Back on the bike (with a motor)

"When in doubt - add a motor..."



"How about Mongolia?".....I am not quite sure what part of what conversation that comment came up, but once it was heard - it could not be unheard! While Tim and I stared at the map of the world on my living room wall one sunny afternoon, throwing darts and deciding where to head this year, the seed was planted months earlier. While cycling around Burma, we made a mutual pact that another decent adventure was in order for 2015.

So it was sorted - this year's adventures will take place in the out there landscapes of the Mongolian steppe. Completely convinced that the best way to explore a new place is from the top of a bike - 2 wheels would be the mode of transport once again. This time though - we will have some motors on them......pissy little 150cc motors - but way easier than pedalling!

Why Mongolia? Well - given that Tim pretty much covered the majority of the Earth during his 18 mth cycle tour from London - Melbourne a few years back - we only had a few countries to choose from. To be honest - I've always had a fascination with Mongolia - I am not quite sure why as I don't know a heap about it, but it has always seemed to be a far away place full of wide open places and landscapes. I was asked once what my favourite landscape was and without hesitation I replied "anywhere that is barren, desolate and wide open".....I'm thinking Mongolia will have this in spades!

Our plan is completely under discussion and will likely change 10 times per day! The main goal really is to cruise around, learn how to ride a motorcycle, get into adventures, avoid eating sheeps balls, do heaps of camping and (for me anyway), find some super sweet tracks over high mountain passes to do some running training. From Mongolia we will fly to San Fransisco and likely rent a car to drive to Colorado and back, finding mountains, national parks and small town adventures on the way.

Preparation

Although I am reasonably prepared, I will leave it to Tim to tell the whole story....

Tim Says………

 With German heritage in the family, efficiency and organisation should be at the heart of anything I do (and it usual is), however this time things aren’t really panning out as my forefathers would envisaged. With less than 6 days left until our first taste of Mongolian mutton, the list of things to complete includes: packing up and moving out of an apartment, buying a house, going to a Mötley Crüe concert, coming down from the excitement of going to a Mötley Crüe concert , cleaning grime out of a bathroom which makes the sump of a car appear clean, socialising, more socialising and somewhere in the middle this thing called ‘preparation’ and ‘packing’ for a certain 9 week overseas adventure.

So instead of worrying about these nonsensical thing, I thought I’d just make the crucial things were sorted before leaving, so I wrote myself this checklist and started to answer the questions one by one - Can ride a motorbike? No. Can I fix a motorbike? No. Have tools to attempt to fix a motorbike? No. Can ‘wing’ the trip and in the end ‘shell be right’? Most definitely not. Have travel insurance? Yes. Sounds like I’m all sorted then. See you on the Steppe.


The Route

Well there isn't one really.....both Tim and I managed to negotiate a few months off from our (very understanding) employers and decided to embark on a new adventure. Neither of us have been motorbike touring before, in fact, neither of us really have a clue about riding motos. But, we have both done heaps of bicycle touring - how different could it be!!!

Month 1 - Mongolia. We found a dude named Cheke online and have organised a few Chinese made 150cc motorcycles to rent for $20 / day. Sure, they may not be as good as the KTM 400 models, but they were $80 / day, so - we had no choice really! After a few days sorting our stuff in Ulaanbator, we plan on heading west and trying to make it to the Altai mountains on the Western border of Mongolia and Kazakhstan. Making a nice loop through the north on the way there and central on the way back, we are looking to cover circa 3,500km in 25 or so days.

Proposed Route

Month 2 - USA / Canada. After arriving in San Fran, we will spend 3 weeks driving around the states, riding bikes, camping, running and finding adventures. From there, we fly to Vancouver for a week to finish the trip with old friends and even older mountains!

The Riders

Craig

Enjoys running unnecessarily long distances, taking time to pursue adventures, spending time with friends and family, the ocean, the mountains and everything in between. Dislikes long periods of time with no food and is susceptible to sugar crashes. A strict vegetarian - it will be interesting to see how he goes in a country who's diet is based on "meat, meat and more meat - mostly mutton".

Motorbike Experience

- Holder of learners license (expired)
- Rented a scooter in Morocco once (crashed)
- Rented a scooter in Asia a few times (a few crashes)
- Rented a scooter in Nicaragua once (got lost and ended up in Managua)
- 1 x 45min training session on dirt bikes in Traralgon (didn't crash)

Tim


Tim likes to ride his bike a long way, mostly alone so he can be with his thoughts. He took this to the extreme by pedalling from London to Melbourne a few years ago. Tim also enjoys bathing with baby wipes after a long day on the bike, plays excellent guitar at really loud volumes (mostly the solo from Van Halen's Panama) and is known to sleep with his eyes open at times (literally and metaphorically).
Motorbike Experience


- 1 x 45min training session on dirt bikes in Traralgon
- Rented a scooter in Thailand once
- Recently acquired Learner's motorbike license

So there we have it. One week til we fly out and the I'm getting fired up. The gear is tested and packed, flights booked, dehydrated food and a jar of vegemite packed to avoid mutton on the trip and a new adventure beckons. Stay tuned....