And so it begins...

And so, it is with no small degree of trepidation that I put fingers to keyboard (at last) and take just a few minutes more away from my studies to write this, my inaugural post on a blog. Some would see this as a sign of impending doom - I prefer to see it as the Ludite joining the fifth column. Who knows what mischief I can wreak from within the machine?

But enough about that.

The real reason this blog exists is as a vehicle to disseminate my perspective on perhaps the most insane thing I have ever done (and there is plenty of stiff competition, I assure you) - a cross-continental journey by motorcycle from London, UK, to Cape Town, South Africa. In between, we will be visiting no less than 22 countries, spanning 3 continents, for a total distance of 24,000 km. Give or take a few. Below is a a map which illustrates the proposed route quite nicely:

As you can see, this trip is no small undertaking... never mind the fact that my experience riding motorcycles, before this year, was measured in days. And those on an an old Honda Trail 90, something like the one shown here:

This is quite a different machine from the one I'll be fused to over the next 3 months (give or take). But more on that later.

I'll be embarking from London with 3 other fine, upstanding your men: Tyson Brust, Ted Macher (both fellow medical students at U of T), and Tom Smith (representing the UK on this multinational expedition). All are veterans from last year's Tour of the Americas, and some even have the scars to prove it. Ted, however, is not so much going with us as flying on ahead and waiting for us to catch up. This, because while the rest of us will be riding the stolid, dependable Kawasaki KLR650, Ted has settled on a Honda CBR 900RR:

This puppy tops out at somewhere near 300 kph vs. 140 kph for the mules. It also has the mules beat in the looks department (although most things on God's Green Earth can claim the same). I've been parking my clunker next to varous and sundry sport bikes over the past week to aclimatize myself to this state of affairs. Moreover, Ted will be leaving us come Turkey, ostensibly to rocket back to the UK and sell the CBR before flying home. We shall see.