The Hard Way Home by Allan Roberts
JoJo Publishing
He’s ridden 8,734 kilometres in the toughest motorbike race on earth, The Dakar Rally 2014, and placed 39th.
He’s ridden 102,000 kilometres through 59 countries across four continents. He’s found maggots growing in his leg, he’s ended up on the floor of a police station in Angola with Malaria.
Is there anything left for Allan Roberts to do? Yes! Do The Dakar Rally again in January 2015.
Learn incredible tips about about to fix your bike in the most horrendous conditions, how to survive dust storms, lush jungle, pistes (French for off track, off road desert trails), trails riddled with landmines, border officials (one called himself simply “Still Alive’’) and travelling through Morocco during Ramadan when tired and hungry locals are fed up, and not happy about seeing you or helping you.
Roberts has literally been to Timbuktu and back, riding “The Mothership” a Honda Africa Twin 750cc mo-torbike. He rode throughout Africa, Asia and the Middle East over two and a half years. This is the story of his incredible journey.
The journey isn’t all about hardship. Beautiful descriptions of scenery feature throughout the book, as do the colourful characters Roberts and his girlfriend and riding companion, Amy, meet along the way.
“Chefchaouen [Africa] is a charming Berber town, where the tiny streets hug the rugged, arid mountainside and every house is brightly painted...about every 100 meters or so men aged from 15 to 50 stood alongside the road waving for us to stop—they whistled, begged and yelled: “Hashish! Hashish! Hashish!”
Share the wonder at seeing wild camels and their calves being hurded by nomadic tribesmen; giraffes crouching awkwardly with their legs splayed as they drink from a waterhole, a shipwreck at the gateway to the Western Sahara.
From London to Cape Town via the Sahara and through East Africa to Yemen; then to Central Asia, Rus-sia, Mongolia and China before heading to South East Asia with a detour to ride the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge rally in Dubai.
AUTHOR ALLAN ROBERTS:
Grew up near Mildura, Victoria. He lives in Adelaide.
In January 5-18 Roberts paced 39th in the toughest motor bike race in the world in South America. Called The Dakar, only 180 entrants out of 300 were accepted for this 14-day race across Argentina, Bolivia and Chile.
The race started in the town of Rosario, in Central Argentina, and went through San Luis, San Rafael, San
Juan, Chilecito, Tucuman, Salta, Uyuni, Calama, Iquique, El Salvador, before finishing in Val Paraiso, Chile. A traveling bivouac (French for camp) of more than 3000 people followed riders around, and each day Roberts would join this incredible community for food and to get his bike looked over and serviced.
Roberts was completely self-funded, having saved up $120,000 in order to take part. He is looking for sponsorship for The Dakar 2015. hardwayhome.blogspot.com.
RRP is $34.99 but direct from me you can purchase your copy for $30 plus postage
Tuesday, March 04, 2014
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