UPDATE 1 - THE TEAM

THE TEAM

Mick Daly : Mick Simpson

Having both spent over 30 years each; man and boy in the British Army, we coincidentally decided to leave at about the same time. So what do you do to settle and adjust into civilian life? A lifetime of adventure and contrasts, all part of your daily life at the expense of Her Majesty, it could be hard to surpass; adventures have all been arranged, organised and delivered. In the broadest terms, you’re given the parameters but told when to have an adventure, how long it will last, how to manage it and when to finish it. So this adventure is for us; no limits, well except for financial constraints, our own physical endurance, the extremes of weather and the long suffering of our home based support team; our wives, who we hugely appreciate.

THE AIM. The aim of this expedition is to ride two motorbikes, unsupported, from the southern most habitable city navigable (by bike) on the planet, the city of Ushuaia in Argentina, South America, to the northern most navigable (by bike) point in Alaska, Prudhoe Bay, visiting every, or as many countries as we can en-route.

THE ADVENTURE BORN. How was this adventure born? I had already decided to leave the Army when in October 05, on a few weeks leave, I rode to Malta to meet my wife for a week’s holiday; I rode BM she flew BA, my reluctant pillion! While we were there Mick S phoned to say he had decided to leave the Army too; my immediate response was to tell him to get a GS (BMW) and we’d ride to Cape Town for fun. It took me a few weeks to ride back from Malta, enjoying all that Italy, Switzerland and France had to offer (there must be another story there?). When we next met, Mick S thought the idea was good but perhaps needed a bit more spice; three Capes not just the one! It is now Christmas 05 and the planning became more serious, Cape Horn, Cape of Good Hope and that bit at the bottom of India, it must have a Cape? When the head started to rule the planning rather than the heart, it brought a sense of realism; we were conscious that we wanted to start around April/May 2006 and that was not far off! The Americas seemed to be a good place to start and relatively straight forward to plan for (don’t quote me on this later!!).

WHY DO IT? Why do it at all? Because we can! Just for fun and as an excuse to have a mature Gap Year. It’s an ideal time in life, natural career break (all the youngsters seem to be having gap years why not have a mature gap year), transition from one career to another and an opportunity to visit at our leisure countries and places not normally on the military or holiday beaten track and by motorbike too.

WHERE ARE WE NOW? On the 20th April 2006 we fly courtesy of the Royal Air Force to the Falkland Islands to join our motorbikes that sailed 23rd Mar 06 from Marchwood, Southampton on the SKAFTAFELL. We expect to have a few days on the islands to get used to our new bikes and to lay wreaths at the sites of the fallen as it’s the 24th anniversary of the war. Then (29 Apr 06) it’s to Punta Arenas, Chile, cross to Tierra del Fuego and south to Ushuaia in Argentina, which is our real start point for the long ride north to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska! Expected start from Ushuaia is 4th May 06.

WHERE ARE WE GOING? We have not established a clear route yet and that might not happen, but the intension is to visit the major spectacular sites i.e. The Glaciers, Angle Falls, Machu Picchu and the Amazon etc. We will attempt to visit every country on the Americas during our travels; some will definitely be more challenging than others to reach! Those we do not reach will either be because of the security and safety situation; it’s not worth the risk and how embarrassing having to be rescued! Or the physical conditions are more than we can overcome; perhaps parts of the Amazon will come into this category, trying to get to French Guyana via Manaus! Or it’s really just too far to travel to reach that one final area, over the last mountain barred with snow! But we will try.

The next firm date on our calendar is a rendezvous with our wives somewhere in the Caribbean, for the second week of June 06, location yet to be decided. We will not attempt to ride there as it would put us under to much time pressure to reach a location that may not suite our flexible schedule. We will leave our bikes in a secure area and fly to join them for a weeks R&R

THE BENEFITS. As we will be riding a widely diverse, geographical and cultural continent, we will be taking cameras, laptops etc and sending updates to our website http://www.2wmc.co.uk/ and 2wmc.blogspot.com for those interested to see where we are and what we are doing. We are supporting two charities that we would like to raise funds for while we have an interested audience; which is you! We have linked them to our websites in order that they might benefit from the exposure and your generosity! My charity is Macmillan Cancer Support found through www.justgiving.com/MickDaly-Hereford. Mick Simpson’s charity is The Pirates Trust “Just for Kids” in association with PirateFM http://www.piratefm.co.uk/ Cornwall’s local radio station. This aspect of the trip was a late consideration as we had not thought about or planned to have a web site; any benefit to charities are an unplanned but a very welcome by-product.

I have also made contact with the schools that my boys went to, Christ College Brecon http://www.christcollegebrecon.com/ and St. Richard’s Bredenbury http://www.st-richards.co.uk/ to see if there is anything that we can do for them as we travel? They are both keen to participate and we will see how we can benefit them.

THE END STATE. The declared end state is the arrival of two bikes with riders at Prudhoe Bay Alaska before it gets too cold to ride; which means we need to be there by the end of August or early September 06 and return home via Anchorage. The undeclared end state could be and dependant on a favourable attitude all round; a ride trans-Canada to Halifax Nova Scotia; or back through the USA to Miami or Christmas in Cape Town via Magadan Russia and Asia! What will be the critical factors; get to Prudhoe Bay first; are we still talking to each other; do we want to ride anymore; is the weather on our side; are our wives still on our side?