Cyclist
Another planet: The Atlas Mountain Race
Desert canyons, snow-capped mountains and lonely gravel roads. They are all part of the annual Atlas Mountain Race, a fixed-route, self-supported, single-stage bicycle race that covers 1,300km from Marrakech to Essaouira, taking in 21,140m of climbing along the way.
Competitors can expect a lot of single-track and old, broken colonial roads, with big distances between towns. There is very little tarmac. Temperatures can range from the high 20s in the day to sub-zero at night. There are steep gravel descents, river crossings and sections of hike-a-bike. There’s also the ‘Moroccan Stelvio’, a 1,000m climb over 12km with a large number of switchbacks.
To ease the hardship, riders can also expect beauty in abundance, with trails overlooking deep valleys, dusty peaks, spectacular sunsets, plus friendly people and the occasional camel.
The Atlas Mountain Race was first held in 2020, and the 2023 edition took place in February, with 117 racers finishing out of 197 starters. The winner was Robin Gemperle of Switzerland in three days and 20 hours. We talked to four competitors to get their stories of the race.
Gail Heather Brown
33, from Bristol, UK, 59th
‘On the first night I was stomping up some muddy path in the darkness wondering what on earth I was doing, and then the sunrise came and I saw those big mountains and beautiful colours, and just how vast it was. It felt so epic to be there. Every day there was a magical sunrise, and because of the time of year the darkness was quite long, so when the light came it was a special moment.
‘The colonial road is a completely improbable switchback road that is very, very winding. It’s the kind of road where you think you’re nearly done and then you go around the corner and see that it just goes on and on. There are sections where the road has been washed away but for the most part it’s very rideable. I ended up there as the sun was setting, and I felt rewarded for all the pedalling.
‘I slept three hours on average a night, which for me was on the shorter end. I used a bivvy bag and slept out and there were some nights that I was definitely a bit cold. I found sleeping in the desert was surprisingly OK; I was worried about scorpions, snakes, people and dogs, but actually my experience was that it was very tranquil, very calm and quiet. We had a full moon for most of the race so I didn’t need much torchlight to set up camp. It was absolutely stunning.
‘The finish was really dramatic as the weather was epic. It was raining, which is quite rare, and the rain was wild. I smashed it down the last finishing straight, which was about 90km, and was having the best time, feeling so strong and passing loads of other riders creeping into the finish. It was super-satisfying.’
Guilhem Athiel
28, from Lyon, France, 58th
‘On the second day from Imassine to Afra, there was a 100km stretch with no resupply, and for me this was the most special part. I saw just two houses and a shepherd in the middle of nowhere. There is no water, just rocks everywhere, and you are at 2,000m. I don’t know how anyone can survive there. I got to the top of the plateau just before sunrise, and it was so beautiful.
It seems like you’re on Mars. All the mountains are a different kind of colour, the rocks go from orange to sandy, to some sort of black and sometimes red. It’s another planet out there.
‘The end was really difficult for me. The last 100km were a nightmare because my body shut down. I had an accident with my clavicle a year before the race and I still have a plate in my collarbone. I didn’t notice at first, but I chatted to my mum on the phone and she said my shoulder looked swollen in photos.
When I realised how swollen it was, I began to freak out and started to feel the pain, and I thought maybe I should call it. I think with all the fatigue, the stress and the lack of sleep my body was slowly but surely shutting down.
‘I decided I was too close to the end and I had spent too much energy to come to this point and not finish, so I pushed on. The last 50km had some gravel, not that tough but enough to have vibrations going through my hands, so I did most of that part with only my left hand on the bike. I couldn’t ride with my right hand anymore as it was too painful.’
Joakim Mainz
42, from Cologne, Germany, 99th
‘I quite often forgot I was suffering as the nature and the people were so beautiful. Minus the cold, I really enjoyed it.
‘The temperature really was the worst. It was -8°C on the first night on the first pass, and I found the cold really challenging. Every morning I wore every piece of clothing I had, and always two pairs of socks. I also brought my down pants, traditionally used for ski touring, and was really glad to have them.
‘I started the race quite well but I caught a cold on the third night when I climbed up the massive ascent [Moroccan Stelvio]. I arrived at 11:15pm but I felt empty so I slept until 4am. It was so freezing I woke up from the sound of my own teeth chattering. From then on, I decided not to go too hard.
‘I rode a full-suspension mountain bike and especially on passages like the colonial road, which was really rough, I just opened the suspension and it worked fine. I had one puncture on the second day but I plugged it.
Real food was hard to find and the only thing I could really eat was bread and omelettes, so I struggled to eat enough carbohydrates and lost a lot of weight – six and a half kilos over the course of the race. Luckily I took a carb powder with me and I had one bottle for every 24 hours. It was quite a weight to take with me but was definitely worth it.’
Stu Taylor
46, from Kirkby Lonsdale, UK, 100th
‘I got a neck injury a couple of days in where I couldn’t hold my head up, and it became a war of attrition as opposed to a race. My body felt good otherwise, and it was already my second attempt at the race, so I wasn’t going to give up easily.
‘I had some spare Velcro straps so rigged them through my hydration pack and the back of my helmet, which held my head up but in a painful position. Then I tried putting my helmet strap through my buff and spare gloves, which made a big cushion underneath my chin. And then I don’t really know how it happened, but the next thing I know I’m in a shop asking for a toilet roll, which is interesting to get in Morocco as they don’t really use toilet roll. I put the toilet roll through my helmet strap, under my chin, and it held my head in position.
‘Going downhill was killer. It’s the bit I love the most and it was the hardest part. There was a long fire road descent, which should have been an absolute blast but became a real battle to get to the bottom. I had to stop a lot to rest my neck as I couldn’t look up. I also realised that on a long downhill, rather than sit on the saddle, it was easier to sit on the top tube because it meant I could get my torso upright, and it was wild flying downhill like that.
‘I ended up doing the whole thing without sleeping out wild once. I slept in a couple of restaurants, and on one night in a town with another rider, a shop owner invited us back to his house. His mum made us tea and his dad kept us up for hours talking about England. We got a bed in a marble floored house.’
The post Another planet: The Atlas Mountain Race appeared first on Cyclist.