Morocco 2022

[Saul]

1 hour ago, Pedro said:

Thank you for the kind comments, guys!

 

You don't need a BMW to do any of this stuff and many bikes would probably be a lot better offroad, but I really appreciate mine and it absolutely suits my riding style.

 

I know you don't need a BMW but I have done a lot of miles on them in the past, although a different generation to yours.  To my mind it's the right choice for long trips, or it was back in the day for me, now I would look at a F700/800GS if I were to go the BMW route again and travel again.    Something I can contemplate now my kids are older and have less need for me day to to day.     Have to get a lot more miles under my belt before I would attempt to go on any adventures or long trips, a confidence thing.  I know my Himalayan would do it as many have done before me, but it doesn't have the grunt to travel the way I would want to.        Each to their own choices I suppose.  

[boboneleg]

21 hours ago, Pedro said:

he then insists and tells me that for 400 dirhams I get the room, breakfast, dinner, and that he would really be happy if I were with him so he could show the room to me, and doing that he simply lays his hand gently on my leg. I then realize what sort of place that is, why I had a weird feeling when saluting the guys sitting on the garden, how weird and out of place the Ibiza type music sounded, and what really came with that room, so quite quickly told him I'd stay nearer to the city center, and left. 

    

[boboneleg]

Absolutely superb @Pedro . I really appreciate all the photos and the great text as I know how time consuming it can be.  I hope you managed to exorcise a few demons and at the same time have some great memories from this trip  

[Buckster]

Excellent, I should take the Harley over there so they can see a real motorcycle.

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

Excellent ride report Pedro.

 

@Saul I guarantee you the Himalayan can more than cope.

[Saul]

5 hours ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

Excellent ride report Pedro.

 

@Saul I guarantee you the Himalayan can more than cope.

I do know that     It has been documented by many including yourself.  My problem is, and it is my problem, I have travelled a lot of miles on my R100RS and K100RS, powerful bikes with good fairings if I were to travel long distance again I would want more of the same.  I love my Himalayan for its ease of riding and frugal nature but I can't see myself doing hundreds of miles in a day on it.  I know it can, as could a C90 cub, but I think I would find the low power frustrating pretty quickly on faster roads.  Horses for courses.   I think for commuting and rural bimbling around my Himalayan is perfect for me, for belting up to Scotland or across to Ireland I would want more.    

[boboneleg]

19 hours ago, Buckster said:

Excellent, I should take the Harley over there so they can see a real motorcycle.

They'd love you and your bike in that 'special' hotel ......................

[Pedro]

3 hours ago, Saul said:

 I have travelled a lot of miles on my R100RS and K100RS

Curious as to which you preferred and would rather have again.

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

3 hours ago, Saul said:

I do know that     It has been documented by many including yourself.  My problem is, and it is my problem, I have travelled a lot of miles on my R100RS and K100RS, powerful bikes with good fairings if I were to travel long distance again I would want more of the same.  I love my Himalayan for its ease of riding and frugal nature but I can't see myself doing hundreds of miles in a day on it.  I know it can, as could a C90 cub, but I think I would find the low power frustrating pretty quickly on faster roads.  Horses for courses.   I think for commuting and rural bimbling around my Himalayan is perfect for me, for belting up to Scotland or across to Ireland I would want more.    

Know what you mean. I tend to choose the Bandit for long distances if there’s motorway involved just for the power but the thousand miles to Spain on the Himalayan are also a real joy. 
It’s such an undemanding bike you’re free to just enjoy the scenery. It’s also completely trustworthy, during the recent ride in the storm with hail and so much deep water on the roads I never once doubted the bike would go where I looked. Even when a slide started I knew the Himalayan was with me and going to come back out of it. Can’t quite say that for my other bikes. 

[Pedro]

I only came across a few foreign motorcyclists during these few days, because of the weather surely as it was not usual to be as lucky as I was and only get real proper rain on the last day there. I would NOT choose December as the month to go ride motorcycles in Morocco if given the choice.

Out of those small numbers, one was a group of yellow plated bikes with a ktm890, a previous generation R1200GSA and a Tenere 700, the others the lone R1250GSA, an Italian R1100GS, and two riders on Himalayans. All of them can do it, but I much rather prefer to spend long hours on a comfy bike which uses a third of its available torque to ride along and have the rest to not be stuck behind smoky traffic. 

Moroccans cross the country in mopeds that sip fuel at 60kmh which bicycle tires, but I much prefer to be able to ride past traffic than be a part of it.

[Saul]

2 hours ago, Pedro said:

Curious as to which you preferred and would rather have again.

The R100RS without question.   Angry ornery sort of beast.   Loads of torque,  I forget the number, and a joy to travel on for hours on end.  Also I have never ridden behind a better fairing.  Old school technology but beautifully made and 100 % trustworthy.   Thirsty though and the brakes were not close to modern standards.    Also a rather weak alternator and a gearbox that took skill to use without protest.   None of it deal breaking but stuff to consider.    The K100RS had 20 bhp more but was much more clinical.   A good bike much better than the R100 on paper but you don’t ride on paper.    The R100 has so much character and I instantly regretted selling it, the K100 left me a bit cold really.    Put it this way the R had a name the K didn’t. 
 

[Pedro]

5 hours ago, Saul said:

Also I have never ridden behind a better fairing.

I have ruined my bike’s motorway comfort by replacing the stock windscreen with a much lower one, I don’t really like it at sustained high speeds or long motorway trips anymore, but when I fit the stock screen it feels like it’s taking away from the view. 
 

Will probably fit it if going on a big European trip, though.

[Six30]

@Pedro .... brilliant

[Pedro]

12 minutes ago, Six30 said:

@Pedro .... brilliant

[Buckster]

12 hours ago, boboneleg said:

They'd love you and your bike in that 'special' hotel ......................

Maybe Marcel should go instead.

[Pedro]

4 minutes ago, Buckster said:

Maybe Marcel should go instead.

See? This thread was ending with a Sam Elliot gif, but instead it’s going back to Harleys.

 

[Buckster]

1 minute ago, Pedro said:

See? This thread was ending with a Sam Elliot gif, but instead it’s going back to Harleys.

 

Sam Elliot is a Harley owner.

[Pedro]

1 minute ago, Buckster said:

Sam Elliot is a Harley owner.

Doesn’t surprise me, he’s a cool dude though.

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

I had to let this ride report settle for a minute before posting because it had great depth. 
I have to say your ability to convey the emotions in a second language is exceptionally good. In parts I felt like I was there. 
 

Some amazing pics and good descriptive writing puts this right up there on the pleasure per word scale. 
 

It’s even made me think I should dust off my helmet cam and maybe even post some non car park shots

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

So @Pedro what I'm curious to know is how does it feel now? It was a momentous thing. Hope you feel good. 

[Pedro]

9 minutes ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

It’s even made me think I should dust off my helmet cam and maybe even post some non car park shots

WOW, let's not carried away and take two pictures on a ride! I find more simplicity helps with this, I just took my phone. You don't need stuff complicating the getting on and off the bike, gets tiresome.

Thank you for the compliment, but I really need to work on my English, it used to be a quite more elaborate.

2 minutes ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

So @Pedro what I'm curious to know is how does it feel now? It was a momentous thing. Hope you feel good. 

That's interesting and exactly what I was thinking about myself on most of the ride back. I have found out several things about myself. During the moment it sometimes felt surreal and like it wasn't really me experiencing moments, it felt sort of like reading about someone doing what I was living through. Sort of a weird numb feeling sometimes in which I surprised myself at little I was feeling, but at the same time I fell apart and lost control in other situations. What made me break up emotionally were not feelings of sadness but of reliving events that happened. I still feel like I left Maria there and it still broke my heart to come back and leave her again, that's why I rode straight back home. It'll still be very hard to go back again, similarly hard but with less of the unknown factor, and at the same time I will go back for sure and avoid a few places that didn't show me love. I always have had a relationship with places that I like, some reward me for the relationship some don't, some just take and don't give back and they're like a difficult relationship to which I come back again and again. 

I really missed the adventure feeling of being somewhere completely not European, and that feeling of riding into a small mountain village with smoke in the air and food smells, I miss that now already. 

I also learned I can ride better than I thought through some sorts of terrains, and it gave me confidence on the bike, and I was never tired or bored or not feeling like riding in the morning. I enjoyed doing this alone, and that hurts me and makes me feel like I'm betraying a lot of things I can't even pronounce.

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

1 hour ago, Pedro said:

WOW, let's not carried away and take two pictures on a ride! I find more simplicity helps with this, I just took my phone. You don't need stuff complicating the getting on and off the bike, gets tiresome.

Thank you for the compliment, but I really need to work on my English, it used to be a quite more elaborate.

That's interesting and exactly what I was thinking about myself on most of the ride back. I have found out several things about myself. During the moment it sometimes felt surreal and like it wasn't really me experiencing moments, it felt sort of like reading about someone doing what I was living through. Sort of a weird numb feeling sometimes in which I surprised myself at little I was feeling, but at the same time I fell apart and lost control in other situations. What made me break up emotionally were not feelings of sadness but of reliving events that happened. I still feel like I left Maria there and it still broke my heart to come back and leave her again, that's why I rode straight back home. It'll still be very hard to go back again, similarly hard but with less of the unknown factor, and at the same time I will go back for sure and avoid a few places that didn't show me love. I always have had a relationship with places that I like, some reward me for the relationship some don't, some just take and don't give back and they're like a difficult relationship to which I come back again and again. 

I really missed the adventure feeling of being somewhere completely not European, and that feeling of riding into a small mountain village with smoke in the air and food smells, I miss that now already. 

I also learned I can ride better than I thought through some sorts of terrains, and it gave me confidence on the bike, and I was never tired or bored or not feeling like riding in the morning. I enjoyed doing this alone, and that hurts me and makes me feel like I'm betraying a lot of things I can't even pronounce.

[Pedro]

22 hours ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

[Specs]

A great ride report Pedro. Thank you. All very inspiring, great photographs, and very brave of you to relive and share your grief here. Respect.  

Unfortunately it seems to have got me looking at bikes and maps. I keep fooling myself that I still have one long trip left in me!  The aches and pains might disagree. 

 

[Pedro]

9 hours ago, Specs said:

A great ride report Pedro. Thank you. All very inspiring, great photographs, and very brave of you to relive and share your grief here. Respect.  

Unfortunately it seems to have got me looking at bikes and maps. I keep fooling myself that I still have one long trip left in me!  The aches and pains might disagree. 

 

Thank you for the comment. I'm also flattered about it being inspirational.