Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, my world right now is much smaller, bleaker, and more uncertain than it was just a week ago. Having made it back home to Vilnius, Lithuania; I am currently in fourteen-day quarantine as the country enters total lockdown. Phrases like “social distancing”, “flatten the curve”, and “self-isolation” have replaced destination hashtags and Facebook statuses of “Traveling to…” Europe has become the epicenter of the pandemic and we are all essentially in lock down or quarantine until further notice.

While the uncertainty is unsettling and the news disturbing, I realize I am still in a very privileged position; I’m in a comfy hotel room, I can order food and groceries online, and I can still work. Someone said to me the other day, “you adventure riders are coping with this really well – I guess as world travelers, you’re kind of always on alert and always ready to deal with problems head-on.” I think they were right, ADV riders are indeed a resilient crowd. At the same time, we have never faced anything like this before and I worry about riders who are currently stranded in foreign countries.

Still; if we can’t ride and travel right now, at least we can still talk about adventures. So in the hopes of sharing some ADV goodness, I’m going to travel back in time a little and review Hispania Rally, the first large European rally race I have had the honor to survive this year.

• A Desert in Europe

Hispania Rally, held annually in Andalucía, Spain; is a young rally race. 2020 marks its third edition, attracting over 180 competitors from all over the world. While the SSV and quad classes were relatively small, the motorcycle crowds were much bigger, with several different classes including Adventure and M6 (large capacity motorcycles) available to riders of different capabilities and expectations.

As is the theme with larger European rally races, there were a few pro and semi-pro riders at Hispania; such as Dakar vet Joan Pedrero (who, unsurprisingly, won the rally). For the serious competitors, rallies like Hispania make for perfect training ground. An abundance of really fast tracks combined with decent roadbook navigation is a fantastic way to test your bike, equipment, and your own shape before the large races and the desert rallies later on in the year. In addition, Hispania Rally routes cross the stunning Gorafe Desert at the very edge of Granada: a breath-taking desert region of dry riverbeds, sandy trails, endless fast tracks, and canyon trails carving up the Arizona-like red rock formations.

For amateur riders like myself, Hispania is a challenge - a way to push our own limits, and to get a taste of a rally race. Stretched over 5 days, Hispania Rally was to cover some 1,200 kilometers of dirt, sand, and rocks, throwing us all right into the deep end.

According to the Hispania Rally organizer Domingo Aguilar, Hispania is young but growing fast. “Our task as organizers is to make this rally challenging enough for the pros, but manageable enough for first-timers and amateurs. We hope we have fulfilled this goal”, Domingo told me.

• Let the Games Begin

Having done only one FIM-licensed rally race, last year’s Hellas Rally, I was full of nerves and excitement as I showed up at the rally bivouac on the outskirts of Guadix, a curious little Andalusian town near the Gorafe. Unfortunately, Hispania Rally did not get the last-minute FIM approval, but this was still going to be challenge enough. I’d hoped I was a little better-prepared this time; instead of my old DR650, I was going to race on a KTM450 provided kindly by Manuel Vitoria, owner of the Club Adventura Tuareg racing team. I had met Manuel the previous year at Hellas and I vividly remember him and his wife always having a kind word for me despite me being a useless newbie.

The Hispania Rally bivouac felt like home this time. Seeing many familiar faces and chatting to riders, mechanics, and support teams I’d met at Hellas and other events was a huge morale boost; I wasn’t alone anymore as I wandered about the bivouac checking other people’s bikes out and sharing beers.

My KTM450 was waiting for me at the Aventura Tuareg paddock, and I promptly named it "Diego." I always name my bikes, even rentals, and I thought Diego would bring me luck as this was the name of a motorcycle friend of mine back in Ecuador.

This time around I noticed more women riders in the bivouac too. Yael Moses, an Israeli rider, and I had teamed up to share Airbnb costs and I noticed Russian rider Ekaterina Zhadanova, Spaniard Esther Merino, and Austrian Tanja Willman at the camp. Scot Lauren Wright was to try her mojo in the M6 class for large capacity motorcycles.

Feeling like I was part of one big family of two-wheeled maniacs rather than an utterly clueless newbie; I spent the day going through scrutineering, getting the technical checks done, and receiving my racing number; lucky 68.

• The Race Is On

Day One began with a 200-kilometer special, and the buzz at the starting Red Bull arch was palpable. With the morning sun glaring on our goggles, we left the bivouac one by one to ride a short liaison stage to the start of the special. Diego felt heavenly; this was a very different kind of beast compared to my DR650 and I began feeling like maybe, just maybe, I might not only survive this, but also have stupid fun in the process.

After the special stage start, Yael and I stuck together for the most part, chasing each other down the dry riverbeds and the fast tracks running off into the distant horizon; the snowy peaks of the Sierra Nevada looming in the distance. As we rode, I couldn’t help but stare at the surreal landscape surrounding us. Europe is wonderful in many ways, but what we don’t have here is scenery a la Death Valley. Yet here at the Gorafe Desert, we were traversing a strange red and white country of canyons, sandy patches, and rock formations I’d only seen in Arizona and Utah. Navigation here was a little trickier, there seemed to be countless little tracks crisscrossing each other at every dozen miles or so. With a few navigation mistakes here and there but keeping up a decent pace we made it to the finish line.

As we rode the liaison back to the bivouac, I was singing in my helmet. I was tired and sunburnt, but grinning from ear to ear. Not only did I finish the entire special stage, I did it in an OK time, too. No more unmet time limits and slow speeds – I felt that here at Hispania I was finally racing, not just surviving.

• Carpe Diem

Day Two of Hispania saw us tackling a longer 300km distance, and this time the faster riders got a chance to really open up the throttle. The special stage was comprised of almost exclusively long, fast flowing tracks, and we felt like we were flying across the beautiful, serene countryside with blossoming almond trees and olive groves dotting the land.

Day Three, however, turned our world upside down. Alberto Martinez, a Spanish rider known to us all as Albertito, had tragically died that day on the highway. Alberto was finishing a liaison stage when he hit a broken-down car that had swerved into the middle of the highway at full speed. He passed away instantly.

When the news came, the Hispania bivouac descended into deafening silence. Unfinished roadbooks, discarded scrolls, the deflated starting arch and the grief-stricken faces marked Day Three of the rally. I know we were all thinking of Albertito and his motto – carpe diem – during the heavy minute of silence.

Day Three stages were cancelled, but on Day Four we lined up at the start again. A rally isn’t over until it’s over and we left the bivouac again, this time with heavy hearts and Albertito on our minds accompanying a feverish determination to keep on riding. A shorter but slightly more technical stage was fatiguing; after a bad fall my leg was in pain and I struggled to stand on the pegs. Still, we all came back to the rally bivouac in one piece that day.

Day Five, the final stage of the Hispania Rally, saw us all tired and weary, but determined to finish the rally. As I left for the start of the special, my left leg throbbed and my wrists ached with stiffness; all I could think about was the finish podium in front of the Guadix Cathedral. I knew that Diego could make it; this machine was built for rallies and with Manuel’s encouraging words and advice each day at the Tuareg paddock, I knew the bike would get me over the finish line as long as I had it in me. Did I have it in me?

Covered in sweat, grime, dust, and sand; my eyes red, my face sunburnt; I couldn’t believe it when I saw the red and white Hispania Rally banners at the special stage finish. Somehow I’d made it; a complete rally amateur, a rider usually at the back of the pack. Here I was, rolling through that finish arch in Guadix, shaking hands with the organizers, the staff, and the other riders. I came in 4^th in the women’s category, 55^th in the M3 class, and 112^th overall. In the big picture, it’s right towards the end of the herd. For me it was victory.

• The Amateur Rally Races

The rally racing scene is exploding in Europe right now, and even the Coronavirus is powerless to stop it. Hispania Rally is an ideal event for those who want to kick off the season with an easier five-day event as opposed to throwing themselves right into the deep end with Hellas, Serres, or the large desert rallies later in the season. Hispania Rally can be challenging enough if you’re aiming for a good result, but it is also manageable and welcoming enough to adventure riders who want to try rally racing for the first time.

Thinking back to those glorious five days of riding, racing, and connecting with other riders; I suddenly feel claustrophobic in my hotel room. The quarantine, the lock down, the closed down borders; it all adds to the sense of unease, especially as it is now impossible to plan anything ahead. Is this thing going to be over in a few weeks? Few months? We don’t know.

So for now, I’m not planning anything but to sit it out here in Lithuania and work on my bike to prepare it for Hellas – just in case.

If there is anything certain right now, it’s that in March 2021, I will be at the Hispania Rally again.

Eglė Gerulaitytė is a motorcycle adventurer and writer currently traveling around the world slowly and discovering new places, stories, coffee, and rallies. She’s dreaming about going from a rally chaser to racer one day, and in the meantime, she and her Suzuki DR650 are slowly making their way towards the African continent. ADVtoRally.com