The 23 participants of the expedition met for the first time this last weekend, here in Mieming, Austria. They came from Canada, the U.S., Brazil, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy. From the Americas by air, from Europe by their own expedition bikes. They came to meet the riders and passengers, who will be riding with them from November 2010 to July 2011 through 6 continents.
Just Antarctica will remain untouched this time. They also came to learn more about the expedition from the team of Edelweiss/GlobeBusters. These 23 World Tourers do now know more about how and where they will ride, how their expedition bike should be equipped for the journey, what they still need to practice for their riding, what they should pack and what not, where the route runs, how and where they will spend the nights, what they should eat and what they should avoid, how long they will sit on their bikes everyday, who they will meet along the route, how their motorcycles will be transported from one continent to the next, how to learn to dance the tango over Christmas in Buenos Aires, how to enjoy surfing in El Salvador, where to change tires in Los Angeles, how to avoid road trains in the Outback of Australia, not to swim in some rivers because of the crocs, how not to get lost in Laos and how to recognize a dog on their dinner plate in China, not to collide with Russians, who just drank a bottle of vodka and finally how much Schnaps to drink in one go after reaching the finish line in Mieming in the Austrian Alps.
They all benefited from the riders training on asphalt. The GlobeBusters-Edelweiss team found out how the 23 handled the challenge of riding slow and riding fast. On the ride up to the glacier the hairpins got tight and tighter and the walls of snow on the side of the road increased with every mile. The Brazilians had never experienced anything like it and thought it would be great if the temperatures would be much higher!
One of the challenges of this expedition, aside from some of the daily rides (some up to 500 miles) will be to spend 8 months together: Riding, looking, eating, talking, sleeping, drinking, picking up motorcycles, finding gas and the overnight places. Everyone of the team has realized this will be a completely new section in their life!
Is there still space?
For those adventurers, who want to ride the entire 1DE, there is still space for 2 riders. On section 1 (Europe/Africa), section 2 (Latin America), section 3 (Central America) and section 4 (Australia) for one or two riders. On section 5 (Asia/Europe) there is no space left.
Are you sometimes still dreaming about joining the trip? If you want to convert these dreams into experiences you have two possibilities:
1) Decide now to join us on November 21, 2010 here in Mieming for the start of the expedition.
2) Start now to make the preparations and changes you need to effect, to ride the second Discover Our Earth Expedition in the fall of 2012 to live what you have dreamed of up till now.