Στο Πεκίνο τους είχαν δώσει άπειρες mars γκοφρέτες! Είχα πεθάνει στα γέλια όταν το διάβαζα, αυτοί δεν είχαν στον ήλιο μοίρα αλλά από γκοφρέτες, χαμός!
Διάβασα και αυτά τα ωραία στο site τους:
Of course, there is the guy who started it all, Ted Simon, and his book "Jupiters Travels". Ted travelled around the world over 3-4 years 1973 - 1977, and has recently repeated the trip almost 30 years later, aged 70+. His book began the adventure by motorcycle craze and he even was bizarrely whisked in to Mongolia to make a guest appearance for Ewan McGregor's documentary (see below), rode down the main street of UB and then got sent home. I can only assume the producers thought that would add 'street cred'. At least it boosted the sales of Ted's book.
Also of interest and more recent is Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman's 2004 ride from London to New York, via Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Siberia and Alaska. While a lot of other adventure bikers criticise them for enjoying the luxury of a support crew (yes, its much easier when you have half a dozen people planning it for you and 2 four wheel drives to carry all the crappy luggage like spares and tyres), not to mention their bizarre decision to put their bikes on the train to Skovorodino when President Putin made such a huge fuss just a few months previous of declaring the Trans Siberian Highway finally "complete", and despite dozens of other bikers riding that very same road in 2004, their Long Way Round is full of good footage, at least as far as Magadan. Quite why they filled the remainder of the trip with visits to Orange County Choppers or horseriding in Montana is a bit beyond me, but does show what an anticlimax the trip was post Magadan. Adventure biking is still short of 'on the ground' video footage and is mostly documented by photographs and text. LWR thus builds on the pioneering work done by the British "Mondo Enduro" expedition of 1995/96 (see below) in bringing adventure motorcycling to the small screen. Charley seems to have turned the success of Long Way Round into a cottage industry with one follow up already done (Race to Dakar) and a new one on the way (Long Way Down). Whether you like the Long Way Round or not, one thing it has undeniably done is to boost the profile of adventure motorcycling dramatically. Thanks to the Long Way Round, people who know nothing about motorcycles get the concept of the long ride across the world. By targeting a mainstream audience, they have taken adventure motorcycling away from the just the bikers, and planted seeds across the broader community. I would estimate at least 1000 people cross Siberia on a motorcycle annually now, between May and September (only a pair of halfwits would be still trying to cross it in October). It is however unfortunate that the LWR producers edited out all the meetings with other motorcycle travellers they met along the way, but if they showed how easy it was and how many people do it these days, then it would hardly make it look like a challenging adventure now would it?
Probably the most interesting, genuine and original documentaries I have seen in recent years are 'Mondo Enduro' and 'Terra Circa', by Austin Vince and the Mill Hill gang. In Mondo Enduro, (click for video link) a group of 7 guys sets out from London in April 1995 (4 months after we arrived in the UK, and just 2 months before the first instalment of our story hit the UK motorcycle press) to ride around the world. Over a year later, 3 of the original guys made it back into London. This is followed up by Terra Circa, (click for video link) a 2001 venture that sets off with 6 guys to go from London to New York via Kazakhstan, and Magadan in Siberia .... basically the template for Long Way Round 3 years later. The contrast in styles with Long Way Round could hardly be more different though, as the Mill Hill crew ride tiny 350 cc Suzuki bikes and run strict cost reduction policies such as always camping out, and self catering. They eschew sponsorship - or at least purport to. During preparation they "pooh pooh" the over-prepared "German" notion of $1000 custom fabricated aluminium panniers for the more "authentic" approach of strapping a £6 steel surplus British Army ammunition box to the back of each bike. Excellent entertainment and a load of fun. These DVDs are the templates that Long Way Round purchased during their preparations and unashamedly copied, but unfortunately (or unpleasantly) failed to acknowledge.
Αυτό που δεν ήξερα ήταν ότι συναντούσαν συνέχεια κόσμο να κάνει το ίδιο και τα κόψαν όλα στο μοντάζ!!
Αίσχος! Αισχροί κι οι δυό! Αλητεία!
