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  Inspired by Jupiter

  Gary 23:55 on June 4, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
  Tags: Adventure (30), Events, Motorcycling, Ted Simon, Travel (7)

  In 1973 Ted Simon left his life behind when he decided to drop everything and ride a motorcycle around the world. He travelled 78,000 miles through 45 countries, this fantastic adventure taking him four years to complete. This man now has a legendary status in the adventure motorcycling world and we were lucky enough to meet him tonight; he was talking about his adventures at Sideways Motorcycles in Dorchester. I’ve never read Ted’s story before but after listening to the first part of it from him today I’ve now purchased the book and am eager to start reading.

  

  I charged my camera battery last night ready for the trip to Scafell this weekend and decided to take the camera to the event tonight. We were about to meet Ted to get the book signed when Kev couldn’t get the camera to work, I have to admit cameras do tend to work better when the batteries aren’t still at home in the charger… Anyway, you’ll have to excuse the picture quality, the light was low in the room and the iPhone camera is, as always, a bit lacking.

  I’ve heard a few people talk about their adventures now; Charley Boorman, Walter Colebatch, Austin Vince and now Ted Simon of course and every time I listen to these people speak it just makes me want to hop and the bike and go. I don’t think I’ll ever understand why I want to go, I don’t know if listening to these people talking about their trips are making it sound like the cool thing to do or wether they’re just giving me a gentle nudge in the direction I was headed anyway. Either way, I can’t really think of anything I want to do more right now than travel; I want to see the things these guys have seen, I want the experiences and the stories they have. I can’t wait to get out there now and I can’t help but feeling that Bournemouth – Torrevieja 2009 is just paving the way for the many adventures that lie ahead.

   

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  65 mile waste

  Gen 20:08 on May 5, 2009 | 2 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
  Tags: Bikes (13), Motorcycling, Preparation (23), Suzuki (11), V-Strom DL650 (3)

  After my disappointing weekend last week, we decided that I needed to stop hiding my head in the sand and actually go and find me a bike. I have spent a week pondering whether the V-Strom is maybe too big for me and even started looking around to see what else is out there, but I couldn’t help coming back to it. On to Bike Trader we went, found the next V-Strom on the list and phoned up the dealer. Luckily they were open on a Bank Holiday and I had a good feeling after hearing from them how nice it looked; I could finally get myself a bike and start gearing it up for our trip!

  65 miles later we arrived at the dealership; we parked up and went on in. There she was, a beautiful black Strom, I walked around the side – it looked just like the one that I lost. We walked around it and to our dismay the other side was trashed, someone had obviously dropped this bike, probably on gravel, and from the looks of it probably more than once. I probably could have gotten over the damage – I have dropped a bike before, it happens, but what shouldn’t happen is rust; rust on the chain, rust on the side stand, rust on the nuts, almost everything that was once a shiny metal colour was now rusting.

  There is no way with my knowledge of bikes that I could guess how much it would cost to fix, or even if it needs fixing, maybe this sort of thing happens to all bikes? I couldn’t buy it in that condition; no matter how much I want a bike. My second attempt of finding a bike has failed, maybe I’m cursed, or maybe there is a better one waiting for me! Watch this space and I’ll let you know how I get on!

   
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  First things first!

  Gen 20:59 on April 16, 2009 | 1 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
  Tags: Adventure (30), Introduction (3), Motorcycling, Preparation (23), Travel (7)

  On 9th April 2009 I passed my full motorbike test, with the final goal being to eventually ride around the world with Gary. It took me two attempts, one injured leg and a few scratches on the poor motorbike, but I did it, and boy did it feel good!

  I used to ride a moped a few years back but gave up two wheels after passing my driving test and basking in the warmth that four wheels brings. It wasn’t until about a year ago when Gary got his Monster and wanted me to go on the back that my helmet even saw the light of day again, but I enjoyed it after a few rides (Gary soon learnt he wasn’t allowed to accelerate) and felt like I wanted more. I had always said I would get a big bike after the 50cc but much like everything else, life just got in the way.

  So now I have passed, woohoo… now what? Well, the plan is to go bike shopping on Saturday – wish me luck, I hope I find something so this journey can continue!

   
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  My Story

  Gary 00:14 on April 9, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
  Tags: Adventure (30), Introduction (3), Motorcycling, Travel (7)

  I can’t remember how long I’ve wanted to ride a motorcycle. I definitely can’t remember how long I’ve wanted to travel. I’ve spent 9,035 of my 9,058 days on British soil, I’ve been to many places, seen many things and met many people, but I want more. I want to see what food people eat in Italy, I want to see what people do day-to-day in Kazakhstan, I want to try communicating with people in spite of an obvious language barrier… I want to see how other people experience life.

  I went straight from School to College to University; three months later I was in my first full-time job. There was no gap year for me; I didn’t spend six months in Thailand or a year travelling around Europe. Do I ever wish I had? Not really, I’m actually fairly happy with the way things have turned out, I’m 24 years old, I have a degree and 4 years commercial experience as a web developer, things could be worse. Despite the fact I think I’ve done things right, it hasn’t quenched my thirst for adventure, it doesn’t stop me wanting to see and do all the things I’ve always wanted to do.

  In July 2007 I decided it was time to fulfil the first part of the dream and learn to ride a motorcycle, I passed my CBT and bought my first bike a Suzuki GZ125 Marauder. 8 months later in March 2008 I took my full bike test and passed, finally the time had come to get my first “big” bike; a Ducati Monster 695, the bike I’m still riding today.

  A lot of people that go on “adventure” trips amuse me, there always seems to be pressure, be it having to stick to a route or having to get to a final destination, it almost becomes a race to get to the next checkpoint, to get to that all important finish line. I don’t want to race to a finish line, I don’t want to be restricted by a route, I want to be free. For me, it’s not about the destination, it’s not even about completing the trip, it’s about the things we do, the people we meet and the places we get to see along the way.

   
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  Welcome to 99 Adventures

  Gary 19:44 on April 4, 2009 | 1 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
  Tags: Adventure (30), Communication (3), Explore (4), Introduction (3), Motorcycling, Travel (7)

  

  My name is Gary, I’m 24 years old and I want to see the world. I work full-time as a Web Developer and in my spare time I play beardy games, hike and ride my motorbike.

  

  This is Gen, she’s 22 years old and despite her being a little crazy, I love her to bits! Gen wants to see the world too or is at least doing a stand-up job of humouring me, either way she’ll be my co-adventurer and best friend on these trips.

  On Saturday 3rd October 2009, Gen and I are planning on riding motorcycles to Torrevieja, Spain which is about 35 miles south of the City of Alicante and about 1,200 miles away from Bournemouth, UK our hometown.

  Lots of people have done trips like this, lots of people have done trips much bigger than this, why do we need a website to talk about ours? The simple answer is that we don’t, but we sat down and talked about it and we both felt it was a good idea for a number of reasons:

  1. It’s an easy way for us to keep a diary of the things we’ve done and if possible help others who want to do them too.
  2. It’s a great way for us to keep in contact with our friends and families; we’re planning on updating whilst on the road so everybody will be able to see what we’re doing and make sure we’re ok.
  3. I make a living as a Web Developer and I wanted to explore design too, this project already had a theme and a design brief for me to work from.

  Bournemouth – Torrevieja is hopefully the first of many adventures to come and if all goes to plan, there will be many more to follow, stick around!