Ace to North Face

I guess we all do don't we. Anything to make a few quid for the next trip! I don't think it will ever happen though.... unless there are any publishers lurking out there!

Truth is I've been extraordinarily lucky to do all this stuff in the first place. There are a lot of good ride reports on here from both near and far, and so a lot of good 'free' reading can be done. Who buys books now? Everyone wants everything for nothing!

Still, I'm happy to keep on adding to the library at every opportunity. Not everyone has the opportunity to do it.
 
Monkeyboy - you da man :bow :clap :thumb2

Love to follow you round the globe, just be afraid I'd slow you down :D

You take care, start saving and planning. Me, I'll start collecting popcorn in advance of your next adventure write up :D

Steve T

:cool:
 
Monkeyboy - you da man :bow :clap :thumb2

Love to follow you round the globe, just be afraid I'd slow you down :D

You take care, start saving and planning. Me, I'll start collecting popcorn in advance of your next adventure write up :D

Steve T

:cool:

You'd be fine mate. I'm really not a fast rider at all. Self-preservation mode comes on earlier every trip:) It pisses The Bitch off no end!

but if you insist .. OK .. I'll get saving ...
 
I was there ......

Like many, I have avidly read the trip report, however, I was lucky enough to go on this trip and thought that it might be of value to one or two if I gave a slightly different perspective on what was involved as a participant, but without Monkeyboys (MB) abilities as an entertaining author. This is not my own version of a report on the trip.

MBs eloquent prose is an accurate representation. It was a glorious trip. Clearly, individuals all have their own experiences and take their own numerous memories back, but he captures an awful lot of these collective impressions in his reports.

The agreement at the outset of this undertaking was simple. MB does the arrangement work, we discuss where we would all like to go and what we would like to see steered by his initial idea and greater knowledge of what’s practical in the timeframe we all have. We agree a route and timelines that benefits from that experience and effort both before and during the trip. If you have to do anything with regards to visas, packing lists, key dates etc, you get very clear instructions for everything you need to do. Once on the road, we had paid for the logistics and then pay for lunch and evening meals, drink and any extracurricular activities we wish to partake in. if additional costs crop up e.g. hotels have to change, more paperwork or guides etc, unless they are very personal or collectively substantial, that was covered. There were no hidden extras.

Its not a micromanaged tour where you are required to act like a herd of sheep. MB stuck a tremendous balance between an extended ride out and an “organised” tour. I didn’t want to be told what I was required to do every minute of each day, nor pay for a convoy of support vehicles. Its an adventure, if spontaneous stuff doesn’t happen, you don’t get the chance to engage with the locals, cannot appreciate where you are and what you are doing in your own time or do what interests you as long as it isn’t too disruptive to the rest of the group or objective, it’s a sanitised (sheep herd) tour and there are plenty of companies that will provide that at considerable expense. This trip didn’t cost anything like those and there was a tremendously pragmatic approach by MB of, let others know what you want to do and unless there is an overriding reason not to, feel free and if others want to do that, lets modify things accordingly. All of the party acted consistently in this regard as well.

Whilst you may have an impression of someone who heroically tears up the tarmac all day every day and by extension, the hell with everyone else, for nearly every single section he rides with huge mechanical sympathy because he knows what’s rational given the nature of the trip and is, importantly, consistently and quietly concerned that everyone else is okay. This often means he sweeps up during the day while everyone spreads out and works their own ways to the nights objective. Sometimes, rightly, he, we all individually, or collectively, pushed things along otherwise what’s the point of being on empty, great roads with glorious weather and scenery in extraordinary countries on two wheels? His organisational abilities were almost faultless and whilst we might have been aware of some of the dynamic challenges of organisation and logistics that a trip like this involves before and whilst on the road, we barely saw any of that effort unless we needed to do something. In this as with most things he did, it was done immensely quietly and professionally.

At the end of the day, the acid test is, “would I do another trip with him?” – absolutely. Where are you thinking of heading MB?

If you have gotten this far: Other Info:

Participants: Could anybody have come on this trip or was it a boys own adventure? It wouldn’t have mattered in the slightest who you are nor what your gender is. Anybody with a bike that worked, one or two up and had a sense of adventure.

Bike: We had a range of bikes and ages. Its not a run around Brands Hatch, but neither was it heading off into the great wilderness with a box of matches, a length of rope and penknife for three months. You don’t need a 1200 GSA machine gunned with the entire Touratech catalogue contents. A 500cc bike works just as well as was evident. I, of course, had the former which I loved on the trip, but did I need it? I just told the Executive branch at home that I did ……… but having done it, no, but don’t mention that. It did mean that I could cross continents comfortably and at impressive speeds, be very happy to use it on some of the less good surfaces and know that it will deal with everything far more capably than me, so I was very happy at the start and even more impressed by the time we finished. Interestingly, at the end of the trip, everyone said they would take their own bikes on a trip like this again, speaking volumes for “what’s best?”.

Luggage: People have done this trip two up with massive luggage loads. MB fits all his and pragmatic common support needs into two panniers. As always, its true, you need a fraction of what you think you need. Nearly everybody else took too much.

Accommodation and Food: We slept in some very good hotels, mostly good hotels and a few premises that were more basic because of where we were and what was around either through choice e.g. yurts, or home stays. Its not necessary for you to suffer these days just to have stories to impress people back home. They don’t care anyway. Most of the time, the local food was of similar standard to the hotels. Sometimes, admittedly, with more suckers or claws than you might want to see at home, but generally good and the roadside stops for lunches that we all chose at random were almost universally fine or good, be that a tin shack, truckers café or local restaurant. We ate out from the hotel most nights as its more fun than staying in your hotel. Additionally, you can get coffee, pringles, pot noodles and snickers bars anywhere in the world if you don’t fancy whats on offer or you fancy a change.

Off road experience? I had done one of the BMW off road courses and benefited tremendously from it, but again, everybody is on this adventure together and helped. People have their own views on those sections. The first time we went off road, I was happy to ride along repeatedly telling myself that at least I wasn’t dead yet when it got more mobile under the tyres and I was still upright, others, far more experienced, absolutely loved every minute of it. I look back on those, small in the overall trip length, pieces and can almost convince myself that I can generally hold my own and even take pleasure whilst doing it rather than just breathing a huge sigh of relief at the end. Dakar next? …. Not a chance.

Anything else? You’ve got a bike, passport and bank card. What else do you need?
 
Like many, I have avidly read the trip report, however, I was lucky enough to go on this trip and thought that it might be of value to one or two if I gave a slightly different perspective on what was involved as a participant, but without Monkeyboys (MB) abilities as an entertaining author. This is not my own version of a report on the trip... *SNIP*

Nice write up :thumb2
 
It's been said by others before me, but what a cracking read, with great photography.
I need to stop thinking of the reasons/excuses why not....
 
Many thanks for your amazing write up . Gets us all thinking . I'm off to Vietnam again in January and cant wait. but an extended trip like yours looks like what I would like to do in a couple of years time when I have finished work for good :thumby:
 
Great ride report! Absolutely brilliant reading and fantastic photography. And I was one of the six!

To all - Although I have been to a few far off places in the past I am a cautious rider. And I can just about ensure the TC oil level is fine. If you have a bike, a credit card, pack your GSH, join Monkeyboy on his next wild tour and JFDI.
 
Great ride report! Absolutely brilliant reading and fantastic photography. And I was one of the six!

To all - Although I have been to a few far off places in the past I am a cautious rider. And I can just about ensure the TC oil level is fine. If you have a bike, a credit card, pack your GSH, join Monkeyboy on his next wild tour and JFDI.

Exactly:) Whatever you're 'thinking' of doing... stop thinking and JFDI :thumb2
 
Congratulations to all on a great trip and a great RR....... I would like to participate in such a trip with an experienced leader for when "Shit" and "Happens" decide to do cabaret!
 
Great ride report (I'd been reading it on AdvRider) and thanks for the extra input from recycleduboat :beerjug:
 
Congratulations to all on a great trip and a great RR....... I would like to participate in such a trip with an experienced leader for when "Shit" and "Happens" decide to do cabaret!

Last time I saw those two they were both signing up for Russian evening classes. Great:)
 
Great read that and also very good photos. Really enjoyed it. :)
 
Thank you very much. I really enjoy your RRs and it gives me a smile reading it. The emotion is put into words. Cracking photos.
 
Just finished making my Christmas presents:) By my calculations they come in at about £2500 each:)

DSC_0772-1.jpg


To anyone that's read the report there is all sorts of stuff in these. Bottles negotiated for and bought from a beautiful warm cafe in Shangri La, sand from the Kasak desert where I saw the camels quietly pad between the houses, pebbles from outside St Basils in Red Square, seeds from plants struggling against all odds, horse hair that was hiding in the short grass at Son Kol lake, all sorts of spices passed to me by wrinkled dirty hands in sweaty markets, stones levered from the cliffs at Tiger Leaping gorge, green dust from stones by a landslide in Laos, all sorts of weird alien food ingredients from Chinese shops, black soil from the Russian wilderness, wispy plant seed heads that I watched bend to the breeze in Tibet, some poo pellets from the arse of an unknown animal that crossed my path sometime in the past, wood from a tree outside a hotel in Kyrgystan where I stood and felt the wind suddenly rise and announce an approaching storm, all topped off by some pebbles and prayer flags retrieved from the permafrost up at Everest base camp. Every colour brings back a memory, every line a moment in time. What a sad muppet:) Want to make some for yourself:) Look Here.

A very merry Christmas to everyone, and here's to lots of good riding in 2018. Life is short. JFDI.
 
Wow....what incredible presents those bottles will make.

I hope you've got one for yourself as a memento. :thumb
 
Absolutely fantastic, you have managed to capture the whole essence of that trip, Jesus I can nearly smell it.......................

Well done you, if this isn't inspiring then nothing is

Top write up with priceless pictures :thumb
 


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