Yes Matt

E Mc G made reference to it on two occasions during LWD and I heard him make reference to it on BBC 5 Live during an interview.

Chris

__________________


"Life is too short to drink cheap wine!"

He does refer to the conditions as being pretty hardcore first in Kazakstan and then again in Mongolia... I don't think he says "hey, we're hardcore" just that it is.

And hardcore is all relative, he'd hardly biked on the dirt before. I know the first time I biked on a bit of mud I thought I was hardcore too.

__________________

It's getting like the Three Yorkshiremen on Monty Python in here:

"When I rode t' North Cape, Ah did it 'wi nowt but an F650 an a black and white GPS"

"F650! Ah'd a thought a were in 'even on an F650. Ah did it on a C50 wi no tread ont back tyre an only a 2-pound book token for petrol"

"C50! Ah pushed an Harley wi mi ole fam'ly ont back and square wheels......"



We've done this one before. You can't make a TV programme to a schedule with a risk that two front men and six crew will get stuck half way up the Amazon for a month until UPS and some customs clowns decide to deliver a spare widget. Hence you have fixers and spare bikes. I agree this makes it unrealistic and I agree Mondo Enduro was way better. It's like comparing a news reel with Saving Private Ryan though. The general public like stable shots and logical editing (ME is the best of it's kind but it's pure skill that it's watchable, it could have been real home movie stuff). Most BBC/Sky viewers don't notice that the bottom half of a Nazi tank is Russian or that one of the bikes changes for no apparent reason, but they will turn off when it ceases to make sense as to why finding a shiney thing it some drunken Russians hut is so good.

I felt cheated too, but having read more I think EM and CB got cheated out of their trip too.

As various people said at the start of this thread, lets hope they ditch the film crew and try it for real.

Andy

You're right Andy, I didn't and I've got the DVD's, when's it do it, I'll go and look..... but you have to tell or I'll only have to watch all ten hours again.

__________________

-
-
I also hope for their sake, and to stop all the bickering they 'go it alone'

They must read bits here and there, and must feel fed up that people are talking about them.
It probably didn't turn out the way they wanted it to.
I am sure they would not like that.
This might be the push for them to decide to do it alone.
I hope so,


'vette

well...I think that 'they' have done a lot to bring the 'sport' of adventure motorcycling to the fore.

Sometimes (and only sometimes!) my husband and I wish for the kind of support and sponsorship they, C&E, have had - but hey....they are famous and we are not. Its a no-brainer for sponsors!

However, with sponsors and film crews come many many restirctions - the trip is not your own...and that is why most of us start these kind of travels.
I hope they do the Long Way Up...and Across and...In and Out...blah blah...but for themsevles and get to do what they want and how they want. Thats the whole point surely.

The restrictions placed on them due to support vehicles , film crew etc, must be infuriating. We have been flimed a few times and boy! its frustrating at times having to do the same piece of track over and over again so different shots can be taken - to worry and concentrate on the continuity rather than the riding is not something I like doing!

My husband and I have had total and utter freedom (apart from constant cash worries and the restrictions that brings!) during our 6 years on the road.
I hope C&E get to eventually enjoy one of their trips in the same way...remember initially they wanted to do this for the same reasons we all do - for their love of bikes and the desire to learn and see more of the World.

ciao

__________________
Lisa
www.2ridetheworld.com

In the endless compasions with Mondo Enduro and LWR/D/U/I&O I wonder if people miss the fact they have/had different target audiences. E&C made their programmes for mass-market audiences with a pre-decided number of episodes, and that surely makes a difference to the presentation of their trips. They have to have a "crisis" to overcome each episode, a cliff-hanger to draw lazy viewers back the following week, so of course things will be portrayed as "hardcore" and "the toughest thing since I tried to get my marmalade open", without those then lazy channel hoppers will hop and advertisers won't advertise.

Unless we really reckon they trailered their bikes about between shoots then I'm sure they had a great experience, meeting locals, seeing the sights we long to see, falling off, tinkering in the workshop, all that stuff. It might not be your idea of adventure, but it still looked bloody good fun to me.

__________________

In another thread a lot of people defined adventure motorcycling as driving outside your comfort zone. I have seen LWR and LWD and I think that’s exactly what they are doing.

I’m not a big fan of C+E but for me this bashing has no meaning, it’s just sad.

Now that is a great definition. Mind if I borrow it?

Andy

I feel it is time to refer to this again -
YouTube - EWAN AND THINGY (EPISODE 1 of 9) PREPARATIONS

and the other episodes in the series!

__________________
Vitim Bridge Clubwww.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=533442
www.sibirskyextreme.com

Are we counting? Who cares. I've been on trips and half in jest said it was hardcore, extreme, carnage but in reality it wasn't I was just having a laugh and a joke. Some of it is on video. I hope I wont get any comeback from people counting how many "extreme carnage" references I make.

The E+C shows were just that. They were put on the telly for the masses who will never get on a bike but will enjoy the spectacle on their 42" plasma screens.

We are the converted. The TV viewing masses don't give a shit if there was a Ted, an Austin or Ghengis Khan who did the trip previously. They want good entertainment and all the fill in stuff such as the SAS training and prep was part of it. They knew it was not for real and the whole thing was stage managed but that is the TV industry. E&C are a bankable commodity and you don't send your Hollywood star off into the wilds without protecting that investment.

You can be hardcore all you like and die doing it because nobody other than your family gives a damn.

For good or bad the TV viewing masses are now more aware of Adventure Motorcycling thanks to E&C. Not the names we know like Ted or Chris and it doesn't matter because if people look upon us favourably then it matters not who the messenger was.

Just what he said.....

Well its official, on wikipedia anyway. Theres a dry link to 'Long Way To Go' at the bottom of this page

Long Way Down - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Its in for 2010. Im quite looking forward to it. Beats most of the s***e on tv these days.

Charlie must be taking a bit of a back seat at the moment as he's doing a series of one man shows around the country. I'm seeing him in Aylesbury in the middle of March.

They must be into the planing bit at the moment. Perhaps we could make some suggestions about what kit they should be using - like dump the BM's, get a couple of (insert favorite bike here) or those of you with SA experience could suggest some routes they really must take.

We could probably end up a virtual LWTG scheme based on everyone collective wisdom that we can compare with what they actually do.

Still no cheap GS´s or KTM´s!! (Brand-swap theory)
Hurry up and bring it to the people Ewan and Charlie..

Get on a KLR, actually no, Kawasaki will make you pay for that (:

This is awesome and needs another bump

__________________
brigginggaps.com.au