TRiPPiN

By Duncan Bennett, Member #4171

Solo world traveller or weekend warrior? Prefer to go your own way, or love the camaraderie of a led ride? GPS tragic or paper map old skooler? The options and nuances are without limit, limitless if you will. Which you won’t, because you probably have something better to do, hopefully planning your next ride.

Mounted up and ready to follow

We have pretty much done all the options except self-guided long rides overseas on our own bikes – the equivalent of Platinum Class. Diamond Class is crossing multiple continents over very long periods – think Ted Simon, Heather Ellis, Sam Manicom, and Brian and Shirley Rix who have published their exploits. Lots have done these trips without the fanfare, for example our close friends Adrian and Hera rode Hobart to Helsinki in 2019 on a 1200GS and a Kwaka Versys 300, but were only visible to their passive-aggressive Facebook friends. We are down maybe in Gold Class, but as editors of the BMWMCQ we can offer opinions on anything we want, and the membership are forced to read our wafflings with eyes wide open Clockwork Orange-like. Get the matchsticks out people, and strap in. So what are the options? From most to least personal effort: 1. Self-guided on own bikes – across multiple continents including 3rd and 2nd World.

2. 1st World, led, hired bikes. No.1 means everything is within your locus of control and everything needs to be managed. No.2 means show up and ride with someone organising where you start, stop, supply, and stay. Super easy, and the advantages are that you are less likely to miss good stuff and you are guaranteed to make great and even lifetime friends on the bigger trips. Buts, there are always a few buts. And they can be big buts.

You can see some damn cool stuff on led rides

We originally discovered the biggest “but” for led tours on our 80-day Cairo to Cape Town (actually Alexandria to Agulhas, but the C’s are better known) tour, and that is a led tour stops for no-one. Severe repercussions from last night’s I-swear-that-chicken-lookedcooked? Hoover Imodium and nappy up.

The biggest “but” of led rides

Come off and hurt? Sort yourself out in the local hospital while the group moves on. Can’t ride

for an extended period? We’ll wave goodbye to you, and you’ll wave goodbye to your money while you and the tour company staff back in their country of origin help you organise getting yourself and your bike home. Even our New Zealand GPS-led ride for two weeks in 2018 had this problem. All accommodation was pre-booked, so if it was 3°C and raining, harden up. You’re riding. And again the next day with your wet gear back on.

This sign wasn’t helping

Another potentially large “but” for led adventure tours is that no-one is going to train you to ride the sorts of roads you may find yourself being led onto. A bit like the disasters on Mt Everest a few years ago, people paying very large sums of money to be led sometimes have surprising expectation that they don’t need to prepare as much as people doing it under their own steam.

JULY 2021

41 We’ve known many who were simply way out of their skill and comfort zone on certain days, you only need to be in this situation for an hour for something very bad to happen. Often there is no retreat possible, and we have friends who experienced such horrendous roads in Namibia that a third of their tour group had retired hurt or scared by the time they left the country. On return their GS’s were immediately sold and cruisers purchased, a tragic end to adventure riding for them. The moral of the story? Do some research on where you are going and train for it. Another big “but” can be the led tour 10% d-head factor. Our first South American tour had one utter tool named Roman who was also known for dangerously Roamin’ all over the road, and some of our friends have horror stories of selfish and obnoxious d-heads on their trips. We have been incredibly lucky on our led tours. 15 riders on our 2019 Compass Alaska tour, and all great people, literally all you’d happily sit next to at dinner, and two years later most are now close friends we communicate with regularly. These friendships are indeed a huge plus for led rides and will give you a network of friends all over the world.

A fantastic group - a big +ve of led tours

Self-led rides overseas on hire bikes are getting closer to freedom. Want to stop because it’s raining or go a different way? No-one is going to tell you not to. As long as you have the bike back on the day you promised, do whatever you want. Most don’t allow you to stray from the bitumen without severe insurance issues, so you need to know this first, but besides that all good. And they often provide all the gear so

you can show up in a cocktail dress and still ride off comfortably.

Even a weekend hire can pay off big

Negatives? Cost is a big one, approximately three weeks and it will be breakeven with shipping your own bike. Another biggie for longer trips is it ain’t your bike. No tools for making those simple adjustments and repairs, that bloody mirror will swing around unexpectedly just when you don’t need it to the whole trip. And that thing isn’t a windscreen! I never knew BMW made seats out of broken bricks? OMG we are in the 21st century and I’ve hired the only bike on earth without heated grips and it is 5°C! The list of things that your beloved back home has and the hire bike doesn’t just keeps growing. Hire bikes are always the model’s Poverty Pack.

Note left hand mirror that was only useful for the commuters in the next lane Even on led rides the lack of tools can mean a lot of waiting around to fix minor issues

Minor damage on hire bikes can become an argument on return. A month after the Alaska trip we received a notification from Motoquest in Anchorage that they were going to do us a huge favour and have Cindy’s hire F700GS front wheel rim dent repaired for US$750, rather than replace the wheel for US$1,250.

argument took place, before miraculously finding a photo on the day we picked the bikes up, clearly showing the dent (fortunately right next to the valve) was already there. One of the most grovelling apologies ever was received from Motoquest, but without that lucky photo it would have been a big problem as they had our credit card details.

Freedom lies in being bold. And lying on grass.

Self-guided on own bikes is the ultimate freedom. Can go wherever you want and stay wherever you want, although you end up with bookings that can’t be missed – think ferries to Tasmania. Even the Diamond Class struggle a bit with this as there is no such thing as a forever visa, or a road between Australia and Europe, or permanent nice riding weather. The positives are overwhelming; your own bike set up exactly how you want with the right luggage, protection, tools and tyres. Need to navigate? You’ve got a GPS with back-up iPhone mount. It falls over? Who cares, just another chance for a photo. Want to stay in a 5 star hotel? Do it. Want to camp in the middle of nowhere? Don’t do it, stay an extra night in the 5 star, budget be damned. Negatives for self-guided on your own bikes? You are entirely on your own, especially when out of range of the RACQ. Organising everything from the moment you decide to go, preparation is a major event – bike, gear, what to take to wear, documentation, medication, spares, maintenance, there is a lot of detail and a lot that can go wrong. If you have trouble chillin’ out and going with the flow, long overseas trips with other cultures and bureaucracy and sometimes being ripped off may well be a struggle. For some on long term trips it can ultimately morph into something like a job; you get up, you pack, you ride, you find things to eat and places to stay and have beers, and repeat. Having a partner is a huge plus, as long as they aren’t in the 10%. But the biggest “BUT” of all? BUT no matter how you go, you are riding.