“I’m the kind of person that if an opportunity presents itself, I am going to go with it. I’m not going to worry about oh what if or I cant. I just go and so the same principal kind of applies to everything in my life. So with the biking people ask me ‘oh do you plan’ or ‘you don’t have the gear’ it’s like, it doesn’t matter. I’m just going to go, and I’m not going to think about it.” – Rosie Gabrielle.
“My name is Rosie, what do I..? I do a lot of things..” Originally from Vancouver, Canada, she’s been riding since she was 19. A keen traveler with a knack for finding ways to keep herself, and her dog Winston, on the road. “How long have I been traveling, that’s always a tricky question…I started my travels 14 years ago. I went off to South East Asia as a teenager for a gap year, except my gap year turned into a gap decade. But when I got there, it wasn’t what I’d anticipated. You take a bus that is full of tourists from point a to point b, and ten hours later you’ve missed everything in between. So one weekend I rented a bike, and I went from Mae Hong Son (Thailand) to the border of Myanmar. And I thought; ‘Ok this is the way I have to travel!’
“So I went back to Chiang Mai (Thailand) and decided on a bike that all the locals rode, a Honda Dream 125cc. I knew it could go anywhere, they had spares, and they could fix it. And that trip ended me 7450 miles / 12000 kilometers across Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia by myself. That was before smartphones or GPS. I had a paper map, and I was like ‘Yeah! I’m doing this.’ Just go. From there I went home, and I bought my first ‘big girl’ bike which was a 1983 Honda Shadow 500cc. I still have that bike, and I have had no issues with it whatsoever.”
After her first big trip, the opportunity arose to work in the Middle East and being Rosie she jumped at it. “Someone had mentioned that I was a good singer and at this point I needed money; so I auditioned for a band. Next thing I knew I got a contract offer, and that’s what took me to Oman.” After the band, she opened up her own photography company based in Muscat which she ran up until a few years ago when she left to go traveling again. “I come back in the winter time and freelance while traveling the rest of the year. People always ask how do I afford this? Traveling is actually really cheap because when I’m back home, rent is so high, gas is pricey and having an actual social life with friends gets expensive. On the road petrol for my bike is super cheap. I camp every night unless I get invited to someones home. I don’t eat a lot on the road, and I shop at local markets. Some people need fancy stuff, but I’m fine with just prioritizing my life and not spending money on fancy things.
“All I’ve wanted to do is travel the world by motorcycle. This is whats going to make me happy. But I got stuck in this revolving door of work and working and working. I did a few trips here and there, but it wasn’t until a few years ago that a friend of mine passed away and it dawned on me. I’m killing myself now for a future that may not exist, and I am miserable working so much and not actually living for what I’m passionate about. So I woke up and thought shit, what do I want to do? And I had this idea because I’d traveled with my ex for whom I was filming at the time. I decided that I wanted to make my own videos. Not only because I have a lot to say, but also because I want to show a first-hand perspective of a so-called ‘vulnerable female’ on a motorcycle. In my videos, I talk a lot about what it’s like to travel but more in-depth I also speak about my struggles with creating content, riding the bike and on the personal side I talk about my health problems.”
“I thought I had Fibromyalgia for 18 years, but I found out recently that it was chronic Lyme disease this whole time. Which is basically pain head to toe 24 hours a day seven days a week. Which is debilitating but I still do this stuff. I’ve always tried to prove to myself that I can. I push myself a lot, and I never wanted my illness to define me or restrict me. I’m very transparent about what I go through just to show other people that they can do it. It doesn’t matter what you are going through. I also suffer severely from anxiety and depression, but I still just want to get out there. So the videos are about inspiring people to push beyond their limiting thoughts and beliefs.”
After Oman, Rosie had everything set up for another big trip to India. “I had my visa, my flight and the plan was to buy a Royal Enfield and travel through India and Nepal. But then I met someone through my social media, and he’d mentioned how he’d ridden from Zanzibar to Cape Town, and that his bike was now sitting in Cape Town. He needed it brought back because the carnet was going to expire and he wasn’t able to ride it back up. So I was like. ‘Oh, I’ll do you that favor!’ A free bike through Africa, Yes! Opportunity!”
“He said his bike was in great mechanical condition. To be fair, he had no mechanical knowledge, and he rode it without any issues.” But when Rosie got to see the Yamaha XT660R for the first time evidence proved to the contrary. ‘I just thought, OHH good lord. This is going to be a trip.’ It was a mess. The bike had been sitting corroding for seven years. But the Yamaha mechanics in Cape Town assured me the bike would be fine. I spent six weeks there getting the bike ready. In my vlog, it’s hilarious; I caught the mechanics out on basically everything they said was fine. I could have averted a massive disaster had it not been for their negligence.” But it did make for one heck of a story, and Rosie learned a lot. “Everything on that bike broke down. Front suspension, rear shock, the electrical system, brakes, everything! I had to ride from the Wild Coast all the way to Johannesburg which is a 620 mile / 1000 kilometer plus trip with no front brakes. I had to dismantle the caliper and cable tie it to the front. It just locked up and flew me off the bike, twice. However, as I was entering a four-lane highway passing a sign that read ‘Welcome to Johannesburg’ the whole electrical system just went ‘Phooooph!’ – Done.”
“I took it to Yamaha there who looked it over and reported back that ‘whoever wired that thing was blindfolded, its all a rats nest and everything is corroded. I wouldn’t let you leave the country without rebuilding this whole bike from top to bottom.’” So she was forced to return the bike to its owner. But as awful as the bike was it was an incredible trip of learning, and adventure. “I did 3728 miles / 6000 kilometers in South Africa, the Cape loop, went up through the Cederberg and over to Tietiesbaai, all the way to Cape Agulhas. Route 62 through to the Swartberg Pass and Prince Albert, over through the Garden Route and up to Hogsback. Then down to the Wild Coast and I was dying to do Sani Pass but had no brakes. My visa was running out, so I jetted up to Johannesburg and flew out although I plan to go back because it’s just one of the most spectacular countries for motorcycling.”
Rosie is passionate about sharing everything with people, embracing life and showing what’s out there. Both in the places she travels to, and in the situations, she finds herself in. “The first time my bike fell it was on a hill with a foot of fesh-fesh, there was no traction. So even if I used the technique where I push my back up and lift with my legs, I just couldn’t do it.” Not being able to pick the bike became a constant problem. But with different bikes, situations and bodies some techniques work better than others. “So eventually I thought for my body type I’m going to try the handlebar technique and it just came straight up. I’d never thought to try this because people were always telling me it would ‘ruin my back’ and ‘that’s not how you should do it.’ But I have good upper body strength, and I honestly surprised myself. I could have saved so much stress on previous trips. However, because I was put in those scenarios, I met the most incredible people, and that is what made my trips. You know the things that go wrong, you can focus on the negative, but that is where you learn through those challenges. How you react to these situations, that is where you grow as a person.”
The pinnacle moment for Rosie was on Masirah Island just a short ferry ride off the coast of Oman. “My bike dropped as it did every day and these two gentlemen came to help me. They were overflowing with kindness. I couldn’t even describe it. And I was so overjoyed with them helping me. Building these human connections is what life is all about. We put so much value on such trivial material things that don’t matter. Life is short, and it’s really about just growing, learning and meeting people.”
Very inspiring indeed. A very good example that it is possible to follow our dreams. It takes a lot of courage. Congratulations!