Travel Time

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If you haven’t got the time, the courage or the motorcycle to leave your day-to-day routine behind and set off on your own voyage of discovery, then the next best thing is to read about someone else doing it! Adventure travel books such as Ted Simon’s Jupiter’s Travels, Helge Pedersen’s 10 Years on Two Wheels, and Robert Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance have provided many motorcyclists with enough ‘food for thought’ to keep them going – at least metaphorically – until their own Big Trip is possible.

A new book about motorcycle adventure travel has just been published by Touratech Executive Director Herbert Schwarz and will be of value to any rider interested in seeing a fantastic collection of travel photography and reading about five adventure-packed motorcycle tours that have taken Schwarz and various companions through some of the most awe-inspiring locations in the world during the past five years.

All contained in a single book, Travel Time tells stories about what it is like to discover different cultures and different countries, all by motorcycle. It includes encounters with countless, amazing and wonderful people from all over the world and features evocative and inspirational photography of many of the locations ridden through or camped at. Together with the explanatory captions, the pictures recreate the atmosphere and experiences of these journeys, all of which were made in the course of intensive equipment testing, meaning that the motorcycles were subjected to extremely tough conditions along the way.

Through this book, readers can experience what it is like to travel to the roof of the world in Tibet; through the jungles of Bolivia; from Mexico City to Baja California; from the north to the south through the Western USA; and through the Namibian veldt up to the Angolan border. The photography and travel stories highlight the different vegetation, the extreme weather conditions and the almost impassable routes that Schwarz deliberately sought out for his journeys.

“Since my very first motorcycle trip to Scotland in 1979 my urge to travel the world on a motorcycle has never waned,” said Herbert Schwarz. “Many of the ideas that came to me on various journeys have been realized through Touratech, which focuses on the production of motorcycle accessories. While the company has grown steadily, I’ve never forgotten to make time for my real passion – travelling. My recent travels in different continents have been documented by a professional team and published in our Touratech catalogs. I have brought together five of these adventurous travel tales in this book, complemented by a shorter story from Europe.”

Everyone who knows Herbert understands that his ‘work hard play hard’ philosophy allows him to continue his passion for adventure motorcycling and his hope is that he is able to inspire other riders to follow their own dreams: “My advice to any biker is to just go and explore. Don’t think too much about it, and don’t worry because it is really easier than you can imagine. If I couldn’t travel anymore, I think I would go mad! I take four or five weeks every year to test products we have developed and we often improve products as a result of these trips. The world is there to be seen and it’s our choice whether to see it or not.”

The 180-page Travel Time hardback book is an exceptional reading experience that cannot fail to awaken the wanderlust in any would-be motorcycle adventure traveller. It is available for ordering for €15 from the 2008 Touratech catalogue in either German
http://www.touratech.com/shops/001/product_info.php?cPath=10_62&products_id=4622&language=de or English language versions. http://www.touratech.com/shops/001/product_info.php?cPath=10_62&products_id=5038&language=en

The catalog itself can be ordered at www.touratech.com as can the DVD versions of the five stories that feature in the book, which are also available from the online web shop.