Simon Gandolfi

Simon Gandolfi (b. London, February 11th 1933[1]) is an English long-distance motorcycle rider. He has ridden over 110,000 kilometres (68,000 mi)[2] on solo, unsupported rides in America and India including:

  • 2007–2008, Mexico to Tierra del Fuego via Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Argentina: 34,000 km on a 125 cc Honda
  • April–December 2009, Tierra del Fuego to New York: 46,000 km on the same Honda
  • November–June 2010 – 2011, India: 18,000 km on 125 cc Honda Stunner
  • April–October 2013, India: 16,000 km TVS Motor Company TVS Phoenix 125

Simon Ralph William Gandolfi
Born1933 (age 86–87)
London
NationalityEnglish
Known forLong-distance motorcycle riding
Websitesimongandolfi.com

A 2010 tour of India, with two companions on another bike, was undertaken in defiance of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, of which he said "The attack infuriated me and I saw all the tourists cancelling and so I rode around India, and if a grand old man like me can ride around India at my age, it can't be that dangerous."[3] The 2008 solo ride was undertaken when Gandolfi was 73,[4] 2010 when he was 77, and the 2013 solo ride around his 80th birthday.[3][5] The 2013 ride around India was published as a series of contributions to The Guardian's "Backpacking" travelogue section between June and October of that year.[6] The column on his ride, which was planned to span India to England, ended when he suffered broken ribs and other injuries after being kicked off his bike by a heifer in the road.[7][8]

Gandolfi's father, Ralph Vincent Gandolfi-Hornyold, Duca Gandolfi, Marchese di Melati, died in 1938.[1] He is the stepson of Lt. Colonel Euan Rabagliati DFC, MC, Legion of Honour, British pilot in World War 1 and World War II MI6 officer.[9][10]

Bibliography
  • Old Man on a Bike. HarperCollins. 2008. ISBN 978-1906321666.
  • Old Men Can't Wait. Shuvvy Press. 2011. ISBN 978-0956430526.
    • Arcadia Press reprint 2013 ISBN 978-1-910050-61-3
gollark: With the butterfly-weather-control example that's derived from, you can't actually track every butterfly and simulate the air movements resulting from this (yet, with current technology and algorithms), but you can just assume some amount of random noise (from that and other sources) which make predictions about the weather unreliable over large time intervals.
gollark: That seems nitpicky, the small stuff is still *mostly* irrelevant because you can lump it together or treat it as noise.
gollark: Why are you invoking the butterfly effect here?
gollark: That would fit with the general pattern of governments responding to bad things.
gollark: Apparently by texting numbers you can send payments, on mobile phones. What UTTER IDIOT thought that that was a good and secure idea?

References
  1. Simon Gandolfi, "Biography", Official website, retrieved 30 June 2015
  2. "Biker banter with Simon Gandolfi", Times Now, 2013
  3. "The Easy Rider", The Hindu, 5 August 2013
  4. Sandi Toksvig (29 November 2008), "OLD MAN ON A BIKE – THE SNOW TOURIST", Excess Baggage, BBC Radio 4
  5. David Allsop (5 September 2012), "Always look Honda bright side of life", Saga, Saga Group
  6. "Author profile: Simon Gandolfi", The Guardian, retrieved 29 June 2015
  7. Simon Gandolfi (7 June 2013), "Octogenarian on a motorbike: first stop, India", The Guardian
  8. Simon Gandolfi (11 October 2013), "Backpackers' diaries: the ride towards Delhi and a cow-bike calamity", The Guardian
  9. "Lt.-Col. Cuthbert Euan Charles Rabagliati", thepeerage.com, retrieved 30 June 2015
  10. Victor Laurentius (2 May 2011), Secret Agents in Tuxedos – via Simon Gandolfi Official blogCS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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