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Adventure riding is all about pointing your best mechanical friend towards parts unknown so they can be known, at least to you and your riding friends. And there are few places on the planet as unexplored and unknown to motorcycle riders as the Darién Gap, a 100-ish mile stretch of Pandoran jungle/bog/mountains/rainforest and armed rebel hideouts between Columbia and Panama in Central America.
Back in the heady post-war I.G.Y. era of bottomless optimism (and few if any environmental concerns) that saw the construction of the American interstate superhighway system, the space program, unheralded prosperity and a lot of cool cars, bright-eyed planet-shapers decided that if driving straight through from LA to NYC at 75mph with nary a stoplight to slow down for was a good idea, then packing up Chip, Dawn, the wife, Daisy the dog and driving the Country Squire 19,000 easy, unbroken miles from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, to the southern reaches of Chilé was an even better one. Maybe some companies like Zenith, Frigidaire and Ford could use the road to truck goods down there for those Central and South American friends to buy as well? Did we not build the Panama Canal? Cue the bulldozers.
They called it the Pan-American Highway. And it got built… for the most part. Except for that one little gap between Panama and Columbia. They tried. The jungle said “no.” The legendary Darién Gap was born, and the dream of the Pan-Am Highway died. They tried again in 1992, but by that point environmentalism and pushback from the thousands of indigenous folks who live in the gap permanently (along with a lot of heavily armed FARC rebel folks) promptly squashed the effort. The Gap persists, road-free, lawless, as raw as it ever was. There is not a single road, two-track, game trail or secret network of tunnels that crosses it. Today, you hop a short flight or ferry to “cross” it and admire it in comfort from afar.
A few people have successfully crossed it in a motor vehicles. Many have tried. Most have failed. Some died. The first motorcycle crossing was by Robert L. Webb back in March 1975. In 1985, two people in a Jeep CJ-5 managed to make it across. It took over two years to go the 120 miles the route ended up being. But humans love a challenge, the bolder the better.
There’s a new documentary, Where the Road Ends, airing as part of The Motorcycle Film Festival (TMFF) online streaming service, about four American Afghanistan-era military veterans – some from special forces teams – that decide to take on the Pan-Am Highway – including the Gap – for a 19,000 mile spin. Their gear? Kawasaki KLR650s (pre-2022), plenty of gear, and a shit-ton of determination. Riders Wayne, Simon, Mike and Richard are clearly hard-core, seeing how they started the ride in northern Alaska… in November. Why? To hit the best possible weather window at the Gap, which is one of the rainiest places on earth.
Though their Spartan Race days are well behind them, these tough-AF but soft-spoken moto men soldier through some harrowing winter riding stretches (left) that will have you pulling on a few extra layers just watching them. For the brutal Alaska/Canada stretch, their KLR’s were outfitted with clever sidecar rigs for stability and hauling gear, and they did have a single support vehicle – until they get to the Gap, where paid locals and guides lended many, many helping hands. Do they make it? Better set aside an hour and find out.
The documentary is available to view now here and yes, you can watch it for free, but if you’re not poverty-stricken, send these guys (and filmmakers) some cash, they deserve it after gutting out this incredible adventure.
There is going to be a live Q&A today (Wednesday, December 7) at 8PM EST/5PM PST on YouTube and Facebook with team leader Wayne Mitchell and medic Simon Edwards where you can ask all your burning (or frozen) questions.
If you watch the movie, we’d like to hear your comments: Have you ever considered doing a Gap crossing? What gear choices would you make? What’s the most difficult on-bike passage you’ve attempted?
The post Ex-Military Riders Take On The Monster In New Documentary appeared first on Adventure Rider.
