Epic Morocco-Part 6

Asking the driver in Spanish, we figure they have rode on ahead. We drive another 20 minutes and begin to spot the string of riders. Yes…I have caught up with the group. I meet Charlie, owner of Epic Morocco, for the first time and we decided to drive on ahead where I can change from Airplane gear to bicycle gear. Pretty soon, the group meets up with us, I get the Giant hardtail, change over to my crank brothers egg beater pedals and start the micro adjustments. I ride a 03’ Giant VT 1, so I have had great experiences with Giant bicycles.
I have been going since the previous day with 4 hours of airplane sleep, I am now on a bike, riding down the dirt road (warm-up) and for some reason, I am still awake. Starting out at the back of the group, I speak with each member for a bit, then ride up to the next one. In not too long of a time, I am now at the front of the pack on no sleep, not breathing very hard. The 15 weeks of training I had been doing paid off.
We travel around an hour when the group stops on the road side next to one of many road side random stuff for sale. They have fossils, ceramics, and other random trinkets. The SAG vehicles catch up to us for none snickers, nut/dried fruit mix, and water refill. What a nice valley we were above. Charlie informed us that the road ahead was a bit rough and it was ok to walk parts of it. AHHH…a challenge…looking forward to one of these.
The road down was big chunk rock that was a mix of loose rock, water eroded lines, to hard chunk rock with a nice down angle. My brakes weren’t working so well, I kept pulling the right brake and wouldn’t stop as much as I thought I could (I couldn’t even skid the brakes when I tried). I later find out that these bikes were configured like Motorcycles and was grabbing the front brake with my right hand. I soon pass the other group members and get the opportunity to explore the road below. As the tour goes I would zip passed the group, stop, take my camera out and take several pictures. I have included the pictures above.

The best way to describe what I am seeing as going back 200 years.
As we continued to ride into hour 4, dark black clouds started to loom above. Charlie mentioned that if it started to rain, we would need to get out of their quick. Apparently, the road turns into a sticky clay substance that the vehicles and bicycles have a hard time making it to the next stop.
As the clouds loom ahead we ride into….