A very unusual New Year's Eve for pepper grower Arjan Bos

Had enough of A Christmas Carol? Can't stomach another 2 hours watching Home Alone? Getting sick of all the joy and family time? It's time to sneak out and get prepared for the Dakar Rally. You can follow pepper grower Arjan Bos. He will be racing in the Dakar Rally in January 2017.

Arjan Bos grows bell peppers at his Dutch company Bergplant in Bergschenhoek, but he is also the president of St. Davids Hydroponics in St. Catherines, Ontario. He has been regularly riding his motorbike for 25 years now, and after various races at home and abroad, he was given a place in this ultimate tour.

The countdown to the Dakar is underway. The race is scheduled to start off on January 2, 2017 from Asunción, the capital of Paraguay, and take contestants south toward the Argentinian border. Once in Argentina, the route will head north for Bolivian border. In Bolivia, the race will keep the teams at altitudes of no lower than 3,500 meters as they race north for La Paz, the country's capital, where they will take a day of rest on January 8.

At the beginning of the second half of the race, contestants will head south at 4,000-plus-meter altitudes along the eastern side of the Andes and skirt the Uyuni salt flats before re-entering Argentina. The Fiambalá desert in the western part of Argentina promises to be the highlight of the event.

Finally, after 13 torturous days of racing, contestants will finish in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on January 14, where they are expected to be cheered on by massive crowds at the winners’ ceremony.

Follow Arjan via Facebook.