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29 Apr 2009
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris1200
Folks, it's just my opinion........
I personally couldn't care less if C+E never get on a bike again.
"We're hardcore," they say over and over again. And then they proceed to get everything handed to them for free, they get specialist SAS training to deal with bandits, they get "fixers" at every bend in the road, they ride through a river then describe it as "the biggest challenge of our lives", they have a tough 200 mile day then get a 5* hotel in which to recover, they camp out for a few nights then think they have almost become nomads of the land, they throw thespian tantrums with a few swear words to boot and they reckon they are "pioneers" for motorcycle travellers.
NO THEY AREN'T. They're 2 spoilt boys who happen to like bikes. Don't get me wrong, I am quite sure we would all jump at such a trip if given the chance and I have no gripe with them for taking advantage of the opportunities that have presented themselves. In fact, I would even go as far as to say....well done chaps, you manipulated your positions well.
But "hardcore" ?????
Not on your nelly, C+E, if you want "hardcore" just take a look at the guys who did Mondo Enduro and Terra Circa.........and lots of other people who submit their travel tales on sites such as this one (which doesn't include me by the way coz my bike travels have never gone outside Europe. But then I'm not claiming any titles either!). I'd like their shows much better and I'd respect them much more if they simply got on with the trips and stopped making reference to how they are experts, tough guys, macho men and whatever other ludicrous claims they make. Coz they really aren't any of these in comparison to other everyday bike travellers.
Like I said earlier......it's just my opinion, but I believe it's an opinion based on fact (and not jealousy!).
Chris
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Agreed, Mondo Enduro was much much more hardcore , than this , Mondo were incredibly fortunate in all the goodwill they blended from everywhere , I wonder if such goodwill has been worn out though with all the riders passing through over the years.....
Ie Russians on the road (there being only one) thinking oh not another bunch of riders again.... etc
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29 Apr 2009
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris1200
"We're hardcore," they say over and over again.
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Sorry Chris - I must have missed that in the TV series and books - can you point me to where they say that?
m
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29 Apr 2009
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Yes Matt
E Mc G made reference to it on two occasions during LWD and I heard him make reference to it on BBC 5 Live during an interview.
Chris
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29 Apr 2009
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He does refer to the conditions as being pretty hardcore first in Kazakstan and then again in Mongolia... I don't think he says "hey, we're hardcore" just that it is.
And hardcore is all relative, he'd hardly biked on the dirt before. I know the first time I biked on a bit of mud I thought I was hardcore too.
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29 Apr 2009
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It's getting like the Three Yorkshiremen on Monty Python in here:
"When I rode t' North Cape, Ah did it 'wi nowt but an F650 an a black and white GPS"
"F650! Ah'd a thought a were in 'even on an F650. Ah did it on a C50 wi no tread ont back tyre an only a 2-pound book token for petrol"
"C50! Ah pushed an Harley wi mi ole fam'ly ont back and square wheels......"
We've done this one before. You can't make a TV programme to a schedule with a risk that two front men and six crew will get stuck half way up the Amazon for a month until UPS and some customs clowns decide to deliver a spare widget. Hence you have fixers and spare bikes. I agree this makes it unrealistic and I agree Mondo Enduro was way better. It's like comparing a news reel with Saving Private Ryan though. The general public like stable shots and logical editing (ME is the best of it's kind but it's pure skill that it's watchable, it could have been real home movie stuff). Most BBC/Sky viewers don't notice that the bottom half of a Nazi tank is Russian or that one of the bikes changes for no apparent reason, but they will turn off when it ceases to make sense as to why finding a shiney thing it some drunken Russians hut is so good.
I felt cheated too, but having read more I think EM and CB got cheated out of their trip too.
As various people said at the start of this thread, lets hope they ditch the film crew and try it for real.
Andy
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29 Apr 2009
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Threewheelbonnie
Most BBC/Sky viewers don't notice that the bottom half of a Nazi tank is Russian or that one of the bikes changes for no apparent reason, but they will turn off when it ceases to make sense as to why finding a shiney thing it some drunken Russians hut is so good.
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You're right Andy, I didn't and I've got the DVD's, when's it do it, I'll go and look..... but you have to tell or I'll only have to watch all ten hours again.
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29 Apr 2009
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Threewheelbonnie
"I felt cheated too, but having read more I think EM and CB got cheated out of their trip too.
As various people said at the start of this thread, lets hope they ditch the film crew and try it for real.
Andy
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I also hope for their sake, and to stop all the bickering they 'go it alone'
They must read bits here and there, and must feel fed up that people are talking about them.
It probably didn't turn out the way they wanted it to.
I am sure they would not like that.
This might be the push for them to decide to do it alone.
I hope so,
'vette
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30 Apr 2009
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...a good thing
well...I think that 'they' have done a lot to bring the 'sport' of adventure motorcycling to the fore.
Sometimes (and only sometimes!) my husband and I wish for the kind of support and sponsorship they, C&E, have had - but hey....they are famous and we are not. Its a no-brainer for sponsors!
However, with sponsors and film crews come many many restirctions - the trip is not your own...and that is why most of us start these kind of travels.
I hope they do the Long Way Up...and Across and...In and Out...blah blah...but for themsevles and get to do what they want and how they want. Thats the whole point surely.
The restrictions placed on them due to support vehicles , film crew etc, must be infuriating. We have been flimed a few times and boy! its frustrating at times having to do the same piece of track over and over again so different shots can be taken - to worry and concentrate on the continuity rather than the riding is not something I like doing!
My husband and I have had total and utter freedom (apart from constant cash worries and the restrictions that brings!) during our 6 years on the road.
I hope C&E get to eventually enjoy one of their trips in the same way...remember initially they wanted to do this for the same reasons we all do - for their love of bikes and the desire to learn and see more of the World.
ciao
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30 Apr 2009
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In the endless compasions with Mondo Enduro and LWR/D/U/I&O I wonder if people miss the fact they have/had different target audiences. E&C made their programmes for mass-market audiences with a pre-decided number of episodes, and that surely makes a difference to the presentation of their trips. They have to have a "crisis" to overcome each episode, a cliff-hanger to draw lazy viewers back the following week, so of course things will be portrayed as "hardcore" and "the toughest thing since I tried to get my marmalade open", without those then lazy channel hoppers will hop and advertisers won't advertise.
Unless we really reckon they trailered their bikes about between shoots then I'm sure they had a great experience, meeting locals, seeing the sights we long to see, falling off, tinkering in the workshop, all that stuff. It might not be your idea of adventure, but it still looked bloody good fun to me.
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30 Apr 2009
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In another thread a lot of people defined adventure motorcycling as driving outside your comfort zone. I have seen LWR and LWD and I think that’s exactly what they are doing.
I’m not a big fan of C+E but for me this bashing has no meaning, it’s just sad.
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30 Apr 2009
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AliBaba
In another thread a lot of people defined adventure motorcycling as driving outside your comfort zone. ....
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Now that is a great definition. Mind if I borrow it? 
Andy
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30 Apr 2009
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Threewheelbonnie
Now that is a great definition. Mind if I borrow it?
Andy |
I guess so, but I'm just quoting someone else 
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2 May 2009
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I don't agree with the point about TV needing proper organisation etc.
The lads from Mondo Enduro/Terra Circa did it all themselves....no fixers, no nothing. They filmed their own sequences and presented it in a way that made it clear that the trip was of primary importance and the filming/marketing was secondary. And in my opinion it made for a more interesting programme. It lets you see how it REALLY is when you undertake a difficult challenge. No airs or graces, they just got on with it.
C+E had every opportunity to do this trip on their own. They weren't exactly stuck for a few quid, were they???? But they sold out to commercialism then had the cheek to gripe about the restrictions it placed upon them. If they were so disappointed about not getting KTM bikes for free to begin with then why didn't they go out and buy 2 of them?? Instead they reacted as if the world had collapsed around them with little chance of recovery.
To me it all comes down to a pompous attitude that says,
"We're famous. We want everything handed to us!"
Chris
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2 May 2009
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It's no use, I'm going to get sucked in, I can feel it happening. I recently lent both LWR/D and Mondo Enduro to my dad to watch. He's not a biker, although he used to be in the 50's, he's not a traveller although he used to be in the 60's. He prefered E&C's efforts, so I asked him why.
His answer was that he felt the show was better produced, the camera work better directed and the quality higher. As he said Mondo Enduro is more like William Woollard's Top Gear, where content is what's important. LWR/D is like Jeremy Clarkson's Top Gear, well filmed, well produced TV, where style is as or more important than content. And that's the market E&C were aiming at, the mass TV watching market, not the people who do it and then get on this forum and others like it. We're more likely to be drawn into Mondo Enduro.
Think of LWR/D as a taster, something to whet your appetite, a long weekend in the Lakes. Then once you've got the bug, found this forum you move on to Mondo Enduro, and plan your year-long tour of the planet.
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Check the RAW segments; Grant, your HU host is on every month!
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helps answer the question - Why Go? Inspirational stories by veteran travellers Greg Frazier (5 times RTW), Peter and Kay Forwood (193 countries), Tiffany Coates (Mongolia Mayhem) and Rene Cormier (University of Gravel Roads).
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