Pedro

It’s pretty obvious in this picture Pete

No, i did have a piss there but in the middle of nowhere looking at the horizon. But not against the wind!

Here’s another one Not posting more fotos, this just took minutes to upload and I’m not climbing the dune to get more signal. It’s freezing now so will have hot mint tea.

A shared sleeping bag makes sense in that situation. And other situations too

No

I agree, although am a bit disapointed that nobody noticed something that I love in some of the more sandy pictures.

I will elaborate further on the report, but I am both happy at the riding I did today, and not doing that tomorrow with my luggage. So even though today was a win, and it felt amazing riding a few sections of soft sand with no major issues, I will be saving my luggage and taking the tarmac tomorrow. I am also now friends with Ibrahim, the guy making the road that’s going to replace this piste in the future. And I also got an expensive urge, that I will not speak off until it happens, hopefully it’ll disappear by itself.

Will just leave this here because this afternoon it’ll be a pain to upload pictures. Today I’m busy being being fucking awesome and riding on the same piste I was worried about yesterday. No luggage and a little less fuel make all the difference!

It’s all good on road, I meant look at the tracks offroad between them, it’s less than half the distance going through Ramlia for example. That’s what I’ll see about doing.

Also I don’t want a guide. Those guys know their stuff but I’d rather take the tarmac than following a moped that doesn’t get stuck but is also too slow for my bike to cope. Won’t do 100km in second gear

The bike can do it, for sure, but: It’s better to lower tire pressures, I won’t because the desert is rocky as hell and I want unbroken wheels. I don’t have the confidence to go as fast as needed on sand, but I will search instruction and get that confidence. I had intended on a crossing between Taouz (near Merzouga) and Mhamid (Zagora), if you want to check on google maps. Most of that is easy hardish ground that I have no problems with, but there’s a stretch of a few kms of sand that can be problematic more so if alone. Tomorrow I’ll ask around someone that is not trying to sell me a guide before finally taking the tarmac. I will give the first bit of the cross a try in the morning to have a little fun. Getting a very heavy bike stuck in the sand somewhere with no service is a good way to get yourself dead, or to ruin a good bike getting out of trouble. I’ll see tomorrow. I did have a blast sailing through shorter 30 meter bits of soft sand on set pistes though, 4th gear me made feel like a hero (a nervous hero). It’s when you have to slow and turn and do things it gets tricky

My beard is sort of reddish but my hair was always very dark, except in very sunny days I rather prefer no hair, though. Even if it grew back I would continue to trim it short.

So, Saul fitting muffs to his bike made me remember this joke: John had been told by his friends that Helen, his crush was not as innocent as he thought and had been around the block a few times. He couldn’t say no to when she invited him in after driving her home from the office party, and things started getting a little frisky. Having had a few drinks John was more confident than normal and slipped his hand under her skirt. And Helen said: you can go farther than that John! So he slipped his hand under he panties. And Helen said: you can go further than that John! So he slowly slipped a finger in, not believing his luck while doing it. And Helen said: You can go further than that, I want two! John was a little surprised but went ahead and slipped the second finger in! And Helen said: You can go further than that, John! By now John was getting a little annoyed at her pushiness but slipped a third finger in! And Helen said: You can go further than that, John! And John, loosing his mind did something that he never even dreamed about and slipped his hand in!!! He was expecting her to complain in pain! And Helen said: You can go further than that, John! John by now was feeling both anxious and frankly worried about Helen, but he slipped the second hand in! Helen finally moaned, and asked: Oh John, try and clap your hands! John said: I can’t! And Helen said: I know, it’s really tight isn’t it?

Lazily rode on the open roads to Merzouga today, mostly at 80 or 100kmh respecting the speed limits. Average fuel consumption went from yesterday’s 4,2 or 4,3 to 4,1lt/100km Also played around a little on some pistes, and some off piste. I learned offpiste is an amazing way to get lost, and also I can’t manage this bike on soft sand. So I will respect the bike and not try something a bit silly I had planned. Tomorrow will ride around just a little bit, and take the afternoon to rest, will sleep here again.

Shitty connection today, not going to upload many pictures. I sent some to Sofia but I think I can only get proper signal from the of the dune. Also the brits here are pretty disappointed that there’s no tv room to watch their footie

Looks like me 15 years ago!

That was a good one! As is the one with their parent’s sidecar.

Your daughters look like a monkey?

You can always make BOEOY (Bike Of End Of Year), with any picture any member has taken throughout the year, including December.

Well, you look where you want to end up and pick the roads that look the most adventurous on the map. If in an unknown area, which this is not, I just set a destination and follow the tiny twisty roads. In the case of today I already knew the areas and what I was going to encounter more or less. I was surprised to find a substantial amount of "let's call it adventurous" road has been sanitized into a wide tarmac section, and other parts that I expected some better quality tarmac now have no tarmac whatsoever, this made the ride feel almost like a novelty in roads I had already ridden. Google maps pretty much tells me what I want in Portugal, you look and it's easy to see which roads to take, tiny and twisty. For Morocco it's the same but you can't be sure of road quality from google maps. For Morocco, you get a Michelin 742 and it's the best guide for finding out the best roads, the ones marked with green surroundings and plenty of lookout symbols are always great, and the ones market "dangerous" are even better. Top tip for Morocco: bringing your Michelin map, either carry it in a closed pocket in your jacket and never show it, or carry two (one on top of your luggage, one in the bottom). They are now confiscating these maps on customs as they identify the Ocidental Sahara as a country and Morocco does not like that one bit. You might be able to them buy those same maps on shops outside the customs but that a different matter As a note, I would not want to ride the roads I did yesterday and today in a purely road bike with road tires and small wheels. Sure you can do any road in anything, but it's too easy to damage a more delicate tire on these roads, and the suspension and riding position, etc etc. For those bikes, you can find nice scenic roads too, but in my opinion you will not be seeing the cool stuff in the mountains. The locals will ride everything in a chinese 125, but they are going slowly, not carrying much luggage, and not doing big distances. In the coastal areas and south of the Atlas you can see cool stuff on any bike and sticking to nice enough tarmac, though.

Reminds me of a joke, I'll put it in the adequate thread as it's a little dirty.

Well, I have plenty of pictures, and look forward to post a proper ride report once home.

I treat my bike like a touring bike, which is what it is. Nothing I rode today is not a road if you look at a map, the parts with the biggest drops in those pictures are a regional road too, which the step down from a National

It’s that, floods that wash you away, and mud slides that block roads. I wouldn’t get out of tarmac if it rains. Plus the GS and mud simply doesn’t sound like a good idea.