Old geezers' 19,500km motorbike epic

Take two self-described "old geezers", a twentysomething son filming their motorbike ride across Asia and Europe, and you've got a road trip to remember.

That's the loose plan that Dick Huurdeman, 72, Des Molloy, 55, and his son Stephen have planned when the older two leave on Saturday for their own modern-day version of The Motorcycle Diaries.

That film followed the voyage of discovery taken by a young Ernesto "Che" Guevara and a friend across South America in the early 1950s.

Half a century later, the trio have planned a route from Beijing to Arnhem that will rekindle memories of bygone motorcycle adventures for the older pair, and allow Stephen an insight into what has driven his motorcycling companions all these years.

"For me, I look at these guys and hear about all their adventures and it just took off from there."

Not that Stephen, 24, was a novice at the sort of adventure on which he headed off as a one-man advance party yesterday.

He describes himself as "a lover of all things two-wheeled, motorised or not".

He has also schooled himself up on his filming technique to record the old geezers' trip riding classic British motorcycles from China to Holland, via Mongolia, the Silk Road of Uzbekistan, the Pamir mountains, the Hindu Kush, the Karakoram Highway, which connects Pakistan and China, the deserts of Iran and Turkey and the hills of Albania and Croatia.

Stephen will be riding a motorbike he plans to buy in Mongolia of a suitable speed to film the journey dubbed The Last Hurrah.

Mr Huurdeman, who rides a 1950s 600cc Norton, said he and Mr Molloy (on a 650cc Panther) belonged to an informal club with a rather exclusive membership.
"We call ourselves the Consenting Adults. You have to have a British bike, a female partner and a mortgage."

Over the years the group has ridden New Zealand's back roads, covering up to 10,000km a year. They have also embarked on separate trips, taking in parts of South America and Europe.

On one such journey through Iran in the early 1970s, Mr Molloy swapped a Norton bike for three Persian carpets. He will attempt to find out what happened to that machine on this trip.

This latest epic ride will cover 19,500km and is intended to end on August 1. They plan a long detour to attend the 70th birthday of Mr Huurdeman's younger sister. "It will mean riding another 9000km, but she's worth it."

- NZPA