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Preparing for the trip is half the fun

July 26, 2007 / Matthew Cashmore

So very true! I love reading about other people planning their own trips – and the language they use to explain the hardships that face us on the road – those very hardships which make the trip worth doing in the first place.

I don’t put a lot of quotes on this blog but I read this over on Horizons Unlimited this morning and it made me laugh – a lot – I just wonder if it’s only us mad bikers that this is funny to?

Once again, I am packing for a trip where the the temperature can range from “why the hell is my helmet filling up with smoke – shit, my hair is on fire again” to “that had better not been my other testicle that just rattled down my pant leg. I wasn’t done with it yet!”. Welcome to travel in Canada.

Read the whole thread over at Horizons Unlimited HUBB

parking in covent garden

July 25, 2007 / Matthew Cashmore

why is it so difficult to park around covent garden? Loads of space for bike bays so what’s the problem!?

Love the school Summer Holidays

July 23, 2007 / Matthew Cashmore

My commute to work this morning was dull. It wasn’t the usual cascade of sleepy car drivers sipping their tea from silver thermos mugs and swerving as they mis-judge the gulp hole and spill it down their pristine shirts. It was divine.

The roads were empty, the filtering was fun, and the weather thankfully staid dry.

I love the Summer Holidays… children should be sent home from school more often.

To Morocco and back

July 21, 2007 / Matthew Cashmore

It takes three weeks, or there abouts, for a motorbike and rider to head up the Atlas mountains, decend into Marakesh and laze in Casablanca.

Welcome to the Journey To Morocco blog. A testing ground for a much larger journey between three friends in July next year – you can read more about that in Journey To Russia.

This blog is a very simple record of one of that teams journey in September this year, a place to test the technology and the methods that we’ll use on the big one.

Wankers

July 14, 2007 / Matthew Cashmore

That’s aimed at all the people who drove past a really nasty bike accident today and just decided to look and laugh instead of stopping to help the poor sod who was falling over the place and unable to stand up.

I’m sorry that sounds harsh – no hang on a moment I’m not – it should be harsh. Accident on the really busy Parc Royal junction of the North Circ, biker taken out, stumbling around and we were the only people to stop and help.

We coned off the bike, took some photos, made sure he was safe and that the police and ambulance were on the way – the thanks we got? Shouting from drivers who were forced to divert around the damaged bike demanding that it was moved ASAP.

Wankers.

Grrr what bike!?!

July 12, 2007 / Matthew Cashmore

The thing with most real bikers is that you can only afford one bike – my current employer certainly doesn’t see the need to pay me enough to run two – which boils down to the reality of having to chose a bike with way to many tricks to make it amazing.

I need a bike that will happily send me 27 miles down the A1 each morning, then crawl through Central London traffic. Okay easy, I need a commuter bike.

I need a bike that will tour the UK and the rest of the world on tarmac. Okay easy, I need a tourer.

I need a bike that will tour far away places that have no roads and take me on an adventure. Okay easy, I need an adventure bike.

Bugger.

So I need a good all-rounder – the CBF600 has been amazing, it’s a commuter that will happily take a shed load of luggage, not complain and let me tour the UK and beyond…. but it starts to get a bit limited when you hit even the most benile of b-roads.

That’s left me with a few other options, the BMW GS1200, the KTM Adventure, or maybe something from the far side, the Aprilia ETV 1000. The BMW is too flashy and everyone has one, the KTM is too tall and the Aprilia, well that’s just about right… except I’ve just discovered they are being discontinued.

Bugger.

So what now?

North Africa here I come

July 11, 2007 / Matthew Cashmore

So the Africa trip has won – actually that sounds much more grandiose than it actually is. I’m off to Morocco on the bike for a few weeks 🙂

The plan had to change somewhat from the original idea of tracking along the north coast up into Italy – I asked the guys over at Horizons Unlimited, and they suggested that the best thing to do was stay in Morocco and take it a bit easier, especially considering the Morocco / Algeria border is closed!

Patrick suggested that I get the ferry down to northern Spain to save time, and that’s precisely what I’m going to do – there’ll be a new little blog where you can follow the journey if you’re that way inclined and I’ll post that up ASAP.

An idea is forming…

July 9, 2007 / Matthew Cashmore

With Russia being postponed to July, I’ve been flapping around trying to decide what it is I’m going to do for three weeks in September.

Options;

Go to Russia anyway
Ride round the UK
Ride to Africa
Cancel leave and come to work
Go for a walk

So, some of those options are out of the window – guess which ones 😉 and others are appealing – Africa in particular…. update soon 🙂

Long Way Down

July 3, 2007 / Matthew Cashmore

I’m really enjoying the new stuff from Euan and Charley. This time they’re heading all the way to the bottom of Africa – no small task – and once again there’s a TV series to go with it.

What makes this one a little different however is the fact that they’re doing it with the BBC, rather than Sky, must admit I’m sure Charley wasn’t happy with Sky when they bumped Race to Dakar to Sky Two! But the most important thing about it coming to the beeb is that the site that goes with it is fantastic.

Rather than just posting updates about the DVD, the book, and the TV show – the site is a full on proper web experience – and what’s more it’s the only way you can enjoy the journey ‘live’.

I’m loving watching the progress on the interactive map – based on a google mashup – but most of all I’m loving the video on the site, and the short and to the point posts from the boys and the team around them – it actually feels like I’m traveling with them, I’m holding my breath waiting for the next entry and that they’ll get through the next problem!

I’ve been pulling all the data down via the RSS feeds, but I love how simple and clean the site is. I’m crossing everything for them right now… they’re right into Africa and need all the support they can get. Looks as if everything is going to plan though, certainly if the quick Q&A session they did for News Online is anything to go by.

The other thing that took my by surprise was the mobile section of the site, quite often these things can feel bolted on and half done, but the beeb seems to have pulled this off nicely with a little information and often, plus a weekly quiz and other goodies.

All in all a very impressive site that lets me be part of the journey… certainly makes up for the fact that I’ve had to delay my own trip to Russia until next July… especially when it was inspired by Euan and Charleys first series.

Russia, is off, or rather postponed