Diary & Travel Reports by Simon Milward

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Fri, 20 Apr 2001 08:35:30 -0000
From: simon @ millennium-ride.com
To: sponsors @ millennium-ride.com

Hello Everyone

It never ceases to amaze me how life weaves a rich tappestry round the rough plan that I submitted. New people, new places. Challenges, chances and changes. I never want them to end! (They never will, of course, it's just another set of circumstances. I guess we can make our lives as boring or exciting as we allow or want them to be, wherever we are and whatever we do.)

Listen, sorry if you had repeats of recent email updates. A technical bug crawled in to the system. We think we've caught it. We'll know once this update hits your computer screen. (Splat!) Sorry if you get this twice, if you do, we will fumigate the whole system.

[68kB 640x427] Simon on a trip Manila to Calatagan, Philippines

My last week in Manila was spent supporting the Freedom Riders over the total ban for bikes on Philippine expressways. We made a presentation to the motorcycle industry (MDPPA) at their launch of FAMI's Asian photo safety competition (we were not expecting to hijack the meeting but...) and met the dinosaurs at the toll road agency. My driving licence was in the wallet so I declined to get deliberately booked by riding on them. I didn't want to miss my Tokyo flight and my bribery budget was at an all-time low! But there were some media interviews. Plus I sent detailed lobby instructions out to the world's rider organisations in the hope that international letters of protest would be despatched.

I experienced the hell Manila bikers have to go through just to go for a ride into the country. The roads are the worst, the pollution highest, and lawlessness second to none. It's a two hour battle to get in and out, even at 5.30 in the morning. No wonder many former motorcyclists simply give up biking. Please don't let the Philippine bikers down, despatch those letters, or ask me again for those detailed instructions.

Once outside the city though the scenery was great and the roads very good. Volcanic Taal Lake is impressive and the sea lovely and warm!
I'm lucky enough now to include many Philippinos among my best friends.

Tokyo & Japan

Moneyless as I was (my secret cash stash was with my bike somewhere in the South China Sea, on a boat I mean, things weren't THAT bad!) how did I get here to Tokyo? One phone call to Japan Airlines was all it took. Great service with a lovely smile, thank you JAL. It was my first taste of superb Japanese food, and first experience of loud Japanese eating habits courtesy of the man sat next to me!

I've been in Tokyo six days now and to describe the people in one word I'd say 'charming'. It is: gracious bowing thanks for even little things, shockingly white-skinned human beings, expensive (very), squashed up close on the subway system where most people are dozing, bicycles on the footpaths, little English spoken, cold (right down to 15 degrees C even!) and uniforms. Don't believe all this rubbish about world mobile telephones. Japan has it's own totally unique system and people haven't even heard of GSM, that's why this comes from my hotmail account.

I experienced Japanese family life with Masayuki Arakawa and his kind parents who treated me as one of their own, even to the point of sharing the bathwater (separate of course). You don't wash in it, you wash beforehand then sink and relax in the deep short bath) and they have salty toothpaste. Masayuki's mother prepares delicious traditional Japanese food which surely is the best in the world. Sushi is the raw fish mixed with or served on a bed of rice, and I've had many different types of raw fish some with their own type of sauce, along with delicacies (to me) such as seaweed flakes, tofu (invented here), beef and chicken cooked in new ways, different types of noodles, salads, black-skinned mushrooms, well I could go on forever. I do miss the spices a little though.

Now I'm staying with Chris Lockwood who has been living here for seven years. He fell in love with Japan when he visited the country on Californian school trip, and now maintains a website for visiting international biker types. His previous Dutch guests Rob and Daphne, on the RideOn World Tour (with XJ900 and sidecar), have been shunted to the sidecar club down the road. They attended the 1996 anti-100bhp limit demo in Luxembourg. Anyone else remember that amazing day, when the Bangemann sausage was well and truly stuffed?! Ahh the days when European Commissioners were really bad. I digress (it's all this bikers rights work I've been up to lately), Chris is being a big help, not least with his language skills. Two Austrian bikers arrive next week en route from Indonesia to Austria.

Space is at a premium in Tokyo. Earlier today we pulled into a gas station and I wondered why, since there were no petrol pumps. In fact the nozzles and pipes were hanging vertically from above so you could park anyhow on the small forecourt.

Reunion with my bike

This was quite emotional, we had only been apart for three weeks but it felt more like 3 months. After it cleared customs, expertly done for free by the kind people at Japan Express, I uncrated my baby at their dockside warehouse. Looking decidedly dirty (I never had time to wash it in Singapore, nor even look for somewhere legal to do it) it repaid me by not starting. Checked the plug, it didn't then it did, spark. Checked the valves, timing, electrics. All OK. No compression. What? Oh no. $200 for a lift to a bike shop? Telephone to Harley Davidson, and Manny came through with a free lift to a small but perfectly formed bike shop owned by 'Moto', right near Chris's place. Tried a different plug before lifting the cylinder head. It fired up! Oh happy happy days. Life is wonderful. Know what I mean? (I've a feeling that this little episode will lead to something speccial, you know, a part of the tapestry.) Moto painted 'Sim..on' on my bike screen in Japanese which apparantly means 'Festival gateway' and gave me two new plugs.

My riding relationship was resurrected at Easter by a ride up to Fuji Mountain 120km from Tokyo. Masayuki was on his Kawasaki Tracker, a supermotard with 17 inch wheels, and we had a splendid time thrashing round the tight bends of the back roads, looping round the mountain and stopping to chat to the many bikers. My bike was in a new guise. No boxes, in the up position. (It doesn't sit in the low position at the moment since the right shock would hit the chain, I'm going to sort this out one way or another.) The two mono shocks keep the bike planted like a big redwood! Boy does it handle. I had it tanked over almost to the edge of the super sticky Metzeler Enduro 3s and we were really shifting. Masayuki didn't expect it from my bike, and I admit, I didn't either. It wasn't all madness though, once in mid bend I thought "OK, cool it, this is a world tour by handmade bike." I never expected Japan to have roads quite like this. When I got back there was a noise coming from the left side of the engine...:(

The plan now is to take a ferry to Vladivostock on 24 May. Between now and then it's bikers rights and fundraising for our Flores project Health for All.

I vowed to take every possible opportunity to talk to motorcyclists when I see them. Well. Japan is the only fully developed motorcycling country with no riders' organisation. Yet they have some of the worst laws on the planet! Like several thousand dollars for a full bike licence and a tandem riding ban on expressways. What do the riders tell me when I confront them with this? "You see motorcyclists have a bad image here." Indeed, they say it is left over from 400cc gangs in the 60s and 70s. Mods and rockers syndrome? If ever there was a good reason for them to unite and promote their image, this is it! I've been encouraged by the initial responses received.

Thanks to the sidecar club for helping to get the word out, and inviting me to their rally on 5 May to make a speech. Time to polish up on my Japanese!?

Anyway I've a meeting planned with the Japanese Automobile (& motorcycle) Manufacturers Association (JAMA) whose European office very kindly gave a charity donation of $2000 back in November 1999. I hope to meet with the individual producers too. Whilst I am here, you see, I would most appreciate a little of their time to discuss the aspirations and expectations of their European customers which form such a large segment of their global market. Just imagine, an unfettered and unfiltered direct line to our lords and masters!

Meanwhile, many thanks to the RAC for sorting out various replacement documents for free.

Take care everyone.

Simon

ps: Since writing the above:

The bike is running fine, the noise was an overtight primary belt, and the shocks do sit in the low position without snagging the chain. I cleaned the bike too.

I had an initial meeting with JAMA and the next is planned for 10 May.

I'm off to the Marvellous Mcc Club this weekend for a party and speech. We're putting my bikers rights message all over the Jap internet and in newsgroups, and I'm going to leaflet the dealers. I'm sure we'll get our Philippino brothers and sisters some Asian partners in crime!

A cock up by my UK bank means the visa credit card had not been cancelled. Instead they TWICE cancelled a re-issued 'debit' card, so unfortunately I'm using up all my reserves of US$ bills that were to see me through Siberia.

There are no ferries to Vladivostock until 8 June. This is too late if I want to get to Alaska in mid July which is preferable. I'm left with choice of going north via Hokkaido and Sakhalin islands to mainland Russia at Vanino (if the boat is running), way off the tourist trail. Or take the 8 June Vlad boat, leaving myself less than five weeks to go 4-5000km through Siberia! The most urgent Russia item is the visa and I'm waiting on the Motorcycle Federation of Russia to fax through the proper invitation endorsed by the Foreign Office. I'm getting quite excited about the Siberia trip, I hope it happpens, in some ways it will be the best part of the whole world tour. I also hope Metzeler comes through with the nobbly tyres, I'm expecting mud and lots of it!

Planning for the North America section is progressing well. Scott in Alaska is organising a programme of fundraising events and some similar offers have been made in West Canada. In the USA:

• some good friends are organising a fundraising event in San Francisco at the start of September,
• I'll speak at the Meeting of the Minds in Kansas at the end of September,
• there'll be a visit to Harley in Milwaukee
• and to ABATE Illinois (South Suburban Chapter, who, incidentally are having a Millennium Ride fundraising event next weekend, these are really wonderful people), both who are big sponsors,
• and the AMA in Ohio.

I'm sure open for more ideas and invitations in the USA this Fall!