2020: THE YEAR OF BIKING ADVENTURES
Geoff on the way home from Delhi
The great thing about motorbike adventures is getting up in the morning, packing up and heading off down the road. The not so great things are the organisation, or when it all goes wrong in the middle of nowhere.
The solution, of course, is to go on an organised tour, which means all the fun and none of the hassle.
So to get your creative juices flowing, here’s how you can recreate part or some of the jaunts I’ve done.
ROUTE 66
The USA is made for road trips, and Route 66 makes your heart sing more than any other road.
EagleRider (eaglerider.com) has two-week guided rides of Route 66 from $4,072 per person, including bike rental, accommodation and pretty much everything except the air fare to Chicago.
DELHI TO BELFAST
This was my first bike adventure – riding two Enfields home with fellow lunatic Paddy Minne.
Since I’d only got my licence two years before and done 30 miles on a bike in my life, there may have been drink involved in that decision.
Not surprisingly, there aren’t organised Enfield tours from India to the UK, but Blazing Trails (blazingtrailstours.com) has tours in India, Nepal and South Africa. Prices start at £2,450 plus flights.
CHILE TO ALASKA
This was the big one – three and a half months riding the 16,500 miles of the Pan-American Highway, the world’s longest road. The book, The Road to Gobblers Knob, is most readers’ favourite.
If you’ve got five months to spare, Globebusters’ 24,000-mile Alaska to Argentina expedition from July to December 2020 is £32,995 per person, sharing. If not, its shorter tours in the Americas start at £2,900 for 13 days. globebusters.com
VIETNAM
Three years ago I spent two weeks riding the 1,000 miles of the Ho Chi Minh Trail from Hanoi to Saigon on a Honda CRF 250L with Great Road Journeys (greatroadjourneys.com), and what a fabulous experience – a great country, great scenery, great people and great food. Tours are every April, from £2,695 on a Honda or Ural, or £3,695 in an ex-US
Army Jeep, plus flights.
MONGOLIA
One of the weirdest trips I’ve done was riding a Royal Enfield and sidecar across a frozen lake in Mongolia last year. The nine-day Frozen Ride Tour runs twice a year, with six days of riding covering 360 miles over ice and snow. Prices start at 4,850 euro, not including flights. You’ll need about 60 euro for drinks, and 50 euro for the crew’s bonus at the end of the trip. vintagerides.travel/ motorcycle-tour/ mongolia/frozenride
Monoglia