Ripley HUBB meeting

What a great weekend. 600 like minded bikers and some great presentations. I'm in awe of people like Tiffany Coates, The Forwoods,Grant and Susan, Ted Simon to name but a few. I really enjoyed my weekend and even enjoyed doing my presentation. I picked up a few tips and am now as ready as I'll ever be for this trip.

I even had a chat with a guy who's done a trip on a BMW 1200GS and has offered to show me what might go wrong with my bike. Fantastic, and an opportunity I can't miss.

Four weeks to go, but to be honest, I'm half way to Alaska already. MotoQuest have bought all the little extras I asked for and have serviced the bike. I bought a helmet (Shoei Multitec) from The Motorbike Shop in Anchorage and now have everything I need. My "to do" list has got shorter and shorter. The final thing is to buy bike insurance through "progressive" which I shall do this week.

A link to youtube aand a short video from the BMW course

BMW off-road course in Wales

Saturday 29^th May

What a great day. I spent the day on an adventure motorbike maintenance course with the BMW school in Wales. For someone who knew/knows nothing about how a motorbike actually works this was a very worthwhile day. We worked on a BMW F800 and 1200GS. In the morning we looked at general maintenance stuff; wheels, brakes, fluid levels, electrics. In the afternoon we spent our time on the wheels. Changing front and back brake pads, and punctures.

There were eight of use on the course. Two guys had come over from Ireland and one was from Switzerland. He's off on his RTW trip next month and had come over especially for the course. It makes you wonder why there aren't more of these courses. For me, it was absolutely brilliant. I feel much more confident now that I can at least keep my bike maintained, know a little about how it works (and get less ripped off at garages) and at least have a go at fixing a flat. At the very least I now know how to take the wheels off and can leave the bike at the side of the road and hitch with the wheel to a town where I can get the puncture sorted.

Tomorrow is the start of a two day off-road adventure course. Am really looking forward to that, but a little apprehensive.

Day two

Awesome. Absolutely fantastic. I jumped on my battered BMW 1200GS and, along with 20 others we headed off to the gravel pits of the Breacon Beacon training site. We were spit into two groups of 10 and each group had two instructors. Both of my instructors were absolutely excellent. We started with some basic stuff like, picking the bike up, how to stand properly on a bike, how to stop (NOT with the feet down in case you slip and slide) and how to mount and dismount. We then did some slaloms and circles, trying to ride as slowly as possible. From there we moved onto braking. First with just the back brake, skidding as much as we could, then the front only, then properly.

After lunch we headed onto the tracks and rode up and down and around. Stopping on a hill we came to the scariest part of the day which was the down hill run. Although, really it wasn't that steep a hill, it was when you're standing on top of a 200KG 1200 GS. First we went down it, just using the engine break to slow down with. This was quite scary as you had to take your hand off the front brake completely and just trust that the engine, in first gear, would slow you down. Most of us managed it but the two who couldn't bring themselves to do it were taken off by one of the instructors to a lesser slope to get their confidence up. That was good to see.

Then we went down using a tiny amount of breaking, then the third exercise was to go down, stop half way where the instructor was, and start again. Then we rode around some more. By the end of the day I was exhausted. Every one was tired out and a few people fell off, or had a little crash due to tiredness. I didn't come off at all on the first day, but am sure that it will happen tomorrow. And anyway, it might be a good idea to fall off when its someone elses motorbike; good practice for when I fall off my own!

Day three.

Even better than day one! Most of today was spent putting yesterdays theory into practice. We rode round and round on increasingly tighter and steeper sections of the course. Coming to one particularly hard corner, quite steep and sharp and very deep gravel, I pulled off to block off another exit to make sure everyone went the right way. As I pulled around I say a 650 going far too fast and in a straight line. Right up the bank and into some trees. The rider was bruised and hurt, and later it transpired she'd sprained her ankle and gone to hospital. 

Yesterday we went down hill, today – up hill. This might sound easy but the exercise was to stall half way up the hill, turn the bike around and ride downhill. The hard part of this was to have the confidence to stallt he bike and NOT grab at the clutch. This would only result in the bike free wheeling backwards, but it's second nature to grab at the clutch. I managed to do it properly first time and was quite proud with how I coped with the whole thing. The pictures show, Craig, our instructor showing us how to do it properly. Needless to say the hill was steeper than it looks!

What I was beginning to realise was that I am more capable than I think, and (conversely perhaps) I've done some really stupid things in the past. How on earth did I ever managed to ride a Transalp up Route 40 in Argentina (hundreds of miles of gravel road and 100 mile and hour cross winds)? I had absolutely NO IDEA what I was doing, and now I know that I had no idea. I suppose the only saving grace was that I didn't know what I didn't know. Ignorance is bliss sometimes. Even last year when I took my Triumph Tiger to Scotland I did a little off-roading (just to get to some stone cirlces) and looking back on that I was really lucky not to end up on my arse. I'm sure I won't be tackling routes on my trip which are as difficult as I've done today (or if I do there better be something worthwhile at the other end) but at least I've now got the confidence to do it.

In the afternoon we swapped bikes for half an hour, just to see what the other machines were like. I had a go on F800GS. Although I quite liked this bike when I test rode one in Birmingham earlier in the year I wasn't that impressed with it off road. It had a very snatchy clutch and also felt a little small (bearing in mind all the luggage I'll have – and Tracy sometimes.) This just made me happy that I'd settled on a 1200GS and have one waiting in Anchorage!

The final session saw us tackling some really tricky and muddy sections and on the final run I fell off (for the third time today) into a HUGE muddy puddle. It's never fun falling off a motorbike, but I have to report that it's so much more fun falling off someone elses motorbike. That horrible feeling you get when you know your going over, and without a care in the world for your own safety, all you can think about is how much damage you're going to do to your lovely bike.

I have had an absolutely fantastic three days and learnt SO much. The adventure maintenance course was great and the two day off'-roading was fun AND I've learnt a lot. I'm much more confident that I can at least keep an eye on my bike, change a few things and know where a few things should go. And although I'll be mainly riding on tarmac (or bitumen as they say) on my trip, I've got the confidence to go off-road, and more importantly perhaps, know a little bit more about my( and my bikes) abilities and limitations.

Ticking along nicely

Not much to report. I've bought personal insurance (from Navigator travel), for £180 for 6 months. My new driving license has arrived so now I can get an IDP.

Today we went to the Kenilworth festival and Matt and Anita were they. I met Matt via the HUBB in January. They are off on a RTW bike trip, leaving later this week and live just 2 miles up the road. Here are some pictures of their Transalps. They've got a blog and I'll be following their trip as I head off on mine. They leave over land to India via Europe, Turkey,Iran and Pakistan first. Then on to Australia. GOOD LUCK!

My bike!

Got some pictures of my bike sent last week. This is what she looks like at the moment.

100 days to go.

I've just realised - 100 days to go. Seems like for ever, but I'm sure it will fly by in many ways. Everything seems to be in hand at the moment. Even though I haven't actually bought the bike yet!

I've researched travel insurance and will get that with Navigator Travel. I've arranged for Rabies and yellow fever jabs and am looking into Malaria. As soon as I've arranged to buy the bike I can start in the Carnet (for which there is no rush as I don't need one until January next year.

I've confimed with HUBB that I'm doing a talk at the June UK meeting (and one in Canada in August)

I've pretty much bought all the "stuff" I'm going to buy before I leave (assuming I can get everything else I need in Anchorage). Yesterday I ordered a Snugfit Merlin 3 sleeping bag and Coleman 533 duel fuel stove both of which I will try out on a camping weekend next week.

I'm writing this in Scotland, having just riden my Triumph Tiger 1050 up here. My next task is to sell this bike. I really like it but it doesn't make sense to keep it for a year and not use it. So next week I'll be putting it in bike trader.

I also need to work out how to add pictures to my blog...

It's been a busy (and expensive) week.

It's not fun spending money but I've been doing a lot of it this week. I bought a Hein Gericke motorbiking jacket, a pair of BMW "zippy" biking trousers, and Tracy has been buying some bike gear too. Although she has to get childrens gear as her head and feet ar so small!

Tomorrow I have an appointment at Alt-berg to have a pair of biking/hiking boots made. Expensive but I hope very comfy. It's a little weird shopping for stuff. I've spend a lot on trousers, jacket and boots, but as I expect to live in them for a year they need to be good quality.

I've also, almost bought a bike. Nicole at Motoquest, Anchorage, has emaield me pictures of a BMW 1200GS which looks good to me. I've just tried emailing her back to say I will buy it. But my email bounced back. Should I be worried?

I've also bought a netbook (ASUS 1080) which should arrive this week. And, most importnatly, yesterday ay 9:45 a.m. my passport arrived with my US Visa.

Straight away I got onto the net and tried to book my flight to Alaksa. Annoyingly, the cheaper flight (£620) had gone, so I had to spend £100 more booking two seperate flights. First I booked on the Condor flight from Frankfurt to Anchorage. Then I booked the early morning flight from Heathrow to Frankfurt. I then had a panick as I realised I hadn't left enough time to get from one flight to the other (As I'm going to the US I'll need at least two hours to check in) So I had to phone Lufthansa up and cancel the flight. I then booked a flight from Birmingham to Frankfurt on the saturday and a hotel at Frankfurt airport for the saturday night. Much more sensibe.

So I leave the UK at 18:20 on saturday 24th July.

Today I started to arrnage vaccinations. I've had all the regular ones, but now need Yellow Fever and Rabies. Yellow Fever (certificate) may be necessay for certain places. Rabies I was in two minds about. It costs £100 but i decided I'd rather have it than need it. (I must be getting old - I used tot ravel without even thinking about vaccinations or even insurance.)

I got my US Visa!

Well, I went to the US Embassy today......

I got there at 10 a.m. The letter said DO NOT arrive more than half an hour before your appointment (mine was for 10:30) so I didn't. When I got there there was a massive queue just to get in the building. I counted 50 people in front of me. When I got half way round a lady was asking if we had any electronic equipment and the correct papers. I was astonished that 3 of the 4 people in front of me had either a phone, car keys (electronic!) or they didn't have the right papers photocopied. They ALL had to go to a local shop to either leave theur stuff or get on the internet and get the right stuff.

I had the right papers - three in total. A letter of confirmation, receipt for paying the $131 fee for applying and a page (which has my photo on it) which is the page you print off as you finish the DS 160 online application.

I got into the building just after 10:30. I was given a number (354) and told to sit down. The TV display called number 271 to desk 3. I was in for a long wait....

45 minutes later I was called for the first interview. Well, they call it an interview but really you just hand your forms over and have your fingerprints taken, then return to the seats to wait for the real interview. I waited 1 hour. Eventually I was called for my interview. I stood at a window whilst an Embassy employer read my application and asked my why I was applying for a visa. I told her I was only going to fly one way into the US, and might want to stay for more than 90 days (I also told her that I would be riding a bike from Alaska to Central America.)


She asked if I had any documentation to support my application - aletter from my employer? Details of the trip? or proof that I would have funds to cover my trip. Worryingly I said I didn't. It didn't really occur to me that I might need this. I told her I had enough money and anyway, it wasn't that expensive once you've paid for the bike. It was touch and go for a few minutes and she was NOT IMPRESSED that I didn't have anything to back up my application. So my advice to anyone doing this is TAKE SOMETHING WITH YOU. Something that shows you have funds. I was really worried for a few minutes that she would refuse me my visa and my dream that I have been planning for 15 years would fall apart.

Fortunately she approved my application and now it's all systems go....
After having paid £25 to get my passport delivered next week (what a rip off)


I did laugh, though, when she looked at my passport and saw a visa for Iran. The conversation went something like:
" Why did you go to Iran"
"On holiday"
LONG SILENCE
"Really"
"Yes, it's got some wonderful Persian ruins"
SILENCE

Just waiting for a Visa

It's nearly Easter and there's nothing I can do at the moment. I have to get a Visa to go to the USA (Crazy really. I've been to over 50 countries in the world and have NEVER had to go to London for an interview to get an tourist Visa) It's all because I'll only be getting a one way ticket and may well stay longer than 90 days. So, they're worried I might stay and work in the country. Therefore, I have to arrange for an interview in eary April.

This means that I can't really do anything else (in case I don't get the visa). I'm ready to buy my flight and bike but don't want to risk doing that and then being turned down for a toursit visa. I'm sure that won't happen but I might as well wait a few weeks.

So, the plan is to get the Visa in early April (as soon as I get back from my holiday in Dubai) then I can do all the things I need to do.

Buy my ticket
Buy my bike
Buy new biking gear
Get vaccinatons for Yellow Fever and Rabies
Renew my driving license
Get an international driving license
Sort out my carnet


The planning of a trip like this can be good fun but it's also quite frustrating, and of course this is when most of the money is spent. All that cash spend and the trip hasn't even started.