and technically have you done any training this year did I train technically Tom’s questions are just a way of sticking my nose in where it doesn’t [Applause] [Music] belong my eyes fixed on you I will sing the truth into the dark I will use my fighting words W fighting words oh I’m so tired of forgetting what I’m worth so I will use my fighting words well I’ve been training a lot 45 minutes a day every day abs like a [Music] rock I jog for 45 minutes do sit-ups and squats but in zero I didn’t train at all physically and I paid dearly for it very dearly I won’t do it again for not being physically prepared and technically have you done any training this year well yes I’ve been riding my bike every day on the Maxi Trail and I’ve hardly done any of the exercises I should have [Music] done that is to say being be able to turn the bike on its side standand when stationary climb on the right or left side in a balanced situation so if when I’m stationary I do balance exercises I do that all the time but it’s not enough in Maxi Trail you have to take advantage of getting on the bike every day to be able to do these little exercises these little mantras these little exercises these little mantras that help you in fraud it’s so practical it really got on my nerves at one point I’m sure he’s going to show this bit where I’m so pissed off because [ __ ] no kidding I’m 20 seconds away from the end I’m 20 seconds away from doing it but I can’t because I can’t grab the handle so I smash my face in on the other side and it’s [Music] [Applause] clownish today we’re trying a new adventure leave pppe return to the Pampa we left yesterday and try to continue along the border the only possible way to do this is to cross into Greece via the mountains at some point and then make our way back to North Macedonia a little further on the only problem is that on the way back the Greek track does not join the Macedonian track it passes within a few dozen meters of each other but never joins up but given the accuracy of the maps we decide to give it a go thinking that it’s really not possible for two tracks to pass so close and not be able to join up right from the start of our day well our day of riding which today began at midday following rolph’s Pro meeting we set off on a paved track we set off on a paved track which is still in superb condition ah it’s amazing isn’t it these cobbled roads thousands of years old are really impressive what’s more the cobbled road is in good condition it dates back to the Romans I don’t know who who apart from the Romans could have done this you’ve got to bring some cobblestones back here they had to haul a lot of stone to tackle a job like this road is in good condition following some research by Roto we realized that we’re on the Via ignatia a Roman Road that crossed the Balkans from durum to bison that is with today’s name from durz to Istanbul and and built in less than 146 once again it’s a slap in the face we think we’re adventurers but we’re passing through places where guys were already building roads over 2,000 years ago in short it’s just incredible to drive on these cobblestones especially when you realize that narbon was already connected to North Macedonia over 2,000 years ago remember in these little places when things get a bit technical you really steer the bike with your foot rests this year’s theme is Tom’s Trace Tom’s [Music] look it’s a tough one we’re going back to our paved Road as is durur in Northern Macedonia well-defined tracks always give way to vegetation that gradually covers them for the record we’re still officially on the r117 a well- mapped Road according to many asphalt Maps on Google Maps it’s a good road here we’re on the r i SS NE T and who’s rolling check it out doesn’t I put a little marker here which makes it a route it says no problem 29 km 1 hour no problem no problem at all we’ll see about that then internet don’t venture out like that anyway why not with a drivable car there are cars that aren’t drivable I hang up under we’re still rolling the Cobblestone but if you don’t know frankly you can’t guess it makes this kind of track very technical because the ground is hidden necessarily hiding stones and ruts so you have to be comfortable enough to ride by feel and not just visually which is extremely hard to do and inevitably extremely energy consuming for Roto up there hop hopping yeah it’s going very [Music] well you don’t look like the kind of guy who ures me you didn’t enure me at [Music] all to go get stoned when you look around all you see Are [Music] Stars play over again and Heaven only know what an [Music] [ __ ] [Music] [ __ ] [ __ ] [ __ ] [ __ ] what an [ __ ] what a big [ __ ] [ __ ] it pisses me off to be an [ __ ] that kind of moment when you’re at the end of your rope and can’t control your emotions anymore which in this kind of track we can no longer access our knowledge and so we make little mistakes like the handlebars in the wrong direction and as always in Maxi Trail small mistakes can have big consequences and getting your bike up is starting to get really tough we’re right in the middle of it so we’re talking about it and I’m trying to put little stones in his head now it’s up to him to reach them it’s going to take time and it’s going to be hard Rome wasn’t built in a day but I’m sure rodolph will manage I think we’ve passed Greece oh yeah I celebrated with a nice fall I fell in grease there I think you fell at the border that’s why at the end of my life you’re saving me and your apricot it’s okay come on I’ll take one for you on the Greek side you can immediately see that there’s a lot more activity the trails are used the wood is exploited there’s a lot of drying sand and very hard tracks for trucks to drive on in short you’re right next door to where you come from and yet you feel extremely far away the things that I see you had no business just doing what you please I beg forgiveness you sit down on your me I be lying if I loved you i’ be lying through my tear it’s just the day of of a trouble man oh yeah it’s just the [Music] day trouble [Music] man I’m rent a wck with two bad in Internet time I’m talking to you but we left at what time noon what time is it there hold on guys I’ll tell you what time it is we left at 12:30 and it’s now 5:34 1734 that’s 5 hours of tracks I’ve got to admit I’d imagined he’d turn back hell if he’d turned back it would have weighed on me so let’s keep our fingers crossed and we’ll pray for Macedonia the closer we get to the border the more we find these typical MC Onan tracks that we’re starting to get to know a bit there’s nothing on the maps and there’s nothing in real life either it’s completely impossible to join these two tracks rodolph paused I took a good 3/4 of an hour with my Hatchet to try and open three trails in three different places completely impossible but where we are on my map the track stops in reality it continues we’ll go and see what’s going on a little further on just the axe Hatchet cutting through the Tall Grass to try and find a way through later no but look at these Landscapes on the left it’s like an avatar once again I don’t have a picture of any of this by this time I’m also extremely tired and forget to film this rather important moment continuing on this track that doesn’t exist on my maps we discover a whole network of tracks that are completely off the map you can see that you’ve managed to cross the border but you can see that you’re going in the wrong direction then all of sudden you come across a track that looks like it’s going in the right direction you’re a long way from my maps a long way from my tracks but I’ve got a feeling we’re going to catch up it’s very very beautiful I have no idea where this path is going no idea if we’re going to be able to catch up with the track but in any case it’s very very beautiful it’s very very beautiful we’re right on the the Border again I can see my track that we need to catch up with appearing little by little we’re going downhill so that’s a good sign look there was a sign it’s a Macedonian sign they on the left looking for I think it’s I don’t think so in my opinion this evening at rolph’s bivak because the nearest hotels are still after the mountain where we absolutely want to go so they’re far away if we can get to the mountain at 2,172 M that would be [Music] good damn Internet it’s the first time we found a bar in the middle of nothing in Albania in this case we’re in the middle of nothing and there’s a bar finally managed back into Macedonia I had to go back and forth a lot with a machete to try try and work out the paths and in the end we managed to find a real path that went through it’s just not mapped it’s really not mapped so it’s hard the fatigue of motorcycling is starting to build up I think I’m coming up to my 20th day of riding we’ve pretty much imposed ourselves in these Waters we came out of nowhere to come across a children’s camp and we managed to drink a Coke we managed to drink a local Coke they have a lot of local brands that we don’t know about elsewhere Nutella brands that are local you can see that this is really a country that’s closed in on itself as usual in 30 seconds rodolph is getting to know everyone and he’s negotiating spaghetti meals for us I think with lots of children I think that’s it some kind of summer camp I think well here’s the kids canteen well who doesn’t doesn’t want the kids spaghetti and ketchup it’s improbable what’s going on here it’s crazy we’re in some kind of Camp thank you we arrive on the kids time and they give us pasta with cheese Bon B Bon app it’s amazing how delicious a simple pasta dish can be nothing’s too goodless I have a little ketchup it’ll do the trick yeah yeah what time is it rodolph almost 8:00 now it’s 8:00 we’re off it’s 8:00 we’ve got 60 we’re 70 km to go to try and get to work we’re going to drive at night it’s already almost dark we’ll try to get a night’s sleep in a refuge tonight’s not going to work at all it’s fine we’re off hi what was that [Music] greeting uh stop stop stop what’s wrong you’ve got a smoking Branch you’ve got a fire in your bike ah [Music] [ __ ] is that clear oh well never mind it’s [Music] collapsed we’ve already told you but riding at night is a guaranteed hassle guaranteed hassle now we’ve had another hassle but we’re in it we’re in it there’s a motorcycle there’s another motorcycle over there there there but especially on the right look what Tom’s got on the road wait I can’t be honest well I can’t be honest but what’s behind Tom it’s completely collapsed again it’s scree it’s not a hole it’s scre it’s okay yeah it’s huge scre you can see there’s a crosswalk on the side but it’s impossible for motorcycles so you have to get over the scree which means you have to climb a big thing and come back down it can be done but if I’m totally honest I’m a bit tired right now of the accumulation of fatigue that’s there and we’ve got another path that’s not on any map but has the K3 signs that we’ve been seeing for a while now a borrowed Galley in fact a borrowed Galley that doesn’t go anywhere in the right direction but on the other hand I’m thinking that it makes a lot of sense for the locals to have made a detour considering the mess we’re in so I don’t know what we’re doing personally I don’t know what you think rodolph but the last 800 MERS that we’ve just covered on this road we can see that it’s no longer used we agree it’s completely uncultivated at there’s this scre behind it we don’t know what’s there whereas on the other side there are the K3 signs we’ve had all along so I think the wisest thing to do would be to turn back meanwhile what are we going to eat dried apricots small dried apricots it’s Autumn time with a little water it’s a long day here hop over there that’s because that I don’t know what three is but maybe it’s where we’re going and if it’s where we’re going that’s great for a place like [Music] this what’s the big deal I don’t know where we’re going rodolph but we’re going [Music] we’re [Music] in the opposite direction from where we need to [Music] go as the only TR I have on my collap we find ourselves most complete unnown complete feeling extremely tired we decide to follow the trail that looks like it’s going in the direction of my track in the end end we landed at 2330 exhausted an altitude of 1,700 me in a farmhouse it didn’t take second for them to offer us a place to stay take him 2 seconds going explaining that it the end of the road [Music] anyway we are [Music] lost in the end we found a place where we could sleep we’ll sleep we’re going to eat what are you doing tonight tomatoes [Music] delicious put lemon in [Music] it mix with all the lemon very very good arrived make a trail there’s no Trail here here it’s a dream uh stop no more we’re done at the end of the internet road I’ll get on the trail and right away I’m going to get on the trail I have the shirt did you see he gave me the shirt right away I’d gone to get some of his stuff that’s crazy did you see my shirt he gave me a clean shirt unbelievable didn’t you take a piece of cheese no honors I’ll take the cakes look at the bread she made what is this it’s incredible I’m going to I’ll get in the ring no incredible bread it’s okay it’s okay it’s it’s fine delicious I’ll get on the trail a tomato I’ll take a tomato with it but I [Music] no we’ll make a trail is it any good ah okay yes I’ll play we’ll play you we so glad you found them anyway are drunk I’m better I can’t wait to sleep because I’m unbroken Awin you funny follow follow follow [Music] we never found the path and it’s collapsed and we found this path that was going and completely off the map I mean there’s nothing there there’s nothing the fatigue was starting to set in I’m broken and we get to the end of the road and we come across this barn and they get out but they’re such nice people it’s very moving I tell you frankly it’s very moving because they came out cheese the bread because you were talking about lemons and it’s true but uh lemons are more valuable oh I don’t know if you’ll notice from the internet Montage but there to get there it’s hours and hours alone like everything [Music] else what and other things they’ve got nothing the electricity they give here is enormous for them they’re on solar panels so they have battery powered stuff just a stove because in winter here it’s blue with snow I think we’re at an altitude of, 18900 M he gave me a shirt he lent me a shirt all clean I’m going to sleep in his shirt I’ll tell you that right now the pillow looked the dream pillow no but here I am kids well Go internet hi internet good night bye [Music] tomorrow
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