What is tough?

Living this way (off a bike, on the road) is going to be quite a challenge for me because it involves several things that I don't get on well with.

WHINGE WHINGE, MOAN MOAN:

•I'm not a good enough biker - not for this sort of touring anyway, so things could get interesting

•I'm no mechanic - I've worked with plenty of different machines over the years, but still only know the basics...things could get very interesting

•I can only speak English - Merde...culo...verdammt! (profanity doesn't count)

•I don't know much about bikes in general - they've got 2 wheels and mostly I can figure out which is the front one

•Setting up and packing up - I like to just get on with things, but with a motorbike, especially whilst touring, there is always so much which has to be done before you can actually do anything

•Flappy things that get in the way - between my bike, outfit, backpack and filming kit I've got enough buckles and straps to make a dominatrix salivate

•Fellow road users - yep, I think I am the best road user out there (don't we all) and everyone else should be locked out of their vehicles for life! Seriously though, other road users manage to wind me up in ways I am ashamed to admit...a tolerance I must cultivate

•Exposure to the elements - this is a weird one for me. if I am in the mood then no type of weather gets to me, but if I am not in the mood even getting just a little bit wet is irksome

•Fellow human beings in general - I don't know exactly when this happened to me, but for some reason, over the past few years, I have found people to be increasingly annoying in every way imaginable. Yet as soon as a random stranger flashes a smile or extends some unexpected courtesy, that annoyed feeling is washed away in an instant and suddenly I think "ahhhh I love humans"! This is all wrapped up in the making of Transmission 6-10. For a decade I was researching, working with, battling against, the absolute worst of human behaviour conceivable. It was constantly on my mind (still is, to a degree). Maybe I should cut myself some slack for being soured by the experience and get on with getting over it

Things like; not having much money, not knowing where I am staying the night, not knowing where I am going, not knowing if anyone is even reading this...I can deal with those much more easily because living a somewhat (insert perspective here...it will be tough but not as tough as other's lives are) challenging life is part of the appeal of an adventure.

FULL CIRCLE:

How often does it happen in life? What is Tough was the first title for Transmission 6-10. The original premis being very different from what the documentary actually evolved into. Myself and a couple of mates (which on the day we started filming became just the one mate - that is how things went back then) entered an event called Tough Guy (a somewhat insane army assault course done in the middle of winter). The idea was we would do it without training and see how tough it was, then juxtapose that against the means of torture being used on practitioners of Falun Gong in China. We were even totally up for being blasted by electronic batons and catch it on film. Next we'd interview other competitors, people who had tough jobs, and those who have done tough things (Charlie Boorman and Ewan McGregor being high on that list).

To shorten this...we did the event and then Transmission 6-10 took on a life of its own. The toughest thing being 16hr days for 6 years.

Up Next: Who the heck is this guy?