Riverstone Kitchen owner and chef Bevan Smith has signed up for the international charity motorbike event, the Monkey Run.
He leaves next Saturday to take part in the seven-day event which will take a group of about 70 bikers from the Sahara Desert to the Atlantic Ocean on 50cc bikes he described as a "Chinese knock-off" and a "kid’s motorbike".
While he was looking to use the trip as a fundraiser for Cool Earth, an environmental charity that worked in partnership with indigenous communities, the whole event was an adventure in a country he had wanted to visit since his OE years ago.
"The food’s amazing. It looks like fun and it’s a chance to catch up with guys I haven’t seen for years."
He said a friend invited him to take part in the adventure last year.
He was packing light for the adventure, but promised to wear merino socks and underwear, given their capacity for dealing with smells.
Security on the trip for the first-time motorcyclist was not a concern even though his team of three were expecting to traverse part of the Atlas Mountains and use back roads to get to the yet-to-be-disclosed finishing line.
"We’ll have to survive the trip with one set of clothes ... maybe a change of socks for a special occasion. We’ll look for accommodation as we go, but there’s a fair chance we’ll be sleeping out under the stars."
He was looking forward surfing on the Atlantic Ocean at the end of the event.
