TRAVEL
With so few teenagers and early 20s taking up biking Molly Beucher and Georgia Maguire are a sight for sore eyes. And what a way to start riding…
Young ladies ride Morocco on monkey bikes for their first adventure.
Where are you right now?
Molly is in LA and I (Georgia) am in London.
Tell us all about your recent monkeying about in Morocco?
At the end of last summer, Molly sent me an email out of the blue: ‘Let’s cross Morocco in seven days. On monkey bikes’. It’s important to point out that neither of us had ever sat on a motorcycle before. We grew determined to turn this fantasy into a reality, after one too many people told us that we couldn’t do it. Funnily enough, it was mostly men. We found the scaremongering that surrounds female-only travel absolutely staggering. With the promise of adventure and some guaranteed laughs, we had everything booked in a couple of months. We’ve always wanted to visit Morocco. It’s steeped in rich and textured history with diverse terrain including the and Sahara Atlas Mountains Desert to the towards west the east. We realise we sounded incredibly naive as we made a song and a dance about what kit to take, where to stay and which roads to avoid. But for us, this was a huge challenge. So our plans were endless and magical and mad and terrifying… But first, we had to learn to ride a bike.
So you’d never ridden a bike before… ever?
Our experience was limited to riding pillion on scooters in cheesy resort towns. The learning curve was destined to be steep. Our first lesson was with Chris Salt at Dockland Riders and it was an incredibly humbling experience. As we were leaving the lesson, we were encouraged to look into getting extra insurance for the trip that would ‘cover the repatriation of our bodies.’ That was a real low moment.
Why did you choose to ride monkey bikes?
We knew that sadly we weren’t phenomenons months. found a going company Therefore, to in become a that couple when would biker we of rent us, they these seemed miniature like the bikes to perfect option. They are by a company called Skyteam and ours were 50cc Skymini 50s: 4-stroke engine; 8-inch wheels and a seat height of a little over 2 feet. This came in really handy considering how often we fell off.
How did people react in Morocco when they saw you two whizzing about on monkey bikes?
The bikes conversation were great tragically was they thing starters. were conspicuous. about real We our more Turns likely out to laughter be understood was than our heinous attempts at Arabic, French and Berber. Also the bikes (or perhaps more likely our subpar skillset) just weren’t cut out for seamless cross country riding, so we had to visit a mechanic every day, which is a great way to immerse yourself in the local community. Or beg them to immerse themselves in the mechanics of a children’s toy.
What was the best moment of your journey?
When we realised we’d actually completed the trip. It
‘Our bikes weren’t cut out for cross country riding’
felt miraculous. The last day was touch and go: firstly we had to travel 30km in the wrong direction to get to a mechanic on the other side of a mountain, as both bikes had pretty much given up the ghost the night before. That’s a lot of ground to cover, uphill, with only 49cc each. We faced hail and white-outs. But we made it. Whoever was up front kept a constant check on their comrade behind, via broken mirrors.
And the worst?
On our first day we had just stopped for lunch in a little town, when we witnessed a really bad accident. A guy, on a motorbike, without a helmet crashed into the back of a car that had stopped suddenly. The rider flew off of his bike onto the hood of a parked car and then bounced off the tarmac beyond. By some miracle he escaped relatively unscathed, but his bike was smashed to smithereens. Neither of us will EVER forget the sound of that crash. It served as a powerful reminder to always wear a helmet and constantly scan the roads.
What are your plans for the future?
We’d love to do another trip. We’re thinking Jordan.
Check out Georgia and Molly’s adventures here:
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