Patagonia Alone
6/11/20261 hr 28 min
Solo Motorcycle Travel Through South America with Lala Barlow
Lala Barlow was working in musical theatre in Melbourne, Australia, when the pandemic brought the industry to a halt. Drawn to motorcycles, mountains, and Patagonia, she spent years preparing for a solo motorcycle journey through South America, including a four-month shakedown ride across Australia. Lala shares what it takes to plan a major adventure, travel alone in unfamiliar countries, manage fear and uncertainty, and ride through Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, and Patagonia. A conversation about preparation, perseverance, and turning a dream into reality.
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About the Podcast
Since 2014, Adventure Rider Radio has shared adventure motorcycle travel stories, Rider Skills, Deep Trouble episodes, tech and gear features, and conversations with riders from around the world. New episodes of ARR are released every Thursday, with new episodes of RAW released monthly on the 21st.
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Transcript preview
First 90 secondsJim Martin· Host0:00
Lala Barlow has probably ridden in more varied conditions and extreme places than most riders will ever get a chance to experience. She is the real deal, an adventure motorcycle traveler. But this wasn't the Lala Barlow that her friends and family knew. I mean, her, her parents were literally shocked, jaw-dropped, when a motorcycle arrived at the house when she started to ride. Blindsided, you could say. Because the Lala they knew was an actor. Musical theater, performance, auditions, that was her world. It was the life that she'd worked hard for and, and after a bunch of years of struggling, as people do in the acting trade, things were finally starting to happen. I mean, she was about to step onto the big stage, make it real big, when COVID shut it all down for her, and that's not a small thing. I mean, that's the type of business that you identify with, and when you identify with the, the whole world and it suddenly is gone, it leaves a, leaves just a huge empty space. But somewhere along the line, something started to appear for Lala. She kept coming across images of motorcycles, mountains, and Patagonia. Now, she didn't know anything about any of them. She didn't ride a bike. She didn't have friends that rode. But serendipity kept presenting her with pictures of Patagonia, mountains, and motorcycles. It was just a theme she couldn't shake. In fact, she didn't wanna shake it. She loved the idea of it. But of course, when you don't know anything about motorcycles or motorcycle travel, where do you start? Well, she did what she had to. She got a bike. She learned to ride. She researched a trip. She did