Mondo Enduro: Around the World Adventure on Two Wheels - 40 Countries in 405 Days [Hardcover]

"Mondo Enduro" is amongst the handful of books that was written with no intention that it should ever be published. The typed up diaries have become a cult adjunct to the pre-existing TV programme of the same name. It was only published as fans of the show clamoured for the 'full' story behind this legendary DIY expedition. Mondo is famous for several reasons least of all being that it was the basis for Ewan MacGregor's Long Way Round production. In 2004, when this world famous actor and his entourage drove into Magadan in Russia's remote far eastern Kolimar province there was much celebration but little mention of the fact that they had merely followed a trail blazed by the "Mondo Enduro" team in August 1995. However, the truth will out and over the years the whisperings on the chat rooms and blogs have risen to a noisy chorus. Everybody loves an underdog and the success of the Mondo boys in the face of their stunning incompetence and unpreparedness has become the stuff of adventure travel folklore. Far from being square-jawed explorers the seven man Mondo team is filled with a superbly bland cross section of nobodies who, with no idea what they are doing, set of to establish a new long distance travel record. The phenomenal underground success of the Mondo story is rooted in the fact that they pulled it off with no sponsorship, backing or internet to fall back on. It's the last great analogue adventure. Being the first people to ride their second hand dirt bikes (no, Suzuki wouldn't even answer their calls, yet alone give them a spare spark plug) from London to Magadan put them in the record books. They then rode from Alaska to the bottom of Chile, then from Johnannesburg back to London, non-stop. Why the rush? Because they wanted to see if it could be done. You couldn't make this stuff up...This is the hardback edition of the book - the paperback of the same name (9781904466284) is out of print and this edition has 69 extra maps and photos; a new foreword and afterword; and, a complete 'where are they now' epilogue.