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of experiences ," enthused Ollie . " If I had to pick one country that stood out , Mongolia really surprised us . The landscapes are vast and incredible and there are herds of animals just running around everywhere and locals living in gers . It was absolutely beautiful .
" Another highlight was seeing wild orca hunt for penguins on the remote Argentinian coast . It was like a scene out of a documentary right in front of our eyes .” While the trip was a success and the record was achieved , it was not without its challenges and low points .
“ We had to wait in Rio de Janeiro for eight weeks because the bike was lost for a while whilst being shipped from Senegal ," added Ollie . " And we certainly toppled off many times ! I didn ’ t have a great deal of riding experience before we set off , especially on big bikes , so it was a real learning curve and a pretty steep one . Especially two-up with all of our luggage . We also had a few hairy weather situations in places like the high altitude mountains of the Andes where the passes took us up to nearly 5000 metres .
" “ But , throughout all of it , the V-Strom was absolutely solid . Its reliability was its main virtue . Considering the terrain it tackled , how long it went between services , it was pretty much unbreakable . Over nearly 47,000 miles we only had minor issues with some bearings finally giving up in hostile conditions and the rear shock took a bit of abuse and needed replacing . But I think that ’ s absolutely incredible given everything it went through .”
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