Accidental Adventurer, Saskia Caspari and 2025/26 ADV Cannonball Updates

Saskia Caspari @habiadventures rode her G650GS to Dakar and just kept going. Join us for a conversation with this inspiring and intrepid adventure rider. 

Music by Austin Vice 

Chapters

• 1:54 Field Notes - T7 Fuel Sender
• 8:06 Interview Saskia Caspari
• 59:20 ADV Cannonball Updates

Transcript

SPEAKER_04: 0:02

Welcome to the ADV Cannonball Podcast, where we discuss all things on two wheels, the adventure bike cannonball, and other motorcycle-related nonsense.

SPEAKER_08: 0:25

Season three, episode 10. Welcome to Adventure Cannonball Podcast. I am your host, Taylor Lawson. And today I am joined by once hovercraft pilot, Captain Aaron Pufall. What's up, Taylor? Thanks for having me on the show. Absolutely. Aaron, where are you, kind sir? And what are you drinking?

SPEAKER_05: 0:44

Well, oh yeah, I am drinking a Top Cutter IPA, the Bale IPA. Breaker, and I am in Seattle, Washington. And where are you, sir?

SPEAKER_08: 0:55

I am in sunny Stockholm, Sweden. Actually, it's a little rainy today, a little muggy, but it's been sunny and nice here. We're expecting like mid-80s this week, pretty warm. And I'm drinking a peachy bulldog pale ale from Gotland's Brewery in Gotland. Yeah, man. Nice. Here we go. Let's see if I can pop this without making a mess. Nope.

SPEAKER_05: 1:24

Nope, that was not successful. That's life, buddy. You got to break a few eggs sometimes. You know what I mean? Sometimes it happens. Here we go.

SPEAKER_08: 1:32

Yes, sir. All right. So I had some field notes this weekend, which we can roll. And I just want to say that the end of the story is that the first thing that anybody should really do is assess, A, whether their bike is under warranty before they attempt anything. And then with that, we will roll the Field Notes.

SPEAKER_04: 1:55

It's time for Field Notes. A collection of voice notes recorded on location while we're on wildly exciting motorcycle adventures packed together for your amusement and our public shaming.

SPEAKER_08: 2:09

July 13th. The rain just cleared. It is... Zero wind outside. And I'm going to take my T7 over to my buddy Sven's place. Sven, who, correction, doesn't have four motorcycles in his garage, but has five. He also has a really great tool set up. So we're going to go see if we can figure out why my fuel gauge is flashing. Well, it's faulty. We're going to see if we can troubleshoot it and get it so that actually tells me how much fuel I have in there. How great would that be? All right. So I have ridden across the northern side of Stockholm and I am now in Sven's garage where, yes, I did on the previous podcast, I have to do some cleanup. There are six motorcycles in here. So Sven, thanks very much for having me at your garage. What are we up to?

SPEAKER_02: 2:56

Let's see what we can find about your fuel gauge. And to be honest, I have no clue what I'm doing, but we'll figure it out some way.

SPEAKER_08: 3:09

All right. Well, there's a good start. We'll check back in and see how we end up. All right. So, Sven, how did we make out today and what did we learn? Well,

SPEAKER_02: 3:21

about fuck all, but... No, but at least we found out that it's not in the fuel sander. We swapped tanks with mines and still the problem is there. So it's somewhere in the software or in the loom or something like that. I tried to clean up the connectors but it didn't help. So I need to do a bit more research on that.

SPEAKER_08: 3:43

I just want to say it was fun hanging out here. I learned all the things that this bike needs to have. And I just want to say that the reason that we intro this bit laughing is because you gave me the comment that I had really gone out of my way to make this Tenere 700 look as much like my friend's GS as possible. And I think it started with a conversation about removing the crash bars. So anyway, thanks very much for your time and for all the tips. It's been a fun afternoon.

SPEAKER_02: 4:12

Yeah, it's been great. You're always welcome.

SPEAKER_08: 4:15

And with that, Field Notes out. Yeah, so I have to say that we gave it our best shot. I want to say thanks to you, Sven, for, uh, for taking the time. It was fun to hang out and talk motorcycles and just, um, yeah, just to hang out and be in, be in a garage and, and, uh, and, and turn wrenches for a little while. So that was fun.

SPEAKER_05: 4:38

Yeah. But you, you've, you've diagnosed most of the problems. So you, you're pretty sure that the problem is not in the tank. So that's, that's half the battle right there.

SPEAKER_08: 4:46

Yeah. I thought that was so cool. Like he's got, you know, a bunch of bikes in the garage and I was like, how are we going to trouble to shoot this? He goes, Oh, but just take the pieces off of your bike, but take mine and put them on and see what's broken. I was like, okay. So we totally cannibalize his machine and put them on mine. And they were like, no, that's a, that's not the problem. It's not the tank. So anyway, Sven, thanks for taking the, thanks for taking the time, man. It was really cool of you to do that.

SPEAKER_05: 5:08

No. And you know what? I think it's a good lesson for everyone. I bet you, you learned a lot about your bike. You learn how to take it apart. And there are too many guys out there that are like, It's broken. Take it back to the dealership and hope for the best. And when something goes wrong, when you're in the middle of nowhere, at least you're more prepared now how to take the bike apart and how to put it back together. And we all know that there are less spare parts the more times you put something back together.

SPEAKER_08: 5:34

Yeah, and I have to say that Sven's clearly more experienced than I am because there was only spare parts on my side of the bike when we put it back together.

SPEAKER_05: 5:41

Listen, we all know these things are overbuilt. You know what I mean?

UNKNOWN: 5:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_08: 5:46

But we took it. I only had to go one layer back in to to get it right. But we got it right anyway. But

SPEAKER_05: 5:52

the next time you're not going to have those spare parts. You know, if you watch the video of like Lyndon Poskett building his his Basel bike season one, episode one of Race to Places, you know. you're like, wow, this guy knows how to build a bike. You know what I mean? So that's what happens when you do things over and over and over again. And don't be afraid to take your bike apart. It's not that complicated. Just be patient and you're going to learn something every single time. So Maya, hats off to you for giving it a shot. Thank you, sir.

SPEAKER_08: 6:20

All right, so I had a really fun interview with Saskia. So she was really inspirational. And one of the things, my big takeaway in having an opportunity to chat with her is that it just goes to show you that you don't need to have amazing skills as a mechanic. You don't need to spend years modifying your bike, buying the perfect bike, or have tons of money. You just need one thing. And what is that thing, Aaron? Don't be a weenie and just go. You got to go. That's it. You just got to swing your leg over the bike and point it

SPEAKER_05: 6:55

in one direction. But you do need a new what? Well, we always give people advice if they're going to do a cannonball with us is just make sure you have a fresh service and a fresh set of tires. And these bikes are pretty much bulletproof these days. And, you know, the likelihood of you having a catastrophic failure on a cannonball or any big route is really, really rare. You think about how many times you've ridden across countries and done all these things. It's very rare to have a catastrophic failure. And she points out that, you know, the skills that she's found along the way was incredible. chain tensioning and fixing flat tires with tubeless tires and you know this falls into in line with me saying why the gs is such a great bike is they have tubeless tires they have shaft drive and they're just bulletproof

SPEAKER_08: 7:41

you know as soon as when i was done with the interview with her i went and researched can i get tubeless tires on my tender race 700 and what was the answer yeah everything is just like yachting everything is just a function of money that's right input money get out toys. Exactly. Exactly. Anyway, with that, let's roll the interview.

SPEAKER_00: 8:05

Registration is now open to the public for the next ADV Cannonball Rally. All riders on any motorcycle are welcome to join the adventure. Whether you're looking for an exciting and highly organized coast-to-coast ride with a group of like-minded riders or a friendly competition for cannonball glory, it doesn't matter. Everyone can participate. Head over to Welcome to

SPEAKER_08: 8:37

Adventure Cannonball Podcast. Today, we are joined by our inspiring guest, world traveler, motorcycle adventurer, and visual storyteller, Saskia Kaspari, known on Instagram as at hobbyadventures, H-A-B-I-A-D-V-E-N-T-U-R-E-S. Saskia's journey spans consonants, cultures, and countless dusty roads. We're diving into her life on two wheels, the stories behind the photos, her philosophy on the positivity of people. Saskia, welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_09: 9:06

Hi, Taylor. Thank you so much for having me. I'm really excited to be here.

SPEAKER_08: 9:10

Fantastic. We're really happy to have you here as well. In transparency, you and I met a couple of weekends ago at the Skoog event.

SPEAKER_09: 9:18

Yeah, it was in Skoog, up there in Sweden, on a nice motorcycle event, a few days of camping, riding. I think we all enjoyed that

SPEAKER_08: 9:28

very much. When I, when I mentioned to people, like I was talking to someone the other day and I said, they said, what'd you do? And I said, well, it was kind of, you know, it's a bit cold and I wasn't prepared properly with the right, you know, the right equipment. And so it was like, I didn't sleep well. And they were like, and, and then I mentioned that we had a, you know, an actual chef preparing food for us. And they went, you know what, all of a sudden the violin went away and I do not feel sorry for you anymore.

SPEAKER_09: 9:55

Yeah, it sounds so remote in a forest in Sweden and was to some extent, but also there was great, I mean, it was great facilities. The food was amazing. Everything was good. But to be fair to us, it was pretty cold. And I think no one was truly prepared for the cold. Maybe only the people who come from the north, the Swedes, the actual Swedes and the Norwegians. with the woolen layers, but I was very cold. I don't know about you.

SPEAKER_08: 10:26

Yeah, no, I was super cool. I, you know, when I, when I packed, I had pretty much packed and I had actually borrowed a bag from a friend of mine who, you know, when I asked him about this, he's like, it was 15 degrees. And then I borrowed the equipment. And then as we progressed to, you know, as the days ticked away towards Coog, the temperature just continued to go down.

SPEAKER_09: 10:45

We made it.

SPEAKER_08: 10:46

We made it. We survived. And then you had the, and then you rode the bike from the Netherlands and then back to the Netherlands. So that's, that's impressive. So So that's just, you know, in this game of things, that's really nothing compared to what we want to talk about today in terms of your travels. So I'd like to talk a bit about the origins and the motivations. So let's start at the beginning. So what was your first experience with motorcycles, which made you think, I like this, I've got to have more of this? And what was the introduction into adventure motorcycling for you?

SPEAKER_09: 11:12

Yeah, that's a good question, because, I mean, you would expect some story, oh, this experience happened to me, and then I dove into adventure motorcycling, but it was a bit more smooth than that. So in my family, so my dad and my uncle ride motorcycle. So when I grew up, we had like a little, like my dad had a motorcycle in the garage. It was a, like not an adventure motorcycle, but a more Kawasaki something. I don't really know the model, to be honest. It was more cruiser, like one where you sit and have your arms a bit more high. So I remember when I was like, when I was a child, I was just, I was weirdly spending many hours just sitting on this motorcycle in the garage. I dropped it once as well, just pretending I'm riding. I don't know where that came from. Like I also went on the back a few times on a ride, but not too often. So I don't know why I was weirdly fascinated by it. So I just spent sometimes hours just sitting in the garage on this motorcycle, pretending I'm riding. Yeah. And then When I grew up, yeah, I didn't think about it that much. It just wasn't a theme. And then somehow when I was, yeah, about 20, 21, I can't even, like, I cannot tell you, I cannot even remember how it came about. So it just, yeah, I was deciding to get my license and I got a motorcycle and I went. I think my main motivation back then was more that I wanted to travel. So it was more, okay, what mode of transport could I use for travel? Car was an option then. So I just thought, why not a motorcycle?

SPEAKER_08: 12:48

So when you got your, how old were you when you got your motorcycle license?

SPEAKER_09: 12:52

I was, I just said 2021. I think I was 23. I was 23, actually. I just miscalculated.

SPEAKER_08: 12:59

So as I understand it, and I got this information in chatting with people when we were actually at Scoob. So you didn't plan to set out to be gone for two years. Is that a fair statement?

SPEAKER_09: 13:11

That is an absolutely fair statement. It just kind of happened.

SPEAKER_08: 13:15

So talk to us about the sort of, it grew organically and then it morphed into this journey, which took, was it like two years, at least two years, right?

SPEAKER_09: 13:24

Yeah, it was about two years now, actually. So now it's June. So exactly two years ago, I left. Oh, cool. And I just came back.

SPEAKER_08: 13:33

How did it morph from, I'm going to go for a trip to, I'm going to continue traveling?

SPEAKER_09: 13:38

Back when I was, so when I was 23 and I got my license, I already did a few motorcycle trips. First thing I did is, I don't know, I just wanted to. I went to Croatia and back and I went on a trip to Central Asia. So I did a few trips back then, but at some point my motorcycle from back then, I didn't really have funds and it was like a very old, very, yeah, it was just done, the motorcycle. So I had to, well, I chose to sell it because I didn't know how to repair it. It was an old Honda Dominator. I loved it. so much, but at some point it just didn't work anymore. It didn't work when it was slightly damp. Uh, it ate as much oil as it ate fuel and I just didn't know how to fix it. And at some point I just said, okay, I can't like it doesn't go anymore. So I sold it. And then for many years, I didn't really have a motorcycle also in life. I just focused on other things and was just a bit more in the background. And then a few years ago, um, I just got the itch again. I can't even tell you why. I just got the itch again and I decided to buy like a new motorcycle. And that was like a BMW G650 GS. So I bought it, yeah, from someone used because I just wanted to try out riding again. If I find the old spark enthusiasm and... And now I'm laughing at that I ever doubted that because then I was just out with it all the time. Every weekend I went somewhere, like I went everywhere with a motorcycle.

SPEAKER_07: 15:03

And

SPEAKER_09: 15:03

then I started to spend every holiday also just going somewhere. So, hey, I have a week off work. I go to Spain. I have two weeks of work. I went to Scotland on a tour. So I went like all sorts of Europe trips. At some point I thought, okay, I would like to do something more adventurous again. I was like many years back, I did the Central Asia trip and that was just itching again. I wanted to do something. So I thought, okay, maybe for next time, the next holiday from work, I go to Morocco. So because I've never been to Morocco, I mean, it's obviously has a very good reputation among motorcyclists to being a beautiful place. country to motorcycle. And I couldn't confirm that I would like, I can't wait to go back one day. Um, yeah, but that was actually the plan to go to Morocco. But then like when I was looking at Morocco, I also have this, I had this idea, okay, I want to go as far as possible, like as far south as possible, but I wasn't really sure like how far you can go. And, um, then I like, I just, yeah. read a little bit on the internet and then i found like a little like a um not a little like a blog from um someone who has crossed all of africa with this buddy um okay so like i thought okay i will just ask uh so so i don't know we like we just start chatting um his name is uh Gordon, and we started chatting about this. I just asked, is it possible to go more south? From Morocco, how far can you go? Because at some point the desert starts and there are all sorts of unknowns. I was like, yeah, I think you can do that. It's totally possible. We just chatted a little bit about this and it was really encouraging. Yeah, sure, you can go more south. You can go as far as you want. And Yeah, first I was really like, what? Nah, I can't believe you can go that far south and I'm not sure. But at some point, like I did a bit more research, I read a little bit and I thought, okay, maybe it's possible. So then I had this grand plan of riding. So taking my, it's still a holiday from work, taking a holiday, riding all the way to Dakar because yeah, that's just, I think everyone wants to do that who rides a

SPEAKER_07: 17:26

motorcycle.

SPEAKER_09: 17:27

I didn't even have any deeper motivation. I just wanted to, wanted to go to Dakar. And then my plan was to park the bike there. So just leave the bike because yeah, holidays. It's not in every country. It's a bit different, but in the Netherlands, they're quite where I live. I'm German, but I live in the Netherlands and they're quite generous with vacation days, number of vacation days. So it's no problem to get like Three and a half weeks, maybe four off. But that's already quite a stretch. So my plan was to go to Dakar, park the bike, fly back. And then the next holiday I got from work, I would fly back to Dakar and ride the bike back. So that was a bit the original idea.

SPEAKER_08: 18:11

Okay.

SPEAKER_09: 18:12

And that's also what I did. So I rode down there in my holiday.

UNKNOWN: 18:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_09: 18:19

So it was, of course, relatively fast because I just, I didn't have that much time. I just rode to Dakar and then I thought I was there and I thought, well, that was amazing. But like, like I want to go further. I want to do more. So I did park the bike and I did fly back, of course, continued working. But then it's like, I thought, okay, now I have a new crazy idea. So maybe instead of the next holiday window that I go there and ride the bike back, maybe I can go there and ride the bike even a little

SPEAKER_07: 18:49

bit further. Nice.

SPEAKER_09: 18:50

So then I thought about, OK, maybe I ride it to like the next stretch could be from there to Ghana, for example. I just made up a like a thing and then I could maybe ship it back from Ghana from Dakar. Shipping is a bit difficult, but from Ghana, it's there more options. So that was then my plan. But then while I was planning that trip, I thought like, yeah, actually I really want to do so much more. So I decided in the end after, so I did write to Ghana, but then after that I wanted to do this, like I don't want to go forth and back. So I decided to do this full time and not go back in between. So that's what I did basically from Ghana onwards.

SPEAKER_08: 19:34

Did you have anyone who inspired you or like you're reading travel books besides speaking with Gordon and Instagram or?

SPEAKER_09: 19:40

Well, no. I did not. I did not. It was pretty unknown. I've not read any of these travel books.

SPEAKER_08: 19:50

Yeah, it seems like you already had the bug, though. You didn't need to have any other inspiration. It's interesting I mention this because in season three, episode six of Adventure Cannonball podcast, Aaron interviewed Sam Manicom at the Ace Cafe. And in that, he was like... Aaron said, if there's one trip you could do, and the trip that he said he would do was the trip you did, all the way on the west coast of Africa. He didn't do that. And this is something he was, so if you think about people being motivational, you are potentially motivational or inspirational for someone who is doing this for a living. So good for you. So earlier you said, sort of the question I have is like, why motorcycles? And before you said car wasn't an option, why was car not an option? And was that not even, you're just like, I would never do this in a car. Why bikes?

SPEAKER_09: 20:37

Yeah, that's a good question that you challenged me on that. That's like a statement. I just threw out, I think there are a few layers to it. So one big one is, I think, a cost. So I got my like a 20-year-old Honda Dominator for, I think, 900 euros somewhere.

SPEAKER_08: 20:53

And then, so you bought this bike, you traveled a lot on this bike on the F650GS, right?

SPEAKER_09: 21:00

Um, first my Honda dominator. I loved it, but I always saw people on the F six 50 GS Dakar, and I just love this bike. And there isn't even a, like a technical story behind it or so. I just love how it looked. I just wanted it. I already like back then I was just like, Hey, I don't know. I wanted this bike. And then now a few years ago, when I decided to buy a new bike, I wanted to go for a six 50 GS. So the G six 50 GS is the. model that's after the F650GS. My bike's from 2015. My reasoning was if it's a bit newer, it's probably better. That's probably not a correct reasoning, but that's the bike I found. So there are two versions. There's the regular version and the Satao version, which is equivalent to the Dakar version of the old 650GS. I was looking for the Satao version, but it wasn't really available. I didn't find it. So in the end, I got the regular version, which has like a cast wheel, tubeless tires, a smaller front wheel and a little bit different. But other than that, the bike is very similar to the F650 GS.

SPEAKER_08: 22:12

Okay, nice. Let's talk a bit about the ride itself. So you explored some truly remote locations and beautiful locations in your Instagram posts. You mentioned that Malawi was one of your favorite countries of the 30 that you visited. Can you share why that particular part of the journey left a deep impression on you?

SPEAKER_09: 22:32

Yeah, I think Malawi, it's indeed one of my favorite countries. So I have a few, but then based on like different perspectives and all the countries are special from just Malawi. completely different perspectives. But I think Malawi, first of all, I spent a bit more time there than others. And I really like took some time to go slow and explore, like explore little corners. And I also, I met more people there. So that also had a big effect. So first of all, like, yeah, if you ride and in some countries you meet loads of other travelers, in some countries you don't meet any. And that makes it also a bit, yeah, that you don't have, too many people to talk to. And in Malawi, there were suddenly loads of other travelers that you can talk to and not only motorcycle riders. It's such a big backpacking country. I think there were just loads of people. That was great. Also the general vibe of the country, like for some reason, I mean, people are very friendly in Africa everywhere, but I've been, but for some reason, Could be coincidence, but in Malawi, I felt even more welcome. Everyone was friendly. It's always an advantage when everyone... They speak English as well. So in the French speaking countries, for example, it's quite difficult because I don't speak French and I try to learn a little bit, but I didn't succeed. But then in some countries, it's almost impossible to communicate with the people who live there. And in Malawi, that was way easier and they were very welcoming and friendly. And Malawi has this Malawi lake. It's just also just a beautiful country. So staying once like at a sort of cliff or viewing the lake, it's just... Landscape wise, it's also beautiful.

SPEAKER_08: 24:14

And you also mentioned that you had really good weather when you were there. Maybe that was just one of the posts that was nice. Or is that also the place where you ended up having to have a local drive your bike up the muddy road?

SPEAKER_09: 24:23

Yeah, I think the weather was good. It always depends on the season. And for me, if you don't end up in a tropical rainstorm, then the weather has been good.

SPEAKER_08: 24:32

Yeah, that's a nice segue into the next question I have for you. So in your post, you mentioned extreme weather, the heat in the Sahara that you almost passed out off your bike, tropical rain. icy mountain passes and Patagonia winds. Of those different riding environments that are clearly challenging, is there any which stick out as the most challenging?

SPEAKER_09: 24:53

So first of all, yeah, the Patagonian winds, that's then because afterwards I continued in South America. But in Africa, it was definitely more challenging. I would say the most challenging part was the heat in general. In many regions, it was... it became almost unbearable especially then with motorcycle gear and then when you have to do when you ride it's usually okay but then when you have to do a border crossing or otherwise stop and really do things and run around and it's uh like i struggled dealing with that um and yeah the most extreme was definitely um in the the sahara crossing which i did in the summer which i would not recommend anyone doing my thought was Okay, this was just my timing. I happened to set off in the summer and I wanted to go south. And I thought, nah, it must be doable. So I cannot explore, for example, Mauritania in the desert then because in the summer it's just, it's sweltering, it's unbearable heat. But my reasoning was, okay, the main road goes along the coast, so it should be fine. And it was fine along the coast, but there was also at least one bit that went a little bit land inwards and then got really, really hot. Like hot in the sense that

SPEAKER_08: 26:13

I

SPEAKER_09: 26:14

regretted my decision. It was quite dangerous. It was really too much and was really dangerous. So I thought, oh yeah, I'll just deal with it. I know it will be hot, it won't be comfortable, but It will be fine. But I would not recommend that.

SPEAKER_08: 26:31

In Africa, it was the heat. And in Patagonia, it was the winds.

SPEAKER_09: 26:35

Yeah. Of course, winds are also difficult to deal with for a long period of time. Because in places like Patagonia, there's so much wind that you ride at an angle. Then wind comes from the side, pushes you out. The motorcycle is tilted to the side because you have to press against the wind. And the worst part, I think, is the helmet because the wind presses on the helmet and that strains your neck a lot. So either you have to look into the wind or just let the wind take the helmet and then try to keep your eyes on the road. So yeah, the winds were also challenging, but it was all okay. I would say the heat in Africa, that was... most difficult to deal with.

SPEAKER_08: 27:17

Yeah, interesting. I was reading another travel blog and someone said that they had the peak on their adventure helmet and very quickly into the first hour of the winds. They were like, they had to sort of strip everything off their helmet that they could do to possibly make themselves have less wind resistance. So in terms of... bureaucracy in dealing with paperwork. So you mentioned that the one in West Africa was particularly challenging, not just because of the heat, but because of paperwork itself. Is that a fair statement?

SPEAKER_09: 27:50

Yeah, that's absolutely a fair statement. So there are quite many countries you cross in West Africa and every country has sort of their own rules for visa and for bike imports. Now the bike imports weren't that much of a hassle, but mainly the visa, the process to obtain the visa. So it wasn't like a general approach for the countries. So it was really every countries you really have to dig your teeth into the problem of how do I get a visa? And some it's more easy and some it's a bit more difficult. But just organizing all the visa was, well, it took a lot of energy. Although I have to say, to be fair, I had quite a big advantage because when I arrived in Dakar, for example, and also one time later, because it was part of this holiday window, which I mentioned earlier, so I had a chance to go back. So some of the visa I could also get at home. That was very nice. And some of the visa I got on the road. So what you usually do... It really depends on the country, but usually you find the correct embassy of that country would like to obtain a visa in one of the previous countries and try to get it there. But that also often changes. So sometimes, for example, one certain country, you got to get your visa at a certain embassy because they issue visa, but it can happen from one day to the other that they just stop that. I was, for example, in... When I was in Freetown in Sierra Leone, many people, that was the go-to place to get your Ghana visa back then, I think. And then during the week I was there, from one day to the other, they just stopped issuing it. I mean, I got my Ghana visa and everything before, but travelers were coming, wanting to get their visa, and then they just stopped issuing it.

SPEAKER_08: 29:47

So what happened? So I guess you learned about this by meeting other travelers and they just stopped. Yeah.

SPEAKER_09: 29:51

Yeah, exactly. So what happens on these trips is that you really get into little communities. So by different platforms, everyone tries to stay a bit connected because information changes so quickly there. Everyone, like you have to be up to date and you also, especially for me, like when I travel on my own, I want to be like, it's nice that other people are aware, uh, like of your whereabouts. So, so of course people at home, but, but also, um, other travelers around, for example, to cross Nigeria. So we had like our own little WhatsApp group. Hey, okay. We all cross. approximately at the same time. So, so everyone kind of knew, and let's say someone has issues so that you can reach out to each other. So, uh, with these same communities, um, there's also a lot of communication going on about paperwork, like, Hey, someone might say, I tried out to get the visa here. Uh, and it worked or I, Hey, today I tried out to get a visa here and it didn't work or it worked, but you have to make sure you got this, this, this.

SPEAKER_08: 30:54

Yeah, that's, that's really cool. It's also, I mean, the technology is fantastic. If you think about WhatsApp, I, um, I was listening to a podcast a few years back and the, it was a large portion of the time, the, the Indian, um, there was the education system in one particular region of India uses that technology. as their main communication. They have groups and subgroups. And I mean, WhatsApp is an amazing tool for staying in touch and also for cascading out communication. So it's great that you guys had a network like that. Let's talk about the gear and the grit, if we were going to name this segment. So there's a theory which states that there's actually no perfect bike. And that the bike that you've got is the perfect bike. So that said, you had already owned your 2015 BMW And that was something that you had already had. So when you had that bike, were there any must-have features when you thought about the bike for this trip, or did it all happen so quickly? organically that the bike was already there and it was in Dakar. And you're like, how do you prepare for parts and how do you figure out what to pack and to take with you?

SPEAKER_09: 32:06

Yeah, that's quite an interesting journey. I would definitely agree with the statement, any bike is good. But in general, it was just there. I did get a bike that... It had some very basic travel modifications, so the previous owner put that on. So some like a more comfortable seat and the steering wheel was a little bit higher, but not really more than that. But then, to be honest, I mainly wanted to start and to go. So to my embarrassment. I set off basically completely unprepared. So I didn't have like a setup. I had a little luggage roll, put some clothes in. I didn't take camping gear to be in the start at the start. I didn't take tools. I didn't take spare parts. I just went, I brought it. So at that point. Good for you. I didn't really go like, I didn't even work on the bike myself at all yet. So I, before I brought it to the workshop and asked like, Hey, can you please make it so it doesn't break in the next, I don't know how many thousand kilometers. So that was basically the approach. I mean, later, I mean, I learned, yeah, like I learned so much during that trip, but that's basically how it started. Also in terms of setup, yeah, like I have a little luggage roll I bought when I got my first license when I was 23 for€15.99 from a like Lewis store, it's a motorcycle store. And I rode like 350, 200,000 kilometers with it all over the world. everywhere and it's perfectly fine so so i just i still use it i love it very much okay so it's just a basic luggage roll. Yeah. And, and, but then, so, so that's how I started. And then it very quickly, like, like it really evolved. So, so like from Dakar, like in these four or five months that I had in between. So let's say the trip to Dakar was like the first test taste.

SPEAKER_07: 34:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_09: 34:01

All of these things. And then I really thought about, okay, what, what, what else can I do? So I got some, so I got some no name side bags and I, I mean, I took my camping gear at that time, like a little cooker and everything. So I was a bit more self-reliant. and um yeah actual tools and spare parts and everything so i think i set myself up then dude like while i was riding through west africa um which of course if you do one big trip you don't have the chance to do it that much on the run but i would still say to some degree

SPEAKER_08: 34:31

yeah great answer and it's it's it's um it ties into something i want to ask you a bit later on which is about in terms of people saying it's got to be perfect to go out you just did it i think that's amazing um So the luggage roll that you mentioned that you bought for$15.99 years ago, if you could only take five essential pieces of gear with you, that would obviously be one of them. What other would you be here for?

SPEAKER_09: 34:54

So in terms of essential piece of gear, I think most essential is that the... motorcycle keeps running. That's what I learned. So I was stranded on the side of the road more than once. And once I learned which tools and parts to take, yeah, that that really helped me out tremendously. So for example, I had a lot of electrical problems. And once I had my, like, I had a little jump starter, so it could always like start. So that's just most essential everything else, like even the tent. So I didn't have a tent for all of the trip, especially in Southern, Eastern Africa. I camped a lot, but in Western and Central Africa, I didn't really camp. So this camping gear isn't really essential. They're everywhere, little guest houses. You can go. So I would say the most essential gear, if you can call it gear, is just take everything to make sure the bike keeps running. Also, of course, I had, I think, six or seven flat tires. I am very lucky and very happy about my tubeless tires. So I have little plugs and I have an air compressor. So it's always like just okay again in five minutes. So I don't like, it's not a big deal if I have a flat tire or something. So I would say these sort of small things are the most essential ones to take.

SPEAKER_08: 36:11

All right. Good, good, good answer. That's great. It's interesting because you segue perfectly into what I wanted to ask you next, which was in terms of breakdowns. So obviously breakdowns happen. And from your post, I thought it was really inspiring. It said, considering the fact that you've traveled for two years and you had a total of only 11 breakdowns, six punctures, three electrical system issues, one cooling system and one drive chain failure. That's a pretty amazing record considering the Having said that, and I think you touched on this a moment ago, what was the experience of making your repairs on the tubeless tires as opposed to having to peel the tire off and repair a tube?

SPEAKER_09: 36:48

The tubeless tire, it was really, it was no problem. So I didn't even have, so I didn't even have like these systems where you really have to, these rubber plugs or so, little like screws with a, they have a layer of... sort of glue on it. I'm not sure what material it is. So you just screw them in. So what I did, like it was usually like a nail. So I see that there's a nail in my tire. So just pull it out, screw in the little plug and pump up the tire again. And that's it. It was a non-issue. Wow. So I would say if I ever get a new travel bike, it should have tubeless tires.

SPEAKER_08: 37:27

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. That's amazing that it was so quick because I've seen so many of these travel videos where people, you know, they're tearing the bike down, they're strapping it to a tree because they don't have a center stand. They want to make sure it doesn't fall over. So they take it to some place and they put a strap around it to hold the back of the front end of the air and they pull it down. But that's fantastic. You just pull it. I hadn't seen those plugs, but, you know, you learn something new every day, right? That's fantastic.

SPEAKER_09: 37:50

Yeah. Maybe I was a bit too quick to claim it doesn't matter. I would still claim it doesn't matter which bike you go on, but I would say these little things do make a difference. But you just mentioned something else, the center stand, just little, I don't know, adjusting the chain, doing this little stuff. It's just when you're in the heat somewhere in a difficult environment, it's just... It just makes a lot of difference.

SPEAKER_08: 38:11

I just took my center stand off when I came back from school because I put the twin pegs on. I rode a Tenere 700 in the sandpit with the twin pegs on it. And I was like, that's a different machine. So I bought them. And on the Tenere 700, the center stand, the spring on the right-hand side interferes with the twin pegs on that side. So I took the center stand off. And then I came back and I was like, oh, you know, it was rainy and nasty down there and I was going to oil my chain. And I was like, oh, right. I can't just put the back... in the air and then spin it and oil it, I have to do it a different way. So yeah, I've already missed that, although I do enjoy the Twin Pegs. How many tires did you go through when you did this trip? How many actual different changes did you have to do?

SPEAKER_09: 38:54

In Africa, I went through only two rear tires and a front tire. I don't know what happened, but my front tire just made it all the way. Yeah, I don't want to throw out a number of kilometers, but it did absolutely great. So the front tire just survived the entire trip.

SPEAKER_08: 39:09

Wow.

SPEAKER_09: 39:10

And the rear tire, I changed once.

SPEAKER_08: 39:12

Wow. Okay. Fantastic.

SPEAKER_09: 39:13

But I also put on new tires in the very beginning. So I started with two absolutely new sets of tires.

SPEAKER_08: 39:19

Fresh rubber. Good. Very nice. All right. Sort of the inner journey. I want to ask you, so adventure means something different to everyone. So for you, when you think of adventure, for you, when does the adventure begin?

SPEAKER_09: 39:33

So adventure to me is when you step out of your comfort zone, very bluntly said. So actually all the days where everything went smoothly, that's I don't really have in my mind, in my memory as the adventurous days. So it was the days when everything went wrong, when there was a big breakdown or whether it was like something else big happening that wasn't really to plan. That's what felt adventurous. And I think it also really depends on... It's very personal. What is adventure? That's very personal. So for me, for example, to me, riding a gravel road somewhere in Namibia was very, very adventurous because I haven't... Before the trip, I didn't really have experience of the paved road. I just didn't know what I was doing at all. And then through Africa, I did do some little bits of unpaved roads, but it was more struggling through and it was mostly... The most difficult parts were like in cities, broken up parts, completely flooded because the rainy season has started and these things. But in principle, you could do the entire trip from like along the West coast, Europe to South Africa on paved road, except for one 25 kilometers strip in Guinea, where you have to do a mountain pass that's not paved, but it's not very difficult. and then the border crossing from Nigeria to Cameroon, but you can take a boat there. So in principle, except for these 25 kilometers, you can do everything on paved road. And I did a lot of it on paved road, not everything. But I noticed that like the parts I enjoyed most were off the paved road because that's just most beautiful. And it's just a completely different way to experience the countries. So the more I got south, the more and more I tried to stroll off the main roads, stroll off the paved roads.

SPEAKER_08: 41:18

Again, one of the common threads that we hear when speaking with people who are doing adventure motorcycle travels is that the adventure really begins when something unplanned happens. And that's pretty much what you said in the beginning. You're like, yeah, when things break down, you hadn't planned for that. But now you're going that direction, and then the adventure begins. That's a great answer. Thank you very much for that. You did, in that answer, you mentioned Cameroon. And I read your post. You said you had a high-speed boat ride there. going from Cameroon in pirate waters or something like this. It was a reference to that. Can you comment? Can you talk about that a bit? Tell me about that.

SPEAKER_09: 41:52

Yes, so one of the big bottlenecks of doing this trip going from Europe to South Africa along the West Coast is... the border crossing between Nigeria and Cameroon for several reasons. I won't go into everything, but the land border crossing is quite difficult because the main crossing was at least at the time closed. I don't know how it is now. So the paved normal crossing, also the Cameroon side on this part was difficult and it's not a place to travel. So usually most travelers, they cross a bit more north of that, but that's like a difficult terrain so you have to go to get to the border crossing and then to get from the border crossing on the cameroon side to the next town it's quite heavy off-road relatively technical and i'm sure like most riders that go through africa will have no no big problem with it so so if you're skilled like if you're very confident uh off-road then it's probably not a problem but i wasn't and i was on my own so like there was no way for me to go uh like on this route so i have heard from others they described it like how you have to go through riverbeds big rocks and like i thought okay i will just end up falling and like like

SPEAKER_08: 43:09

get washed down the river

SPEAKER_09: 43:11

yeah i would not go through like being on my like if you were with a group it would be different but being on my own i would not go through difficult terrain so i wanted to um go from Nigeria to Cameroon in a boat so you can do that two ways so there is one big boat that takes motorcycles but I've heard yeah I've just heard stories that it was a bit difficult to organize and was not so nice at least I've just heard from people who didn't have a good experience with it that doesn't mean it's generally not a good experience but I decided to not do it because there was also another option. There was like, there's a little route where some speed boats go. I think it's mostly trade. So all the way in the east of Nigeria, there's little port, like, I mean, little, like just a little shore with some small boats. They are like three motorcycle lengths big, these boats. And they mainly transport goods, but also some passengers to go to Cameroon. So it's like a three-hour boat ride to get to the Cameroon side. So that's the one I took. So that was a very interesting experience.

SPEAKER_08: 44:29

So how'd they get your bike on the boat? Did these guys lift it up and put it on? Tell me about that experience.

SPEAKER_09: 44:34

It's like a little shore. It's a little sand shore. And there are these... little boats and they have a little plank as a sort of ramp and they kind of lift it on. I mean, I don't know if five of these port guys lift it in, that's no problem. So my boat, like I said, was like three times the length of my motorcycle, like a little speedboat. And they put my motorcycle in and thought, oh, no, that looks quite great. And then they started putting more stuff in because the boat, of course, just doesn't just go for my motorcycle. Like it transports goods and everything.

SPEAKER_07: 45:13

Right.

SPEAKER_09: 45:14

And they start putting more stuff in like, I don't like packages. I don't know. goods like carpets. I saw some old plastic chairs, other plastic packages, plastic sacks with goods, like paper boxes with goods, all sorts of things. And they just, first I thought, oh, okay, that's fine. But then they just stacked it higher, higher, higher, higher, higher. And at some point my motorcycle, it just disappeared in the mountain of all the goods. And I could just, I could see like one handlebar sticking out. I was, yeah, I mean, at that point you have to trust the process because like there's no point in worrying or does something break on the bike or this or that. like you just have to accept it but then because so this little harbor it's quite it seems quite chaotic for someone like me from outside perspective because I didn't really understand how it works like it was quite loud and everything so I didn't really know for sure like what the process is like if the boat is leaving or not so they just loaded the boat but my understanding was it would sort of take quite some time until we would actually leave. And then at some point they like pushed the boat from the shore and I started to panic because it didn't seem to me the kind of place where they would wait for me. So I was like, no, no, no, where's my bike going? And then someone said like, no, no, don't worry. The boat is very full. They're just testing if it floats.

SPEAKER_08: 46:30

Oh, wow. Okay.

SPEAKER_09: 46:34

I was like, oh, okay. That was interesting.

SPEAKER_08: 46:35

And did you get in that boat with your bike or did you go in a separate boat?

SPEAKER_09: 46:38

Yeah, I got in that boat and Um, so there was, so that was part, like you can really pick like it's a tiny boat, a pile of stuff. So how the setup was, um, or first I thought there is one guy in the back of the boat where the engine, the motor is.

SPEAKER_08: 46:55

Yeah. The outboard, like an outboard motor.

SPEAKER_09: 46:56

Yeah. Yeah. And, and, but, but he cannot see because there's a pile of stuff in front. So there's another guy who's just going in front, sitting on the pile of stuff and just looking out like where to go. And then I was also on the back bench. First I thought, no, yeah, this is okay. And then we, at some point we set off and then But then like we passed some checkpoints. So it's like a very quite fixed route. So they are on the water. There are boats with like Nigerian military and they do checks. So they check your passport. They check, hey, is everything in order? And we did a few of those. And then we went into like, we went back towards the shore and I was a bit confused. And then, yeah, we went into like between some trees, into a little village. And then there were more people coming on the boat.

SPEAKER_07: 47:42

So...

SPEAKER_09: 47:43

Uh, there were like, like first I had a little bit of space, but then there were more people coming on this teeny tiny back bench on the boat that was already overloaded. So you didn't have any space anymore. And then we did a three hour ride through the sun like that. So it was, it was quite a harsh, I have to say. So I was sitting, I kind of held onto my helmet. I wish I had put sunscreen on or something to cover my head. But at the point I realized how hot the sun was. I couldn't like. was no way i could move i was just holding on to my dear life i was just kind of

SPEAKER_08: 48:14

you couldn't get your bike either yeah

SPEAKER_09: 48:16

leaning back uh couldn't really move like this boat was just full crowded it was full but uh yeah it was okay uh so we wrote like that in the setup so me and then three other passengers on the little bench in the back and the guy who's steering the boat and another one sitting on top of the pile in front of us to look out, like, where are we going? Because in the back we couldn't really see. There was just a pile of stuff in the front. And then we went to a harbor in Cameroon.

SPEAKER_08: 48:52

So when they're doing these passport checks, at any point did they say, like, were you standing out as a potential, like, why are you on the boat? Did they question you or did you have any problem with that?

SPEAKER_09: 49:00

No. I think they're used to it in the sense there aren't a ton of people doing it, but, but I wasn't, I'm not the first person I think who crosses this way. So, yeah, I mean, of course I stand out as the foreigner, so I usually draw attention to myself. So they sometimes ask questions, but more like, uh, but, but not, but not in the suspicious way, but just, uh, what are you doing? And like, like in an interested way. Uh, so, so it's not a particularly negative kind of attention or something. Um, but then when I arrived in Cameroon, uh, there, there was a big, there I really stood out as a foreigner because that was a much bigger port and there were a lot of boats and a lot of chaos. Uh, it was, it looked like. I don't know, the set of Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Very, very chaotic everywhere, like people running around doing their stuff and a lot of little boats, like wooden decks and everything. But there were so many boats that we couldn't really get to the shore. But then someone like spotted me and was like, ah, okay, like she has to go to immigration. She has to like, I don't know, go through the process like for foreigners to... Uh, so, so, so someone spotted me and then like, it was a big thing about getting, trying to get our boat, like in an accelerated manner to the shore.

SPEAKER_08: 50:23

Okay, so they expedited you guys.

SPEAKER_09: 50:25

Yeah, there were some people coming up saying, yeah, you have to come to immigration. But then I didn't really want to leave the boat, which was still floating on the water. So they wanted me to go across all the other boats, like stepping on the other boats. They were all waiting to go on shore, to go to immigration. But I wasn't really sure at that point. It was a bit chaotic there. I wasn't sure if I should leave my... all my stuff, my motorcycle and my stuff just floating somewhere in the harbor in the water. And then some other passenger told me, nah, just don't leave the boat. So in the end, I didn't. There was a lot of discussion, but in the end, they let the boat dock.

SPEAKER_08: 51:06

Oh, so you went, you passed the other boats and you went right into the quay. Okay.

SPEAKER_09: 51:10

They unloaded the boat. So, but once again, You asked before about how do they load the boat. The unloading was even more impressive. They just pick up the motorcycle and just lifted it on shore.

SPEAKER_08: 51:21

All this is being done with manual labor. There's no lifting equipment. There's no cranes or anything. No, there

SPEAKER_09: 51:26

was nothing. Wow. Absolutely nothing.

SPEAKER_08: 51:28

Cool. Very cool. So people and places. You met some amazing people. people and you travel to amazing places. And one of the things I thought was really great as a common thread throughout all of your posts is that you're extremely positive. You're amazingly positive about the experiences on the road. These are some things I thought were really cool. You never paid a bribe. You never felt unsafe from people, maybe from boat rides. You never had anything stolen. You never had a traffic accident and you never got sick. So you wrote that you found people to be open, welcoming, and kind. What is one encounter or human connection that really stuck with you along the way?

SPEAKER_09: 52:07

So mostly I think it's just the general willingness to help. So you hear a lot like before, that's what I'm often asked, like, oh, is it safe? Or, oh, there's corruption or there's this, this, that. And just as one example, I was... i was setting off i thought hey i only have soft luggage should i have like other luggage to be able to lock my luggage or something yeah but then once i was there it was just oh this is a different world like maybe in southern and eastern africa maybe in some regions it's different but but like for example in west africa it's like no one takes your stuff it's it's like people are so friendly it's just a general vibe it's through a number of It's more the mount of small encounters. So for example, in Zambia, I was riding along and started drizzling a little bit. So I stopped and I wanted to put my jacket on. And there were some women on the other side of the road. They were a bit excited and they said, you have to find shelter, find shelter. And at first I was a bit confused. I thought, nah, it's just drizzling a little bit. But yeah, these people are from here, so I trust them. So I followed them to the little village. Yeah, sure enough, once I had like, they made space for my motorcycle to have a shelter and for me to have a shelter. And then like a big rainstorm came through. We had a conversation. Well, they didn't, I mean, they didn't speak English and I didn't speak the language. So the conversation was basically, I was trying to pronounce everyone's name and they just like, they were lying on the floor laughing.

SPEAKER_08: 53:41

Great experience.

SPEAKER_09: 53:41

They offered me food and it's just such a... As soon as you're in Africa, and I'm generalizing here, of course, Africa has many regions. I'm describing it as if it's one place. But my general experience has been this general culture of people helping each other. Like you don't... I'm, of course, I want to be self-sustainable and... said I learned a lot about like how to fix my bike etc but I also learned there is no harm in being not completely self-reliant or needing help sometimes so whenever I needed something there were people to help like one time I was broken down another like in the end it turned out the ignition like some like the ignition of my bike failed there was like another traveler someone I traveled with for a bit like helped but also I phoned some mechanic that fixed my bike before in like in south africa so uh via whatsapp like they like he helped like diagnose the issue because it was quite specific thing so i said oh okay check that relay okay they are these wires this this color wire this color wire this color wire what happens if you do this and that and

SPEAKER_08: 54:50

wow and that's all over whatsapp

SPEAKER_09: 54:52

yeah all over whatsapp and videos and and this type of stuff and so somewhere in rural malawi and it's still like it wasn't really a problem. And another time, for example, uh, so you asked me for one encounter, but I was just, I was just like, and now I can think of all these, like there were all these little ones. So another time I, my, my radiator leaked. Um, so my, my bag was overheating and I kind of made it to a little, like in some little town in Zambia to a car workshop. And they just, even though they were working on cars, not on motorcycles, they just made sure to organize help. They like did everything they could. to try to help and in the end we got it all fixed together with a combined effort

SPEAKER_08: 55:35

that's nice it's um it is it's as you say coming back to your earlier comment that's when the adventure begins and people genuinely are there to be helpful and they're they're they're interested like they're interested in you and who you are as a person they want to be part of that part of the story saskia It has been super interesting in chatting with you and thank you very much for taking the time to sit down with Adventure Cannonball Podcast and share with us the stories of your time on the road and your adventures and sort of understanding the good in people and trusting society, trusting that there's good out there and you'll land on the happy side of that. I look forward to following your travels and finding out what's next for you. Thank you very much for joining us today.

SPEAKER_09: 56:22

Thank you so much for having me. I enjoyed it a lot, having this conversation.

SPEAKER_01: 56:28

Ladies and gentlemen, can I please have your attention? I've just been handed an urgent and horrifying news story. And I need all of you to stop what you're doing and listen. Cannonball!

SPEAKER_03: 56:43

Hey, Cannonballers, thanks for subscribing to our podcast. We appreciate it. If you're not a cheap Canadian and want to buy us a coffee, head on over to buymeacoffee.com. Or better yet, buy us a case of Sweet Ass Craft IPA. We'll list it on patreon.com. Links are in the show notes. Now, back to the riveting podcast in progress.

SPEAKER_05: 57:08

And we are back. Nice. Nicely done. That was great. And she's an inspiration. I think we could all take something away from her attitude. It's fantastic.

SPEAKER_08: 57:18

Yeah. And one of the things I thought was cool is that she's like, if you look at the... her Instagram posts. It's like she gives some statistics, some of which I read in the interview, but she's very positive. And she's like, I just like trust that the people, trust that the people are good and friendly. And they're there to support you and show you the best parts of their country and show you how good people are. And I think that she is, her story really spells that out in such a nice way. And she's got killer pictures.

SPEAKER_05: 57:53

Yeah, for sure. And You know, if you listen to our Austin Vince interview from a few episodes ago that I did in the UK when I was there, he said the same thing, is that when he goes to Mauritania and all these Islamic state places, he goes, it was nothing but positive. It is a common thread through these travelers is whether it's. The Arab world or Africa, it is nothing but positive experiences.

SPEAKER_08: 58:20

Trust that the world will support you and go. I used to at the bottom of my emails when I was a yacht captain, I used to sign it, live in the dream. And then somebody said, that's not cool because you are. And that's a bit arrogant. So I changed it. And I said, trust,

SPEAKER_05: 58:38

trust that the net will be there and jump. Wow. Look at you. You're going to have a whole sign of a whole sign, a whole series of self-affirmation posters a la Taylor Lawson soon. I know it. You know, I'm just, you can, um, you can get them on, uh, the t-shirts self-affirmation, ADB Cannibal T-shirt shop. Yeah. We're not about self-affirmation. We're about, don't be a weenie. Just go out there and do it. I guess that's all self-affirmation is I'm not a weenie. I'm going to do this.

SPEAKER_08: 59:09

I'm going to do this. Yeah. And you know what? Gosh, darn it. People like me.

UNKNOWN: 59:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_08: 59:15

Or that's what I keep telling them anyways. Aaron Pufall, do you have any

SPEAKER_05: 59:22

adventure cannibal news that you'd like to share? I have a ton. So, um, The GPS Checkpoint Rally app is ready for testing. So if you are someone that organizes roadbook events or any kind of a rally, whether it's orienteering or GPX based, and you need a way of verifying that your competitors have reached a checkpoint or waypoint, please reach out at the Cannonball website and I will set you up with a testing profile And we would love people to go out and test and give us some feedback. This could be

SPEAKER_08: 1:00:02

anything, right? I mean, it could be like, I mean, lately I've been doing some sailing, so it could be on a sailboat, right? It could be anything.

SPEAKER_05: 1:00:08

It could absolutely be on a sailboat. So if you have, let's say a rally where people have to go to an extreme buoy and around the buoy and come back, but you're not sure if they actually made it, you just have one waypoint out there and the app runs in the background on people's phones and they sail out there or hot air balloon out there. And once they've achieved that checkpoint, it is recorded in the phone, whether it's offline or online. And then the next time that device connects to the internet through wifi or through a cellular connection, it will report to the database the time that you achieved that waypoint or checkpoint and the scoreboard is updated. Yeah, so it can absolutely be used for anything and we've beta tested it. There's some videos up on YouTube, but it's available for free for the community and we'd really like some people to help with some further testing.

SPEAKER_08: 1:00:59

Nice. So what do people have to do to get that? Like what do they have? How do they access that?

SPEAKER_05: 1:01:04

Yeah, just go to the ADV Cannonball website. There's a little form you fill out and then i will reply with uh login credentials and then just watch the videos of how to create a rally pretty easy gpx files what have you done with those yeah so all the competitors in the 2025 adv cannonball rally in the u.s uh all the gpx files and checkpoint files have been released so if you haven't got the newsletter please go to the notice page and enter your password and all of the checkpoint files are there and if you're not receiving our newsletters you need to reach out to me because it's going to spam. And this has happened a few times with people. But anyways, all of the checkpoints are released for 2025. And I also want to talk about is there are some extreme checkpoints in 2025 and 2026. And I want to talk about who should attempt to achieve an extreme checkpoint. And an extreme checkpoint is how it sounds. It's going to take you a little extra time to get to it. And in 2026, there's going to be some more peril attached with a extreme checkpoint. And if you are interested in gathering as many points as possible and you're not interested in achieving the first to arrive bonus each day, then getting an extreme checkpoint is probably up your alley. But don't attempt an extreme checkpoint if you are behind on time or if you're tired or you have a mechanical failure. Only if If you are in 100% positive standing in that day, those are the people who should attempt to get an extreme checkpoint.

SPEAKER_08: 1:02:44

One of the things that you put out before is that you said if you did this, anyone can do this rally in a Prius with bald tires. Could they hit those extreme checkpoints in a Prius with bald tires?

SPEAKER_05: 1:02:55

In 2025, yes. 2026, I haven't come up with a checkpoint, but perhaps we're going to have to change that. change that analysis because i think people are asking to be things to be a little more difficult and challenging so perhaps we have to change that that analysis in in 2026 so it'd be like prius with um knobbies yeah with ta all-terrain ko2 tires and you know maybe uh maybe

SPEAKER_08: 1:03:22

maybe a two inch

SPEAKER_05: 1:03:23

lift

SPEAKER_08: 1:03:23

yeah some can make big blocks on that would be good that's right

SPEAKER_05: 1:03:29

All right, carry on. All right. And then I also want to talk about when you're at an ADV Ken Ball rally is a little bit of etiquette. Because we partner with Hilton Hotels, I don't want to ruin that relationship. So at the end of dinner, if you've gone out, if you've taken your motorcycle, just make sure your bike is in Parc Fermé by around 10 p.m. And this way, everyone can get to bed and we're not overly annoying other guests in the hotel, even though we kind of take over the whole hotel. Let's try to plan on having bikes in Parc Fermé by about 10 p.m. 10 PM. That way I can go to bed also. So let's try to be respectful. And also in the morning, please don't go to your motorcycle at 6 AM and start doing wheelies down the parking lot. I encourage wheelies and parking lots, just not at 6 AM in the hotel that we might have to come back to.

SPEAKER_08: 1:04:18

Yeah. But usually do it in someone else's hotel. Probably better.

SPEAKER_05: 1:04:21

Yeah. That's fine with me. You know what I mean? Just, and also cover up your rally number. Yeah. Good. Good. Good. All right. What about shipping? There is one spot left for 2025 and it is one spot for after the rally. So if you want to get your bike home after the rally with our shipping, please reach out to me. And I prefer if it was in Georgia up to about New York. That would be really convenient for me.

SPEAKER_08: 1:04:48

Good to know. All right. So I understand that the 2026, obviously you've had the 2026 Adventure Cannonball. It's open for registration. And what else do you have to share about that?

SPEAKER_05: 1:05:01

Yeah, so 2025, the waitlist is open, but 2026 is open for registration. We've already had some people sign up and the schedule is also posted. I just finished it yesterday. The schedule for 2026 is up and we're really excited about that. The route is fantastic and it's actually a lot better than 2025, but it's a little more difficult. But I still think people will be able to accomplish it. And I wanted to... some of the signups. I'm really excited that we have two signups from the 2025 rally. That's Mr. Skidmore and Mark Turner have both signed up for 2026 and they are veterans from the 2025 rally. And also we have some new people, Rick from Duval, Washington. He signed up for 2026 and then a real badass Morgan Webb from Washington on his Panamera special. he signed up for 2026. So thanks for you two guys, newcomers for signing up. Very cool. Very cool. And you've already, you already selling us the spots for the shipping as well. Yeah, there are four spots for 2026 from the finish line in only two spots available to the finish, to the start line, sorry, for 2026. Now it

SPEAKER_08: 1:06:20

might be a bit early, but can you say where 2026 is starting from and ending?

SPEAKER_05: 1:06:24

Yeah, the route is established. It's starting in Plymouth Rock We always try to be poetic, right? So it starts in Plymouth Rock and ends on the California coast as usual. We haven't picked a spot for the awards banquet yet, but I will get on it. But the exact route is published and we've upped the off-road, optional off-road sections on the western portion of the country for 2026. Fantastic. Just to be clear,

SPEAKER_08: 1:06:56

the banquet area and venue you has been picked for 2025

SPEAKER_05: 1:07:00

oh yeah that's uh and it's great 2025 is at the portofino hotel and uh it's going to be great we have we have spent every penny of the budget uh but we want the first year to be uh to be a little bit special so we're really excited about that and you will be at the awards banquet as a matter of fact you're going to run the awards banquet i'm not sure if you're aware of it but uh you have been you have let

SPEAKER_08: 1:07:24

me just let me just make a note here hang on taylor note to self you will be running the awards banquet

SPEAKER_05: 1:07:28

yeah So congratulations on that promotion. That's really great. Thank you. Good announcement. Thanks. And that's it for what I have.

SPEAKER_08: 1:07:36

All right. Well, based on that, I'm just going to see if I can find a really hideous blazer.

SPEAKER_05: 1:07:42

Yeah, absolutely. I have mine packed. As a matter of fact, mine is from the Alcan 5000 Winter Rally Awards Banquet. So I have my ugly blazer already selected. All right.

SPEAKER_08: 1:07:55

You know, I said that we're going to have an ugly blazer contest or competition at this. You had announced we were going to make it like an event every year. Whoever gets the ugliest blazer is going to win that award. And I announced that. And then some people very close to me said I only needed to go as far as my closet.

SPEAKER_05: 1:08:14

Listen, if you have patches on your elbows... On that Jack, it's probably a front runner. Damn. Damn it. Or if it's made of corduroy or velour. These are also very positive things. What if I've got all three of those in one? You might be a winner, sir. You're a winner. I'm going to win a chicken dinner. And on that note, you got anything else? Roll the outro.

SPEAKER_04: 1:08:40

Thanks for listening to the ADV Cannonball podcast. Please give us a five-star review on your preferred podcast platform. That really helps us with the algorithm gods. All hail the algorithm gods. You can buy us a coffee on buymecoffee.com slash ADV Cannonball or directly help save this sinking ship for the price of a pint at patreon.com slash ADV Cannonball. Follow us on all the socials with the handle at ADV Cannonball. If you'd like to send us a question or

SPEAKER_06: 1:10:24

And we kind of got a plan, got to get across that sign. Everybody lend a hand, just like brothers in a band. It's a motorcycle scene, it's all about fun. A savage run machine heading south of the sun. So scream if you want to go faster. This is a pretty successful disaster. Mondo Sahara! This is a pretty successful disaster. Montessori!