Long Way Round (and Down) & Race to Dakar & By Any Means & Mondo Enduro

[nacho]

That's always nice.

[nacho]

Kicking this thread back to the top... Charlie and Ewan have since driven this franchise so deep into the ground I flinch whenever a new spin-off series is announced...

But, today, I stumbled across something fascinating...

Mondo Enduro:

Mondo Enduro was a round-the-world adventure motorcycle expedition in 1995-1996. Team members Austin Vince, Gerald Vince, Chas Penty, Bill Penty, Clive Greenhough, Nick Stubley, Mark Friend and Louis Bloom set off to go round the world by the longest route possible in the shortest time.

Their route took them from London, through Central Asia, Kazakhstan and Siberia; then from Alaska to Chile and finally from Cape Town through Africa and the Middle East back to London.

The expedition was filmed and was subsequently made into a 2 part TV series. Shown on Discovery Travel and Adventure Channel over 40 times, this has since reached cult status amongst biking and adventure travel fans.

The real difficulties in the expedition came in the Zilov Gap, the 400 mile roadless section in Siberia. The team got bogged down here and eventually ended up taking the Trans-Siberian railroad and then river barge to circumvent this problem.

As well as a cult TV show and DVD, the expedition diaries (ISBN 1-904466-28-1) are a fascinating account of a round-the-world expedition done on a shoestring, with rough camping the order of the day.

http://www.mondoenduro.com/

This was then followed up by a full on series (six 40 episodes) called Terra Circa:

The Mondo Enduro round the world motorbike expedition attempted but did not cross the Zilov Gap in Central Siberia. In 2000 a follow-up expedition, Terra Circa, was organised by Dave Greenhough, brother of one of the Mondo Enduro team members. It was the first motorbike expedition to cross the infamous Zilov Gap.

The route went from London across Europe, western Russia and Siberia to Vladivostok. The team then embarked for Japan and returned to Europe crossing the United States. It took 7 months and they drove 20 000 miles.

The members were: Dave Greenhough (organizer), Austin Vince, Charlie Benner, Gerald Vince, Joe MacManus (until Turkey), and Matt Hill (until Turkey and then from Russia). Dave Greenhough had to leave early because of a knee injury, and Matt Hill jumped in again (he had left the expedition in Turkey with Joe MacManus) to finish with the others.

Like its predecessor, Terra Circa is a shoestring expedition with rough camping the order of the day and has a cult following amongst adventure motorcyclists.

The expedition was filmed and made into a six part TV series, shown on British cable channel Men & Motors.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_Circa

[nacho]

Kicking this thread back to the top... Charlie and Ewan have since driven this franchise so deep into the ground I flinch whenever a new spin-off series is announced...

But, today, I stumbled across something fascinating...

Mondo Enduro:

Mondo Enduro was a round-the-world adventure motorcycle expedition in 1995-1996. Team members Austin Vince, Gerald Vince, Chas Penty, Bill Penty, Clive Greenhough, Nick Stubley, Mark Friend and Louis Bloom set off to go round the world by the longest route possible in the shortest time.

Their route took them from London, through Central Asia, Kazakhstan and Siberia; then from Alaska to Chile and finally from Cape Town through Africa and the Middle East back to London.

The expedition was filmed and was subsequently made into a 2 part TV series. Shown on Discovery Travel and Adventure Channel over 40 times, this has since reached cult status amongst biking and adventure travel fans.

The real difficulties in the expedition came in the Zilov Gap, the 400 mile roadless section in Siberia. The team got bogged down here and eventually ended up taking the Trans-Siberian railroad and then river barge to circumvent this problem.

As well as a cult TV show and DVD, the expedition diaries (ISBN 1-904466-28-1) are a fascinating account of a round-the-world expedition done on a shoestring, with rough camping the order of the day.

http://www.mondoenduro.com/

This was then followed up by a full on series (six 40 episodes) called Terra Circa:

The Mondo Enduro round the world motorbike expedition attempted but did not cross the Zilov Gap in Central Siberia. In 2000 a follow-up expedition, Terra Circa, was organised by Dave Greenhough, brother of one of the Mondo Enduro team members. It was the first motorbike expedition to cross the infamous Zilov Gap.

The route went from London across Europe, western Russia and Siberia to Vladivostok. The team then embarked for Japan and returned to Europe crossing the United States. It took 7 months and they drove 20 000 miles.

The members were: Dave Greenhough (organizer), Austin Vince, Charlie Benner, Gerald Vince, Joe MacManus (until Turkey), and Matt Hill (until Turkey and then from Russia). Dave Greenhough had to leave early because of a knee injury, and Matt Hill jumped in again (he had left the expedition in Turkey with Joe MacManus) to finish with the others.

Like its predecessor, Terra Circa is a shoestring expedition with rough camping the order of the day and has a cult following amongst adventure motorcyclists.

The expedition was filmed and made into a six part TV series, shown on British cable channel Men & Motors.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_Circa

Mondo Enduro is really awesome.  It's far too short... But these guys are sort of blindly going through what was (in 95) a very bad part of the world without any real preparation, support, or research.  None of this year's planning and the best experts that money can buy like we saw in Long Way Around.  They just set off on this batshit crazy lark.

[nacho]

And, also, let's plan our own bike journey, guys!  Because here's the idea that seems to be the only logical course -- for these stretches where there's no road (that defeat the Mondo Enduro guys and the Long Way Round team ten years later), why not just follow the Trans-Siberian?  They all end up having to take it... But the line will be clear of all that shit.  No swamps and bogs and horror.  Probably an access road most of the way. Seems like that would be the thing to do on bikes instead of, you know, meandering along a trackless steppe a week away from civilization.

[nacho]

Watching Terra Circa now... And it's also awesome!  Their stated goal is to show us that we can do the trip too -- and they go into step by step planning.

Terra Circa is just London to Magadan...and the goal is to actually do it without relying on the railroad.  To stick with the bikes the entire way...

[Sirharles]

Long Way Up!

[nacho]

So I had asked if the wives were coming along to fucking ruin the series and you told me no and...you're right! In fact, McGregor and his infinitely annoying wife had a nasty breakup. So maybe he'll spend this trip crying about that.

[Sirharles]

Yes, he got caught boning his Fargo co-star.