About 20 mins out of the centre of Marrakech, we hit the piste and do a nice long open, very fast motorway piste that's basically a wide hard compact gravel road.
We take all off-road level groups out that way because its a good way of getting beginners used to feeling their back wheels getting loose and it's totally non-threatening, so you can just relax for an hour or two and enjoy the feeling of riding under a big sky.
The fact that in the distance you can see the (usually) snow capped High Atlas looming and you know that you'll be riding over there later in the day is an added bonus, but it's a really nice place to start a trip from Marrakech (we'll be doing it on the KTM450EXC trips that we're starting next April)
Anyway, to cut to the chase, there's a hill about a quarter of a mile off this motorway piste that has tracks going up it.....it's not a particularly big hill and in all honesty, it's not that challenging, but it's fun anyway and when you have a group of bikes, a hill and some tracks, there's only one thing you can really do isn't there!!!
Muggins here has to go first of course, as there are some total novices in the group and there's a technique to going up a steep hill- I have to show everyone how not to do it
Nearly there......speed dropping, second gear, keep the power on just enough to chug up but not to spin up too much or come to a halt
Like I said, not a huge hill but fun anyway...it was a real shame that the sky was grey that day or this shot would show the Alas behind the hill and it would have been a glorious thing.......
Next up, Andy on his 1200......
And then there were two.......
Then Richard on his trusty 650 GS
It's hard to tell from these pics but it does get a bit loose up towards the top, and there's a bit of a ledgey bit too so you really do need to keep a bit of momentum to carry you up it......
And then, there were three
We take all off-road level groups out that way because its a good way of getting beginners used to feeling their back wheels getting loose and it's totally non-threatening, so you can just relax for an hour or two and enjoy the feeling of riding under a big sky.
The fact that in the distance you can see the (usually) snow capped High Atlas looming and you know that you'll be riding over there later in the day is an added bonus, but it's a really nice place to start a trip from Marrakech (we'll be doing it on the KTM450EXC trips that we're starting next April)
Anyway, to cut to the chase, there's a hill about a quarter of a mile off this motorway piste that has tracks going up it.....it's not a particularly big hill and in all honesty, it's not that challenging, but it's fun anyway and when you have a group of bikes, a hill and some tracks, there's only one thing you can really do isn't there!!!
Muggins here has to go first of course, as there are some total novices in the group and there's a technique to going up a steep hill- I have to show everyone how not to do it
Nearly there......speed dropping, second gear, keep the power on just enough to chug up but not to spin up too much or come to a halt
Like I said, not a huge hill but fun anyway...it was a real shame that the sky was grey that day or this shot would show the Alas behind the hill and it would have been a glorious thing.......
Next up, Andy on his 1200......
And then there were two.......
Then Richard on his trusty 650 GS
It's hard to tell from these pics but it does get a bit loose up towards the top, and there's a bit of a ledgey bit too so you really do need to keep a bit of momentum to carry you up it......
And then, there were three
Worked a treat for me...
