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Were you on a pure road bike for this?
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Epic. Enjoyed reading that!
As the culture is more Berber than beer-beer (oh yes he did)
I hate you for this.
unless you’re a fucking moron. In which case, you have to retrace your steps almost as far back as Marrakesh city limits and take a poorly-sealed cut-across where you will inevitably puncture, adding hours to your day. Fucking moron.
lmao
You've rekindled my urge to go back - was 'meant' to be on that tour with friends last month, but life happened - uncannily though, my next stop should be the karakoram/s.
yepre
infmz
@kl
Still in Maroc, but have finished cycling. Thanks to the hive mind for really helpful info, I’ll start contributing what I’ve learned if anyone needs to know for the future.
Marrakesh - airport is great - you pay for your taxi in advance outside the terminal, then the driver takes you to your destination. Cars can’t go into the medina, but guys with little trolleys can help you with your bike box for a couple of quid. Otherwise, you could easily build your bike at the airport and ride in (if you don’t need to keep your box).
Riding out of Marrakesh is easy. Traffic is fine - not that heavy, drivers aren’t dicks. Have tried to learn the rules on rights of way, if red lights apply to bikes etc, but it seems to be very inconsistent, go with the flow approach.
There are cycle lanes in all the bigger places, and they’re respected. Also on a lot of the A-roads equivalents. Even with that, traffic tends to give you a very wide berth, and there is very little speeding, even on the main roads.
Road surfaces are generally good, often excellent (other than in the earthquake zone, which I’ll circle back on). As the culture is more Berber than beer-beer (oh yes he did), there’s very little broken glass in the gutters.
Taking the Ouirgane route, there’s one road out that direction and you can’t go wrong unless you’re a fucking moron. In which case, you have to retrace your steps almost as far back as Marrakesh city limits and take a poorly-sealed cut-across where you will inevitably puncture, adding hours to your day. Fucking moron.
Other than that, it’s c40km of very boring straight road out of Marrakesh, then a lot of backloaded climbing to Ouirgane. You might want to take transport out of town to get to the interesting stuff.