Leaving Jasper to take to the Moroccan desert by bike

Jasperite Bob Jones will take to the dunes of the Moroccan desert at the end of the month armed with a motorbike and a long list of driving directions.

He’ll compete in the Rally of Morocco, a six-day race against other motorbikes, quads, cars and trucks from Sept. 21-27 on a 2,210 km route. Jones, a volunteer firefighter and tradesman for Parks Canada, leaves Jasper Sept. 10 to set off on his adventure.

Preparing for the race has been no small undertaking. Jones will ride a KTM 525 EXE bike, which he’s been modifying for 14 months. He picked up road racing nearly 30 years ago in the U.K., where he grew up. “My godfather raced since I was this big,” he said, bringing his hand down to his knee. 

Since then, Jones has kept up the sport here by riding trails in Hinton. He’s also been running several times a week, as well as lifting weights. “You need to be in pretty good shape,” he said, adding that bikers stand on the pedals for the duration of the route. 

This race will not be an entirely new experience for Jones, who rallied in 2005 and 2006 in Ecuador, but the sand dunes as an added factor may throw him off a little. “That’s where the navigation comes into play,” he said. “If you can’t navigate, you’ve got problems.”

Each competitor is given a road book, or a list of step-by-step directions that must be followed precisely to get them through each stage of the race. Publicized Information about the route is kept to a minimum to keep the competitors in the dark. “The idea is it’s blind, you don’t know where you’re going,” Jones said.

The road book is actually one long strip that scrolls through a display window above the handlebars on the bike. It lists instructions such as “Cap heading at 109 degrees,” and contestants use a cheat-proof race-issued GPS system to point their vehicles in the right direction. Two other computers show Jones his speed, his mileage and the time of day.

What he does know is he’ll be completing six one-day stages around a central bivouac, or pit area, on the outskirts of Laâyoune. “It’s all about speed, navigation, endurance and reliability,” he said. The racer with the shortest total time at the end of the six days is the winner.

The top speed on Jones’ bike is about 140 km/h. Top riders get up to 160 km/h, though they don’t always go at full throttle. “You’re fast when you can be fast,” he said. Racers have to be cautious when approaching a sand dune they can’t see the other side of, and two exclamation points on the road book mean danger.

Jones may have a bit of support on the route as his friend, Ken Wortman, will be rallying as well. “It’s not uncommon to see riders grouped together,” he said. The men’s wives will be there to cheer them on as well.

It’s been a dream of his to compete in a rally of this size, but the significant financial commitment has held Jones back. Now that he has the opportunity, he’s determined to go all the way. Of the 80-100 bikers in the race, it’s expected that about half of them will complete it. “I’m going out to finish and have fun, but we are going to finish,” he said. “We’re going to finish.”