‘Long Way Down’ begins

**Bob** · 15th May 2007, 00:27

Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman have set off on their latest motorcycle marathon ride. The pair – who are undertaking a 15,000 mile ride to John O’Groats to Africa on a pair of BMW R1200GS – set off from a deliberately low-key launch.

The trek will see McGregor and Boorman bike down through Europe and into Africa, through 20 countries and ending at the continent's most southerly point, Cape Town in South Africa. They have decided to use old-fashioned maps to navigate, rather than rely on Sat-Nav kits.

The pair will also be acting as UNICEF ambassadors during the trip, which will be filmed for a BBC series.

**Big Dog** · 15th May 2007, 00:57

Cool. Enjoyed what I saw of the long way round. Missed most of it but.

**ZeroIndex** · 15th May 2007, 01:05

Damn those two are gonna get lost... they're a bunch of n00bs that can't ride for shit... watched the whole series of Long Way Round, and couldn't help but point and laugh, rewind, point and laugh, rewind, point and laugh again everytime they binned it... Come on seriously, some of their bins were so lame and easily avoidable... like what's the point in doing 5 - 10km/h on gravel when 60 - 80km/h would do just as well... like the bit where they went through the canyon that was supposed to look like the Grand Canyon... Charley Boorman binned in like what, 4 times in that one little section.

They should get Ghostrider to do a trip like that, will take like 2 weeks, not 100+ days

**ZeroIndex** · 15th May 2007, 01:07

Another thing to add... why did they keep doing that gay little video diary instead of just showing their crappy riding skills... seriously, you'd expect Obi-Wan to possess slightly higher riding skills than what he shows in The Long Way Round...

**Bob** · 15th May 2007, 03:02

I assume you're speaking from the angle of someone who rides off-road quite a lot? And I'm also guessing the opportunities to go off-roading are far wider available in NZ than they are in the UK.

Both McGregor and Boorman said they were off-road novices before they got into this. If you look at the start of "Long Way Round", you will see that BMW sent them on an off-road course to teach them the basics.

The pair of them are experienced road riders - I know Boorman has been riding since he was a kid in Ireland - but off-road is a very different thing. I know when a friend of mine did his stag-day as an off-road day, there were very experienced ROAD riders there - and they were all shattered by the end as they weren't used to the different demands of off-roading.

So riding 20,000 miles, on some pretty tricky conditions, a lot of it off-road, when you have precious little off-road experience? Takes some doing I'd say.

**sAsLEX** · 15th May 2007, 04:38

I assume you mean from John O groats in Scotland down to South Africa?

**ZeroIndex** · 15th May 2007, 05:29

Originally Posted by Bob

I assume you're speaking from the angle of someone who rides off-road quite a lot? And I'm also guessing the opportunities to go off-roading are far wider available in NZ than they are in the UK.

Both McGregor and Boorman said they were off-road novices before they got into this. If you look at the start of "Long Way Round", you will see that BMW sent them on an off-road course to teach them the basics.

The pair of them are experienced road riders - I know Boorman has been riding since he was a kid in Ireland - but off-road is a very different thing. I know when a friend of mine did his stag-day as an off-road day, there were very experienced ROAD riders there - and they were all shattered by the end as they weren't used to the different demands of off-roading.

So riding 20,000 miles, on some pretty tricky conditions, a lot of it off-road, when you have precious little off-road experience? Takes some doing I'd say.

I'm from South Africa, and until January 2006, I'd never ridden a bike, and only got one in March 2006. I haven't done much in off-road riding, but chuck me on gravel (any mixture of it, even if it's wet clay), and I'll be quite happy to race along as quickly as possible, and I munted around for 15 minutes on a trials bike a few Sundays ago, so balance isn't a problem. I reckon I'd carve them up on the dirt. Also, shouldn't they have bought bikes that didn't need so much repairing... say for instance a DR650, which are known for being reliable on off/on-road touring over long distances... plus they're lighter than BMW's

**sAsLEX** · 15th May 2007, 05:33

Originally Posted by ZeroIndex

I'm from South Africa, and until January 2006, I'd never ridden a bike. I don't do too much off-road riding, but I reckon I'd carve them up on the dirt. Firstly though, shouldn't they have bought bikes that didn't need so much repairing... say for instance a DR650, which are known for being reliable on off/on-road touring over long distances... plus they're lighter than BMW's

Plus BMW gives them crap tins of money since its fantastic advertising and I bet KTM are kicking themselves for dropping the series

**ZeroIndex** · 15th May 2007, 06:31

Originally Posted by sAsLEX

Plus BMW gives them crap tins of money since its fantastic advertising and I bet KTM are kicking themselves for dropping the series

BMW are giving themselves an even worse name with the amount of times their bikes broke down, and the bad rider skill...

**riffer** · 15th May 2007, 07:23

Keep digging that hole, buddy.

**ZeroIndex** · 15th May 2007, 07:45

Originally Posted by riffer

Keep digging that hole, buddy.

Seriously mate, have you seen some of their 'riding' -if you can call it that

**S&S** · 15th May 2007, 07:53

Long way down "start pictures "

**bert_is_evil** · 15th May 2007, 08:13

Originally Posted by ZeroIndex

Damn those two are gonna get lost... they're a bunch of n00bs that can't ride for shit... watched the whole series of Long Way Round, and couldn't help but point and laugh, rewind, point and laugh, rewind, point and laugh again everytime they binned it... Come on seriously, some of their bins were so lame and easily avoidable... like what's the point in doing 5 - 10km/h on gravel when 60 - 80km/h would do just as well... like the bit where they went through the canyon that was supposed to look like the Grand Canyon... Charley Boorman binned in like what, 4 times in that one little section.

They should get Ghostrider to do a trip like that, will take like 2 weeks, not 100+ days

So what's wrong with being a newbie? I haven't seen the series but I very much doubt they started it by saying "we are seasoned experts at offroad riding". Do you alway point and laugh when someone less "skilled" than you bin's or just if someone with more money than you does? Now, what was it that it says on your auto signature, 11 bins since 2006?...