December 2016 Newsletter

Seasons greetings everyone!
As we slide gently towards the Christmas break and the ensuing festivities and ritual over-eating, here’s the latest update from the team at Ride Expeditions
Ride Expeditions have had a cracking year, with a long list of successful tours, happy customers and best of all, time spent riding motorcycles. And the continued and growing popularity of our tours mean that we are constantly adding new routes and scheduling additional dates to the existing tours. It’s a great position to be in and it’s thanks to all our fantastic customers that we can do this.
So it’s time to look beyond the mince pies and egg nog and forward to the New Year and all the fantastic tours we are running in 2017.
Laos to Vietnam – all set for 2017
This is one of our very first tour of the New Year and it’s filling up very nicely. Toby and Julian rode the route at the start of last month, checking out the trails, inspecting everything from the exotic five star hotels to the wonderfully welcoming homestays deep in the achingly beautiful landscape.
In case you haven’t read the itinerary, the tour starts in the bustling capital of Laos, Vientiane, with it’s ornate temples, busy markets and tempting rooftop bars on the side of the Mekong River. From here, the tour heads west and into the countryside where you’ll be riding in bamboo groves and through hill-top villages before an overnight stop in traditional wooden houses by the river.

From then on it’s a packed schedule of long and winding jungle trails, technical single-track, visits to elephant conservation projects and epic river crossing before touching base in the fascinating city of Luang Prabang, with it’s fantastic street food and epic views over the river.
OK so there’s not enough space to go through the whole tour in the newsletter, but you get the picture – this is one of the most stunning and beautiful tours that we have ever organised and we are pretty damn proud of it. From stunning scenery to awesome river cruises, the peace and solitude of the Vietnamese hills to the mind-blowing experience of Ha Noi. You can read the while itinerary here and when you are totally an utterly sold on the idea – trust us you will be – you can contact us on info@rideexpeditions.com. Anna handles the bookings so you are in safe hands
So what are you waiting for? You haven’t got too long till we leave without you!
WINTER TESTING
While the warriors of the AMA Supercross circuit are bashing out the laps in preparation for the oncoming season, Ride Expeditions have also been out testing.
This time it’s the mighty Yamaha WRF450 that goes under the lens as Julian heads out into the frost and snow at the rather impressive Yamaha Off-Road Experience in mid Wales.

Julian went on the original launch of the WRF in sunny Spain back in 2015, so it’s going to be an entirely different experience to take on the big Yamaha in the dark forests of Powys.
You can read the report when he’s back in the Blog section of our website

TWO STROKE vs FOUR STROKE – THE DEBATE RAGES
Talking of our blog, our latest post has really stirred up the feelings. Our investigation into which makes the best dirt bike aimed to look at the strengths and weaknesses of the two camps and maybe dispel some of the myths that persist. It’s certainly riled a few, but overall the reaction on social media has been overwhelmingly positive.
So which side of the argument are you on – are you a stroker or a thumper?

HIMALAYAN HEIGHTS – MORE DATES AND MORE TOURS
Well – just how much are you guys loving our Himalayan tours right now? From just the two tours in 2016, we are now completely fully on the September dates, nearly full on the August tour so we are adding new dates in both July and September to cope with the astounding demand.

There will be a full article about our recent September ’16 ride in the January / February issue of Adventure Bike Rider magazine, so don’t forget to nip down to the newsagents and grab yourself a copy. Oh and if you haven’t seen it already (how can you not have?) here’s that drone video of ours again…
If you fancy signing up for one of these epic experiences – travelling through the highest mountain range on the planet of classic Royal Enfields – go to the calendar page, pick a date and let Anna sort the rest.
OK that’s all for the moment – have a happy Christmas and we hope to see you in 2017. Oh and avoid trees …

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