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- Thailand
As some of you know in July I'll be attempting a Guinness World Record for the longest tour by motorbike in a single country. I was debating whether or not a thread would be interesting to read for y'all as I know I'll be asking for lots of tips and advice and I don't really want to clutter other threads with questions on one specific topic. So here is.
The current World Record for a journey by motorcycle in a single country stands at 18,300km (11,372 miles) by an Indian bloke done in his native country. My aim is 20-22k kilometers around China over a 3 month period.
The attempt will be unsupported meaning no following vehicles to carry supplies. Currently our team consists of three riders; me (Mr. Shem), my Chinese colleague and co-adventurer Slash and a Canadian friend of mine who asked if he could join. I have doubts about my Canadian friend as he is 200lbs (of fat), unfit, closing on 40 years old and doesn't seem to be comfortable roughing it. So for now I'm assuming he's coming but it could go either way, not that I'm fussed.
Highways are out of the question as Chinese law prohibits bikes from using them meaning the route will be covered on everything but. We'll ride mountain paths, desert plains, tundra/ grasslands, village roads of asphalt, dirt and rubble.
Each day will require around 8-10 hours of riding depending on the road quality and the distance already covered. One day a week is scheduled for a rest stop in a hotel/ motel/ hostile (not a typo). For the most part we will camp by the road-side or at designated overnight areas.
I'm yet to select the bikes but have a guaranteed 2 bikes and 20,00RMB for fuel & food costs from my sponsor, Motor Head China (my stepmother's company). I'm hoping your views will help with selection. The bare minimum requirements are reliability, comfort and fuel economy, though, we will be needing to average 500-800km per day so speed might need a slight look in, too. My initial thoughts are to take a very standard Honda CG copy (Chinese version) which is a good all-rounder but I'm more inclined to select something in the 250cc ball park due to previous experiences with China's mountains. Note: anything larger than 250cc is out of the question. End of story.
Media wise, I have tried to coincide the return day with the first day of CIMA Motor Show in mid October, China's second biggest motorcycle trade fair held right here in CQ which my dad runs the foreign marketing affairs for, so a big party basically and lots of TV coverage. Also, since my father & I (we sometime work together) is a freelance motorcycle journalist doing editorials for MCN, British Dealer News, KiwiRider and several other international publications I'm sure some of my journal of the trip can be published in real time. (If you read British Dealer News and have seen any articles written about China's bike market, you can almost be certain I wrote it, check the name.)
I'm yet to begin any prep work other than small purchases which will be used for the trip - just things I pick up here and there. The paperwork is extensive and on top of all of the requirements for evidence Guinness need for verification all of it needs to be translated in to Chinese so signatures can be collected from the relevant officials along the way. My kit list has been growing and shrinking in my head as I think of new things to add and then discount them as necessary; the bare minimum of kit will be taken to keep us lightweight and in order. Anything unnecessary will not be take. Over the next few weeks I will begin to piece together the outfit from the ground up in preparation for a mid July launch.
For now that is about the most I can say as I'm exhausted just thinking about the shear grandeur of this undertaking. The next update should include my mapped route.
Further reading: Man & Machine. Route Plan. Accommodation Dilemma.
Firstly I'd like to ask if anyone has taken on any kind of similar challenge and what that experience was like. What did the planning involve and how did the task pan out in the end? I'm sure plenty of you have been on some great adventures.
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The Overview:
The Overview:
The current World Record for a journey by motorcycle in a single country stands at 18,300km (11,372 miles) by an Indian bloke done in his native country. My aim is 20-22k kilometers around China over a 3 month period.
The attempt will be unsupported meaning no following vehicles to carry supplies. Currently our team consists of three riders; me (Mr. Shem), my Chinese colleague and co-adventurer Slash and a Canadian friend of mine who asked if he could join. I have doubts about my Canadian friend as he is 200lbs (of fat), unfit, closing on 40 years old and doesn't seem to be comfortable roughing it. So for now I'm assuming he's coming but it could go either way, not that I'm fussed.
Highways are out of the question as Chinese law prohibits bikes from using them meaning the route will be covered on everything but. We'll ride mountain paths, desert plains, tundra/ grasslands, village roads of asphalt, dirt and rubble.
Each day will require around 8-10 hours of riding depending on the road quality and the distance already covered. One day a week is scheduled for a rest stop in a hotel/ motel/ hostile (not a typo). For the most part we will camp by the road-side or at designated overnight areas.
I'm yet to select the bikes but have a guaranteed 2 bikes and 20,00RMB for fuel & food costs from my sponsor, Motor Head China (my stepmother's company). I'm hoping your views will help with selection. The bare minimum requirements are reliability, comfort and fuel economy, though, we will be needing to average 500-800km per day so speed might need a slight look in, too. My initial thoughts are to take a very standard Honda CG copy (Chinese version) which is a good all-rounder but I'm more inclined to select something in the 250cc ball park due to previous experiences with China's mountains. Note: anything larger than 250cc is out of the question. End of story.
Media wise, I have tried to coincide the return day with the first day of CIMA Motor Show in mid October, China's second biggest motorcycle trade fair held right here in CQ which my dad runs the foreign marketing affairs for, so a big party basically and lots of TV coverage. Also, since my father & I (we sometime work together) is a freelance motorcycle journalist doing editorials for MCN, British Dealer News, KiwiRider and several other international publications I'm sure some of my journal of the trip can be published in real time. (If you read British Dealer News and have seen any articles written about China's bike market, you can almost be certain I wrote it, check the name.)
I'm yet to begin any prep work other than small purchases which will be used for the trip - just things I pick up here and there. The paperwork is extensive and on top of all of the requirements for evidence Guinness need for verification all of it needs to be translated in to Chinese so signatures can be collected from the relevant officials along the way. My kit list has been growing and shrinking in my head as I think of new things to add and then discount them as necessary; the bare minimum of kit will be taken to keep us lightweight and in order. Anything unnecessary will not be take. Over the next few weeks I will begin to piece together the outfit from the ground up in preparation for a mid July launch.
For now that is about the most I can say as I'm exhausted just thinking about the shear grandeur of this undertaking. The next update should include my mapped route.
Further reading: Man & Machine. Route Plan. Accommodation Dilemma.
________________________________________
Firstly I'd like to ask if anyone has taken on any kind of similar challenge and what that experience was like. What did the planning involve and how did the task pan out in the end? I'm sure plenty of you have been on some great adventures.
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