The Extremist

You may have seen him in the grassy lots of Fort Bonifacio. With helmet, goggles and body protectors, Max Kienle is hard to miss especially when he snakes through vehicular traffic while standing on the pegs of his high-riding enduro bike.

But in case you have not seen him, don’t get offended when in one of your trips to Pateros or Taguig, you suddenly find this tall guy on a tall motorcycle suddenly cutting your path. Trust us, he is not fooling around. On the contrary, he is in serious training.

Kienle will compete in the Australian Safari international cross country rally from Aug. 24 to Sept. 1. Although Swiss-born, the 55-year-old rider is representing the Philippines which has been his home for more than 20 years now.

Kienle is in tiptop shape, having just finished the Thailand Enduro 2002 last April. He believes that with his training and experience – he has competed in two Paris-Dakar rallyes the past two years – he can make a respectable performance in the 4,312-km Safari.

The 55-year-old furniture maker has been in serious racing for the past 15 years. He started with cars, competing side by side with the best in the local rallye circle. Motorcycle riding was and remains his first love, though. It gives him the freedom and the excitement that no vehicle with four wheels could ever give.

The Dream

Kienle started riding motor bikes when he was growing up in Africa with his father. Riding became his passion in his teenage years when he got a Triumph Bonneville. His love affair with bikes continued even as he joined the elite force of the Swiss Army and finished a degree in mechanical engineering.

In the 1970s, he was sent by an American company to the Philippines to work on the export of copra. The beauty of the country instantly captivated him and he was always on the countryside touring with a bike. When it was time for him to be assigned to another place, he decided to stay. He and his Filipina wife, Grizelda, now have two teenage daughters.

But Kienle continued to engage in biking. One night, as he was about to sleep, he saw an ESPN report of the Paris-Dakar rally, a gruelling test of man and machine on the deserts of Africa. The sight of men riding their bikes on 10,000 of kilometers of sand awakened a dream that had been inside him since his youth. He told his wife he had to join.

"I knew right than that I wouldn’t be stopped. I had to join the Paris-Dakar to prove something to myself," he said.

That was in 2000. He trained for almost a year, bought an Austrian-made KTM 660cc Rallye bike that is specifically designed for the competition, set aside enough money for the entry fee and the daily expenses, and with his family flew to the French capital to pursue his dream.

For 23 days, Kienle rode his bike for at least 800 kilometers each day, making it to 27th place from 182nd at flag off. On the 19th stage, however, he figured in an accident when he misread his map and fell into a crevasse. The mishap caused him to slide to 63rd place overall at the finish line.

Just to finish

It is a mystery to many why Kienle, who is an accomplished businessman would brave such horrendous experiences. The Paris-Dakar is the ultimate test. Even the most iron-willed of non-stop for more than eight hours without food, only a little water, and with the elements of nature threatening you on every side.

But Kienle said he never dreamed of winning. "I just wanted to finish. Just being able to say to myself that I did Paris-Dakar is enough," he said.

This remains his goal at the Australian Safari. In 25 stages, he would be competing against the best of the world like fellow KTM factory riders Andrew Caldecott and Andy Haydon. Caldecott is chasing his third successive Safari victory while Haydon will try to duplicate his feat in 1997 and 1998 when he won the Safari and placed third in the Paris-Dakar with three stage victories.

Unlike in the Paris-Dakar, though, Kienle will be bringing his entire family with him to every stage of the Australian Safari. Its vacation time for his two girls and he wanted to see them as he checks in to his tent every night.

"I wanted them to be there and share my passion," he said.