After rain comes sunshine.
A rainy evening. A rainy night. A damp morning. It was the harbinger of an edition of the Ténéré Travel Trophy (TTT) that was almost the opposite of the first edition in terms of weather conditions and associated challenges.
The morning of June 10, 2024 marked the start of the first stage of the TTT. The participants had luck packing their camping gear. It was fairly dry, but the clouds in the distance were a wet harbinger for the stage.
Photo: Greg Vandevyver
As a crew member you may have advantages and disadvantages. A disadvantage is that you do not have the opportunity to ride the same route with a motorcycle as the participants. An advantage is that you sit nice and dry and warm in the bus on the way to the end point of the stages.
The first stage was completely paved for the participants, but it went via the famous Grossglockner mountain pass. The thought alone was enviable, but from the bus we also regularly had beautiful views of the Austrian Alps.
Based on footage from the participants, the Yamaha crew and the TTT photographer (Greg vande Vyver) and videographer (Stefan Klabunde / Rugged Frames), the Grossglockner was a real challenge. For the first part of the mountain pass, visibility was very limited due to literally low-hanging clouds and the weather gods decided to drop a fair amount of water. Fortunately for the participants, there was more visibility on a small part of the pass. Only they were already quite rained out while we were nice and warm in the bus.
The finish of the first stage was at the Anderwald campsite bordering Lake Faaker See in Austria. It didn't take long before the clouds dropped copious amounts of water here too and some of the participants had to flee the camping field because it was flooded. It was a wonderful feel-good moment. The next morning we found out that the participants in question had spent the night in the large games room on the first floor of the main building of the campsite. While cleaning up, they even took the vacuum cleaner into their hands. Awesome guys!
Photo: Greg Vandevyver
The morning was also the departure for the second stage. The border was crossed into Slovenia. It didn't take long before the route became challenging for the participants due to yet another lot of falling water. During this stage they had the opportunity to ride both paved and unpaved paths. But what a beautiful country! Slovenia, a country with a very varied landscape. From beautiful forests to mountains and lakes. The feeling of peace and space was almost overwhelming.
We also had a challenge as a crew. Arriving at the Plana & Bar 66 campsite, we had to wait until there was a gap between showers before we could build up Ténéré Town. Eventually it became dry and both we, the crew and the participants were able to enjoy the last rays of sunshine, a delicious dinner, great music and the fantastic mutual atmosphere.
On to the next stages!
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