I once had the honor and joy of riding in Rhodes, Greece, back in the early 90s. Our Ship anchored there and I rented a 250cc enduro bike and rode around the Island for three days. I was treated with so much grace, respect, humility, positivism, friendship, and happiness, even when most times it was very difficult to understand each other. I enjoyed those three days so much that today I belive Greece people are the friendliest and most fun people on the Planet for me. What a ride, what a fun ride !!!!! I hope I can someday go back to Rhodes and repeat that trip around the Island.
Mine would have to be ride(s) and the numerous day trips I've had up to Scotland. Midsummer, set off at first light for a full day in the saddle. Up through the Lakes, on up to Loch Lomond a a run round Argyl and Bute, Inverary, Loch Awe, Tyndrum, back down through Dumfries and Galloway, the Dalveen Pass (favourite of mine), New Galloway, Clatteringshaws then head for home. 798m is the longest one to date but I can't see me beating that any time soon.
Rhodes is definitely a fun place to ride for sure, my favorite was paphos, ended up in the mountains with a bunch of locals, we could hardly communicate but what a fantastic day of riding and a fantastic bunch of people.
What a great idea for a thread - hard to think of a specific one though. Although the route isn't a great one, a ride that always sticks in my mind was early summer 2005. We decided to travel down from London to Cornwall to visit sister-in-law and her husband. As it was approaching the solstice, we decided to go down at night and get to Stonehenge for the sunrise, then complete our journey after watching that. Beautiful clear night with a bright moon so a lovely ride down there, easy to park close to the stones, then arrived in Cornwall in time for a full breakfast Funny, was only chatting about the joys of riding at night yesterday - if it's warm and the moon is out, I love it. DS
Mine was probably the first trip to France, just over twenty years go. A bunch of new friends invited us (mrs on pillion) to come with them to Le Mans for the 24hr motorcycle endurance race. Just a long weekend but I looking forward to to it immensely and had a brilliant time. We did other trips after that, and the Bol d'Or particularly was great fun, but the excitement of that first time was never quite matched.
1984, 16 mates, 10 bikes off to the USA. Shipped the bikes from the Uk to Rapid City, South Dakota, then a 2,000 mile, 2 week tour taking in Devils Tower (Close Encounters), Yellowstone Park, Billings Montana, West Yellowstone, Jackson Wyoming, Colorado National Park, Aspen, Leadville, Nebraska and back to Rapid City and then a week at the Sturgis Rally. Visits to Buffalo, Cody, Deadwood, Needles Highway, Custer Battlefield, Mr Rushmore. Quite unforgettable.
Ha Ha, on a similar line. A few years back a work colleague of mine was in a 5 aside football team and had an away match in Glasgow. They stopped at one of the best hotels and went to the bar. In walks Sean Connery with his wife. They joined my mates group for several drinks. As the night wore on one of the guys who was little worse for ware asked Sean what was his most memorable shag. Sean declined to answer and though it was time he and his wife retired to their room. 10 minutes after leaving he returned to the bar saying he has left £50 behind the bar and wished them well. Just as he left he said - “1964, Sandy Shaw in the Ass”.
Da Nang to the Laos border along the Ho Chi Mihn highway then back to Hue in Vietnam. Hai van pass on the way back to base to Hoi An. Two up on a Suzi 125 that my son bought for 100 dollars before I flew in Absolutely shot rear shocks. Back to basics trip
It’s so hard to parse this down to one ride. Also, for me it’s not the obvious choices necessarily. The day I rode a rented Bonneville with shagged tires from Cortona Italy to Mugello to see the track—and they were having a motorcycle track day! I wandered around watching the fast guys and eating surprisingly good food (Italy, right?). That was a cool accidental event but not a great ride. The great rides have seemed to happen organically; you put yourself in a place to have a memorable time and sometimes it happens. 1. Mandello del Lario to St. Moritz Switzerland, on a Guzzi 1200 Sport. My first time riding a bike outside the US. Beautiful sunny day, great roads, followed some fast locals for a while, fantastic scenery. 2. Mount St. Helens (a volcanic peak in Oregon USA with the distinction of having exploded in 1982, creating some of the most memorable scenery anywhere) east side highway down to Forest Road 25. On a 2007 Tuono. It was a perfectly paved twisty mountain road, a beautiful sunny day and I felt utterly comfortable going fast, one of those days where I felt like I could put the bike anywhere I wanted. I still remember that feeling on that day. 3. Izee, Oregon to Burns, Oregon on an R1100S. The US West is ridiculously big. In 74 miles the only traffic was a single car, going the other way. The road was a grab bag of surfaces; some places racetrack smooth and other places funky and potholed. Rolling hills, mountains, cattle, and no people around. A great ride although at one point it did occur to me, “if I go off the road out here it will be weeks before someone finds me.” I’ve ridden a lot of trips to a lot of places, and much of it flows like water through my memory. It’s interesting which ones have managed to stand out as exceptional.
My first lap around the TT course on the Isle of Man. I had no idea where I was going but was out with some very experienced guys who did know the way around. Obviously we respected the speed limits but up over the mountain it was one way traffic and you could overtake on the wrong side of the road. It seems strange to start with but WOW. The guys who I was riding with were super smooth and safe, I just tucked in behind on my MV and revelled in the experience. We got a good clean run over the mountain and stopped at the Creg for a beer. I could hardly get my side stand down as the adrenaline was coursing through my veins... I had the shakes. No dodgy moments but very fast along the mountain mile. I get goosebumps still thinking about that day.
1988, I have a Yamahe RDX 125 1E7 (model 77 see the profile picture). On the road from Le Mans to Nantes. On the same road a side car. Started to be able to follow him.. Then th guy found that bothering, and it went sporty. He was fighting at all curves, I was suffering every straight parts. We had a lot of fun during more than 50km
[Few years ago hired a G650 Funduro on Tenerife for a few days. Kept looking out the window up to the mountains and they were covered in cloud. "Ach,maybe tomorrow," so for a coupla days we plodded about the coast. Finally went, "Feck it!" And donned jackets and set off into the mist and clouds. Up to the acres of fir tree forest and saw a wee chink of something blue in amongst the gloom... half a dozen twisties later and we break out the forest into the desert and bright blue sky. Spectacular. Magical etc. A big donut of cloud surrounds the island we learned. Go high for the blue sky.
That location at the top of the volcano was the first time i had ever seen the milky way, i was in complete awe. Amazimng roads across the island, never ventured on a bike, not jealous at all!
Had never been to Tenerife cos am a snobby bassa see? Rode round all the others over the years on all sorts of shitters. My mistake. Tenerife is the best, most varied riding out all the Canaries. And there is more of it. (Never made it up the the top of the big hill cos of high winds for the cable car) I'll be back.
