Great to hear and here’s to your trip. Hoping you do it and it’s the experience of a lifetime!

here here , im 44 and would love to do something like this

Powerful words and hear hear, Arthur! To living a simple life in the moment. Cheers and thanks for the kind thoughts.

Dear JB, we are so grateful for your reaction. Thank you. Entirely agree and hopefully FWE will stand the test of time and maybe even send some on real adventures that come from the soul rather than with viewing figures in mind.. Ben

Couldn’t agree more!! If the world could only hit an I’m Spartacus moment at which we all destroy our phones at once..

Thanks Peter! The film is just a tiny part of it all and we’ve been hoping to write an unabridged book / do an exhibition for years. One day.. For now the whole thing remains rather underground and to this day it only captures the attention of the few that stumble upon it. We are passionate about getting the story out there because it does seem to resonate with those that find it. Perhaps one day it will be unearthed by someone of influence, but for now it remains in obscurity. And actually, given the non-commercial nature of it all, maybe that is how it is supposed to be! All the very best, Ben

From E.T to The War in Vietnam, Peter Coyote is a living legend and we are ever grateful he gave his voice to FWE.

​@@benwylson3089 Was pleasantly surprised to hear Peter narrating this brilliant film. He was a bit of a biker in his day too.

🙏

🙏

Thanks Bob, glad to hear you enjoyed it. All the best, Ben

You couldn’t have given our egos a bigger massage. Thank you! As complete armatures with a camera, we actually filmed 4:3 because we didn’t know there was a 16:9 setting. Also, we only filmed when nothing much was going on / when we thought of it… so in the edit we had almost nothing to work with. It’s all entirely random and as you can see, we rarely took the filmmaking especially seriously, hence the moments like the Morocco trumpet.. A great compliment to hear that it felt a little Wes Anderson. For the unabridged adventure, we have literally a few million words in our diaries. Hoping to publish these one day. They are diligently written and comprehensive, but actually probably even more whacky. I concur about some of the modern filmmaking. A little too much emphasis is placed on beauty in general these days. What happened to the grit and substance?! Happy you enjoyed the film and thanks again - Ben & Jamie

Indeed - we’ll done Jamie… 😅

Thank you!! Always so grateful for comments like this 😊😊 🙏

Thanks for saying so, Stephen! Best of luck! You are a spring chicken! Once cycled cork to Galway and loved it. Also my loop of the outer Hebrides is the ride that got me into bikepacking in the first place - there is nowhere more beautiful on earth..

Thanks for your very wonderful message - passing on gratitude to The Big Sky

Thank you! Pleased to hear, from two fellow bike riders!

Thanks for your kind words and for sharing your story. I read a book called Ghost Riders by Richard Grant. It might be right up your street! It’s about American nomads. I used to tell my family when I was younger that I wanted to be a wanderer when I grow up. I never really grew up, but I do have a young family now, so am more sedentary than I have ever been. Keep on journeying and you may or may not settle one day when the time is right!

P.s best of luck with your adventure! Ben

@@TheBigSky Thanks! God bless Ben! ✝️💕

Archangel Brilliant, enjoy, I would like to do the same. I have 2 dogs also, one a wolf dog. The trouble is, I can't do such a trip in my own country (UK) due to the dogs making it difficult & dangerous off their leads. A country of freedom roads & quietness away from traffic would be ideal. Have a great journey

Let's go on a bike adventure. .I'll pedal with you

they botched the beginning of the movie a bit. you want to start with a hook to keep the audience's attention, they started with too much dialogue.

Firstly, massively envious of your upcoming trip. Like many things in life, the mental chewing that goes on before doing something significant is more of an ordeal than doing the thing itself. The hardest part of our journey was surely the departure and arriving back in England. As for the bit in between, there is nothing more right, wholesome, meditative.. life changing than riding bikes over long distances. You even have the advantage of being an athlete! FWE continues to reward us every single day and the life-lessons we we learned will never be forgotten. Hoping very much that your adventures have the same impact on your life as ours had on us and our futures. Really enjoyed being called badass btw!! Thanks so much for your day-making comment.

Good luck and happy cycling

Have a blast 🙂🤘🏻👊🏻

Here’s to that!!!

Have replied in one in my previous comment!

Dear Paul, these are exceptionally kind words. Our aim when making the film was to pass on our experience so that others might be inspired to believe they could do it too. You saying this makes 12 years of not many people seeing it ever so worth while. Thank you.

Thank you, Joseph - your words mean a great deal to me and Jamie.

@@benwylson3089 Your welcome and I am glad my words made such a positive impact. My dad traveled the world with my grandpa and I hope one day to do the same. You deffiently put a voice to your story and the many stories I have herd from my family.

@@josephhirsch1796 wonderful - sounds like the adventure is in your blood! Enjoy your turn.

@@benwylson3089 Thank you and I truly feel that way.

Thank you steve! Ah yes, our Rohloffs - no greater bit of bike!

Well I never! A ‘priest’.. I have also - after a quick google - seen them called ‘bonkers’. Thanks for getting the exact essence of it all. The world has gone mad and these were simple times about real, personal exploration, rather than exploration for the ego or to make money or to provide dopamine hits for money. Cheers and tailwinds! Ben & Jamie

Such a kind thing to say - thank you. I have passed these words on to our parents!

Dear Matias, your message was very special to read. The last scene always makes us emotional too. Thanks for sharing and for the exceptionally kind words. Hoping you discover where you want to be. Maybe the true joy in life comes from just being - a human being. To following the winding road - you never know what lies around the next corner! Tailwinds, Ben & Jamie

You are far too kind - thank you.

Our pleasure! Liking the name crazy rider, and possibly being one.. Here's to freedom!

Thanks so much Danilo! Not a day goes by without being grateful that we took the decision to go when we did!

@@Mark8v29 A very good point, Mark! I once saw this.. which is absolutely a motivator: www.imdb.com/title/tt1505354/ - glad you enjoyed the film and here's to many more years of keeping those wheels turning!

​@@Mark8v29 thanks for your philosophy, Mark! The more Clark Kent, the less ego, and as long as you plod, step over step, without focusing too much on the finish line, I truly believe you can achieve the impossible!

You must do that! You’ll never look back.. Tailwinds!

@@benwylson3089 thanks dude!

Thanks for saying so CJ! Means a lot to us.

This is one of our favourite ever messages!! So happy to hear this Jonny. Wish we could go on that trip across the states with you. I think my main take away from FWE: If you put your life and soul into something you are passionate about, it’ll work out in the end, as long as you stick with it! Tailwinds! Ben & Jamie

.. Or go off the beaten track stateside and avoid anything commercial. Pack some muesli and a tent and you won’t spend another dollar!

Thanks so much for your kind words - they mean a lot!

Hey Natema! Loved reading your message. Thank YOU!

Thanks Tim. Peter Coyote was / is an absolute hero - a very wonderful fellow, to whom we will be forever grateful, for narrating Free Wheels East.

@@TheBigSky Oh and the whole flip flops thing was insane!

@@timallenphotogram Oh yes.. I don't think we had hit that time in life when one thinks about the consequence of one's actions. Not sure whether that time ever kicked in actually.

Thanks for the encouragement and hope you enjoyed the second viewing! Would love to know the quotes that resonated!

@@benwylson3089 "Feeling trapped for a very long time." "I couldn't see myself living the rest of my life in a fixed situation or lifestyle." "When you realize that you don't have to live your life based on what society tells you." Society, parents all predetermine what and how we as individuals should live our lives. Yes, there is probable success in following what society tells us to do and live. However, it depends on what we as individuals define as success. Working like a dog for someone else for years and years, acquiring a bunch of stuff that either ends up being sold for less money than we bought it for, giving it away or throwing it away. Doesn't make a lot of sense. Yet the majority of people fall into this mindset. We don't have a U-Haul truck following us to the grave site. I like new things just like everyone else, but everything wears out eventually (2nd law of thermodynamics. Matter wears down and out, it doesn't evolve stronger, better, like the lie of evolution tells us). My parents are in the last stages of their lives. They have acquired so much stuff. Three separate homes and everything that goes along with that. After they die, I don't want to deal with all their stuff....what a burden! I don't want any of it either. Then their stuff becomes my stuff. No, not me. I want to be unencumbered from stuff. Especially from other people's opinions of how I should live. I tend to separate myself from those types of people.

Thanks for sharing this - I fully understand. I like to have very few things but to make all of the things I do have both vital and a sort of old friend. It would be devastating if anything ever happened to my old leatherman for example. So, have less things, less things that are vital and are for the sake of. Materialism and the need to show off, to be seen as a success in the eyes of others, is destroying the planet and our minds - it’s a tonic to be burden free. I’m living within sedentary life now, but am very wary of its trappings so am constantly reminding myself of everything I do not want for me. But I can fully understand the draw of ‘things’ and am careful never to be sucked into the whirlpool of wanting more. If I can be around the natural world and maintain sustenance for myself and my family, then I have it all. Success is here and now, not somewhere in the future and I am very very lucky. Most things on the open road are unnecessary, so riding bikes seems to be the ultimate antidote to the madnesses of the modern, mobile phone wielding human. Good luck with it all and here’s to simmering away the unnecessary!

Thanks Phillys - so happy to hear. Tailwinds!

Thank you Bee Keeper! Love back to Norway!

Thanks for taking the time to type this special message. Normal life will always be an enigma.. always a shock to the system! Here’s to finding our way back to the road again one day! Maybe we’ll take the kids with us?

@@benwylson3089 Hah! Take the kids, maybe they'll enjoy it Or, at least when they're still young enough to be pliable. Teens are such a faff! The most I ever did was 5.5 months from home at a time, during the pandemic when my flight kept being cancelled. Remember how it was to be stuck in the same 4 shirts, day after day? It was alright though, was in Australia at the time and they were *open* - it was such a shock coming from the UK where we'd simply been closed more or less since March. Gosh, it was odd. Hope you have a lovely weekend.

@@Jablicek haha! Hoping you have a good weekend too!

Fuck hope Fuck life. All of this is unreachable. You work till the day you die after being wasted to death after globalist regime disposes of you after being treated as a number.

Thank you for your kind words here! I guess the film is a bit random as we only filmed when at a loose end or when we thought of filming which wasn't very often... We didn't have any finance, training or resources to make it a blockbuster, but it was certainly sculpted upon return with all the deepest of our thoughts and feelings. I think our naivete as filmmakers and humans at least should hopefully come across as genuine. It's a huge compliment to think that you were drawn in and it held your attention. Thanks again - comments like yours are so very rewarding. All the best!!

@@benwylson3089 it’s truly an inspiring tale & documentary. If this was created on a whim, one can only imagine how incredible it must be if you give even just 20% more intention behind the next one. 😉 Again, great job! I sincerely hope you can find the time to make another someday.

@@BaronvonMoorland Here's to that and I do hope so too!!

Hi @jenssen97 - what a brilliant message - thank you for taking the time to send this and for your points. - We drew and painted the maps ourselves on my old drawing board and my sister made them digital. There are some BTS images of this on of this on the Free Wheels East Film facebook page, buried somewhere.. Can't guarantee they are to scale. - think we have some archive from Berlin, but it was not filmed well enough / relevant enough to make the cut.. Nothing to do with Berlin!! One of the best cities there is. - I believe strongly the world was better for the mind and soul then. I hope the film reminds people of that. - ah.. the Thorn Raven tour - the best bikes in the world. Would buy the same thing today. But I still have one! - Thanks so much once again, great to know what resonated with you!! All the very best, Ben

Thanks so much for the special words. Means a lot to us. Ben & Jamie

Thanks Martin!!

Sounds amazing - good luck!!

I actually can’t watch the end without getting emotional. Our granny died a few years ago and she remains a hero. The family is ever growing and her legacy lives on! Thanks for the kind thoughts, John.

Thanks Felix!!

Thank you Suzanne!

Thanks for watching ashutosh!! Ben

💥 👊

No way! I’m actually at Emma’s house right now!! She sends her love. Jack often talks fondly of his stay with you both and says what super people you are. Thanks for watching the film and for the kind words. I hope to get to NZ one day! Emms says she’ll be in touch soon! X

One of the kindest and most encouraging comments we’ve had. Thank you so much, Julie. You truly made our day with your words.

Thank you, Andrew!! Our pleasure to have you along. Out of words to respond to such a flattering review, so may have to resort to a few of these 😊😊😊

Great to hear - cheers Josh!!

Thank you Luee!! This is so great to hear. Hoping you have the journey of your life too. Tailwinds! Ben & Jamie

Haha - astute! He covers all directions! Yes, this is the legendary Peter Coyote from E.T, War in Vietnam etc. a great hero of ours and how special it is that he narrated our story for us.

It was just exhilarating knowing that we were so far from the rest of the world, 14 days voyage from the nearest town! I certainly don't think I will ever feel that lucky ever again. Thank you and happy to hear you enjoyed the story!

Thanks for the kind words Roland. The age pre-phones with the internet in them feels rosier and rosier as the years roll by. Just lucky to live that. And here’s to Peter! Cheers and tailwinds, Ben

@@benwylson3089 Thanks for the reply Ben! And you're right; as I'm nearing 51 now, I more and more feel like moving away from internet and social media and just live life without it. I guess that's because we now realize (and also by seeing documentaries like yours) that those times where much more impressive. I'm going cycling in Denmark this august and take your film as an inspiration to cycle as 'offline' as possible. And yes hopefully with tailwind :)

​@@rolandmd73 Here's to your direction! I'll aim to follow your lead. Thanks again and have a great ride offline in Denmark! Cheers!

Thank you, Melissa! So much appreciated!!

Cheers Tony! Happy to hear you enjoyed the adventure. We certainly still see riding bikes over distance as the best thing in the world to do.

Cheers Scott! We were inspired by the beat writers and it was all about escaping and exploring and not about telling others about what we were doing as we did it. We didn’t have phones - social media was non existent, but when we got into towns we updated our website. A real adventure it was!

Thanks for the kind words Kishanth! So happy you liked the film. Extra chuffed you appreciate the art! Hope you get to go on your own trip one day and that it’s a life-changer! Tailwinds, Ben and Jamie

Cheers!!

🙏🙏

i'm going to watch this again soon. same as another great YT video..."from cape to cairo by bike", it gets better every time you watch it. thnx so much for sharing this. really really really good entertainment.

I think you are our first self-proclaimed fan!! Thank you for saying this and love to our fan(s)..!!

A massive thank you for saying so! Ben

Thank you, William. We feel very grateful to have had the opportunity. Never say never!

Such an amazing place! Like stepping back in time. Spent a lot of time dodging Tibetan mastiffs and bees there.. cheers and hope you get to go back one day. We do too!

Hello and thank for your very special message. Personally I can’t watch the film without getting emotional, especially at the return. Would be great to meet up one day. Let us know if ever you are around Kent! On the bikes and maintenance - they were just remarkable bits of kit and with the exception of my back wheel (all problems came from a slipped rim tape which exposed a sharp spoke hole early on) we really suffered almost no issues. We did give them a bit of a spruce in Melbourne where I think a couple of cables and sprockets were replaced, and the Rohloff had a bath, but that’s really it! And thank you for telling people about the film. It had never been of interest to anyone but our friends, so it comes as a pleasant surprise that it is resonating now. We tried to get it onto TV in 2010, but it was declined by all the networks. I suppose commissioners aren’t necessarily into bike touring and if you aren’t a household name, there is no hope of getting the story out there. So glad we did upload it here. Without this platform I suppose it would have stayed as a film for friends and family. Thanks again, All the best, and, Tailwinds!

@@benwylson3089 I'm so pleased you replied, thank you. Overall your bikes did you both proud & that's a testament in choosing right to start with. Brilliant. If I travel your way, I will absolutely be in touch & it would be a pleasure to meet up. TV channels not wanting to show it is beyond disappointing, but you know what, it's their loss. I know so many people that love this kind of adventure stuff, infact all people that poses a 'freedom' spirit love it. Your families & friends must have been in awe & so so proud...& rightly so. I'll be watching it again at some point today 😀 Have a great Sunday guys, it's going to be another very hot one, but no hotter than you experienced on your EPIC adventure. All the very best.

@@tman5634 Thanks again T Man!! Very special messages, not to be forgotten. Hope you had a good one and aren't too fried! Cheers!

@@TheBigSky Even hotter today & tomorrow, can us Brits cope aha

Hello Apa! Very happy you enjoyed the adventure. We loved Malaysia. Such kind people and lots of happy memories. Most poignantly, I remember being taken in by the scouts at one point and also stepping on a sea urchin in Penang… That part wasn’t as much fun..! Ben & Jamie

Thanks 🙏

Thanks Race - no probs at all. Excited for your journeys to come! 1. You are sorted 2. If you can camp out, have a water filter and buy cheap food on the go, sometimes we only ate muesli, so that would be a few bucks a day. If in expensive areas or cities, it's a lot more. We did this a while ago so the prices will have rocketed. In china we probably averaged a £3 per day but a bottle of beer was 10p, as was a bottle of water, in parts of europe, perhaps £30? The USA was certainly cheaper than this, maybe $20? We spent almost exactly £2000 each in the first year (£5.49 per day). It sounds hard to believe, but it's true. 3. a lot! If we were in cities we could eat 3 to 4 times more than we would have eaten if we weren't riding 100 miles a day. 4. It was very hard emotionally at times, but definitely only sporadically - most of the time we were having the time of our lives. I think we would have found the emotional aspect less challenging if we did it now, knowing what we know now. On FWE we def found leaving for so long tough at times. Now that we are older and with a better understanding of the world, I would be much more at one with the experience. A note to the younger me: Your life is your life. You don't always realise that when you are a twenty something. Lastly, that's a big subject and I'm sure there will be lots of contemporary riders with a much better take on this than us, prob with excellent, informative youtube vids! But my spontaneous, off the top of the head advice, would be: don't take too much with you. You don't need more than 2 pairs of pants and 2 pairs of socks. Do the washing each night in the sink or in a stream and your clothes dry very well on the handlebars! Steel frames for bikes if global touring, standard wheels with very good tyres. Leather saddles without padding. Lots of grip positions for you to hold the handlebars in various ways! I liked to sit bolt upright. Don't worry about fitness - you get fit on the way. Take it easy - don't rush. No need for lycra - no need to race, enjoy the journey. If you like a place, stay there, forever if you like. There is no point in moving on if you've found something life-changing.

@@TheBigSky Thanks mate 👍. I guess the main points that I can take away from your reply is... Everyone's tour is very personal and each person will adjust to their personal needs as to what works best for them. I like that you said to take your time. It's not a race but enjoy every day. So how many miles did you put in riding on average each day, in miles not kilometers? Food, I would definitely need to eat more than noodles; there's no protein and nutrients in those alone. That too would have to be worked out personally I suppose. You said don't take too much with you. But it amazes me how you traveled across the world with minimal clothing for all types of weather? I bought very fast drying light clothing for nice weather; it's very thin material and rolls up small in my panniers. Same thing with my cargo pants. For cold weather I have multiple layers of clothing: wool base layer top and bottom that is 100% wool but very thin. A light puffy hiking jacket, rain jacket and other layering clothing. Layering up clothes is the best way for warmth and can be taken each layer off when too warm. I have a water filter set with (3) 3Liter water blatters for carrying plenty of water for long dry stretches of roads that has no water. If you have a email address I could send you pictures of my set-up. Thank you for your reply.

@@The-GreenHornet Agreed - it's all very much down to the individual! Prob 50 - 70 average miles per day, min maybe 30 max around 120? Each to their own RE food! Just eat a lot of it and keep it healthy if you can! Minimal clothing but did have an item for every eventuality. You just don't need e.g 2 pairs of jeans (for when you are not riding). Sorry about email addresses, but i'm petrified of emails so will politely decline! All in all there will be people very well equipped to advise you on all this - all my knowhow is ever so dated! Take care and as one of our original inspirations and mentors, Edwin Tucker, used to say to us when he signed out, and we kind of adopted it, Tailwinds!!

Thanks so much Colin! Very fond memories of Texas and the unbelievable kindness of the people who helped us on our way there, especially Rob Boling of Eagle Pass. I also got bitten by what was thought to be a brown recluse.. The wildlife is not quite so hospitable. Hoping you make your dream of the the 'island' rides happen - sounds like a great plan! - and do stop in if ever in the UK! Tailwinds, Ben & Jamie

Cheers Pete! Jamie is now a wood sculptor - search Jamie Gaunt Designs. He has a stall on Broadway Market in London each Saturday. I started a production company called The Big Sky with Jack and old friend - off the back of the film. We actually just made a doc for Nat Geo, out this summer! Both Jamie and I live in Kent, have wives - whom we met on FWE - and 2 kids each. There you go, life story!

@@benwylson3089 👍

Haha - it is true! Jamie really didn’t get a single puncture.. The rim tape slipped early on my rear wheel and once that was discovered and fixed I must have introduced a spec of dirt, which at high pressure eventually caused another puncture. This happened time and time again, I guess.. Thanks for the kind words, Steve!