It's fitting that any trip to the ethereal Chapada starts in Brasilia, a city so meticulously designed in the modernist tradition, with its clean lines and curved edges, that it could have crash-landed on the spaceport set of a sci-fi movie. Locals joke that Brasilia is so well planned that anywhere in the city is 20 minutes or less away and that was true of my taxi ride from the airport to Galpao 17, a popular bikers' haunt on the outskirts of the city where live music plays and drinks flow.
Think Star Wars' Mos Eisley, but without the scum and villainy.
When I arrived at the bar, Flávio Bressan was just finishing attaching a set of heavy panniers to the flanks of an immaculate 2021 Royal Enfield Himalayan. Something of a local legend, Bressan is a motorcycling enthusiast and the founder of Projeto Estradas Amazônicas, an ambitious project which aims to map all the Amazon region's underexplored roads. After chatting about bikes and the best routes to and from the Chapada, Bressan handed me the Himalayan's keys and waved me onto the highway.
Riding the BR-010, Brasilia's cityscape soon fell away, replaced by rolling meadows and pastureland as the highway penetrated further into the interior. A couple of hours later, I passed through the town of Alto Paraíso de Goiás, the gateway to the Chapada, where the real fun began. Heading west out of town, I found myself cutting through the cerrado, the Brazilian savannah, on a dramatic highway that could easily pass for one of the more iconic stretches of Route 66 were it not for the hazard signs warning of roaming anteaters and prowling maned wolves. I opened the throttle on the empty straights, letting the Himalayan rip through the stunning scenery with a growl that would send even the most fearsome wolves scuttling for cover.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة September - October 2022 من Adventure Motorcycle (ADVMoto).
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة September - October 2022 من Adventure Motorcycle (ADVMoto).
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
Stuant Gregory IS IT AN ADDICTION?
Five-Time Dakar Malle Moto racer
INTO THE MUD
Strategies for Successful Off-Road Riding
CHASING PEAKS IN THE HIMALAYAS
It was 2:00 a.m. on my fourth day in India. My eyes blinked open in the dark of a hotel room in Drass, a town in the Himalayas on the Indian side of the border. Yesterday was our first day riding on a six-day trip through the Himalayas, and my brain could not process everything I'd seen and experienced.
Angels and Demons RIDING TWO-UP SOUTH THROUGH ALASKA
A not-so-warm welcome as we entered Hatchers Pass from Willow to Palmer, Alaska.
EXPLORING THE THRILLING WORLD OF RALLY RAID
A GUIDE TO GETTING STARTED
MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE
LESSONS LEARNED ON THE ROAD
White Desert
Riding Across the Frozen Landscape of Siberia
Kitti and Martha Forget Black Dog CYCLE WORKS
How do you start something from nothing? That’s what Kurt and Martha Forgét did when they created Black Dog Cycle Works (BDCW) out of their garage 16 years ago
Essential GROUP RIDING Tips
FOR ADVENTURE RIDERS (ON OR OFF THE ROAD)
MAKING MEMORIES
Kevin and I initially met in the Marines. We have been riding together for a few years, and riding BDRs the entire time. Our first attempt at a BDR was in Utah, where we were completely unprepared and significantly ignorant of our capabilities. It led to some interesting moments conquering Lockhart Basin where we developed our backcountry motto: “Less Gear and More Water.” We document our rides on our YouTube channel, “Be Gone for Good.”