From Wearing a Cast to Racing Malle Moto

The Silk Way Rally is a 10-day rally marathon and a stage of the FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship.

- Anastasia Leniova

It starts in Russia and is one of the four longest and toughest rallies in the world alongside the Dakar and Africa Eco Race. The Moto category was introduced in 2019, and the Malle Moto class—named “G-Moto Challenge”—this year.

After two years gaining experience in smaller raÑes, I had a grand plan for the Silk Way Rally in 2021. The start was scheduled for July 1, several days before my 29th birthday, and I intended to do several prep races in May and learn more about bike maintenance before the race. But a stupid mistake in April cost me a displaced fracture of the shoulder and the doctor put me in plaster. I had a choice to either postpone my plan or go for it. Of course, I went with the second option.

PREPS AND RECOVERY

It takes a bureaucracy to run a World Championship stage for the first time without a manager to do the paperwork for you. I had to study FIM regulations, FIM technical rules, Silk Way Rally regulations and rally guide, separate moto regulations, create a competitor profile… and the paperwork just kept coming.

I made endless lists of things that needed doing in order to participate—airbag vest, brackets for navigation devices, the repeater odometer from ERTF, a special set of medicines for the first aid kit, survival kit and so on. Of course, you can’t get any of it in Belarus. So, I was happy about my sick leave; I had the time for reading, ordering things online, and organizing deliveries with the healthy right hand.