Inspiring Adventurers
“Not all those who wander are lost.”
HELGE PEDERSEN: AROUND THE WORLD ON A 1981 R80GS
"It may well be a cliché to talk about learning through the University of Life, but this is just how Helge Pedersen has matured and developed his personal philosophy over the 10 years it has taken him to ride his motorcycle 250,000 miles through 77 countries.
Pedersen hails from Kristiansand, Norway. In 1981, Pedersen bought a BMW R80 G/S motorcycle. In order to prepare it for a lengthy journey, he added a 40-liter fuel tank and other bits and pieces. Finally, as Helge had imagined so many years earlier, he was on his way to a foreign land Africa.
Helge Pedersen pulling the bike through the dense Darien Jungle. Circa 1986 (©Helge Pedersen)
Helge stuck in the Amazonian mud. Sticky situation. (©Helge Pedersen)
Helge Camping in Mexico, roasting some corn around a camp fire. (©Helge Pedersen)
Helge going upriver on the Amazonas on a small motorized canoe, tipping is not an option. (©Helge Pedersen)
ELSPETH BEARD ON HER BMW R 60/6
"Three decades ago, 24 year old architecture student, Elspeth Beard, set out to ride her bike around the world– a trek that would take 3 years and over 48K miles. The young Englishwoman, who’d been riding since she was just 16 yrs old, had already taken a few solo journeys to Scotland and Ireland– and now was ready to take on more before she finished school and settled down into a career."
Elspeth is today in the process of writing a book which we're very much looking forward to get our hands on.
Elspeth Beard upon her return to England - 1984
Espeth Beard circa 1983 on her 1976 R60/6 and custom made (huge) aluminum panniers
Ted Simon: Around the globe on a triumph for 4 years
An englishman, a journalist, Ted Simon decides in 1968 that there has to be more about life than stuffy, foggy London. Over a week he buys a Triumph and heads towards North Africa. What seemed to be just a way to get perspective became a 4 year life-changing adventure.
Jupiter’s Travels was a bestseller in the eighties. The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and the London Times among many others, all praised it. Motorcycle Sport called it “…the best motorcycle travel book ever written.” Readers and reviewers agree it is much more than a travel book.
It is a book that changes lives, and there are many readers’ letters to prove it. In the years sinceJupiter’s Travels was first published it has sold more than 400,000 copies world-wide.
Read more about Ted Simon and get his book >
IVANA AND MANU: AROUN GAIA
3 YEARS TO CROSS ALL CONTINENTS
1247 days on the road as of Sep 14, 2016. 5 continents, 41 countries and the astonishing 122.628Km (76,967Miles) ridden. I had the luck to meet Ivana and Manu in Brooklyn over at Union Garage for a Ride Report event on early August this year.
Ivana in the Arizona dessert 2016 ©Around Gaia
Ivana in the Arizona dessert 2016 ©Around Gaia
LEA REICK: GOT2GO
ONE WOMAN, ONE MOTORCYCLE, ONE YEAR
[...]"during the last year I have learned that the only thing that stood between me and one of my dreams was myself and my countless “what ifs”: What if my savings were not big enough to do this trip? What if I got sick? Would I ever find a job I like when I got back—and a nice apartment?
One evening in December 2015 just before Christmas, I spent my evening with shopping in my neighborhoods supermarket and just browsed through the cans when I suddenly was very sure and had this thought that woke me up from inside: I needed to make this journey around the world on a motorcycle that I had thought about for months. And I needed to do that now."
