Steve Stewart - Steve and the Tiger Riding the Americas

S TEVE AND
THE T IGER

Riding the Americas

S TEVE AND
THE T IGER

Riding the Americas

STEVE STEWART

Copyright Steve Stewart 2015

The right of Steve Stewart to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder.

Published under licence by Brown Dog Books and

The Self-Publishing Partnership, 7 Green Park Station, Bath BA1 1JB

www.selfpublishingpartnership.co.uk

ISBN printed book: 978-1-78545-076-1

ISBN e-book: 978-1-78545-077-8

Cover design by Kevin Rylands

Internal design by Tim Jollands

Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon CR0 4YY

FRONT COVER PHOTO

Riding away from the Brooks Mountains towards Prudhoe Bay.

Contents

Introduction

Growing up in Scotland in the 60s and 70s I only knew one person with a motorcycle and he only ever rode around the streets and back roads of my local town. It was during a school trip to Urquhart Castle on the shores of Loch Ness as a teenager that I became aware that you could go touring and on holiday on a motorcycle. I met a couple of Germans who were riding around Scotland on motorbikes. They looked; cool, interesting, different, and adventurous and I thought to myself, someday Im going to do that.

A few years later I got my first bike and short trips around my local area and Scotland followed. I then planned a bigger trip with my girlfriend Margaret (Mags) (who would later become my wife) to go on a touring holiday to Torquay in Devon, England. So at 18 years old I set off on my first tour, two up on a little Kawasaki Z250 four-stroke. We were fully loaded, complete with camping gear and panniers, and rode all the way from Airdrie to Torquay a distance of over 500 miles (seemed a lot at the time). That was in 1980, when the M74 didnt exist as it was still the A74. It was a long trip south and an even longer trip back north. It rained continuously and the little Kawasaki struggled with the added burden of three gallons of scrumpy cider, two of which were tied on the panniers and the other was on the seat between Mags legs. But I loved it and it gave me a taste for touring that would inspire me to go further afield.

However, my motorcycle touring was going to have to wait, because I decided a career in the Army as a paratrooper would be a great way of seeing the world. But motorcycling was to play a key part in my first few years, as injuries from a crash resulted in a medical board, where I was declared no longer fit for parachuting. This left me with two choices; leave or transfer to another unit. I chose the latter. As I was only barred from parachuting, I chose to transfer to the British Armys only complete commando regiment, 29 Commando Regiment RA. After successfully completing the All Arms Commando Course, I moved to Plymouth, where I would spend all but two of the next 26 years with the regiment.

And I did indeed travel the world, both on training exercises and multiple Operational Deployments. I even had the privilege of riding a motorcycle as part of my job and deployed to Kuwait on Operation Telic (Iraq War 2003) on a Harley Davidson MT350. For those unfamiliar with this bike, it is an off-road motorcycle of sorts, as in it has knobbly tyres and is rugged. But like its road-going cousins it was very heavy and cumbersome! Alas, it was to end in tears and a trip back through the casualty evacuation chain to Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham, but thats another story.

My years in the Army meant that my touring was limited to short trips during leave periods. Over the years I have toured all over Europe, mainly going to see Moto GPs and World Superbike races. I have been to almost every circuit; some more than once, some more than twice and my particular favourite, Valencia, six times. On other occasions I would ride through Europe to join my family, who had flown out to a holiday destination, before riding back at the end. Id even managed to ride a Harley Davidson through the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia for a week during an exercise in the USA. Some trips were just long weekends, whilst others were for two or three weeks. Sometimes I went with my wife riding pillion and sometimes with friends and colleagues, but the majority were solo. I always preferred riding alone as it meant more freedom; to do what I wanted, ride where and when I wanted, for as long as I wanted and as fast as I wanted.

All of these trips were done on sports bikes (except for my short Harley trip), sometimes with minimal kit (a small backpack) and other times with a full range of camping equipment and panniers.

Over the years I have also raced enduro and motocross and suffered a fair amount of injuries and broken bones, some due to work but most due to motocross accidents. Yet nothing has ever dampened my enthusiasm for riding and travelling and my aim to do a once-in-a-lifetime big dream trip someday.

The big trip was never far from my mind and was always being fuelled by reading books and magazine articles about motorcycle touring. One in particular stuck in my mind; Bike magazine ran an article about packing in your job, riding off on your motorcycle to exotic countries and seeking adventure. It reaffirmed my aim to do likewise someday. They then serialised Dan Walshs travels in South America and this inspired me even more. But I was still in the Army, enjoying my life and my career, and promotion prospects were good, so the dream trip would have to wait.

Fast forward to 2013 and the government were rolling out a programme of redundancy as part of the defence cuts in an effort to reduce numbers in the Armed forces. It ran in three tranches and when tranche three of the programme was announced, I was pleased to see that my rank (Captain) and job spec made me eligible to apply for redundancy and early retirement. I still had a few years left but I wasnt getting any younger, so I carefully weighed up all the pros and cons of either staying in, or retiring with the redundancy package. After a lot of thought, and discussions with my wife, we decided the package was too good an opportunity to miss, so I applied. Six months later I received a letter informing me that I had been successful in my application for redundancy.

I retired aged 51 and set about fulfilling my dream of riding a motorcycle somewhere exotic, adventurous and further afield. And it would all be funded by my redundancy payment. My wife had agreed to let me go travelling for six or seven months before getting a job, so then I had to decide where I was going, and when. As I said, I have travelled around most of the world with the Army, but had never been to South America. The two books that inspired me most were; Dan Walshs These Are the Days that Must Happen to You and Lois Pryces Lois on the Loose, both of whom rode through the Americas, so it was an easy choice; that was where I was going. It is also easy administratively as there is no requirement for carnets or visas anywhere in the Americas for British citizens; all you have to do is get there.

Now, when I told my family and friends about my plans to ride through the Americas they all asked the same question: isnt that dangerous? Which made me laugh, because during my service in the Army, I deployed on numerous operational tours (including four to Afghanistan) and none of them ever showed any concern, or asked if it was dangerous. My wife and family just thought that was normal because it was my job. Now I was about to embark on a motorcycle trip to South America, they all thought it was dangerous and were concerned for me.