Sunday 4 November 2012

Meet the Team



We will get to know them over the next 6 months and get to know them all really well during the 11 weeks on the road. But for now, let's introduce the team. From left to right starting with the back row:

Peter is a Canadian from Arizona who has flown to the UK with his wife Cindy for the training session. (Cindy is taking the picture - thanks Cindy!)

Chris and Susie are riding two up on a KTM (everyone else is on a BMW)

Stephan is from Switzerland and Patrick from France.

Kevin is leading the trip himself. Here he is demonstrating his navigation expertise by pointing to Beijing on the map.


Front row is:

Andy and Nigel who have ridden together on several Globebusters trips including the Trans-Americas.

Yours truly.

Mel, has toured the high Andes with Andy and Nigel and is back for more.

Missing from the picture are:

Ian who works with the police in St Albans. He should keep us on the straght and narrow. (Where were you Ian? Stepped out for smoke?).

Professor Sam from the University of Kent. He will be conducting a phisiological study on the riders during the trip.

Bradley is from Australia and isn't here for the training. We'll meet him later.
Ian, one of Globebuster's regular support drivers, who will be driving the support van.


Looks like an interesting group. Should be fun!

Friday 2 November 2012

Team Talk - Part 1

This weekend the team that are travelling the Silk Road in 2013 met up for the first time. Globebusters run a couple of weekend get togethers before we go. These are part briefing, part training and part team building.

Briefing covers the essentials of the trip: What to wear, what bike to take and how to preparare it, passports & visas, insurance, health. Despite a couple of years prepaaring for the trip it turns out there is more kit to buy and some of what I have is not recommended. That will teach me for being too keen!

Training this time is First Aid (First Bike on Scene), bike handling and group riding. The weather for Sunday looks to be cold and damp. Pretty typical for Wales and apparently good training for the Pamir Highway and Tibet.

The sessions are run by Kevin and Julia. You quickly realise that they have "been there, done that" and that however scarey it all seems, they are the right people to be doing this with.