This last two weeks I joined up with Adventurer Richard Matheson Harphram to explore Morocco by bike, taking in as much of the country as we could in our two-week stay.
I know this is a kayaking blog and this was a cycling trip but growing up kayaking everyday has given me a big love of two things: Adventure & Pushing myself. Trying something new like this was a chance to push myself onwards and get myself in the right frame of mind and physical shape for the Kayak season ahead.
Our final route was from Marrakech over Col du Tichka to Ouarzazate, then onto Merzouga. We hopped on a bus to skip the long boring Desert road taking us back to Ouarzazate. Then back on bikes over Col du Tichka again, across and up the Ourika Valley and finally back to Marrakech. See our loop here: Our Route
For the trip Palm supplied me with dry-bags to keep all my important stuff safe & intact as you can see on the front of my bike below & the very useful Tsangpo one piece thermal suit to keep me warm at night!
Personal Highlights
Climbing up the 2260m Col du Tichka pass, (60 miles of very steep climbing): It was so hard work on our 40kg+ laden bikes, but at the same time the way you seemed to get higher & higher without really noticing and the feeling of satisfaction once at the top made the previous 60 miles of slogging worthwhile.
Cycling 96.5miles on day 5 and realising my legs could keep going on and on, I felt super human that day.
The first “hardest” day, going towards the turnaround point of Merzouga (where the Sand Dunes are), darkness falling, no town in sight, and a ferocious head wind for the last 30 mile. Realising you just need to grit your teeth together and keep pedalling.
Cycling back over Col du Tichka, we were cheered on by thousands of French students taking part in a Renault 4 rally as we climbed to the din of honking of horns, shouts of ‘bon courage’ and ‘respect’ then after we celebrated again at the summit we found this camp spot almost at the summit. I walked up to the ridge to see what was on the other side and the view just dropped away a sheer 1000ft or more to the empty valley below. I felt so alive & in touch with the world peering out into the wind.
The second “hardest” day, after camping at the paradise camp spot mentioned above. During the night we got nailed by heavy wind all night then in the morning we awoke to find snow, sleet and hail. Nothing we could do other than cycle lower down until it warmed up, we had all the clothes we had with us on, but our hands in little cycle mitts and my knees in skimpy cycle shorts were in bits as the hail & snow slashed them on the way down. When we found the cafe and warmed up a bit it was one of the fondest moments of the trip as Rich sobbed about his Chilblains and I huddled with my knees tucked up under my coat drinking mint tea.
Seeing a country by bike I really appreciated the distances between the landmarks, noticed all the details, how friendly the locals were & the way personalities changed region by region and also the sheer variety of different landscapes here was unreal. Spectacular was a word I said far too much on this trip:-)
Hospitality: One of the best bits was our second to last day. We were cycling along and loads of amazing metal sculptures caught my attention. The artist Abdullah (sorry if I spelt your name wrong) invited us to stay at his. So we cycled on, uphill another 15 miles then freewheeled all the way back to his gallery where he shoved us and our bikes into his van and took us to his home. We spent the night getting recounted many stories from his fascinating life. From trekking through the jungle to get into Burkina Faso to evade the border check to his 7 month project of revamping a old VW surf bus shell to a pristine model and many hilarious Arab jokes. In the morning he took us to the local market and bought us breakfast before sending us on our way back to Marrakech!
Off-Road trails: We actually did have a great time riding down some of the trails just off the road. The bikes came into their own off the road, even if they were an absolute bitch slogging along on the tarmac
Camels: They are such a good creatures, watching them eat with their funky gurns and expressions is like watching a great comedy, i loved socialising with them.
Desert: I’ve never seen such beautiful sunrises or such a surreal landscape. (Or more frustrating cycling).
People we met: So many intriguing people we met along the way.
Wild Camping: We stayed in some magnificent spots! Sleeping out under the stars, in often remote spots, lying next to the ground often felt me better than when we were in Hotels, (apart from the lack of shower). You sleep so good outside.
Overall the trip pushed me harder than I expected, threw up experiences I never anticipated, showed me a new culture and a amazing country and I got to really push myself. Together with Rich I feel like we saw & did an incredible amount in only 13 days.
Realisations/ Lessons Learnt
After slogging hard for a few hours when you stop & eat just a simple Orange, Mango or an Avocado, it tastes sensational. All your senses are enhanced when your working hard.
Simple things like sitting down for a few moments or sleeping in a real bed for a night sometimes feel exquisite.
When you think you can go no more, just stay in the moment, you can always do one more push as it turns out. Everything passes.
When everything goes tits up, laugh about it. Everything fixes itself sooner or later.
I really felt sometimes like my body was singing, you can push so much harder than you thought you could when your really in tune.
Intuition: Always listen what your heart tells you, it is never wrong. Particularly when I didn’t follow rich on the trail that led to him getting 15 punctures in one go
All hard exercise is a purifier, you feel so good, clean & happy when your work hard with your body. I will keep this up for sure. Life is dull & blunt when you don’t physically push yourself.
Finish! Going Home!
Joke of the trip
From Abdullah the Scupltor/ Artist, translated from Arabic:
An old man is writing to his son in prison, “Son you know how I love growing tomatoes, but now i’m getting old I’m not sure I can dig the field well enough this year to plant any, I wish you weren’t in prison, I hope you get out soon so that we can have our beautiful fresh tomatoes every year…”
The son writes back “Dad, shhh, don’t dig the field up that’s where I buried all the bodies…”
The next day the field is thoroughly dug up and ploughed by a group of Police searching for bodies after a tip-off from the Prison Guards…;-)
We had originally aimed to cover 1000miles, however we’d taken ‘Fat Bikes” with massive tires in the hope we’d be able to ride on the Sand and hadn’t taken into account the weight or resistance of these bikes. So our 1000miles soon got turned into a shorter loop on 525miles giving us time to see more and spend more time off-road.
Our final route was from Marrakech over Col du Tichka to Ouarzazate, then onto Merzouga. We hopped on a bus to skip the long boring Desert road taking us back to Ouarzazate. Then back on bikes over Col du Tichka again, across and up the Ourika Valley and finally back to Marrakech. Our Route
Thanks to my personal sponsors:
Palm Equipment, Teva Shoes, Dagger Kayaks & AT paddles along with Salsa for the loan bike for the trip.
With the launch of Dagger’s new Jitsu playboat we wanted to give you some new skills to work on in your shiny new freestyle ripping machines.
Over the course of this year Katya and me will be producing monthly how to videos to help you progress your freestyle skills.
The first one here is on how to do one of our favourite moves: the Phonics Monkey.
What is it?
It’s a 360 degree vertical spin linked into a front loop.
It looks very spectacular, is one of the highest scoring moves and also one of the hardest to master.
How to do it?
Step One: Set Up
Step One: Start up nice and high on the foam pile. Turn the boat so that it’s lined up straight to the oncoming flow. Let yourself drift down towards the seam line with a little bit of edge held on.
Step Two: Initiation
Step Two: Just before you reach seam line reach across the bow with a crossbow stroke to initiate the 360 pirouette.
Step Three: Looking Ahead
Step Three: As soon as you’ve initiated the crossbow pirouette, start looking ahead of the boats rotation.
Step Four: Spotting Upstream & Throwing Loop
Step Four: When you’re getting nice and vertical and your nearing the end of the 360 you want to spot a marker, could be a tree or a slalom pole, anything that is directly upstream of you.
Step Five: The Landing
Step Five: Kicking your Feet Out
Step Five: When you see that marker jump up on your toes into your standard looping position & then kick your feet out straight ahead of you in the direction of that upstream marker. The more aggressive the better at this point.
Get some forwards strokes in to stay in the hole.
How to make sure it scores?
Try to start at a low angle and build up continuously to vertical. Timed correctly this will give you the biggest air and make sure the judges like it.
Make sure you keep the loop nice and straight at the end. (Spot your marker & Kick your feet out in front when you finish the Loop)
Things to watch out for:
Going vertical too soon.
Taking too much speed into the move (that just means you’ll go vertical too soon.)
Reaching out too far on the cross bow. Again this will mean you go vert too soon or hurt your shoulder.
Finally
Get out there and have a go, be patient it will probably be a gradual process mastering this move, but very satisfying when you get it.
This last half year with Katya in the UK I wanted to show her as much of the UK’s good bits as I could think of, and also show her where I started kayaking and some of my favourite places in the UK.
We love being out in the wilds, away from cities so I really wanted to go to Scotland with her this time to paddle some of the Classics, see John O’Groats, do some cycling and just see as much of the wild as we could.
Paddling
The main goal of our trip wasn’t really kayaking which was just as well because when we first arrived there was no water at all but the last few days of the trip we were hammered by rain so got to paddle the Etive then met up with Dennis Newton and his creeking camp kids and paddled the Orchy at great levels the next day before heading home.
I enjoy river running for the beauty surrounding it but I don’t desire to push it very far, it’s just not my thing. I’m not really scared of it, or feel out of my skill level, it’s just that it feels that in order to get the same buzz as I do for freestyle i’d have to go pretty crazy and I don’t wish to take those risks. The reward for me isn’t big enough and if I were to hurt myself too much so that I couldn’t do freestyle or the other sports I love i’d really regret it.
That said because it was so beautiful here, I loved the Etive, especially the classic Right Angle drop. The Orchy was actually a really sweet surprise. With the rain we had it was quite like the Nile style of big water. I only wished i was in my playboat as there were some fabulous waves & holes that would of ben great to surf properly…next time I guess.
Landscape & Animals
Scottish Animals & Wildlife have to be pretty tough, given the climate & weather, but I think this also gives them a character and personality. We were lucky that we got to see so many wild and also tame animals classic to Scotland on our trip.
We got to socialise with Ponies, Sheep & Highland Cows here, I love seeing them out in the wild heather & fields, I only wish they weren’t going to be eaten! There so beautiful and intelligent creatures, you can really see something in there eyes.
We also got to see Red Squirrels which you don’t often see in England along with many kinds of birds.
Scotland has some very harsh weather and I think this brings out it’s beautiful landscape even more. We got to enjoy the Autumn colours on the trees all around, the towering mountains, barren expanses of heather and the storm battered coasts.
The other aspect that was good was that each night we managed to park up next to some quiet Loch or river and wake up each day to fantastic views of Scottish nature.
I just think of all the places our Van’s been now, it really has seen some fantastic sights in the last 3 years!
John O’Groats
I’d never been there and it’s somewhere I always wanted to go, so with freezing weather and howling winds we got ourselves to the very edge of the UK.
We got to what was signposted as the tip but after checking my map on the iPhone it looked like we needed to venture further so we walked along the coast until we got to the cliffs and lighthouse that mark the true edge.
It’s like another planet there and you could barely stand from the power of the wind, really made you feel invigorated looking out to sea, leaning your full weight into the wind.
Aviemore
I’d actually been here once before; when I was studying Adventure Sports at college we’d had a week long winter mountaineering course here and remembered it as quite spectacular.
We got some good cycling in around the Lochs on the trails here and saw a centre that looked after Reindeer, it caught our eye actually because there was a Red Squirrel eating in front of it.
We found we’d missed the seeing the guided tour to look at them in the hills so decided to hike up one of the mountains looking for the Reindeer herds ourselves. We didn’t find them but the view from the top was worth it anyhow.
Back Home
Luckily for us we live quite close to North Wales and the Lake District so we spent the rest of the Winter exploring & paddling some of my favourite areas and getting to visit the play spots I grew up paddling: the Dee, Tryweryn and a few trips to HPP & Hurley.
Below is just a few un-edited clips of us testing out the Prototype Dagger Jitsu’s
We actually have a pretty sick set up here in the UK to become a top playboater. You only really have to look at our current crop of paddlers to see that though…(Bren, James Weight, James Benns
As well as kayaking I’ve been giving talks to school kids to get them excited and inspired for life in the outdoors, which at first was very nerve racking but actually has been very rewarding and enjoyable. More on the project HERE
Now though the new year has come and I’m looking forward to heading off with Katya for some new adventures and a fresh season of competition!
Sunshine, 3 Gates, Big Air & Good Friends – Hurley Classic 2012
When I first started competing the ‘Hurley Rodeo’ was the UK’s biggest event, drawing in paddlers from all across Europe for an aerial frenzy on the Thames.
In recent years the event has been on a much lower scale, largely due to poor levels, but this year Jacko from KayakoJacko went all out to bring the festival feel back and turn it back into the booming event it once was. With the boom that’s going on in freestyle right now it seems perfect timing to relaunch the event in this manner.
Jacko definitely didn’t disappoint! We had perfect levels, good weather and over 120 paddlers attending including all the big names: Peter & Nina Csonka, Mathieu Dumoulin, Quim & Nuria Fontane, UK’s Bren Orton & myself and Katya.
So we had World Champions, World Cup Champions, European Champions, Rider of the Year winners, National Champions & past Champions all gathered to do battle on one of the UK’s most iconic spots. Jacko had a treat lined up for us.
A very international eddy queue
Cheesy came down and put up the Palm & Dagger tent to show off the new kit and the Dagger Jitsu. We had all 3 sizes for people to try. They definitely fly here on Hurley!
First up was the final of the British League event. Your best two out of three 45 second rides gave you your final score. I had some great rides getting KY’s, Loops, AirScrews and Panams and thought I might have the win but as it turned out I ended up in 3rd place behind local favourite Alan Ward in 2nd and World Cup winner Peter Csonka taking the win. In the ladies Emily wall took the British title with Nina Csonkova taking the overall Win.
1st place to Peter Csonka
Saturday afternoon gave us a steep ramp into the Boatercross. Carnage ensued throughout but keeping the speed up and avoiding the crashes David Bain sprinted his way to the win.
Sunday was what the weekend was all about really, going big with our friends without the pressure of timed rides. It was a jam session format of 15 minutes and then a superfinals of ICF rules for the top 5. Unfortunately I was a bit too determined to get my KY and wasted too much time and finished way down the list but those who got the right tactic of going big but making sure to cram all their moves into their session came out on top.
Mathieu Dumoulin from France fighting hard into 2nd in the final
Palm’s Seppi going high – Exactly what the Classic is all about!
Palm’s Bren Orton went huge in the prelims and got everyone raving when he got his place in the senior mens final (he’s still a Junior), UK Champion Sam Anderson made it too then we had Quim, Mathieu, and Peter all there. The finals were a great display of the various styles but eventually Peters consistency edged ahead of Mathieu’s fluidity to take the Win, with Quim in 3rd. In the womens Nina Csonkova took the win again with Flea in 2nd place.
Katya after her first session in the small Prototype
This Friday, Saturday & Sunday, we’ll have all three sizes of the Jitsu prototypes available to try at the Rivers Source event on the Dart.
Here is a little unedited selection of clips from Katya in the Small (Green) and me in the Medium (Blue) Prototype at a few UK playspots:
and a bit more on the boat:
Both of us have been loving using the boats and they seem to go down great with everyone trying them, so heres your chance to have a play in one this weekend.
Also myself & Katya are running freestyle clinics to learn the skills to go with the boat too which you can book onto at: http://gene17.com/riverssource/
Palm’s Katya and myself are offering two Freestyle clinics: an Intro to Playboating and an Intermediate/ Advanced Clinic on the beautiful river Dart during this years River Source festival organised by Simon Westgarth.
Come paddle with us and let us help you take your playboating to the next level.
With so many new and updated products to show off this last week, it’s hard to choose our favourites but with a camera shoved in their face, the people behind Palm Equipment did eventually manage to pick out their favourites.
Watch the video below to see what we liked the best and meet the people who make up Palm…
For those who haven’t seen the last few updates on our Facebook Page the rest of our product videos can be seen here or in the earlier blog postings:
During Paddle Expo, their were two clear favourites from Palm. The brand new FX PFD and the updated Fuse cag.
I used the Fuse as my cag of choice all last year. It looks stunning and for me I need a cag that’ll keep me dry, but also be lightweight, comfy and give me the best possible freedom of movement. That is the Fuse exactly.
This year Palm have updated the colours to the Aqua/ Lime and Aqua/Sherbet.
What I missed though was a PFD that would match the looks and performance of the Cag. Even the whole industry has lacked any really good looking progressive play/ freeride PFD’s for a long while.
Now that’s finally fixed with the updated FX. Available in Lime, Aqua and Red.
Covered with the same outer layer as the cags it just jumps out at you. You can choose the colours now to make it blend in as if your not wearing anything or stand out like a neon billboard (more my style
Function-wise it’s cut beautifully for freedom of movement, and a close fit for aggressive WW paddling. It has nice comfy soft foam to mould to your shape, quick easy adjustment straps and enough flotation to feel comfortable if you do end up in the water.
I literally can’t wait to get my hands on the Aqua/ Pink FX pfd…
Above Video: Cheesy gives us the details of the Beauties!
Palm's Designer Barney Caulfield shows his creation
Available in 3 colours: Aqua, Lime and for those who prefer the classics Red
Fuse available in Aqua/Sherbet and Aqua/Lime
For next season I picked the Aqua/ Lime for myself
The FX in Aqua/Pink is pretty much my dream PFD. Actually it's the best looking kit I've ever seen.
People were crowding around and taking photos of the FX all the time, it really was the winner of the show.
This last year Dagger have been developing their new Playboat the Jitsu.
The project’s aim was to put Dagger back on top at the forefront of freestyle with a high performance, incredibly precise, super loose and fast playboat that would go big, feel great and stay true to Dagger’s roots.
Snowy Dagger’s designer exceeded all my expectations…A kayak I’m proud to have been involved in creating.
This time last year I got to try the first prototype just before Kanumesse at Plattling, it looked really promising but had a lot of work still needed.
Myself along with Rush Sturges, Ben Marr, Andrew Holcombe and Chris Gragtsmans were all involved in giving Snowy our ideas. Then we tested the prototypes ruthlessly and gave our feedback from our experiences on waves and holes all over the world.
I ended up using it in the World Cup series just gone and even with a broken collar bone I still came 7th…so I’m really looking forward to fighting to retain my title at next years Worlds when I’m fit again, trained up and in a boat I feel I can really excel in.
So what do I like about it? Its slicy and precise, so you have loads of control over what the boat does, and you can predict how it will react. It initiates very easily and with much greater control than most of the current playboats. It’s fast and loose, actually one of the fastest boatsI’ve ever paddled, which means you can get it higher in the air and surf much greener waves than you could in other boats. The release off a wave is awesome, and with the volume pocket in the centre it pops really big in a hole too. Pretty much it’s turned out to be a dream playboat for me, it feels incredible to paddle and I’m really enthused by how it’s turned out.
Here’s the video from paddle expo with me and Snowy going over the boat and it’s features along with some actual footage of it in action:
What makes it so great?
A super fast hull, with a great release edge and flared side walls to shoot down the wave and launch.
Sharp precise edges for release, perfect control, precision and predictability.
Contrary to the belief of round dull edges meaning forgiveness a sharp edge on the boat means you can predict exactly how and when the boat will react to certain movements and situations, you just need to spend a few hours paddling it to learn the hull and then your off.
Centralised volume with slicy ends for big pop, smooth initiation and balanced cartwheel based moves in a hole. Being relatively narrow also means it’s much easier to get over the edge to drive it where you want.
It weighs just 14kg. Less weight means more air and less stress on your body. It also has the hull stiffener welded in which means no slippage from the outfitting and an super stiff hull. This means whatever energy you put into a move comes out = more air and faster rotations.
New Contour Ergo outfitting makes it a 2minute job to get the boat setup perfectly with no glue or tools necessary.
Raise the seat with the included foam that just slides under the liner.
Quickly unclip the hip pads insert the required amount of foam shims and clip back in.
Get in ratchet the back band up and you’re ready to go!
You can move the seat one handed whilst still sat in it!
Raise your legs up to hold yourself into the boat with the new innovation from Dagger the ratchet leg lifter. Simple and incredibly effective.
Want to see more: Here is Rush’s Clip of the prototypes in action:
The 5.9, the mid size will be available shortly with the small and large size coming out a little later. So go have a try when they come in, I think you guys are going to love them.
