simon thomas

It's one fo the most visually stunning places either Lisa or i have ridden so far. It was hard to take a bad picture just because of the incredible colour and texture of what was around us. Heaven on Earth? Not far off. Bloody cold though but it was a small price to pay for the privelidge of beeing able to ride through it. The altitude and lack complete lack of pollution made for some wonderful photos. Yep...breathtaking! We both feel incredible lucky. Would love to go back one day and film riding through it again. Cheers Simon T

Evening all, Lisa and I are just prepping some photos for a magazine article here in the USA and thought I'd share them here. These were taken during our ride through the Altiplano(approx' 16,500 feet alt.) in Bolivia but we'd simply not got around to looking at them let alone posting them anywhere. Right now we're in the States trying to sort out shipping ourselves and the bikes to Japan and then onto Eastern Russia and Mongolia. Hope you enjoyed. You can check out more at http://www.2ridetheworld.com Cheers Simon

We had a great time at the 2007 Rawhyde Adventure Riders Challenge and Jim Hyde has just made available the application form for the 2008 event (May 17th-18th-19th 2008) from our website www.2ridetheworld.com. You can get more info here: our 'Rawhyde Adventure Riders Challenge' experience and here: Rawhyde Adventure Riders Challenge website. here's the link for the download page for the application form: Adventure Riders Challenge application form 2008 ...see you there. Cheers Simon Thomas

After an impromptu opportunity we accepted an invite from Jim at Rawhyde to the 2007 Aventure Riders Challenge', we didn't have a clue what to expect but figured it would be fun...we had no idea! 3-days of riding, laughing, falling, getting up and the ocasional beer or 6, made for a great time. We've just put together a few pages on our website http://www.2ridetheworld.com about our experiences and Jim's made the application form for 2008 available via our site. Here's the link for the download page: http://www.2ridetheworld.com/rawhyde_templ...ge_complete.htm 2007 Attendance: The final attendance figures were just over 200 people (incl. visitors ) over the 3 day period. There were 146 registered riders, in two categories and two attendance packages. Eighty eight riders entered the "challenge" and 58 riders signed up for a "weekend package" which enabled them to come as a spectator; an additional 20 riders signed up for a "Saturday only" spectator package. Pretty good for the first year of the event. The event fee for 2008 is going to be $399. Whats included: ...darn near everything...event participation, your campsite, 10 meals w/ drinks, three days of fabulous riding, entertainment, a great goody bag (details to come), a riding jacket emblazoned with the logo of the event. When: May 17th-18th-19th 2008 So, if you fancy taking part just download the pdf form and post it off to Rawhyde...well you'll also need to send a few bucks. You can get a little more info at the Rawhyde site here:http://www.adventureriderchallenge.com/home.html See you there. Cheers Simon Thomas

Hi sandiegoland, This weekend we're commited to getting some work done and seeing old friends but we hope to be in San Diego for a wek or so. Maybe we can get together duringthe week or next weekend. We're goingto be talking with BMW (San Diego) today to see if their interested in hosting our presentaion. That may take a little organizing so we'll see...? Look forward to meeting you all Cheers Simon & Lisa www.2ridetheworld.com

Hey I didn't notice an British accent in his writing... did you guys? Afternoon, it seems to have taken us bloody ages to get here but at last Lisa and I have made it to San Diego. We'd planned to spend a little longer in the Mojave Desert and then Joshua Tree but the heat got to us a bit, we're getting soft in our old age, and so we've pitched out tent for a night at 'campland by the bay'. This has to be the most expensive site we've ever used. We've PM a few of you who had kindly offered us a place to stay. We're popping into BMW motorcycle of San Diego tomorrow morning to say hi and to find out if there interested in holding one of our presentaions...who knows? Our 'new' cell phone is playing up but if anyone is interested in getting hold of us you can drop us an email at simon@2ridetheworld.com Hope to see some of you soon Simon & Lisa www.2ridetheworld.com

Hope this is the right forum for this post. We've been using Garmins World map on a daily basis to plan, prepare and plot our rides as we're now 4-years into our 'around-the-world' motorcycle journey. On hundreds of occasions we've cursed it, when in a strange new city or even a 'middle of nowhere track', we've desperately needed more map data and simply not had it. Even after spending 'way' too many hours scouring the internet for map sets of South America we came up short of what we actually needed. Needless to say when a friend and fellow bike traveler told us he was going to make his own World map as he too was tired of Garmins inadequacies, we were...skeptical. I thought "If a huge firm like Garmin can't get it right, what makes you think you can"? Ohhh, how wrong was I! Bob's map set is called 'Wanderlust GPS World Map' and it beats Garmins hands down. Its compiled from public source data (but then so is Garmins) and help and support from a number of GPS forums and groups from around the world. We've been beta-testing it for Bob since we left his temporary home in Peru 4-months ago, since then we've ridden North through Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela returning back to Colombia before riding up through Central America (Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Belize). Right now I'm writing this from Mexico. We've ended up using the Wanderlust map almost exclusively. We'd start by using our old GPS maps and occasionally check Bob's to compare when ours showed no road, track, path or even river. Time and time again Bob's would be spot on and would give us the road/track location we needed and even the tinniest towns or villages near by. Bob joked that his maps would store every populated place on the globe, well I thought he was joking...he wasn't. Decent GPS map data for South America is very hard to come-by and so we posted some screenshots on our own website. I wanted to post them here but the maximum file size on this forum is 39kb (to small) You can check out the comparison screenshots here between teh wanderlust and Garmin worldmaps here www.2ridetheworld.com/wanderlust_page.htm . Let me know what you think. Screenshots are all well good but it's how the product works in the real world that's important. Please take it from me, the Wanderlust WorldMap lives up to the job, we just wish we'd had the maps back in Africa..."---- Bob what the hell are you doing with your time :-) . The next version should be due for release by late January. With even more map data. Bob's currently dealing with the Russian military as he's been given permission to use data for Moscow to street level! The reason for the post is simple; I wanted to support a friend who started a project to help his own motorbike journey and ended up with a project that could help us all. As things have progressed Bob's invested in some nifty software and has dipped his hand into his own pocket. If you'd like to register and download the Wanderlust World Map you can. Here's the idea. In order to recoup some cost's, the World map membership is priced at $50...that's it. Paypal has been set up to facilitate payment too! You can visit our website where we have additional info on the maps where you'll find 'register and download' links for the Wanderlust World Map. http://www.2ridetheworld.com/wanderlust_page.htm You'll notice I said membership, that's because that's how Bob has set it up, which means that 'ALL' future software upgrades for life are free. Once your a member you'll just log onto your account and download teh latest map set. Bob’s already working on making later World Map’s routable; again something that Garmin is not. Future upgrades will include more city street level data, campsites, BMW dealers (globally) hotels, etc, etc. The idea is to make this an open project. You can also contribute and add quality/functionality by sending in tracks, waypoints, suggestions, corrections. Life evolves! And Bob will welcome all contributions - the very fact this product exists is thanks to many people worldwide supporting Bob's idea. Its current size is approx 320mb and downloads with an .exe file - nice and simple and it all integrates in Map Source seamlessly. http://www.2ridetheworld.com/wanderlust_page.htm Now at least we can have some mapping outside Europe (Garmin maps are available for S.Africa, OZ and USA but I think that is it.) Please support this new development as it will help us all. Usual disclaimers apply!! Thanks for your time, if you have any ideas, thoughts etc. I'd love to hear them. Again here's a link for more info and register and download. http://www.2ridetheworld.com/wanderlust_page.htm Simon T http://www.2ridetheworld.com

hi to all, many thanks for the warm reception and the incredibly kind offer of letting two dirty English bikers into your homes . When we're closer we'll let you know, we're hoping it won't be too long. SDKLR650, so far we've covered around 100,000 miles. Thanks again. Simon T www.2ridetheworld.com

unclecameron Hi, thanks for the kind offer. We are coming your way, but we're not sure when. When we're nearer we'll give you a buzz. Thanks again. Ride safe, take care Simon Thoomas www.2ridetheworld.com

Hi 'sandiegoland' yeah we've had a few up there, it's a great site, but wow is it huge! Right now I'm signing up to a few forums, over the last few years because of where we've been travelling we've had little chance to talk or discuss anything much with other riders...and we've missed it. Being at a friends in Mexico I've suddenly got access to high speed and regualr internet and am making the most of it. thanks for the reply Cheers Simon Thomas www.2ridetheworld.com

hello all... jsut came across this site and thought I'd sign up and say hi. We're Simon & Lisa Thomas from the UK It's hard to believe that it's been almost 4-years for us on the road. Both the miles and time has flown. Scandinavia, Russia, 15 months in Africa, 18 months in South America a few weeks in Central America and now Mexico for Christmas. We're as excited about what lays ahead as we are exhausted. After a few exhaustive weeks riding through Central America we've just reached the Yacatun Peninsula in Mexico, where we'll meet Lisa's family for New year. After exploring Colombia and seeing what we could in Venezuela we hadn't realised how tense and on-gaurd we'd become until we reached Panama, where we could finally relax a little. Venezuela had been beautiful but a royal pain in the ass...here's a small exert from our dairy: 19-11-2006 (into Venezuela) What a ‘fanny’ of a day. Yet again, the best laid plans drown in a puddle of ---- and sweat. We’d planned to get an early start and had hoped to get to Maracaibo, a good way inside Venezuela, and so by 7:30am we’d loaded the bikes and were already saying adios to Riohacha. The decent tar was already helping our progress. We’d reckoned on about 45 minutes to the border, an hour for paperwork and money changing and then we’d crack on to Maracaibo. Guess what? It didn’t happen. Passports were stamped and carnets signed on the Colombian side. OK, Here we come, country 48! That was as far as we got. On the Venezuelan side we were already getting the ‘shifty eye’ from the officials who’d incorrectly assumed we were North Americans. The pissed-off passport guy grunted at me and with an arrogance born of officialdom waived me over to him, whilst he leant on the building wall. Mumbled Spanish was tossed at me, which translated to…you can’t come in the Aduana is closed on Sunday, go away and come back tomorrow. Asking for him to say this twice to ensure I’d heard correctly just pissed him off even more. 20 minutes later and I’d not found a solution. Oh ----, this is ridiculous, we’d not read this little bit of info anywhere, not even the Colombians had bothered to mention it as we were being stamped out! By now the over-whelming heat and humidity were already getting to us and our sweat ridden riding suits were getting heavier. So here we are…in a small dodgy hotel, right at the border. We had to get our passports stamped back into Colombia and we will try again tomorrow. Lisa is so pissed off. 20-11-2006 Venezuela Country 48. AaaaaaaaaGGGGhhhhhhhh!!!! We figured after yesterday’s hic-cup with the ‘you can’t come into Venezuela ‘cause we’re closed’ problem, today we’d get a head start, well, we are already at the border. We figured we would at least get some good mileage under our belts. So with the alarm going off at 5:30am we were up and ready to go by 6:00am. Hey what could possibly go wrong? “Tienes una llave para la porta” (roughly tranlsates to...do you have the key to the gate), we ask the older lady at reception. A long concerned pause wasn’t the answer we were looking for. “No way…you got to be fucking kiddin’ me”, is what I was thinking. I didn’t dare say it, I knew if I blurted anything else I’d be hard pushed to stop myself before anything short of a mini tantrum. The whole circumstance was ridiculous. Apparently since last night the original key (used to lock the gates last night) became…broken…. and no-one has a second copy. A couple of guys working here suggested we could get a new key made. No matter how hard I tried they couldn’t get it into their heads that we’d need the old key in order to get a copy made. You can’t just get a key made. After 10 minutes I gave up trying to explain. A long story sideways…at 8:00am the day was already uncomfortably hot and humid, worst of all we were still locked in. I was having a hard time controlling my frustration. C’mon it’s not fucking rocket science…’close and lock gate at night, make sure you have the key in the morning for unlocking’. Someone eventually found a heavy duty saw and 30 minutes later we’d managed to cut through the locking mechanism and at last open the gates. To our astonishment the female owner was demanding immediate payment. We were busy trying to get our kit and bikes through the mud track to the front of this small hotel. We’d planned to come back in and pay once we were set. She was having a stressy hernia. I was saying a little prayer, “ dear lord who art in heaven…please make her head explode”? The room had been 30,000 pesos colombianos and our food another 10,000 each. OK, so I know I only ride motorbikes but even I can figure that out to be 50,000. The cheeky tart was now billing us 63,000? Where the hell had that come from? To add insult to injury she was demanded another 7,000 for the repair to the gate. Lisa was loosing her rag. And in Spanish explaining forcefully that the gate issue hadn’t been our fault and it had already held us up by over two hours. The owner was digging her heels in and demanded we pay. “It is only 7,000 pesos this is nothing for you”, she snapped in rapid Spanish. That was it I’d had enough. I took out 52,000, which I had to hand and threw it on the table. You want it so bad you can soddin-well pick it up. The money wasn’t even the real issue, to be taken for a complete mug and being treated like an idiot had just got to me. Suited up we rode the 20 metres to the military checkpoint and the small dirty passport office. With our passports stamped we could finally get into Venezuela. We’d already had the OK from one of the military guards to ride on… there’d be no search. Helmets on, jacket and gloves set to go and Autocoms hooked up and working. We dropped into first gear and began to roll. The loud shriek whistle and the yelling to our left had got our attention. We stopped immediatley. 4 pissed off green clad gun waiving military guards were letting their feelings known. I’d already resigned myself to them. There was absolutely no point whatsoever in even beginning to explain we were leaving because we’d been cleared by other guards. I knew what was coming next…they wanted ‘EVERYTHING’ off the bikes and were going to search every orifice. An hour later and we were still trying to put stuff back together. With the bikes loaded we cursed under our sweat ridden lips and rode on. It was a short 7 km ride to the Aduana, where we just needed our Carnets stamped. (Venezuela does accept the carnet and we still have one to use). We were developing a theme for the day…’nothing is going to be easy’. The young girl in the aduana office seemed totally bemused by the carnet. She’d already pushed 4 typed white documents in my direction. This wasn’t going to be quick. 3 hours later and Lisa and I had taken turns in trying to sort out whatever it was that needed sorting. I’d made 6 separate trips to the small cabin two blocks down in order to get photocopies of various pieces of paper. Each time I’d return to find out they needed something else copied. Yep, each time I wondered….”why can’t you just tell me what you want copied so I can make one trip and get the job done”. Nope, things just don’t work that way here. We finally had everything in order; Venezuela was at last letting us in. Nope! The guards who’d been watching us sweat our asses off wanted some fun of their own. Oh goody…it’s search time again. Everything was coming off the bikes again. I wanted to ask…WHY? Rumbling through my head was, “we’ve just been searched 7 km up the road. What do you think? A private stealth chopper landed near by handed us a few kilos of quality H and we’ve cunningly incorporated the drugs into our cunningly inconspicuous disguise as over-land bike riding sodding astronauts. Oh no, wait you’re looking for the 80 fee paying illegal immigrants we’ve stuffed into our roll-bags.? 40 minutes after they’d started they’d become bored. We were waived on…at last. The Venezuelan country side was opening up. Long fields partially flooded swept off to our left and nutters in ancient over-sized old American gas guzzlers slowly eased their way past us, most too close for comfort. We were heading for Maracaribo which sits at the base of the Golfo de Venezuela.we weren’t going to get much further. Apart from the time issue the heat was really getting to us; our suits were soaked in perspiration. Maracaribo was only 42 miles off…it took us a while as we had three more police stops and two more searches. This is the first time in South America we’ve experienced this, sure we’ve been stopped frequently but after the pretence of paperwork is discarded, you soon realise that the cops or officials are just keen to talk and check out the bikes. Venezuela is going to be different. That said it’s worth mentioning that almost everyone (car drivers) was asked to show the content of their trunks and were subjected to some kind of rudimentary search. We’ll see what happens tomorrow? If you'd like to read more then just click here: http://www.2ridetheworld.com and then browse to the diary section. Here's just a few of photos from South and Central America hope you enjoyed the photos, you can see more at http://www.2ridetheworld.com Cheers and hi again Simon Thomas www.2ridetheworld.com