hi
i am trying to find o copy of the book Riding South by Gregory Frazier.There is an inset on page 169 of AMH that mentions the book and shows a picture of it. i have tried internet sites and phoned stantons travel shop. no one knows anything about it. Does anyone know where i can get a copy as i am planning a alaska to patagonia trip and the book looks pretty useful.
thanks
Oz

I just got the book. Its great! I bought it from the fine catalog "Whitehorse Press".. try www.whitehorsepress.com

Good luck..

Chas Walter
Tulsa OK

Oz,
It may be blasphemy on the HUBB, but I also have this book and disagree completely on it’s value—it is not useful. You will get more valuable and practical info in an hour of perusing Grant and Susan’s site than in the couple of hours it would take to slog through this very overpriced book. It contains mainly photocopies of Dr. Frazier’s visas, a bunch of personal e-mails, and photos of bikes he encountered along the way. The editing of the text is also terrible. Met a number of people in Mexico and Central Amer. that have read this, but Chas is honestly the first person that found it worth the price. Frazier’s Alaska book is OK and has some nice route descriptions, but his GS’ing book is also poor and overpriced. I haven’t seen any of his other books.

Whitehorse press does carry a great number of good books. For a fun read on riding south, get “Odyssey to Ushuaia” by Andres Carlstein. Carlstein’s book is basically a travelogue of a trip by KLR, accompanied by 2 GS riders. Not strictly of motorcycling interest, but he did have a lot of fun adventures and describes a good deal of bike problem solving along the way, including a head-on accident and a subframe break. In “Odyssey,” Carlstein describes Frazier’s book as something like, “not bad…when compared to a terrible book.”

The book “8 around the Americas” is OK, but not really heavy on practical cycling info and written in a drab academic style that is not very entertaining.

"Mi Moto Fidel" by Christopher Baker describes a trip by GSPD around Cuba. Has limited motorbike info, but is very well written by a journalist that has written for National Geographic and has won several awards. Wouldn't leave this book or the Carlstein book lying around before the big trip though...both contain tales of exploits with women encountered on the road. "Riding South" wasn't penned by a priest either. I guess "My butt is so sore" can make for a novel pick-up line (citation: a rider I ran into in Southern Mexico.)

For the best book on adventure touring, I’d recommend Chris Scott’s Adventure Motorcycling Handbook without reservation. You should definitely get this book from whitehourse press if planning a big trip.

It’s easy to respect a guy that has gone RTW 4 times (to date), and I don’t want to slight Greg for his contribution to HU and for helping to popularize adventure touring. However, Frazier could really use a new editor and maybe some other contributors to his books, which appear to be thrown together over a late-night session. I think I recall some critical discussion of Frazier’s books on the HUBB some time ago-you might find something with a search.

Dr. Kevin
kevinmichigan on HU

hi
for a alaska-tdf trip i suggest you consider the hubb (for latest info) and the footprint 'central america and mexico' and the 'south america' handbooks. together with decent maps, you won't need anything else.

the handbooks regularly have such gems as hotels with bike parking available and road descriptions. further more it tells you how long public buses take for routes... so if your friendly 'formula 1 aspiring' bus driver takes 14 hours for 200km, you know it might not be in such good shape i found average bus and average motorcycle speeds to be comparable.

a nice coffee table book, is helge pedersen's '10 years on 2 wheels' and for motivation, ted simon's 'jupiters travel'. for bike prep and planning, as mentioned, chris scott's 'AMH'.

an aside: don't plan too much, buy a bike and just go!
enjoy
ChrisB

__________________

Brighty's website: TheBrightStuffDotCom

CURRENT RR WITH REGULAR UPDATES: The Wife Takes on Chlamydia: A South American Retrospective

there is discussion of greg's 'riding south' at:

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb...ML/000128.html

ChrisB

__________________

Brighty's website: TheBrightStuffDotCom

CURRENT RR WITH REGULAR UPDATES: The Wife Takes on Chlamydia: A South American Retrospective

How good is the HUBB site. Really impressed that so many people are willing to share experiences and opinions. Thanks for the replies. Will buy "Odyssey" for a good read and head onto the road with some guidebooks and a map making my adventure as i go.
Thanks
Oz