Preparing for adventure with Andrea Box

This entry is part 13 of 16 in the series Adventure Rider Issue #19

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Meeting the challenge

This issue trauma nurse and trained paramedic Andrea Box prepares for adventure and puts her hand up to represent Australia in Touratech’s inaugural United People of Adventure, scheduled to be staged in Madagascar.

The very nature of motorsports so often has countries competing against one another, and it was with this in mind Herbert Schrawz, cofounder of Touratech Germany, and his wife Ramona, had the idea for The United People of Adventure.

They wanted to bring together a team of adventure riders from all over the world, from different countries, cultures and walks of life, to share an end-of-the-world ride.

The ride destination was an easy choice. A previous trip to the west coast of Madagascar had left Herbert and Ramona hungry to see more. Spurred on by stories of the Route National 5, which commonly makes the list of the world’s most difficult roads, they set about finding a group of adventurers brave and crazy enough to go with them on the journey.

To cap off a most unpredictable weekend, winners were announced in a hot tub.

How it started

This was when I first heard of United People of Adventure (UPoA).

I didn’t think I stood a chance of making the cut though. I’d been riding for 15 years, but I’m definitely not a seasoned overseas motorbike traveller. I haven’t even seen all the Australian States on a motorbike yet.

I later found out that, at 25, I was the youngest of all the applicants. I hoped my positive attitude and emergency medicine skills would make up for what I lacked in years of experience.

Video applications had flooded in from all corners of the world, and Herbert and Ramona began the difficult process of narrowing down the finalists. Much to my amazement and excitement I was chosen as one of two Australian finalists, and less than six weeks later arrived at Touratech head-quarters in the snow-covered Black Forest of Germany for the selection weekend.

Andrea Box

Finals weekend

We’d been given basically no information about what the weekend would entail other than details of our flights. Week by week prior to our arrival the Touratech-equipped bikes had been allocated to each continent. Africa would be on a Yamaha XT1200Z Super Ténéré, Europe would ride the new Africa Twin, Asia was allocated the KTM 1190 Adventure R, South America the Suzuki DL 1000 V-Strom, North America got to ride Ducati’s Multistrada Enduro and Australia scored the Triumph Tiger 800 XCx.

We were welcomed into Herbert and Ramona’s home and told we would all be living, cooking, and eating together like a family. Bonding quickly over our mutual love of motorbikes and eager to find out about our 11 new friends there was never an atmosphere of rivalry, and it became apparent we’d all be observed to assess far more than just our riding ability. We’d be judged on how we worked as a team, helped out and interacted with each other. My fellow Aussie was Robert Davis, a quick-witted surgeon from Perth whose dry sense of humour did Australia proud.

A weekend of excitement and challenges had everyone feeling like old friends.

Together with the other finalists we did interviews, personality analyses, psychometric testing and completed team activities that looked at how we worked together and problem solved frustrating challenges.

We’d all been contemplating how they would check our riding ability when the ground was covered in a metre of snow.

Much to our surprise we were taken to a motocross track inside an old brick factory.

The task sounded simple: ride untimed laps of the motocross track. The only catch was you had to do it on a BMW 800GS or 1200GS, definitely not the size of bike the course was designed for.

I’d not ridden either bike before, but at 1.65m tall and 56kg I hedged my bets and went with the slightly lower seat height of the 1200. With my heart racing and a belly full of nerves I completed my laps while everyone cheered from the sidelines.

As the weekend of excitement and challenges went by we quickly came to feel like a group of old friends.

Selected

When the final task arrived it wasn’t what we expected.

We were asked to give a sales pitch, not for ourselves, but for the other finalist from our continent. We had to pitch why they were the best person to take to Madagascar.

What happened next blew everyone away.

One by one we stood behind our new friends, hands on their shoulders, and spoke honestly and genuinely about the talented people we’d had the pleasure of sharing the finals with.

To cap off what had already been one of the most unpredictable weekends, the winners were announced in a hot tub, much to everyone’s amusement.

As one of those lucky enough to be chosen I couldn’t help but be disheartened we wouldn’t all be meeting again in Madagascar. I couldn’t possibly have a higher opinion of my fellow Aussie, Robert, and I hoped one day we would get to ride together.

Author Andrea Box and fellow Aussie Robert Davis.

Suprise

Getting to Madagascar was a mission in its own right: Melbourne, Perth, Johannesburg, Antananarivo (Madagascar’s capital) and finally Sambava. In all, 46 hours.

After our last bumpy little flight and a hair-raising van ride that saw local chickens and cows fleeing for their lives, the sight our bikes lined up in the morning light was a colourful and impressive display that had us all acting like kids on Christmas morning. It looked more like a family reunion than the beginning of an adventure ride. After our time together in Germany we all felt like old friends.

Much to my delight the man taking photos and hiding behind the camera turned out to be my compatriot Robert Davis! The original photographer had been hit by a car and Robert, being quite handy with a camera, had been called to step in as the official photographer.

Ready

Packing my bike was a welcomed and familiar ritual. I always enjoy that part of beginning a trip. Perhaps it’s because of years of hiking, but I find a special satisfaction in getting my gear packed so the weight is low and kind to the bike, and equipment is stowed in an easy-to-access way.

Lying under my mosquito net that first night I realised with a stomach-churning combination of nerves and excitement I had no idea what would happen next.

I did know I’d be in good company, no matter what this adventure held in store.

For the next couple of issues we’ll follow Andrea’s story as she and the Touratech group makes its way through some of the world’s most amazing, heart-breaking, bike-bending terrain on the Touratech United People of Adventure through Madagascar. Hold on to your helmets. This story gets wild!

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