Tourletters from Fès
Stories
from the novice cyclist part 3 - Kevin Crow
After much cajoling from the real cyclists I have been pressured into removing the novice components from my bike, well most of them at least. So off have gone the front and rear fenders (they were useless anyway, as far as I can tell the only thing they did is ensure the destruction of my rear derailleur) and the front luggage rack. So minus the rear luggage rack and the engine, the bike almost looks like a racing machine.
Other developments from previous articles that im sure the avid bike-dreams readers are interested in hearing about. Team Hawaii has incorporated Liset (the 34 year old dutch woman) into our line. It does mean a later departure in the morning (much later), but its nice to have a 4th in the group. Arnoud has fully recovered from his leg cramps, and now there seems to be a bit of an informal competition between him and I as to who is better … and I don’t think there is much difference, just depends on the day who is stronger. Matthew has been unable to participate because of something consumed in Fes, sapping his strength in a most violent manner (it is also unfortunate that our campsite that night had only authentic Moroccan facilities.) I have made a few discoveries (new to me at least) related to cycling. I utterly despise the false flats with a headwind (hills with a very slight gradient, so that they look flat while you struggle up at 20kph), the difference between virtually no effort and smoking yourself is less than 4 kph, which ties into the third point … that these trips are a lot more fun when you are strong enough to not kill yourself cycling. The heat can be oppressive in Africa, but so far we have been fortunate that only one day has been full heat, the rest have been cloudy and cool … that cant last. Over the next few weeks Team Hawaii may try some shenanigans for some stage wins, we will see how they turn out. And Lastly, speaking of stage wins, during the kiwi’s birthday celebration at the Riad Fes (spectacular hotel, Madeline has exceptional taste) Bicycle Bob let slip that he knew he would be the best rider the moment he looked at the website “too old, too old, too old” so it was nice that the 51 year old kiwi took him down on the hardest and longest stage of the tour the very next day (179km with 2200m of climbing … all into a 15-20knot headwind).
Morocco
- by
Jeff Orum
We have had 12 stages of cycling since my last entry, and what a transition they have brought. After a few last days in the more familiar than not (at least for someone from the US ) continent of Europe, we have transitioned to a new world in Africa . For me it means I can check off Africa as a continent I have visited, the only one left for me is Antarctica . Hmmm, perhaps Bike Dreams needs to run a trip to the South Pole.
Stages 20-24 ended our stay in Spain . We started out on stage 20 with what looked like a not too bad uphill followed by a long downhill. However, the entire road was under construction, and most of us find it not too pleasurable, except for Rob who bombed down the dirt like it was the finest pavement ever. The next day’s ride (stage 21 which started in the rain) brought us to Grenada where we spent a rest day that was quite enjoyable (I would have happily spent more time here) although there were some showers during the day and the camp reminded me more of a gravel pit. There is a very nice walled city there of Alhambra , but unless you have advanced reservations or get to the ticket office at 7AM, it is difficult to get in. However you can see a bit of it from the downtown area. The other highlight was the cathedral which was massive and had huge amounts of detailed wood carving. The day after Grenada (stage 22) was, buy the numbers, the most difficult stage of the trip in terms of both distance and climbing, but I found the early stage into Allepuz harder since we had lots of headwind and cold weather that day. We passed a mountain quarry where the security stopped us while they blew up part of the mountain – our excitement for the day. The last climb to climb was quite steep. Stage 23 was an easy, fairly scenic stage. The area around El Chorro was quite nice with a stone bridge spanning a chasm. Lunch was *in* a olive field. Our camp was in Ronda and several of us hiked down to the bottom of the very tall bridge that is in the center of town (including Rik and Bob who rode their bikes down!) Several of us thought that the first part of stage 24 was the nicest morning of the trip. We cycled through very scenic mountains with little villages (white walled buildings and red tile roofs) clinging to the hillside. After a nice downhill to lunch, you could tell the weather was becoming more Mediterranean, a bit warm and humid. We stayed in a 4 star hotel (my first bed after 6 weeks of camping) across from the ferry. It was a welcome treat.
The next day (stage 25), after a great buffet breakfast, we caught the 11 AM ferry to Ceuta , a Spanish enclave in Africa . Lots of bulk shopping was done at the store next to the ferry terminal in Ceuta and I took that time to cycle around the city, which was quite pleasant with sandy beaches and a nice port area. It still felt like Europe . This would change quickly as we cycled to the border and crossed into Morocco . The time also changed to 2 hours earlier (Morocco does not go on daylight/summer time), so it meant we now started riding at 6:30 AM as that is when it is now light enough to ride. Our first night we heard the loudspeaker at the mosque several times (including our wake up call at 5 AM).
The next several stages (26-28) blended together. We passed through lots of small villages and a few large cities, campgrounds were much more basic than before (including one that didn’t have running water), and there was lots of traffic (Wilbert said, and he was right, that the traffic would be much less after Fez). The most interesting stop was in Volubilis which had some very well preserved Roman ruins. At least the Cokes were much cheaper in Morocco than they were in Europe . Stage 28 to Fez was very quick (we arrived in camp just after 10 AM), and this was good because our reservations at a Riat in the Medina turned out not to be any good. They did not have rooms for us and after walking us around (I think to wear us down) to some other places, we left and got rooms at a hotel in the “new”city. It wasn’t the Medina , but it was a close cab ride to get there. We spent the evening at the Medina and had dinner at Christian’s very nice Riat Fez. The lamb was exceptional – it melted in your mouth. The rest day was spent exploring the town, and many people ate lunch at McDonalds as most places were closed during the day as it was Ramadan.
Stage 29 was the longest of the trip ( 179 Km ) and it was difficult for all of us. It was cloudy, windy and not particularly fun to lunch which was at a very windy, exposed location. After lunch things improved a bit with a nice scenic canyon to ride through, but after we crested the pass there were storm clouds in the direction we were heading and we could see snow (in Morocco ?) on the top of the High Atlas peaks. Christian and I rode to camp together and had only a few drops of rain, but others were not so lucky. Once I got to camp, I got a room for the first time when we were camping. I hadn’t been feeling that well and with the cold temperatures and threat of rain (which turned into much more than a threat) it was a no-brainer. On top of that, the room (which was quite nice with a very modern bathroom) was less that $20 US and it included a breakfast the next day.
The next day (stage 30) we got up and saw much more snow on the High Atlas. Fortunately the rain had stopped and the great breakfast that was made (lots of warm Moroccan bread, omelette, cheese, jam, juice, coffee and tea) things were looking good. This lasted about 40Km when we turned a corner to start the climb of the day and into a big headwind. I was managing to do around 8 Km/Hr. Luckily this only lasted a few kilometres. We pedalled our way through many mud walled villages finally arriving at the Gorges du Ziz and stayed at a Kasbah there (most of us put our tents up on the roof). The made a delicious couscous dinner for us, and after dinner there was music from the local village. This marked the half way point of the trip in both number of stages, time, and distance.
Stage 31 continued our ride through the gorge for another 8Km. We then climbed and descended past a beautiful blue colored lake in the middle of the desert. After we got to camp, our truck driving crew (Adam and Anna) told us there was a real, large Kasbah a couple of K away. We walked over to this ancient city and wandered around the narrow, often dark, passageways. We saw women sorting wheat, and a stone carver all of whom were very, very friendly and also went on the roof of the mosque for a great view of the Kasbah (a lot of it, being made of mud, was falling apart). On our way out we were approached by someone that offered us tea at his place. We were a bit sceptical (these often turn into sales pitches for trinkets), but Adam convinced us to try it and if it wasn’t genuine we could leave. Well, it was genuine and was one of the best non-cycling experiences of the trip. We were in his mud-walled “house”inside the Kasbah and met his wife and 3 month old son. They served us tea, bread, and Berber pizza. Although I couldn’t understand much of the conversation (it was in French), Adam did some translating and I got the jist of it. He then gave us some date wine (very strong) and walked us back to our camp, stopping to get fresh dates from the local palm orchard. Stage 32 featured the team (of 2) time trial. I partnered with Rob and we rode *very* hard. We both were exhausted at the end of the 25 Km , and our average speed was over 42 Km/Hr so it looked like we had a good chance of winning. However, it was not to be as the Great Britain team of Paul and Matthew beat us by 40 seconds, almost 2 sec/Km faster. Good for them! We then slowly rode to camp, and most people (either by bike, cab, or van) went up to the Gorges du Todra which got very narrow and very tall. A very enjoyable day.