Tell me again why anyone would abandon their family for months, camp in the cold and heat, cross deserts and eat sheep testicles cooked in a steamy broth.
Well it all began like this...T'would that the goal was noble, that glory shine upon us all equally.
The truth is, there will be no glory, just sore bones, long days and bureaucracy to cry for. There will be times when I will seriously consider killing someone and in the absence of other suitable candidates, it may even be me.
But just now and then give me a glimpse, a momentary parting of the clouds, a small taste of that elation that can only be felt at the nether end of hellish day. It's the feeling that Ed Hillary expressed in his words to Tenzing Norgay after climbing Everest, "We knocked the bastard off".

But how did it all come to this?
It all started quite innocently when relaxing on a grassy knoll in the middle of a damned good trail-ride. "I wouldn't mind doing a decently long ride, not just a day or a weekend but a serious amount of time". The idea of going on and on appeals to me. Trail-rides and most competitions are fundamentally pointless, you end up where you started. Exhilarated, generally bruised but in the same place. To be able to have everything you need with you and travel for days, weeks, months and never cross the same path, now that's the thing. I think Toad of Toad Hall summed it up quite nicely with "Boop, boop!"

And so the plan evolved. Evolution may be the wrong word. Evolution has a quickness that was quite absent in my endeavours. It was at least a year before I admitted to my wife that "I have a plan" and another before I had a bike that I could carry out the plan on. And another year before all the gear was in place.
Best mates were closely questioned as to their plans for a mid-life crisis and whether it could be made to coincide with the northern summer. All was fruitless, so the power of the interweb was harnessed.

I imagine that placing an advertisement in the personal columns would be less stressful. How do you describe yourself, your goal and the way you want to do it? And of the 6 billion people out there, who would want to do such a thing at about the same time, in the same direction?

Enter "The HUBB"! A treasure trove of information, contacts and opinions by like-minded individuals.A week of nail-biting expectation and then a reply. " I was thinking of going there about then, maybe we could hook up". Tentative questioning followed, maybe he's a fruit cake, maybe just a talker, are there any motor-cycling axe murderers on parole?

In a thoroughly blokey fashion nothing was said, just having the same goal was all that mattered. It wasn't until months later that I found Bill to be an experienced adventure rider with two major trips to his credit. Sharing similar basic philosophies and outlooks helped. Both of us practical, mechanically-minded, well travelled. We would be going to some isolated places in hazardous situations. We would at times be trusting our lives to each other. Do you embark on an expedition like that with someone you've never met until you arrive in Vladivostok?

Apparently so.

Let the preparations begin!