2025 AIS-5 Quintuple Quest, Tue January 21, 2025

Early to Labé, Guinea

We have another border crossing into Guinea. The last one took a long time, so we got an early start. At 8:00am we started worrying about the front tire on the Desert X. Will it blow out on the highway? We searched Tambacounda for a tire without success, then decided to push on towards the border and see if we can find something at the vulcanizer there. Rolling at around noon. So much for the early start.

We passed easily out of Senegal at 2:13pm, only about a half hour for the exit processing.

But, the entry back into Guinea was not as smooth. We were at the border at 2:30pm and all the guards were having lunch. They (politely) invited us to join them, but we didn't want to eat all their food, so we waited for them to finish. It was getting hot, like 39°C hot. At 4:35pm, we are finally free to go. About 2 hours to get back into Guinea as a small group of 7 bikes with no support vehicles. Not much faster.

Now we have 290 km of bad roads and 5.5 hrs to Labé. That means, best case, arrival at 10pm and we know how bad the roads are. Sh*t! This is going to be some fun. I keep pressing on while the others take a break. I'd rather ride slower, with less rest breaks. Especially in the dark where my eyesight is crap. Slow and steady wins the race.

The dirt begins 83 km from Labé and it ends 21 km later with 64 km of good road remaining. I got to the beginning of the dirt at 7:05pm while there was still a trace of light in the sky and finished the 21 km of dirt in 40 minutes averaging ~30 kph or maybe 19 mph. On my way, I saw a support van tending to a down motorcycle. Later, I would find out it was that same Italian guy we saw 5 days ago in Tambacounda. This time he broke his leg and tore the crank-case of his motorcycle open when his chain broke.

I'm worried about fuel. I've been on empty (not flashing yet) since before the dirt. I have 64 km to go and I think I can do 80 km after it starts flashing, but I haven't seen any fuel for sale in Guinea. We bought 2 liters from a road-side stand a while back. I think it will be just enough to make it to Labé but it sure makes me nervous.

I arrived in town at around 9:10pm, well before the others. Turns out they had a tire failure on Kwasi's Ducati and had to leave the bike with some strangers in the dark on the dirt road. I'll bet Kwasi is nervous about leaving a $30,000 bike with strangers in the dark.

The hotel proprietor rode me on his 125cc bike a few blocks to a nearby house as the hotel was booked. Then he went and got me some food. I was eating dinner at 10:08pm. I don't remember when the others arrived. I think it was around midnight.

Day 12, Tambacounda to Labé

Ride Log