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AM: How long did it take you to edit your first adventure project, Mondo Enduro?
AV: It was edited by a professional. This was long before we all had Windows Movie Maker! It took about six weeks.
AM: Were you flying by the seat of your pants in the editing room, or did you have some experience before taking this on?
AV: It was the first film I had made that had sound. It was painful how many crucial shots I had failed to film. It was a massive learning experience and in fact Terra Circa, the follow-up trip was supposed to be a sort of “Mondo filmed properly!” project!! Remember, it was 17 years ago. Back then, amateurs could shoot their own films on Hi-8 but they still couldn’t edit them. That’s where you had to go cap-in-hand to the TV establishment.
AM: How difficult was it for you to get your DIY-style of the Mondo TV show picked up by Discovery?
AV: On our return to the UK in May ’96 we hooked up with an independent production company in London that I knew through the parent of a boy at my school. With their help I supervised the creation of a four minute “pop video” style trailer showing us whizzing around the world. It’s one of the special features on the Mondo DVD (and to this day sends tingles up my spine). We sent that off on a VHS with a proposal to eleven different UK network and cable channels. We only ever received one reply. A rejection from Discovery Europe. It took another year but with some major string-pulling and favors being called in, they finally commissioned it as two one-hour shows at “cost.” This meant that the production company got a fee for “producing” the show whilst Gerald, me and the others got £150 each—for a year’s work. Back then, the camera alone had cost us £1,400!!
AM: When you went back to Russia to conquer the 400 mile roadless section of Siberia, affectionately named by your team as the “Zilov Gap” for Terra Circa, did you know that you would be shoving it to future attemptees like Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman as humble pie?
AV: Quite the opposite—when LWR [Long Way Round] contacted us, having seen Mondo and Terra on TV and then watching the DVDs, we were quickly set to work as their lead Siberian advisors. Back then, in 2004, Gerald and I were the only people in the English-speaking world that had crossed Siberia by bike—not once but twice. All our time was essentially spent preparing McGregor and Boorman for the Zilov Gap.
We were still the only people that had attempted it and so were thrilled at the prospect of the next team tackling it being not only British but also drenched in A-list celebrity status. In those early days we thought we were prepping two plucky adventurers for a massive unsupported step into the unknown. You can imagine our disappointment when we got called from Mongolia on their satellite phone by Russ Malkin the director.
We had never been told there would be an entourage and there he is asking how to get the bikes on the train because they didn’t want to attempt the Zilov Gap. Strange, when they knew a bunch of nobodies like us had pulled it off with only a few dunkings and a broken collar bone between us, they could easily have ridden it. To this day I feel sorry for them—the Zilov Gap experience was the best ten days of that route—super exciting and a world first.
Frankly, I am baffled as to how those guys have managed to fool so many people into thinking they were cutting edge when the second it got interesting, they baled. They’ve got all that money and fame but by doing the Gap on the train, they turned their backs on the most satisfying part of the whole project. Oh well, their loss…. It is crucial that I emphasize that crossing the Zilov Gap was not difficult, anyone could do it, you just had to be prepared to get wet and cold for a few days.
