N° 229 - TEAM MY WAY POINTS
 - GABARI
- Harite
- MAR
- 01/01/1979
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Harite Gabari: "The advantage of knowing the terrain"
Harite Gabari knows perfectly well that his first Dakar is a bit of a "symbol", like for every other African rider on the 2008 edition. "There are three competitors from Morocco and of course a lot of people speak about us. It changes a lot of things especially for the sponsors. And it’ll booost the federation". But this off-road bike raid organiser who left his job at the shipping docks three years ago to live his passion doesn’t realy have time to theorize on all that. He just has his performance in mind. "For three years now I’ve only been thinking about this race".
Harite is part of one of the only "biking families" in Morocco. "Bikes go from father to son in our family. My father became friends with the first French to move to Agadir. As they rode bikes, he started as well. We would live in the middle of spare parts and watch the Paris-Alger-Dakar rallies on video. During the Dakar, I would go to the bivouacs just to watch". It is probably in this environment that Harite captured his wisdom and speaks of the Dakar as if he had lived several: "It’s a race where you have to ride with your head, at 60% of your capacities. You have to spare yourself, be very careful. And there is no place for improvisation. You are not allowed to get to the bivouac without knowing on what parts of the bike you have to work on". Indeed, Harite for budget reasons will leave with no assistance. He’s not worried: "Knowing the terrain will give me a little advantage. For the dunes, I trained in Essaouira. With the wind, the dunes change all the time. I’m ready". The local hero only wants to "reach Dakar" but he isn’t present just to take part.