# Long Way Round now on Netflix



## crossracer (Jun 27, 2004)

Ok, not mtn bikepacking, but darn close with the motorcycles . 

Check it out. Very good show 

Bill


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## jamesframes (May 2, 2008)

Oh man-I just finished this and the Long way down---good times.


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## pimpbot (Dec 31, 2003)

crossracer said:


> Ok, not mtn bikepacking, but darn close with the motorcycles .
> 
> Check it out. Very good show
> 
> Bill


Yeah, great stuff. And wouldn't ya know it? I just FRICKING bout the thing on DVD like two weeks ago, and it comes out on Netflix Watch It Now. Like clockwork. I think this has happened to me like 4 times now. I wait until the BluRay or DVD goes cheap, maybe wait a couple months until the mood strikes my fancy, I buy it, and it gets released on Netflix.

Well, it's hard to rip the Netflix to watch on the iPad or iPhone.


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## HIFat (Apr 5, 2013)

Both Down and Around were surprisingly engaging. While I certainly wouldn't object to either trip on a BMW with a full support crew, the thought of attempting them on my Pugsley is intoxicating.


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## vikb (Sep 7, 2008)

HIFat said:


> Both Down and Around were surprisingly engaging. While I certainly wouldn't object to either trip* on a BMW with a full support crew*, the thought of attempting them on my Pugsley is intoxicating.


I ride a dualsport motorcycle as well as tour on my MTB. Once you have a support crew of 20+ people looking after your needs, sorting out logistics and loading your MC in their trucks when a day's ride gets too tough there is very little adventure left in the enterprise.

There are some really great MC adventure touring stories out there. This one isn't one of them.

Ride reports - ADVrider


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## HIFat (Apr 5, 2013)

vikb said:


> I ride a dualsport motorcycle as well as tour on my MTB. Once you have a support crew of 20+ people looking after your needs, sorting out logistics and loading your MC in their trucks when a day's ride gets too tough there is very little adventure left in the enterprise.
> 
> There are some really great MC adventure touring stories out there. This one isn't one of them.
> 
> Ride reports - ADVrider


Oh I do beg to differ. 
Upon reaching camp, the decision between the dry gin or something more botanical? Olives versus cocktail onions? Thai massage or Swedish? An invigorating post-ablution salt scrub or the more traditional loofah? 
Even with a coterie of consultants, fixers, and various hangers-on I'd hazard the sheer immensity of the decision making alone is more adventure than most could handle.


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## big_papa_nuts (Mar 29, 2010)

Two things I keep thinking while watching Round; I'm glad that my motorcycle, even fully loaded, weighs HUNDREDS of pounds less then their's. And that I want to ride my bike accross Mongolia.


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## HIFat (Apr 5, 2013)

big_papa_nuts said:


> And that I want to ride my bike accross Mongolia.


The bike you pedal or the other one?


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## vikb (Sep 7, 2008)

big_papa_nuts said:


> Two things I keep thinking while watching Round; I'm glad that my motorcycle, even fully loaded, weighs HUNDREDS of pounds less then their's. And that I want to ride my bike accross Mongolia.


+1 - on both accounts...I've been using my ultralight bicycle-packing gear on my dualsport to keep the weight low and compact. The bike handles dirt much better light.

I use the dualsport to explore mountain bike touring routes. So I come back and pedal the good bits later.

I don't know how likely it will be for me to get to Mongolia, but I do want to ride the GDR on my dualsport.


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## big_papa_nuts (Mar 29, 2010)

HIFat said:


> The bike you pedal or the other one?


Either would be nice, but like always I would rather do it under my own power.

Vikb - I'm with you. If it won't fit in my Ortlieb saddle bags, in my tail bag, or on my person it ain't goin.


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## RossJamis (Aug 27, 2013)

I enjoyed both series but some of their idealistic shallow world views tend to get annoying.. Like how they think the stars aligned for them and brought all these nice people to help them every time they had a problem. Give me a break, having a camera besides being famous will change the actions of most people. If it was two average Joes with no camera it would have been a very different trip indeed.


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## vikb (Sep 7, 2008)

The books are worth reading [for free] just to get some real insight into their frame of mind. It's a bit pathetic, but you'll see the movies in a more realitsic light with some input from the books.


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## crossracer (Jun 27, 2004)

Actually I'm working thru the second one and I'm really tired of ewan complaining about it being more of a dash then a adventure tour. Hey, news flash, tell them your in charge and you want to slow things down. 

So far the first one, in particular the parts across the former soviet republics and Mongolia are way more interesting. 

I liked in the second one the meet a guy who is traveling around the world on human power. He was riding a bike towing a bob trailer, said he had been on the road for 9 years. Now I bet he has some stories to tell. 

Bill


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## hunter006 (Jan 20, 2012)

I saw the Long way round, but more importantly got to meet Austin Vince who did the Mondo Enduro, and the precursor to Terra Circa. He was presenting a Touratech sponsored presentation to get people interested in Dual Sport motorcycling.

On one hand, it's great that they have a relatively good looking guy showing that with will power, you too can go out and have fun. But let's not get ahead of ourselves - these guys were riding on well over $50k USD worth of hardware each, plus their camera guy was there, and they had a support crew. That's a helluva lot more than many, many others have done.

If you ever get the chance and get to talk to Austin Vince, there's a bucketload of toilet humor, but he's hilarious and presents it well. Ewan and Charlie actually consulted Austin when organizing this trip, but didn't credit him at all, which Austin seems to have a pretty big chip on his shoulder about. Austin also did it way back when all they had were total POS bikes that were pretty much gutless, and had to DIY most of their equipment for carrying stuff. That one section where Ewan and Charlie say, "... The Zilov gap is impassable" and take the train? He has a photo of the train tracks, looking up at them. It was really hard, but it wasn't impossible.

I think this relates heavily to cycling in the same way. We often think we need way more equipment, or way fancier equipment than we really need. It may not be as good, or as light, etc. but I bet a lot of the time we can get by with a lot less. Sometimes it's even better - when traveling through backwater areas Ewan and Charlie had to cart fuel too with the support truck, because the octane rating of the gasoline was so low it would have damaged the engines. Sounds a lot like finding specialty parts for a specific component of your bike, doesn't it?

These guys get my vote for adventuring. They took the modern day Honda Supercub, the most widely produced motorcycle in the world, and went on an adventure. It wasn't a fancy off road motorcycle equipped with thousands of dollars worth of specialty gear. They kept it simple and had a great time.
Underboning the World


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## vikb (Sep 7, 2008)

Cole over on ADVrider.com rides those same sections as Ewan and Charlie and then a lot more harder ones.

It's a great read.

Sibirsky Extreme Trail - DVD Trailer v1.27 - YouTube

Sibirsky Extreme - ADVrider


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## dRjOn (Feb 18, 2004)

just remember ... it all looks like scotland..

;-)~


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## FrontRanger (Apr 28, 2004)

vikb said:


> Cole over on ADVrider.com rides those same sections as Ewan and Charlie and then a lot more harder ones.
> 
> It's a great read.
> 
> ...


these guys are awesome. I never figured out their backstory but they seem to speak russian and they had one hell of an adventure. Those river crossings are insane. Love when they broke down in that tiny little town and the entire moto population took them in like family to help em out.


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