I'm not sure when I signed up for a two-week ride in Tunisia, a country that's smack-dab between Libya and Algeria on the northern coast of the African continent. That was because I was told the GS Trophy would be, "about a week long," and when I saw my plane ticket I was pinging. This was all I knew about the event other than to bring some toothpaste and energy bars.
So the GS Trophy was fashioned after the Land Rover- and Jeep-style Eco-Challenge events and you never really know what's going to happen and what you'll be required to do. It turned out to be teams from different countries with a mix of journalists and regular BMW owners chosen through selection processes in each country. We all met up in Milan, Italy, rode to Genoa then boarded a ferry, and arrived in Africa for 10 days of all the northern-most portion of the Sahara could sink us with. Mostly camping and followed by Dakar-style support trucks, we trudged through the sand on BMW's newest adventure bike, the F 800 GS. More of a streetbike than anything, it made even simple off-roading challenging and quickly put a lot of riders in their place in the sand. What ensued was a slow convoy of crashes, clashes and camaraderie with the American team of Jason Adams, Jon Beck, Ryan Dudek, Brad Hendry, Jim Stoddard and myself taking a victory in the inaugural event over teams from Japan, Spain, Italy and Germany.
What follows is a photo essay to give you a feel for the event. For the test on the BMW F 800 GS, check out www.DirtRider.com.