MAKING a television documentary about a motorbike challenge in some exotic locations may sound glamourous but Welney film director Adam Giles said there were plenty of tears and torn leathers. Adam, who is the director and cameraman for Cambridge Film & T

MAKING a television documentary about a motorbike challenge in some exotic locations may sound glamourous but Welney film director Adam Giles said there were plenty of tears and torn leathers.

Adam, who is the director and cameraman for Cambridge Film & Television Productions filmed a documentary called The Ride: Alaska to Patagonia which was later commissioned for the National Geographic channel and has since become a cult hit among motorcycle enthusiasts.

Adam, series producer and editor Richard Millen and followed 11 British bikers as they took on some of the word's most extreme terrains in an attempt to ride the length of the Pan-American Highway.

The jouney took the bikers and the film crew through 12 countries, across two continents and covered moe than 30,000 kilometres taking in the extremes of the Arctic north and the most southerly road in the world in Argentina.

The trip took five months and was led by Guinness World Record holders Kevin and Julia Sanders who smashed the Pan-American highway record by 12 days, covering more than 1,000 miles a day on their BMW motorbike.

For director and cameraman Adam Giles, capturing 11 novice motorcyclists' journey from Alaska to Argentina was a challenge in itself as he doesn't have a motorbike licence and had to ride pillion.

"The aim was to capture the riders' stories as they travelled through the different cultures and countries. I had to hop from one bike to another to the get the best shots, interview the riders and capture the action as it unfolded," said Adam."

In Peru, one of the riders had a head-on crash when he hit a drunk pedestrian, leaving the inebriated man with critical injuries and the rider, Mike Jewell, a 33-year-old who had sold his family garage business to take part in the trip alongside his father, with a leg and a motorbike in pieces.

"I remember pressing the camera's record button and sprinting down the rush hour traffic to a scene of carnage," said Mr Giles. "There was complete chaos, no sign of the authorities, just screaming, shouting mayhem. Although I knew others were on hand to help, it was tough to keep filming."

Adam describes the trip as "a once-in a lifetime adventure" and desribed the landscapes of central and southern America as breathtaking. Riding pillion on the bike he was able to capture some great shots of desert, Arctic ice and, of course, the obligatory drinking sessions in tequila bars and round campfires.

INFO: For more information go to www.globebusters.com.

The Ride was aired on the National Geographic Channel in December but will be repeated on January xxx at xxx. DVDs are available through Cambridge Film and TV Productions at www.cftp.co.uk.