say hi when you cross someone on the side walk? I realised that there is so much around us in America that the most important things like love , simplicity, smiling, joy and friendship are most of the time pushed back.... They can't , they need each others...what about us?

I want to go back and bring clothing, shoes, anything to give them. They are wonderful and they gave me another perspective on life.

It's not until you are there that you can really feel how it is and even then...

The rallye was great but everything beside the rallye was even better.
till the next adventure you can follow me on my lynebessette.blogspot.com

la vie

Today life was very good to me.

I think that in the last couple of years, I have met great people that could've been my friends... but I didn't let them.
I need friends . We all do. I want another chance...for friendship.

Getting on the Boat

Seasick? 

That's what Lyne and Marie-France do when they get on a boat usually, so the dramamine is being called in big-time. They were told today that 90% of the people on the boat trip last year spent a considerable amount of time hanging off the side. 36hrs in a rough Mediterranean Sea doesn't sound too appealing.

I just spoke to Lyne this morning and they're ready to get on the boat and take their chances. They've got most of the stickers on the truck and have bought a few last minute things while in France. Lyne said that while picking up the truck near Albertville yesterday that she was aching to get on a bike and ride. It was sunny and warm and the Alps were beautiful so it was hard to keep driving south towards the coast. It's a different trip for Lyne in many ways, she's been to Europe a couple dozen times now and it's always been because of a bike. This is a great transition from years of competing at a high level, down to road-tripping with a friend little responsibility as to where and when she needs to be.

The Gazelles website has made "La Poste" available to send messages to the racers. Here's the link to where you can send something to 4X4 Team #100. They'll get the messages each day when they get to the overnight stops. Mom, go ahead, wear out that printer that the organization brought out to the desert!

I'll get some photos going on here sometime soon...

Tim

PS. Good luck girls!

Almost to the boat

Look at that, there have been 5 people who checked out the site. Wow. I'm amazed it's that much!

Here's a link to the official "Team Videotron" Website. This is all in french but will have pics and other info from the girls when they're racing. Should be good.

I spoke to Marie-France's husband, Ben, today and chatted about the trip in general. Besides the usual husband grumbling that's inevitable when your wife has just packed for a 3-week trip in the desert, it was really great to talk to him. It sounds like he's got a very good handle on the whole operation and unlike me, he's got a couple little ones to take care of at home, alone! Makes me feel a little bad if I have a hard time here at home myself...

Here's a pic from home so that Lyne can check out the kid in her element

Here's a bit of Lyne's email this morning:

we are at the truck place now awesome pick up with big tires!!!

we stoped in grenoble yesterday and I just wish i had my bike ...we dint make it to annecy;

we are ready to get to morocco.

i will call you today thanks for the blog thats awesome thanks to everyone for following our adventure

There you go. 

Tim

First one

I started this blog for Lyne so that she can tell a little bit of her story from the Rallye...Who knows if she can get the 'techie stuff' going and keep us in the loop!

First off, Lyne and her teammate, Marie-France Charette are Team #100 in the Rallye Aicha des Gazelles which starts on March 19th in Erfoud, Morocco. That place is really in the middle of nowheresville, but I guess that the whole race will take place in nowheresville's general area.

Right now, Lyne and Marie-France are picking up the truck that they'll be driving in the race outside of Albertville, France and then heading down to Sete, France to meet up with the rest of the race's entourage. It's a pretty big operation with a few hundred vehicles and upwards of a thousand people in total. 8 days of ripping around the deserts of Morocco takes a lot of resources to keep things moving.

Here's what Lyne had to say this morning:

had delays from montreal then missed our connection in casablanca and
spent all day at the airport until 5pm
but took a hotel in marseille and pushed everything back one day
...everything is very smooth
marie is great.
she said to tell you that im not a
bad traveller. we had 3 seats for ourself to casablanca from montreal so
that was good. going to get the rental car this morning and then
driving to albertville.
the phone had no coverage yesterday but i will get a phone card to
call. its 15 celcius here in france and sunny.

So there we go.