Nico valsesia: from Marrakech to Dakar
On January 7th, as much of Italy returned to work after the traditional Christmas holiday break, traveller, endurance legend and Cinelli athlete Nico Valsesia embarked on one of his most poetic and beautiful adventures yet:
the Marrakech – Dakar.
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Marrakech – Dakar is a 2700 km route designed by Nico that crosses three countries (Morocco, Mauritania, Senegal), tens of entirely unique cultures and societies, mountains, deserts, plateaus, jungles and is being ridden by Nico and 8 friends totally unsupported on their Cinelli Hobo Geos between January 7th- 30th.
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Initially inspired by the evocativeness of the legendary Paris – Dakar rally race, this route and adventure - which Nico intends to develop into the world’s longest endurance race in coming years as he refines the route through riding - represents a nostalgic return to the roots for Nico, a return to the pure idea of travel, of setting out on an adventure without thought to difficulties that will be encountered, without thought to how to market it or how to tell its story other than to friends in a bar once back home again...
At the same time the route is an homage to Morocco, where Nico has in fact recently opened a bike hotel, farm and restaurant on the outskirts of Marrakech, in Lalla Takarkoust.
“I’ve been coming to Morocco for 20 years, taking people cycling, skiing, running here. When people who don’t know Morocco imagine the country they imagine the desert: dunes and camels. But Morocco also has extraordinary mountain peaks for skiing and hang gliding jungles and monkeys, imperial cities, all within 5 or 6 hours of each other. All this pushed me to want to open a business here. This and the simplicity you can still find here. A simplicity which in the west we have totally lost as we complicate our lives with endless uncertainty, arguments and discussion to complete the most banal task. While here you meet people who have nothing but will share their house with you the first night they meet you…”
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We caught up with Nico briefly out on the route, 10 days into his adventure. He had been, he told us, mulling over the race he wanted to create out of this route, the nature of endurance racing itself and of course the scenery.
“The landscapes here” he explained to us in a rare moment of cell phone coverage, the wind howling in the background, “are endless.”
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“What I mean is that the same landscape stretches out endlessly. So maybe you can even see your destination in the distance but you have no idea when you will reach it. That’s why you have to be totally self-reliant to ride this route. You have to be willing and able to stop for the night anywhere, wherever you are, always organized with sufficient food and water… And you have to have developed the habit of extremely fast adaptation to your surroundings… and when I mean rapid I mean really rapid. In 5 minutes here in Morocco the situation can completely change. All of a sudden the wind will start blowing, a climb will start…”
