The idea

The joy of two-wheeled travel has long been known me who, in a more active period of my life, managed to pedal 2,000km around Eastern Europe for a summer back in ’97.

Twelve years on the attraction of overland travel remained but cycling sounded like too much hard work. During a whimsical session of holiday internet surfing, I stumbled upon The Achievable Dream – The Motorcycle Adventure Travel Guide and the website Horizons Unlimited. The names alone were enough to send itchy feet into a frenzy.

When I later broached the idea of a motorcycle adventure to Matt, he agreed before I’d finished my sentence.

We learned the key piece of advice was: set your date. Matt’s 40^th seemed like a milestone, as did mine two years later. So, our beginning and end date were set.

The next task was to learn how to ride a motorbike.

Learning to ride

Much to my frustration, Matt took to motorcycling quickly, with ease. It took me a bit longer and I often wondered why I thought learning this new skill would be easy. Eventually, we both had P plates affixed to our motorcycles.

The big decisions

1. Bikes

Ah, the hubris of the young & naive. I vividly recall the day when I informed my experienced, Harley-riding cousin that we were going to ride BMW 1100s across the Americas.

Wising up to the less-is-more theory and our physical limitations (i.e. my short legs and an inability to pick up bigger bikes), we’ve opted for our beloved and much smaller first bikes: Bernie and Cecil B, two Honda CB 250s.

Cecil B had already proven his overland capabilities with his previous owner, a freewheeling Irishman who rode from Cairns to Sydney and promptly traded his motorcycle for cash and a plane ticket home. Bernie was handed over to Matt during a quick lunchtime deal in a Surry Hills carpark.

2. Where

Our original plan of riding the Americas north to south was quickly reversed when our departure date shifted to January. We now fly into Santiago, Chile and meet the bikes in Valparaiso.

Preparations

Shakedown #1 was a 1,500km loop down to Canberra, to Orange and back to Sydney across the mountains. We alternated between staying with friends & family and camping. We tackled our first off-road riding into Kanangra Walls NP and learnt how truly awful it is to ride when you’re freezing & wet.

Shakedown #2 was another 1,500km trip in Indonesia from Yogyakarta, Java to Denpasar, Bali via Lombok. The highlights were Borobudur at sunrise, Mt Bromo and luxuriating in Lovina. We learnt how to go with the ebb and flow of traffic in a world that seemed devoid of road rules; decided that soft panniers are the way to go and discovered the joys of cheap, quick roadside repairs (see trip photos).

Finally, we attended the HU Traveller’s Meet in Dayboro, Queensland. We were thrilled to meet and pick the brains of so many inspirational, international motorbike travellers at this annual event.

Follow us

Our bikes are now somewhere in the Pacific Ocean and we are frantically trying to finalise our planning and finish our packing. We hope this blog will keep our friends and family up to date, as well as those we meet along the way.