Whoa, it's been a long time!

To check out what we're up to more regularly it's probably best to look here...

www.facebook.com/keeppedalling

In the meantime we'll make more of an effort with this blogging.

In other news someone got a new bike. This Genesis Volare stainless Di2 is really rather good.

Donkeys on the Piste in Morocco

Many camels but not always where you'd expect.

We booked some flights to Morocco early last year and planned a loose itinerary based around heading South to the warmth of the desert. After a night in our favourite riad in Marrakech (where we leave our bike bags) we took the 6 hour bus journey to Tiznit, stayed a night amongst the Euro camper vans. Tiznit's a good place to start as it's situated close to the coast if you wanted to head south for deserted beaches or inland as we choose to the mountains, namely Tafraoute on the edge of the Anti Atlas. 

It seemed like the start of a long day as we headed up and up towards Tafraoute. Even though it's the main road up into the hills we were passed by very few vehicles as we sweated our way east. It's basically one big up to the pass and then a roll of 'little' ups and downs all the way to town. And it was a long day as we arrived in the dark and found the small campsite complete with cute dog. As seems to be the way of things down there we were hugely outnumbered by French and German campervans around our little tent. The plan was to take a day to look around and we took a trip out to the blue rocks about 3k out of town. That also meant we could make sure of our route out of town for the next morning.

Enjoying the quiet evening desert.

Blue rocks painted by Belgian artist Jean Veran in the 80's

The next day we had a long day of piste roads ahead of us so an early start was decided on. Dragging ourselves out of warm sleeping bags to pack up the tent was very hard especially when it was below freezing. The days are very warm, around 30 degrees in the sunshine but once that sun begins to drop the temps do too and at 5:30am it's pretty damn chilly south of the Atlas. We had most of our clothes on as we headed out of town that morning, first on road and then dirt.

The piste road starts here.

This day was one of the highlights of the trip, a very cold and dark start on road for a good few kilometres, up and over the Tizi ou Manouz pass until we reached Izerbi, then we turned left and hit the good stuff- the piste! A steady climb through the heat of midday past dry riverbeds and lunar landscapes eventually led to a great view into the surrounding gorges (time for a brew and admire the surrounds) before a bit more climbing and a 5k switchback descent down into the palmeries surrounding Igmir. Once we'd broken out through these we followed the dirt road which crisscrossed (and sometimes involved riding in) a huge riverbed between the huge valley sides.

Travellin Trolls.

Riverbed road.

Another couple of hours of 'riverbed road' riding and we eventually crossed our final bridge and hit tarmac, after quite a few hours of rough stuff this was much appreciated by my backside at least! A final push of 'rolling roads' and we arrived at our campsite for the night Auberge Borj Biramane. An amazing place run by French brothers who fed us (lots), plus it was a good place to swop info with other people travelling in the area (including the man who had cycled from Belgium with his labrador in a trailer!).

The next few days involved lots of riding on and off the desert highway, this route follows the edge of the desert and is not too far away from the Algerian border in places so we had many police checkpoints to go through. These were easy enough and often a good place to check on the state of the roads to come. We learnt that most of the bridges on the piste roads had been washed away a few weeks previously when the area had a years rainfall in two days, this meant walking the bikes over many dry riverbeds.

Another washed out bridge.

Desert campsite.

After a couple of nights of wildcamping in the desert and waking to an icy tent we arrived in Foum Ziguid, a small town and crossing point on the edge of two desert piste roads. One road crossing a large basin surrounded by mountains to Zagora or the southern route crossing the salt pan to M'Hamid. After a replenishment stop and lunch in Foum we set off for the basin route to Zagora. After an initial bit of climbing the road turned right and then was straight-ish - for about 130km. This turned out to be the busiest piste road we used as the Race Africa (previously the Paris Dakar) support crews where trucking along it to their next bivouac while the motos, trucks and buggies crashed over the dunes further South.

That sign.

We took an enforced rest day in Zagora after eating some dodgy rice, it was definitely a return to civilisation as we declined the many offers of camel treks and visits to the desert. It did however have a good patisserie just off the main street with fresh brioche and ice cream, just what the doctor ordered! A return to the road saw a gentle days cruising up the Draa Valley, it looked very lush after the previous months rain. This river doesn't usually exist (well not in the last 18 years we were told), the dam in Ouarzazate had recently been opened to stop it being overwhelmed from the heavy dump of snow that lay on the mountains above.

Very occasional river.

As we continued along the valley we passed the many kasbahs and palmeries it's famous for along with dozens of people selling fresh dates and almonds - perfect riding food. 

Our destination for the evening was the town of Agdz perfectly situated halfway to Ouarzazate. That evening we camped in the palmerie that belonged to the Kasbah Caid Ali and spent part of the evening exploring the deserted buildings. 

Sunset over the palmeries.

Intriguing doorways.

We rolled out next morning to start the long climb over the Tiz-n-Tinififft pass. As we climbed higher we were afforded amazing views over the Draa valley and beyond. Truck drivers leaned out of their windows to shout 'bon courage' and we knew there was more climbing to come. 

Quite a climb between Agdz and Ouarzazate 

Soon the road became the inevitable run of hairpins and switchbacks as it wound it's way round the top of gorges and past herds of goats teetering on the edges. 

Snow!

Eventually we reached the top, had a well earned snack stop and put an extra layer on before making the most of the fast descent (and top speed of the trip) down to the valley.  From here it was a 'rolling' road past more kasbahs and palmeries before eventually becoming more built up as we reached the outskirts of Ouarzazate. Our plan had initially been to ride a piste road from here to the other side of the Atlas mountains but due to the heavy snow this had been blocked and was impassable in places. So we took the easy option and threw the bikes on a bus back to Marrakech (having rode the route over 

 Tizi-n-Tchika before).

We had a final day in Marrakech for repacking bikes and a few hours of getting lost in it's back streets before heading home. 

Exploring Marrakech


Stats and Kit List.
So we did a little under 1000km- probably 50/50 piste/road.

Bikes- 2 x Surly trolls, 1 Rohloff, 1 geared and no mechanicals!
SP Dynamo hubs for lighting and charging.
1 x Plug USB charger (works for charging an iPad)
Tubus stainless racks.
Ortleib panniers and bar bag.
North Face Fat Frog tent.
PHD Minimus sleeping bags.
3/4 Thermarest sleeping mats.
1 x Vargo Ti wood stove.
1 x MSR multifuel stove.
Ti pan set and thermal mugs.
Normal assortment of clothes.

Reference material.Michelin Morocco map.
Open source street mapping for Morocco- includes some piste routes.
Morocco Overland by Chris Scott- invaluable for off road route advice.
Rough Guide Morocco.

Polo in Geneva?- don't mind if I do- Hells Bells Ladies European Polo Tournament,

It's been almost 3 weeks since I came back from Geneva where I took part in the 4th edition of Hells Belles European all female bike polo tournament and all this time I have been dreading the moment I will finally have to sit down and try to word my experience. How do you give justice to the best tournament you have been to and probably one of the best weekends of your life??!!

It was Friday late evening when my team mate Vicky, Gabriela  (teams official cheerleader!) and I arrived at the airport in Geneva. Our initial feel of luck to see our bikes intact after forgetting to deflate the tires has been dismissed by the endless round trips dragging the bike bags around the airport, waiting on trains that mysteriously don't depart and looking for phantom bus stops. Drained and hungry we eventually arrived at our hosts flat in Vernier. Tina and her boyfriend were most gracious about the fact we dropped on them like a bomb so late at night and fed us delicious soup with hazelnut bread! At about 2 am we finally settled for sleep.. our bikes half built, bags half packed, route directions half remembered and us - half dead. But we were      TEAM DEATH PROOF and nothing could lower our excitement for the next days games of some polo with the coolest  ladies in Europe! 

 8 am (it would be a faux pas to be late in Switzerland!) we were at the courts, united with our 3rd team mate Lizzy, we signed our forms, got the bikes checked, received goody bags from the organizers, and got a free coffee and croissant for breakfast from the bar. There.. was.. a bar. This was getting better by the minute.  The courts looked good. Shared space with a skate park sheltered under the motorway where no rain could get to us seemed  like a perfect location to hold the tournament. It slowly started to fill up with bikes and everyone we met seemed to be as excited to be there as we were. It felt like the right place to be.  

The games came as a rush..butterflies in the stomach despite playing for over 2 years and this probably being the 15th tournament I've done so far. I don't remember the scores, don't know how many times we lost or won. At the end it didn't matter. We were there to have fun and it seemed like we hit the jackpot. Relaxed, friendly and just pure awesome the atmosphere couldn't get any better!  Our original plan was to see a bit of the city after our morning session games but we just couldn't stay away from watching the rest of the competition! Besides it was raining.. so we stayed and savoured the vibe.

 After the games have finished the party and throw-ins commenced while the organizers focused on the scores and bracket placement for the next day. A couple of beers later and I really put our team name to the test by smacking my face hard on the concrete going for a joust. Sat on a side thankfully with no concussion and Arnica being applied to my cheek bone (thank you Elodie!) I got told that our team actually managed to get into the winners bracket! After receiving mixed signals my brain finally concluded that the pounding headache and a blooming black eye was not important and it was time to celebrate! And celebrate we did. Few hours of dancing, laughter, beers and other 'medicinal' supplements later we decided it's time for a classy kebab then bed. 

  Sunday morning was a haze. 10 am start only sounded reasonable in theory. We needed adjustment period and coffee.. a lot of coffee. We played our best but at the end we dropped out to eventually end up 8th out of 16. There were some pretty damn good teams out there and being in a winners bracket meant we got to hassle for the ball with them. My goal for the tournament was reached - play with the best, at their best.  Later on in the day 'you win or you're out' single elimination format of the games bred some nervousness on the court and you could feel it. With each team dropping out stakes were getting higher and the crowd of spectators fuelled by beers and music was getting louder reaching the zenith when the well deserved winners of the 4th Hell's Belles title came to the team Sisters! All joy, mallets thrown in the air, bikes dropped to the side, hugs, congrats and what nots we all joined the celebrations! It was a long weekend of games and we were all finally ready to put our guards down.. literally.  Then came the prizes, thanks and free beer! We stayed at the courts for few more hours drinking, dancing, admiring what a cracking job organizers did putting the event together, rehashing the games and making drunken promises to come to local tournaments around Europe and talking how we all love polo for being this kind of a crazy sport that turns absolute strangers into best friends. We were all winners.

Kegs of beer finished, bar cleared, equipment being put away it was time to hit the town for the big party! We set off on our bikes howling like mad people through Geneva's city centre stopping at another classy kebab place. 2 hours and 30 fed people later we headed for the club! Even more beers and even more dancing it was a great night with great people and I don't think I could shake the drunken smile off till I finally crashed at 4am. 

 We had a flight back to Manchester in the early afternoon.

What a weekend. What a tournament. What a place. I love to compete, in any sport really, but it's the passion and energy of the people that play this badass game that keeps me coming back for more.  

Sylwia

Wonderful Wheels

A varied wheel selection for your inspiration...

Left to right;

SP dynamo laced to H Plus Son Archetype rim
Alfine 8-speed re-laced into a single speed Surly CrossCheck back wheel
and
a wheelset for a Surly Ogre - Rohloff Speedhub and Son dynamo both laced to Velocity Blunt 35's for multi surface touring in Europe and Asia.

Bog Trotting the Bearbones 200

So this year the BB200 was to be a different beast. After 30 people managed to get black badges last year it was time for the bar to be raised the course made tougher.

And it was...

67 people set off from the start- and 3 seconds in we were off and pushing.

The first 40 miles to Barmouth were 'undulating' with some amazing tracks and spectacular views.

I

A quick stop in Barmouth for refueling on pastie and chips and we were off again pushing up more hills and heading off into the Hidden Valley.It was at this point we began to realise just how much rain there had been as bridleways began to resemble small (and not so small) streams. 

 A mixture of trails, fire roads and farmtracks took us around the side of the Rhinogs as daylight started to drop and we started to encounter the tussocky hell we would spend the next few hours dragging our bikes through. It was at this point I was very glad we decided to adopt a lightweight approach to the event and jettisoned any extra kit in favour of just a seatpack. 

A long night followed of warm hilltops and freezing descents as we dropped in and out of cloud filled valleys. More freezing water tussocky hell, nameless roads, pathless woods (there's a path there somewhere) and at least one sense of humour failure. A quick nap in a small copse of trees and then off to ride the last 40km back to the finish. 

I was almost desperate enough to eat this banana!

The last 40km didn't get any easier, more pushing a fast road descent to Dinas Mawddwy (top speed of the ride!), more climbing, more pushing, a final frustrating WTF does this trail go moment in some fields and eventually the last few km's on the road back to the start. 

Best thing about the BB200 is the breakfast (or lunch in our case) on your return. Large mugs of tea and Dee and Stu making lots to eat for many people sporting the same faraway look. 

Anyway- 27hours out in mid Wales, not many better ways to spend a weekend.

Kit List

1 x Surly Karate Monkey ss 32/20
 1 X Surly Krampus ss 36/21
 2 x Apidura seat packs
2 x feed pouches

2 x Alpkit Hunka Bivvy Bags
2 x PHD Minimus Sleeping bags
2 x Multitool, Tube, chain links, pump 
2 x USE Maxx D's
1 x Garmin Edge
1 x Phone using ViewRanger
Spare battery cache carried in case needed
Waterproof jacket (nice for early hours)
Various snacks, flapjacks, Mule bars

Jones Bikes - new stuff coming

Some of you may have seen Jeff's blog post about his up and coming new stuff. If you haven't check it out here - Jeff's Blog   

We've just got off the phone with the UK importer and we're chuffed to say that the Jones Plus framesets and carbon Loop bars are on their way, slowly...  Framesets will be here in the early 2015, this will be a small initial run with a lot of interest so get in early! Hopefully we can persuade Jeff that there is enough demand for a second run sooner rather than later, though they are a small operation with finite resources.

There's no firm costs yet but expect the frameset to be more than a Diamond frame and Truss fork but less than a Spaceframe. There is no swapability between this and older models, there was some expensive tooling modification to produce the new Truss forks so costs are higher. There are two sizes, most will be fine on the 24"  If you are a big rider ie 6' 3" or over consider the 25". You can make the 25" fit down to a 24" size if you really need a huge frame for load carrying adventures.

We're expecting the new ultralight carbon H-bars sooner, though still no firm date or costs. You'll know if you want some and they'll be cheaper than the titanium models too. Details here - Jeff's Carbon Bars

We'll keep you updated as we get more info.

Trolls in Scotland

After a tough few months at the Keep Pedalling Headquarters we all (well, the 3 of us, or 4 if you count Olive the terrier) decided that we needed a break. Olive was packed off to a relative for her own special quality time and Sylwia took herself off to Glasgow for some bike polo followed by a trip up the West Highland Way. We'll send you a link to her story once she's told it.

If you've been paying attention lately you'll know that we've just built up a rather tasty back country touring Surly Troll. Also we've got a trip to Morocco coming up and we needed to brush down our touring pants. There were some grand plans of huge loops in the Highlands but these evaporated quicker than you can say Bog Trotting Hell Biking. We actually decided to have a relatively relaxing week, y'know like a real holiday - ice creams, beer and everything.

We threw the Surly Trolls in the little black van and headed North from Manchester on Saturday afternoon. Too many motorway hours later we were in Tyndrum, about an hour North of Glasgow at the top of Loch Lomond.

We'd planned a route following the middle section of the West Highland Way from Tyndrum over the Devils Staircase section to Kinlochleven. After that we'd turn off and head over towards Laggan and over the Corrieyairack Pass. Fort Augustus and all the touristy stuff that supplies followed by a lazy spin down the canal to Fort William and pick up the WHW again to take us back to the start. Easy.

We'd originally planned to attempt this route on our tandem. Seriously? Neither of us would have lived to tell the tale...

Leaving Tyndrum is a gentle roll along the valley to the  Bridge of Orchy. We enjoyed a random chat with the stationmaster and passed on the average fare in the pub. A bit of a climb along an estate road over to the ski station, past the cafe (very good there, we stopped on the way back) and along the valley to the start of the climb over the Devils Staircase. Get your head down and it's all over quick enough with a much more rideable descent into Kinlochleven. Head for the friendly folk at the chippy if it's open, if not then the cafe at the Ice Factor is good - huge cakes and good coffee! After that the climb out of the valley was tough. Here is where we left the WHW and started to head over in a roundabout way to Laggan.

Fair climb that out of Kinlochleven and on some crappy surfaces too, un-co-operative stoney tracks. Dropping down to the river crossing it was time to get our feet wet. In a particularly indecisive few minutes we finally opted for stopping the night in the deserted bothy at Meannanach. We were consistently surprised by the lack of people out and about, it was August and great weather after all.

Next morning really was glorious.   Only little clouds in an otherwise clear blue sky.  Pity the track was mostly unrideable. Short sections of loveliness with frequent stops to get our feet wet in streams. Still we marvelled at how remote it felt, here particularly. It got better though passing by some lovely waterfalls and soon we popped out near Loch Treig. Here the estate has a project underway to harness  all that water and the upshot is that the climb away from the loch is more big gravel for construction traffic.

After passing alongside Loch Ossian we enjoyed a long stretch of fast tracks all the way over to Laggan. A small section of tarmac downhill into the little village and we stumbled on the temporary shop and cafe. Across the road the shop that closed 2 years ago was getting a refurb by its new owner. We had a good natter with him and consumed mugs of hot chocolate before starting off towards the pass. The old military road follows the electricity pylons up the River Spey and before it started to climb too drastically we installed ourselves in a disused sheep pen. Out of the wind and flat it was a pretty good find. Another early night ready for the pass in the morning.

As we spun up the loose gravel towards the top of the pass our minds wandered to a couple of years ago when we rode this route the other way around. Heavy rains had washed the trail away and left it unrideable. We'd had to push down the pass. Now the trail would be unrideable in sections, moreso on a single speed, as it's currently repeated water bars with loose gravel to allow access to construction traffic as they are now replacing all the pylons. Over soon enough though and we were storming down the other side into Fort Augustus via the troll bridge...

Once down in Fort Augustus we feasted on (more) macaroni cheese, what had turned into our favourite veggie staple in Scotland. Sat around for a bit, drank coffee and ate ice cream, watched the tourists go by. There was that woman with the banana, but that's for another time.

We found a deserted campspot further down the Caladonian Canal, then we went back 6 miles for supplies! It was along the canal bank so no great hardship. Early evening exploration, late night musings over beer and a lazy morning start - we saw the early morning mist and crawled back into the tent!

Gently trundling down the canal bank in fine weather, there were of course a few more people to chat to along the way as we neared Fort William. A spot of lunch in the high street chippy and we were all set for the climb out of town. Up and along the WHW it was fairly crowded with walkers coming the other way, finishing off their day in good weather and downhill into town. Some parts of this path are almost too groomed, encouraging a fair pace by bike forgetting that there's probably a European tourist just behind that tree!

Just after cresting the hill and surrounded by eight and nine hundred metre hills we took shelter from the unrelenting headwind barrelling through the valley and popped the tent up. This was the night we found the drawbacks of a single hooped lightweight tent. It rained heavily all night and blew an absolute hooley. There was never really any fear of the tent failing, it just felt like it.

We woke to some light drizzle but thankfully the wind had died down. Dropping down into Kinlochleven was midge hell as we did a fair bit of hanging around in the woods waiting as hikers started their day on the hill. Another visit to the Ice Factor cafe for a late breakfast and we headed for the climb up the more rideable side of the Devils Staircase. We can confirm that riding down the sharp side is also a lot more fun that pushing up! After this we were basically reversing our route back to Tyndrum. Didn't take long at all especially with the almost never ending descent back to the Bridge of Orchy.

We beat the bad weather as the next day we woke to rain battering down, phew...  Apparently this only lasted a day or two - we didn't stay around to find out and headed for more hills in Wales.


Kit List...

2 x Surly Trolls.
One 2 x 10, one Rohloff (36:16), both with dynamo front hubs powering Exposure Revo lights. One also wired up to a Cinq Plug 3 to charge gps, phone, etc. All of it worked flawlessly.

We used soft luggage from Apidura. Plenty of room for a change of clothes and tent, sleeping bags, stove, etc. Really impressed with the handlebar bag. Roll up entry points at each end are really useful for stashing that mid ride windproof or accessing an emergency waterproof.

Tent - Nordisc Telemark 2   Less than 1 Kg. Easy and quick to put up with plenty of room for 2 + kit. Not as stable as multi hoop designs but a lot lighter! We used lightweight down sleeping bags from local company PHD.

Stove - MSR Pocket Rocket and a couple of Ti mugs. Just for soup, noodles and brews. Boils quick and is small and light.

Water purification - we used the Travel Tap water bottle system. After looking at some of the water we scooped up into these little beauties it was reassuring to be able to rely of this bottle to filter out all those nasties. Not having to worry about where to get clean water is a real boon.