London England-Europe-Russia-America. 26 countries, 19661 riding miles.


England, Wales, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Liechtenstein, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia, Greece, Bulgaria, Turkey, Russia, South Korea, Japan, North America (19 States, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virgina, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, New York) Ireland.
9882 miles (flights/ferries as the crow flies) TOTAL DISTANCE TRAVELLED 29543 Miles/47545 Kilometers

Trip Schedule

Ace Cafe, Stonebridge, London 7pm Mon 21st April-Send off with Riders Digest magazine. http://www.theridersdigest.co.uk/distribution.html
Official start-St. Teresas Hospice, Darlington, Co. Durham 11am Wed 23rd April St Georges Day.
Farleigh Hospice, Chelmsford, Essex 1pm Tues 29th April.
Dover, P&O ferry, 10am Thurs 1st May.
Europe 1 month.
Trabzon, Turkey to Sochi, Russia Tues 3rd June. 90 day visa.
Zarubino, Russia to Sok Cho Korea Mon 28th July.
Incheon, Korea to Seattle USA, via Tokyo, Japan Fri 15th Aug.
JFK New York to Gatwick UK, via Dublin, Ireland Wed 24th Sept
Official finish-Farleigh and St.Teresas Hospices dates TBA.


Many thanks to our sponsors!

I'd like to thank everyone who helped make this trip possible.


CitySprint www.citysprint.co.uk/
The Riders Digest www.theridersdigest.co.uk/

A special thankyou to Frank and Liz at http://www.triumph-online.co.uk/ for such generosity. They gave us almost all the spares and tools we needed to keep the bikes running across Russia, just because they were proud of two British guys wanting to ride two British bikes around the world.

A big thankyou to Graham at http://www.bykebitz.co.uk/ for the Airhawk seat cushion. Without a doubt the most comfortable bike seat I've ever had. Much more comfortable than a gel seat!
Thanks to David Gath at http://www.motohaus.com/ for the Ventura headlight guard. It saved my headlight on many occasions on the Amur Highway.
Thanks to http://www.wemoto.com/ for the brake pads.
Thanks to Rick and everyone at Casade Moto Classics, Beaverton, Oregon, for helping me at such short notice. http://www.cascademoto.com/

Thankyou to everyone who has given their time and effort to ensure the trip went smoothly.
It's the small companies who really make the world go round.

Thankyou Mark & Lee for ensuring we had a good send off, Roman for the tyres in Volgograd, Mikail & the Iron Tigers for the use of their shop, Phil & Dot for their friendship & inspiration, Wendy for shipping the bikes from Korea (& buying me dinner 3 nights in a row) Mike & Jo for keeping me sane in Korea, David Janos for amazing hospitality, advice, collecting my bike from Seattle & taking me sailing! Stan Hellmann for showing me the best of Oregon, Greg for air freighting the bike home & of course Geoff, for helping me realise my dream.

Wednesday 12 November 2008

Poor Circulation Grand Finale - Ace Cafe Sunday 16th November 10.30 AM

Ace Cafe London
Ace Corner
North Circular Road
Stonebridge
London
NW10 7UD
Tel: 020 8961 1000
GPS Coordinate N 51:32:26 (51.540455)
W 0:16:43 (-0.278664)
Ace Corner is the junction of Beresford Avenue and the old North Circular Road, between the A40 and the A404 (Harrow Road)

It feels a lifetime ago since we left the Ace cafe on 21st April, and strange to think we headed in one direction, East, and still ended up back where we started!

Sometimes I wonder if I actually rode all the way around the world, or if it just turned a full circle beneath me.

Settling back into 'normal' life is proving difficult, especially now I'm unemployed for the first time. Worst of all, because I gave up my job voluntarily, wasn't entitled to any Job Seekers Allowance, only receiving my first payment last week. The only way I can stay sane is by riding the bike, but that drinks almost as much petrol per mile as Geoff does coffee. So I took the first part-time job I could find, (a storeman in a shoe shop and no, they don't stock anything my size!) only to discover the JSA kindly give me £5, then take a pound for every one I earn over that amount. So I'm working for next to nothing and living on a budget of less than half of what I was on the trip!
Yesterday (Tuesday) Ongar Triumph kindly gave me a brand new Triumph Bonneville to play with while they fixed my oil leak. I made it look like a 125 but the further I rode, the more I enjoyed it. It's no sports bike, but the brakes and handling are good enough to have some fun on the B roads. Very smooth, easy to ride and the slickest gearchange on any bike I've ever ridden.
Very impressive, I didn't want to give it back! I'm already dreaming of riding one across the Rocky mountains....

My Tiger may not have as much 'street cred' as a Bonneville, but it does have an amazing engine. If I'm ever lucky enough to do another trip, I can't think of a better bike.
You never know whats around the next corner. But a motorcyclist knows taking the corner can be as much fun as finding out whats around it.
See you at the Ace!
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