September 2019 Newsletter
September 2019 Newsletter
- Julian
- September 26, 2019
- 1:04 pm
- No Comments
Good Morning Campers and welcome to the September Newsletter.
In the UK the best of the summer is fading away like the morning dew as we slip gently into the the russet glory of autumn. And with still plenty of riding to be done from Cambodia to Colombia before the end of the decade, it’s all hands to the pump at Ride Expeditions Headquarters. Toby is finally back in South Africa and whirling round like some kind of office -based Tasmanian devil, Anna and Kaylee are steadily wading through the bookings and logistics for the winter season, Kayne, Henk, Charl, Ian & Tom are either recovering from or still leading/filming tours in the Himalayas and as for Julian back in blighty – he’s bravely swanned off to The Italian Riviera to sip cocktails and nibble on antipasto by the Mediterranean. Not that anyone is jealous …
So, for those not enjoying a dry Martini in a deck chair, let’s get on with the news …
MONGOLIAN MADNESS
So, in our quest to add more new and exciting destinations to our tour calendar, our Mongolian Recce has now been completed. Like some kind of dysfunctional family reunion, the team descended into Ulaanbaatar from all points of the compass. Team leader Toby in a 35 hour flight marathon from Cape Town, Julian and regular Ride Expeditions customer Paul coming from the UK via Moscow and Hong Kong and last to arrive was Ian, our accident prone video guy who eventually stumbled in from Cambodia halfway through the night looking like he’d slept rough for a week …
Over the course of six glorious days we left the madness and traffic of Mongolia’s capital to explore the vast open spaces of this incredible country. We rode through cool larch forests, followed lazy rivers along massive valleys, herded camels by dried salt lakes and stayed in beautifully cosy yurts under enormous skies – hell we even got invited to a Mongolian wedding and tasted the delights of fermented horse milk!
Away from the pencil straight roads, the riding in Mongolia is on another level to anywhere we’ve ever visited. The scale of the landscape is hard to put into words, and with no fences, walls or borders you can quite literally ride anywhere you like – we travelled over 200 miles without touching tarmac or seeing a single town! This place is an off-road riding heaven and we feel blessed to have ridden in this amazing country.
So, with the first inspection done and the facts found, now it’s time for Toby and the team to put it all together as a tour, hopefully for June 2020 if we can get all our ducks in a row. We’re looking at doing the tours on dual-sport / enduro bikes as these will be the best for enjoying the riding in Mongolia. Keep an eye out for further news!
COLOMBIAN CAPERS
Our first sortie into the beautiful landscapes of Colombia goes out next month, with an excited group of riders eager to experience the incredible riding and culture of this South American gem. From riding through coffee plantations, staying in achingly beautiful towns and mountain top resorts, the Colombian Trailblazer tour is everything we wanted it to be and more – hell there are even horses for Anna!
And it’s good news if you want to nab yourself a last-minute bargain as we’ve got three spots left on this tour – perfect. If you need to persuade your ‘significant other’, the Pioneer tours are a cracking £700 cheaper compared to waiting for the regular tours that start next year. So actually, you are saving the family money by riding!
If you do fancy this, send an email to us pretty damn quick with Colombian Trailblazer in the title line and the office team will get it all sorted. But if that’s all too quick, then the first two Colombian tours are in the calendar for June and July and we’re taking bookings right now. What are you waiting for?
CAMBODIAN CHRISTMAS CRACKERS
OK so we know some of you will be groaning at the mention of Christmas when it’s only September, but don’t worry – you’ll like this one. As it proved quite so popular last year, we are bringing back our fantastic and catchily named 7 for 6 promotion. And before you ask, no it’s not the England cricket team’s latest batting collapse, but a great offer for groups of mates that want to ride with us on our rather wonderful Cambodian dirt bike tours in December.
So, if you can get together seven of your riding buddies, then you’ll only pay for six of them – now how’s that for a bargain? So if this sounds like a great plan to fill your pre-Christmas diary – email Anna or Kaylee on info@rideexpeditions.com with 7-4-6 in the title line. It’s got to be better than wrapping presents ….
SEA to SAFARI!
For everyone who has been interested in our Cape Crusader tour, but can not take 2+ weeks off work, this one’s for you… Introducing our new ‘Sea to Safari‘ adventure ride across South Africa’s Western Cape. Including many of the same great highlights as our Cape Crusader tour but riding a shorter & less challenging route, this adventure ticks all the boxes in a mere – more affordable – 8 days! Sounds good, right? Click here to take a look!
We will also be introducing a 4-5 day trip in the Cederberg & Tankwa Karoo, as well as a ‘road only’ tour covering the world famous Garden Route. Coming soon!
B.Y.O.B BONANZA
Before you think we’re running dubiously safe Bring Your Own Booze tours, then back up just a bit. We’ve had a raft of enquiries for our wonderful Cape Crusader South African Tour from guys who love the look of the adventure with us, but want to join on their own bikes. And we thought – why not? So – drumroll please – we’re launching our very first Bring Your Own Bike – South Africa options!
Now obviously the bikes need to be up to the job and in keeping with the BMW’s that our regular customers will be using, so if you’ve only got a Honda Step-thru in the garage, then we may need to have a discussion. But for serious riders with serious bikes, we’d love to have you join us on this incredible journey through the Western Cape and if you do, there’s a 25% discount on the total tour price. Perfect.
Drop us an email if you’re up for it.
NA NA NAMIBIAAAAA
With the first recce completed earlier in the year, the team has been pouring over maps back in the office and it’s now time to start bringing it all together. Tom is loading up Toby’s 690 next week and venturing out on a solo mission from Cape Town back up to Namibia to fill in the blanks, plot the final routes, piece together an extensive risk analysis and inspect all the accommodation options. As Toby says in this video, “We’re going to be able to do some pretty special things… Namibia is adventure riding heaven and we can’t wait to get it moving!” We’re aiming to launch the first adventure in May 2020… if this looks like your kind of trip, drop us an email with NAMIBIA! as the subject… info@rideexpeditions.com
HIMALAYAN HURRAH AND FAIL OF THE YEAR
Our long Himalayan Heights riding season has come to a highly successful end with rafts of riders joining the team in Northern India to take on some truly epic riding in astounding scenery. Our customers have had a fantastic time and thanks to the skill of the riders and the guides we did not have a single serious riding injury in thousands of miles of some of the most challenging roads on the planet.
But to say that the season has been injury free would be wrong, and it’s a big thanks to Mark Flint for recording the sole entry in the 2019 Himalayas First Aid book. Having conquered the multiple challenges of Indian roads and traffic for almost two weeks, Mark fell over a tiny wall after going to an Indian wedding and managed to cut his shin well enough to require a few stitches to patch him together. Mark, we salute your leaden-footed genius with a ‘Fail of the Year’ Award. Well done Sir.
BLOG CABIN
While all this riding has been going on, Julian has been busy at Blog HQ back in Blighty, tapping away on the faithful word processor to bring you all manner of news and reviews.
This month he’s reviewed the awesome KTM 790 Adventure and Adventure R, the wonderful Yamaha 700 Tenere and for the enduro bike fans, the KTM EXC350 Six day. On the kit side of things, there’s a look at the Alpinestars Andes Drystar jacket and trousers and a test on the MotOz Tractionator RallZ tyres. Phew – that enough for ya?
WTF CORNER
We get some strange questions from our readers, but this one needs sharing for it’s leftfield genius. This was a question posted on our blog review of Bike Seal, a puncture prevention product.
Here’s the question and our reply …
Keith’s Question
“I am looking for a product that will seal the tyres on my new ride on lawn mower as I keep getting punctures with thorns. They are slow punctures but are a nuisance- would your product solve my problem?”
Our Answer
”Hi Keith
You have officially won the ‘ Most obscure question on a motorcycle adventure website’ award – we’re called Ride Expeditions not Ride-on Mower Expeditions! (although maybe there’s a niche market we haven’t explored…)
The Bike Seal product is not ours – we’re just reviewing it but as it prevents punctures then it should work for any tubed or tubeless tyres, so give it a go.
Happy mowing – but motorcycling is way more fun!
Thanks for making us all laugh”
FINALLY
And finally, we couldn’t leave without a suitable video and this month we are going with a bit of two stroke goodness from a few years back as Ken Roczen rips Jeremy McGrath’s Honda CR250 – love it!