You Should Definitely Be Watching ‘Long Way Up’ Whether You Like Motorcycles Or Not

It’s been 13 years for the reason that man who can be Obi Wan and his buddy Charley Boorman final launched into certainly one of their two-wheeled world journey sojourns. The unique trek all over the world from London to New York, Lengthy Method Round, is a legendary piece of gearhead media, and the follow-up from John O’Groats on the tip of Scotland to Cape City on the very backside of Africa is equally entertaining. After an extended hiatus, the pair have returned for Lengthy Method Up, from Tierra del Fuego to Los Angeles by way of South America. And after the primary three episodes dropped on Friday, I consumed all of them in speedy succession and so far I’m loving it.

As an alternative of their conventional BMW GS mounts, the pair have determined to aim the journey on electrical bikes. Clearly one thing of this scale has by no means been accomplished on EVs earlier than, so it required a little bit of assist. Harley Davidson pitched in with a pair of early-production Livewire electrical bikes, considerably modified to make the journey by way of unforgiving terrain way more believable. And if that weren’t sufficient, the manufacturing, assist, and digital camera crews adopted alongside within the first and second full Rivian R1T pickups. Electrical throughout, then.

The beauty of these docuseries aren’t essentially the bikes or the vans themselves, they historically very not often even warrant dialogue on the present. That is extra of a journey collection, following two blokes as they stumble their manner by way of no matter comes their manner. Sometimes they bitch about it, as you or I’d, however they discover a technique to dig deep and soldier on. Not what you usually count on from a pair of actors. These dudes are the true shit.

However greater than the dudes, the collection reveals part of the world that’s typically hidden to most of us in each day life. By taking adventures on two wheels and filming as a lot of it as they will, we will see a window to a overseas land. Customs, language, and kindness amongst strangers that we regularly take without any consideration in what some would possibly describe as “the civilized world”. In the event you had been driving throughout the USA on an electrical motorbike within the lifeless of winter, what proportion of individuals do you reckon would allow you to convey your bikes inside the home in order that they might heat up sufficient to simply accept a cost?

Within the first few episodes of the brand new Up collection, which is on Apple TV in case you hadn’t gleaned that info from the promo trailer, every thing appears to be going improper, as ordinary. The bikes, the vans, the climate, journey, coordination, none of it appears to be going ahead as deliberate, and it’s all a final minute mad sprint to make it work.

I watched the unique Lengthy Method Spherical collection at across the similar time I learn Canadian rider Lawrence Hacking’s guide To Dakar And Back: 21 Days Across North Africa By Motorcycle. The 2 have lengthy since been a potent concoction in my mind as they impressed me to choose up two wheels and maintain driving. Actually, I feel I’d do a cross-country journey within the very close to future, and all of it stems from these two items of media.

In any case, I extremely suggest watching this new collection. A minimum of so far as I’ve seen by way of the primary two episodes, it’s extra of the identical outdated legendary Ewan and Charley, solely older and barely worse for put on. And extra electrical.