“We've all become brothers”

Mo Hart is one of five hardy souls lining up for the American Rally Originals at Dakar 2023. Their goal is to become the first bikers from the US to compete the punishing Original by Motul class, and Mo is one of the most experienced members of the team. The 47-year-old has been riding since 2008, although he only started competing properly at the Baja Rally in 2015. A self-confessed adrenaline junkie, his first love is sailing; he works as a network engineer and chase boat driver, and around 20 years ago he came close to reaching the Olympics with the US Sailing Team. That dream never quite materialised, so Mo is now hoping to scale another kind of sporting Everest by taming the world's toughest rally. He admits he is by no means the fastest of the ARO riders, but thinks his steady and consistent style is well-suited to the Dakar, and could prove beneficial for the team. Having worked on his physical preparation and the suspension setup of his KTM, Mo is confident he can now achieve his goal of standing on that finishers’ podium in Dammam.

“I'm a bit of an adrenaline junkie. I'm into all kinds of sports, and rally-raid is what I'm doing right now. I spent eight years trying to qualify for the Olympics, and I was on the US Sailing Team for five of them, but I never made it to the big show in Sydney or Athens. For me, this Dakar could be a bit of… I don't want to say redemption, I just want to accomplish the goal. I want to be one of the first Americans to get to the finish line in malle-moto. And if I can help some of my guys by being the slower, consistent rider, that'll be fine. I met all of the ARO guys through rally-raid in North America, and we've all become brothers. We've all been there for each other over the years. I've been racing rally for longer than all of these guys, so I've watched them coming into the sport. I'm the veteran. I had a bike when I was a kid, but it never went anywhere, literally! I was a late bloomer, so I don't have the engrained skill set some of these guys do. I got back into riding in 2008. I started out with dual sport riding, point-to-point stuff where you go from one town to another. But it was never competitive. My first race was the Baja Rally in 2015. I feel very privileged to have gotten an entry for Dakar, and I feel more ready than I've ever been. I've been working on my suspension a lot, getting better in the sand. If I'd tried to do the Dakar in 2016, there's no way it would have been a success. I’ve been fine-tuning my whole programme so I can get to the finish. I’ve been working on reducing fatigue, so after a 300 or 400-kilometre day it doesn’t feel like I’ve covered that distance. I have to take the fatigue out of the bike, and that takes some people behind me. The suspension change was thanks to a guy on the medical sweep team at Sonora, an ex-military paramedic called Kent Kroeker. He saw me riding in the sand and said, ‘You need help’. It has completely transformed my riding, and I feel like I'm in a good place. I’ve reduced the fatigue and the pain in my wrists and joints. I feel ready.”