Well Hello all and welcome to the January 2019 Newsletter
So – did you manage the whole dry January or maybe you even went the whole nine yards and tried the awkwardly named Veganuary. From our side we did manage to lose a bit of Christmas timber and cut back on the Egg Nogs so it’s all good.
If you are outside the UK, then that’s probably the best place to be at the moment as the whole Brexit debacle continues to spiral out of control and our elected leaders seem unable to agree on anything. Thank the good Lord we have dirt bikes to distract us from the impending doom!
It’s been a busy month on the tours, in the office and on the website, so let’s leave the politics behind and jump straight into it!
HO CHI MINH – DONE
While the rest of us were sweating out the last of the mince pies, there was no rest for our fearless leader Toby. Before the Christmas decorations had even been taken down Tobes jetted off to sunny Cambodia to catch up with yet another band of eager dirt bikers to take on the epic Ho Chi Minh Trail. Over a staggering seventeen days, the group tackled everything from river crossings and deep mud to rickety rope bridges and frantically busy towns and villages as they followed the iconic trail through the incredible landscapes.
By the time they took off their helmets on the final day, they’d covered over 2700km through the most stunning and varied trail on the planet, carefully avoiding minefields on the way. They’d camped in the middle of a river and lorded it up in bespoke woodland lodges – hell they even found time to get mucky. As they rolled into the final hotel of the tour, Toby was duly elected King Of Bike Tours and the Emperor of Organisation before a great deal of beer was consumed!
If you fancy riding this tour, we’ve introduced a slightly shorter, work holiday friendly / spouse approved version that runs over 10 days – check out the details here
LIGHTS, CAMERA – ACTION #1
So while we love to get out the tech and film the epic places our tours go to and the incredible landscapes we ride through, it seems that our customers like a bit of camera action too.
First off we have Eammon Jones’ stunning piece of work from our Cambodia Cardamom Mountain Explorer tour. The talented Mr Jones does all the videos for the Fautline and Fullmoto YouTube channels, and with this little slice of celluloid candy he’s raised the bar again.
Grab a coffee, get yourself comfortable, sit back and enjoy 32 minutes of dirt bike travel heaven.
But Eammon did not stop there! He also joined us on the Ho Chi Minh Trail and will likely be beavering away at the next video as you read. Watch this space …
LIGHTS, CAMERA – ACTION #2 - and #3!
The second bit of film candy comes from Ana Grudinina, and covers an entirely different but equally life affirming tour. Anna took on our best selling tour, the Himalayan Heights which starts in Northen India and takes on the three highest roads on the planet as it scythes through the Indian Himalayas on the way to the achingly beautiful and remote Ladahk region. With so many stunning sights to see, Anna couldn’t compress her footage into just one video, so she just made two!
Check them out here – Anna’s really captured the spirit of our favourite tour, from the amazing scenery to the crazy roads – all with a Bangra soundtrack. Good work!
And here’s Part 2!
LOYALTY DISCOUNTS AHOY
We all like to be appreciated – from a nice email from the boss, a cheer when you ace that uphill rock step, or maybe just a pat on the back when you’ve finally managed a whole day of dirt biking without falling off …
And we certainly appreciate all the riders that come on our tours and make them quite so funny, challenging, sometimes infuriating and really just downright enjoyable.
So we’re happy to offer a discount of 5% across the board for all returning Ride Expeditions customers who rebook for another tour with us.
And if you want to bring over a big group – well now, Anna’s ears will perk up like a Border Terrier at the sound of the box of Snosages opening. Drop us an email, tell us your plans and we’ll see just how generous we can be …
CAPTAINS BLOG – STARDATE 2019
While Toby is out bashing the trails in Laos, Julian has been locked in a draughty garret bashing away at the keyboards on his infamous blogs. This month we’ve had a review of the Maxxis Trial Maxx tyre which is as sticky as a warm toffee in your pocket, a fantastic plan to kickstart 2019 under the unequivocal title ‘Ride More, Talk Less’, a review of the Thor Sentinel chest protector and the two blogs that have gone stratospheric were those on Toby Price’s epic second win at the Dakar – one with words and the second with a fantastic video.
And to finish the month, Julian’s gone into the dark art of Roadbook Navigation to dispel the myths and tell you how it’s done.
That little lot should keep you going!
RECCE RIDES IN THE PIPELINE
Although we already have a packed calendar, we’re always looking for more so 2019 will bring a steady roll of recce rides as we explore new territories and plan brand new adventures – suggestions that this has more to do with Toby’s itchy feet if he stays in one place for too long are largely accurate …
The first destination in mind is Namibia as it’s so close to Ride Expeditions’ South African HQ and said to be covered in super-sweet trails, so the team will be heading out on a selection of dirt bikes to test the ground and generally lark about, sorry work hard.
Next up we’re going to be heading over to Mongolia to check out this astounding and remote wilderness before blasting across it on motorcycles. There’s been mention of horse riding too, but Julian has already sent in a note from his Mum excusing him from any equine pursuits – something to do with a bad experience pony trekking in South Wales…
And the final one is maybe the big one and a ride we’ve been toying with since 2016. If you are looking for remote places to ride, you can’t get much better than Mount Everest, so we’ll be seeing if we can make this work for 2019 at least as a recce, with maybe a tour in 2019. We took a group to Nepal in 2017 and were blown away by the riding, so this one looks to be that plus more.
If any of these sound like your bag and you want to join the fearless band of recce riders, then drop us an email to info@rideexpeditions and put ‘I’m up for anything!’ in the subject line ….
COMPETITION TIME
So the final bit of our monthly update is a little competition for our loyal readers. We’re looking for a new tag line for Ride Expeditions and we thought you were the best people to ask for suggestions.
Come up with a killer line to go under our logo and
- Toby will be very happy and
- We’ll send you an exclusive Ride Expeditions long sleeved T Shirt with your line emblazoned across it. Bargain!
Send your suggestions to [email protected]
So that’s all for the moment, we’ve got brakes to bleed, saddles to recover and trails to be ridden. But we’ll leave you with the photo of the month from our Facebook page, showing what is apparently a sheep rescue …
Laters people!
This post first appeared on Cambodia Motorcycle Tours | Ride Cambodia, please read the originial post: here
