Latest / JUSTRIDE Podcast / From Beginner at 42 to Leading Motorcycle Tours Worldwide - Maja Kenney | JUSTRIDE Podcast Ep.5

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From Beginner at 42 to Leading Motorcycle Tours Worldwide - Maja Kenney | JUSTRIDE Podcast Ep.5 · JUSTRIDE Podcast

• MAIN: so welcome to just ride our guest today someone who completely reinvented life through motorcycles and we like that born in Yugoslavia now the Slovenia Maya Kenny it was always an adventurer hitchhiking to Scandinavia at 18 and cycling some from Slovenia to Barcelona at 19 we need to know about that later ⁓ she eventually moved to the UK raised the Sun built multiple businesses and at 42 finally got her motorcycle license. What started as a passion became, quickly became a new life, riding across continents, creating motorcycle adventures, and now running her own motorcycle tours. Even after a serious accident at the end of 2025, she's determined to get back on the bike and get back leading tours this spring. Maya Kenney, welcome to Just Ride. Maja: Thank you MAIN: I mean, that's an opener of which we're going to be asking lots of questions tonight. one of my first question, we connected me on Twitter and I'm trying to work out how long ago it was. It must have been, what, 10 years? Was it maybe even longer? I mean, I don't know. Maja: Probably not because it's going to be 10 years this summer since I've had my motorbike license and I think we connected when I was riding so it must have been you were probably one of the first people on Twitter that I started chatting to about bikes so I'd say 10 years. No! MAIN: Nice. Yeah. ⁓ I feel quite humble about that. And the fact I'd only probably just started riding about 10 years ago anyway, be fair. But it was one of those things that we've like, we've always kind of connected. We've come to Wales, we've always talked about trying to hook up and was all good riding. You show us the Wales that we probably don't know. But you have normally been. It's my homeland. I know. ⁓ Maja: Mm. Except for road numbers, Scotty. MAIN: Oh, yeah. And every time that we've tried to come down and have messages and say, right, we're coming to Wales and you're like, yeah, I mean, I mean, somewhere in Europe and we're like, ah, always missed. So I mean, yeah, so thank you for coming on to the podcast tonight. And we've been really excited to hear about your journey, you know, and it is when we've started to look at what you've done and what you've achieved, it is is pretty fantastic. So I think tonight, we definitely want to delve a little bit deeper. Maja: I know, I know. We'll make it happen, we'll make it happen. MAIN: and take the viewers on that kind of journey, you know? So... I'm really curious to learn, Maya. When Andrew opened up and he was chatting a little bit about your history there, at a very young age, you ended up like travelling Scandinavia. Where's that sense of adventure come from? Maja: It's always been inside me. remember my friends at school sort of, you know, making comments of, you look like a tourist in your own country. I'm not quite sure how. I didn't understand at the time. I think I know now because it was always just curious about what else is out there, what's in the world. And having grown up in Yugoslavia, was that, obviously the travel was very much restricted, although I had very... smart parents that managed to take us to Austria and Italy on regular basis on work permits in a MAIN: know ⁓ ⁓ Maja: car. Yeah, well, you know, it was very corrupt communism at that time and it didn't, you know, it kind of disbanded in in 91 Slovenia, it became independent. And then, you know, that's where the world opened for me and I just couldn't wait to travel. Scandinavian trip was with a friend of mine, also called Maya. not everybody's called Maya there. And she was telling her parents she's going to go into railing because they wouldn't let her go otherwise. And when we went to tell my mother the same story, she said to me, well, why don't you save money and just hitchhike? Because that's what I've been doing up to that point anyway. I was hitchhiking to Croatia, to the coast. you know, we'd go for days out to the seaside and come back being at school, but actually not. MAIN: ⁓ Maja: She knew all that. So I said, well, we were actually going to go hitchhiking, but her parents must never find out. And I don't think they still know to this day. that's how it happened. We packed up and officially went to the train station, we sort of hitched a lift very quickly on and off we went to Scandinavia. MAIN: Thank Thank And which countries did you visit in Scandinavia? All of them. Maja: Yes, so we were really lucky going there. We had two lifts, ⁓ one to middle of Germany, ⁓ a town called Kessel, ⁓ then the next one was of ⁓ randomly just a finger, not even ready to pitch, like, know, when you kind of haven't found a spot yet. But I just turned around and went, ⁓ come on, somebody stop, and this white vulva pulls over with Italians in there. Where are you going, girls? Well somewhere north and they said we're going to Copenhagen. Well, actually that's where we want to go So two days later we were in Copenhagen drinking with his Italians And we split there because they did their own thing and obviously we carried on we went to Sweden and even took a ferry over to Helsinki in Finland just that was about as much Finland as we've and then across to Norway and back through Germany and Austria back to Slovenia. So was about a month, I think it was very much how much money have we got when we ran out and when we were eating sardine tins from corner shops, we thought it's time to go home now. MAIN: Yeah. Wow. so obviously with the motorcycle adventures that you do as well, have you been back to Scandinavia on a motorbike since or Maja: ⁓ So yeah. Mm. yeah, in 22, I took a group to North Cup. So we did a three week tour from the UK to North Cup and back. And then last year, slightly shorter trip up to Gayranga, think it was a nine day tour and I'm doing it again next year because it's just so incredibly beautiful. And planning it is really hard because I want to do all the roads, but you can't because there's not enough time. So I kind of keep going back to find new places and take people on on different routes. MAIN: I've seen a lot of your tours and lot of those pictures that you share are just like, right guys, we've got to go. We've got to go. think we're going to have to book a tour with you at some point in the future, because I think absolutely, it's just amazing. There's becoming a theme on each week. We're going everywhere. Every guest we have on, we're like, we're just getting jealous and we want to come and follow them. Maja: I do. MAIN: Yeah, but Scandinavia is the only way we want to We don't want to go to Scandinavia. do. Yeah, I mean, it looks absolutely spectacular. So yes, Scandinavia is definitely a must. Maja: That's a whole idea. Yeah. Scandinavia, it's all very beautiful, but for motorbikes, Norway is the place to be. ⁓ Sweden, ⁓ I would skip unless you ⁓ slightly off road, but it's quite Sorry, Swedes. ⁓ Yeah, I don't know about Finland, but Norway is spectacular. If you do, we went ⁓ to Nordkapp on Norway's side. and came back through Sweden and it was a bit of MAIN: I'll let down. Maja: I'm not all disappointed and I let down, but ⁓ yeah, ⁓ we should have done it the other way around and then at least you finish on a wow than, no, there's another day of a straight road in between Christmas tree woods and nothing there to stop and nobody anywhere. So it's, ⁓ yeah, very different. MAIN: And how long are your two is normally? mean, sorry, we're going straight into two. There's a lot of things we don't know about, like when came to England, but how long are your two is normally over? Maja: It depends. mean, I'll do a short long weekend, sort of four days around Wales and then probably, you know, the fact that we're in the UK takes a day or two to get somewhere. So it's then you've got a week to ride. it's normally minimum nine days, I would say, but often much longer. MAIN: I'm just realizing I haven't booked a single holiday this year. some ideas. So I mean, I'm really interested to know how did you get into motorcycling in the first place? Maja: Yeah, yeah, it's true. Yeah. I've always wanted a motorbike. When ⁓ I was a with my sister in the backseat, with mom and dad in the cars, know, when they were still smoking and windows open and sort of queues for miles on motorways. ⁓ And all these and Italians filtering through on motorbikes. And I was just look out the window, feeling very jealous and just so wanting to be one of them, even though I was way too young to ride. ⁓ And then ⁓ dad bought moped for my mom. It was a Tomos 50cc. ⁓ with, you have to find Thomas, it's super cool, he's got pedals even to help you keep going when you're out of petrol. MAIN: ⁓ good old Thomas. Yeah. Do you remember what color it was? Maja: was silver bullet. had posh wheels and everything. was the whole thing. And Mum sort of used it to go to work a couple of times and then hated it because it messed up her hair. You know, this was days before helmets or any protective gear. MAIN: I'm Maja: So the moped just sat in the garage and I kind of over ⁓ But before that happened. Mom complained about the wind. So dad bought, you know, the postman have these big screens with flaps at the bottom. ⁓ So he fitted one of those on and he said to me, go and try it up and down the I said, there's no way I'm going to be seen riding that. mean, street created gone, right? ⁓ Anyway, ⁓ MAIN: Yes Yeah. Maja: we lived in a cul-de-sac on the bottom of the woods and I sort of just went up and down the road. And on the way back, all I could see in this screen was a reflection of myself. ⁓ MAIN: Thank Maja: As I was coming back home, my drivers had a little bit of a lip, so I thought, okay, just a little bit more gas. And the next thing, I don't know what happened, went through the hedge and into an apple tree in a garden. So that was the end of that screen. The ⁓ bike was fine, I was fine, ⁓ except for I had to peel and cook all the apples to make whatever you make with them that mother decided, because it wasn't ripe yet. So that was my punishment. ⁓ MAIN: you were hooked or put off? Maja: Well, it didn't stop me because I thought I'll take this off. I think that went away for a couple of days on a business trip. So I took the screen off and I just carried on using it to go to school. And, know, I absolutely loved it. It was my main means of transport in spring, summer and sort of until we got snow. Then I, you know, started hanging out with boys that had Vespas and I couldn't keep up. So I kept pestering dad for a Vespa and he said to me that, you know, you will. never have a big bike. ⁓ Obviously many, many years later I got it. ⁓ MAIN: Which we will come on to. Maja: Yeah, right. yeah, that was kind of, I ⁓ remember what happened to it. I think my parents divorced and then the bike went for sale and you know, that was the end of that at that time. But yeah, it took me a while to get back into it. ⁓ desire never left. ⁓ whilst I'm not any more interested in bikes themselves as in what what make what model what what you know all the technical spec and it's more about riding them in the adventuring than knowing all the spec and maintenance I'm okay I know basic things but if I don't have to do it myself I much prefer not to. MAIN: But just seeing about your childhood there, Mario, when you're watching the Italians and the Germans go by, I think it's pretty similar for all of us, would imagine, in our childhoods. Even at my age now, if I'm in my car and I see a motorbike coming up behind me, I've still got to wind the window down. I've still got to listen to it when it goes past me. it's, you know, just the smells when you used to go to race tracks and all them sorts of things, they're still really evocative and still really appealing. It's different for me. Maja: don't know. you Yeah. MAIN: Because when I was a kid, I used to wind the window down and count the sheep. damn it. But yeah, I couldn't do it when I driving, like. But you know, you've brought back a childhood memory that I've completely forgotten about. So I remember my nan who lived in Luton at the time. Maja: ⁓ Did you not fall asleep while driving then? ⁓ MAIN: she used to have a moped with one of those big screens on the front and she used to keep it in her outhouse. And I remember when I must have been about five or six wanting to go and sit on this moped and I've completely forgotten about it until you mentioned your experience there and I just suddenly thought that's where my love of bikes came from. Yeah. And you've still got that in your shell. If you ride that one, my Ibanez goes, I'll you. ⁓ a dollar! ⁓ Maja: Mm. Bye. Yeah, brilliant. But that was probably much more convenient to go to the shop with than a Kawasaki, right? Yeah, there you go. MAIN: Yeah, yeah, totally. So it started off on a moped. So how did you progress to where you are now and what you're riding now? Maja: I mean, I was 42 and I had a client who was setting up a motorcycle workshop and was building bikes and said to me, why don't you go and get yourself a license and I'll build you the bike. So my son at the time was 16 or 17 and we had a chat to say, do you mind? He's the sensible one anyway, so he kind of went, well, of course you're fine. You know, I can, I'm old enough to make my own lunch and. Obviously his dad was around so it's not as if he would be left on his own. But I thought it'd be good to ask him that, you know, his mother's doing another reckless thing. Fine, go for it. So that's what happened. The bike was, the donor bike was SV650 Suzuki, but it was made to look almost like a Ducati Monster. However, it was very... I'll send you the pictures. can see it had a beautiful white tank that he had brown seat and brown handlebars and is all black frame. So it looked really smart. Would he like brown seats or not? But you know, however, if the pig to ride and I didn't know because it's my first bike. So I wrote that for about two years, but my my favorite bike, I mean, the brand was always Ducati. So growing up next door to Italy, I love most things Italian. MAIN: and Hmm. Maja: And Ducati was always the one that I wanted, you one day I will have a Ducati. So when I had my license for two years, I could go and test ride a bike and the dealers because before they wouldn't let you. So I went to Manchester and took out a Super Sport and I took it up, took it out for a ride. then when I came back, I couldn't get my helmet off. I was grinning so much. was like, ⁓ wait, that's fine. I need one of them. And so I bought the super sport S in white with red wheels. Absolutely stunning bike. And that one had the name I called her Bella because in Italian Bella is beautiful and in Slovene, Bela is white, a color white. So it kind of worked. And Bella was sort of the start of my new life, to be honest. I decided to go to Slovenia for my first big trip and took three weeks and I don't like going MAIN: Yeah. Maja: down the same road twice. I did a circular route. And that was very, very exciting and very scary because obviously, once I was out of the UK, you think, ⁓ my God, I've done it. I'm in Europe, I'm riding a bike, I'm on my own. It was just amazing. I rode that. Part of my trip was to go see dad and tell him, ha ha, you he said, I'll never have a big bike. Ta-da! ⁓ MAIN: ⁓ And how did he respond? Maja: unfortunately, ⁓ was in a care home by that point with dementia, so he ⁓ ⁓ I was there anyway. ⁓ never saw the bike, but you know, the sentiment was there and at least I got to see him. ⁓ I had an incredible journey ⁓ ⁓ of exciting things, lots of sad things like seeing my dad like that and my son, who's... ⁓ Dad moved to Australia a years before that, decided to go and visit. He's gone there for a few times on holiday and that time he decided to call me and go, well, know, bought flight to come back in September, but I'm going to stay here for a bit longer. And seven years later, he's still there. So that was an emotional moment as well. So the whole trip was just fueled with different emotions, but all held in very good, great memories. So was my first solo trip. Yeah. ⁓ MAIN: So, ⁓ I how did you sort of go from doing your solo trip to thinking on this apperture company? Maja: was a bit of an accident really. Well, it was an accident but when we had our first lockdown during COVID, everybody was at home for first three weeks and in that time I lived on my own and I had obviously a lot of time to think and I thought this is a great opportunity to just review where I'm at in my life, am I doing what I love and what the future holds. MAIN: Thank you. Yeah. Maja: And the honest truth was that the business I had, my heart wasn't in it anymore. You know, I wasn't doing what I set it up for. was mostly managing people that worked for me. And I thought, I don't like it. What else can I do? And so somebody said to me, use the Venn diagram. I had no idea what that was. But you know, it's like all the circles, they interlock and cross over. But it was a very basic. So I kind of went, right, what do I love? Travel. MAIN: Thanks. Maja: motorcycles and people and if you mix them all together what comes out? How about if I do motorcycle tours? Now the reason they said they're popped in is because on Twitter a lot of people were asking me where do you go and ride in North Wales and more often than not I would say I'll meet you and I'll show you and so I was kind of already doing the guiding if you like and they were very patient because I was very slow at that time you know still fairly new to motorcycling. MAIN: Yeah. Maja: But that's, yeah, I thought, okay, well, let's see what happens. And I sort of advertised to say a day out because everything was closed. It was a case of we'll meet in the car park, bring your own sandwiches, bring your own drinks. We'll ride together for a day and then you go home. And they turn up, they paid money, had a great day. And then as the world opened up, I thought we'll do a weekend of it. And then the next thing one of the groups said, ⁓ you're from Slovenia. Why don't you take us there? So that was my first international trip. MAIN: Yeah. Maja: and then it just kind of spiraled from there. So yeah. MAIN: That's what I was going to ask because I remember seeing you doing that and you were obviously from Twitter you were mentioning where you were going and I saw that whole thing start to build and then suddenly you were then it went from like a couple of people coming out with you and going around Wales which we kept saying we're gonna go Wales we're gonna go Wales we kept missing you and then and then suddenly it seemed like overnight you were then in Europe and taking big groups and it was like how did how did that happened so quick that you had the confidence to go, right guys, we're going to go and do a trip like that in Europe. Because that for me was like, kind of blew me away. was like, right, you've done that and now suddenly you're in Europe with which it baby, how did that kind of work? Maja: was ⁓ to one group in particular because ⁓ guys, so they came to Wales, was eight of them, which I thought, whoa, that's a big group for one person. ⁓ still don't know what I'm doing here. I don't even know how to ride yet, but okay. ⁓ then they said, well, you know, take us to Slovenia. So we did a flying ride. So we hired bikes and took them around for five days and it all went well and they had a great time. next thing they said we want to go to Nordcarp so that you know I said you know I haven't been there they go we don't mind we know how you ride tours you know we know how you run tours we know hotels you pick we know the research you do we're cool with that and you know they kind of helped me gave me the confidence to then go well yeah I don't need to ride every mile of the road where I take people on on these adventures because otherwise it's not really an adventure so it gave me the confidence to then build other itineraries even though I haven't been MAIN: Yeah. Hey. Mm. Maja: all everywhere. But so far, I mean, I'm at the point now where I go, yeah, I know these roads in Spain and Portugal and Slovenia and, you know, all of them, I'm not scared to do that anymore. But as always, you need to grow and be pushed. So last year, that same group went, we want to go to Utah. So off you go and sort that out. So we had two incredible weeks in the States, sort of ⁓ the five states. flew into Vegas, hired bikes and we did a clockwise route up to Moab and Pikes Peak and down through New Mexico and Arizona and back home. MAIN: must be a lot of research that you do before that in terms of all the planning and where you're to stay. that, I mean, if you're going to do this, you're going to do it properly. You're going to obviously have that experience now and that confidence behind you. but the states, wouldn't know. I wouldn't know where ⁓ to Maja: takes hours and hours and hours of ⁓ planning, putting it all together. ⁓ ⁓ my experience so far, I'm very confident that I am good at deciding how long the days should be without being too much or too short. ⁓ ⁓ well, that's experience, isn't it? You kind of get the idea of where you're going, how long you can ride for and what the roads are like. MAIN: Yeah. It is interesting because every year there's a bunch of guys, Gareth Bright, who used to work for Triumph, would come up for the Scarborough Cup into Scarborough. Obviously, it was a September every year. I mean, one year, must have been, 15, 18 riders? Because we knew the roads up here. We used to take them on a ride on a Saturday. And actually, when you start to manage lots of people, although it wasn't a proper... you know, wasn't a proper rider in that sense. ⁓ we're going to go this way if you fancy following us. But when you start to have like a big group, I mean, it is pretty daunting, isn't it? Because, you know, how tired are they going to get? You know, what's the capability? How often do they need a lube break? And what bikes are they riding and how much fuel? It is a bit of a minefield. I mean, we did experience that. We loved it because we were taking people Maja: Yeah. Yeah. MAIN: But you feel responsible, don't you? We do feel responsible. Do you get that? How do you kind of manage that? That tattig, that like watching what everyone's doing? Do you use comms? mean, how does that all work? Maja: I won't more than eight bikes, so nine maybe, but you know, it's usually seven plus me is the biggest group. So I keep it small on purpose so that everybody gets to know each other if they don't know each other ⁓ and we can agile and we can, know, ⁓ if you come minute for lunch somewhere, it's not too big a number of people to feed and find a table for. ⁓ When ⁓ I tours people I haven't met before, That's the most stressful one. Because obviously I don't know they're riding, I don't know their personalities, even though I will have a phone call with everybody before we go and have a good conversation. And you know, what they ride in skill is you still have, have been riding for 40 years, but they won't break a speed limit or they're not going to go even close to it. And then you go, the whole group is hold back because of that one person. you know, you know, occasions where somebody just want stop talking and you think let somebody else a word in and you know so it's managing personalities. There's MAIN: We have no idea what you're looking at, mate. don't know why they're looking at you. That's why I'm being quiet now. Maja: a lot that on in head on tour so whilst I'm riding I'm navigating I'm watching what's happening me ⁓ I'm looking for places to stop because again with all the hours of research, I'm pretty certain and know where the stops will be, but it depends on the group. So if we set up earlier or we running late, then that stop that I planned for lunch might not be suitable anymore, which means I have to find on the go somewhere else to stop. So I couldn't have comms going on at the same time, you know, because it just, couldn't, I can't multitask although that is a multi-sask, suppose in itself. So there's an awful lot, yeah, it's exhausting, but also I love it and it's just something that, before I go to sleep at night, I'll look for the route in the morning, I'll make plan where we stop again, and then over again. when I come home, I purposefully built a week of doing absolutely nothing because I'll come and out for two, three days. Yeah. ⁓ MAIN: I'm not surprised. I mean, I'm worn out just listening to what you have to do. Maja: But yeah, you know, I people are, I've touched wood, never had a problem with personalities or an awkward customer. You know, we're all bikers. We all just want to go and have fun tour. Everybody, you know, there are times maybe I will say if somebody wants, it's itching to get faster and I know the road, I'll go ride, and have fun and wait at the junction or wait at this cafe. It doesn't mean. that they have to follow me the whole time. I don't wear a hi-vis, I don't have a clipboard. It's like going out with friends. So if somebody wants to go ahead, no problem. Everybody gets a GPX file, which means if you've had too many drinks the night before, you can have a longer sleep and you can catch up with us on your own. That's absolutely fine. If we stop at a place that is fabulous and you want to spend more time there, well, just as long as I know. MAIN: Thank Maja: No problem, we'll see you tonight at the hotel, you know where you're going. So it's very relaxed and I think maybe that's one of the reasons why I keep getting returning customers so much because it's quite chilled. ⁓ I tell you that as a compliment, absolutely, yeah. I'm absolutely delighted, you know. MAIN: You must be doing something right then. Have you ever thought about taking a ⁓ middle-aged gentleman from the northeast of England as part ⁓ of your working team? I'm more than happy to volunteer myself. Because you mentioned ⁓ Pikes Peak in there, and as soon as you said Pikes Peak, I got all, ⁓ Pikes Peak. I mean, that's where they do the big hill climb, isn't it? Pikes Peak. ⁓ It's just absolutely when you watch that on TV and you see them. Maja: Yes, yes, they do. That's right, yeah. MAIN: the cars and stuff going up Pikes Peak, you just think, ⁓ wow, and it's got this big observation point at the top because it's quite high, isn't it? Hence Pikes Peak. Maja: Well, I mean, it's over 4,000 meters tall and it's scary and so windy. And you think they're going up here at crazy speeds. mean, how more people don't fall off that mountain, I don't know. We had one of the guys we met there, he was actually on a push bike, he was cycling it and he got thrown off his push bike because of the wind. So he had his feet clipped in, obviously just fell over. He said it was so windy. We got there. I think I was on top for 20 minutes and one of my customers looked at me and he goes, Maya, your lips and your chin are all blue. I went, oh. Okay, I know, I'm fine, I'm fine. I'm sure it's, the oxygen is very thin up there. I went to my bike and look at the phone and I could not remember my PIN number to unlock it. And I did it three times and it wasn't working. And I thought, okay, I'm not thinking straight. Let's just go on a bike and drop the altitude as quick as I can. And once I got to about 2000 I stopped and I started breathing differently and everything was fine again. But I have never experienced that altitude before so it was no way of knowing whether I would be okay or not. But yeah, apparently I wasn't. MAIN: ⁓ You know me know how high we are yes, know, he's always our height check I don't quite know how high outside is but ⁓ Maja: It's not that high. Well, speaking of heights, actually, funnily ⁓ I was away last summer with my friend Lara, so we did eight weeks, ⁓ tet route from the UK to Greece. ⁓ And ⁓ I said, you know, I'm happy the mountains. have, you know, kind of blurted out. said, when we're over 1500 meters, ⁓ I I become the different person. And time I was starting to sing in my helmet or ⁓ dancing on the bike and Lara would Yeah, we've just gone over 1500 meters. So it was true. Something just changes inside me. Like, yeah, that's it. That's my happy place. MAIN: ⁓ Did you meet Lara on Twitter? I remember connecting with Lara on Twitter. Yeah, wasn't she... I don't want take this away from you, wasn't she doing track days and... should have had an influence at the time, because I remember seeing a lot of what she was doing. How did you guys actually meet? Maja: I did. Somebody ⁓ commented on my tweet and on her saying, ⁓ you girls have the same bikes. She had super sport airs in white as well. And she was doing lots of YouTubing at the time. She was racing. ⁓ I can't tell you where because I MAIN: Yeah. Yeah. Maja: ⁓ don't know. Lara. ⁓ was a big racer. ⁓ mean, she's just an incredible woman. ⁓ an Army reservist. She's an engineer. So like Scott, she would... ⁓ MAIN: No, I can't remember. Yeah. Maja: Fettle with bikes to death and I just went, oh, I'm going to sleep now, see you in the morning. Or I'll be there with my wine going, yeah, whatever. MAIN: you Thank you. Maja: Sorry, I'm diverting here, but this trip was perfect because we're such different personalities and yet it worked perfectly well as a team. I was doing the routes, where are we stopping, what are we doing? She would go what country we're in, no idea. And she would talk to me about bikes and what she did to them and I went, It's a bike, I'll ride it, that's it. So it was quite interesting dynamics. MAIN: Yeah, there's a there's a picture you shared recently where you're both wearing dresses next to your bikes. What was that all about? Maja: So that was part of the TET trip. we packed the bikes and set off and eight weeks later we arrived in Greece and it was 90 % of the route was on the TET, the Trans-European Trail, which a lot of it is off-road, a lot of it is quite challenging. But we camped for two, three nights and then booked ourselves into a chateau or somewhere very nice and comfortable, you know, to have a good wash and... MAIN: Right. Yeah. Maja: and a nice dinner and that picture was outside one of the French chateaus. So we were obviously dressed for dinner and then we thought, I'll just go and pose next to the bikes. They were still quite clean at that point, it went too bad. But we thought it was a sort of juxtaposition of, and also showing, well, luckily, yes, we're women and we can, you know, be on bikes and dirty and do all these things, water crossings and falling off mountains. But then we also dress up and like wearing dresses and... MAIN: Yeah. Maja: know, let the hair loose and stuff like that, so that's what that picture was about. MAIN: Yeah. Can I ask a little bit about that adventure? would you class that as being for an experienced rider, off-road rider, or could a novice do that? Maja: Depends on the country. ⁓ Probably not a complete novice, I would say. A bit of experience would definitely help. The further south you go, the more tricky it becomes. ⁓ Montenegro was a huge surprise in so many ways. Firstly, how incredibly beautiful the country is. The experiences we had there, ⁓ but the routes were one of the most difficult ones. So definitely not an obvious there, but France is mostly sort of field crossings, bit of ruts, couple of tricky bits, but nothing too much. Italy is a mix, but quite easy because there's a lot of what they call wide roads, which is just gravel roads up in the mountains. Slovenia is dead easy. And Croatia and Bosnia, yeah, then it gets harder and harder. So I wouldn't go as a complete novice. MAIN: Sounds fun though, definitely sounds fun. It does not. I you know, we're all, we're all road riders. We've all always ridden on the road, but we're so desperately wanting to give it a go. we? It's, the more people that we've spoken to in recent weeks and months, they all speak about, you know, the freedom of it, the excitement of it. And it's not about blasting to get somewhere from A to B as quickly as possible. It is about, you know, Maja: Yeah. MAIN: been there and being in it. adventure. And it really sounds really appealing. You could have five people at the satire as customers very, very shortly. Because it's something we'd really want to give it a go Well, I think, think, Maya, we are going to have to come on one of your tours. Absolutely. It's just where. I'm already, thinking. Maja: Hahaha Yeah, right. Where do you want to go? MAIN: ⁓ I mean one thing we haven't discussed is obviously you know you're doing these adventures I mean what bike you actually were riding now what bike are you doing these adventures on? Maja: So for road tours I use ⁓ Africa Twin Adventure Sport and then I have KTM 890 Adventure that I use for trail riding. MAIN: Yep. Maja: ⁓ MAIN: Nice bikes, very nice bikes. Maja: the 890 was, ⁓ so after I sold, well no I sell Ducati, I kept that ⁓ but I bought the 890 and I well that could a tour bike and I used that for a bit ⁓ and then I can't remember what happened. I got Africa Twin lent from Honda to do a tour of Ireland and it was the DCT and ⁓ I came back and phoned them and I said how much I'm keeping it. MAIN: Did you put loads of miles on it though? Is that why you are here? I'll give you two minutes. Maja: No, not at all. was, was slitch. No, it was actually really lucky. It was really, was really lucky because I think I was the first one to ride it and I put about 500 miles on it and then I got it back exactly the same. So nobody else rode it, which is really cool. But yeah, because MAIN: Can I ask you another question about the tours? So when I'm thinking about, you mentioned earlier on about flying in and hiring bikes. And I'm thinking, do you take kit with you to ride in or are you hiring the kit to ride in as well at the same time? know, whatever that may be, know, helmets, jackets, boots, everything. Are people expected to take it with them? Maja: Most people will take their own kit. Probably most hire companies will offer kit to hire, but you want to ride in your own gear. It's personal, isn't it? You want to, you know, your own helmet. I don't know. They clean them. I know they're fine and I have used them in the past, but it's just something about the gear that is yours and you want to wear that. So we'll end up flying with big cases to throw everything in. MAIN: Yeah. Maja: Helmets usually I take it always on a plane with me as hand luggage and just put it in an overhead locker. Everything else gets in a case or you know I have in the past not here in Australia I have flown in in boots because it was like the biggest heaviest bulkiest thing just wear it. MAIN: Because, Maya, that's one of the things that obviously people don't really understand is when they do these tours, like when we go to Wales, I literally take the kitchen sink because I've normally got cameras, drones and everything. So the biggest thing would be like the equipment you take or you like bare minimum. You have like one set of clothes and your bike clothes. What how do you do it? Maja: Mm. used to be an absolute expert in traveling light. So when I did a three-week tour on my Ducati, I had a 30-liter Krieger bag and that had everything in there. ⁓ ⁓ I've gotten bigger bikes with panniers, I've gotten lazy, so I just throw things in, but then I regret it because the bike is too heavy. So I have now kind of, I'm somewhere halfway. ⁓ will take minimal gear with me. Obviously all the Viking gear and some cameras and bits like that. But when it comes to clothing, I tend to buy things that are merino wool because they don't, you can wear the same thing a couple of times in one smell. They dry really quick. They don't crease, things like that. you know, the material is more important than what I wear. And it will be for a week, I don't know, two, three t-shirts, a pair of trousers or a dress and like really light shoes that... weigh nothing. everything, especially after the Tet trip, everything's been weighed. Everything was like, little luggage, how light stuff can we take with us? And, you know, in the evening, you're tired, you just want to chill with the guys you've been riding with, you're having something nice to eat. We never go to any fancy restaurants where you'd feel out of place in jeans and a t-shirt. So you don't go there for a fashion show. So we take as little as possible. Yeah, well, I do anyway. MAIN: So the evening times for us, the evening times for us, we normally get when we get back from a ride, we're absolutely buzzing and it takes about four to five hours for us come down because that's how excited, there's normally a hot tub involved and lots of beer. I normally just go to sleep. But it is that buzz, isn't it? I can imagine from what you're saying there that, you know, that feeling of taking people on, you know what you're about to experience in that kind of the scenery. Maja: You You Mm. MAIN: about what is your favorite kind of seamy, but there's nothing better, I think, from when we've done it years ago with the guys is that you get to the fuel station, they're like, that was incredible. Absolutely brilliant. And it is, it is a personal kind of you think, yeah, and we looked after everybody and there is a unique thing about that, isn't it? That is that buzz, you get that buzz like every time and there's a bits where you feel a bit like, I could have done that differently. mean, I suppose you're to get elements like that. Maja: Definitely buzz, but also I think people underestimate how tiring it is to ride for five, seven, ten days in a row. If there's a tour that's over ten days, I will always build a rest day in there. So normally I get, oh, we don't need a rest day, but by the time we get there, everybody goes, oh, so glad we're having a day off. Because it is, you you know. MAIN: Yeah. Nothing. Maja: you know, motorcycling, are constantly you know, motorcycling, are constantly on guard, you're watching for all the other idiots on the road that try and kill you, it's like less so in Europe than in the UK, all the other hazards that, you know, are constantly there. And so the positive thing of this is that's all you do, you ride, it's almost like meditation on two wheels, isn't it? You forget about any problems that may be bothering you for that time and you just ride and it's beautiful. ⁓ guard, you're for all other on the road that try and kill you, MAIN: Excuse me. Yeah. Maja: positive thing of is that's you you ride, it's almost like meditation on two wheels, isn't it? ⁓ You forget about any problems that may be bothering you for that time and just ride and it's beautiful. MAIN: Yep. Yep. Maja: But having, you doing it for six, seven days and in another country. So you're constantly, you know, out of your comfort zone because you don't know the language, you don't know the foods that you're buying, you're sort of trying to pick something that looks familiar to eat. driving habits are different and it is really exhausting as much as it is exciting and fun. the time, you know, by day four or five, you can start to see that people are going to bed a bit earlier and going back. MAIN: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Maja: But then there's that, but then all of a sudden, it's almost like the second wind. Or you get used to it, you become bike fit fairly quickly. And then the rest of the tour is just on a hive for the whole time. MAIN: Yeah. When people are going to come on one of your tours, do you ⁓ them about the kind of experience and have they done long tours before? You must ⁓ some kind of a vetting, you know, otherwise if you've got someone who's not done a tour before, somebody has, it's kind of, is it like a management of that expectation as well, it? ⁓ you normally get people who have done that kind of a tour or how do you plan around that sort of inexperience and, you know? Maja: It's some, you know, typically the first day I spend is just watching them all how they ride. And then ⁓ I'll a chat with the slowest one or the least experienced one and ask them to ride right behind me ⁓ because ⁓ the vulnerable one, I guess. And we need to go at that pace. ⁓ so in past, I've had guys that I was saying, yeah, I watch my lines and I did link up with them on the comms to guide them through how to ride and how to behave in certain situations. And after a week, their writing has improved. They've gone faster, you know, more confident and they love the fact that they learned other things as well, not just being on a tour. If it's not happened so far that that would have been an issue, but I would have said to the others, you know, guys, if you want to go faster, somebody can take the lead. I'll see you at a junction or at the cafe and I'll take the slower one with me. But that's not really happened. So it's an interesting job, I suppose, because something always goes wrong. It's not a case of what happens if something goes wrong. It's what happens when things go wrong. Now, one of my ⁓ businesses previously was building exhibition stands. that's the case of when things go wrong because something always happens. you know, I've learned to be very resourceful to think on my feet and it seems to be that that's in me ⁓ and I can't tell you how I will mitigate the problem but I am fairly confident that when it happens I'll sort it. ⁓ But that's just me, yeah. MAIN: So obviously when you're on these tours, I know you're talking about comms and that. ⁓ So what tech do you take with you to your life easier? Maja: Very little really. have I do have I use phone for navigation. So I have an Android and I have an iPhone so if and I use different apps on both of them because when one fails the other one is still running The Africa twin has an inoff screen so that mirrors Bluetooth one phone and the other one is on quad lock and so MAIN: Yeah. Maja: between two different apps and two different phones, I'm never left stranded or hanging. Like, ⁓ there's no signal, we need to wait so I know which turn we're taking. It would look a bit unprofessional. ⁓ That's about it for ⁓ navigation. I do have comms, but that depends. I don't tend to use them for talking. If I... go on a tour that somebody wants to help and they're in the back, then we'll link up and we can have a chat, you know, we're stopping here and tell them what's happening at the front, very rarely. And then a couple of cameras, but that's really just, you one of those things that you record hours and never do anything with it. So I don't really, I don't let it interfere too much. ⁓ Yeah. MAIN: know that. when you do the tours and you're off road, ⁓ is ⁓ it same kit you use, technology you use then on the road? do you have anything that's just specifically for off road? Maja: It's the same tech, just different apps. Because some of the apps I use for road riding won't do off-road routes, so you can't do the same thing. For example, I love Kalimoto. It's so easy to use for road riding, but it crashes a lot and it does need signal all the time. But for off-road, something like Osmand is my favorite or a DMD. Between the two of those, it again, it depends. MAIN: Right. OK. Alright. Maja: Apart from the phones are the same, know. My iPhone is more precious so for off-road I'll put that in my pocket and the Android will be on a handlebar so if that smashes I'm not gonna be too upset. MAIN: So what if you're out in the middle of nowhere and you have no signal because obviously a lot of them work off data. Do you have any tech that can back you up with your data signal? Maja: for navigation all the apps I use are off-road. You download the maps and they'll work with no signal, fine. But I do use a Garmin inReach when I go off-road. So you've got a in fact it's here, that little thing. Which is, it's expensive so you know I kind of pay for it when I need it and then cancel it and MAIN: Yeah. Maja: put it to sleep or whatever, but that's an emergency ⁓ SOS button so it'll connect you to a central room in Austria I think and they'll send help. But at the same time you can send text messages to people through it. for example when we were in Bosnia we ended up staying in some cabin log cabin in the middle of the woods with a bunch of Bosnians that you know MAIN: Yeah. as government response. Maja: and we had no signal. So we both had to report home that we're actually OK. Nothing is, you know, we haven't we haven't died or the bears have eaten us. And that was fantastic because I just you you just send text messages saying all is good. No signal. Speak to you whenever. But at least people at home know that you're safe. And that's I think it's a really good MAIN: Yeah. Maja: piece of kit. MAIN: And some of them now you can send pictures as well. ⁓ I know that's a big thing the government yesterday, yeah, I know there's through Rydian we're hoping to do some stuff for government, but it's interesting because, you know, looking at when you're in those places where there's nothing. It's really about how do you plan for if something does go wrong, you know, which obviously if you've got the in-reach, great, but if something goes wrong, but you can't get your hands on your in-reach, you know, it's kind of one of the fears that we have when we're out and about in the middle of nowhere. So also it sounds like you're using different apps and different bits of tech there. So would the ideal solution to be for you to be something which sort of just did it all in one as it were? Maja: Yeah. Yeah. absolutely think would make life easier and carrying two phones and things like MAIN: ⁓ obviously when you're roading and you're in the middle of nowhere and you're you issues with your bikes, obviously you will have minimum minimal ⁓ tools and that to actually fix things. So what's your what's your support and your backup ⁓ or if you need help? Maja: Yeah. Mm. ⁓ I'll travel with Lara, guess, because she's got all MAIN: Can we hire Lara for when we go in our first two? I can fix ⁓ bikes. Maja: the tools on her bike. ⁓ You should, you should. The interesting thing is I do carry some tools obviously, ⁓ but when you're in a group, everybody carries some tools. So at the end, you end up with a pile of things and then everybody helps and you go, well, I know how to do this. ⁓ whilst we had a couple of breakdowns and it wasn't resolved that quick, no problem, back on the road. ⁓ I was... ⁓ left to my own devices I would probably get quite resourceful and I would probably remember all the things I don't care about about bike maintenance MAIN: Yeah. Yeah. Maja: and have a good go at fixing it but yeah luckily I've not had ⁓ well I've had sorry I'm just going to jump in because ⁓ my rental bike in America was ⁓ quite dangerous actually and my chain came off twice on a gravel road it was so ⁓ that when you hold it straight, it just went down like that. It was horrible. And that would have been a problem if I was on my own. Yeah, because you couldn't it. MAIN: the sprockets and all that would have been yeah that means the sprockets were all hooked and everything else so obviously whoever you hired or off didn't maintain their bikes then that's very dangerous what sort of bike was it? Maja: No, no, they didn't. ⁓ KLM 650 Kawasaki. The bike was, I was quite impressed with the bike but it wasn't maintained well and ⁓ my rear wheel locked up twice and sort of... MAIN: ⁓ all right. Yeah, Yeah. Yeah. They're very good bikes. Don't you dare say you wouldn't get that with a shaft. I knew what I thinking. I what I thinking. I mean, I'll just get on it and go. But funny enough, I'm the worst because if there's any maintenance, I know where to take it straight to We got a Scotty motor. Maja: There you go. ⁓ MAIN: We all live quite local to each other, so we just go to Scotty Motors. And normally his wife makes us a cup of tea while Scott sorts our bikes out, which is fabulous. Yeah, perfect. Perfect. I can always make an exception and come down on the bike. Maja: That's perfect. Amazing. You're bit too far for me, I think, to come for a cup of tea. Bike maintenance. Yeah. MAIN: Obviously there's always risks isn't there when you're out riding and whether it's maintenance, whether it's getting lost or anything like that but I think the one risk everybody worries about is having an off or an accident. Is that anything you've experienced yourself? Yes. Before that one, have you ever had an off before? Before the one in December? Maja: Apart from the one that I'm still recovering from. Not anything with injuries. Obviously, when you're off-roading, you're off your bike a lot. Everybody laughs at me because I do it very elegantly. When the bike starts falling, I step off like a lady. I'm like, no thanks, except on that occasion. MAIN: Yeah. I think I do that. was just going to ask you about, talk us through what happened back in December. because obviously this is you know, you've been talking about this a lot online, but but do you want to if you're happy to talk us through what what happened what led up to that? Maja: mean, ⁓ it was TRF big bike friendly off-roading. Don't ⁓ know if you're familiar Boulder Lane in North Wales ⁓ is what it says a tin. ⁓ It's horrible and it's big bike friendly for somebody of my skill. ⁓ And my gut said me at lunchtime, I'm a bit tired. I should probably. gut said me lunchtime, a bit I probably. quality of the day, but you know, you go, but then what's around the corner, I'm just going to go and see it. And if it's too tough, I'll turn around. quality of the day, but you know, you go, but then what's around the corner, I'm just going to go and see it. And if it's too tough, I'll turn around. By the time you got really tough, there was no turning around because that route was only able doable on a big bike downhill. don't, you know, there's no way. Well, I could never get my KTM up that hill with all the boulders. And it was probably, I don't know, 200 meters from the end of that. And then there was tarmac and go home. By the time you got really tough, there was no turning around There's two of us at the end. By the half, he went down the boulder site and he's a tall guy with long legs on GSF 900. And he was being bounced everywhere. I thought, there's no way I'm doing this because I don't have long legs. That's my biggest problem off-road. I don't have enough of legs to stop or lean on things that you can bounce off. I just fall over. So I thought, I'm not going to go down the lane. I'm going to go... over the edge and it was just sort of a woodland steep hill that didn't look too scary and I was going very very slow and he was waiting for me at the bottom and I got to him and he's like ⁓ high five you did this really well you know sort of all that and I said right I'll see it by your bike and carried on and then bam and what I remember was hitting something and then carried on and then ⁓ bam ⁓ MAIN: you Maja: looking back on it, must have squished the front brake, which I know you never touch when you're these things, but must have been a sort of a reaction. And then, you know, I grabbed the brake and obviously the next thing I was rolling down the hill, I heard a crack and kind of stopped. And if you ran over and I went, don't touch me, don't touch me, it's like, let me figure out what's happened, what's wrong with me. So please pick up my bike and take you down and I'll be okay. So I got up and very soon realized that my right leg is very, very sore and I knew it was broken. I did a first aid course and motorcycle guide course in November, ⁓ which was really because was able to go through my head the process of first aid. ⁓ I didn't plan on using this soon, certainly not on myself. ⁓ MAIN: That's all I have. Maja: But it kept me calm because I could do all the checks and I was like, okay, I'm fine. I feel like this, that's all good. Okay, legs, there's something wrong with my leg. We're not gonna use it. Tried to hobble down, wasn't working. Found the stick that was kind of like a crutch. Got down a few more steps, didn't work. And there was a house and I to my other half, please go and knock on the door and see if somebody's there, they can help us. MAIN: you Maja: And I was going through scenarios like I know I have a tarp in my toolbox so I can, you know, can slide down the hill on it or all these things. And what happened was actually this random man started walking towards it and he said, ⁓ hey, you need help. Like fantastic. Whatever you came from, doesn't matter. Thank you. So I had two men trying to get down a hill. It's like, no, it's too sore. I can't do it. Now my arms are sore. He said, I've got a sack truck in the back of my van. you mind, you know, what should we try dad? I thought, well. MAIN: Thank Maja: I'm willing to try it, you know. So he had a big box with wheels in that he couldn't deliver. Turns out he was a delivery man, a DPD guy. Knocked on the house, said, do you know where this address is? The girls that were there saying, don't, while you're here, can you help this lady come down from the hill? Cause she's hurt herself. And so he put me on a sack truck sitting on his box and they wheeled me down. It was a sort of Airbnb house. the people that were staying there took me in. last murder half, rode home, got showered, came back in the car to take me to A &E and that was quicker than calling an ambulance or anything else to be honest. So anyway, that was a bit of long story, but it was quite entertaining at the time and I managed to laugh through it. Unfortunately, I broke a tibial plateau and it's of level five out of six. So I've done a proper job. I had three weeks in the hospital, two surgeries and over now well, maybe two, two months since the last surgery and I'm in, in ⁓ recovering a rehab because I can't bend my knee and on Friday I sat on my KTM and I couldn't reach the peg. So that got me very upset. And I've got five weeks to get bike fit basically. yeah. Yeah. ⁓ MAIN: Is that when your next tour is five weeks? Wow. But it gives you motivation because you know what you want to do when you know that you have this timeline you need to keep to. So the motivation that there is to get healthy and get all the rehab done so that you can get back on a Maja: ⁓ yeah, sorry, I had a physio appointment today and I need to work on strengthening my leg and bending my knee. And there was no progress since last week and she could see me getting teary. She said, but you know, can't you reach a plateau that it's like going to the gym. You start off and the muscles are showing and everything else. And then all of a sudden it all stops for a couple of weeks, which is where I'm at now, I suppose. She said, but. you can see the muscles are building up in your quads and you just becoming stronger. So she said, you don't need the brace anymore. You can now walk without it, which is a huge progress. But obviously I was looking at the measurements of knee bend and the extension, not banking on the fact that maybe that's at the plateau because the muscles are building up and it's, it's constantly having to reframe my thinking and taking each day as it comes. And because as soon as I start sort of looking forwards and going, ⁓ what if I don't make it? you know, panic and it's not a good place to be. So I just go, right, today's been a good day, small wins. And yeah, I'll get there. MAIN: So to help you and support you when you do get back on a bike in five weeks time, are you using twin pegs on your bike? Is that what you're using on there to help you, particularly if you're standing up on the pegs? Maja: do have twin pegs on the KTM, yes, not on the Africa Twin, because that's a road bike so I don't stand up so much. But yeah, I do use twin pegs on the KTM and I think they're brilliant. MAIN: Yeah. Maja: that's one of the ⁓ underrated pieces of kit that the world doesn't know about yet. MAIN: I don't know about them. It's something I stumbled across the other day. So it is as it says, it's a twin peg. So instead of having your single peg and obviously gear and your brake pedal, you've got two pegs. So you can stand up instead of just being on the ball of your foot. You can put your heel down as well. Maja: basically standing on your bike as if you're standing on solid ground with flat foot. ⁓ after a day of off-roading, everybody will go, ⁓ my calves, my calves. You have twin pegs. You're like, nah, don't feel them. Absolutely fine. No fatigue. So you will be standing and riding for longer because you're not going to get that pain and the fatigue. MAIN: Interesting. think they're another Norwegian company. Maja: They are Norwegian, yeah. They will be at the ABR. And the inventor is there and he fits them himself. He's great guy, a bit quirky, but really interesting. And he fitted them on my bike. They sponsored us for the Tet trip as well, so the CRFs had twin pegs on them. And yeah, I think it's one of those things, once you try it, you think, why wouldn't you? MAIN: Thank and Yeah, I think one of the one of the questions that we were going to ask about the off obviously, we did it make you question Ryan again, I mean, clean, you've got to a lined up board. Did you did you kind of think? Do I really want to do this again? No, I thought that was going to that motivation. And that motivation to get the back on the bank is obviously I've seen that you've you've you've had this recovery. And it looks like it's been quite a painful recovery. But what Maja: No, no, absolutely not. Absolutely not. Yeah. MAIN: What gave you that motivation to go, you know what? No, I'm getting back on the bike. I'm going to do this. Where did that come from? Maja: I think it's just me being curious and adventurous and I still, you know, I'm going, well, there's so much of the world I haven't seen. I want to do different trips. mean, I'm going to go to Australia again this year to see my son and then I want to do New Zealand in January for three weeks or however long I want to really. And when I'm there, I don't want to just stick to the road because now I know what fun off-roading is. So it's... MAIN: Thank you. Maja: I've got to go back. That's... What else am I going to do? MAIN: Now you've got the twin pegs as well. Maja: I don't think I'll have them when I'm there because I'm not shipping my bike but... MAIN: are you doing in June again? I think we kind of touched on that earlier in the in the the talk. But where are you going in June? Maja: in June. I'm going. MAIN: Will the gentleman know we'll be there as well? That's what I was trying to There's a very subtle hint there. Do I have to give you any more? Maja: ⁓ with the ABR, you mean? Well, I thought maybe, well, you know, I am also going to do a tour of the Vosges National Park in June and a few other things. So, you know, it's never just the one thing for me. MAIN: Mrs. Dary? She's got a busier tune than we have. You have. So tell us about what you're going to be doing at ABR this year then. Maja: ⁓ At ABR, so Lara and I have been given the opportunity to run a masterclass on how to adventure, I guess, how to get ready for that kind of adventure. What entails how we did it, how much money we spent on it and all this kind of details. Potentially there'll be another talk at the Travelers' Tent, but they haven't been confirmed yet, but we're definitely doing a come and see us there, yeah, for sure. That'd be great, yeah. MAIN: I think we might all be there. We'll be there. Definitely looking forward to meeting Lara because I said seeing you guys and everything that she was doing on I'm not on Twitter or X anymore, but it was quite amazing to see what you guys were doing. think it's been an engineer and being the RAF guy, I think you guys will get on famously. Maja: Yeah, yeah. I'm sure, I'm sure, yeah. MAIN: You mentioned you've got some other tours. Are all those tours full? Or is there space left on your tours? Maja: I have spaces left on the tour of Ireland in May and I've got a couple of places still in Wales in July. Everything else is either private tour or sold out. that's the... There you go. ⁓ MAIN: I've got three week in July. Where would you take five novices? You're going to say something else then. Maja: I mean, is it off road? And I will take it to Portugal. MAIN: Yes, off-road. ⁓ Maja: I got a tour in Portugal, you know the ACT tracks, ⁓ the Country Trailer from... MAIN: No. Maja: okay, so ACT is a fairly new thing. ⁓ I think it's of following from the American ⁓ BDR, they? Backroad ⁓ Trails or something like ⁓ So the ACT is Adventure Country Trailer ⁓ it's done by... Gosh, what are the guys Tech... ⁓ I can't remember now. Torotec, Torotec guys. Yeah. There you go. So they're doing it. they, I think there is, there's one in UK, Portugal, France. I'm not sure. It's sort of slowly going through Europe, ⁓ Italy as well. And the Portuguese one I did last year on my own. So I did North to South, which is from Brugganza all the way down to the Algarve. So this year I've teamed up with a husband and wife team who are running a tour company in the Algarve. They've got a fleet of bikes, CF motos. ⁓ And so we're basically ⁓ doing whole thing all inclusive. You fly into Faro and ride north and go home from Porto or you fly into and you south and you go from Faro. And we've got support vehicle, ⁓ food, fuel, bikes, everything is in price. ⁓ MAIN: Can I just, you've just mentioned some very, very key things. Now I'm taking my wife to Portugal because we can fly from Teesside Airport direct to Faro. This is uncanny, it's not pre-scripted, this is uncanny. I think, I'm now going to be laid around the pool clearly, but no, that sounds good. You go lazing around the pool, we go riding bikes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no, that sounds... ⁓ Maja: turn up. Okay. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. MAIN: Do know we're going to have get some more gear? We went down to Sports White Shop at the weekend. were looking at all the kind of gear that we're going to have to start buying. Can I ask that question? mean, because we were looking at gear for off-road riding at the weekend and you can spend huge amounts of money. But as somebody that may have a limited budget, it's like really what sort of brands could we look at? know, where we could maybe get something that's of good value that can be used. certainly at an entry level level. I'm not sure I take an extension on my mortgage. Where certainly my wife won't be too upset with me. Is there anything you would recommend, any brands that you would recommend? Maja: So personally, I have to say big thanks to Knox because they've given us a lot of stuff to go away on this big trip. I thought Knox is a street riding gear, but actually they are doing an awful lot of racing and off-roading that I didn't know about at all. So their kit is absolutely brilliant. The reason I like it is there's a body shell perforated sort of armoured shirt. MAIN: Yeah. Maja: that you don't layer on with warmer stuff for days that are cold, but the shirt itself, it's very lightweight. And you just have that in the summer. Now I know Adventure Speck and Claire Minold are doing a similar idea, but I think Knox in terms of budget is a lot more friendly. Obviously, being a female, it's really difficult to find gear that fits properly. So I love them even more because that is MAIN: That's right. Yeah. ⁓ Maja: been designed with some thought for a ladies figure. know, trousers, anything that, you know, so I have a pair of leggings with armour in on hips and coccyx and thighs, but I take out the knee pads and I put stronger knee protectors. So, you know, the ones that you sort of strap around externally. And then I just have a pair of trousers that go in boots. think the ones that have are clean, but they were bought on a sale for a big discount. Otherwise that would not be the brand I would be buying. that, that everything else, yeah, not because gloves as well. I was very impressed with. I've not, you know, when I started going off road, I bought Alpine stars body armor, which is just a thin sort of mesh with lots of armor. I'm sorry. It doesn't work for a lady with, you know. MAIN: . Maja: big chest ish was just silly. So I ditched that. I also looked like one of those action men figures walking around like that. And then just sin shirts over and things like that. But I think having sturdy armour underneath whatever way and whatever suits you is the most important thing. What you put over doesn't really matter so much then because The thing is, it will get ripped by brambles, it will get torn when you have an off, it will get muddy and dirty, so you want something that you can chuck in a washing machine very easy. Boots are super important, they're really sturdy, because obviously they'll protect your feet and your ankle. If a 200 kilo bike falls on your knee though, unfortunately, there's probably not much you can do about that. You might end up like me, but... MAIN: That sounds good. ⁓ yeah. Maja: ⁓ MAIN: My name Maya, helmets do you use? ⁓ What helmet? Maja: I have ⁓ LS2 ⁓ again, super budget friendly. So you smash it. It's not, you you don't cry too much about it. You buy a new one. It's OK. ⁓ I have a shoebiz as well for road riding. One of the flip face ones. No, think it's an E1, think. It's quite a few years I've had it now. But I prefer LS2. They just fit my face better, my head. I mean, they are so individual to your shape of your head. You need to just try a few and see what works best. MAIN: We've actually got a lady called Linda Jean Belvedere coming on the show who's actually created a brand. ⁓ Linda Jean. She might be, she's coming on the show actually, she's going to talk about her clothing brand that she's designed for women. It was quite interesting actually when you look at the challenges of trying to find some kit ⁓ that not only fit but look good as well, you know, because I don't think the manufacturers for years have really thought about Maja: She is Switzerland. Yeah. Mm. MAIN: And now we've got a surgeon, you know, female motorcycle kind of market, which is fantastic. say, and we've obviously we've had some people on recently as well that are doing that as well. I think she's going to interesting to find out what type of clothing is she doing, you know, where is Knox? ⁓ Knox based in Cumbria. I'm sure they are. Yeah. You know, so that would be quite interesting just for anybody who's watching the show that wants to have a look at. Maja: Yes, yeah, yeah, cock a mouth, yeah. MAIN: what tools you're doing. Is there a website that you've got, Maja: Yeah, so it's very simple. It's mayasmotorcycleadventures.co.uk. That started as a blog when I started riding. So I was just sort of using it to share my stories and my experiences. And then when I started a business, I thought, well, I've got a domain. I'll just keep using it. And it stuck. it's Maya's Motorcycle Adventures and Maya is spelled M-A-J-A. But if you follow me on Instagram, it's biker underscore Maya, again, M-A-J-A. And then the links are there as well. MAIN: Fantastic. Maja: ⁓ MAIN: drop it in the right of anyway in terms of make sure we get people there because I think we're going to be queuing up to come. ⁓ going to be very busy and hopefully, hopefully we might have something we can take with us as well to ⁓ use ⁓ that point which we'll talk about in the months to come. we've been talking ⁓ preparing ourselves for going off road and there's lots of Maja: Thank you. Mmm. MAIN: There's like a place you can go and obviously BMW do one and Triumph do one and there's think there's other is there any the off-road schools? Is it? Maja: the Yamaha. Sweet Lamb Ducati, that's made Wales. MAIN: Yeah, they're all in Wales, most of them in Wales my only a lot of them Maja: ⁓ Well of course it's the best place in the world isn't it? ⁓ MAIN: I can't remember the name of the number of that road. Maja: The A483, yeah, that made me laugh. I think the truth is that Wales, so it's north, mid and south, right, because my other half gets really upset when people just go, going to Wales, like yeah, but where? It's a big country, right? And when I do tour of Wales, it's interesting because in North Wales, you go beautiful tarmac, nice sweeping roads, fast roads, yeah. You get to mid Wales. MAIN: Yeah. We know. Maja: and you go down goat tracks, know, but you are in the middle of nowhere, there is nobody there but sheep. It's so peaceful, it's so beautiful. And then you come to South Wales and it's the valleys and 20 mile an hour speed limits and you you've got the Brecon Beacons but they're super busy, but like Snowdonia, super busy too. But you can experience the difference of the country within the three days and you can just see, ⁓ something shifted, we're not North Wales anymore, it's now, you know, and MAIN: Yeah. Maja: So it's really interesting. And in terms of riding, I think you have the best of everything in a smallish place. But the off-roading, I think, is probably one of the most challenging ones in Wales. MAIN: you Maja: ⁓ MAIN: Yeah, I think we managed to do pretty much all of Wales in one day. I'm sure that we slept pretty well that night. We absolutely love it. Fire Aberystwyth. Yeah, for an ice cream. ⁓ Through Macanclaith, the Mac Loop. ⁓ We love it. We love it. And we do. We're hoping to come back this year, but we've got a couple of things on. We're bit busy. Maja: Mm. Yeah. Yeah. bit busy, yeah, yeah, yeah. MAIN: Well, we're going to Portugal, aren't we? I'm hoping. We're going to do that. We're also going to ⁓ Andalusia ⁓ at some point, probably end of April, to do some testing and some filming, which is why we've asking the question about ⁓ gear, because I think we're going to be hiring bikes. And I think Robbie Wallace, who was on the show recently, might be showing us how to ride sand, but we'll just be there going, you go and do what you do. Maja: You're going to, of course in September, absolutely, I hope you do. ⁓ exciting. Okay. MAIN: I think Robbie's on, I think that's this week's Robbie's podcast airs this Thursday. He came in the studio. He's a Dakar, British Dakar finisher in the... This year's Dakar, And we just sat and we didn't really say much because we were just like, you did what? First Brit home, first Brit home in the Dakar this year. Yeah. On his KTM 450. Yeah. Maja: Okay Yeah. Amazing. ⁓ It's incredible. Amazing. Yeah. MAIN: Yeah, so he's been giving us some some sort of advice to the point where we said, what you're doing the end of April, could you come with us to Andalusia? Well, just to kind of show us what we need to be doing. yeah. Mya, so when you're on tours, what content do you do? Obviously, you record your groups, but obviously, do you just do like shorts? Or do you do long videos on YouTube and type of things? Maja: I'll and do this for the camera. See to it, yeah. Brilliant. ⁓ I do shorts and I do photos. Photography is more my thing so I do lots of pictures. MAIN: So many through Insta then, yeah. Maja: Yeah, I will get some videos, but it's mostly for shorts and then I'll share it, you know, to take my drone with me. ⁓ I am not great at ⁓ driving it or it, but I might, ⁓ you know, the just want to see themselves going down the road so I can manage to ⁓ capture that and share it with ⁓ the group. And a nice little extra. ⁓ But apart from I try and keep that ⁓ to minimum so not a distraction because it can become just too much ⁓ and ⁓ takes over. MAIN: So what drone maya do you have? Because I'm a drone pilot, so I have a lot of drone. Maja: ⁓ just a... I heard that before, know, thought, shall I mention it? Shall I not? It's a DJI 4 Mini Pro, I think. Yeah, that one. MAIN: So if you take me on a tour I'll take I'll give you some flying lessons Maja: Deal. Absolutely. I'd love to learn that. Yeah. No, no, that would be brilliant. Sorry, gone. MAIN: No, I was going to say if you take me on a tour, I'll show you how to fall off a bike ungracefully. Fantastic. All right. You're going to, are you going to ask the question? Yeah. May we always ask at the end of the pod, we ask a series of questions and the first one, the first question, if, if money was no object, what bike would you buy? Maja: I think I've perspective that now haven't I? Yeah. the bikes in the world of course. The thing is, now it's MAIN: That's just creepy. Maja: greedy you know, but I would probably and build a little collection of like the firsts, ⁓ like the old fashion, the original bikes or something like that. If MAIN: All nice. Yeah. Maja: money was no object I would have massive garage with a tiny house attached to it and just have beautiful old cars and old bikes in there. Now it's something about them, the way they were built, ⁓ the elegance of them. MAIN: you Maja: how they make you feel when you see them. ⁓ I find it a lot more attractive than the modern one, which is starting to look very samey, just like the cars are. ⁓ But there isn't, you know, I'd probably buy my Ducati back. I've sold my Super Sport now, so I would probably buy that back just because it's better. It's that one bike. ⁓ Apart from that, yeah, it's difficult to say. I don't have the dream bike in my head. It's just any bike that will take me on an adventure. MAIN: Interesting. There's a lovely museum down in Hampshire called Sammy Miller. So Sammy Miller was obviously a famous racer and he's got a museum down in Hampshire, which if you've never ever been is fabulous to go to because it's got everything in there. You know, ⁓ Enduro bikes and off-road by everything racing bikes, Norton's, they're very, very old. It's just great to wander around and you pay once and you can go back as many times as you like for the rest of the next year. So it's Maja: Yeah, I've it. Right. Wow. Really? Yeah. MAIN: it's so Sammy Miller's is absolutely fabulous if you get a chance to go. Maja: Yeah, I must do that. I must make a trip there then for sure. We could do it too. Do it. MAIN: We could do a tour. could do a tour. Who is your motorcycle in hero? Maja: Well, I will say Sam, Sue Hollis. Sue Hollis is an Australian lady who was a racer on a Ducati and I came across her, I can't remember why, but I read a book she wrote called Riding Raw. Now if you're put this in your Google search, I can't be responsible for what comes up. So make sure that you use her name at the same time. And reading her book. It just is, look, I may have done MAIN: Yeah. Maja: this myself. I what talking ⁓ about. MAIN: Thank Maja: You know when read books and traveling books and that one just really inspired me. something about it that just grabbed me and I was fortunate enough to ⁓ get to interview her for Motorcycle Sporting Leisure. I had ⁓ a column in there, well I ⁓ an article for about a year. It was titled When Met. and then a lady rider and I managed to interview her which was really incredible and then I got to meet her face to face as well when I was in Australia. So she's ⁓ full of energy, this tiny, petite lady bursting with energy, biker, businesswoman, mother, adventurer, just all the things that I aspire to I guess in this feisty lady and the... Meeting her was just incredible and her husband helped me plan the route when I was doing ⁓ Australia tour on my own and some gravel roads. And yeah, I would say go and read a book and hopefully you like it as much as I MAIN: place. Maja: do. MAIN: Yeah, I think it's something we need to educate ourselves with gentlemen, isn't it? that's a lovely thing to hear. Favourite place to ride your bike? Please say Wales. ⁓ Maja: ⁓ Wales. know, MAIN: I know. Maja: okay, so ⁓ you know, been in, I've been living in North Wales for 23 years. ⁓ And on a sunny day, on a, it's like nowhere else. It's so beautiful. on a day, it's MAIN: that they have to do things well. Maja: like nowhere because it's dramatic it's got just different feel about it. I, every time I go out, I go, why do I want to ride anywhere else? This is incredible. But then of course the world is big and there are so many more incredible places. ⁓ And my, and my current or latest favorite is Portugal. I mean, I'm spending more time there. It's, it's stunning. It's the most, it's kind of like wild west in Europe. You can still go down any trail you see, you still come across. ⁓ miles and miles of nothingness, no traffic and where there are tarmac roads they tend to be absolutely brilliant. So it's getting more more popular. I know it's the El Garvo famous and golfers go there but for biking, yeah, it's still a lot to explore but I love it. The Drouro Valley of course following the river and the wineries and everything else is like, it's just something else. Absolutely love it. MAIN: When was that tour again? September. ⁓ And the final question for me. So you've just got yourself back from doing a tour and you were saying you like to spend a couple of days just like relaxing and doing not doing nothing. But you find yourself, you've got a few extra pounds in your pocket and you think I'm going to go and buy something. So in the motorcycle, would you go and buy a helmet? Would you go and buy boots, gloves? Is it something else you would buy? What would you go and spend them? Few extra pounds on. Maja: Yes, it is. I do love a new helmet day. I it's just... I don't know. I just the freshness of it, the visor isn't scratched, the inside smells nice and lovely because he hasn't sweated in a year. That's on top, but then next one probably a of boots. Yeah, MAIN: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And they can turn out quite expensive, can't they? When we, yeah. Let's not go down there. We won't go down that route. We spent a few quid at the weekend, put it that way, and we're back tomorrow. Yeah. But, yeah, I just think when you put a new helmet on, it's just the, I just think it's the most wonderful feeling. I did that Saturday. It was amazing. It's just that whole new adventure. And if, especially if it's a different brand, Maja: yeah. Yeah, yeah. ⁓ you're back to her. Yes, it is, isn't it? MAIN: So if you're brand loyal with certain brands and you put something different on, and especially if you're in that position where you can maybe go up maybe a few additional pounds to a different, like a premium or something like that, it's just like, wow, wow. Yeah. Just before you let go, and it's been fantastic to have on the show, my name is Saul Playsby, finally had a conversation. Always been stove the internet. It's a bit weird, but just some promotion and plugs. It's shameless plugs. Yeah. So anything you'd like us to highlight? Maja: Yeah. ⁓ no. MAIN: You Maja: Well, obviously my website and my tools, so I would be very grateful for that. MAIN: which you'll be able to see in the description because we're definitely going to support that. Upcoming, no problem, upcoming projects. Maja: Thank you very much. Projects are such, the New Zealand tour in January is kind of one that I'm wanting to do, for myself it's not going to be supported, it's not going to be... obviously I'll probably share it as I always do, but it's a personal thing. Any major projects at the moment, obviously the tours that I'm running, I am getting more and more inquiries on public speaking. MAIN: Hmm. Maja: is something that I'd love to develop further. I think what I have to share is not all just about motorcycles as a businesswoman, as a business owner. I've been through a lot, I have a lot of experience and linking that with the mindset, the travel, the motorcycling world as well because, know, to people that don't ride motorcycles, they don't understand it. MAIN: Interesting. Excellent. Yeah. Maja: what edge we have and what it takes to be a biker. So that's one of the areas that I'm sort of developing and being able to speak at the ABR is incredible. I've got a couple of others engagements coming up MAIN: Absolutely. Maja: and I'd like to develop that too. ⁓ MAIN: Fantastic. And finally, sponsors you'd like to mention. Sorry, if I cut across you, was there something else you were going to mention? Maja: No, no, it's okay. Well, obviously, ⁓ Honda been ⁓ good to me. They sourced the Africa Twin for me to ride in Australia for ⁓ two weeks, ⁓ you so that me lot of money ⁓ having to hire ⁓ Then the one I have and obviously the CRF that we used last summer, they were sponsored by Honda, which we were super grateful for. ⁓ LS2 is an incredible brand that's really super supportive, know, and I fell over, they were like, oh, do you need a new helmet? You know, we've seen what happened and it's scratched and things like that. I've got, Knox, they again have kitted us out. And I'm not going to mention other brands, it's happened in the past and it was terrible because I didn't like it and I had to wear things. But this one is genuinely something I... I have happily spent money on as well for my friends. ⁓ Krieger have been again incredibly supported with all the kits, the saddle bags and then you know for the CRFs and also for my KTM and I've used Krieger before when I've started riding that was the brand I went to so I have spent a lot of money with them before they supported me. ⁓ and I have got, I think, a that's 10 years old and is still absolutely bulletproof, you know, it's quality. And we mentioned Twinpeg, so again, ⁓ the underrated sort of unknown piece of kit, if you go off road, I think it's an absolute winner. MAIN: Wow. Mm-hmm. ⁓ ⁓ mean, unless else is getting a question on behalf of obviously the guys here. Thank you, Maya, Kenny for coming on the show and talking us through your journey, which is, ⁓ I mean, great to speak and hear you talk about your journey. I've only ever seen it documented online, but it's been a fantastic privilege. Thanks for us having you on the show tonight. ⁓ Give it to Maya, Kenny. ⁓ Maja: That's it. ⁓ Thank you so much for having me.