 6Likes
-
3
Post By chris
-
1
Post By chris
-
1
Post By RTWbyBIKE.com
-
1
Post By pecha72
 |
17 Apr 2013
|
|
Registered Users
Veteran HUBBer
|
|
Join Date: May 2008
Location: SW France
Posts: 304
|
|
|
Interesting RTW route
Most RTW books and DVDs either gloss over or edit out the long boring stretches that are a part of most round the world routes.
I'm aware of this and it's one of the main reasons why I wouldn't travel far on a small capacity bike. Also on any long journey, unless you seek it out, there is not a great deal of unpaved road.
Can anyone come up with a route, no matter how convoluted, that would take in most of the worlds 'best biking roads' and unpaved roads whilst keeping the dull bits to, say, no more than 100 miles at a time.
|
17 Apr 2013
|
|
Registered Users
Veteran HUBBer
|
|
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: GOC
Posts: 3,345
|
|
|
Not particularly strung together but:
from Europe across Russia via Walter's 2012 Sibersky Extreme route.
Across North America via the TAT combined with the Lolo motorway and Oregon backcountry trail or TransCan
North/ South or S/N on the Continental Divide trail. In northern Canada and Alsaka there's roads like the Top of the World Highway and the roads to Inuvik or Deadhorse.
There's a lot of gravel/dirt if you avoid the PanAm in Mexico (ride some of the Baja1000 routes?)/Central/South Am.
North Africa: Plenty of Dakar race tracks.
Sub-Saharan Africa: Despite Chinese road building there's a lot of dirt/mud/former Colonial pavement.
Australia: The center has very few paved roads e.g. Canning Stock Route.
|
17 Apr 2013
|
|
Registered Users
Veteran HUBBer
|
|
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: on the Road, at the moment somewhere else
Posts: 289
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Magnon
Most RTW books and DVDs either gloss over or edit out the long boring stretches that are a part of most round the world routes.
I'm aware of this and it's one of the main reasons why I wouldn't travel far on a small capacity bike. Also on any long journey, unless you seek it out, there is not a great deal of unpaved road.
Can anyone come up with a route, no matter how convoluted, that would take in most of the worlds 'best biking roads' and unpaved roads whilst keeping the dull bits to, say, no more than 100 miles at a time.
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by chris
Not particularly strung together but:
from Europe across Russia via Walter's 2012 Sibersky Extreme route.
Across North America via the TAT combined with the Lolo motorway and Oregon backcountry trail or TransCan
North/ South or S/N on the Continental Divide trail. In northern Canada and Alsaka there's roads like the Top of the World Highway and the roads to Inuvik or Deadhorse.
There's a lot of gravel/dirt if you avoid the PanAm in Mexico (ride some of the Baja1000 routes?)/Central/South Am.
North Africa: Plenty of Dakar race tracks.
Sub-Saharan Africa: Despite Chinese road building there's a lot of dirt/mud/former Colonial pavement.
Australia: The center has very few paved roads e.g. Canning Stock Route.
|
Forget it... doesnt exist... Or you fly your bike to only this routes... e.g. here in Australia, where we are at the moment, 100 miles you go for shopping without asking... you have to add a 0 to it and then it would maybe work ...
Cheers
|
17 Apr 2013
|
|
Registered Users
Veteran HUBBer
|
|
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: GOC
Posts: 3,345
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by RTWbyBIKE.com
Forget it... doesnt exist... Or you fly your bike to only this routes... e.g. here in Australia, where we are at the moment, 100 miles you go for shopping without asking... you have to add a 0 to it and then it would maybe work ...
Cheers
|
Ok, I admit it. Everything I wrote above was totally fabricated and I've never ridden any of them. My entire website is photoshopped, as I'm sure Walter's trip was too.  
|
17 Apr 2013
|
|
Registered Users
Veteran HUBBer
|
|
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: West Yorkshire UK
Posts: 1,785
|
|
Will you photoshop my website too? Can't seem to get pictures further out than Norway or North Africa. It's all the wifes fault
Could I suggest a more anarchic strategy on top of the route suggestions? Simply get off the motorway of the inbetween bits when bored. Some days you find another slower but equally pointless thoroughfare, other times it's ladies-of-negotiable-virtue and drug dealers, often it'll be a nice little country lane with a pub or coffee shop that'll cut ten miles off the autobahn out. I almost never regret it though.
Andy
|
17 Apr 2013
|
|
Super Moderator
Veteran HUBBer
|
|
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Bellingham, WA, USA
Posts: 3,987
|
|
|
I took "Forget it...doesn't exist" to mean that you can't ride the routes you listed without interspersing long stretches of pavement--certainly far longer than 100 miles. Which is true: you can't get to the Top of the World Highway without riding on pavement for a few days straight (minimum). Etc. It's the same thing you said: "Not particularly strung together."
The "forget it" response was mostly incomprehensible, but then again so was the original question. What's "dull?" What's not? Stuff I find mainly quite boring (Kansas, Manitoba, Western Sahara, much of Ukraine, most of central Australia, long stretches through Patagonia) you might go wild over.
Mark
|
17 Apr 2013
|
 |
Registered Users
Veteran HUBBer
|
|
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: West London
Posts: 920
|
|
|
See I think this is one of the reasons to have a smaller capacity bike, they're just that much nicer on smaller roads be they paved or not that you seek them out instead of hammering through countries on the autoroutes but each to their own.
__________________
Happiness has 125 cc
|
17 Apr 2013
|
|
Registered Users
Veteran HUBBer
|
|
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: GOC
Posts: 3,345
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Threewheelbonnie
Will you photoshop my website too? Can't seem to get pictures further out than Norway or North Africa. It's all the wifes fault
|
At least you still have a wife! 
Quote:
Originally Posted by markharf
I took "Forget it...doesn't exist" to mean that you can't ride the routes you listed without interspersing long stretches of pavement--certainly far longer than 100 miles. Which is true: you can't get to the Top of the World Highway without riding on pavement for a few days straight (minimum). Etc. It's the same thing you said: "Not particularly strung together."
|
I took "Forget it...doesn't exist" to mean I was talking sh!te.
One person's dull could of course be somebody else's wild. I believe there is of a lot more out there if you take the road less travelled. You just have to look/research hard enough, which the OP seems to be doing.
For a few of shorter deliberately off pavement trips on a thumper (Baja, Pyrenees, Romania, Morocco, Iceland, CDT, western TAT, Oregon, Lolo, northern Thailand for example) I sourced detailed maps or acquired/purchased GPS data that allowed me to ride virtually 100% no pavement.
I believe Walter used his contacts, research from previous trips and Google Earth to ride the length of Russia off pavement. Sibirsky Extreme 2012 - The Toughest Ride of Them All - ADVrider
In places like France there's a lot of opportunity for off pavement (a.k.a interesting) riding if somebody shows you the way, as the OP did for myself and some others a couple of years ago. Thanks again Charles!
|
18 Apr 2013
|
|
Registered Users
Veteran HUBBer
|
|
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: on the Road, at the moment somewhere else
Posts: 289
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by markharf
I took "Forget it...doesn't exist" to mean that you can't ride the routes you listed without interspersing long stretches of pavement--certainly far longer than 100 miles. Which is true: you can't get to the Top of the World Highway without riding on pavement for a few days straight (minimum). Etc. It's the same thing you said: "Not particularly strung together."
The "forget it" response was mostly incomprehensible, but then again so was the original question. What's "dull?" What's not? Stuff I find mainly quite boring (Kansas, Manitoba, Western Sahara, much of Ukraine, most of central Australia, long stretches through Patagonia) you might go wild over.
Mark
|
Thx Mark, that’s what I meant. Sometimes there are long stretches to take if you go somewhere to find a nice ride. And a nice ride is very subjective as well. Even the Nullarbor (longest straight stretch in AU, 1000km asphalt dead straight...) to go from Western Australia to the South can be a nice ride as soon as you leave the highway and take some excursions. There are nice things to see and do right and left from the HW.
I should have written instead of "Forget it": IMHO In my opinion it is very hard to circumnavigate our planet nowadays without crashing into civilization from time to time, and most of the time it means to take some asphalt in between. It´s like going around the planed on a boat, sometimes you have to cross the oceans in between to see the nice spots on new foreign lands.
So no offence Chris to the tracks you mentioned b4. Just to combine all of them without 100km asphalt in between is a very hard task to do I think. 
|
18 Apr 2013
|
|
Registered Users
Veteran HUBBer
|
|
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Australia
Posts: 1,131
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by RTWbyBIKE.com
IMHO In my opinion it is very hard to circumnavigate our planet nowadays without crashing into civilization from time to time, and most of the time it means to take some asphalt in between.
|
Humm if you look on the web there is a photo of the earth as seen at night - avoiding the 'bright spots' will keep you away from most 'civilization'. Having said that I've been to places where the main road between towns was paved .. but the 'roads' through the towns were dirt. Certainly effectively stopped people speeding through the towns, but tourist were rather confused for the first few towns.
Oh and the occasional bit of 'civilization' is good for restocking.
|
18 Apr 2013
|
|
Registered Users
Veteran HUBBer
|
|
Join Date: May 2008
Location: SW France
Posts: 304
|
|
|
Looking at it on a global scale there are great swathes where there is only one road. In my experience in Australia and Southern Africa once you commit to a route, that's it for several hundred miles. Sure, there are turnings off to farms and small communities but these are often not a network of back roads because the distance between the settlements is to large. Sometimes it turns out to be a really pleasant ride, other times it can just be days of the same thing.
What I'd like to find is a map showing all the roads that would get a Michelin 'green line' on them interlinked with extended off road routes like the TAT and Sibersky that eventually forms a viable route right around the planet. It's not about avoiding civilization as any extended journey is, and should be, a mix of getting away from it all and interacting with different cultures and people. It is about justifying why a motorbike is the best way to travel.
|
18 Apr 2013
|
|
Registered Users
Veteran HUBBer
|
|
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Helsinki
Posts: 1,731
|
|
Going around the whole planet using only by-roads you would first of all cover gazillion miles, and secondly you would need almost unlimited time to do it. Frankly I fail to see the point, though I do know very well, that the nicest sites and experiences can often be found quite far away from the main roads. Think I would soon get bored of getting lost on poor roads with absolutely no signage, and one local telling you to go this way, the next one telling you to go the other way, while the sun is setting, and it is starting to rain very heavily.....
For me, it´s better to take in a nice, scenic route here and there, when the opportunity arises, and the rest of the way just cover the distance on the highway. And if I´m on a RTW-trip, then most of the time I´ll be on that highway for the very first time in my life, too, so even that can be exciting (for me at least). The selection of bike and its ability on poor roads as well as big roads is naturally important here.
|
20 Apr 2013
|
|
Registered Users
Veteran HUBBer
|
|
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: UK
Posts: 1,232
|
|
|
After doing dirt roads for days a bit of tarmac is a welcome relief!!
Give it a few years and those lovely Chinese roads will be in a worse state than the tracks they replaced!!
That's the trouble, foreign countries wade in a build roads like they have when in fact they'd be a lot better off grading the road and donating the grader to the country to maintain it, and it would be cheaper!
It's just yet another ridiculous example of people forcing their standards on others when it's totally inappropriate.
|
20 Apr 2013
|
|
Registered Users
Veteran HUBBer
|
|
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Washington, DC
Posts: 1,377
|
|
|
In most parts of the US and Europe it is trivial to find beautiful small roads with terrific scenery, or at least tolerable scenery. Even in European Russia there is lots to see and enjoy once you've off the main roads. You don't have to be on a dirt track to get off the beaten path.
|
|
Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 Registered Users and/or Members and 1 guests)
|
|
|
Posting Rules
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
|
Check the RAW segments; Grant, your HU host is on every month!
Episodes below to listen to while you, err, pretend to do something or other...
2020 Edition of Chris Scott's Adventure Motorcycling Handbook.
"Ultimate global guide for red-blooded bikers planning overseas exploration. Covers choice & preparation of best bike, shipping overseas, baggage design, riding techniques, travel health, visas, documentation, safety and useful addresses." Recommended. (Grant)
Ripcord Rescue Travel Insurance™ combines into a single integrated program the best evacuation and rescue with the premier travel insurance coverages designed for adventurers.
Led by special operations veterans, Stanford Medicine affiliated physicians, paramedics and other travel experts, Ripcord is perfect for adventure seekers, climbers, skiers, sports enthusiasts, hunters, international travelers, humanitarian efforts, expeditions and more.
Ripcord travel protection is now available for ALL nationalities, and travel is covered on motorcycles of all sizes!
What others say about HU...
"This site is the BIBLE for international bike travelers." Greg, Australia
"Thank you! The web site, The travels, The insight, The inspiration, Everything, just thanks." Colin, UK
"My friend and I are planning a trip from Singapore to England... We found (the HU) site invaluable as an aid to planning and have based a lot of our purchases (bikes, riding gear, etc.) on what we have learned from this site." Phil, Australia
"I for one always had an adventurous spirit, but you and Susan lit the fire for my trip and I'll be forever grateful for what you two do to inspire others to just do it." Brent, USA
"Your website is a mecca of valuable information and the (video) series is informative, entertaining, and inspiring!" Jennifer, Canada
"Your worldwide organisation and events are the Go To places to for all serious touring and aspiring touring bikers." Trevor, South Africa
"This is the answer to all my questions." Haydn, Australia
"Keep going the excellent work you are doing for Horizons Unlimited - I love it!" Thomas, Germany
Lots more comments here!
Diaries of a compulsive traveller
by Graham Field
Book, eBook, Audiobook
"A compelling, honest, inspiring and entertaining writing style with a built-in feel-good factor" Get them NOW from the authors' website and Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.co.uk.
Back Road Map Books and Backroad GPS Maps for all of Canada - a must have!
New to Horizons Unlimited?
New to motorcycle travelling? New to the HU site? Confused? Too many options? It's really very simple - just 4 easy steps!
Horizons Unlimited was founded in 1997 by Grant and Susan Johnson following their journey around the world on a BMW R80G/S.
Read more about Grant & Susan's story
Membership - help keep us going!
Horizons Unlimited is not a big multi-national company, just two people who love motorcycle travel and have grown what started as a hobby in 1997 into a full time job (usually 8-10 hours per day and 7 days a week) and a labour of love. To keep it going and a roof over our heads, we run events all over the world with the help of volunteers; we sell inspirational and informative DVDs; we have a few selected advertisers; and we make a small amount from memberships.
You don't have to be a Member to come to an HU meeting, access the website, or ask questions on the HUBB. What you get for your membership contribution is our sincere gratitude, good karma and knowing that you're helping to keep the motorcycle travel dream alive. Contributing Members and Gold Members do get additional features on the HUBB. Here's a list of all the Member benefits on the HUBB.
|
|
|
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).
Get Ready! covers planning, paperwork, medical and many other topics! "Inspirational and Awesome!" See the trailer here!
What stuff do I need - riding gear, clothing, camping gear, first aid kit, tires, maps and GPS? What don't I need? How do I pack it all in? Lots of opinions from over 150 travellers!
break down language barriers, overcome culture shock, ship the bike and deal with breakdowns and emergencies."Just makes me want to pack up and go!" See the trailer here!
Grant demystifies the black art of Tire Changing and Repair to help you STAY on the road! "Very informative and practical." See the trailer here!
Ladies on the Loose! For the first time ever, a motorcycle travel DVD made for women, by women! These intrepid women share their tips to help you plan your own motorcycle adventure. They also answer the women-only questions, and entertain you with amazing tales from the road! Presented by Lois Pryce, veteran solo traveller through South America and Africa and author of 'Lois on the Loose', and 'Red Tape and White Knuckles.'
Cotton or synth sweat-wicking t-shirts with the cool Horizons Unlimited graphic on the front and a snappy slogan (changing every year) on the back.
Show your route on your panniers. Great conversation starter when you meet people on the road!
Motorcycle and travel books to inspire and inform you!
The definitive guide to planning your motorcycle adventure! This insanely ambitious 2-year project has produced an informative and entertaining 5-part, 18 hour video series. "The ultimate round the world rider's how-to!" MCN UK.
Linear Mode
