Lone Rider: The First British Woman to Ride a Motorcycle Around the World

Product Information

As a fellow twenty-three year old woman on a long distance, solo motorcycle trip (albeit significantly less than 35,000 miles), it was unlikely that I wouldn't enjoy this book. However, I didn't expect to enjoy it quite as much as I did. It was the intimacy, vulnerability, and rawness of her memoir that engaged me, and I really identified with Elspeth's character in a way that I hadn't expected to. I often find it difficult to stumble upon women like her, and I think that part of the reason I was so enthralled with her story was the headstrong and unapologetic way she responded to what were often devastating and incalculable challenges. He is obsessed about bikes to the point that he often starts conversations with new people by saying, "Please don't get me onto the subject of bikes. We'll be here all day." And if people didn’t ignore it they were simply rude or insulting. It was a stark reminder of how things used to be, and how attitudes have changed over the last few years. I ask Elspeth if she was glad that it happened, and whether anything good came from it, “No I’m not. Why would I be glad that happened? Nothing good came out of that.” I have numerous producers who want to take out an option and but it’s difficult as once you sign the rights away then you lose control and have to have complete trust in the person/organization. I am in two minds and would rather no film than a rubbish one!

And so it continued for two days and three nights, a simple routine of lazing around, sleeping and watching television, eating rice, meat and vegetables, while my body healed itself. At times I wondered if it might be marginally less painful to ride my bike to somewhere with a comfortable bed but I enjoyed being part of a family again. Watching them go about their daily routine not only gave me an insight into the life of a typical Thai family, but also made me realize how much I missed being in the bosom of my own clan. The physical state of her exhaust pipes and cylinders concerned me more. Having taken the brunt of the collision with the tree, one of the exhaust pipes now emerged from its cylinder at an acute angle, which would allow the exhaust gases to escape. Her other cylinder had a crash bar pushed hard against it and looked as if it might be bent. If you're looking for a story of a vulnerable women conquering the world, keep looking. She literally destroyed a fellow rider along the way. The ending of this story was a real gut punch. Elspeth: No. I’d heard of Ted Simon and his book Jupiter’s Travels and I tried to read it. I got to chapter one and I just gave up. I think I was reading it for the wrong reasons. I was reading it to find out how to do it, Ted’s book was the only thing around about riding around the world at the time but, well, I’m not much of a reader anyway.

Post-trip depression

All of which means, as well as our hero BMW, there is another heroine: Elspeth. Having not met her I cannot say if she sees this in herself. But to take on the world, at that time, on two wheels, is a brave move and it should inspire anyone, not just women, to try similar journeys in today’s much easier to navigate times. Eventually, the Honda was sold off and replaced by what would become a very important part of Beard’s life: a 1974 BMW R60/6. Before long, she was touring Europe on the BMW and visions of the world tour began to take shape. Longer and longer tours on limited funds built her confidence in her BMW and in her open-road survival skills. Having gone through all these countries and seeing what we would perceive as poverty, you realise that we’re only looking at it in a materialistic way. They were fit, healthy, they had their families with them, they had a roof over their head. They lived in an amazing country with beautiful scenery, they didn’t have a car or a TV but what they didn’t know didn’t matter to them.” Post-trip depression

Seeing the classic structures of Europe on family vacations in her youth gave her an interest—and she had a talent for—architecture but that would have to wait. She had something more on her mind. Beard currently runs the Elspeth Beard Architects practice in Godalming. She received her pilot's licence in 1991. She has never married, but has a son. [5] Motorcycling [ edit ]

I met this Dutch guy, Robert, and he was on a BMW 800. We were up in Ladakh when all the trouble in the Punjab was brewing and we knew that when we came down again, the area was shut. Elspeth: Central America I’d really like to go to. There’s a huge chunk of Africa that I’d like to do as well, some on a bike, some on a plane, some in a Land Rover. Oh, I’m actually learning to fly a helicopter at the moment! It was a bit like if Neil Armstrong came here and was talking about what it’s like to walk on the moon, you can’t relate to it because it’s so far away from your reference.” In the early 1980s, at just age 23, Elspeth Beard decided to hit the road for a 35,000-mile, round-the-world adventure — going solo, on sabbatical from architecture school, and riding a 1974 BMW R60/6.R motorcycle. Her new travel memoir, Lone Rider: The First British Woman to Motorcycle Around the World, is about that incredible, epic experience. In this exclusive excerpt for Outpost, Beard takes a serious wipe-out in rural India, and discovers the power of the human community. Excerpt: Story and and Photos by (and courtesy of) Elspeth Beard Something flashed between us and I realized we were united in our common cause. I knew that she wanted to prove to the men standing idly around, watching and talking about a woman doing something that was traditionally associated more with them than with women, that we were just as capable as any man, if only given the chance.