Posted by Gordon Cheyne
Our guest speaker on May 07, 2019 was Heather Ellis.  Heather is an Australian author, journalist, public speaker and motorcycle road safety advocate who rode her Yamaha TT600 from south to north Africa, and from London where she worked as a motorcycle courier, to Vietnam via Central Asia on the 'Silk Road'.
 
Her story is best told in her two books: “Ubuntu: One woman's motorcycle odyssey across Africa” and “Timeless On The Silk Road”.
 
Ubuntu: 'As you travel Africa, you will find the way of ubuntu - the universal bond that connects all of humanity as one.'

At the age of twenty-eight, while sitting in a friend's backyard in the remote mining township of Jabiru, Heather Ellis had a light-bulb moment- she decided to ride a motorcycle across Africa. The idea just felt right - no matter that she'd never done any long-distance motorcycle travelling before, and had never even set foot on the African continent. Twelve months later, Heather unloaded her Yamaha TT600 at the docks in Durban, South Africa, and her adventure began. 

Her travels took her to the dizzying heights of Mt Kilimanjaro and the Rwenzori Mountains, to the deserts of northern Kenya where she was befriended by armed bandits and rescued by Turkana fishermen, to a stand-off with four Ugandan men intent on harm, and to a voyage on a 'floating village' on the mighty Zaire River. Everywhere she went Heather was aided by locals and travellers alike, who took her into their homes and hearts, helping her to truly understand the spirit of ubuntu - a Bantu word meaning 'I am because you are'.

Ubuntu is the extraordinary story of a young woman who, alone and against all odds, rode a motorcycle to some of the world's most remote, beautiful and dangerous places.
 
After riding her motorcycle across Africa, Heather Ellis became ill, and worked for a while as a courier in London. Timeless On The Silk Road is the story of what happened next: a journey of courage, hardship and immense natural beauty as she rode along the fabled Silk Roads of antiquity to Australia. Believing this is her last adventure, her one last search for meaning, Heather’s journey ultimately became one of destiny. 
 
Heather traveled into Central Asia after the fall of the Soviet Union where she crossed deserts and was touched by the ancient world of Islam. She rode into the land of the heavenly mountains and discovered the ancient traditions of the nomads. 
 
She ventured into the vastness of Siberia’s Altai mountains where she was welcomed into the homes of Kazakhs and Russians alike. And in China, she was repeatedly told there will soon be a new world order. 
 
From China she went to Hanoi, and then home to her family in Australia. 
 
 
For the technically minded:
The Yamaha TT600R is an enduro motorcycle from Yamaha Motor Company closely related to the XT series of air-cooled single cylinder engines. It is no longer offered in its present form.
The TT600R's engine was basically a XT600 3TB engine. The TT600R had a reduced engine width by 30 mm, a lightened flywheel and crankshaft, and larger diameter Teikei YDIS carburettors and intake tracts. The 8-litre airbox with quick-release foam filter was also larger than the XT. The TT600R accelerated from 0-100 in 5,5 seconds and had a top speed of 155 km/h. The acceleration was almost a full second faster than the XT600, which was due to the lower weight and lower gearing.
The TT600R model was kick-start only and was further equipped with fully adjustable 46 mm Paioli conventional front forks and a Öhlins rear shock. It also came standard with Takasago aluminium alloy rims, Brembo disc brakes with steel-braided brake lines, Deltabox aluminium swingarm, Tomaselli handlebar and Domino clutch/brake mounts.