Lluís and Emilio are two ASPACE volunteers who wanted to support our organization by participating in this double challenge: on the one hand, fulfilling the dream of participating in this great adventure; and on the other hand, represent and support ASPACE.
You can read the testimony of the participants:
Chronicle of a "Hasta pronto": TITAN DESERT 2017
If we had to summarize our experience in the Titan Desert 2017 with one word, it would undoubtedly be ADVENTURE. It has been the closest we have been in our lives to an adventure in its maximum expression.
We arrived at the entrance of Hotel Xaluca de Maadid (a small Moroccan town near the border with Algeria) on the last Saturday of April. After two days since our arrival in Marruecos and a pleasant road trip from Fez, a cross of emotions takes over us: -“Buf we are here, look at those flags! How crazy is this"- We were arriving at the first camp of the Titan Desert, where the organization had set up a colossal camp next to the hotel where we would spend our first night. Unlike the nearly 500 participants, we traveled on our own and knew practically no one. We will live with them for 6 days, where suffering and companionship will be the protagonists of an epic adventure. Many months of preparation, many sacrifices and many illusions put into this project and there we were, in the desert, embarking on an unknown adventure.
After 650km and 6 nights sleeping in haimas, we arrived at the finish line, located at the same Hotel Xaluca. This time on the backs of our bikes after completing the last stage of the Titan. Only 6 days separated us from that Saturday, but the feeling was of having been much longer. The desert has something that catches you. The concept of time is different, its hardness and its beauty overwhelm man, who has no choice but to respect it and abide by its rules.
The Titan; an adventure where survival, companionship and personal introspection go hand in hand
We promised them very happily the first day and paid for the hazing. Dehydrated and feeling bad, we arrived at the second camp. It was all a shock against reality. From that moment on, we realized that we were facing a great challenge, and that all the careful preparation of the previous months would be of no use if we learned to suffer as a team, pulling each other and being persistent.
Throughout the 6 stages, everything happened to us; we broke the bike's gear and chain during a sandstorm and had to repair it without technical assistance with the help of strangers who became saviors. We walked with the bike on our shoulders for hours among a sea of dunes that seemed to have no end; we got lost in the mountains for more than 4 hours, so lost that even the organization activated the helicopter code in case it had to carry out an emergency rescue.
We have learned to suffer, of course. Agonizing when the kilometers didn't add up and the sun didn't give way between hydration points, we advanced for an hour without stopping and the landscape hardly changed. It gave the feeling that all the effort had been in vain and you only held on to the fact that in the next dune or dry river there would be a control point where we could linger for a few minutes in the shade. Navigated with the help of our GPS without a signposted road, improvising at each turn, suffering the symptoms of dehydration without being able to speak due to dry mouth and chapped lips, and dragging with ropes companions and strangers who were suffering from gastroenteritis and had been 70 km without power comer nada only bebiendo agua y sin fuerzas manage to arrive before the cut-off time of the stage.
But above all we have lived unforgettable moments, moments of solitude and absolute silence in the middle of the desert with landscapes of immense beauty, companionship between strangers and examples of struggle and overcoming.
All these values that have shone in our adventure are faithfully represented by ASPACE. A great family of which we feel a deep sense of pride and gratitude for having supported us
Thank you and see you soon!
About the Titan Desert
What is it?
Marathon race of mountain bike in stages
Where and when does it take place?
In Morocco, at the beginning of May
What is special about it?
It is one of the most legendary and hardest mountain bike races. It is considered the Paris-Dakar of cycling
How many people participate?
About 500 participants, mostly lovers but also professional cyclists
