fair enough. i´d add ''and to no-one´s detriment'' after your word fulfillment, Geoff. sure you'd agree.

i was once in a remote place in australia, difficult to reach by road. as i came over the last hump before the wide, inland river i was looking for, i spied the roof of a houseboat. bugger it.

but their was cold, i had none and they were willing to share. i wasn´t quite sure whether to see myself as hardcore for having got there alone on a bike, or soft for enjoying the benefits of refrigeration. can anyone help me in this dilemma?

cheers,
andy

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www.outforaspin.blogspot.com

The most important thing is that you get yourself out there...no matter your mode of travelling...

AND who wants to be stereotyped?!?!?

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edde
93 BMW K75s
www.motoedde.com

At least you didnt put C*R*V*NS in there! I'm afraid I'm firmly with Clarkson on my hatred of those things!!

Martyn

This is to me at least the whole point. You have to give yourself time to 'enjoy the moment' as and when they arise.

Put it this way, had the place been desserted would it have been more enjoyable ?

I remember this was one the topic of my final high school exam essay? Should I paste it here???

In the 70s bcakpacking anywhere outside Europe was pretty "out-there", now it means nada... yet I meet BPers in hepas of places that have lay scarred from coral on remote becahes waiting for their mates to run back into the jungle to find a stretcher, or a 67 Canadian year old guy that went to Chile for a holiday with his wife and told her he decided he was gonna walk home... (which he did!!!).

Waddya call all these guys? Do they need their own name?

I've met some great 4-week-holiday-back-packers also, so why do we wanna set ourselves apart with special title if we chose to do it a bit harder?

Same reason I have a Ducati and a Husaberg... cos its nice to be alittle different, i didn't pay any more than a rice burner, and bit less than than a fart (harley...all noisi no substance), and I wouldn't ne arrogant to say I got better value, just difference.

You wanna call yourself an explorer, choose your audience and call yourself Magellan (it'll pass in a 36th floor office), an adventurer (should work down at the local pub with the yobbos and the rednecks) but if ya meet someone else doing something you respect, call them something cool; not urself.

If you've got wild enough stories, they'll choose what you are, not you. But even then I disagree with myself... I love hearing the beautiful stories (cos I usually tell my own spectacular stories instead of my beautiful ones because people love the shock value, love to be impressed), so I'd rather hear a story of immense beauty or unusual kindness.

So here's a new thing to rouse some debate:
Part (yes, only one of teh reasons) is that when we travel a 3rd world country on our bike, doing something that not many people have done, with our wealth and our white (sic, excuse me those of you guys that are red, brown, yellow, blue, black or purple) skin we are at times adulated.

So how about... "White Gods on Two Wheels": tongue in cheek guys...

don't we all "suffer" at least a little from what I call the white god syndrome when a tribe of little tackers are tearing along beside you, their little legs pumping as fast as they can go on their rusty outsized and outdated bicycles laughing and sticking their thumbs up, or when a local tribesman runs his hands lovingly over your bike wishing he had one and asks for a photoof himself on your ride?

Lol, what's in a name... PERCEPTION.

Can't see a dilemma - a 's a after all.

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Dave

Ted Simon discusses this, in his usual eloquent manner, in Jupiter's Travels.

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Dave

I feel that there is some truth in what was asked in this post.

Certainly there are some who, by virtue of the fact that they have been completing their journey by only riding along glacial arretes and dune ridges, feel that you have acheived little by "just" riding one or two countries.

As others have pointed out, I think that is their chip on the shoulder and should not detract from your experience. We rode two up on a (not-so-shiny) BM for a few months and most of it was on tarmac, but we did about 400 miles off-road. The roads/tracks were really technical to the experienced off-roader, but having never done it before, I felt fear at times and exhiliration at the end. For me that was an achievement and an adventure and I look forward to the next trip.

What feels like acheivement, excitement, wonder, all depends on the individual. As long as your trip brings you to the place you want to be, geographically and personally, that's all that matters.

Bring on the next ride!!

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Adventure: it's an experience, not a style!
(so ride what you like, but ride it somewhere new!)

However you travel, on foot, two wheels, four, donkey, camel, horse or on a sled enjoy the experience of your own adventure wher'ever you go.
Cheers
Ian

Not exactly sure what is meant by backpacking on 2 wheels. I haven't come across the phrase before. Maybe it's a meaningless ditty created by someone who wanted to slag off someone else for no real reason. There are plenty of such phrases in this world. More is revealed by those who use them than about those against whom they are directed.

I think there is a difference though between backpackers and bikers. Beyond the obvious motorcycle between the legs of the latter.

Backpackers are passengers.
Backpackers are __dependent travellers.

I daresay we could all agree that one of the greatest things about motorcycling is the sense of freedom. Where's the sense of freedom on a bus?

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with backpacking; if motorbikes hadn't been invented, maybe that's how I'd get around. But motorbikes have been invented. And motorbikes offer a greater opportunity for self-reliant travel than buses, coaches, trains and planes. They demand more concentration and determination than 4-wheelers. They give generously to the focused; they take viciously and ruthlessly from the dreamers. They are the logical choice for anyone wanting to rely on his own decisions rather than on someone else's.

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Seek Truth

15 countries in 40 days. Tanks, crashes, minefields and Kalashnikovs

To me "two wheeled backpacker" suggests you are in it for the experience of travelling and simply choose the bike as a way of getting from A to B.

"Motorcycle Adventurer" for some reason now brings the picture of a buffoon dressed from head to foot in goretex supplied by the same sponsor as his 130 mph bike doing wheelies to entertain a crowd drawn by his outlandish appearance and film crew. Before I saw that bit of film I'd have assumed the "motorcycle adventurer" was as much or more into the riding as the travel. I think going into the pub and saying "I'm a motorcycle adventurer" would probably not result in serious discussion about thorn puncture prevention!

You can't even call yourself simply a traveller anymore.

I'm reasonably happy to be associated with "backpackers", less so with people who blast across a country so they can play in it's dunes before retireing to some four star hotel to complain about the pool. If the people who do it for real adopt any title, the buffoons will of course be the ones in the pub shouting about how they are one i'm afraid.

That said, what business is of of mine to tell people what to do. If you want to ride dressed like Lily Savage and call yourself Doris, enjoy yourselves.

Andy
Sidecarist

That's a useful definition. (If indeed there are people who have this philosophy. Can't say I've ever met such a person). Does everyone sing from the same hymn-sheet on this, do we know, or do some people use the same phrase but in a way intended to insult? I suppose the answer could be "both".

PS I like Charlie Boorman, and his wheelies.

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Seek Truth

15 countries in 40 days. Tanks, crashes, minefields and Kalashnikovs

So the general consensus of opinion appears to be an emphatic NO! And long may it stay so... hurrah!! Just do what you do, don't be defined how you do it
:co ol4:

Works for me....
I usually call myself an "Overlander"... cus I like going overland ... and overlanding makes the trip there (the journey) part of the fun. I find aeroplanes/busses boring, too much sitting not in control, but i do use em.. a bike is my perfered method of travel.. cus i like em.. and having your own transport (of any sort) lets you get off the beaten path (or atleast off faster)... that is it for me... K.I.S.S.

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2000 Africa Twin
http://two-up-ona-twin.blogspot.com

You can walk away from a bus if it breaks down.

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I've a feeling I'm not in Kansas anymore.