People who love motorcycles have them as an alternative means of transportation for tourism.
Motorcycles are the means of transportation par excellence in countries such as China, India, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, positioning Asia as the king continent when it comes to motorcycles. Latin America is not far behind. Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Bolivia and Colombia lead the ranking of countries with motorcycles as a means of transportation.
This need or love for motorcycles has also led many people to have them as an alternative means of transportation when doing domestic tourism or in other countries and cities, such is the case of Ricardo Genao, who has traveled to more than 70 countries on five continents; he loves extreme sports, such as enduro and motocross and as a leisure time he does touring on a motorcycle.
Ricardo has made motorcycle tours accompanied by family and friends, both in the United States and in the Dominican Republic, and it was on a trip through the Pyrenees, by car with his family, that he said how spectacular it would be to make that journey on a two-wheeled vehicle. Some time later he realized that dream.
Touring the Pyrenees from the seat of a motorcycle.
“My boots came with bald spots, because in the sharp curves they always rubbed the pavement with the tips”, Ricardo tells how it was to do, in 11 days, 2,670 kilometers, where only 140 were on the highway and the rest on secondary roads, between mountains and curves, going up and down.
Sightseeing on a motorcycle, with the wind, sun, or rain hitting you all over your body, ensures a different enjoyment of nature, the views, the towns and even the people.
“The day we went to the Tourmalet, in France, which is the highest point of the Pyrenees where we passed, we were at 2,500 meters above sea level (that’s where the Tour de France passes), it was raining since we left in the morning until we reached the city of Lourdes in the afternoon, with a temperature of 7 degrees Celsius, with a lot of fog, but there was nothing to regret, we all did it perfectly, with the necessary precautions…”
And it is important to follow the rules, to maintain safety measures on the road. If you are in a group, for every 10 kilometers of speed, you must keep a body of distance between you and whoever is in front of you; if someone is in the right lane, the one behind must be on the left side of the lane. This is to ensure that you can maneuver the motorcycle if you have to brake suddenly. And something you must not forget is to respect the speed limits legally allowed in each country, as Ricardo tells us.
Ricardo made the trip through the Pyrenees with Motorrad Travel Tours, a company specialized in this type of trips, which has routes in Europe and South America. On that trip a guide was in front of him, establishing the route with a GPS and was the one who indicated the speed limit of each place, so they had to increase or decrease as appropriate. It was the guide who established the stops to eat, go to the bathroom, make snacks, drink water or refuel.
Lodging was previously established. The tour was always by day, arriving at the hotels in the afternoon, allowing us to rest, have dinners with the chef and, as expected, tour the villages visited in Spain and France as well as in Andorra.
Clothing and luggage
The motorcycles have three trunks for clothes, in case of two people per motorcycle, they only have those three compartments for the two of them.
In case of rain there are waterproof pants, shirts, boots and helmets, designed so that no water gets in anywhere. The material and quality of this clothing and accessories will depend on your budget.
“Every route has its own motorcycle”.
The motorcycle will depend on the type of road you will be riding. If the road is unpaved, it should be a light motorcycle, front rubber ring 21, the rear of ring 18. If it is to ride on road, the front and rear tires of the motorcycle would be the same, ring 17 or 18 and smoother, allowing grip on the asphalt so that the bikes go safer.
Dual bikes are appropriate for curves and mountain roads, which have a 21 ring in front, but with street tires. Ricardo used a dual BMW 1250GS.
Motorcycling, a philosophy of life
Ricardo has been riding motorcycles for more than 40 years, which he considers another way of life, a philosophy of life that “whoever doesn’t know it can’t fully understand it”.
Motorcycling is freedom, he says. “Being outdoors, you are in direct contact with nature and the environment. With enduro or riding, even more so, because you are totally immersed in the forest, where the branches brush against you, crossing streams and getting wet in the water… it is totally different from riding in a car, because you ride in a bubble, closed, isolated from the noise of the birds, the air, the water, and everything else.
