Rad Summer Reads – Roro & Josh’s favourite adventure riding books

Roro’s Picks

‘Lone Rider’ by Elspeth Beard

The Gist

It’s not your everyday 23-year-old, woman or man, who decides to temporarily ditch their academic pursuits and set off on a 2-year circumnavigation of what, in 1983, was a very unstable world. But this is exactly what Elspeth did and in doing so became to first English woman to complete a feat that has consumed many. It was not an easy journey, it seldom is, but accidents, misogyny, bureaucracy, theft and illness did not dampen her pursuits. 30 years after the deed, she found the inspiration and opportunity to publish her story and a beautiful read it is.

Why it’s on my list

My daughter and wife are both life-long riders and through TWE, we support spreading the passion of adventure motorcycling to as many women as possible. I met Elspeth on her book tour in San Francisco last year and was captivated. She was so young, inexperienced and vulnerable on the road but she embraced the challenge fully and learned things that will remain elusive to most of us: Once you have ridden a bike around the world, there is nothing you can’t do.

‘One Man Caravan’ by Robert Edison Fulton Jr.

The Gist

The cover photo says is all: A gent clad in Humphrey Bogart safari gear including the period helmet plows through deep desert sands on his underpowered 1930 Douglas. A Harvard graduate of privilege, Fulton bolted for the door at the age of 23 with the mission of riding 25,000 miles from London to Tokyo at a time when the world was unrecognizable from the one we live in today. He did it alone and with nothing more than his instincts and a 25-calibre revolver to see him through.

Why it’s on my list

Most of my reading of this topic, including Jupiter’s Travels by Ted Simon, could be considered ‘contemporary writing’: the authors are still living, the bikes are still readily available and the world they write of, more or less, is the same as one we can explore right now. But the planet in the pre-WW2 era was a very different place. Everything from infrastructure to geopolitics was unrecognisable from our current world. Fulton is the Indiana Jones of adventure motorcyclists and his stories convey that in every way.

‘10 Years on 2 Wheels’  by Helge Pedersen

The Gist

A Norwegian guy spends a summer abroad in LA where he meets lots of other exchange students. The experience fuels a desire to visit all of the places his schoolmates hail from. After a stint as a photographer with a Norwegian rescue helicopter outfit, he buys a 1981 BMW R80GS, weighs anchor and heads toward Africa. There he crosses the Sahara, rides the length of the continent and decides that exploring the world on a motorcycle is now in his blood. His travels would take him through 77 countries and have included such excruciating challenges as crossing the 80 mile Darien Gap, a dense, roadless jungle across the Panamanian isthmus that entailed weeks a hacking a path through the jungle and dragging his bike meter by meter.

Why it’s on my list – The 1981 BMW R80GS

Three reasons. Firstly, with the addition of The Investment Biker, these were the first books I read on the subject of motorcycling the world and they ultimately led me to ride around the world myself. Secondly, as a lifelong photographer of the National Geographic genre, his beautiful photographs visually catapulted me to wherever he happened to be riding. And thirdly, the bike. I graduated high school in 1981 and I had a pic of that very bike on my wall with the objective of riding from the East Coast of the US to Alaska. I’m still waiting..

Josh’s Picks

‘Running with the Moon: A Boy’s Own Adventure: Riding a Motorbike Through Africa’ by Jonny Bealby

The Gist

Heartbroken guy needs to get over his fiancé’s sudden death. Two years of wallowing solves nothing, so he opts for the age old cure. Adventure motorcycling. Rides out from the UK to Africa and back to find his mojo and much more.

Why it’s on my list

This was the first motorcycling book I read and since it begins in Kashmir, India, the place I’ve often ridden through, it has a special place for me. And starting the first chapter with a devastating tragedy meant it could only get better from there on. It’s not your usual Cape to Cairo story but covers both east and west Africa. The grit, beauty and raw adventure sits in contrast with fair doses of melodrama which I don’t mind.

‘Revolutionary Ride: On the Road in Search of the Real Iran’ by Lois Pryce

The Gist

English woman ships her bike across to Iran to ride 3000 miles from Tabriz to Shiraz. Why? Because some guy leaves a note on her bike outside the Iranian embassy saying “I wish that you will visit Iran so you will see for yourself about my country. WE ARE NOT TERRORISTS!!!” Of course, Lois takes this serendipitous note as a confirmation to go find out what the real Iran is all about. Resulting in a book filled with various shades of Iran through the people Lois meets.

Why it’s on my list

As an artist I tend to judge books by their cover and I must admit I had to push past the poor design and font choice for this book. I am glad I did because it confirmed what I’ve always heard from overlanders, that Iran is a must visit country. And having had few Iranian friends over the years, this book is what keeps the dream alive to someday ride my bike on the same route as Lois.  

‘Uneasy Rider: Travels Through a Mid-Life Crisis’ by Mike Carter

The Gist

This one is another broken-hearted biker who rides off to find if life’s worth living. Mike writes “the nadir of a man’s life is 42”, after which it’s a slide down to oblivion. Unless of course you’re riding your GS for the next six months. Mike isn’t out to win the Booker prize, he’s out to have a good time. An entertaining book with plenty of laughs, this is an easy read.

Why it’s on my list

On my list because Mike isn’t trying to come across as a hardcore adventurer. He’s happy to have us laugh along with him or at him. The reward at the end of this 352-page paperback about a 20,000-mile adventure is that Mike actually gets envisioned to move on in life. For those in doubt about the power of adventure motorcycling, Mike makes a great case in its favour.

Robb La Velle

Roro La Velle is the founder and Maharaja of Client Experience with Two Wheeled Expeditions. He has ridden around the world twice and laid tracks through over 40 countries on 4 continents. He is also the author of ‘The Places In Between‘, an account of a husband & wife team circumnavigating the world on two wheels