Member Profile Tiffany Coates

Two-Up with Thelma

Cornish BMF rep Tiffany Coates is one of the world’s

top overlanders – what makes her tick?

“I’ve always been a traveller, since I was a teenager doing a lot of backpacking – my parents brought us up to be independent. The motorcycle thing started after I hitchhiked to Istanbul, which opened my eyes to how much ground you could travel with your own transport. My friend Becky and I had already decided to travel to India, and she suggested going by bike. Neither of us had a licence, and neither had even ridden a bike before.

“We went out, did five days of training on 125s and both passed first time – it took me three attempts to pass my car test. To save money we decided to ride two-up, which would be simpler as well as cheaper. As we were both at the same skill level we were happy to share the riding, but it was a bit of a trust exercise as we both lacked experience!

“As for a bike, we asked around and the consensus was that an Africa Twin would be too tall while a BMW R80 or R100 GS would be big and heavy, but would be great two-up, would take all our camping gear and be good on rough terrain. A mechanic friend of ours pointed us towards an R80GS he knew of – five years old, 23,000 miles on the clock and solid. We bought it, christened her Thelma, and I still have her. In fact she’s the only vehicle I’ve ever owned, as I’ve never had a car.

“Two months later we set off, and it turned out we had bitten off more than we could chew. Thelma certainly was big and heavy, as well as tall, and we dropped her at low-speed several times in the early days. Low speed manoeuvring was the difficult thing, especially two-up with luggage. We never realised it was more difficult riding two-up than solo because that’s what we did from the start. Nor did we have much experience of bike mechanics, just a couple of days in the workshop with a friend before we set off.

“Originally I planned to be away 8-9 months, and was a bit wary about taking a vehicle, because it meant more responsibility and the possibility of breakdowns, theft, all sorts of things. But in the event it was great and having Thelma enhanced the trip because she gave us complete independence to go wherever we wanted. To save money, we wild camped as much as possible, but again that was one of the advantages of a bike.”

Mongolia and my slightly stunned face after a dramatic off

Avenue de Baobabs, Madagascar

Long Way Home

“Despite all the misgivings, we made it to India and it had been the best adventure ever, with lots of laughs on the way. There were some low points as well, including one serious breakdown, but it had been such good fun we decided to carry on to Australia. This was pre-internet, so to find a shipping agent meant going to the docks and asking around. We shipped Thelma to Thailand, rode down through south east Asia then shipped to Perth before riding across Australia to Sydney.

“By this time we were almost broke, so we worked in Sydney for a while, saving up enough to go home. We also realised that usually people budget their trips properly so that the return fare is included! We were planning to ship Thelma all the way home, but it felt a bit like cheating... Then we looked at a map, saw Africa and decided to ride all the way back. Then Becky met the man of her dreams, a British guy who was about to go home, and decided to duck out.

“So I was on my own, but it never occurred to me to give up and just ship Thelma home. One of the crucial points was that I now knew how to pick her up on my own. If things go wrong you have to be able to pick the bike up without any help.

“Then I met Maggie, who was willing to ride back to the UK through Africa. That was great, except that she didn’t have much riding experience, so sometimes it was quite scary on the back, especially when facing two lorries coming towards us side by side, expecting the bike to just get out the way. But we survived, and Africa was great – it’s the friendliest continent, without a doubt.

“I wanted to get home before Christmas, and rode back through France on my own. By this time Thelma had a starting problem, but I made it to the ferry. When I tried starting her there was a horrendous engine noise, so I had to get towed onto the ferry by another bike, and towed off at Dover. I caught the train home and joined the RAC. I had been away two and a half years.

“I’ve never found it hard to slot back into normal life after a trip, though I know some overlanders do, because it can be a difficult adjustment to make. It’s probably because I did a lot of backpacking before I started overland, so I’d done all that before, slotting back into the nine to five. It is weird though, because these amazing trips change you as a person, then you come back, and at home nothing has changed.”

Above: Giving rides to the locals as a thank you for giving me a bed for the night Below: Hitching a ride across the lake for me and my Royal enfield Bullet - Kashmir, India

Guided Tours

Back in England, Tiffany went back to her day job as a youth worker, but overlanding became part of her life, as did the sideline of leading tour groups.

“I’ve been leading tours for over ten years, and it started out by accident. I was planning a ride to Timbuktu and various people said they wanted to come too. One by one they dropped out, but two guys, neither of whom had done a big bike trip before, set off with me. The bonus was that one was a qualified doctor, and without planning to, I had my first taste of guiding newbies.

“Globebusters offered me the fantastic role of guiding their three-month London-Beijing expedition. A challenge I was more than ready for and an experience that once more changed my

Above: Dodging people on a bridge in India Above right: Ultimate fesh fesh (bull dust) in Tibet Below: The third fastest female dirt rider in India (Guy Martin won the men’s race the year before)

world. Introducing other riders to the thrill and adventure of overland travel on two wheels..

“Globebusters doesn’t insist that everyone rides together – they all get the route each day and it’s ‘see you at the hotel tonight,’ so they can ride solo or in small groups at their own pace. I found that some riders would want to ride with me in the early days of the trip, but as they gained confidence they’d start going off on their own. Once they’ve done that, I feel that I’m doing my job. For a lot of people doing a trip like this is way out of their comfort zone, so they need that reassurance. There’s a lot of job satisfaction at the end of a trip.

“People say, ‘I just want to do this one trip to get it out of my system.’ (Laughs). There is no such thing! Overlanding is very addictive and once you’ve done a big trip, most people just want to get on with the next one.”

Women Only

“I’ve always led mixed tours, in which 95% of the clientele were men, sometimes 100%, but all the men I’ve spoken to prefer it if there’s at least one woman in the mix because it changes the dynamic within a group for the better. Other tour leaders have found the same thing.

“As for women-only tours, it’s all about confidence building. Men sometimes take stupid risks while women tend to be more risk averse, but sometimes in life you have to take that risk to gain an experience. I think stepping out of the comfort zone allows you to really grow as a person, and find that you can do things you thought you weren’t capable of.

“Some women I know have had bad experiences riding with male groups, so it still goes on. Having said that, I did an womenonly off-road riding course where the instructors (who included Simon Pavey) were all men, and they were great, giving just the right level of support, very encouraging. The all-women trips I’ve led are very supportive, helping each other.

“It is unusual to be a woman on a bike, even in this country, so you always get a double take. It’s quite funny whenever I visit Lands End, because I only live down the road but everyone assumes I’ve ridden a long way to get there, ‘Wow, you’re a woman – how far have you come?’

“There are downsides to travelling as a woman, like being propositioned at remote border crossings, or when just trying to get a hotel room. The answer is to project confidence, even if you are just walking down the street, and you are less likely to be targeted. Often it’s a fine line between being clear and not offending someone.

“On the other hand it can be a real advantage, because once people realise you are a woman it reduces the chance of confrontation. Bikers riding into some remote village can seem like aliens – the villagers might never have seen a big machine

before, or someone wearing all the gear. But take your helmet off, and when they see you’re a woman, people often relax and you get a better welcome. For me there are more pluses than minuses.”

Breakdowns

“I’ve had plenty of breakdowns, but that’s the good thing about riding an older bike. If you can’t get the proper part, local mechanics can often make or adapt something. Thelma has run with spares from Toyotas, Mazdas, and some Russian car whose name I can’t pronounce.

“One of the most challenging breakdowns was having a battery blow up in Mauritania. I was riding a borrowed 650cc BMW and had to replace the chain. A German guy we met said, ‘No problem, I can cut the old one off with my angle grinder!’ He was grinding away, sparks flying everywhere, and one of them happened to fly into the battery’s breather tube and ignited it, destroying the battery.

“A battery bought at the local market was useless, wouldn’t take a charge, and I considered buying two six-volt batteries and wiring them in series, or somehow mounting a car battery. Then my friends (Louise Hillier, designer of Motorcycle Rider - Ed) and Gary turned up. Gary had some WonderWeld glue and we managed to glue the blown-up battery casing back together. I had to put a sanitary towel under the battery because it was leaking, but it worked. I’m always on the lookout for odd bits of wire and things, which come in useful for roadside repairs.”

Post Covid

“I think Covid has changed some things forever, because there will always be that increased fear of disease. Sadly I’ve also noticed more xenophobia since Covid – south east Asian friends in the UK and European friends travelling in South America have been

Top: Riding across the grasslands of Kansas Above: Thelma’s refurb is now complete – ready for the next big trip (Photo: Craig Carey-Clinch)

facing blame for Covid. Many places were more accessible than ever before Covid, which has all changed, though I think that’s a double-edged sword – the road on either side of the Sahara for example has been tarmac’d now, and I think that’s a mixed blessing. After Covid, we will be able to travel again, but we’ll have to go more cautiously.

“There are lots of places I still want to go to. On Thelma’s topbox there’s a map of the world showing all the places I’ve been but there are still plenty more to fill in – I call it joining the dots. In Africa, that means joining the dots between Mali in the north west to Angola where they wouldn’t let us through last time. So there are plenty of unseen places I want to visit – every single country I’ve been to, I want to go back to.”

Thelma the R80GS (recently refurbished by Craig Carey-Clinch and Max Jowett at Traveldri Prep) is still Tiffany’s sole transport, now with over 227,000 miles on the clock. “I can’t picture myself ever selling her – when I’m too old to hold her upright I’ll buy a sidecar.”

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