SCRAMBODIA!
I don't consider myself a hardcore adventure rider. I don't camp, I can't pull apart an engine and I don't carry spare tyres. But on the few occasions I've come up with an idea and invited others to tag along, they've really regretted it.
One time when I went riding with my brother in Thailand, his bike broke down in the jungle and I had no choice but to ride off to get help. But when I finally returned with a mechanic the next morning, he was so pissed off he called it quits on the trip and didn't speak to me for two years.
Another time I took a mate riding near my home in the Blue Mountains of Australia. Things were going swimmingly until he got stuck in the first muddy rut and overexerted himself trying to get out. “I nearly had a heart attack inside that bloody thing,” he said, throwing his helmet on the ground and walking back to base without his bike.
The moral of the story? Novice and experienced riders don't mix together well off-road. But the lesson must've slipped my mind when my friend Eva from France asked if she could join me on a week-long scramble of the Cambodian coast. Sure, I thought. It would be nice to have some company on the road. Eva
