Christopher Jones: Jonez World

I survived! This race was an adventure every step of the way. My first clue that this was going to be different came when one of the race organizers met us on our jetway upon our arrival. He then ushered us to the front of the imigration line and a quick hand shake and wink later with the officer we were free to enter Casablanca.
On a personal level the race was a rollercoaster. From my initial weight loss, to suffering like I never have before just to finish the first 3 stages, to the almost win of stage 6, to somehow pulling off a top 15 overall my race was constantly changing. As a team we had an extremely sucessful race when you consider there were only four of us. We won the overall teams category, the sprinters green jersey, three stages, second overall & on two stages. Not a bad showing for our first race of the year.
Enough with the boring stuff, here is one final tidbit of the chaos during the race. During the final stage of the race we were echeloned in the cross wind. The front group was about 25 guys. We were flying along in the cross tail wind when I heard Mike Creed yell “basketball!” Yep, some joker kid thought it would be funny to roll a basketball into our group! I pulled out some serious Kung-fu evasive maneuvers and didn’t go down as the ball bounced right in front of me.
Some parting thoughts on Morocco. Many people have expressed to me their interest in visiting Casablanca. After seeing the country, my advice is to visit Merakach then Rabat before going to Casablanca. Both are substaintally cleaner and offer more tourist opportunities. The walls and old fortress in Rabat are something that I wish I had more time to explore. My advice on food is to make purchasing some of the local olive oil your #1 priority. The cloudier and darker in color the better. We were buying a liter (yes we went through multiple liters) for about $3. There are two Moroccan versions of the crepe, both are awesome and are served with breakfast. Yes, the couscus was fantastic, but we were only served it one time. The local tea, which reminded me of matte, was excellent and was often served in place of coffee. Hands down, the best meal I ate though was the one I discussed in the last email. If you ever find yourself in Morocco, take the chance that you might get sick and hit up a local food joint. Just make sure that you wash your hands first.
Back to enjoying my post siesta afternoon in Madrid.

Christopher Jones www.christopherjones.info