Adventure riding books and documentaries

[Wolf]

Alice's post in the Last Hurrah thread got me thinking on books, DVDs etc on adventure riding.

First one I read was Ted Simon's Jupiter's Travels - not long after it was published. Very inspirational to a budding adventure rider.

Now I'm building a small library of books and DVDs.

I've got both Ted Simon's earlier books: Jupiter's Travels, which I'm currently reading again, and The Journey Home, which I have yet to read, and I've got the series and book of The Long Way 'Round (I've yet to read the book).

Still to get are:
The DVD and book of The Last Hurrah (which I plan to get at the screening in Hamilton later this month), Ted Simon's multimedia CD and forthcoming book of his recent travels and Lois Pryce's soon-to-be-released book, Lois on The Loose (riding from Alaska to the Southern-most tip of South America on an XT225 - the same make and model bike as I own).

On a related note (not "Adventure Riding" per se, but certainly a bloody great adventure) I have the movie of The World's Fastest Indian and I plan to get the book as well. I would also love to get Donaldson's original Offerings To The God Of Speed documentary on DVD.

What Adventure Riding books and/or documentaries do others on here have/want/recommend?

[Ghost Lemur]

Mondo Enduro has to be on every must-have list.

[Garry.W]

Mondo Enduro has to be on every must-have list.

Agreed Ghost, an excellent read.

If you're after an inspirational read I'd recommend Dave Barr's "Riding the Edge" if you can find a copy, sadly I lent mine to a friend about 10 years ago and never got it back but I digress.

Dave recounts his trip around the world (on a 1972 Harley Davidson no less) despite the loss of both legs from an antitank mine explosion in Angola in 1981. He covered about 80,000 MILES and it took him around 3 1/2 years. I think it made him the first person with a major disability to cross the Sahara Desert, go around Australia and negotiate the Andes during avalanche season. You just end up gobsmacked at the accomplishments of this determined man as he takes you on some of his most exciting adventures. It's certainly not a "how to" book, it's more about who he met and what he got up to.

Cheers,
Garry

[Motu]

I'll have to be in first with a plug for ''Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance'',the most famous motorcycling book ever - DON'T read it,burn it instead.Stupid friggen book.

[Wolf]

Just looked up Mondo Enduro and downloaded a clip from the Discovery Channel series - both the DVD and book have gone on my "must own" list.

Dave Barr's books look bloody great, too. Definitely got to get them as well.

[far queue]

I'll have to be in first with a plug for ''Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance'',the most famous motorcycling book ever - DON'T read it,burn it instead.Stupid friggen book.

I'm with you there. After hearing about it all the time, I struggled through about a third of it a few years ago then took it back to the library. Inane drival.

[NiggleC]

A few that i know of:
Adventure Motorcycling Handbook by Chris Scott
(lots of info re setup and experiences of foreign travel on motorcycles by many contributors. May be available in your local library as it is in CHCh)

10 Years on 2 wheels by Helge Pederson
(not so much a travelogue but many photographs and experiences. my copy cost $100 about 5 years ago but never regretted spending the money)

GSing around the World by Dr Gregory Frazier
CH library has copies - a bit disappointing - Chris Scott's book much better.

Dreams Die Hard by Ed Culberson
1st person to take a motorcycle thru the Darrien Gap North to South. Helge Pedersen was the second but went South to North. Will be difficult to get these days.

[far queue]

Welcome aboard NiggleC, you've been lurking on here for a bit by the look of it, so I guess you know what you're letting yourself in for

I'll have to go and get the "Adventure Motorcycling Handbook" from the library.

[The Big J]

Just looked up Mondo Enduro and downloaded a clip from the Discovery Channel series - both the DVD and book have gone on my "must own" list.

Can you post a link to the download?

[Wolf]

Can you post a link to the download?

http://www.aimimage.com/shop.php?section=1

The "Mondo Enduro" and "Terra Circa" clips both look good.

Enjoy

[Ghost Lemur]

http://www.aimimage.com/shop.php?section=1

The "Mondo Enduro" and "Terra Circa" clips both look good.

Enjoy

Yeah Terra Circa is the sequel.

[Wolf]

Yeah Terra Circa is the sequel.

I thought as much - the clips were short and it was hard to get a good idea of who was in them but it seemed like the same guys. Thanks for confirming.

I was planning on getting them both anyway.

[The Big J]

Obviously not all good stories get published. Hopefully not too off topic.

Most travellers accounts amount to blogs but those who put in the effort really create a great story.
I am enjoying :
http://www.davesgreatescape.net
http://simongandolfi.blogspot.com/
http://www.2ridetheworld.com/route.html
http://www.loisontheloose.com/index.html
The latter is having a book published shortly about the Americas tour



My website is in progress:
http://www.locokiwi.com
great trip yet to come

thanks for the post to Mondo Enduro. I should have bought the dvd but too late now as I'm off shortly. Anyone in Wgtn I can borrow from?

[Wolf]

On amazon.co.uk they have an excerpt from the book - I already love the book and want to read more - too bad I don't own it yet.

The customer reviews were quite good, too - and highly disparaging of Mssrs McGregor and Boorman.

[Wolf]

http://www.loisontheloose.com/index.html
The latter is having a book published shortly about the Americas tour

I know, I await it eagerly - she used a great bike for her journey (not that I'm biased )

She's currently riding a TTR250 through Africa. I sent her a "Bon Voyage" email before she left England and she actually took time out of her busy pre-trip schedule to personally reply to me and all the other well-wishers.

All the best with your own endeavours, Big J.