One Steph Beyond...

one woman, one motorcycle, seven continents

John Newman

• adventures
• JohnNewman
• stephjeavons

Earlier this year, March 23rd in fact, as part of the London Ace Cafe Adventure Biking day they arranged a send off for Steph Jeavons and her accompanying Honda CRF250L as she departed for a round the world ride. Her intention is to become the first woman to ride a motorcycle on all seven continents, including the Antarctic.
Almost seven months on the road and Steph has just waved a temporary goodbye to 'Rhonda the Honda' from Malaysia as it sails to the Indonesian island of Sumatra: 14,000 miles under the wheels so far, and around 24,000 to go.
Highlights and particular excitement from Steph's rolling blog include her journey through Iran, where the women of that country are not allowed to ride motorcycles; and contrary to received political and conventional media opinion in the West, the people of Iran proved welcoming and hospitable beyond expectations.


While in India she also rode the highest motorable road in the world, the Khardung La pass at 18,380 ft. Both she and the little Honda engine ran short of breath at this height.
The CRF250L has been a faultless companion so far. Proving itself to be a bike with the versatility to  cover on road mileage and take on the lumps, bumps, ruts, dust and mud of the trails encountered. And a single cylinder four stroke motor has fuel efficient power, which is necessary when the daily budget is tight

But Steph has not been short of accommodation and food offers from across the globe. One of the advantages of updates through the ubiquitous social media is contact from followers of her journey. The obverse being the unique feeling of the traveller moving across the planet relying mainly on their own emotional and practical resources.      

How does one ride a motorcycle in the Antarctic? First secure your passage aboard an appropriate ship. To achieve her chilly goal Steph has secured a berth on a small expedition vessel, where the bike will be strapped to the deck through the icy waters of the Drake Passage before making land to capture a snowy picture of bike among penguins. Then the ship will sail on to King George island where it will be possible to ride the bike on the airstrip there. A first for woman and motorcycling.
You can read all Steph's travel blogs, keep up to date with her Twitter feed and fund raising efforts for her chosen charity Rally4Life, plus lots of other related info: www.stephmoto-adventurebikeblog.com
Any comments on Steph's journey - email us at: [email protected]