You might have heard several stories about motorcycle road trips but there’s hardly any like the one that Magnus Petersson is currently making. A management consultant by profession in Australia, Magnus realised somewhere in mid-2016 that he had enough of ‘sitting in office, doing office things with office people’. The thought running through his mind was that he would like really like to travel and he also really likes motorcycling – and that is where the idea of this road trip began and he has been on road since December 2016.
The choice of weapon for this trip is the Triumph Tiger Explorer – the big daddy of adventure tourers motorcycle from the British automaker’s stable. When asked about his bike Magnus says, that it “chews away the miles on the highway. You drop it, you park it, you crash it, all you have to do is lift it up and it just goes."
“It’s a tank" he added.
The route undertaken by Magnus is: Australia - East Timor – Indonesia – Malaysia – Thailand – Myanmar (Burma) – India – Nepal – India (again) – Pakistan – Iran – Turkey – Bulgaria – Romania – Hungary – Slovakia – Poland – Germany – Denmark. His final destination after crossing 20 countries through 25,000 kilometres would be in Stockholm, Sweden.
We got hold of him during his stopover in Delhi and here’s what he had to say.
When in Delhi, Magnus was already almost 100 days into the trip and said that it would take around 10,000 kilometres more to reach his destination, which according to him, should take about six more weeks or almost two months.
When asked to describe the Delhi weather, Magnus said with a laugh that “(it’s) too hot for my taste and too hot to ride a bike". Quickly adding that he figured that if he wants to ride in Delhi then 5 AM in the morning would be the time he would prefer because the traffic is considerably less.
Curious to know, we asked to talk about some of the most mind-blowing experience he has had during his trip and the answer lied in Manipur. “Manipur had some of the best riding (terrains) till now and the people were just incredibly helpful," said Magnus. “I also get raced against some of the 100-200cc commuter motorcycles and usually I win!" he added with a grin.
Another interesting incident that happened with Magnus was while riding through Indonesia (the first Asian country on his route) where he was stopped by police officers five times and it was ‘each time for a selfie’.
Talking about the changes he had made to his motorcycle, “it is mostly the protective stuff like the engine protective guard, skid plate, radiator guard because when you undertake a journey like this then you will drop the bike some time or the other and it’s never been a problem with the Tiger".
Summing up his experience of Australia to Delhi in a sentence, Magnus said, “It is the most painful and the most wonderful experience at the same time."
Currently on his way to Sweden, Magnus is currently scripting a story through an epic motorcycle journey that could very well serve as an inspiration to many travellers at heart who have been wanting to escape the concrete jungle and travel to explore the world one kilometre at a time.
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