What counts as a long motorcycle ride for you? Two hours? Three? Maybe a full day in the saddle? Maybe you’ve looked at a BDR or an iron butt, and dreamed of one day doing one. Well, Ryan and Connor over at FortNine have set a new bar for those who dream of road trips: Circumnavigating the world in less than 17 days, nonstop, by motorcycle. All it cost them was their grip on reality.
The trailer for their circumnavigation race documentary, “Yalla Habibi!,” released earlier this month — but it wasn’t the first look we got at the film. In fact, Ryan and crew have been teasing us with little clips from “Yalla Habibi!” for months now without ever telling us where they came from. Finally getting to view the whole film, which came out this past weekend, put everything into perspective. It also showed just how grueling it is to take such a record.
A truly tough effort
See, Ryan, Connor, and cinematographer Edwin El Bainou took a different approach than prior record holders. There’s long been a dispute around who actually holds the world record for fastest two-wheeled circumnavigation of Earth, and it comes from those pesky little water crossings too big for a bike — oceans and the like. Prior contenders for the title have used those gaps in the riding as breaks, taking days if not weeks between segments while bikes got shipped between continents, and folks have butted heads over how much downtime is too much downtime. So, the FortNine trio made the call: Any downtime is too much downtime. They circumnavigated the globe in under 17 days, counting every flight, gas break, and precious second of sleep.
“Intense” isn’t a strong enough word for the trip. Ryan and Connor both started hallucinating from sleep deprivation somewhere in Europe; by the time the crew reached Australia, Ryan was dodging nonexistent kangaroos in the road and seeing nonexistent statues in the shoulder. Connor slept even less, unable to catch the few winks on planes that Ryan and Edwin manages. The trio bribed police, witnessed a suicide attempt, raced at triple-digit speeds over Turkish roads, and invented entirely new ways to lose blood.
The documentary is shot in an interesting style — there’s not much of a core narrative to it. No rambling introductory voiceovers, precious few pieces to camera. This isn’t “Long Way,” it’s immersive. “Yalla Habibi!” puts you in the seat, and lets you feel exactly what it’s like to do such a trip. It’s not a perfect approach, but it’s certainly worth a watch. Also uniquely for FortNine, “Yalla Habibi!” isn’t available on YouTube. You’ll have to shell out 10 of your hard-earned dollars for it, which I certainly recommend you do. It’s easier than doing the ride yourself, I promise.
