{"id":133376,"date":"2016-02-03T17:08:07","date_gmt":"2016-02-03T17:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/?p=133376"},"modified":"2016-05-03T08:08:11","modified_gmt":"2016-05-03T08:08:11","slug":"epic-journey-on-handbikes-through-morocco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2016\/02\/03\/epic-journey-on-handbikes-through-morocco\/","title":{"rendered":"Epic Journey on Handbikes Through Morocco"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Jirka \u010celoud was a sixteen-year-old teenager, living an active lifestyle, when he made the mistake of jumping into a pond on a school trip without checking its depth first. The accident left him wheelchair-bound, but didn\u2019t change his adventurous spirit.<\/strong><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2016\/02\/10339586_426683597491908_1075265421950721442_n.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-133384\" src=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2016\/02\/10339586_426683597491908_1075265421950721442_n-600x338.jpg\" alt=\"Jirka \u010celoud was a sixteen-year-old teenager, living an active lifestyle, when he made the mistake of jumping into a pond on a school trip without checking its depth first.\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>A year later he already had plans for a handbike expedition, but kept training for another 5, before he was ready to tell his friends about it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI imagined riding a handbike was a very easy thing to do but the first time I actually did it\u2026 I had to go to sleep after just 5-kilometre journey. I was that exhausted,\u201d says Jirka.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2016\/02\/10957350_426651884161746_5527126791988584934_n.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-133387\" src=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2016\/02\/10957350_426651884161746_5527126791988584934_n-600x450.jpg\" alt=\" \u201cI imagined riding a handbike was a very easy thing to do but the first time I actually did it\u2026 I had to go to sleep after just 5-kilometre journey. I was that exhausted,\u201d says Jirka.\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>He didn\u2019t give up though and kept training for another 5-6 years before he was able to ride 50 kilometres per day. He then told his friends about the idea of a handbike expedition and immediately found a couple of them to accompany him on trips through Iceland and Israel.<\/p>\n<p>Last year Jirka took it up a notch and went with a couple of guys to Morocco. Their 1100-kilometre journey lead through deserts and sandstorms and in the Atlas Mountains, frost and snowstorms awaited them as well.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2016\/02\/10947168_437172089776392_1230772365191121795_n.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-133386\" src=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2016\/02\/10947168_437172089776392_1230772365191121795_n-600x449.jpg\" alt=\"\u201cThe snow and frost was the absolute worst. We were all decimated and the situation fell hard on our morale,\u201d admitted Martin Mat\u011bj, one of Jirka\u2019s companions.\" width=\"600\" height=\"449\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe snow and frost was the absolute worst. We were all decimated and the situation fell hard on our morale,\u201d admitted Martin Mat\u011bj, one of Jirka\u2019s companions. All three handbikes pulled through in the end and finished the journey without any kind of support.<\/p>\n<p>The guys shot a documentary film about the trip, which should be released in a couple of months, bearing a black humoured title \u201cBreak a leg\u201d. Jirka hopes it will give hope and courage to all people with disabilities. \u201cIf there\u2019s will, there is also a way,\u201d believes \u010celoud.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2016\/02\/10947175_426651120828489_6474283982600219804_n.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-133388\" src=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2016\/02\/10947175_426651120828489_6474283982600219804_n-600x450.jpg\" alt=\" \u201cIf there\u2019s will, there is also a way,\u201d believes \u010celoud.\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>If you think such a trip would be enough for Jirka, you\u2019d be very wrong.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are planning a trip to Iran in April,\u201d said Jirka for WeLoveCycling.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2016\/02\/trasa_iran.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-133389\" src=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2016\/02\/trasa_iran-600x338.png\" alt=\"The route for Iran expedition.\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The route looks, if possible, like an even more demanding one. We\u2019ll be sure to follow Jirka\u2019s endeavours and post more updates in the near future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jirka \u010celoud was a sixteen-year-old teenager, living an active lifestyle, when he made the mistake of jumping into a pond [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":133383,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[328,329],"tags":[],"global-categories":[],"class_list":["post-133376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-outdoor-mountain","category-road-cycling"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.3 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Epic Journey on Handbikes Through Morocco - \u0160koda We Love Cycling<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Jirka \u010celoud was a sixteen-year-old teenager when he made the mistake of jumping into a pond. 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