Earlier on this year, at the motorcycle show in London, I met a hero of mine – the globetrotter, motorcycle adventure guru and all round splendid chap Mr Austin Vince. For anyone not acquainted with his work, Austin’s motorcycle expedition Mondo Enduro was the first recorded crossing of the Caucasus, Central Asia, Russia and Siberia making his team the first Europeans to reach Magadan after the collapse of the Soviet Union. He makes Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman look like a pair of Johnny-come-latelies. Austin went on to ride in a variety of other equally audacious expeditions and pretty much pioneered the self-made motorcycle adventure documentary film genre. If this sort of thing instigates even the tiniest of stirring in your loins, I suggest you head on on over to his website immediately and buy a handful of his rather good films. You won’t regret it.
I’ve been binge watching a variety of this sort of documentary lately. Another fantastic adventurer and filmmaker I recommend is Ed March, a man who makes Austin Vince look quite sensible and normal. Ed travels to the far ends of the earth on a humble Honda C90 on the basis that they’re cheap, light and virtually indestructible, with parts being available pretty much anywhere you could care to visit. His cheery outlook and casual disregard for both personal safety and the longevity of his bike’s engines are ideal attributes for the cash-strapped traveler. There aren’t many bikes where it makes sense to carry a spare engine along with you against the possibility of the one you’re using blowing up, but Ed has been known to do just that – and to swap them out in less than an hour! I really enjoyed watching his films and I’m looking forward to following his next adventures.
So despite my little trip next month being not nearly as epic, remote or generally batshit as either of these fine chaps, I figured that I’d have a go at producing a short film of my time riding across the USA. Rather than needing to take kilos of analogue video gear like Austin needed for any of his Mondo trips, I’m lucky enough to be living in an age where all you need to make a half decent film is an idea, some imagination, a bit of technical know how and an iPhone. So armed with the very latest in pocket filmmaking equipment, I’ll be blogging, YouTubing, Instagramming and god knows what else from the road as I go. My only limits are likely to be my own creativity, lack of other people to shoot footage for me and the local bandwidth…