I was stuck to the screen watching you guys travel the world. Absolute legends
@benwylson3089Күн бұрын
🙏🙏
@montereyjp6 күн бұрын
very inspiring story.. it was awesome.. different time back then..
@benwylson3089Күн бұрын
It absolutely was a different time. I spend a lot of time now harking back to it! Thanks for your saying these things, means a lot.
@nigelgibson62317 күн бұрын
I'm leading the kind of life they describe at the beginning of the video. Time to change! Thank you for this.
@benwylson308917 күн бұрын
The feeling of living only once and of not being ok with following the traditional, expected path, got so intense that we had to DO something to alter our future for the better. FWE was the result. Life can be complicated. Glimpses of freedom / simplicity.. moments of clarity.. seem to come around so rarely within the fog of sedentary life. But if the opening words of the film helped to open up one of these far-between portals to another way of life, and if the intensity of feeling is there and you are able and truly want to, jump through before it closes. Who knows when it might open again?!
@Originjk23 күн бұрын
What a beautiful journey ❤
@benwylson308923 күн бұрын
❤
@gillestrehen256327 күн бұрын
Stop tourism stop flying stop social media !!!
@benwylson308926 күн бұрын
I once heard that the greatest modern luxury is being offline. So few of us can live with it or can be brave enough or afford to live without it. It’s the real world little things that matter.. the exploration, true culture, genuine ‘authenticity’, none of which are found in a tourism setting, especially after jetting in and heading straight for the power adapter for phone charging to spend the entire time rubbing in / hamming up / filtering a superficial encounter with people and places so as to say you’ve ‘done’ it, gobbling up ‘experiences’ without nourishment or satisfaction or soul, packaging them to combat insecurities, to look good, and to be ‘liked’. None of this is a journey.. it’s just another ‘destination’.
@gillestrehen256326 күн бұрын
Bonjour oui 100 % d'accord avec toi Vive le vélo ! Gilles
@louiskirby4266Ай бұрын
Onya boys , a good reminder for me to up it.
@wayneburbage8900Ай бұрын
After seeing that you bought a cheap bike with a basket in bejing makes a bying a walmart bike is possible in making a trek from san antonio to arkasnas possible. actually, i have va trek gary fisher tarpon with thousands of commuter miles on it. it might make it.
@benwylson3089Ай бұрын
Thanks Wayne! Happy to hear you have been motivated! Go for it!! You certainly don’t need a flashy bike. I would recommend a comfortable one in good working order though. I still go on rides around the uk on a £100 bike I got in 1998 with 4 gears. It’s comfortable and I may have upgraded the rims and tyres since purchasing… I don’t use my round the world bike very much, mostly because it’s a bit too robust for smaller rides and I’d also be devastated if anything happened to it. Jack’s bike of FWE is still in China somewhere no doubt..!
@wayneburbage8900Ай бұрын
to see you from England to china then the Ant arctic is epic.
@williamhilliard7386Ай бұрын
Like Marco Polo, a free spirit that I wish I could indulge.
@benwylson3089Ай бұрын
Thank you, William. We feel very grateful to have had the opportunity. Never say never!
@gigisielaffАй бұрын
How did you land Peter Coyote as narrator? My fave!
@benwylson3089Ай бұрын
We were introduced to an amazing guy in Los Angeles who came onto the project as executive producer. We asked him if we could bring on Sean Penn, he said he can’t get him, but there is this guy called Peter Coyote who is interested.. The rest is history. Having Peter on board for FWE has been one of the great privileges of our lives and we still have to pinch ourselves.
@rolandmd732 ай бұрын
This was awesome to watch. Such an inspirational adventure and a big achievement if you consider it was all kind of pre-internet / google maps / social media era. And the narration voice made it even more adventurous!
@benwylson30892 ай бұрын
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
@rolandmd732 ай бұрын
@@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 :)
@benwylson30892 ай бұрын
@@rolandmd73 Here's to your direction! I'll aim to follow your lead. Thanks again and have a great ride offline in Denmark! Cheers!
@davidhowe34703 ай бұрын
Ken burns on commentary?😂
@benwylson30893 ай бұрын
Peter Coyote only narrates for Ken Burns when he’s not narrating Free Wheels East, which, as it happens, is a lot more of the time..
@marleyvanholland61144 ай бұрын
Wow.. Huge Respect!!🤘
@benwylson30894 ай бұрын
🙏
@riverunner99784 ай бұрын
I’m totally amazed in a joyous way!❤
@benwylson30894 ай бұрын
🙏
@petechadwick62614 ай бұрын
Don't know if anyone still reading this, but you guys should do a book on your trip with the drawings and pictures & of course commentary of your trip, I would buy it. Really cool trip, thanks for sharing.
@benwylson30894 ай бұрын
Have replied in one in my previous comment!
@petechadwick62614 ай бұрын
Just found this, easily one of the best bike travel vids/stories I've seen on KZfaq. Awesome.
@benwylson30894 ай бұрын
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
@SweatervestDC4 ай бұрын
Glory to god! What a wonderful story
@reoun16544 ай бұрын
Popped up on my feed....great story loved it as a bike rider myself!
@benwylson30894 ай бұрын
Thank you! Pleased to hear, from two fellow bike riders!
@cassandrafahey37455 ай бұрын
Wow truly epic journey!!! So raw and fresh and inspiring 🚴🤓🙏
@benwylson30895 ай бұрын
Thank you!! Always so grateful for comments like this 😊😊 🙏
@chestercopperpot78975 ай бұрын
What year was this made ? 2005
@benwylson30895 ай бұрын
We left in 2005 and the film was made in 2010!
@AwesomeAngryBiker5 ай бұрын
Well done guys, you did complete a dream without all the crap and Hollywood dramatics of Instagram people these days. You did it without phones etc, perfect. Imagine what they would have thought if someone told the the correct name for the "blugening stick" was a priest
@user-ku4yk4ut4z5 ай бұрын
Great Ken Burns rip off commentator Classic!!!
@benwylson30895 ай бұрын
This is the man who narrated The Vietnam War, Peter Coyote. So no rip off… only this time it was us working with him rather than Ken Burns.. 😅
@user-ku4yk4ut4z5 ай бұрын
@@benwylson3089yes stole the idea not the man..i think its brilliant !!
@benwylson30895 ай бұрын
@@user-ku4yk4ut4z 🙏🙏
@glennhinrichsen59996 ай бұрын
No helmets or proper shoes..
@benwylson30896 ай бұрын
We didn't do anything 'properly', I'm afraid - as this was only really about riding bikes for ourselves as we had done on BMXs on backstreets when we were little, not proper 'cycling'. We never really thought about safety and nobody ever really told us it was unsafe at the time. Kids these days are much more conscious of safety and I don't dispute that it's a good idea to wear helmets and shoes! At the time, it was about grabbing the brush and daubing paint indulgently rather than following the technique of trained draftsman. Our clothes, when we wore them, were flowing, grime-ridden cotton. Nothing was breathable or practical. We never wore sunscreen and we rode along motorways without a hard-shoulder simply because it looked like the shortest route. We did not see the future at the time. We only saw the moment. I do not contest that this was reckless, but it was all part of the freedom, even a freedom from the responsibility of looking after our bodies. At the time we'd have preferred to join the roadkill than to give up even this trace of freedom... which is something that most responsible people can't understand. In short, we were irresponsible and I apologise for the that.
@inferno66307 ай бұрын
Cannot believe this only has 2.2k likes, it's an absolute masterpiece
@benwylson30897 ай бұрын
You are far too kind - thank you.
@nynut5188 ай бұрын
its videos like this that giv me motivation im 48 years old and i think on my 49th birthday i will take off from new york to arizona on my bike
@benwylson30898 ай бұрын
Great to hear and here’s to your trip. Hoping you do it and it’s the experience of a lifetime!
@grahamrobson59547 ай бұрын
here here , im 44 and would love to do something like this
@pungarehu8 ай бұрын
Who is the narrator. He sounds very familiar
@benwylson30898 ай бұрын
Peter Coyote - he did ‘the war in Vietnam’ and also played the scientist in E.T, amongst many other things..
@jcampbell1008 ай бұрын
Thanks
@BeeKeeper-8 ай бұрын
This was amazing! love from Norway
@benwylson30897 ай бұрын
Thank you Bee Keeper! Love back to Norway!
@jenssen978 ай бұрын
Thank you so much for sharing this experience with us and creating such a wonderful documentary!! Some thoughts while watching: - interesting map of Europe - very good that you spare all of us and skip any footage of actually being in Berlin, the first milestone ;D - it is so nice to see some pre-instagram/youtube/smartphone era bike world trip. Raw, shaky and authentic footage - I am impressed with what nice and robust bicycles you got nearly 20 years ago. Except for the lights and maybe the brakes I would travel with the same setup today - For me, your free ship journeys are legendary and so are the book sales in Melbourne, cycling next to penguins and how the two of you (mostly Ben!?) survived some terrible things!
@TheBigSky8 ай бұрын
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
@chrishinks469 ай бұрын
How much did it cost you. Could I do it on £200 per week?
@benwylson30899 ай бұрын
On average it cost us £38 per week in 2005 for a year on the road. But you have to camp out and mostly be in very inexpensive countries to do this. Things are a little more expensive now.. but even if you spent 100% more than we did.. you are still on a luxury budget there!
@Martiin_.9 ай бұрын
Amazing adventure! Well done and very well made documentary, enjoyed it a alot!
@TheBigSky9 ай бұрын
Thanks Martin!!
@bobpearce742910 ай бұрын
Started watching out of curiosity and then watched it all the way through. Great story.
@benwylson308910 ай бұрын
Thanks Bob, glad to hear you enjoyed it. All the best, Ben
@AHeuvelman-su8ji10 ай бұрын
Al dat gezuip erbij met drank, geeft alles toch wel een liederlijk idee. En dan dronken in de mercedes stappen. Schaamt u. Dat is zeker niet stabiel.
@AHeuvelman-su8ji10 ай бұрын
Jullie zijn wel een stelletje lastpakken om op iedereen zo een beroep te doen. Als je iets wil moet je ook je eigen doen en niet een ander lastig vallen of zoveel mogelijk gratis meereizen. Eigenlijk een stelletje eigenliefhebbers.
@AHeuvelman-su8ji10 ай бұрын
Dat is dan die pup en bier dat ze volgens de presentator zo miste, dat hij dronken een ongeluk krijgt in china
@janebrommet7942 Жыл бұрын
❤❤❤❤
@Nghit518 Жыл бұрын
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
@sbrenan3326 Жыл бұрын
What an absolutely epic journey lads, such an inspiration! Just 1 thing.... Is it actually true that Jamie didnt get a puncture at all??? As a keen cyclist with many a puncture, even just going to the shop. I find it just too much to believe you got all the way round the world with the same air in your tube! That to me is one of your biggest feats! If you reply, I dont mind you bursting my bubble (or tire) with the info that 'yes he actually did get a puncture, we were only jesting' at least that info would put my tiny exploded mind at rest.... FREAKING AWSOME LADS. steve
@sakissk Жыл бұрын
well, when I was young (about 13-14 years old) I was dreaming about a journey with my bicycle somewhere in Europe, nowadays and after 20 years I have the same feeling, and I think its the right time to do something like that...promise to myself, ''I must do that...''
@The-GreenHornet Жыл бұрын
Watching Again! Great Quotes!!!!! in the beginning of this video.
@The-GreenHornet Жыл бұрын
@@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.
@yolug99 Жыл бұрын
Beautiful and inspirational organic travel documentary
@Jablicek Жыл бұрын
This looked tremendous, can't imagine how difficult transitioning back into "normal life" was for you both afterward. If this film taught me anything, it's to travel with someone who acts as the accident magnet! When you get the work and the kids out of the way, I hope you both have more travels. All the best :)
@benwylson3089 Жыл бұрын
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?
@Jablicek Жыл бұрын
@@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.
@benwylson3089 Жыл бұрын
@@Jablicek haha! Hoping you have a good weekend too!
@LINJ63810 ай бұрын
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.
@adasdiciunas8835 Жыл бұрын
The most impressive thing is... No punctures!
@benwylson3089 Жыл бұрын
Indeed - we’ll done Jamie… 😅
@natema9352 Жыл бұрын
So awesome, you gave me hope. For the no airplane traveling with bicycle.. thank you, thank you, thank you
@benwylson3089 Жыл бұрын
Hey Natema! Loved reading your message. Thank YOU!
@2wheelsrbest327 Жыл бұрын
Very belated congratulations Ben & Jamie what a journey. Thanks for a great video.
@benwylson3089 Жыл бұрын
Thanks so much for your kind words - they mean a lot!
@mataiasagm Жыл бұрын
What a ride it was, both your adventure and this film. cried my eyes out on the last scene, as someone that wants to do that sometime soon before too much life passes by and at the same time someone that has already been away from family and living across continents. Thank you for creating such an amazing masterpiece from such a wonderful adventure! love from a Chilean dude living in Italy and still trying to figure where in the world do I wanna be.
@golaglanman860 Жыл бұрын
Congrats, lads. Well done indeed. Greetings from a fellow, but less intrepid traveler than you. Been on the road since '77 and have lived and worked in 11 countries - left school at 17. It feels like I've been on holiday for 46 years. Anyone can do it if I can. Greetings from an Irishman.
@Velo_Safari Жыл бұрын
Do you have a map of the route you took? Also, what did you use for navigation as far as cyclo comp, maps, etc? I’m planning the same rtw trip
@benwylson3089 Жыл бұрын
Amazing! I’m v envious. We actually left without a map and even picked up our first for free in tourist information when we arrived in France, I believe. We then just bought roadmaps when we arrived in major cities. This was all paper navigation and through asking locals. We only used internet in cafes.. no such thing as 3g then! Good luck with your trip!
@grahambarber27665 ай бұрын
@@benwylson3089 Less tech and more human contact brings us all closer together in every sense. Have just discovered your epic adventure and film. I hope life is treating you both well and your memories are keeping your dream alive. Best wishes from a fellow adventurer in Devon, Per Mare Per Terram 🧭⚓️🌍
@benwylson30894 ай бұрын
Thanks so much Graham! Your words mean a great deal. And if you are a Royal Marine, much respect from us.
@grahambarber27664 ай бұрын
@@benwylson3089 Yes, I am a former 'Bootneck' 👍
@phillysson7579 Жыл бұрын
A perfect Saturday afternoon matinee. Very, very enjoyable. Thank you for sharing your wonderful experiences.