Ukrainian YouTuber Anton Somewhere in pre-war times posted what I thought were thoughtful, well-documented travel videos from his trips around the world. Now he’s back in Ukraine posting updates about the war.
This video I thought was particularly nice because it shows ordinary Ukrainians banding together to help support the country. It’s a perspective that feels more personal and hopeful than what I feel I’ve seen in normal news coverage.
If you’re at home, and you have some time on your hands, check out this 1986 documentary about the Paris-Dakar Rally. You may remember that that was the year Porsche got their rally program dialed and pulled off a 1-2 finish with their newly-developed 959. There’s some great footage of the 959s in action across Africa.
If you’ve got some time and would like to see some amazing riding, check out this full-length, GoPro video of Jonny Walker winning the 2014 Red Bull Erzbergrodeo Hare Scramble. Even just the first few minutes make for great viewing. Check out the hair-raising jump at 1:31.
The Erzbergrodeo is a four-day event held in Eisenerz, Austria. It closes with the Hare Scramble, which looks like one tough race.
This promo film is amazing. Two guys, Adam Riemann and his friend Mark, ride two KTM 500EXCs 7,000kms (4,350 miles) from Austria to Egypt in 32 days days, filming as they go. They have no support crew and no back-up vehicles. Everything they bring, they carry on their backs or their bikes. That’s thousands of miles overlanding on a couple of 500cc dirt bikes. Awesome.
The full-length Motonomad film is scheduled to be released next year. The aerial shots were filmed with an XAircraft X650 quadcopter. Hats off to these guys.
This film from the 1960s shows the then popular sport of motorcycle scrambling, which eventually would turn into enduro. It’s a fun little film.
Let me start by saying this video is amazing. Now let’s backup. There’s a group called The Adventurists. They host absurd rallies, donate to charities, and throw big parties at the end. One of their events, The Mongol Rally is a 10,000-mile bash from London to Ulan Bator (the capital of Mongolia) in a 1,000-cc (or less) car. What!?
Many people accepted the challenge. A group of Swiss guys calling themselves Team PZM decided to go it one better by piloting their crap Fiat through Iran, Pakistan, and China. Armed guards, ferrying over a seriously flooded highway, amazing views, and friendly people. This looks like an epic adventure.
Want to go next year?
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I found this great video on Expo the other day. In 1995 Austin Vince and seven friends went traveling around the world on motorcycles along the longest route possible. They started in their home country of England and covered about 40,000 miles visiting 44 countries. Great stuff.
Last month, the excellent English car magazine, Octane, covered the 2013 Peking to Paris rally, a grueling 7,610-mile run across the better part of the Eurasian continent. One hundred participants spent about 30 days driving from Beijing, across Mongolia and the Russian steppes, down into eastern Europe, and through the Alps to finish in Paris.
The event is one of many put on by the Endurance Rally Association. According to their site, the route was first run in 1907. As far as we can surmise no one tackled it again for over 100 years until the ERA revived the event in 2010. And they’ve been doing it every year since then. It sounds like an amazing experience.
Here’s a link to a pdf of the Octane article where you can read all about it.
Additional Links:
The official Peking to Paris site
A gallery of images
There’s a fantastic looking hostel in Bonn, Germany, called BaseCamp, that’s made up of camping trailers parked in a giant warehouse close to the city center. Lodging is not limited to campers. They also offer a railway sleeper car, VW camper buses, even a former East German Trabant with a tent on top.
The hostel has a 120 bed capacity and rates range from $32 to about $100 per night.
More photos below.
