Motorcycle Explorer October 2014 Issue 2 | Page 16

H aving been favoured with a smooth month- long voyage we disembarked our cargo ship mid-March, which had taken us from Belgium to Uruguay’s captial Montevideo. I now needed to compose myself for the journey ahead. Preparation undertaken, well in so far as bikes and paperwork were concerned and with a hopeful outlook, I was set to earn my spurs on the open road. In the meantime, I felt content in the knowledge of having jacked it all in for a taste of adventure. About to see a bit more of the worl d alongside my partner, travelling by the same means wishing to see the same places, and with that prospect alone what we were doing remained forever appealing. Any doubts or qualms I had mused on until that point were now suspended – it was time to get on my bike, give Pearl a handful and ride the length of the Americas! T he ‘feel good’ factor of motorcycle overlanding is immense. Initially, it is akin to a honeymoon period, which will keep you riveted in the saddle even on endlessly straight tarmac whose vanishing points you will never advance toward. However, the roads from Uruguay into Argentina varied from those where the concrete had been scraped, leaving only tyre-wobbling ridges in which to manoeuvre the front wheel in a forward-ish fashion to good old gaping potholes. We experienced roads whose tarmac sprung up forming stiff peaks, having melted in the summer heat where the tyres from the heavies had pushed it into lumpy bumps. Long deep ruts on the highways were not uncommon either, which coerced me into choosing my line quite carefully. "The ‘feel good’ T factor of motorcycle overlanding is immense" he traffic in the city of Buenos Aires seemed to take on a malevolent life form, itching to find the kink in our armour. Had I’ve dropped my guard for a second, I think it would have consumed me whole. Aghast, I instinctively put Pearl into her most aggressive gear and adopted the same riding style as everyone else – ‘Survival of the fittest’. Weaving in and out of lanes, having to share the width of mine with car drivers deciding to join me, who simply didn’t care or mind that I was already assuming a road presence. It’s amazing what you get used to in no time at all. A series of hostile highways later, we rolled up to Dakar Motos for n the space of a week from exiting the cargo a couple of days. Specifically catering for docks, we had enjoyed as much as endured an motorcycle overlanders, this garage come intensive period. I’d started to fast-track my hostel is a biker’s hub; especially for those way on two wheels – embracing the bottom of usually having finished their ‘Alaska to a steep learning curve and adjusting to back-to- Argentina’ trip. Unlike us who were embarking back days in the saddle. We were riding down on the route ‘bottom up’ at the coldest time of to Tierra del Fuego – the southern most tip of year due to the cargo ship crossing availability. South America at full tilt due to advice from Rested, relaxed and raring to go again, we numerous locals about the onset of snow down received a fabulous farewell from the owners in Ushuaia. No matter, we had begun a brand Sandra and Javier, whom alongside a no new lifestyle on the open road to which I was nonsense Polish chap and AJ – a forthcoming becoming accustomed. guy from Montana whose trip of the Americas had ended – we felt well-briefed and primed for the journey ahead. I Magazine / April, 2013 9