Planning For 2021

As it turns out, attempting to start running motorcycle tours going into 2020 isn't the best idea. Obviously, pandemics, lockdowns and travel bans put a downer on those kinds of things. 2020 was instead spent doing prep, riding the local area and longing to hop on a ferry to the continent. However, now it's 2021 it's time to once again look ahead.

2021 brings new opportunities to play. The vaccines provide a glimmer of hope for those of us with a longing to travel. Looking at Google's Covid map provides a sombre picture of the state of the world though. Not one that's likely to be open to adventure any time soon. Instead, we look to what we can do within our own borders.

As with every year, the spring brings the start of plans for our autumn trip. Annoyingly, this year that involves more sitting at a laptop and WhatsApp than sitting in a pub and beer.

With the potential for international travel still a no-go we're again looking to where we can go and what adventures we can have on our little island. One trip I've wanted to do for a while is to Scotland and around the highlands. Taking the Caledonia sleeper train from London to Edinburgh seems like the perfect way to start such a trip. In lieu of any other ideas from my compatriots, I'm forging ahead planning that trip. Does anyone know what the weather in Scotland is like at the end of September? How about the midges? Oh, and any recommendations for bike couriers as the sleeper train doesn't take motorcycles...

Aside from planning large trips I've been torturing myself watching Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman on the Long Way Up. That kind of trip seems so far off. In total, at present, this pandemic appears to have pushed back travel plans by around two years. Last year was supposed to be the warm-up trip to the NC500, this year was supposed to be Nordkapp and back via the Baltic Circular. Thankfully I didn't pay for the Honda Adventure Tours trip to Iceland I was selected for. I didn't like the idea of not being able to use hot tubs and all the other facilities which add pleasantries to such a trip. Watching the Long Way Up did however give me a good insight into the state of electric motorcycles.

Their cold start at the bottom of South America put into perspective some of the limitations of battery-powered vehicles. I've had the experience of batteries in cold temperatures on my way to Everest Base Camp when I left my power bank out and the charge depleted overnight. By applying that same logic to vehicles it makes sense to me that they had so many troubles. Part of my idea for the Nordkapp trip was to take an electric motorcycle and do it as cleanly as possible. However, having watched Charlie and Ewan, in the cold and not, they seem to be spending most of their time worrying about range rather than enjoying what is around them. Obviously, I'm only looking at a snapshot of their journey, but I can't help but feel that motorcycles just aren't there yet. The Britishness of me also won't let me be the reason that a ten-minute petrol station stop turns into an hour-long charge wait for my fellow travellers. Charging speed, infrastructure and battery life. Three key aspects of getting people onto electric motorcycles.

Riding is most often a group activity for leisure and it's bad enough having to stop for fuel having an Aprilia in the group, let alone those stops taking an hour at a time.

Looking at the current state of electric motorcycles, fast charging is coming. The Energica bikes have a claimed 250-mile range in the city, 112 miles on the highway - which is getting close to some smaller tanked sports bikes. Unfortunately, harsh acceleration and braking aren't good hypermiling techniques, so on a ride-out, I believe you're unlikely to achieve these figures. And with a forty-minute wait to charge, even with the fast charge, you're left holding up the group again. All that being said, I'd like 2021 to be the year I get to try a full-fat electric bike, not a commuter oriented Super SOCO or the Fully Charged pit-bike as we did in 2019.

So perhaps all of this will blow over soon and we'll be back to some semblance of life as normal. Fingers crossed...