Pointless round the world races

[nick_horley]

Check out Nick Sanders' current "adventure" at www.nicksanders.com. It's billed as "the toughest motorcycle expedition on earth". More like an overhyped waste of time and money which does nothing but pander to the egos of a bunch of unimaginative suckers. 700 miles a day on tarmac, through only 18 countries, completely misses the point of biking round the world, IMHO. I hope Grant isn't including any of these dopes in his RTW tally. Or am I being curmudgeonly?

[John Ferris]

Yes it is the Toughest, Highest, Longest and of course The Most Extreme. It has to be to get you to buy their stuff.
I like the ones on TV with the man all by himself (with at least 3 cameras and sound)on an Extreme adventure.
But then again, according to their web site today they will be in my area, Nevada. I could go see them, ride wilth them.
Never mind, I would have to get up turn my computer off. I will just wait and watch it on TV.

[Chris Smith]

At the end of the day they are still riding 700 miles per day and all said and done the people involved are doing what they want to do - how they want to do it. Who are you to judge? Its not how I chose to ride but good on them if thats how they enjoy doing it.I have spent many years canoeing with a camara crew on my ass and yes it is built up to be more than it is but I still did it. Did you? Proberbly not.

[A.B.]

I agree with Chris. You can easily compare this event with the famous, and I think even more grueling, Paris Dakar rally. I dream about the day I could participate in Paris Dakar and almost everybody I know thinks I need to get my head examined. I know it’s going to be the toughest thing I’ll ever do in my life, if I get to do it that is . I will be paying a large some of money from my own pocket, spending time away from my family and my work will suffer. And to be honest I have a 50% chance at best to just finish the rally. I still wouldn’t think twice if I got the chance. But I would appreciate it if the people who think I’m crazy would at least respect me for doing what I love. And this is definitely what I love.

Life is so mundane, boring, frustrating and full of disappointments. If this will put a smile an their faces and fire up their enthusiasm and love to live, then by all means let them do it and cheer them up when they pass by.

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A.B.

OasisPhoto.com – Images from the Magical Sahara.
ShortWheelbase.com – Jeep preparations.

[nick_horley]

Sorry, but I don't see how this jaunt can be compared with the Dakar! Have you really read what it's all about? It's just a long road ride at normal pace. The only challenge is overcoming the boredom of sitting on a highway for 12 hours a day. The only thing it has in common with the Dakar is that the participants are in too much of a hurry to learn anything about the countries they are passing through. That's what makes it so pointless. No challenge, no adventure, no enlightenment, no self discovery.

[Julio]

Hi Guys

Some interesting points of view here. But I don't think that we should be judging individuals on their achievements.

Bearing in mind what this guy has achieved whether it is to your taste or not. I don't know the guy so have not personal interest in defending him.

But if any of you have tried to sell any video ideas or footage to TV companies you will understand how difficult it is to do.

Nick has managed this via his own eccentric way of directing and has been more successful than most at doing this.

In order to get these screened much of the adventure biking type activities have to be diluted for the TV travel audience. But anything screened on biking is a bonus. I would always prefer to watch something on biking rather than a travel programme with a plonker spending a weekend in a jungle with a full film crew telling us how difficult the making of the film was.

Whether you agree with the type of short films Nick makes is down to your personal preference.

I suppose the thing to remember here that just because someone does something different to you does not necessarily make it wrong.

Personally just rushing through countries and not seeing the areas of interest does not do it for me, but then who is out there traveling on his bike when most of us are trying to plan our next trip.

Cheers

Julio

[chris]

Hi

Indeed some interesting views put forward.

I particularly agree with Julio’s comments.

Having visited Nick’s website I don’t see anything wrong with it. It‘s called 'Marketing'. Visit any company website/ watch any TV advert/ look at any magazine advert: They all stress the 'benefits' of the product they are promoting.

A cynical (but also realistic) definition of Marketing is: 'Selling a product that people don’t need at a price they should not be willing to pay'.

I admire Nick that he has managed to persuade so many people to part with so much money. Essentially each of his clients is paying more (for a 3 month trip) than I spent on my 30 months bike RTW. So what? He found the people, he sold the tour, he should reap the rewards.

His clients want to do it the Nick Sanders Way. If they are enjoying it, good for them. Good for Nick.

Later
ChrisB

[nick_horley]

Well, it looks my cynicism is definitely a minority view! I should try to be more generous.

I agree that Nick has done an amazing job of selling the challenge. Having spent years writing ghastly hype in my PR career I'm now allergic to it - and describing an organised tour for road riders as "the toughest motorcycle expedition on earth" is just crass. It might well be the toughest tour to organise, and I take my hat off to Nick for that part. Reading his daily reports makes me wonder how he keeps going.

But for the participants the toughness stems purely from the pressure to keep up the pace on minimal sleep - a sort of extended Iron Butt but with fewer navigational challenges. Two riders have crashed out in the last few days, and I can't help wondering whether the others are actually having any fun or just fighting fatigue. Oh well, different strokes for different folks. I used to be an endurance racer, which is arguably more futile - lapping a circuit for hours on end, spending £1000 on tyres in a weekend with nothing to show for it afterwards but a knackered engine and a stiff wrist. Maybe that's why one of the things I'm looking forward to about going RTW is just camping in the middle of a desert and sitting still for a bit.

[Julio]

Hi Nick

Ok so its billed "the toughest motorcycle expedition on earth". :-) Yep fair point I don't see any reference to them trying to get through the Darien gap or anything truly tough.

I suppose for the partcipants in their eyes it probably is. Remember a large part of the population especially on sports bikes, ride them only the weekend for an hour before stopping off to have a cup of tea,rest their wrists/backs and want to swap tips on hair gel and the winding road that they have just travelled down at 200mph with their knee on the ground. (Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh)

You do have to take this as tongue in cheek, marketing again my son!! People will pay to say they're ridden with Nick on the toughest ever biking trip in history. Ask them what they saw and it will probably consist of laybys to rest their butts.

But it gives him money to travel and sponsorship,lucky thing. I bet as you've been in PR for a long time, you'll have no doubt wrapped up somthing in fur and passed it off as something truly wonderful in your time to.

See it gets the reaction,we're writing about, any publicity is good publicity unless your Micheal Barrymore of course.


With regards to the injuries I would suspect that this is just the beginning, as the more tired they become the more drama will unfold. See yet again good TV, with all these mishaps. It what the public likes.

To sell any good things to the film companies you need a celeb on board. I trying to get Jamie Oliver to ride through the Darien gap with me but his agent hasn't returned my call yet. :-)

Cheers

Julio

[ChrisK]

Hi Nick, I thoughourly agree with your first comments. Cheers, Chris.

[Matt Cartney]

I don't have a problem with his trip per se, its better than sitting on your butt watching Big Brother. I don't see how he can claim to be the fastest man round the world on a bike, though, when hes flying sizeable and difficult sections of it. Surely the the hard parts are the point. It does seem a little like claiming to swim the channel but getting a motor boat for the choppy bits.
I think the claim diminishes an otherwise admirable achievement.
matt

[Simon Kennedy]

And achievement isn't what it is about. There will always be someone who's gone faster, longer, better than you.

If it makes you happy, do it. A moped ride to the hills to camp for the weekend, yes. A quick blast to the alps in the summer, yes. Shooting between the world's rich countries on your speedy flash of uber-technology, yeah, well, that too.

One of the unfortunate side effects of the (slightly) higher profile RTW biking is the way bikingthe reality has to be sexed up for the media.

Their money, comes at a price. It is a shame. And often the message is downright pathetic, perpetuating the stupid lone man and machine myth.

But if it inspires others to get out of the nine-to-five to experience the world then it is a side-effect we will just have to live with.

[Stephano]

I'm just using this technology to say: see you all at Lumb Farm on my speedy flash of über-technology!

[trand]

Hi Nick .... as others say ...don't be judgemental... if thats what anyone wants to do ... then so be it ...maybe you have your own personal conquest in life that you wish to acheive??? and would'nt be nice ...once you had done it .... we all said ...'What for?' .....''live and let live''.... and 'ride the road of life''

[Mick O'Malley]

What Simon Kennedy said.

Mick