Long Way Up (2020–…): Season 1, Episode 1 - Preparation - full transcript

♪ Got sun on my face ♪

♪ Sleeping rough on the road ♪

♪ I'll tell you all about it ♪

♪ When I get home ♪

♪ Gonna roll up the sidewalk ♪

♪ Gonna need letting up ♪

♪ Comin' round to meet you ♪

♪ The long way up ♪

In 2004 and 2007,

I did two motorcycle trips
with my best friend, Charley Boorman.

We called them Long Way Round
and Long Way Down.



We rode across Europe, Russia, Mongolia,
and North America in Long Way Round.

It's either get across it,
or this trip ends.

We don't have to solve problems like this
in everyday life.

And then down through Europe and Africa
in Long Way Down.

- [Charley] We did it!
- Whoo-hoo!

[Ewan] I always felt in my heart of hearts
that there would be three Long Ways.

But life got in the way.

I went back to work and moved
to the States,

and Charley and I just sort of lost touch.

[Charley] Ow!

[Ewan] And then something happened that
reminded me what was really important.

Wow!

[Ewan] I got a text saying that he'd had
a horrendous motorcycle accident.

Broken his legs and his pelvis
and broken his left wrist,



and I think because of this,
we just sort of found each other again.

[both chuckle]

And now we've decided
to do another epic trip,

riding 13,000 miles

from Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego
in the southern tip of Argentina,

crossing South America,
Central America, Mexico,

all the way to Los Angeles in California.

And we've got just three months to do it.

It's a lot to do.

We had to get the old team
back together again.

We've got Russ and Dave
producing and directing.

I'm good to go when he is.

We've all been waiting for it
for about 12 years.

So it's great the team are back together.

[Russ] Ewan and Charley will have cameras
and microphones on their helmets,

so they can actually film themselves
when they're not with the team.

Whoo-hoo!

[David]
We'll link up with the boys at borders,

but otherwise, they'll be on their own.

[Ewan] We'll ride through
the brutal Patagonian winter,

the extremes of the Atacama Desert,

the vast salt flats of Bolivia...

before witnessing firsthand
the endangered jungles of Central America,

and Mexican communities
torn apart by cartels.

And if that wasn't enough of a challenge,

we wanted to see if we could do it
on electric motorcycles.

- This will be a problem for that.
- [David] Yeah.

If we can't charge the bikes,
what are we gonna do?

I'm really a bit worried about
whether or not this is possible.

[Ewan] We're calling this one Long Way Up.

[Ewan]
I was dreaming of doing a trip for years,

just leaving LA and riding to the very tip
of South America, Tierra del Fuego.

I bought all my kit,
and I built a bike for it.

I'm gonna try and see if we could start it
using some starting fluid.

It just became really apparent
that this journey should be shared with...

You know, with him.

- I'll spray, and then you... you start.
- Okay.

There's something very attractive
about being on the road.

You know, you yearn for adventure
and not knowing what comes ahead.

- [engine starts]
- [Charley] Oh!

- [engine stops]
- [Charley] There's a bit of fire.

[Charley and Ewan blowing]

[Charley]
Maybe we should've taken that off.

[laughing] At least we got it started.

There's this whole big area over here,
the Americas, that we haven't explored,

and that's hugely thrilling.

I'm dying to get out there.
I want to be on a trip again.

[engine turns over, stops]

See, it must be...
Oh, I haven't turned the fuel on.

- Do you think that would help? [laughs]
- [Charley] That would help, yeah.

Oh, my God!

The main thrust of the prep for me is,
what are we gonna ride?

The idea of doing the trip
on an electric bike

wasn't something
that I'd immediately considered,

but I realized that it was something
that's part of my life.

So, that's it. Twelve panels.

So then it gets fed over here into this.

This is the solar, um, hub.

I run air-conditioning
for the trailer, TVs, washing machine.

And I've got 12 solar panels

and never ever used more power
than I'm making, not ever.

And there's nothing quite like
throwing a switch

and knowing that the light bulb came on
because you collected the sun.

I'm having my old beloved 1954
Volkswagen Beetle converted to electric.

It's definitely the future.

We'll all be driving
in electric-powered vehicles, I'm sure.

Do a little, um... solar experiment.

[Charley] He's charging a phone.

The whole idea of going electric
is really interesting.

Ewan and Charley do solar.

Cars, it seems like they're getting
a real handle on it,

but in the motorcycle world, they're not
as far ahead as I thought they would be.

And so,
that makes it even more challenging.

Boom, USB.

So, we just need a bit of... I just wonder
what size of this we would need

- to charge, uh, well, say, a motorcycle.
- A motorbike.

- I'd say a bit bigger.
- Oh.

Charging.

[Ewan] That's it.

Back together. Lots of things have
happened in 12 years. We've all got older.

[Ewan] David and Russ are back on board
to film the trip.

But first of all,

we need to figure out the practicalities
of going on electric motorcycles.

[Ewan] So, devil's advocate,

another part of Long Way Round
and Long Way Down that was very special

was riding and being between cities,
being between settlements,

and going, "Let's stay here tonight."

And we would put our tents up,

and then we'd wake up in the morning
and we'd take off again.

Well, if you've got to charge
a bike overnight,

then we wouldn't be able to do that.

I think some of the best parts are
when you're doing just what you're saying,

and going out and into it.

- So, I wouldn't want...
- Us to be tied.

- ...to sacrifice that, you know.
- It's worth experimenting.

You can say it to the kids as well.
They're like, "Oh, that's the way forward.

- That's the way the planet should be."
- [Ewan] Yeah, yeah.

No, no, I don't want to be, like,
the negative electric guy. I'm not.

I just want us to... to think about all of
the things that could and might go wrong.

I just don't want it to fall into
this whole thing of being this...

- Stressed.
- ...this whole electric kind of mission.

We've spoken to Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki...
It's like we are well ahead of the curve.

'Cause they're just not ready for it.
The fact is there's not many...

[Charley] Tell us good news.

It's very good news, 'cause there's not
many frontier moments in motorcycling

when you haven't ever
done anything before.

So you'd be the first people to go
this sort of distance charging as you go.

Central America.

It's quite exciting
looking at maps again, isn't it?

- [Charley] Yeah.
- I'm quite excited.

[Ewan] Charley and I are gonna focus
on the bikes.

Finding the right bike, building the bike.

So Russ and Dave
will help with the logistics of the trip.

But first we need to plan our route.

I'll tell you what we miss is Machu Picchu
and a lot of Chile.

And what's this here?
Where would you turn right?

Well, these are the ice fields of Chile.

- Ice fields?
- Well, the glaciers.

- We're on motorcycles, man. Are you nuts?
- [Russ] Are you mad?

- Crossing the ice fields on two wheels.
- This is the Atacama, which is stunning.

- [hesitatingly] Mazatlán?
- Into...

We've got to learn Spanish.

Yeah, we've got
plenty of time, haven't we?

- I don't know.
- [Russ] Eight months.

- No, no, to plan, I mean.
- [Ewan] I thought you meant to do it.

We've got eight months for the journey,
haven't we?

- No? What?
- It's not a huge amount to do.

Eight months? We're going on
an electric bike, you idiot! Eight months!

[Russ and David laughing]

We'll have to find a game
that we really like.

Just something to do
while we're... while we're charging.

- I don't know what it is.
- Cards.

- Uno...
- Strip poker.

- Strip poker. Maybe strip poker.
- [laughing]

Charley and I have arranged
to ride some road going bikes,

electric bikes, to see how they handle.

[Ewan] Oh, my God, it's really sexy.
Look at it.

So, you just turn it on and that's it.

All right. Sounds amazing.

Or it doesn't sound amazing.
There's no loud noise.

We started thinking about
being on the road again.

It's a lovely feeling saying,
"Well, let's go here" and then off you go.

You know, with a friend.

[Ewan] It's been a long time
since we did this.

I mean, what a great thing to do.
To travel and see the world.

And also, I've reconnected with Charley.

[Charley] I'm most happy
when I'm on the back of a motorcycle.

You know, when you look over your shoulder
and there's your best friend,

that's something that I've really
missed over the years.

[Ewan laughs]

Charley? What mode are you in? Eco?

[Charley laughs] Sexy mode.

[Ewan] Oh, they're great fun.

It's much better
than I thought it would be, the ride.

- It feels great.
- And we can talk to each other.

- [Ewan] Yeah, it's pretty cool.
- And you can hear the birds tweeting.

- [Ewan chuckles]
- And, uh...

It's so good. You know what's interesting
is you can really feel the road,

'cause you've got no... There's nothing
vibrating, and there's no engine.

So, you really feel ev... You just
really feel the road under your wheels.

And it's fast, and it's really fun.
It's nice.

- [Ewan chuckles]
- See ya. [chuckles]

[Ewan] Because of Long Way Round
and Long Way Down,

I experience a sort of zen-like experience
when I ride a bike anyway,

'cause I spent so many hours riding them,

and it puts me in a sort of trance
in a way, and I love it.

It's my meditation, I suppose.

And the experience
of being on an electric bike

just made me feel even more like that.

So, I think this is the way forward.

It was great to be riding along
with you again.

- I know. This is awesome, isn't it?
- I love it.

- [chuckles] Oh, thank you.
- Yeah.

[indie rock playing]

[Ewan] We're just about to arrive
at, um, EV West.

My friend Michael who runs EV West...

And, uh, pick his brains about
electric-powered things.

Motorcycles really.

He'll put electric power in anything.

He converts Porsches and Ferraris
and loads of VW stuff.

- How's it going?
- Good to see you. You all right?

I recognize that.

[music continues]

Michael's converting
my 1954 oval VW Beetle to electric.

Yeah, this looks brilliant.
This looks so trick, doesn't it?

They gave me a little Obi-Wan key ring.

[Michael] So, you guys are getting ready
for a wild one.

- [sighs] Yeah, yeah, I know.
- We wanna pick your brains about it.

'Cause we're gonna be coming across
South America, Central America.

What do we do?

You know, the first weekend we got
our electric dirt bikes,

we went to the desert and rode
until the battery was...

Like, we literally limped the bikes back
to the truck.

And I was like, "Oh, I thought
we'd have some more juice."

[Ewan] Oh, yeah, it's cool. So cool.

Beautifully made, isn't it?

These are just an absolute
engineering feat.

I mean, that's why this is gonna be
so tough for you guys,

because the best bikes out there,
you have a 72-mile range.

We're gonna get 70 miles at best,
you think, on anything?

Yeah.

I think it doesn't sound too good.

- [Charley] It doesn't sound good, does it?
- No.

And he's saying 70 miles.

- On anything.
- On anything. Yeah.

I think at that range, if we're having to
achieve 160 to 180 miles a day,

you're looking at charging twice...
Twice during the day.

- Not just a lunchtime charge, but that's...
- And that sucks up hours.

And if you've only got house electrics,
you've not got fast-charge electrics,

there's not enough hours in the day.

Let's go... Let's go and get into it
a bit more. Here's the boys.

- Hey, guys.
- All right, lads?

- How's it going? Looks amazing.
- How are you, Russ?

We all would love to do this trip
from the tip of South America

to Los Angeles on electric bikes.
We all agreed that we'd like to try.

But essentially, whatever we do,

we're not gonna get away
from this 70 miles.

I feel a little...
I'm feeling a little deflated by it.

You really want to do something

that people who know a little something
think you can't do.

- Yes.
- Right?

None of us watched Evel Knievel
jump the Snake River

'cause we all thought
he was gonna make it.

You know, attraction to me is, you know,
as just an electrical, you know, guy,

like, "Oh, my God. These guys
are gonna try and do something

that I think is impossible."
And so, you know, just basically...

Well, that's encouraging.
Thank you very much.

[all laugh]

Just to show that it can be done
would be great.

But only if it can be done, and our...
And our expectation of 180 miles a day.

How do we do it?
How do we literally do it?

[sighs]

[Ewan] We're in Rome, Italy, and we're
visiting the, uh, Formula E Grand Prix.

Thank you.

Which is an electric-powered
Formula One type car race.

Well, we're here with world-famous actor,
Ewan McGregor.

How do you see the development
of electric racing?

I think it's the future, electric.
Of course it is.

I'm just very excited about electric cars,
electric motorcycles.

The differences are good.
You know, it's silent,

there's no vibration
between you and the road.

It's exciting, and I'm just...
For sure, it's the future.

Whoo! Whoo! Whoa!

Let's do it.

We haven't come all the way to Rome
just to play with fast cars.

Do you like my windshield?
It's like an inch and a half.

- Hi.
- Oh, there he is.

- How are you?
- How are you? Nice to meet you.

[Ewan] We've come here to meet Max Biaggi,

a six-time motorcycle racing
world champion,

to pick his brains about the technology.

We have a project with Gilo.
We're gonna tour with electric bike.

The land speed record... Do you have
an image of the motorcycle?

- Long wheelbase as well, doesn't it?
- Oh, my God. It's amazing.

Later this year, Max will attempt to break
the land speed record on an electric bike.

So, it will be something new for me,

but, of course, I know enough
about the speed,

but for me,
it's gonna be something challenging.

- Yeah.
- And a huge challenge.

And what kind of practicing can you do?
Do you just go...

I have no idea. The first time I do
something like this, but I'm very excited.

[Ewan] I think at this stage,
it just feels to me like

we're just gonna do it on electric bikes,

and we're just gonna
have to try and make it work.

And if we get stuck, we get stuck.

It's too exciting now to turn back on.

It's too exciting not to do it
on electric.

[Ewan] Seeing Charley climbing
into the Formula E car,

I was reminded that it wasn't gonna be
just the electric bikes

that were gonna be a challenge to him.

- Falling off too many bikes, is it?
- Pretty much.

[Ewan] But his health.

Yeah, you have to try
and get your feet in.

That's it. Then you slide in.

[Ewan] He recently had
a second serious motorcycle accident

during the early planning for this trip.

- [Russ] How is Charley, Olly?
- [Olly] He can't breathe properly.

His lung is collapsed.
His blood count isn't good.

They've moved him into intensive care,
he's got a swelling around the brain,

and they might have to drill
into his skull to let the pressure out.

He's got blood clots on the lung,

and, of course, if they traveled
to the brain or the heart,

it could lead to an embolism.

Breathe. There we go.

[Russ] I mean, he could die.

It was a bit of a fright.
Could have lost somebody,

and, I mean, it was
a pretty horrendous accident.

I think then I certainly
reflected upon it and thought,

you've got to look after the relationships
in your life that are important.

You've got to put energy into them
to keep them alive, you know,

and if you don't, you're just...

You're losing something
that's very important.

[sighs]

I felt closer to him after that.
I was reaching out to him more,

and, you know,
keeping in touch about his rehab.

I'm only just
getting off the... the wheelchair.

[Charley] Other people wanna run again
or do whatever, but I wanted to get myself

better enough to get back on a motorbike.

[Ewan] Motorcycles are adventures.
It is who he is.

It's what makes him feel alive.

Right. I am gonna get on my motorbike
for the first time since my crash.

He talks about people being stuck
at the accident

and thinking about
what they could have done differently,

what they should have done differently,

and that he's talked himself
away from that,

and he's got back into life
and moving forward, not looking backwards.

He's quite inspirational in that way,
Charley, isn't he?

Pretty good, huh? Oh, my God.

[exhales]

[Charley] I'll get my scooter.

[Ewan] I have to go back to LA for work,

but Charley's been invited to Geneva
to test-drive an electric motorcycle.

In fact, it's a Harley-Davidson
electric motorcycle.

We're heading off to this little track
to... to have a go on your e-bike.

This is the only one at the moment.
So, please don't break it.

- [chuckles] Don't say that.
- Um... [chuckles]

[Ewan] It's a prototype street bike

that they reckon could be converted
for our adventure.

- Here we go.
- Oh, my God. Look at that. Oh!

- It looks totally... Wow! [chuckles]
- And there it is.

Jeez. I didn't... I didn't expect to feel
so happy. You know, so excited about that.

[Charley] This particular bike,
this production bike,

no one,
other than Harley-Davidson workers,

have ever been on this bike before.

Whew!

Looks incredible.

And he said the classic line.

"This is the only one in the world,
so don't crash it."

And it's just like, oh, no! Pressure!

Ewan, I wish you were here.

[rock music playing]

- Okay, here we go.
- Enjoy.

It's a incredibly powerful motorcycle,

and he's got it on full power
with a slick tire on it.

Cold, slick tire on it.

[music continues]

So I'm a little worried,
watching him out there.

[Charley] Whoa, that's slippy.

He just lost the back end.

All right, I'm... I'm nervous now.
Tell you that.

[music ends]

Whoo!

Wow, that back tire's slippy. [chuckles]

Well, what do you think, Charley?
You could be going over the Andes on this.

It's an amazing bike.
It really is, just amazing.

What I think would be interesting would be
to have you work with our engineers

and maybe test it out, and we can just
get that configuration right.

Another adventure. Huh?

[Ewan] I must admit,
I would never have imagined

Harley-Davidson making
an electric motorcycle.

I've had a few Harleys over the years,

and I'm excited to see if they can
adapt this one for our adventure

with the time that's left.

We're here!

[Ewan] I've come to London

so we can all figure out
the day-to-day planning of the trip.

Hey, guys. How's it going?

- [Russ] It's going very well.
- [Ewan] Oh, hello.

- Perfect.
- How are you doing?

- [David] How was the ride?
- You look cool.

Yeah, good. It was... It's hot.

- How was it?
- The traffic's crazy today.

- So, listen, guys. That's...
- [David] Take a look at it.

Oh, that's it. Well, you sent
a picture of this one.

This is 25.

- Thirty-five.
- Oh, that's it.

Oh, it's much smarter than this one.

[David, indistinct]

- Is this your one?
- No.

[laughs]

[Russ] New HQ. London HQ.

We picked up the keys,
literally, yesterday.

- That's good.
- Pull 'em back.

Is this all the crap that you couldn't fit
in your office, is it?

You know what, Charles? Are you...
Did Charles not have lunch?

So many chairs. Let's go. Let's do this.

[Charley] Watch the back on the wall.
You're scratching the wall already.

- Oh!
- He's lost the, uh, the deposit there now.

- I'm losing my... You have to follow me.
- [Russ] Oh!

- 'Cause otherwise...
- Ah.

I'm gonna lose my clutches.

Sadly, I managed to break a lot of bones
before, um, they decided to move in.

- Oh, it's too heavy for me to carry.
- I got it.

- [grunts] Oh, hang on.
- Could be from that pouch that he's got.

[laughs]

It's so heavy this thing.
How are we gonna get it up there?

Turn it sideways.

It's not going to go through the door.
Gotta lift it.

- What'd he say?
- [Charley] A bit of effort into it.

Charley, you tell us what to do,
so if it doesn't go up, it's your fault.

[Russ laughs]

- This is gonna be a bit tricky.
- That side as well then, Russell.

We turn it round like that?

- No.
- [Russ] I think...

I think we're stuck.

It's gotta... It's gotta stand up
like we did with the thing.

- [Russ] I think... go right to the ceiling.
- It's not... It's not gonna go past here.

[Russ] On the left, above your head.
That ceiling.

[David] All these legs will come off.
I've got the screws right here. Hold on.

[Charley] Why don't you
bring it back down?

Hold on.

Okay, one, two, three, shove!

Oh, yes. It's gone round!
Ooh, hang on, where am I gonna go?

- [David] Got it! Hey!
- Hey!

- Good on ya, mate, it's here. Well done.
- All right, mate. Not too bad.

Here we are.

I suppose it's sort of a little bit
more like a reality now.

Let me get... Let me just
sort out what we got.

Oh, thank God we've got a caviar spoon.

I mean,
what were we gonna do without that?

"Where's the caviar spoon, guys?"

Beauty, mate.

- All right, mate.
- Thank you, mate.

That looks pretty professional.

Well, professional might be stretching it.

We're available for any sort of
decorating, DIY shows,

home improvement, that kinda thing.

As long as they had some maps,
we'd be fine.

We do... [laughs]

The traditional Pan-American Highway route
runs from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego.

But we've done most of that
northern part in Long Way Round.

So the new plan is to start our trip
in the very tip of South America

on September 1st,

and then ride all the way to Los Angeles

in time to spend the Christmas holidays
with our families.

So now you wanna head to Cusco.

There's a lot around Cusco.
So that's where Machu Picchu is.

Oh, yeah.

Machu Picchu's about here.

You definitely wanna go
to the salt flats, right?

Salt lakes. Oh, absolutely.

That's then called Lago de Poopó.

Forty-eight years old
and I'm laughing 'cause it says poopo.

We wanna offset our...
Our carbon footprint for this journey.

And, um... so we're gonna do
a little scheme here.

It's just in Peru,
and it's called Cool Earth.

[Ewan] We're reducing the carbon emissions
of our trip, but we want to do more.

Protecting endangered rain forests is
critical for the climate and the planet.

So, we're visiting a project in the Amazon

to see how the process works
for ourselves.

And we're doing 150 miles every day.
It's a long way to go, you know?

[exhales]

It'll give us a lot of time to
talk shite, but...

I don't think I've got enough to say.
[chuckles]

It's so cool. It's gonna be a cool route.
It's really gonna be varied.

Mountains and desert and then, you know,
just a massive beach holiday all the way,

- all the way, all the way.
- [all laugh]

[folk music playing]

[Ewan] Patagonia is such
a vast, remote area.

It's over 400,000 square miles
of Chile and Argentina.

And we've asked the Argentine Embassy
to advise us on charging the bikes.

- This road is very famous. The 40th.
- [woman] Road 40th.

- Because that's the one... Yeah.
- [Ewan] This one?

The glaciers, the lakes,
this is very impressing.

This section here would be very similar
to this section here?

- Yes.
- Uh, yes.

So, if we did this, and yet we did this,
then you get a bit of both worlds.

- [Charley] Yeah.
- [Ewan] Yes.

[Russ] Just one other thing. Because we're
going on electric motorcycles...

How to charge them?

Think you are...
From here upwards, there's no, uh...

Yeah, this...
This will be problem for that.

When you talk the reality
of the electric bikes

and then you look at that map
and you just think, you know, hard work.

[Ewan] The only bits that worry me are
the big, empty swathes of landscape.

What do we do there?

[rock music playing]

Doing a 13,000-mile trip
on an electric motorcycle and filming it

means that we're gonna need
a whole team of people

to make that happen.

So each one of these, sort of custom-made
phone boards is one day of memory cards.

The distances between cities
are just too long

for the charging points.

On Long Way Round and Long Way Down,
both of those trips we left from London.

The biggest thing for this trip,

which we probably
haven't really thought through totally,

is everything's got to be shipped down
to the bottom of South America.

And then we start.

[rock music continues]

On previous trips,
we've had petrol camera vehicles.

We've had camping gear in there,
filming equipment, medical equipment.

And we're trying to find
an electric equivalent to do the same job.

[music ends]

[David]
We're heading to, uh, Plymouth, Michigan.

We're meeting with this company
called Rivian.

And Rivian makes the most incredible

all-electric utility adventure,
uh, vehicle.

And the thing we've been bumping into,

they aren't really coming to market
until 2020, and here we are in 2019.

So, we're gonna meet with them
and talk about what's possible

and what's impossible.

And I'm sure, as always,
we'll be choosing what's impossible.

It's an old Mitsubishi plant

that they're in the process
of converting 2.6 million square feet.

[man] So this is
what it used to look like.

This is actual re-prototype
to get everything right.

So this is what
the whole plant will look like.

The contrast is really striking, huh?

[Russ] Despite being nine months
from mass production,

Rivian have actually offered to give us
two brand-new prototype pickup trucks.

But the cars they're talking about
building for us

are at the moment only made of clay.

And they'll have to be designed
to take on every terrain.

We're gonna go through that snow,
desert, rocks, mountains, jungles, mud.

I mean, about everything that's
on the planet.

- So, is it ready?
- It's perfect.

Yeah. That part... That part's easy.

- That part's easy. Okay.
- Yeah.

No, all jokes aside, because
we control each wheel with software,

we can make any wheel spin at any speed
at any time, um, with any level of torque.

So if we get stuck in the sand,
or if Dave does...

- We send torque to the other wheels.
- ...the car will sort it out.

These vehicles are...

We're creating something that's production
representative before the plant's ready.

So we're creating tools earlier
than we needed to.

I didn't know about that.

So, you know, that's incredible
that you'd even have that level of faith

in what we're trying to do
to be part of that.

So, you know, thanks,
and we respect that enormously.

This will be the first electric drive
from the tip of South America to LA.

- [David] Yeah.
- It'll be the first.

So part of that story is we're building...

We're building infrastructure
to support that.

[David] At the moment,
there are hardly any charging points

for the majority of the countries
we want to ride through,

so Rivian are going to install
150 quick-charging points along our route,

which both the cars and our bikes can use.

So, months in advance, we're building out

this backbone... this charging backbone.

Super excited. I wasn't yesterday.
I thought we still had a ton of problems.

These guys, they've given a solution,

but they can solve
our bike problem as well.

We are just about to receive the Harleys.

[Ewan] They've adapted
their prototype street bike

and we're hoping it can
do the trick for our adventure.

- [Ewan] What's in the box?
- [Charley] It's the clutch going in here.

[Ewan] What's in the box, Charley?

Hi, Mark. How are you?
Ewan. Nice to see ya.

[Ewan] And now, really,
it's the electric Harley or bust.

[Russ] You nervous?

- No, I'm excited.
- [Russ] Excited?

Excited.

- Okay, here we go.
- Wow, here we go.

[Ewan vocalizes]

Big reveal.

[Charley] Oh, wow! Oh, my God!

[Ewan] Beautiful. God, it looks great.

This is kind of what I think you...
We were all agreed upon, right?

Yeah, yeah. No, wow.
I mean, I've forgotten what I'd said.

- Yeah. I was listening.
- [chuckles] No, I'm amazed.

We really focused on performance first.

All the roll bars and stuff
we're gonna take off for the ride

'cause they're plastic.

Aluminum-made parts
will be showing up soon.

'Cause you've already made it look like
an adventure bike.

It looks great.
Really, you've done a brilliant job.

- It looks great.
- Well done.

You know, what was really fun
with our team is we took this,

and we took it and six guys and put them
in a corner of a room and said,

"Let's build like a... a one-off bike,
and let's go do something fun."

So, this was a lot of fun for all of us,
really.

[Charley] This is the one that you can buy
in the shop today, almost, isn't it?

[Glenn] This one.

Wow. That is a big difference.

[Ewan] Totally different geometry, yeah.

- Isn't it nice?
- It's much taller.

It's a proper tall bike.

It's a really nice position, yeah.
You ride that all day, you could.

- All day long.
- Yeah.

[man chuckles]

You know,
if it's true it can do 100 miles,

we'd be happy to jump on that bike
and go for a long ride.

Okay.

[Charley] How's that seat?

[Ewan] Oh, yeah, it feels good.
Just the riding position is good.

I think the bars could come back
even a bit more.

Quite nice, this, in the corners.
It's quite good.

You, you look good on it, Ewan.

[Ewan] This is great. I love this bike.

I'm getting a Harley-Davidson tattoo
tonight.

- [Ewan chuckles]
- [Charley chuckles] All right!

- How many miles we done?
- Seventy-three miles.

Seventy-three miles we've done? 40% left.

- So that's well over 100 miles. Range.
- Yeah.

- [Charley chuckles]
- Awesome!

I always said we should go electric.

I said it from the very start
we should do electric.

- Isn't that what I always said?
- I remember that.

Yeah, yeah.

This is my first charging station. Yeah.

[sniffs] Yeah. I'm quite touched.

[Ewan] This looks like an adventure bike,
but the problem is it's just a prototype.

Harley now have just ten weeks
to build two rock-solid all-terrain bikes

that can survive the 13,000-mile trip.

It's a big ask.

I'm heading back to the London HQ
with Charley

to get the rest of the equipment
and ourselves prepared for the trip.

So this is kind of
the new technical fabric.

Oh, yes, yeah.

I've tried the jeans on
and they're like silk.

You can literally get off the bike

and you would never know
that you had armor in there.

I like this one.

I really like this one.

And there's one old friend that
we just couldn't do this trip without.

There you are.

Right through the last minute,
things are still chaotic,

but then experience shows once you are
on the trip, somehow it falls into place.

Claudio's back on board, everybody!

[cheering, clapping]

So, we're off to South America,

and neither Charley or I
can speak a word of Spanish.

We're going to play a game
where I don't speak any English,

and we all speak Spanish.

- Hola.
- [both] Hola.

- I'm dyslexic. I hate these games.
- [Ewan vocalizing]

[both sounding out letters in Spanish]

[speaking Spanish] Muy bien.

Good luck, Charley.

[speaking Spanish]
Yo soy actor. Ah, presenta...

[Ana speaking Spanish] Presentador.

[both speaking Spanish]
Presentador.

[speaking garbled Spanish]

The trouser.

[both speaks Spanish] Pantalone.

Pantalón.

Chair. [speaking garbled Spanish]

- Silla.
- Silla.

- La.
- [Charley laughs]

- You never know.
- [speaking Spanish]

-You never know.

- If in doubt...
- Stick an "as" on the end of it.

It was the first lesson that I've had
in my 52 years that I enjoyed.

[rock music playing]

We are heading to Rivian

to see how the construction
of these electric vehicles is going...

and to see how far they've put
the charging infrastructure in place.

They've gotta be almost finished.

[David] Due to the time it takes to test
and make an SUV actually road-legal,

Rivian must have the first car ready
to drive in just two weeks.

This is it.

[Russ] Wow.
That's still just the body shell, guys.

What is it, the 002?

[indistinct]
...from this to a finished car.

Yeah, so I can put more people on it.

No, I love your optimism.

That... That's gonna be ready in two weeks.

- All right.
- Well...

- Are you ready to see vehicle 001?
- Let's go see it. Yeah.

[Russ] The big reveal. This is Dave's car.

001.

[man] The first-ever VIN Rivian vehicle.

I mean, it's just too much, right?

[Russ] I thought it might be further
down the track. There's a lot to do.

All the electrics are still yet
to be put in,

and with two weeks to go,
got quite a lot to do.

What an undertaking to build
not just two brand-new cars,

but two cars with a technology
that didn't exist before.

They've never built anything
this quickly before,

and they proudly admit it.

How's the charging network going in?

So, uh, that's a huge build-out for us.

We have begun selecting sites.
We have begun building those out.

Um, as we speak, chargers are getting
shipped down to South America,

and, uh, probably next week, early
next week, they'll start installing them.

Because that really is...
That's the fundamental thing.

Without 12,000 miles
of charging in place...

we won't get to the end.
It's as simple as that.

Yeah, so one, one. Okay, yeah, so...

We're split now
between America and the UK.

You know, we're doing all
of the production work over here,

and then the cars and bikes
being prepared over there.

Dave, have you seen the pictures
of the snow down on Route 40?

It looks really bad.

[woman] It's been the heaviest winter...

since 1994.

[man] We need to be prepared for the worst
of the worst in order to continue going.

I'm sort of on the border,
basically, between Michigan and Ohio.

There's a proving ground here

where they're testing the Rivian
for the first time.

It's right there, look!
Whoo-hoo! Look at that!

It was never in doubt, right? [chuckles]

Yo, Russell, you're about to see
double-oh-one go around the track.

Wow!

Hopefully, that's what it won't
look like over the Andes.

No... [laughing]

You can tow charge them. That's what
they're trying to do right now,

is test the tow charging capability.

They are tow charging it for an hour,

and they think one hour of pulling it
will give it a half a tank.

- First things first. This is Lindsey.
- Hi!

[Russ] Yeah. How's the car going?

Fantastic. She's just waiting for you.

It is finished. We're rolling.
Four wheels spinning.

[Russ] How exciting is that!

It is extremely exciting.
It's a good way to end the Friday.

Let's go to South America, right?

Are we in danger of saying Long Way Up
is actually happening?

- [Charley] Very nicely done.
- [Ewan chuckles] Thanks.

And you got... God, you got great nails.

My little one and I
were doing our toenails the other day,

and she decided to do mine blue
to match my bike.

[Ewan laughs]

They're supposed to be
my lucky trip toenails,

and I don't know that I wanna do
the motorcycle trip with blue toenails.

I told Anouk, right, eight.
I said, "I don't know what to do

'cause I feel like
if I take it off, it's bad luck."

She went, "It's gonna be cold, isn't it?"
Uh, at first I went, "Yeah."

She said, "Well, you fool, you're gonna
be wearing boots all the time.

- No one's gonna see them anyway."
- That's a good point.

So how are you, uh...

I've just been back, yeah,

I've said goodbye to everybody
this morning,

so I've just been
battling that all day long.

Yeah. Oh, what,
now you're here on your own?

- Yeah.
- So it's like,

so it's from...
Suddenly from everybody to...

Yeah, just a... yeah.

I just feel a bit down in the dumps.

You know, you try and stay all strong
in front of the kids, but I just couldn't.

I know. It's difficult, isn't it?

Look at Ushuaia.

- It's snowing, uh, today.
- [snickers]

It gets up to about three.

No one's seeing my toenails
for a while, are they?

Look, and every day except Friday,
it's snowing.

We're in Milwaukee.
We're gonna go and see our trip bikes.

See... For the first time, I think.

We've seen sort of mock-ups of them,
and we've ridden the prototype one in LA,

but this is us going to visit
the bikes we'll actually ride on the trip.

[Charley] Oh, my God.

[man] When you look around the corner,
you'll see the bikes.

[Charley] Wow.

Wow, guys. [gasps]

That's a new suspension on the back you...
You've done as well.

We kind of redesigned
that whole back end of the bike.

- It'll look more adventure touring.
- Yeah.

We also went through an entire suspension
tuning event on this for an entire week,

getting the bike dialed in
for just this platform.

[Ewan] Amazing. Wow.

So it's a pretty nice setup
as it is right now.

It's good, isn't it?

You beefed these up a little bit as well.

- We did and brought 'em outward.
- Yeah.

So, we've made some new brackets
so that it truly does protect some more.

Yeah. No, that's fantastic.

So we've added the bash plate
on the bottom

so that you guys are protecting
all the key components of...

[both] Of the engine.

God, you guys really did listen.
That was amazing.

Thank you so much, all of you, for doing
such an amazing amount of work.

- They did listen... to me.
- [indistinct]

- I see. Just a little bit here.
- Yeah.

- That's just getting painted right now.
- Okay. Just can't wait to ride them.

Let's do it.

I know Ewan and Charley love the bikes,
that's the key,

but they've gotta ride 'em first,
you know, to really know.

[rock music playing]

[Ewan] Whoo-hoo!

[Charley] Oh, my God!

That's beautiful.

Wow, that feels enormously delicious.

[Ewan] Oh, they're gorgeous, yeah.
Really, really good.

[Charley] Over those bumps
it handles beautifully, doesn't it?

[Ewan] It feels so confidence inspiring.

[Charley] Awesome.

I really do like it.

- Oh, my God, Charley! [laughs]
- [Charley laughs]

- We are so... there. It's unbelievable.
- [Ewan] Oh, my God.

Absolutely perfect.

Just so lucky.

Oh, my God. I really like my bike.
That's it, I'm in love.

[Charley] Wow, guys.

[Ewan] That's it. Brilliant.

[sighs]

It's a real relief.
The whole thing is just awesome.

All we need to do now is to get them
to South America and get going.

[laughs]

Obviously, you know
we're Harley-Davidson,

so we have a lot of work
on our platter.

So, every one of these guys that have done
this has just been volunteer time.

So, they do it evenings. They haven't
stopped their everyday job at all.

- Period. Nothing.
- I never even asked you that.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. It's all...
It's all after-hours kinda stuff.

- Oh, yeah. Yeah.
- Shit.

So, they love this stuff.
That's our hobby. Yeah.

- Thank you ever so much.
- No problem.

Really, thank you so much.

[chuckling] Oh, my God.

These are certainly ready
to deal with the terrain.

The question's gonna be, can they do
100 days of 150 to 200 miles a day?

[chattering]

So, the only thing we're missing right now
is the brush guard.

Those will be in on tomorrow or Thursday.

So, we'll add those. Those will be on the
bikes when you guys arrive in Argentina.

The next time we see them will be
in South America, yes?

Well, yeah.

- Way down there.
- Tip of Argentina.

[both] Yeah.

- Yeah.
- God.

- In the snowpack.
- Oh, my God.

[all laugh]

[Ewan] Charley and I are leaving from LA,
and the bikes and cars from Detroit,

and the filming team from London,

all trying to get to Ushuaia
on time for the start,

and all because we wanted
to call it Long Way Up.

[chattering]

First success. We're all down here,
all the kit's here.

Jesus Christ!

[Russ] This is how Long Way Up starts,
in a blizzard.

[Ewan]
The scenery out the window was amazing.

There were just, like, mountains
and snow on top of the mountains,

and oh, my God, it looked so cold.

And then you come round a corner,
and then there's Ushuaia.

[flight attendant, indistinct]

I just wonder how we're gonna start
the trip with this weather.