Intro.
Winding our way north westward, a couple of days from the Mongolian/Russian border we’d developed a reasonably fast technique of riding our heavy bikes through the sand and loose stone over the past four weeks, our main problem being the occasional big dip or hole catching us unaware.
I checked my mirror for Baz, who’d been riding behind me. He’s not there. A few moments later a young man gallops toward me, his horse’s hooves leaving a trail of dust. Soon he indicates there’s a problem and a motorcycle has crashed.
Riding quickly back, followed by Pete and fearing the worst, we’re relieved to see Baz on his feet surrounded by a small group of Mongolians and his machine upright.
But something wasn’t right, the rear of his bike had collapsed after hitting a big dip, the paralever was snapped where the rear suspension mounts. I knew immediately we couldn’t repair it and there were only three days of our visa in Mongolia left.
I do believe there was a tear in Baz’s eye.
Eight days later we’re in Almaty, Kazakhstan and I finish putting his bike back together. Baz is jubilant. Another tear?
Anyone who has read the first page of Ted Simon’s ‘bible’ of motorcycle travel, Jupiter’s Travels will understand the philosophy that many problems on the road will work themselves out given a bit of time, thought and luck...
Luck. Where would we all be without it?
Dream to reality.
After years of dreaming, nearly a year of planning, endless emails for visas, bike preparation, gear choice and much more we finally had our group together.
Due to a shoulder injury, it was conceded that Rick could still join us with his Land Rover and on two occasions I’m sure one of us would be very grateful of that!
The bikes were two BMW GS1150 Adventures and two BMW GS1200 Adventures.
Big heavy bikes perhaps for a trip like this particularly given our route in Mongolia but GS motorcycles have played a large part in my travels over the past ten years so it seemed fitting to give them a try.
Whether they were the right choice of machine is a question often asked of me and one I still ask myself, but 17,000 miles and twenty two countries in three months should have provided some answers. Let’s see what you think.
This photo was the original map of the world I highlighted our intentions on after several beers, I had a laminated copy stuck to my pannier on the trip and was used countless times to explain our journey along the way. It's not accurate...should you be counting the countries and the route around Mongolia was somewhat more! Clockwise btw
Winding our way north westward, a couple of days from the Mongolian/Russian border we’d developed a reasonably fast technique of riding our heavy bikes through the sand and loose stone over the past four weeks, our main problem being the occasional big dip or hole catching us unaware.
I checked my mirror for Baz, who’d been riding behind me. He’s not there. A few moments later a young man gallops toward me, his horse’s hooves leaving a trail of dust. Soon he indicates there’s a problem and a motorcycle has crashed.
Riding quickly back, followed by Pete and fearing the worst, we’re relieved to see Baz on his feet surrounded by a small group of Mongolians and his machine upright.
But something wasn’t right, the rear of his bike had collapsed after hitting a big dip, the paralever was snapped where the rear suspension mounts. I knew immediately we couldn’t repair it and there were only three days of our visa in Mongolia left.
I do believe there was a tear in Baz’s eye.
Eight days later we’re in Almaty, Kazakhstan and I finish putting his bike back together. Baz is jubilant. Another tear?
Anyone who has read the first page of Ted Simon’s ‘bible’ of motorcycle travel, Jupiter’s Travels will understand the philosophy that many problems on the road will work themselves out given a bit of time, thought and luck...
Luck. Where would we all be without it?
Dream to reality.
After years of dreaming, nearly a year of planning, endless emails for visas, bike preparation, gear choice and much more we finally had our group together.
Due to a shoulder injury, it was conceded that Rick could still join us with his Land Rover and on two occasions I’m sure one of us would be very grateful of that!
The bikes were two BMW GS1150 Adventures and two BMW GS1200 Adventures.
Big heavy bikes perhaps for a trip like this particularly given our route in Mongolia but GS motorcycles have played a large part in my travels over the past ten years so it seemed fitting to give them a try.
Whether they were the right choice of machine is a question often asked of me and one I still ask myself, but 17,000 miles and twenty two countries in three months should have provided some answers. Let’s see what you think.
This photo was the original map of the world I highlighted our intentions on after several beers, I had a laminated copy stuck to my pannier on the trip and was used countless times to explain our journey along the way. It's not accurate...should you be counting the countries and the route around Mongolia was somewhat more! Clockwise btw
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