Welcome to the Home Page of the GlobeRiders Silk Road Adventure 2011 Live!Journal!

We are excited to kick off the 4th iteration of our popular Silk Road Adventure. We will be following the path of the ancient world's most famous trade route, the Silk Road! We'll begin this magnificent ride at the Western terminus of the old Silk Road in Istanbul, Turkey - the only city that lies on two continents, Europe and Asia. Over the next 53 days, we'll travel through Turkey, then into Georgia and Azerbaijan. In Azerbaijan, we'll board an overnight ferry to cross the Caspian Sea, making landfall in Turkmenistan. Next comes Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, then mid-point of the tour,The Road through China to the Eastern terminus, Xian, city of the Terra Cotta Warriors.

This Silk Road Live!Journal consists of two parts:

- In addtion to this pages participant photo's, the Bike's & Bio's page let's the reader know a little bit about each rider.

- A new Weekly Chapter page will be added to this website once a week. Each Chapter will consist of stories and photos from the road, submitted by participants en route, a sort of travel blog (or travelog) if you will. The banner "map" at the top of the Bike's & Bio's page and each Chapter page will show where the group is and where they've been. The location points on this map are transmitted by Helge's SPOT Connect so you will see the latest location of our Adventurers. Chapter Navigation Menus at the top and bottom of each page allow you to quickly jump from one page of the Live!Journal to another. Chapters are only clickable when that week has been added to the website.

Our Live!Journal gives those of you who couldn't join us this year, to include family and friends of the participants, the opportunity to take a "virtual" tour with us. It also captures and preserves the tour for our participants, creating a scrapbook of their adventure on the web that they can refer to for years to come. And of course, we hope that a select few of you may be inspired to join GlobeRiders on a future adventure.

As always, should you have any questions, comments, requests, or simply want to say "hi" to any of us, all you need to do is click here to send us email.

Come ride the World with Us!

Dan Townsley - Partner/Guide

GlobeRiders Silk Road Adventure 2011

All the time I am asked the question of what is my favorite GlobeRiders Adventure. Hard to say since they all have their differences and what is there not to like when you are riding the world by motorcycle. However, the Silk Road Adventure has to be one of my favorites just for the cultural richness by itself. To be able to follow in Marco Polo’s footsteps from Europe to China while riding your own bike is an incredible experience.

GlobeRiders work with local partners that educate and entertain the group as we cross from one country in to the next. Each country has something unique to offer. We meet Belly dancer in Azerbaijan and take part in horse games in Kyrgyzstan. The riding varies greatly from the fist days of Turkey’s lush green mountain roads to the last days as we cross the Gobi desert on the way to Xian, China.

As with all GlobeRiders Adventures with start the journey by inviting all participants to join an online Forum. For the last 8 months members of the Silk Road Adventure has been discussing the ins and outs of preparations of the bikes and talked about what to bring and not to bring. We have gotten to know each other better in preparation for the time when we meet in person for the first time in Istanbul, Turkey.

Six out of the 13 riders will be traveling from different places in Europe by road to Turkey. A container from Seattle has shipped the reminding 7 bikes to Istanbul.

In the coming weeks we will do our best to document this journey and share it with you here on our web page. If you have any feedback or questions to the group write us any time.

Let the journey begin – Come Ride the World with Us!

Helge Pedersen - GlobeRiders Founder

Guide, Photographer, Journalist, Traveler