has long been a friend and foe to me for his birthing of this event . Sometimes I like to have a beer and chat with him , sometimes , probably more often than not , I imagine killing him .
You would not be unreasonable to balk at the price tag of this event . At over two thousand euros , many overlanders would regard that as a few comfortable months out on the road . They would be right ; however , you would never ride your bike this hard , push yourself this far physically or cover this much off-road . Never . You ’ d spend months trying to simply find these extensive sections of off road , let alone line them all up into one continuous route . This is the passion and talent of Manuel , a man who lives to put these experiences together for us . That is what I pay for , and I ( mostly ) regard it as money well spent .
I ’ m still confused and bitter when I finally get my badly broken bike home to the UK ( with special thanks again to Mike Bevan for the lift !). While I vent in WhatsApp with Ray , he responds with a telling summary of his experience .
‘ Worth every penny . Win , lose , or draw , we got to ride with some of the best people in the world ’.
I ’ m still processing my experience weeks on , but his words help remind me just how exceptional being able to do this kind of thing is , which is why I guess it ’ s no simple feat . While I ’ m still unsure of what I make of
this experience overall , I have no doubt it was the people that pulled me through and helped me cross the finish line . For them I am extremely grateful , and I really hope to meet them out on the track one day again soon ! WB
Will documents his travels in two outstanding books ; The Unseen Walls ( Africa ) and East To Zero ( Asia ), both can be found on Amazon under the name Christian Brix or at christianbrix . com
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