I know that following days will let me find answers to many questions. One of the most important is whether we will be able to keep a very high pace according to the plan, without falling back on shortcuts or tarmacs. I am bothering about rocky pistas, squeezing your energy, not allowing to keep speed, very technical. And the section we are just about to start is actually one big rock garden... The whole Morocco, up to Western Sahara.
The morning. When I get up the guys hand me a birthday present, a total surprise! Something amazing, not only did they remember, but took a huge altar shaped clock hidden in their bags, it plays the prayers from the most famous places of the prophet's worship. It's huge, shiny, has tons of buttons, and it flashes and plays melodies, OMG! I am attaching it to the side of the pannier, just to spice things up. Right then off we go! First full day of our Dakar. I wonder what it will bring, especially since at this point I decided to draw the track a bit different way than the main Dakar highway to Ramla, famous for being scattered with lots of auberges. And it's a bull's-eye!
The first rays of sunlight, clouds of dust, backlighted, wastelands and a total freedom, what a moment! We are riding a rocky trail through the wilderness, in the distance there is a rock formation that looks straight out of a Lonely Tunes cartoon with a roadrunner and a coyote. We pass the ruins of the Ba Hallou fortress and the first dry lake. After Ramlia, we deal with the seasonal river beds, blasting it quickly, they are extremely boggy after the recent downpours. We literally fly through the whole thing - what a contrast to the pace I had a year earlier in 4x4 in the same place... We reach one of the most beautiful places in Morocco, Sidi Ali, it is all in front of us. To my surprise, I can see a silver mirror of the lake, it is filled with water! We are still on the sandy slopes of the mountains stretching over it, and I try to contemplate the moment. Take a lot of photos. We all exchange impressions on the radio. The desert is blooming all around. The moment is magical.
We are looking for a detour and decide to try to cross the lake and its wet surroundings from the north-eastern side. The thing is very risky because what you see are sun-baked mud crusts, but underneath are layers of sticky clay. Getting stuck in such a place may even result in the loss of the bike. When I think about it, Kuba says on the radio: "I'm going first, keep your distance!" We move along the bends. When we try to ride on a part that is too dry, we instantly catch patches of very soft fesh-fesh. Finally, we come across a tight line of sand barriers, the local farmers build them from something like a wicker. We don't want to destroy any of them, I manage to spot one a little bit higher, with so much sand piled up that we can just go over the top.
The next section. Here are super fast, flat as a table, hamada plains. The roar of the engine and solid 3 digit speed, from hill to hill. At some point I start manouvering around Piter and take position just behind his tail. Radio in hand: "rat-tat-tat-tat, you've got no engine, you're losing altitude, shot down!...". Kilometres pass like this, but for a moment the track changes into a more demanding one, a huge crater full of stones, right before we reach Mhamid.
In the town, we are greeted by kids, they are pushy, no surprise, a lot of tourists reach the place. This is not for us, we do a quick shopping, fill up the tanks with water and fuel, and venture deep into the desert again. We ride smoothly on its surface, now there is more and more sand under the wheels, lot of acacias around, the golden hour is beginning. Erg Chebbi looming on the horizon. We climb the dunes and find a place to stay overnight. It's perfect. There is not a living soul around, only us, our impressions of the day expressed aloud under the starry sky and the altar placed in the middle of the camp, flashing its red lights and playing holy melodies...
The morning, leisure mood. I decide to use the time and start playing around in the dunes, puffs of sand are flying from under the wheel, Tomek is taking photos. As it turns out later, amazingly good photos. It's a good morning. By the time. Tomek also wants to take his part. At some point, Tomek disappears behind a dune and suddenly the engine stops working. It's never a good sign that the engine stops working suddenly... I run to this place and I see a picture of a disaster - at the bottom between the dunes there is a fossilized fragment of the ground sticking out, the rest of the deduction is quite obvious. Tomek is bruised and the motorcycle is slightly damaged. We all gather and go to the nearest trees, we need shade to make repairs. Hey, it's still a good morning! Out of boredom, an unwise idea comes to my mind, I pour Slime into my inner tubes. I didn't dare to do it at home, hiding my reluctance due to aesthetic and pragmatic reasons. I carried this Slime from home in a pannier because I couldn't make decision:-) As it turns out, statistically, having or not a Slime has absolutely no significance in terms of the number of punctures caught, but it has a huge impact on splattering everything with a sticky goo :-)
We set off, the section is difficult, it reminds me a bit of Tunisia and its Sahara, because the dunes are irregular and relatively small, loose sand. It's very difficult to get into a rhythm, it is exhausting and riding requires constant body work. We are resting. From the south we hear the roar of powerful engines, we can see a caravan of 4x4 cars almost on the horizon. Here the sound reaches very far. We leave the dune range and head towards where the cars came from.
We reach lake Iriqui. There used to be water here, but man built dams and used the water for irrigation. Everything here screams at me and gives clear signs, you have to go fast! Greta spreads her wings, all the power comes in handy, she has to overcome the resistance of the air and the muddy bottom of the lake. The field of vision narrows, the goal is the other shore, it's almost like a trance. Suddenly I see an approaching embankment, it is about 1m high, my learned reflex kicked in, brutal braking and right before the obstacle I floored it. Made it. May the universe reward the creators of XPLOR suspension... :-)
We follow the track, bombing along hamada, although difficult it is breathtakingly wonderful. The flow breaks up unexpectedly when we came across a military checkpoint near the border with Algeria, approximately at the length of Tissint. Soldiers run out of the barracks in such a hurry that their flip-flops are mismatched and their rifles are hanging backwards. Apparently we surprised them. Unfortunately, all I manage to negotiate is the permission to turn back in their base :-D As it turns out, it was the best thing that happened to us that day. We don't have another track, so we decide to think this through in the shade of the acacia tree, eating honey cookies... An idea is born to create a new track, on the fly, looking for goat paths around surrounding hills. After all, this is still mine-safe territory!
What happened next was pure beauty, maybe too hard for heavier bikes, but we did have a lot of fun on the LC4's. The area is full of wonderful passes between mountain ranges, along goat paths, singletracks, seasonal stream beds, or sometimes without any trace at all. Finally, terribly tired, we reach the oasis, from the back side, along a road already washed away by the river, again no one expects us here. The two military men are confused when they ask how we got here, I draw zigzags in the air, they understand :-)
We are wasted. Nevertheless, we continue towards Tata along the stone pistas. In the city you can get Wi-Fi and eat an excellent dinner. When I travel, I never buy local SIM cards, I am always offline, because this way I can immerse in the journey deeper, there are no distractions. Phonecall to the girls at home, refuelling, supplies and quick orientation on the map. We go for the bivuac, the sun sets just in front of us, we set up a camp in the bed of a dry stream. We talk until late. I put some ointment to my twisted ankle. In the morning my back wheel spined near Erg Chebbi and I crashed right on my leg. Fortunately, it's nothing serious.
Next day, nothing changes, day menu is the same, we are going to ride our Dakar! In the rays of the early sun we bombing along the hamada, braaaaaaaaaap... We encounter a lonely camel feeding on leaves from the upper acacia branches, paying no attention to us at all. After passing Akka, we cover a very demanding section, the stones are really big and we work hard to gain every kilometer. Somewhere below there is an asphalt road, which in a completely unceremonious way changes the perception how the distance to be covered is perceived. The landscape is changing, we are encountering fast sections with soft ground and black rocks above. Everything slowly gets mixed up in my head, which part of the hamada was when? Riding this Dakar, my own Dakar, is hard work, physical and mental, the unfriendly and demanding track blurs in memory, blends into one whole, and despite the monotony, you have to keep clear mind, concentrate and put in a lot of energy all the time. I like it very much!
We reach Assa completely exhausted. But Assa is actually the gateway to Western Sahara! We feel this energy! We make one last attempt to weld Tomek's broken brake lever, gather maximum supplies and head up directly the south. When leaving the city, the driver of an incoming Mercedes put his hand out of the window in a gesture that has a very significant meaning here. I recommend Bartek Sabela's excellent reportage on this topic - All Grains of Sand (original: "Wszystkie Ziarna Piasku"). I feel a shudder.
In the moment, we find ourselves riding along sandy slopes straight towards the pitch-black rocks in the distance. We cross the former Berm. Everything around is completely empty. The impression is amazing. We're going really really fast. Finally we reach a wonderfully majestic place where a dune flows down a black slope of rocks, below is a kind of circular theater created by nature just to observing it all. In addition, straight on the sand we find... onion growing here! Me and Kuba are riding this dunes like crazy. The setting sun let us to take outstanding photos. We set up a camp, and because the area is dotted with very sharp, miniature succulents, we sleep that night without sleeping pads. We sit on a nearby slope until late, admiring the beauty of the wilderness.
We have it! The most difficult section in terms of maintaining the pace is over, Morocco. Before the trip, I was afraid that due to endless rock gardens it would slow us down more than we would be able to make up!
Track: https://www.wikiloc.com/trail-bike-trails/2023-dakar-stage-2-the-rugged-rides-146730069
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