Racey
Registered user
Oh my goodness... Is this a good time to be posting a ride report ?? How on earth am I going to match the standard Scrapdog set ??
Well... I'll give it a go...
To set the scene, 2009 was supposed to be the year of my Round The World ride... I had signed up to ride from London to Vladivostok as part of a group organised by Compass Expeditions. I had hoped that on completion of this ride I'd be able to, somehow, get the bike to West Coast USA so that I could complete my trip without having to either retrace any steps or fly back over what I'd just ridden.
Sadly, the vagaries of the year's topsy turvey ecconomic situation claimed another group of victims when the London to Vladivostok trip I had signed up to was cancelled in March...
Unfortunately for Compass Expeditions several of the riders who had expressed interest, and a few who had paid deposits, didn't commit ultimately... Leaving the only sensible decision for the organisers being cancellation.
So that left me "all revved up - with no place to go" just over 3 months before we were supposed to be setting off !!
Despite the disappointment, I'm a great believer in the adage that "every cloud has a silver lining"... And it wasn't long before that was true in this case.
One thing I had realised from the outset of the Round The World planning was that the "Americas" portion of the trip was inveitably going to have to be a bit of a compromise...
Compass Expeditions had anticipated our arrival into Vladivostok to be roughly mid to late September. Then the bike would have to be shipped or flown to the American West Coast. The best estimates were that no matter which route was chosen to transport the bike, it probably wouldn't be out of customs and ready to ride much before mid October.
And that would have meant I might not have had the best weather to explore many areas of the USA and Canada... One thing would have been highly likely, Alaska would probably have been a no go for a solo biker. As would the Yukon, British Columbia and the passes of The Sierra Nevada Mountains.
My journey, probably, would have turned into a "cross country interstate thrash"...
But with a determination to have a big ride and with time allocated and, most importantly, permission obtained from "SWMBO" I pulled together a plan that resulted in me seing some of the very best of Canada and America's national parks, on a 12,107 mile ride from Anchorage up The Dalton and then to New York.
I did it the only way an Anglo Saxon knows how... In a meandering route that took me through 20 States, 3 Canadian Provinces, 25 National Parks and Monuments and 3,238 tunes on my iPod !!
This became a test for organising and executing a major ride myself. I vowed, "if all goes well - I'll do the London Vladivostok bit in 2011..."
The trip was used to raise funds through sponsorship for Breast Cancer Care who were wonderful to us when my wife was diagnosed in 2005... I paid every single cost of the trip, ensuring 100% of any sponsorship went to the charity. In total I raised £13,262. Thank you to all who contributed...
And another thank you goes to all the other contributors to this site's ride reports - they all inspired me to head off alone and I loved every minute of the ride.
I hope my musings and photos inspire those of you who haven't yet packed your bags and headed off to do so. Don't procrastinate like I did. Whether you want to ride alone or in a group... Just do it...
Here's a snapshot of my route:
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/KzYblwkA3x4f8HisJNSPEA?authkey=Gv1sRgCNH4tP6Ol8Gj5QE&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_tyu_mgErIOA/S4DpH4DVqNI/AAAAAAAACxs/3Z--iR-EqH0/s800/ScreenShot073.jpg" /></a>
If anyone wants a detailed insight to all the ups and downs of the trip, I did keep a detailed journal on my blogsite: http://arctictoatlanticjournal.blogspot.com but I will distill out a few highlights on here for everyone.
More to follow...
Well... I'll give it a go...
To set the scene, 2009 was supposed to be the year of my Round The World ride... I had signed up to ride from London to Vladivostok as part of a group organised by Compass Expeditions. I had hoped that on completion of this ride I'd be able to, somehow, get the bike to West Coast USA so that I could complete my trip without having to either retrace any steps or fly back over what I'd just ridden.
Sadly, the vagaries of the year's topsy turvey ecconomic situation claimed another group of victims when the London to Vladivostok trip I had signed up to was cancelled in March...
Unfortunately for Compass Expeditions several of the riders who had expressed interest, and a few who had paid deposits, didn't commit ultimately... Leaving the only sensible decision for the organisers being cancellation.
So that left me "all revved up - with no place to go" just over 3 months before we were supposed to be setting off !!
Despite the disappointment, I'm a great believer in the adage that "every cloud has a silver lining"... And it wasn't long before that was true in this case.
One thing I had realised from the outset of the Round The World planning was that the "Americas" portion of the trip was inveitably going to have to be a bit of a compromise...
Compass Expeditions had anticipated our arrival into Vladivostok to be roughly mid to late September. Then the bike would have to be shipped or flown to the American West Coast. The best estimates were that no matter which route was chosen to transport the bike, it probably wouldn't be out of customs and ready to ride much before mid October.
And that would have meant I might not have had the best weather to explore many areas of the USA and Canada... One thing would have been highly likely, Alaska would probably have been a no go for a solo biker. As would the Yukon, British Columbia and the passes of The Sierra Nevada Mountains.
My journey, probably, would have turned into a "cross country interstate thrash"...
But with a determination to have a big ride and with time allocated and, most importantly, permission obtained from "SWMBO" I pulled together a plan that resulted in me seing some of the very best of Canada and America's national parks, on a 12,107 mile ride from Anchorage up The Dalton and then to New York.
I did it the only way an Anglo Saxon knows how... In a meandering route that took me through 20 States, 3 Canadian Provinces, 25 National Parks and Monuments and 3,238 tunes on my iPod !!
This became a test for organising and executing a major ride myself. I vowed, "if all goes well - I'll do the London Vladivostok bit in 2011..."
The trip was used to raise funds through sponsorship for Breast Cancer Care who were wonderful to us when my wife was diagnosed in 2005... I paid every single cost of the trip, ensuring 100% of any sponsorship went to the charity. In total I raised £13,262. Thank you to all who contributed...
And another thank you goes to all the other contributors to this site's ride reports - they all inspired me to head off alone and I loved every minute of the ride.
I hope my musings and photos inspire those of you who haven't yet packed your bags and headed off to do so. Don't procrastinate like I did. Whether you want to ride alone or in a group... Just do it...
Here's a snapshot of my route:
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/KzYblwkA3x4f8HisJNSPEA?authkey=Gv1sRgCNH4tP6Ol8Gj5QE&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_tyu_mgErIOA/S4DpH4DVqNI/AAAAAAAACxs/3Z--iR-EqH0/s800/ScreenShot073.jpg" /></a>
If anyone wants a detailed insight to all the ups and downs of the trip, I did keep a detailed journal on my blogsite: http://arctictoatlanticjournal.blogspot.com but I will distill out a few highlights on here for everyone.
More to follow...
