Riding Experience

[CMM83]

I'm wondering how much riding experience all you traverlers have...specifically those who have done/are doing/plan to do RTW trips.

[Geoff van de Merwe]

I'm wondering where you're trying to go with this question?
Can you elaborate?

[Steve Pickford]

Personally, I've been riding dor nearly 20 years but have never been further than Portugal, Italy & eastern Poland.

A female friend of mine rode her F650 from Australia to Turkey, caught a ferry to Venice & then rode to the UK, with only a couple of years experience behind her & little mechanical knowledge.

I know of people who have been riding 25 years or more but have never ridden abroad at all.

Experience is good but it's not everything.

Steve

[lost1]

I travelled from New Zealand to Thailand overland (well as much land as possible) with my girlfriend. She just got her licence before we started the trip. Small bike, easy introduction ie NZ and Australia, She learned to ride.no problemo!

[Rene Cormier]

I have been riding 'legally' for 5 years, 6 months into RTW now. My girlfriend started riding 2 months (600 miles) before joining me on a 5000 mile tour of Atlantic Canada, and she will be joining me for the rest of the RTW in June. She's 5'2" and handling a loaded F650GSL admirably. Am I correct in I remembering reading the blogs here about Tiffany Coates(?) (UK?) starting to ride a month or so before her RTW on a R100GS?

[electric_monk]

The one piece of advice I would give is to get some form of advanced training. Riding in a systematic manner will help you reduce a lot of the anxiety you may feel driving in strange places.

[David and Cheryl Laing]

How fast you ride is more of an issue than how long you have ridden. . . . and I cant help but notice that a lot of the answers suggest that 'girlfriends' cope really well with not as much riding experience as their menfolk. What can I say. . . of course. . . we are woman!!!

[mcdarbyfeast]

I agree with electric_monk.

I have been riding for 25 years and have taken part in various advanced riding courses.

Each one has,in one way or another, been beneficial. It's not until you attend one of these courses that you appreciate what you've been doing wrong or right for so long.

For someone contemplating a long overlanding trip, particularly someone who hasn't been riding that long, some form of advanced training could only be beneficial and potentialy be a life saver.

I would also say that if your intended trip involves some off-road riding some training in this area would not only be enjoyable, but invaluable.

Experiance is also important. I know alot of people go off RTW with relatively little experiance, but such a trip demands a very steep learning curve.

Sure, if you've been driving a car for a few years or even ride a bicycle you have some road sense, but riding a motorcycle with competency and skill takes time and training will accelerate the rate at which you learn.

I hope I don't sound like an old fart, but when you've sold your house and all your possessions to fund your trip and spent weeks, months or years planning and preparing, it seems a bit daft not to have spent a few quid learning how to ride properly. Not only will you be less likely to destroy the bike you've probably spent a large fortune on buying and prep'ing, your plans or indeed yourself.

"Bon Chance"

[This message has been edited by mcdarbyfeast (edited 30 November 2003).]