On Saturday, I’m going to ride my CBF across Turkey. See the interactive map on my website? The orange line marks my planned path. I’m calling it the Oriental Express.
Spanning more than 4,500 kilometers, the journey is going to be huge. I will state with no ego, this is something no other motorcycle rider in Armenia has ever done before.
- Over 4,500 kilometers on the road, exploring and experiencing Turkey entirely
- Riding along the coasts of 3 major seas
- Through more than 80 cities and towns
- Including a week in the 3rd largest city proper in the world
- 25+ days on a motorcycle, alone!
For me, this is going to be my largest ride so far and my first experience of a cross–country trip. I will be averaging 300 kilometers per day and will have 17 overnight stays in different cities and towns. This will push my motorcycle and of course my own self to the very limits, both physically and psychologically.
I have already booked my vacation at my company and made the basic preparations and purchases. The map on the website is programmed to show my location real-time during the journey, so it will be easy to track me. I will blog, I will tweet, I will post pictures and impressions and I will live this experience online as much as I will ride it.
The fact that I am riding through Turkey definitely adds an extra layer of adventure to the trip. I am excited to find out what lays ahead. This is purely a personal motorcycling adventure, and for me there are no other aspects to my undertaking. In Turkey I am planning to be an Armenian from Armenia, traveling on my motorcycle and experiencing Turkey. The planned path is plotted out based solely on the input of many travelers who have experienced Turkey. It has no historic or personal significance to me and it is subject to spontaneously change depending on the circumstances I face during the ride.
I think this trip will be an outstanding adventure not only to ride but also to follow. Today’s technology enables it fully. So make sure to subscribe to it either using your email address or using your favorite feed reader (I stick with Google Reader). You can also follow me on Twitter, although the tweets will be streamed into this blog as well. If you feel like befriending me on Facebook or Google+, these are also great options to track the adventure!
In the next posts I will be covering all my preparations extensively, including the equipment and the devices I take, the maintenance of the motorcycle, the financial aspects, and everything else. So stay tuned. It’s crazy ahead. The hunt ride is on!
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