Assieta

just been training in the alps. with a wonderful forum community - a bunch of really cool guys from northern italy. we were 25 geezers. had a wonderful time up there and they were teaching me all the tricks of the motox trade. bum back on the slopes for more grip, steering on the pegs whilst standing, foot out round the corners, leaning in then opening up the gas.... so much fun was had.

Muti charity

the whole idea to do this journey came about when south africa won the world cup. i wanted to do something for my home country and be a part of this prestigous event and moment for our country. i cant play soccer, and ive little else to offer. so i decided to make a book. documenting the soccer culture throughout africa in the running up to the world cup. my goal is to find the purity of football. and i figured that the poorest kids on earth would know something about it.

I am about to open up a charity association with matteo, cristina and puggina. we are registering it tomorrow. its called muti. and it will be used to organize and divert funds that we gather through sponsorship. yes, were walking the town and knocking on doors for cash. which in turn will be used to sponsor the production of the book that i will be producing during my travels in africa. all proceeds raised through the selling of the book go directly to charity. we wanna buy medicines to help cure children suffering from AIDS and TB. we will be donating to the Nelson Mandelas children fund in s.a. and a small small charity in cape town called Fikelele. thats it. ive already been to ducati, and this weekend were going to see a huge tent company called ferrino. gonna ask them to sponsor us all the equipment we need and give us some green loving for the charities funds. wish us luck.

Ducati

Went to present my bike trip to Ducati. asking them for some dosh and two spanky multistradas 1100's! they were really interested in sponsoring us... in return for all the glitz ill be giving them a full on desert photoshoot and ducati blog.

cant seem to shake off this italian style stuff... i wanna what the bedouins will think when i cruise past on that sexy latin numba? cluck, they load the chamber of their kalashnikovs in unison.

getting sorted...

just bought my kit. boots (lovely sidi crossfire blue seude numbers), a good helmet, motox pants and a decent jacket. went riding in the alps last weekend in the rain, the mud and fek it was fun. spent 4 hours up there in the clouds on col de lys. just me, the goats and the cows.

got my carnet pretty much sorted. the director of my insurance company is writing the heavy cheque for the many countries import duties. egypt being the biggest and baddest of them all. they want a guaranteed cheque valued at like 8 times the price of the bike. eish.

ordered some bags in the post from london. side panniers. called andystrapz... http://www.andystrapz.co.uk/ but they got stolen in the post! so theyre resending them now. some geezer in the post office might be needing some xtra luggage on his postal bike (for stealing more goodies i expect). anyhow, things are coming together slowly but surely. still have to order my gps, pannier racks and the millions of spares that i need.

last but not least.... looks like matteo will be coming in the trip with me! super happy about that. hes buying a bike right now. a TTR. so well have a similar bike. good for spares.