Let the riding begin (Stage 1)

I didn’t sleep so well last night – I seemed to be dreaming a lot (no idea what about) but it was keeping me from getting some decent sleep – maybe just excited about having my bike and being able to ride tomorrow.

Last night’s dinner was really great, but in the end I ate too much so this morning at breakfast I wasn’t really that hungry so didn’t eat enough breakfast. As I expected everyone was in something of a hurry to get moving, so my strategy of staying in bed an extra half an hour and going from there worked out well.

Adam came down to see us off from the car park.

Adam and I early on day one.

We formed our convoy on the road outside the hotel, much to the disgruntlement of the traffic, and set off down to the Hassan II Mosque for the photo opportunity. We were almost ready for photos when we got told off by security for having our bikes on the mosque grounds – if we moved the bikes we could stay and do photos, so move them we did!

From there we started heading south down the coast, initially on the road, then moving to a ‘work in progress’ cycle way, before getting back on the road again. At the end of the convoy we all waited to give Max time to get ahead with the flagging – initially in the shade of the dinner truck, but then it left as well and despite being before 1000 it was already starting to heat up.

Just as we set off again I came past Dan who had stopped at the side of the road – his rear wheel was wobbly, and I thought the quick release had come undone. While I held his bike he went to check, only to discover that his frame had in fact broken – not a good start to his trip.

The good news I heard at lunch was that he’d walked back down to one of the support vehicles and Sharita managed to locate a local foundry who were able to weld it back together for him, all in about 15 min – lucky it was a steal frame and not aluminium / titanium / carbon fibre or he’d have been bike shopping in Marrakesh.

I caught Marcelo (from Italy) at around 45km and we rode the rest of the way through to lunch together having a chat about this and that and getting in to lunch about the middle of the group.

Somewhat disappointed to discover that the Silk Route lunch trend of stale bread also seems to apply here – particularly given that this was day one! On the plus side – no watermelon, but slices of fresh pineapple instead!

I set out from lunch on my own before passing a number of other riders along the way, and eventually catching Erwin and Jackie who I rode with for a while catching up on what we’d each been up to in the last two years since we’d left Istanbul.

We stopped at a coke stop together where Erwin ordered the Moroccan classic Tea a’la Menthe which when it arrived proved to be a glass full of fresh mint, and a pot of tea! I was hopeful for a couple of beers to take into camp, but sadly nothing to be found – I settled for a Sprite for now, and some tonic water for later as an alternative to warm chemically-tasting camp water.

A number of other riders came in while I was there, and they seemed to be settling in, so I decided to head off on my own again – in the end I didn’t see any other riders till I got in.

As an aside – it is my considered opinion that disposable nappies should not be allowed to be sold in countries which don’t have comprehensive rubbish collection and disposal systems in place – most of the Moroccan countryside is pretty tidy with relative little rubbish about – other than piles and bags of used nappies!

By this point it was getting pretty hot and I was starting to run low on water. I stopped for another rest under a tree for a cool-down before continuing on. There was a village in the route notes which apparently didn’t have any coke stops, but as I got there it turned out to be market day so I stopped and grabbed a bottle of water – in the process of which Sharita snuck past in one of the support vehicles, but then Essen wanted to film the goings on in the village so I got my water bottles filled right up.

From there it was more-or-less downhill to camp which proved to be in a really nice spot up a gorge – although at times there is obviously a river which flows through there were just a few muddy puddles to show for it. There was however a large water tank which we were able to take a bucket full of water from to wash ourselves and our kit.

The usual post-ride activities of tent up, out of riding kit, a wash, soup, and generally watching the world go by. Right now we’ve essentially got 12 hours of daylight each day – it gets light around 0715 and by 1915 it was pretty much dark again.

Just as rider’s meeting was about to start at 1830 Huberte (pronounced without the H) arrived into camp as the last to finish for the day – she’d basically been riding for 11 hours – don’t think I could do that!

Rider’s meeting is the usual briefing for the following day, with route notes, things to watch out for, and plans for coming days – followed by dinner – spag bol and cucumber-ruined salad! There is some pretty good chilli sauce available at present though.

By 2000 pretty much everyone had drifted off to their tents and I did likewise being somewhat weary after the longest ride I’d done in over two years!

View from my tent

I forgot to take a photo – so here’s one Sophie one of the crew took of the dinner truck set up in the gorge we were in.

My friend Chris suggested that it would be interesting to take a selfie each day, then make them into a time-lapse at the end of the tour which I think sounds like a fun idea – so here’s the first (and yes, maybe I need to learn to smile!)