Riding In The Tracks Of Giants

Mullen · Jan 28, 2012

Morning all. Long time lurker, first time caller. Good to meet you. :clap

'So, time to post a ride report', I said to myself, as 30,000 miles rolled over. I had time off over Christmas to start this huge task, and it'd be a welcome gift(?) to the online biker communities. The giants in whose tracks I've been following, that is.

And then my website crashed. :cry

For the past 6 weeks I've been rebuilding all the pretty pics, accompanying tall story and - most exciting of all - the movies that go with this. I've wrapped it in the website tinsel and glitter that looks so charming. And now I'm done - things are at least as good as they were.

Three problems remain:

(1) So much for 'time off'! I'm on the road again now, and trying to keep up.

(2) The 'old' website perpetuates in cyberland so without the fresh, erm, code(?) some regular followers think I'm still on a break and have missed the new leg of my adventure. Fresh link below might help yo'all.

(3) As always I've come second to Tiffany - if you'll pardon the expression - and our glamorous globetrotting deity is already half-way through an exciting and professional looking report of the same trip (over on the US sister site) - or at least, the London - Beijing section. Loving the read Tiff!

http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=687109

What to do?

I love ride reports, and want to contribute. But unless we're gonna wait until 2013 for a retrospective, things need a boost.

If you've had the patients, doctor, to stick with me this far please indulge me on the following mini-report....

April 2011 - Left England... crossed Europe and the 'Stans... entered China and caught a boat out of Tianjin. As you do.

Hit the dirt in Alaska and had a most excellent adventure, Ted, all the way south to Mexico. Bashed around in the Baja before centering on Central America and that cosy little country called Costa Rica.

2012 - Next leg: South America... and found Colombia to be a biker's wet dream. Can Ecuador eclipse it? We've made a good start...

Today, well, I'm off to a country market in Pujili where I will drink a cup of tea, have a biscuit and clean flies off my visor.

If you like what you hear, let me know if you like what you see: this is my latest movie...

<object width="640" height="360"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/l-GO63YgRDo?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/l-GO63YgRDo?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="640" height="360" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>

(With an eye to the copyright police I'm careful to mix, chop and blend my audio on the many thumping movies I've added to my site... but it has meant I'm a little shy to go public on YouTube. Don't want no trouble, officer, just doing my 'fair use' thing.)

In the depths of winter, maybe you'd enjoy the full backstory? How about the awesome movies in Moab? I'd love you to cast your learned eye to my site:

http://web.me.com/edward.mcmullen/Site/Welcome.html

And who knows? I will aim to drop a more orthodox RR update to you here from time to time?

Ok, that's quite a noob post. Hope I'm within the mod boundaries. As you were. :1drink

Cheers,

Mullen

a.k.a Riding In The Tracks Of Giants.

Timolgra · Jan 28, 2012

Fantastic route

Love the caption...."No point looking tough when the bike's broke and you don't know how to fix it, son"

Mullen · Feb 5, 2012

Colombia Part 2

Thanks Timolgra

Yes, I'm still waiting for the 'I told you so' moment.

Now, where were we? On this report I think I was half way down Colombia. Here's a couple of shots to wet your appetite.

It's been a busy week one thing and another - a couple of mountains got in the way, but more about those later... another movie to come, perhaps. :ear

I did get to finish up the second part of my Colombia movie blog. It's not my usual style (I try not to get in the way of the camera too much!), but if you've followed any of my earlier ones, you may appreciate the variety.

Either way, hopefully you'll enjoy The Courier MotoGP run down the mountain... :evil

Cheers,
Mullen

<object width="640" height="360"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/5BIU4qUjWUI?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/5BIU4qUjWUI?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="640" height="360" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>

Mullen · Feb 12, 2012

Ecuador - easy to market

Well, after leaving Colombia (the land many travellers seem to enthuse with 'Oh, my favourite country, ever!'), the route south took me into Ecuador.

Huge scenery! Wonderful markets! Patchwork farm lands! Ok, yeah, the enthusiasm is hard to convey properly, but I've stitched something together for you nice folks. :clap

Whilst the riding is stunning, in most of Ecuador I've enjoyed just as much parking up, and looking around: looking at the indigenous peoples of each province - each with their own distinctive hat style, or uniquely coloured poncho or wrap. I've looked up close at the volcanoes (see a couple of those movies on my main site now). This is the stuff that's been floating my boat, sorry bike, recently. :jager

I've blogged on the daily ups and downs, but don't let me detain you any further here.

Any more challenging riding? Oh yes, indeed... but the mud roads, rain deluge and rocky canyons are to follow next time.

Ash · Feb 12, 2012

great stuff

a485gag · Feb 12, 2012

They are really great videos that you put together there fella :bow

Graeme

Phil Magill · Feb 12, 2012

Love your videos

What programme are you using to make the video, really impressed with it.

Phil.

Mullen · Feb 15, 2012

Leaving Ecuador...

Thanks fellas... well, sometimes it feels like I can just point and click / shoot and the stuff looks awesome without needing much attention. Everything here is so fresh to me, the good stuff almost jumps into the camera.http://www.ukgser.com/forums/images/smilies/bounce.gif

Heh - other times I see awesome looking scenes but 'forget' to stop and capture it. I really should know better by now...

Phil - I use the iMovie software that came as part of the iLife package when I bought my MacBook Air (2010). (A great tool for the road, as it's so slim, tough, 11in, no-moving-parts, etc..)

I've heard that the other market leading softwares (aaargh, sorry, I forget the name & google didn't help) are slightly more intuitive and 'the next step up' when you've mastered iMovie.

For my purposes though - namely, doing this on the road - I find the iMovie is pretty flexible and I like being able to blend movie, photos, music, etc... by just click-n-dragging. Very occasionally I need to convert one format of video into something iMovies recognises, but that's rare (i.e. when I've taken footage from friends).

When I do play with the movies myself it takes about 8 hours' work for 7-10 minutes of finished 'product'. Hmm, and I'm much quicker than I used to be, which is one reason why they're getting longer! (Slow internet in Asia restricted me to <4 minutes too). I fuss over the lyrics & timing more than you'd probably realise!

Now, since yo'll were so kind, here's something I prepared earlier...

------------------------------------------

So, the challenge was to save time and milage by taking the 'small' border crossing out of Ecuador into Peru. I hadn't realised just how small it was, nor the consequences of following this particular road less travelled.

Mind you, this meant I could pause by another local market - I never get tired of these.

Below: 'Got any apples?' :yelrotflm

After some amazing riding in central Ecuador I had a taste of what was to come... more rain, more mud. My rate of progress slowed and it took a whole day just to get near the border... let alone cross it. Things were looking awry.

Here's the footage of the Quilotoa Loop, and then the road south. I wish you could see the HD version, and I'm working on that. Meantime, I recommend just peering into the tiny little viewer or else the quality of the movie becomes too poor.

Adios amigos.

Micky · Feb 15, 2012

Many thanks for taking the time to share this with us Mullen

SkyGod · Feb 15, 2012

Keep it coming. I love a big :thumb2

banana.

Bounce · Feb 16, 2012

Cracking video, really enjoyed watching them.... :thumb2

Mullen · Mar 13, 2012

Peru movie... mud, ducks and Paddy

So, when I looked at the map the shortest, most interesting route to Peru and beyond lay in a pretty straight direction due south. Excellent, I figured, so much better than the boring highway that heads off to the coast on a 'needlessly' wild deviation. :clap

Well, over the course of the next few days I found out why the highway was so popular.

My muddy excursion took me over a tiny border into Peru, through riverside villages and then paddy fields. But I was soon sucking up the humiliation and heading back to the coast for some quicker, safer miles. Progress was needed, as I didn't have weeks to struggle through the wet season - if I tried, I could end up seeing Patagonia in the Winter...

For me, Peruvian deserts lose their appeal quickly and it wasn't long before I struck inland again. I had a mission to reach the Canyon Del Pato and the many dark, single-track tunnels that my brother once told me about. One failed attempt later and I could see what he was on about - great fun all round, even in the rain!

Here's the movie of all of the above, and you'll find the full write up on my site. :beer:

I'm trying to catch up a little, as the laptop was out of action for a few weeks!

Cheers,
Mullen

rocky burns · Mar 14, 2012

Fantastic video....what a trip :beerjug:

Mullen · Mar 15, 2012

Thanks Mr RB, always glad to hear someone has enjoyed it :beerjug:

And the funny(?) thing is, 'stuff' started to happen very soon afterwards... Just wait for the next few movies! :drool

Drops, slides, baptism, bumps... Oh my.

rsstler · Mar 15, 2012

Great videos, thanks for sharing. I'm hoping to do the reverse of your south american leg in a month or so. Maybe we'll cross paths

Mullen · Mar 20, 2012

Movie: Peru part 2

Thanks Rsstler - we should probably swap maps!

-------------------------------

I finished the Canyon Del Pato day in a sodden, shivering mess. I had misjudged the conditions and needed forty minutes under a hot shower before I felt normal again. I had absolutely no motivation to play on any of the local mountains, so figured I'd hit the Pan American for a while. Peru in the rainy season was proving difficult to predict, and we know what happens when things get wild. :augie

A day later I was riding merrily past Lima - consigning the city to the bin marked 'Not worth stopping at'. Fate has a wicked sense of humor, and a few hours down the road an oil seal in my final drive failed, so I did a u-turn and headed back up the road towards the BMW shop. Five days in Lima was my penalty.

Repeated riding of the desert road south to Nasca / north to Lima left me with a sense of humor failure - at the fifth time I knew the dunes by rote. Salvation came from a happy half hour in a bitterly cold, desperate little town on the mountain road to Cusco. The simple fun of interacting with half a dozen local kids keen to meet the foreigner-with-the-giant-bike gave me back my perspective. As they giggled and shrieked with laughter I forgot the frustrations of the workshop and looked forward to my new adventures.

Cusco was the gateway to Machu Pichu, the cloud shrouded mountain stronghold that has a firm grip on the imagination (and wallets) of visiting tourists. I went along with it all, but felt happier finding the colour and texture of local Peruvian life along the road. The diligent farming folk, the fascinating urban outfits. Smooth curves and wonderful scenery had both the bike and me purring like cats.

Favouring roads less travelled I nevertheless stopped in at Puyo, on the shores of Lake Titicaca, and spent two hours with the Uru people on their floating reed islands. This preservation of a Disneyworld-like way of living was charming, if a little kitsch - it's mostly for the tourists, but as a living museum, it gave a fascinating window into the past.

A day's ride down the winding road is the border into Bolivia - and a short barge journey across a bottleneck of water at the head of Lake Titicaca. As the rickety boat chugged through the gentle swell I felt glad to be making miles again. So far, so very good.

Here's my movie that tries to capture something of Peru in the rainy season.

<object width="640" height="360"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Iu9PbCCgOWA?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Iu9PbCCgOWA?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="640" height="360" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>

Cheers,

Mullen

jnrobert · Mar 20, 2012

Mullen said:
Here's my movie that tries to capture something of Peru in the rainy season.

Mullen

Unfortunately, you've used copyrighted music so the content is blocked.

Mullen · Mar 21, 2012

Peru Movie...

Hmmm, you may be right Mr Robert and that's helpful to check, thank you :rob

Buddies in both South America and the UK have found no problem accessing the latest movie (or the others) through this forum, so it might be a more local issue? Some folks have found their own movie player software doesn't fit the YouTube version, if that's any help.

I'm hopeful that copyright isn't the barrier to access you've encountered. YouTube seem satisfied that my movies make 'fair use' of the music I incorporate into them... As editor I can assure you all the tracks are chopped, spliced, looped and mixed to such an extent that the original work is materially altered.

Anyways, I hope you have success soon - it's quite an interesting video, dare I say... :thumb2

Mullen · Mar 25, 2012

Movie: Bolivia - who are those guys?

The head's up from Mr Robert has been helpful - I think my use of copyrighted music is causing a problem in some locations, and a few folks in the US are blocked from seeing the last one. I'm trying to fix that, and I'm also modifying further / reducing my use of the tracks that cause the issues. :tears

Meantime.... You can always look to my website, where the full blog and movies are posted.

-------------------------------

Above: Who are those guys? The land of Butch and Sundance.

After barging into Boliva, literally, it was a short ride down to La Paz. Bolivia's capital city is high altitude and highly impressive - it tumbles down the hillside and collects in a valley where life continues in a higgledy-piggledy manner.

I was searching for a fix for my computer, so saw most of the urban life through the windows of shops. Before long I was aching to get out into the countryside and took a road over the mountains to the hillside village of Coroico.

The narrow, cliff edge approach to Coroico was once described, famously as The Most Dangerous Road In The World... All the local travel companies today should pay that fellow a commission, as the tourists flow gleefully down the mountain to see what all the fuss is about.

Perhaps appropriately, I went against the flow and ascended the road - dodging mountain bikers, rocks and waterfalls as I went. I, erm, got into a sticky situation at one point but otherwise enjoyed the ride tremendously.

With this spirit of adventure burning brightly I headed towards Chile, only to detour down a more interesting-looking highway that ran roughly parallel to the main Pan American route. Roughly is the key word here, and I was lucky to hit it after a few dry days. This was GS heaven. :pullface

And then hell. My own stupidity, fed by over-confidence, resulted in a rather damp end to the day. I was standing thigh deep in a river, relatively remote from help and with the dusk falling as quickly as my spirit. What to do? :blast

As the next movie tries to capture, there's only a few options to follow. My mechanical greenness soon rules out the most preferred... and I opt for the sanctuary of a BMW shop. Getting there promptly, in one piece is a whole new challenge. :aidan

Enjoy!

Mullen

Mullen · Apr 4, 2012

Movie: Chile - grateful for small mercies

Trucking across Bolivia is not a bad way to travel. You see a lot, feel a lot and get closer to the locals' way of life whilst they travel with you. Yet, it's not half as fun as riding your own bike. :moped:

I left the San Cristobal BMW shop chastened by the whole experience, and a few hundred US$ lighter. Turns out one of the spark plugs was faulty after all (I swore we checked them?!), but that was better than dealing with a hydro-locked engine or messed up electrics. I felt I had gotten off lightly this time. :rob

I delighted in riding again, but the usual voices in my head took up a more worrisome refrain. I worried that my clutch was malfunctioning, I worried that the electrics would blow, I worried that mud would grind my final drive, and that there was water somewhere in my bike causing trouble. I took a fast route south for a day, and then leapt the Andes into Chile before my paranoia started to wear off.

(Below: I found some salt flats up on the plateau, so the obligatory 'silly photo' box was ticked.)

I found northern Chile a dull country to ride through, compared to its neighbours. When you reach the coast things look exceedingly interesting... see below... but then I found that Hwy 1 was washed into the sea some time ago. Damn.

I pushed some large miles along the Pan American, through the Atacama Desert, until I reached Santiago - a lovely city in late summer, and somehow reminiscent of London, UK.

I pressed on until I reached Osorno, 600 miles further south. Those fond of the grape will groan that I skipped such a rich region, but in truth I couldn't find my inner-oenophile with a flashlight.

It was time to re-shoe the horse, and once fitted with fresh tread the GS was pleased to have another crack at the Andes. On the Argentine side the weather cleared and soon I was enjoying the lakeside landscapes this region is famous for. Bariloche proved a good overnight spot (particularly if you like chocolate, for some reason), and is blessed with fine roads all around.

I took the road south, and for the first time in many days felt 'at one' with my bike. My faith had returned, and I let the desert highway miles fall away as I dropped the bike into corner after corner; sweeping around river curves, soaring up the mountain bends and roaring through clean cut canyon descents the Gillette guy would envy.

After a few hours this section of Routa 40 lead me off into a No Mans land, away from the edge of Patagonia: it was time to adjust the compass - or rather, the GPS. I headed back inland, towards the mountains, and towards Chile again.

This is where the greater fun is to be had, and I wanted to be part of it. Tenting by the lake with only horny cattle for company? My stinky kit won me a peaceful night. :thumb2

The reputation of Patagonia is well deserved - it is a beautiful area comprised of gravel highways, mirror-lakes, fly-fishing rivers and sharp, snow-capped peaks. I want to return here, but first there is a little matter to attend to.

I need to take on Routa 40 again, trim the sails and blow down to El Calafate - gateway to the Moreno Glacier.

Here's the latest chapter of the movie blog... I'm trying to reduce my reliance on music that may infringe, so please excuse the amateur audio effort!

Riding In The Tracks Of Giants

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