As the final episode of Mondo Enduro came to an end I turned to my wife Jen and said that I felt the need to do something similar. Jen was one step ahead of me and knowing me all too well had seen this moment coming for weeks and so had kind of prepared herself. Sometime in 2002 I was flicking through the cable TV channels when I happen to pause on the Men and Motors channel, I had landed in the middle of a program featuring a group of unlikely lads preparing their Suzuki DR350's for a world trip, within minutes I was hooked, I would wait with bated breath for the next installment of this epic adventure, Mondo Enduro.

Every week I'd watched as their adventure would unfold on the screen, the urge for me to do something a bit more adventurous than the odd wet weekend in Derbyshire now grew stronger. As the final episode of Mondo Enduro came to an end I turned to my wife Jen and said that I felt the need to do something similar. Jen was one step ahead knowing me all too well, she had seen this moment coming for weeks. I can't say her face lit up with glee but Jen's not one to stand in the way of adventure even if it wasn't going to be one of hers.

With the green light from Jen I wasted no time in recruiting my own team of 'wannabe adventurers' and first on my list was best pal Martin, ex-college friend Andy, ex-colleague Adam and Kayaking buddy Herman. At this particular time only myself and Adam held a full motorcycle license and so there was plenty of work to be done. It was now early 2003 and a date of June 2005 was fixed, this would coincide with my 40th Birthday.