Australian Road Rider Issue 99

Ted Simon

■ On the road … an amazing road.

From Jupiter’s Travels in Camera

manner hasn’t changed a jot from the first time I met him. Almost a decade ago, I was a very-wet-behind-the-ears writer for Motorcycle Voyager magazine in the UK and I’d been tasked to link up with Ted at the Tesch Treffen overlanding event in the Ardennes area of Belgium. He’d be my first interview! I admit to have been decidedly in awe of the man but he soon put me at ease and, with that gentle manner, he carefully ignored my gaffs and the interview worked.

I’d started off by asking him to summarise the background to his book, Jupiter’s Travels. “In October 1973, sponsored by The Sunday Times, I began riding around the world on a 500cc Triumph Tiger 100 motorcycle. For four years I travelled through 45 countries, submi ing articles as I went and I subsequently wrote Jupiter’s Travels.”

If he wasn’t bashful and still so understated in a decidedly English way, Ted Simon could easily claim to be something unique: The man who has influenced modern-day motorcycle 42 | AUSTRALIAN ROAD RIDER

“I am very proud that even now people in their late teens are reading Jupiter’s Travels. It's crossed three generations now and it's still selling. It seems to have touched some universal chord” overlanding more than any other man in the past 40 years. It fits, doesn’t it? I’d lay odds on the point that there are few motorcycle travellers whose lives have not been affected, even inspired, by this man. Certainly, a great number of people know who he is and most will have read at least one of his books.

In fact, because of Jupiter’s Travels, he could easily be considered to be a parental nightmare; he’s a recognisably bad influence. His very distinctive, honest and graphic writing style has led many a dreamer to think, “If Ted can do it, then so perhaps can I”. He is very proud to have encouraged people to try something

different in life. It’s important to him that his books have opened a new world to many who have never even remotely considered travelling by bike.

Bearing in mind that Ted is now 82, he is amazingly energetic. Not only does he continue to travel around the world for book signings, shows and for the opportunity to ride a bike in interesting pre y places, but he does much of the work on the farm himself. Need a new building for the water pump? Ted will do it, but he did admit that, “Li ing the heavier beams to the roof has been hard going this time around.” Though he’s now sold much of his original land, Ted still grows all their