Poor Circulation, ..... a brief history

As a potless London Courier (Blue88) I decided that before age and illness intervened, I had to fulfil my lifelong ambition of riding a motorcycle around the world. I was old enough to know better yet still foolish enough not to let such details stop me: No Hotels, No Support Team, No Free Bike, No Film Crew and Precious Little Money. Raising money for my local hospice I would ride around the world covering 25,000 Miles through 22 Countries using Map and Compass on the tightest of budgets ............... just how difficult can it be?

Poor Circulation was actually a dream dating back to the 1970's when Ted Simon rode around the world on his Triumph. He documented his adventures in the iconic book 'Jupiter's Travels'. It was probably the first book that I'd read on a voluntary basis and it opened my eyes to the endless possibilities for anybody willing to take that first step forward.

Over the intervening thirty years the circumstances had never been right for me to follow in Ted Simon's wheel tracks. I was middle aged and firmly entrenched in my own personal rut, ....... a rut so deep that it would take more than your average midlife crisis to lift me out of it. I couldn't become a 'Born Again Biker' and so I decided on the next best thing. Give a little freedom and a map of the world to a frustrated despatch rider and you can expect mayhem to ensue. I decided that is would never be the 'right time', ....... so 'right now' was about as good as it would ever get. I pulled out my thrity year old Readers Digest World Atlas, wondered when Burma had become Mayanmar, and began drawing a thin red line around the world, .. generally heading east and avoiding known wars. Poor Circulation was born.

I decided that as I had no money (a problem i knew I would somehow overcome) it was best to keep everything as simple and low tech as possible. A nice old but reliable cheap bike (Yamaha XT600 or Suzuki DR 650), a more up to date map, a compass and a list of companies that might be looking to 'off-load' some surplus stock in exchange for my eternal gratitude. I made a list, .. it was a very big list but i even had a solution to that. I made several smaller lists and threw my big list away. I now had a big pile of small lists which included a summary of everything that I could possibly sell. Apart from my body, which was only of interest to medical science, I sold everything that I could think of, and probably much that I shouldn't, and slowly the money began to accumulate. It wasn't pretty,.. but it at least it was a start.

I knew that I would never actually have the bottle to 'do it' on a voluntary basis, so i did the only logical thing that I could think of; I got slightly wasted and announced my plans to Dave Gurman of The Riders Digest. In the sober light of day, I found myself committed to filling several pages of his magazine over the following year, ....... so no turning back then.

I'd been devouring every Book and DVD about Adventure Motorcycling that I could possibly lay my hands on, mostly borrowed from an old friend Alan Kelly. I guess he eventually saw a pattern developing and took me to the local pub to discuss the root cause of my insanity. As the bell for last orders rang loudly in our ears, ..... Alan announced that 'Poor Circulation' was now a 'Team' of two, .... result. Over the following weeks we shared the workload and things began to take shape at a rapid rate. The main sticking point was still the budget but we figured that with a little luck and a lot of support from others, we could get the final budget down to around £20 per day. Experts and novices alike told us that it was impossible to achieve a full circulation of the world on such a small budget, ..... and they may well be proved right. But hell, ................ we're still going to try.

Follow our adventures, the mishaps, the cock-ups, the arguments and the laughter on our respective blogs. We can't promise you the 'Long Way Round', ..... probably more 'Lost & Found', but if a couple of Old Giffer's can get this far, .... then who knows what we will actually manage once the wheels start turning at the Ace Cafe, 7pm on 21st April 2008.

Blue88