A Vacation Ride Through Spain and Italy

This past August two moto-heads from north California embarked on arguably the ultimate European vacation. The uncle and nephew duo schemed to completely avoid the art galleries, historical monuments, and excellent cathedrals that you’d normally feel obliged to visit when in European countries; and instead lined up a week associated with enduro riding in the Spanish countryside and Italian Alps.

Both did some digging online and discovered an ex-pat Scotsman—Dave Shephard of Trailbike Tours—who organizes rides out of the small town of Valderrobles, a few hours outside of Barcelona and in a region also known as the “Tuscany of Spain” because of its beauty as well as its fine wine.

The tour took them from their hotel in downtown Valderrobles, through the medieval streets and out past the town’s thousand-year-old gothic castle. They wound injury through the countryside, hop scotching from medieval town to the next.

Locals love dirt bikes and did not mind them blasting through their particular vineyards and olive orchards. The particular Spanish government doesn’t differentiate off-road riding from street riding, plus treat single track trails because undeveloped roads. As a result, you can trip just about anywhere in the country on a dirt bike and receive friendly waves through the police.

After lunch upon day-two they found themselves in the dry cobblestone riverbed navigating the herd of a couple hundred lamb. Shephard knows all the locals plus arranged for delicious mid-ride lunches as well as post-ride meals. Lunch on day one was at an upscale restaurant near several of the wineries in the region. The owners are themselves enduro riders and welcomed the group inside, moto gear and all. Post-ride rest was enjoyed at a watering pit in the center of town, where they had the opportunity to meet several groups that had just returned from hunting crazy boar. Their lively discussions about the hunt, although completely unintelligible for them, reportedly sounded a lot like our post-race bench racing sessions.

Shephard provides well-maintained late-model 450 and 500 KTMs, however on a recent ride an ornery 6’7’’, 70-year-old, Sweedish mountain of the man refused the KTMs, stating they’re for the weak, and was adamant on riding a clapped-out XR 600 that was collecting dust in the back corner of Shephard’s garage. Shephard takes his clients through the mountains and valleys surrounding Valderrobles, and most of the riding consisted of quick flowing two-track trails and fireroads throughout the mountains that separate Valderrobles from the Mediterranean Sea.

After several days of traveling in Spain they hopped on a airplane from Barcelona to Turin, Italia. Once there they grabbed their rental car they headed southwest to the small town of Pinerolo at the feet of the Maritime Alps, which make up the border between France and Italy. Here they linked up with Maximum and Florian from KTM Experience Tours. Upon arriving at their resort they were blown away by more than twenty brand new 2017 KTMs the team had brought down directly from the particular factory in Mattighofen, Austria. The guys from KTM worked a great deal using the main hotel in town whereby they get over the entire place for the trips and are able to store the bikes on-site and have the owners provide authentic home made Italian food (as properly as lots of red wine) for the riders.

That night the two had a chance to satisfy the other members of the ride, which included five Germans, an Austrian, and also a Swiss. Among the group were a victor of the German version of Who would like to be a Millionaire, a tree-house hotel owner, a real estate investor, a good armored car exporter, two bussinesmen, and a telecommunications engineer.

Similar to Spain the locals adore dirt bikes and the group could ride right from the hotel up into the mountains. However , as they shortly found out, the KTM guys mean it when they call it an “Aventure Tour. ” The tour contains four days of beautiful, and incredibly technical, single-track trails led by Utmost, a local who has been taking groupings out on the trails he grew up riding:

Hopping upon brand new bikes, they weren’t sure what to expect, but they soon found out. Greatest extent and Florian live for gnarly, nasty, rooty, rocky enduro using. Unlike the ride in Spain, which was a joy ride by comparison, this was intended to push you to your limits while riding incredibly virgin single monitor. Both longtime enduro racers, the particular California boys soon found on their own boiling over their new KTMs and dragging them up more than rocky ledges:

During the course of the week the two overrode language barriers to get to know the various other members of the group. On the very first day Max took the group on a four-hour ride to test the skill level from the members of the group. However , he bee-lined it for one of the nastiest hill climbs the two had ever seen, and Max himself had to depend on the group to help him get their 2017 300 EXC up and over some of the rock faces. Someone said it was amazing how quickly they will got to know their fellow riders after helping them pull their bikes up over logs plus drag them up snotty hillsides.

In the end, the trip lived up to everything they thought it might be. The combination of scenic two-track with the pine forests of northeast The country of spain and gnarly near-verticle climbs through the firs in the Italian Maritiime Alps proved incredible. Terrific riding, excellent bikes, even better food, and new friends made for the trip of a lifetime.