Morocco off road Tour: sand, mud, snow... and big bikes

I know mum... but the rest of the guys call me "raven" if I ride the DRZ...

Seriously, in some sand tracks was difficult but in the rest the ST works amazingly well

Well, if they can catch you I guess they have the right to call you anything they want.
I'm thinking not too many have earned the right.

And to think I used to think I was a little hard on mine. I'm a pussy and then some.

Keep the photos comin' please.

. Keep it coming!

http://advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=21117712&postcount=130


Steve

Thanks!!, I really like this pic

A video from the second day:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnRFe6Ex8sE&list=UUX0ccu0L8pfyyJP06wHdhcQ&index=2

Part two. Sand begins!! :eek1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVWccQ6tNoM&list=UUX0ccu0L8pfyyJP06wHdhcQ&index=1

u did quite well in the sand Nicely done.
But you fell.... so you're human after all

It's funny with the videos coz when I'm watching you, I'm tense as if I were riding

Keep it coming, that's entertaining, really

Yes I' human... and in the sand too human...

I'm really tense when I watch the video... I remember how stressed I was!!

Quite a lot more to come... but hard work to edit all these hours of video...

Your english is just fine and the pictures are great.

Your Ténéré looks very cool, but for the type of riding you are doing I would have picked a smaller bike - off road is so much more fun and relaxing on a <150 kg thumper.

Looking forward to read about the rest of the ride.

Great report and superb videos,real adventure!

Few years ago I was in Morocco with my Suzuki DRZ-E and was a great fun playing in the dunes but really boring in the fast long tracks.
The ST is really good in there and a challenge in the difficult parts. The videos show this difficult parts, not the road and easy bits we did also a lot in more than 3000 km.
Foer example the last day, nearly 400 km by road... must be terrible with a thumper...
Probably the best bike for this kind of trip could be a Tenere 660, KTM 690 or similar...

Great report, photos are excellent.

Headed down that way in a month and about to buy new shoes for the F800GS - so I would love it if you could weight in on your experience with the tyres on this trip. Was planning on running a E09 Dakar rear and TKC front.

Looking forward to the rest of the RR.

Thanks!

You will enjoy with the GS800!. This was our first experience with the Mitas E09 Dakar. All my colleagues had them in both wheels. They were perfect for this ride, much harder than the TKC or Karoo we had before.
I had the Metzeler Unicross in front, I was lloking for more rubber section in the front to avoid punctures, it works but was completely destroyed at the end.
I don't know if it was the tyres or lucky but this is the first time we didn't have any punctures!!
Probably your combination is the best.
Be careful with the Mitas in wet tarmac, very slippery!!.







This is the Karoo I had few years ago in my GSA... completely destroyed after a similar trip:

Thanks man that's great info to have, I'll stick with the plan then.

Zero punctures! Great result, no time wasted baking in the heat by the side of the track.

Yeah, incredible!!

One year we had 9 punctures!!... horrible but in the end we had good practice, nearly as quick as the Formula 1...

Despite the hard day in the sand we had yesterday, this morning I can easily get up, today’s stage is very nice, especially the beautiful end with arrival to M'Hamid red dunes. What most concerns us all is the Ramlia pass and its fes fes ... David is the only in the group that has not crossing the Ramlia before and our comments made him to have nightmares .... look his face in the picture having breakfast in the hotel…





We left towards a lake near the dunes of Merzouga whith beautiful pink flamingos. Too bad the bike’s noise fright tem without time to have some pics.
We pass next to the fantastic dunes of Erg Chebbi ... pity with the big cows we can’t cross thru it as I did few years ago with the DRZ… it was a great fun!! Next time I must come with a lighter bike…





Then we started to have very fast tracks, in here I don’t miss the Suzuki. I remember how uncomfortable it was riding without wind protection and the uncomfortable seat such a lot of time… In contrast the Yamaha is super comfortable both, standing up or seating in this sofa…
We arrived to a huge dry lake, the bike ask me to open the throttle… I saw the score at 140km / h ... we're crazy ...
Suddenly sand appear again ... the dreaded Ramlia approaches. The Ramlia is a sand river surrounded by an area of small dunes with very fine and soft sand where the bike sinks. Also if you are unfortunate enough to go after a rally as we where, the cars and trucks generated a lot of fes fes-which is a very fine powder that seems talc, will not let you see anything and gets everywhere.
We arrived at a small town that seems expressly build before the sand starts, we always stop there to have a Coke before the hell begins. How can you have a cold Coca Cola in the remotest parts of Morocco??.



I remember three years ago when I stopped there with the GSA. I bought the bike recently and I didn’t know how to ride it in sand. A couple of years ago I crossed the Ramlia with the DRZ and it was hard already... with the BMW could be hell ... I was obsessed, and there were only two guys… I imagine me leaving my beloved bike buried in the sand.
I was in the same bar when a group of Spanish riders came in the opposite direction, they already crossed the sand and where exhausts, they ride some enduro bikes and very prepared KTM 690. When they saw me with the BMW the first thing they said was: You don’t want to go there with this cow, don’t you? ... They where so sure about how impossible could be that they gave me their phones, so I could call them before die... I was more and more worried.
I don’t know how we did it but it was easier than we expected, even more than with the Suzuki…
This year we struggled quite a lot, I think we've taken a different path than I did with the GSA or perhaps because I'm older... we spent almost two hours. But the worst is to see the locals flying in the sand with their old Mobylettes. I can imagine them laughing under the turban about these foreigners with big expensive bikes who stay glued in the sand…
After lot of falls with consequent laughter and photos for the souvenir, at last we crossed the Ramlia. I don’t know if there is a lot of crazy people they cross it whit this kind of bikes... another story to remember drinking a beer ...

























We move through vast plains driving in parallel, the videos are great with images that seem the Paris Dakar. Then a couple of pretty rocky mountain cols. The landscape is infinite.



Then it was a funny track with lots of jumps ideal for tuning suspensions! (See video part 2 minute 3).
We reached the village of Tagounite and suddenly everything is green, the contrasts are brutal. A stretch of road and reach the red dunes of M'Hamid, a magical setting in sunset light. This is the third time I pass by there but still amaze with that landscape and those colours.





Sandy begins again but I have already been getting the hang of, for the first time on the trip it doesn’t be Joan or Enric that hooked me out of the sand, it will be me who's remove them .... I begin to have fun in the sand!
The firsts days in the sand I was slow and in low gears, I think the trick is to go in high gears at low revs, the bike pulls more. Put the weight on the back and GAS!. Your brain tells you this is not the way but don’t make any notice… more gas. The bike shakes, moves but you musn’t cut throttle or brake. : More gas! Two things can happen, you cross the sand tired, stressed but with a big smile or you fall. I did the two ways but when it was better was when I applied this technique ...
Eventually we reached the beautiful hotel in M'Hamid, one of the best. Arriving at the parking we see some very well equipped 4x4. There is the Rally des Gazelles, hundres of women crossing Morocco in an organized rally ... we rub our hands ... but no big deal, at least the ones in our hotel weren’t our type... so, off we go to sleep after a nice Moroccan dinner.



Tomorrow we expect the queen stage across the enormous dunes of Erg Chegaga and beyond the lake Iriki: the real desert begins!

The videos:

1rst part thru Ramlia:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVlXcJ1hPNs&list=UUX0ccu0L8pfyyJP06wHdhcQ&index=2

Second part thru M'hamid dunes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LhnKNxopx4&list=UUX0ccu0L8pfyyJP06wHdhcQ&index=1

Sand in M'Hamid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfWwAipLm3E&list=UUX0ccu0L8pfyyJP06wHdhcQ&index=7

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Wmws5RBWUo&list=UUX0ccu0L8pfyyJP06wHdhcQ&index=6

Hi Jaume, I am a fan of your stories in other forums in Spain, and always thought you should include an advice: Think twice before you try to imitate. Dont try this at home

Amazing what you do with these heavy bikes, not for usual people though. Thank you anyway for making us dream on what we could do with our bikes if we had time, or money... (for example)

keep it coming

I can't find the words to explain how much i envy you.

Pics, videos, story...all top-notch!

great report and photos , and really nice Yamaha
Thanks , moltes merces