Connected to the desert on their e-bikes and disconnected from the madding crowd in the Skoda Titan Desert Morocco. This is how the creators of the Hermanos Torres Kitchen understand this event.
There are those who compete in the Titan for a result. For Sergio and Javier Torres it is much more than that. They participate in the e-bike version of the event, which is not competitive at the moment, but is a challenge against themselves. With their electric Orbeas and the support of the KH-7 team, they focus on not getting lost in the immensity of nothingness, combining physical effort with the help of the motor and, especially, enjoying a wild environment but as unique as many of its 3 Michelin star dishes.
They are direct, clear, they speak decisively and, at times, They seem to be absorbed in their fraternal world shared exclusively between them because of their relationship as twins. “We come to disconnect mentally, above all to recharge our batteries, oddly enough,” explains Sergio after a second stage of 75 demanding km under the sun, between stone, sand and technical sections. A harsh scenario that, however, for them functions as a refuge.
We come to disconnect mentally, above all to recharge our batteries, even though it may seem unbelievable.
Sergio Torres
It’s not a coincidence. The bicycle has always been part of his life. “We have liked it since we were very little. When we were two or three years old we were already riding bikes,” recalls Javier. A passion that was born almost as a game in childhood and that today coexists with a very different reality: that of leading some of the most demanding gastronomic projects in the country.
The bicycle as balance
Their preparation does not respond to structured plans or competitive obsessions. It is, rather, an extension of your daily life. They live in Collserola (Barcelona) and have integrated the bicycle into their work transportation routine. until it becomes a tool halfway between necessity and training. “Every morning we go to work by bike. We do between 50 and 80 kilometers a day, taking a good detour,” says Sergio. A constant effort that fits between midday and evening restaurant services, commuting and family life.
Javier sums it up clearly: “Every day we can, we go by bike. It gives us life.” But that volume does not hide the reality: time is its greatest limitation. “Our profession is very absorbing. We work long hours and we would need more time to train,” he admits.
Between the electrical and the muscular
Far from dogmatic debates, the Torres have coexisted with both bicycles. For years they opted for electric, but recently they have returned to muscular energy in their training. “At first it was hard, because we had left the lunge, but in recent months we have done runs of 60 or 70 kilometers with a lot of unevenness,” explains Sergio.
Still, they are not deceived. Making the definitive leap to compete in the muscular category of the Skoda Titan Desert Morocco requires more than desire. “Either you do the Titan on lunges and train all year, or you don’t reach the finish line,” says Sergio. And that’s where the priorities come in. “We have very big projects, we are opening three restaurants in Barcelona… right now it is complicated,” adds Javier.
Either you do the Titan on lunges and train all year, or you don’t reach the finish line. We have very big projects… right now it is complicated
Javier Torres
The conclusion is as honest as it is unusual in this type of test: “We are cooks, not cyclists. We come here to get fresh air in the desert, although it may sound incongruous.”
That vision is also reflected in how they understand the evolution of the race, especially in the electric bicycle category. With five participations behind them, they are clear that the growth of the electric format needs structure. “There is a brutal disparity in levels,” explains Javier. “You should study a pro, an average and a basic e-bike.”
Marta Bacardit-KH7
Sergio goes one step further: “The competitive electric category would have to have the same route and the same kilometers as the muscular category, with a clear winner. That would make it much more interesting.” It also points to the need to equalize the performance of bicycles to avoid differences that distort results. The debate is served.
They do not speak from theory, but from direct experience in the race, where they have coexisted with very different profiles in the same peloton. Attests to the bike desire of the Torres Borja Valdés brothers, the person in charge and guide of the electric route, who has more than one day seen these culinary artists disappear into the distance guided by their GPS and propelled by their legs and watts to the heart of the desert.
Cooking in the desert for 500 hungry cyclists
And if something defines the Torres, it is that they never remain only in the role of participants. In the Skoda Titan Desert Morocco they also take their craft to the limit. This edition has not been an exception.
Marta Bacardit-KH7
“They got us involved and we had a paella competition,” Javier jokes. Under the heat of the desert and in a giant format, the KH-7 communication team with the support of the Xaluca Kasbah Tombouctou Hotel in Merzouga organized a grand agape.
Many of the registered cyclists followed the challenge live in the Hotel garden, sparing hours of rest to participate. some even as sluts. The other two paellas were led by chef Paco Roncero, with two Michelin stars,2 and Lluc Crusellas, awarded as the best chocolatier in the world and who also dominates the savory world. Both Roncero and Crusellas participate in the muscle test. Competition between the dunes and the stoves.
Perhaps the key to the Torres lies in their origins. In those summers when the bicycle was everything. “We went out in the morning and came back only when we were hungry or had fallen,” Sergio remembers.
That freedom remains intact. Only the scenario has changed. Today it is the Moroccan desert. But the essence is the same: connect the e-bike, pedal for hundreds of km, disconnect from obligations and, for a few days, return to how important it is to be with yourself.”
