teerex51
The Italian Scallion
When I started putting this rally together last year I was riding a BMW K1200RS and all participants were supposed to be “K” riders. Then, 6 months before the rally kicked off, I sold the Beemer and bought my Galaxy Blue FJR 1300. The other guys were a bit shocked but they had to get over it. So we ended up having 49 Beemers and one FJR zooming around Northern Italy for several great days of mountain riding.
FJR on the Run Video Caution: 65Mb
While everybody associates Northern Italy with the Alps or the Dolomites (which actually mark the national borders with France, Switzerland and Austria), I had a lesser-known area in mind.
That’s the Appennine range separating the Northern Italian plains (where Milan is) from the sea. There you have mountain passes reaching elevation 5,000 ft which, although not as dramatic as your 6-7,000 ft. Alpine passes, offer great riding and are virtually deserted during the week. Small groups of local riders (and local cops, too) hit those roads on the weekend, but then we were going to move to a different area, always searching for challenging twisties and the chance to break a few speed limits without endangering anyone.
I picked some inexpensive but tidy hotel accommodation in the country and a few simple restaurants where we could break for lunch.
Food was glorious and wine (only in the evening) was plentiful. We were right smack in the middle of one of Northern Italy’s wine-making areas, where white Pinot, Chardonnay, Riesling are produced as well as lesser known red wines such as Bonarda and Gutturnio.
The beautiful scenery was enhanced by some fantastic weather that’s not unusual for late May. We had cool, bright mornings and hot afternoons (we always stopped and waited for stragglers in the shadow of big old trees). In the evening, a breeze would blow until late at night, which brought our “al fresco” drinking to an end . ( Still, a rough estimate puts our beer consumption at 290 liters and 50 liters of red wine over the 4 days).
We rode almost exclusively on back-roads with little or no traffic. Most roads were narrow, some very narrow, but the surface was still OK. On one occasion, at elevation 4,800 ft, one pass road was pretty badly damaged with loose gravel and potholes, yet a friend on a K1200S took some curves as if on a manicured racetrack.
Here he is, all 6 ft. 6 in. and 230 lbs of him, bragging about it...
And apropos racing, we crowned our rally with a symbolic lap on the Varano Track, which many felt was a real treat, in spite of the ludicrously low speed we promised we would keep. We had barged in on an Oldtimer Exhibition but the organizers were gracious enough to give us a quick taste of their racetrack.
And then, a final stop at our watering hole for a beer and a recap of the day's events on the way back to the hotel.
For next year we're planning a landing in Sicily and a fully-fledged tour of the island.
Stef
[SIZE=8pt]All photos courtesy of Andreas Nowak, k1200rs.de[/SIZE]
FJR on the Run Video Caution: 65Mb
While everybody associates Northern Italy with the Alps or the Dolomites (which actually mark the national borders with France, Switzerland and Austria), I had a lesser-known area in mind.
That’s the Appennine range separating the Northern Italian plains (where Milan is) from the sea. There you have mountain passes reaching elevation 5,000 ft which, although not as dramatic as your 6-7,000 ft. Alpine passes, offer great riding and are virtually deserted during the week. Small groups of local riders (and local cops, too) hit those roads on the weekend, but then we were going to move to a different area, always searching for challenging twisties and the chance to break a few speed limits without endangering anyone.
I picked some inexpensive but tidy hotel accommodation in the country and a few simple restaurants where we could break for lunch.
Food was glorious and wine (only in the evening) was plentiful. We were right smack in the middle of one of Northern Italy’s wine-making areas, where white Pinot, Chardonnay, Riesling are produced as well as lesser known red wines such as Bonarda and Gutturnio.
The beautiful scenery was enhanced by some fantastic weather that’s not unusual for late May. We had cool, bright mornings and hot afternoons (we always stopped and waited for stragglers in the shadow of big old trees). In the evening, a breeze would blow until late at night, which brought our “al fresco” drinking to an end . ( Still, a rough estimate puts our beer consumption at 290 liters and 50 liters of red wine over the 4 days).
We rode almost exclusively on back-roads with little or no traffic. Most roads were narrow, some very narrow, but the surface was still OK. On one occasion, at elevation 4,800 ft, one pass road was pretty badly damaged with loose gravel and potholes, yet a friend on a K1200S took some curves as if on a manicured racetrack.
Here he is, all 6 ft. 6 in. and 230 lbs of him, bragging about it...
And apropos racing, we crowned our rally with a symbolic lap on the Varano Track, which many felt was a real treat, in spite of the ludicrously low speed we promised we would keep. We had barged in on an Oldtimer Exhibition but the organizers were gracious enough to give us a quick taste of their racetrack.
And then, a final stop at our watering hole for a beer and a recap of the day's events on the way back to the hotel.
For next year we're planning a landing in Sicily and a fully-fledged tour of the island.
Stef
[SIZE=8pt]All photos courtesy of Andreas Nowak, k1200rs.de[/SIZE]
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