Strip away the speed, horsepower and expensive support from The Long Way Down and you get Gaurav Jani, riding an 18-horsepower Enfield Bullet from Mumbai to the Changthang Plateau — that’s northern plateau in Tibetan — 3100 miles north on the Tibetan border. That’s like getting from Los Angeles to New Bedford, Massachusetts on a Honda Trail 90, only harder. Roads are rarely recognizable as such. Average altitude is 15,000 feet, on a Bullet packing 220 pounds of gear and 9 gallons of fuel: enough to cover 560 mi. at a crack. Except when there’s not enough oxygen for internal combustion, and Jani has to push. Next time the Sunday ride gets a little tough, remember. Tough, as it turns out, is a relative term.
Though it’s not as flashy as watching Ewan and Charlie take the long way, Riding Solo makes up for stripped-down production values with 94 minutes of honesty and pure heart. The 31-year-old Jani is no Spielberg, but if you’d like to see what it takes to ride motorcycling’s answer to a black powder musket to places most people don’t have the grit to reach at all – much less film – this one is well worth the $21.95 price of admission.