For more stories about Pierre’s rally period, we went to visit Bert Duursma in Twello, in the Dutch province of Gelderland. Bert is known for his former motorcycle store in Apeldoorn and rally school. So it was not surprising that Pierre and Bert met in 2006 during the Alto Turia rally in Spain.
It clicked and as a result plans were made for a collaboration in which Pierre would ride the Heroes Legend rally in 2007 and 2008 on a bike supplied by Bert, an alternative trip from Paris to Dakar. This would be followed by the original Dakar rally (in Argentina) in 2009.
Again, we learned more about Pierre and the gravity of rally riding, especially the Dakar or equivalent races. What it asks of participants physically, mentally and technically and how special it is, once again, that ‘Pepe’ still did this several times at an advanced age.
Pierre next to the BMW on which he rode Paris Dakar in 2009.
