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.

Hitting soft sand can be like...

Hitting soft sand can be like hitting a curb.

Hotel Team USA, where the...

Hotel Team USA, where the flies find you no matter how far out in the desert you are.

The sand in Tunisia is soft....

The sand in Tunisia is soft. Especially on a twin-cylinder street pseudo-dirt bike. Most of the challenges we faced were speed-based on the bike, which made it easy for our team. We had three pro-level riders.

Mechanicals on all of the...

Mechanicals on all of the bikes amounted to a couple of flat tires and a smoked clutch.

The Dakar-style chase trucks...

The Dakar-style chase trucks transported luggage and spare parts.

Team Japan in action formation...

Team Japan in action formation flying a set of dunes called "The Doors."