What are some of the best countries for riding motorcycles? In this episode of The Motorcyclist Podcast we talk about some of our top picks around the world. Let us know what country is your favorite!
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SportsTranscript
00:00:00Hey, welcome back to the Motorcyclist Podcast.
00:00:02This is where we talk about motorcycles and what makes them great.
00:00:05As always, the topics on this podcast always change.
00:00:08What doesn't change is two wheeled fun.
00:00:10In this episode, we're going to talk about what we feel are the best countries to ride
00:00:15a motorcycle in.
00:00:17The three of us in this podcast have traveled all around the world riding motorcycles, and
00:00:22we're going to talk about what our favorites are and why we think that they're great places
00:00:26for everyone to go visit.
00:00:28And then we're going to actually cover a few places that we don't think are so good.
00:00:33But before we get started, we've got to make introductions.
00:00:35As always, we've got editor Adam Waheed, we've got our staff photographer Jeff Allen, and
00:00:40you've got myself, executive editor Justin Dawes.
00:00:43So we always start with what everyone's been riding.
00:00:47So let's talk about this week.
00:00:49Adam, what have you been riding?
00:00:53This past week, I've been riding Honda's 2025 CRF450RX.
00:00:59Just kicking up some dirt off road.
00:01:01We had some rain in the American Southwest a couple weeks ago now, so the dirt is drying
00:01:07up, but still pretty good and great time to get outside and do some dirt biking.
00:01:12Radical.
00:01:13I really, I think like that RX bike is such an awesome choice for people that maybe do
00:01:21all types of different riding because you could take it to the motocross track, you
00:01:24can go right off road with it, you can go race, you know, close course cross country
00:01:30races with it.
00:01:31Like, it's just a like a solid all around bike and I think it's a it's a good value
00:01:36for what it is.
00:01:38I totally agree.
00:01:39It just there's really nothing that that bike can't can't do.
00:01:43You know, maybe it's a little bit softer edge than the Yamaha equivalent, but that's not
00:01:48necessarily a bad thing just because it adds to its versatility.
00:01:51Yeah.
00:01:52Yeah.
00:01:53Or the the KTM as well, right?
00:01:56Like you've got you've got a lot of manufacturers going on this route now where they have the
00:02:01off road version of the motocross bike with an 18 inch rear and a kickstand and some softer
00:02:05suspension and they're just like solid smart choices.
00:02:11Yeah, especially for people who, you know, they're not like just going to the track.
00:02:17They're not doing just one segment of dirt biking, they like to do a bunch of different
00:02:21dirt biking.
00:02:22You know, not everyone can can afford to have multiple bikes in their garage.
00:02:25So, you know, the 450 RX is a good, you know, one one one solution for a variety of different
00:02:31applications.
00:02:32Yep.
00:02:33Solid.
00:02:34Yeah, that's great.
00:02:35Because we all have friends who are like the moto friends and then we have other friends
00:02:39who are the off road friends.
00:02:41And if if you got something that can just go over everywhere, it's just extra time in
00:02:46the saddle.
00:02:47Yeah, exactly.
00:02:48I think it's a well said choice.
00:02:49I think if I was, you know, like you said, if you had only one dirt bike in your garage,
00:02:56that type of dirt bike is a solid, solid choice for sure.
00:02:59Yeah.
00:03:00And most importantly, it has a kickstand, which comes in very handy.
00:03:05Yeah.
00:03:06When you're taking a break and I take lots of breaks.
00:03:09All right, Jeff, what about you?
00:03:10What have you been riding?
00:03:12I've been riding the Husqvarna 801 Vitpilen.
00:03:17It's you know, I wasn't really on board with the Vitpilen when it first came out.
00:03:22Just the styling of it.
00:03:23But this one is it's still very similar.
00:03:26I don't know.
00:03:28Or maybe it's grown on me, but I like it quite a bit.
00:03:31It's a nice motorcycle.
00:03:33That 801 platform is is nicer than the previous 701 platform for that bike.
00:03:40Yeah, I think so.
00:03:41It's definitely making it into a parallel twin makes it a much better motorcycle for
00:03:46longer distance riding than that single.
00:03:48I really loved that single, though, the 701, like that LC4, you know, 600 and whatever
00:03:54CC is 690.
00:03:58Like I love that engine.
00:03:59It's so torquey and fun.
00:04:01But I think we talked about it a while ago.
00:04:03I rode I rode one of those 701 Vitpilen to Morocco, which may or may not be on my list.
00:04:10But man, that it was it was brutal riding that thing long, long ways.
00:04:17I would get me wrong.
00:04:19I like the 701, but I prefer the 701 I preferred in the Supermoto than than the Vitpilen.
00:04:25So yeah, for sure.
00:04:26For sure.
00:04:27Right on.
00:04:28Well, well, I was I had the flu this week.
00:04:33But before I got the flu, I got to ride in what I think is one of the greatest places
00:04:39in the world to ride.
00:04:41But it's not on this list because I don't want everyone coming here and clogging up
00:04:45my trails.
00:04:46But it's not a well-guarded secret, but I live in Costa Rica a lot of the year.
00:04:52And I did one of the raddest trail rides I've done in a long time on a 350 KTM of mine.
00:04:59And it is the rain stopped a bit.
00:05:03The dirt's nice and tacky.
00:05:05And we did some just insanely gnarly trails that were rad that ended in going for a swim
00:05:12in a river.
00:05:13That was awesome.
00:05:14And maybe that's why I got the flu.
00:05:15Maybe I got sick.
00:05:16Yeah.
00:05:17Yeah.
00:05:18From the cold water.
00:05:19The water was very cool and refreshing.
00:05:20How are those tree ruts when they're all covered in moisture and mud?
00:05:24Yeah, actually, when they're when it's wet, it's a it's tough.
00:05:29It's very, very tough.
00:05:33Last time I rode, whichever was like a week and a few days ago, it wasn't so wet.
00:05:38So it was it was much easier for me.
00:05:41But the boys I ride with here and girls, actually, they are excellent riders in the mud.
00:05:48And I, you know, I feel that I'm a pretty solid off-road rider.
00:05:52And when I moved here and started riding with everybody in my group, I was pathetic.
00:06:01So now it's good.
00:06:04On the struggle bus.
00:06:05It's really good.
00:06:06A super struggle bus.
00:06:07Like I had like the first three rides I did here with people, I actually had to have someone
00:06:12ride my bike up a hill.
00:06:14And I haven't had to do that since I was eight years old.
00:06:16Yeah, it must be tough.
00:06:17I've ridden with you.
00:06:18You're a good rider.
00:06:19So that must be it must be difficult.
00:06:22Yeah.
00:06:23I just I didn't know the the the I just didn't have the skills, you know, from Southern California,
00:06:30Nevada.
00:06:31So, you know, dirt is dirt is completely different here.
00:06:36And if you don't know how to ride and slick stuff, you learn it real quick.
00:06:40Yeah, there are a lot of clay in the soil down there.
00:06:44Yeah, it's a lot of clay.
00:06:45It varies.
00:06:46There's like volcanic stuff, and there's clay.
00:06:50And it can vary wildly very quickly, like on the same trail, and even on the same, you
00:06:58know, section of trail.
00:06:59One side of the trail can be clay and one side can be loamy, muddy dirt.
00:07:04So interesting.
00:07:05Yeah.
00:07:06But it's a Costa Rica is an amazing place to ride to.
00:07:11But there's not as much variety as some of the other places that we're going to talk
00:07:13about on this list.
00:07:15So I wouldn't add it to to the top of the list of places to ride a motorcycle other
00:07:21than the scenery is great.
00:07:22And the hard enduro riding is awesome.
00:07:25But the road network is pretty variable.
00:07:31You have some really nice roads, but you have some really, really bad roads, and you have
00:07:35to deal with the rain all the time.
00:07:36So if you don't like riding in the rain, this ain't the place for you.
00:07:41So we are going to talk about our favorite countries here.
00:07:46But we're not going to talk about the USA, we're going to do a separate podcast on places
00:07:49in the USA to ride, because clearly, the USA is on the top of all our lists.
00:07:55You know, I mean, there's so many places in the US to ride, right?
00:08:00So many, so many, so much different stuff, too, depending on what you're on.
00:08:04Yeah, I mean, we could spend hours and hours and hours just on US places to ride.
00:08:10So we're going to save that for a separate podcast.
00:08:14And I'm calling Moab right now.
00:08:17That's mine.
00:08:18You guys don't get to pick it.
00:08:21So we'll talk about that later.
00:08:22But before we get started, in the comments down below, tell us where your favorite place
00:08:28to ride is.
00:08:30And if you've traveled to other countries and ridden other countries, and what you think,
00:08:35let us know.
00:08:36Maybe there's some places that we haven't checked out yet that we should, right?
00:08:40So we're going to kick this list off.
00:08:43We've each got three countries.
00:08:46And we're saving our favorite country for last.
00:08:50So we'll get it started.
00:08:51I want to start with Adam and his first pick for a great country to go motorcycle riding.
00:08:58Well, my first pick, which is my third favorite, would be the country of Germany.
00:09:04And I guess you guys can probably guess why.
00:09:07The Autobahn.
00:09:08The Autobahn.
00:09:09Heck yeah, man.
00:09:10The Autobahn.
00:09:11Heck yeah, man.
00:09:12A road where you can really stretch the legs of a motorcycle and not have to worry about
00:09:18a pair of flashing lights behind you.
00:09:23Unless it's a high horsepower Benz behind you flashing their brights for you to get
00:09:27out of the way.
00:09:28Yeah.
00:09:29Yeah.
00:09:30Well said.
00:09:31Well said.
00:09:32Yeah.
00:09:33Yeah.
00:09:34If you're cruising at 120 in the fast lane, and 120 might be too slow for some people,
00:09:36yeah, they're going to definitely track you down and flash you with the brights to make
00:09:40you get out of the way.
00:09:41Oh, yeah.
00:09:42For sure.
00:09:43Yeah, it's definitely surprising.
00:09:44I've had it happen to me where you're like, what in the hell is this guy?
00:09:47Yeah, just right on by.
00:09:50Yeah.
00:09:51But the level of courtesy, I mean, that just kind of shows you too, like, the level of
00:09:55road courtesy and respect is very high in that country.
00:09:59You know, people are aware of their surroundings and what's coming up behind them.
00:10:04And they're not like typical, you know, United States drivers where they're hogging up the
00:10:08left lane and making cars pass them on the right, you know, which speeds up things.
00:10:13Yeah, yeah, they are very, very good.
00:10:16Very good drivers in Germany.
00:10:18Very good drivers.
00:10:19So it's, it's quite good.
00:10:21And if you're in the wrong spot, though, they will let you know it.
00:10:27And just the roads are so bowling ball alley smooth that it's just, it's just nice being
00:10:38able to go at triple digit speeds for miles and miles and miles comfortably.
00:10:44Absolutely.
00:10:45And there's, there's other stuff to Germany, though, that's just not, you know, the bowling
00:10:52ball roads, but on Autobahn, but you get off the Autobahn, man, there are some really epic
00:10:56roads all around Germany.
00:10:58Yeah, yeah.
00:10:59I've ridden through the Black Forest.
00:11:00That's pretty nice.
00:11:01It's pretty nice.
00:11:03Their cakes are good there, I heard.
00:11:05Yeah, I mean, a lot of diversity in roads, like you could go in the mountains, you can
00:11:12go towards, you know, the Alps and Switzerland.
00:11:15There's just, there's a lot of different countryside to be, to be explored.
00:11:19And a lot of times, I mean, obviously you go to a big city, there's a lot of population,
00:11:23but you get away from a big city and there's no one on the road.
00:11:26It's just you and your motorcycle and that's that.
00:11:29Yeah.
00:11:30Very, very true.
00:11:31Yeah.
00:11:32All of Europe.
00:11:33It's so nice that you can just connect village to village with all these, these back twisty
00:11:36roads and come to a little, you know, a little village where there's a nice coffee or lunch
00:11:40or something and just over and over again all day long.
00:11:44Yeah.
00:11:45Yeah.
00:11:46Well said.
00:11:47Yeah.
00:11:48All right.
00:11:49I would say Germany.
00:11:50There's multiple reasons, but the Harabon is definitely something to be, to be experienced.
00:11:58So I say, yep, go to Germany for sure.
00:12:02So my first one is a place I talked about on a podcast a while ago, which was Morocco.
00:12:12Morocco has some really awesome writing and you feel like you're adventuring the whole
00:12:18time you're doing it.
00:12:19No matter what you're writing, you feel it's just a, it's, it's just a wilder rural place,
00:12:26but it's not that far from Europe.
00:12:27Like you could, you could get a bike, rent a bike in Europe, hop on a ferry and within
00:12:32a couple hours you could be in Morocco from Spain and, and you know, there's all kinds
00:12:38of writing there everywhere from like, um, or food area where it's like for KTM and Honda
00:12:44and everyone does their rally training.
00:12:48So you've got like desert and mountains and you've got sand dunes cause you're right on
00:12:52the edge of the Sahara there, like really, really fun off-road writing, but then you
00:12:57can go to like Northern part of Morocco and go to go ride all the coastal roads on the
00:13:03top and along, you know, along the West coast and you can get into some really cool places
00:13:08up there.
00:13:10You know, like, uh, we wrote to a place called Chepchouan one time, uh, which is a city that
00:13:16is up in the mountains.
00:13:18It has amazing curving roads going all the way up.
00:13:21I mean, you are kind of dodging slow trucks and bad drivers, but, um, still the roads
00:13:26are pretty solid and you get up there and it's just amazing scenery and that the city,
00:13:32every building, the street, the ground, everything is painted a shade of blue from light blue
00:13:37to dark blue.
00:13:38And it's just really, really fun place to go check out and walk the back streets and
00:13:43take a lot of photos and then hop back on the road and take another mountain road down.
00:13:48And, um, you would think Morocco is all desert, but it's not.
00:13:52You get up in those areas and you're up in the mountains where it's cold and there's
00:13:55pine trees and there's waterfalls and rivers and it's, it's really awesome.
00:14:01So, um, have you, have you guys written there before?
00:14:05Yeah.
00:14:06I couldn't agree with you more.
00:14:07I, I was in Morocco also writing, I went to a lot of the same spots that you just mentioned
00:14:12and it, and like you saying, it's an adventure.
00:14:14I remember thinking for, for us, for Westerners, it, it, everything is different to our eye.
00:14:21It is just, everything you look at is, is sort of new to your eye and I, that was one
00:14:26of the things I really, really liked about it and, uh, just loved it.
00:14:32Yep.
00:14:33Yeah.
00:14:34It has this like nostalgia to it, like Casablanca, like this is crazy nostalgia that's, it's
00:14:40not even nostalgic because nostalgic would mean that you were there before, but it just,
00:14:45it's just, there's something, something about it.
00:14:47And like you said, Jeff, like everything's just different.
00:14:50It's kind of like when you go to Japan a little bit and like you're in the city and everything's
00:14:54upside down and backwards and it's just so strange to, to your, to your five senses that
00:15:01it makes it really cool and fun.
00:15:03Yeah.
00:15:04It feels, it feels old.
00:15:06It feels ancient in a way, right?
00:15:08Like, um, but then there's all kinds of modern, modern stuff too, you know?
00:15:13Um, and you go from, from town to city, like you'll go through towns that are like very
00:15:19old, old buildings and they have like little like street markets and stuff.
00:15:23And then you can go into like Marrakesh where like there's high rise buildings and stuff,
00:15:28you know?
00:15:29It's everything in between and, and you know, I really liked like the people, like everyone
00:15:35was just happy and friendly and usually pretty cool with you.
00:15:39And, and especially if you're on a motorcycle, they're like, Ooh, cause you're usually on
00:15:43a different type of motorcycle than what they'll be on.
00:15:45You know, they'll be riding some work motorcycle.
00:15:48That's like 150 CCs and they've got, you know, a bunch of stuff strapped to it and they're,
00:15:54they're doing work and you're out on like maybe a big adventure bike or something.
00:15:57And they're just like, that's weird.
00:15:59So they see this, you know, this weird American or a foreigner, you know, all geared up on
00:16:04some spaceship looking motorcycle.
00:16:06So they're, they're interested as well, you know?
00:16:09Yeah.
00:16:10You always have those experiences of like the familiar and the unfamiliar, you know?
00:16:14I had a time I was riding across the desert.
00:16:18I was by myself.
00:16:19It was a little before sunset.
00:16:21And I remember thinking it looked just like Arizona.
00:16:24I was just looking around.
00:16:25I'm like, if I had just gotten dropped here, blindfolded, I would swear I was in Arizona.
00:16:30And then I'm like, except for that camel right there.
00:16:33That's a camel standing next to the, next to the road.
00:16:36Yeah, exactly.
00:16:37Or those goats in the trees, you know?
00:16:39Yeah.
00:16:40Yeah.
00:16:41That's a, that's a pretty cool tourist spot to stop where the, the goats climb the trees
00:16:44to eat the berries and there's farmers and stuff.
00:16:47They'll let you stop and take photos.
00:16:48It's pretty cool.
00:16:49So everything's pretty rad there.
00:16:51Um, I, I would highly recommend going there.
00:16:55Um, you just gotta be careful with the food.
00:16:58Gotta be careful with the food.
00:17:00And the tea.
00:17:01And the tea.
00:17:03Yeah.
00:17:04And the tea.
00:17:05I, I, I know that one well too.
00:17:06Um, the tea, the tea is delicious, but, um, you know, if they put, uh, big pieces of mint
00:17:13in there, that's probably not been washed.
00:17:17You can get sick.
00:17:18Yeah.
00:17:19So if it's not hot enough for long enough, it's going to be a memorable cup of tea.
00:17:24Yes, it will be for several days for sure.
00:17:28So other than that, I think it's, I think it's well worth the risk, uh, and one of my
00:17:33favorite places.
00:17:35So, uh, Jeff, what about you?
00:17:38Let's give your, your third favorite country.
00:17:43I can't really rank them that way.
00:17:45Like I just love them all.
00:17:46And you guys know, I love riding in Mexico, especially Baja, I spend a lot of time riding
00:17:53down there with both of you guys as well.
00:17:55And, but, uh, I just love it.
00:17:58I love it down there.
00:17:59I love this for one, like Adam mentioned, it's close to home.
00:18:04Uh, the food is amazing.
00:18:07People are great and super hospitable.
00:18:09We've, we've had, I've been with you guys where we've had an issue with motorcycle or
00:18:14something and people just want to help you.
00:18:17They want to help you figure it out, whatever it is.
00:18:19And they know a guy, or I think I was with Adam one time we needed, uh, or I was supposed
00:18:25to both of you guys.
00:18:26We needed to borrow a tool from somebody.
00:18:28You guys remember this?
00:18:29Yeah, that was on the, that was on the, the triumph, uh, on two wheels episode where Adam
00:18:34and I, um, a quick, quick, uh, tangent slash segue here.
00:18:40We did an onto wheels episode where we did what we called the Baja 500, which was, we
00:18:45had 500 bucks between the two of us, um, to cover 500 miles in Baja.
00:18:50So we took a two triumph scrambler, 1200 X East and road, uh, a section of Baja and
00:18:57tried to stay under 500 bucks, which we successfully did.
00:19:00And we covered 500 miles, but it all wasn't easy because in the behind the scenes, Jeff,
00:19:05we back to you.
00:19:06Yeah.
00:19:07So, so we, we got, I forget even what the issue was, but we didn't have the right tool
00:19:10with us.
00:19:11And so somebody stopped and they're like, here, I have this and we're, he had to leave
00:19:15for something.
00:19:16And he's, and we're like, well, you know, can we borrow it?
00:19:19And he said, yeah, just leave it in the bush right there.
00:19:22I'll come back for it later.
00:19:23You know, like, like completely trusting that these foreigners will leave his tool there.
00:19:28And of course we did.
00:19:31Um, but so that was in Baja.
00:19:33But one of my most memorable trips was on the mainland and there's like up in the, like
00:19:38the Northwest corner, South of Yuma, Arizona is the Altar desert.
00:19:45And it's, there's tons and tons of sand dunes there.
00:19:49And I wrote, I did a story with, uh, riding across them with Jimmy Lewis and Johnny Campbell.
00:19:55And it was, it was about a hundred miles in each direction from Yuma down to Puerto Penasco.
00:20:02And about half of it each way was sand dunes, no, no trail, no, no GPS track, just a heading.
00:20:11And it was, it was amazing and typical things that you see in Mexico, like food and all
00:20:17that stuff.
00:20:18We stopped this one time.
00:20:19I don't remember how we knew there was gas.
00:20:21We stopped at one of these places that you guys are familiar where it's, you know, it's
00:20:26a house and a restaurant and a, and a convenience store and a gas state, you know, they have
00:20:31everything.
00:20:32It's all of it.
00:20:33Yeah.
00:20:34Yeah.
00:20:35An outpost.
00:20:36Yeah.
00:20:37And so we pull up and there we were told they have gas.
00:20:38We're like, Oh, we don't see, I mean, they don't have pumps, but that's not, you know,
00:20:42that's not uncommon in Mexico.
00:20:43So they go, Oh, go around to the back.
00:20:45So we go around the back.
00:20:47I swear, this might be the most dangerous thing I've ever done in my whole life.
00:20:50We go around to the back of this restaurant and they have gallons and gallons of gasoline
00:20:56stored in five gallon buckets, many of them without lids and the ground is just, the ground
00:21:04is just soaked with fuel.
00:21:06And we're like, this seems really dangerous.
00:21:09Like it was all this open fuel and we, so we got our gas as quick as we could and just
00:21:14got out of there.
00:21:15Like this place is going to for sure blow up one day.
00:21:18That's crazy.
00:21:19Yeah.
00:21:20It was, it was a super, super fun experience and we didn't know how long it would take.
00:21:25We had packed all these like, you know, snack foods, like we didn't know if we were going
00:21:29to do it in one day, if we had a problem or if we got lost or whatever.
00:21:34And uh, it was, uh, it was really, really a fun trip.
00:21:38Nice.
00:21:39Sounds like a star Wars episode.
00:21:41Yeah.
00:21:42Yeah.
00:21:44There were some times of hostility.
00:21:51What about like, have you ridden any other spots in Mexico, like further down south,
00:21:56like around Mexico city?
00:21:57Like I've heard there's really, really good roads around that area.
00:22:01You've got the, you know, you can go up to the volcanoes and up in the mountains and
00:22:06I think it's, it's very adventurous.
00:22:07I mean, I've driven a lot.
00:22:09I haven't ridden all of, of mainland Mexico, but I've driven through all of it and man,
00:22:15stunning scenery and there can be good roads and bad roads.
00:22:20Um, but I would really like to explore that place even more, you know?
00:22:25Yeah, I did.
00:22:26I did.
00:22:27I borrowed a KTM when I was in Mexico city one time and you helped me with and, and uh,
00:22:33I rode in Mexico city and that is an experience.
00:22:36Mexico city is really difficult to get around.
00:22:39Um, the roads just like, it's just craziness.
00:22:43Like to make a left turn, sometimes you gotta make like three right turns or, or two U turns
00:22:49or something like that.
00:22:50And uh, it was, that's due to congestion, congestion, but also like poor road planning.
00:22:57And I was like, Oh, we can, you know, like they're just like, Oh, if you need to go that
00:23:00way, you got to go through this alley under this apartment building, like all this weird
00:23:05stuff.
00:23:06Yes.
00:23:07And it, and it, you're like, I would never, without the, without Google, I would have
00:23:10never been able to figure it out.
00:23:12It was so, so awkward.
00:23:15But also that's what I like about, um, you know, riding in foreign countries like, like
00:23:21in Morocco where the signs are not in English or in Japan.
00:23:25And that's what I like.
00:23:27I like that.
00:23:28It's, it takes some time to figure it out, you know, all the barriers or language barrier,
00:23:35all of it.
00:23:36I love it all.
00:23:37Yeah.
00:23:38I agree.
00:23:39All right.
00:23:40Um, well that's, that's nice to go for you.
00:23:42Um, let's go to, let's go to Adam's number.
00:23:45Middle pick.
00:23:46I get issues and say, cause they're not, uh, like we said, not like third and second or
00:23:51not subpar at first, but we all have our favorites.
00:23:56Next pick.
00:23:57Yeah.
00:23:58Yeah.
00:23:59Well, my next favorite pick after, you know, riding in Germany would be another European
00:24:02country.
00:24:04And that would be Portugal.
00:24:06So Portugal, the little country to the West of Spain, you know, a lot of great roads out
00:24:11there, a lot of interesting countryside, a lot, lots of awesome, you know, cool roads
00:24:18where you're like over the ocean and you can see, you know, the waves crashing and the
00:24:23weather's very temperate, you know, the food's pretty good.
00:24:27It's everyone's really nice.
00:24:30You know, like I said, like we talked about going to Germany when you're out out of the
00:24:34major cities, there's not a lot of people up there.
00:24:36The road's yours.
00:24:38Yeah.
00:24:39The, and the roads are usually pretty high quality in Portugal.
00:24:45You know, they're, they're, they're pretty grippy and they have, you know, they have
00:24:48nice corners and everything's laid out and there's no real gnarly surprises of gigantic
00:24:55blown out pieces of pavement or anything like that.
00:24:57So it's just good riding.
00:24:59Really good.
00:25:00Portugal is just a great country.
00:25:02I mean, it's fantastic that the, uh, it's, if you're a tourist, it's nice cause it's,
00:25:08it's pretty affordable, you know?
00:25:10Very affordable.
00:25:11Yeah.
00:25:12Yeah.
00:25:13For sure.
00:25:14I've ridden, uh, quite a bit through there.
00:25:17Like when, when we rode to Morocco that one time, we rode from Lisbon all the way through
00:25:20Portugal through Spain and then over to Morocco, but you know, Adam and I went and rode some
00:25:28press launches there and had some extra days on, on our own and did some extra riding and
00:25:31it was just, this is awesome.
00:25:34Really fun.
00:25:35So.
00:25:36Yeah.
00:25:37You guys have ridden at Portimao or no?
00:25:39Uh, I have not ridden Portimao.
00:25:42Uh, I've been to Portimao and, uh, I don't know if Adam, have you ridden Portimao?
00:25:47I've ridden Portimao.
00:25:48Yeah.
00:25:49It's like, is it, I think it's in the South end, I believe in the South end.
00:25:53Yeah.
00:25:54Yeah.
00:25:55And there's, there's nice roads adjacent to the, to the racetrack as well.
00:25:59You know, if I remember correctly, there's even some like forested quasi mountain, not
00:26:04really mountain, but like hillside forested roads.
00:26:07Like again, like that's the kind of cool thing about Portugal is there's a lot of, I wouldn't
00:26:12say it's as diverse as the United States, but there's a good amount of diversity in
00:26:16the terrain and, and, and, and road surfaces there.
00:26:19Yeah.
00:26:20And again, the food is amazing in Portugal.
00:26:22I had one of the most memorable meals I've ever had, which was like a grilled octopus.
00:26:28I still think about that meal is probably 15 years.
00:26:31Yeah.
00:26:32Dude.
00:26:33You remember Adam, when we went and ate at that, that sandwich place and got the France
00:26:36and Sina the most, the most offensive sandwich ever, what was that yellow sauce that like,
00:26:44it was like this mayonnaise sauce or something like mayonnaise gravy.
00:26:47So they, they put like everything on the sandwich.
00:26:50So it had like sausage, pork, ham, cheese, it was all grilled.
00:26:57And then they covered the whole thing in like this, like gravy sauce and then put like a
00:27:02fried egg on top of it.
00:27:04Like it was, it was gnarly.
00:27:06It was, it was rich.
00:27:08It was very, very rich.
00:27:09You could not, you could not eat a whole one.
00:27:11And I tried and I tried.
00:27:14So but we had to, we had to give it a go and it was, it was pretty dang gnarly.
00:27:20I've, I've ridden a part of Portugal.
00:27:23Maybe you guys haven't, which is the Azores, the island.
00:27:28Oh no.
00:27:29Yeah.
00:27:30I've never been there.
00:27:31Yeah.
00:27:32I went to a press launch for the 801, Norton 801, 801 Norton Husky.
00:27:37And they did the press launch there and it was, man, what a amazingly beautiful place.
00:27:44Kind of chilly, a little bit, not super warm, but lots of, lots of, you know, green.
00:27:52Just everything is super green and it's, it's a volcanic set of islands.
00:27:57And we, we rode up on this one dirt road and we're going along and we're hauling butt and
00:28:01I was chasing Lyndon Poskitt.
00:28:04Me and Lyndon Poskitt and Jesse Ziegler from Cycle News, dude, we're just like peening
00:28:10it, like going as fast as we can, like dicing it up and it's kind of foggy and you can't
00:28:15see like out into the forest.
00:28:17And all of a sudden, like the fog went away and we were on this ridge that was barely
00:28:24wider than the road.
00:28:26And it was a cliff on one side and a massively steep hill on the other side.
00:28:29And the cliff side was the ocean and the massively steep hillside was a volcano crater where
00:28:36there was a town and a lake inside of it.
00:28:39And it was, it was just like this just crazy visual of you being on this point where like
00:28:44one side is, is the ocean, one side is a lake and they're only separated by like, you know,
00:28:50I don't know, 300 yards, like not a very far distance, it's crazy, super crazy, but really
00:28:57fun riding there as well, but hard to get to.
00:29:00So I don't know if I'd recommend that, that spot for anyone.
00:29:03Yeah.
00:29:04They're way out in the middle of the Atlantic.
00:29:06Yeah.
00:29:07Yeah.
00:29:08How do you even get there?
00:29:09Yeah, it was, we flew in, but you know, it was like a stop off, a way point for Portugal
00:29:16when they were sailing back in, you know, whatever the 1600s and 1500s and all that,
00:29:22you know, to, to get stores and supplies heading, you know, out in the ocean going west.
00:29:29So but really cool place.
00:29:32Food was really good.
00:29:33Very seafood based, but very delicious.
00:29:37So and speaking of seafood based, that takes me to my next favorite, which is Japan.
00:29:46Japan is, is not a place that a lot of people might think of going and riding a motorcycle
00:29:53because of the insanely good public transportation that they have.
00:29:57But there was 2009, I spent three and a half weeks riding around Japan on a bike for vacation,
00:30:08and it was one of the best trips I've ever had on a motorcycle in my life.
00:30:13So we, I, or I should say I, what were you riding?
00:30:18I actually rode a Versys 650.
00:30:20So the first generation of the Versys 650 actually.
00:30:24So I worked at Kawasaki at the time, and I decided like, I had all this vacation time
00:30:30saved up and my wife didn't have that much and, and I was gonna either have to use it
00:30:35or lose it.
00:30:36And so she's like, we'll go do something you want to do on your own.
00:30:39And so I was like, okay, so I made this big trip to Japan and my goal was to ride all
00:30:44around the big island of Japan.
00:30:46And so I borrowed a bike.
00:30:49And the funny part is, is that Kawasaki was very, you know, there's rules, there's lots
00:30:56of rules in Japan.
00:30:57Right.
00:30:58And so they were, they, they wanted like a full itinerary where I'd be, cause they were
00:31:00like worried about me riding on the wrong side of the road, street signs that I couldn't
00:31:04read, all that kind of stuff.
00:31:05And so they were like, okay, my plan was to just wander through Japan.
00:31:09And they were like, well, we needed an itinerary so we can check up on you.
00:31:13And so I was like, okay, so I made this fake itinerary.
00:31:16And then they, when I got there, they gave me the bike and they gave me a cell phone,
00:31:19a Japanese cell phone.
00:31:20And they're like, call us every night, let us know you're okay.
00:31:23So then I had to carry my fake itinerary around with me and look at it every night when call
00:31:27him like, oh, I'm in a, yeah, I'm in Nagoya right now, you know, oh, that's great.
00:31:32You know, and I'd be like somewhere else in the country, but the, you know, the actual
00:31:37riding part of it is, it's awesome because once you leave the big metropolitan centers,
00:31:45it turns to rural so fast in Japan.
00:31:48It goes from buildings and, you know, massive urban density to like, you're out in the sticks
00:31:55like very, very quick.
00:31:57And that's a really nice part about riding Japan because you could go to any of the major
00:32:01cities, rent a motorcycle and be up in the mountains in, you know, less than an hour,
00:32:08you know?
00:32:09That's a really nice, really nice way to do it.
00:32:12And you know, the roads are always really good.
00:32:21And the things you can find are just, just wild out there.
00:32:24So you know, when I did my ride, I went from Akashi, whereas Kawasaki's plant is at through
00:32:32Kobe, Osaka, Kyoto, and the Kyoto area was amazing.
00:32:36So I had a GPS and I would turn it off and I was there for like four days.
00:32:40I turn it off and I just ride off and just get completely lost.
00:32:45And then once I, once I was time to go home, then I turned the GPS on and find my way back
00:32:51to the hotel.
00:32:52And that was, you know, I got into some mountains where I didn't see anyone for hours on a road.
00:32:57Hours of really good, you know, twisty roads with amazing scenery and just nobody there,
00:33:03you know?
00:33:04And then outside of Tokyo is a mountain area called Nikko and they have some of like the
00:33:13oldest temples there and there's some roads that go that way that is, they're amazing.
00:33:21It's called the Irohazakawa winding road and it's, there's one road that goes up the mountain
00:33:29and one road that comes down the mountain.
00:33:30It's one way.
00:33:31It's 48 turns each way and each corner is a character of a, like an old Japanese alphabet.
00:33:42And so when you're, when you're going up, you're going through the alphabet basically.
00:33:46It's 48 up and then there's an awesome lake and then you ride back down.
00:33:50Really twisting, really fun roads, you know?
00:33:53And then, you know, then there's the Japanese Alps, which is in the center of the country
00:33:58that very, very rural towns with amazing like farmland and elevation changes, cold
00:34:07to hot, cold to hot.
00:34:08Just really good stuff.
00:34:09Yeah.
00:34:10I've never heard of that.
00:34:11Is that where the monkeys go swimming and all that?
00:34:13That's up, that's up more North.
00:34:15That's in Hokkaido area for the most part.
00:34:18I think there might be some in some of the Alps as well because they do get a lot of
00:34:22snow in the middle time, in the middle of the country during, during the winter.
00:34:26But that's where I had the greatest steak of my life, bar none, cost me a lot of money
00:34:34accidentally.
00:34:37Long story, but excellent, excellent food, excellent people.
00:34:44And I actually got a ticket in Japan, which was pretty funny.
00:34:48And the guy I was riding with, he missed a sign that said, no right turn.
00:34:53We made a right turn in Tokyo.
00:34:57And I heard this whistle blowing, beep, beep, beep.
00:35:00And then we were at a red light and I heard this whistle and then the light turned green.
00:35:04We rode away and the whistle went away.
00:35:06I'm like, hmm, interesting.
00:35:08Get to the next red light and the whistle starts getting louder and louder and louder
00:35:11and louder.
00:35:12And then the light turns green and we go and the whistle goes away.
00:35:16This happened for like about five or six lights.
00:35:18And then finally, this police officer on a bicycle pulls up next to me and he's just
00:35:23sweating and he's just red faced and he's just like, yeah, and he starts yelling at
00:35:27me in Japanese and I flip up my visor and he sees, sees that it's an American and he
00:35:32gets all confused.
00:35:33And so he moves us off to the side of the road to give us tickets.
00:35:36And long story short, there was, it was difficult putting all my American driver's license info
00:35:43into the pad on the ticket book.
00:35:48And so it was like two hours we sat there trying to get a ticket and then the big boss
00:35:54came and he told me, he spoke a little bit of English and he says, you must go to jail.
00:36:00The big boss from the police department?
00:36:01Yeah.
00:36:02The big boss, like a sergeant or whatever.
00:36:03Must go to jail.
00:36:04And he's like, you must go to jail.
00:36:05And I was like, what?
00:36:06And he's like, yeah, jail.
00:36:08And I'm like, I go and I go jail and I made like my hands on the bars.
00:36:12He's like, oh no, no, no, no.
00:36:14Uh, uh, police house.
00:36:17And I'm like, station.
00:36:18And he's like, hi, station.
00:36:19And I was like, oh, wow.
00:36:22That escalated quickly.
00:36:23Yeah.
00:36:24I was like, oh my God, what did I do wrong?
00:36:25You know?
00:36:26And so, uh, he's like, follow us to the police station.
00:36:29So he gives us all our paperwork back and we're still putting on our helmets and he
00:36:33drives off and we don't know what the police station is.
00:36:36So we like break like all kinds of laws, catching him, like running red lights and stuff to
00:36:41get behind him at the police station and go to the police station.
00:36:45My buddy has to stay outside.
00:36:46I go in and it was like another two hours of them trying to write me a ticket.
00:36:50And then they finally were like, okay, here you go.
00:36:52And they finally gave me my ticket and it looked exactly like my buddy's just with the
00:36:55name different.
00:36:56And I was like, okay, great.
00:36:57And I had to go to a post office and pay the ticket.
00:37:01It was like 60 bucks, but, um, it was, it was hilarious.
00:37:05You know, my buddy's like, don't tell my wife I got a ticket.
00:37:08She'll be so mad.
00:37:09So it was like a secret the whole time.
00:37:12But, um, I love the place and of course you've got all the food and all that stuff.
00:37:17So you can't go wrong going to Japan.
00:37:19It's awesome.
00:37:20Tell us about that steak.
00:37:21Tell us about that steak.
00:37:22Some more.
00:37:23Dude.
00:37:24Yeah, that was an accident.
00:37:25Um, so this area, they were like, you gotta, you gotta eat the steak when you're in this
00:37:29town, Takayama.
00:37:30And I was like, okay.
00:37:31So I found a place, but it looked like a butcher shop when I walked in and the guy's like,
00:37:34no, no, no.
00:37:35And he shows me on the corner and they have, uh, tables with barbecues in the middle of
00:37:39them.
00:37:40And so you pick your steak and you go sit down and then you cook it.
00:37:42And, and he keeps showing me, he's pointed the sign that says 1,500 yen and then he's
00:37:46pointing at the steaks and he's pointing at that and he's pointing at that.
00:37:49And I was like, 1,500 yen that I think the exchange rate was like one Oh five at the
00:37:54time.
00:37:55So I'm like, that's like 15 bucks.
00:37:56I'm like, dude, that's a deal.
00:37:58So I'd like pick the biggest steak I can find in the, in the, the, the display.
00:38:03I'm like that one.
00:38:04The guy's like, Oh yes.
00:38:05He's all happy.
00:38:07And so I go in and I walk, go to sit down and, and I'm looking and there's like four
00:38:10people at tables, four or five people at tables and they're sharing steaks smaller than what
00:38:15I bought.
00:38:16And I was just like, Oh, whatever, you know?
00:38:17And so I sit down and he brings the steak out and every person in that place looked
00:38:24at me like I was a maniac and everyone's just like, Oh, and like, he's got it all sliced
00:38:28up.
00:38:29And so I cook it and I eat it.
00:38:30Then I go to pay the bill.
00:38:32I figured out it was, it was 1500 yen per some unit of measure.
00:38:37And I think it was per gram.
00:38:39So my steak was like, I don't know, it was like 350, $400, but it was worth it.
00:38:45It was still that good that I wasn't even mad.
00:38:47I was just like, okay, it was worth it.
00:38:49I was like, let me show you how it's done.
00:38:52Yeah.
00:38:53Everyone's looking at me like I'm just a psychopath eating that big of a piece, but it was good.
00:38:58So go there, get the steak.
00:39:01You know, don't make right turns when you're not supposed to, and you'll have a great time
00:39:05in Japan.
00:39:06So, all right, Jeff, let's have your next one.
00:39:11My next one.
00:39:12Okay.
00:39:13So my next one would be, uh, this was a few years ago.
00:39:17It was China and, uh, me and another guy, we, we went over with a, with a tour company.
00:39:25It was for a story, uh, Lotus tours.
00:39:28I'm not even sure they're still around anymore.
00:39:30I rode the Chinese version of a Ural sidecar it's, it's, it's called a Chang, Chang Jing,
00:39:39something like that.
00:39:40And basically it's a, it's a Ural sidecar, just like they copied the tooling or whatever.
00:39:44And they're producing in China and you know, before we went there, like, have you ever
00:39:51ridden a sidecar?
00:39:52And I'm like, yeah, of course I've ridden sidecar, which I was totally lying.
00:39:54I'd never driven sidecar in my life.
00:39:58So I was like, and I was a little nervous cause this guy I was going with, he had driven
00:40:03sidecars before and absolutely hated it.
00:40:06He just said they're evil and they're just, their whole goal is to try to kill you.
00:40:10So I was like, okay, well I hope that's not accurate.
00:40:13Uh, but we, uh, I got this thing that was actually fairly reliable and, um, we rode
00:40:21from Beijing, which I am now a, I'm probably expired, but I'm a licensed, uh, uh, uh, driver
00:40:30in China to drive in China.
00:40:32You actually have to have a Chinese driver's license.
00:40:35So we spent the first day going to get our picture taken and, uh, go into, I don't know
00:40:41what the, or the version of the DMV or whatever.
00:40:44And we did all these things and came back and had my, my Chinese driver's license all
00:40:47in, uh, Chinese characters and everything, which was very, which was a very cool souvenir
00:40:53to have.
00:40:55And we, we visited different spots along the Great Wall and it was, uh, it was so cool.
00:41:03We're all, then you get outside of Beijing and like you said, uh, Dawes with Japan, it's
00:41:09very rural.
00:41:11It's very rural.
00:41:13We would come into these places where at the time, uh, they had not seen very many
00:41:20Westerners in these sort of out of the way little villages.
00:41:24So when we would roll in on motorcycles, take our helmets off, there was, it was like, we
00:41:28were the show.
00:41:29So we would gather crowds and this guy that I was traveling with Bo, he was a big guy.
00:41:35He's tall and just big.
00:41:38And also he had in, like in a previous life, he had been a, a, uh, like a bar entertainer,
00:41:44like guitars and tell jokes and stuff.
00:41:47So we would pull up and he would, uh, tell jokes in English because nobody like he would
00:41:55tell jokes in English and then just start laughing.
00:41:58And then this crowd would just start laughing because he's laughing.
00:42:01They were just, for one, they were just looking at him like, what is this?
00:42:05Like it's this huge person.
00:42:07And then he would sing songs.
00:42:08He would sing that's a more a just acapella.
00:42:11And it was, it was absolutely fantastic combined with all of the things that we were seeing,
00:42:16you know, uh, like it, it was really, really a cool experience.
00:42:23Nice.
00:42:24Yeah.
00:42:25What are the roads like there though?
00:42:26Like is it, is it, is it worth it for the experience or is it the actual riding good
00:42:32as well?
00:42:33Well, you know, it's different in the sidecar, right?
00:42:36So you're not, you're not, you're not leaned over and, you know, doing all the same things
00:42:41it, at the time the roads were not awesome.
00:42:44I would say like a lot of it was the roads were in a lot of the subway road was in disarray
00:42:50or disrepair.
00:42:52And um, you know, like when you're in the sidecar, how you have to, now you have this
00:42:56extra wheel, so you have to pick multiple lines, you know, and they're not quite as
00:43:00wide as a car.
00:43:01So there'd be a lot of times where you just have to drive either the motorcycle through
00:43:05a pothole or the sidecar through the pothole.
00:43:08And uh, but uh, it just made it that, I mean, we weren't covering great distances.
00:43:14So the fact that it was pretty challenging, made it fun, you know, made it a fun place
00:43:19to be and you had to be really careful of like, uh, the other drivers in China, it doesn't
00:43:28make any sense to us, but they're the, like if you're on a, like on a back road, the person
00:43:35coming towards you, if they're passing in your lane, they have the right away.
00:43:41So the car, the car on the, on the wrong side of the lane has the right away.
00:43:45So it just encourages everyone to be on the wrong side all the time.
00:43:49So there are lots of times you come around a turn and there's a dude coming straight
00:43:53at you in your lane.
00:43:56And you have to get out of the way.
00:43:58Yeah.
00:43:59And you have to go out onto the shoulder and get out of his way.
00:44:02Crazy.
00:44:04And also I had one, like one really spooky moment.
00:44:09It happened to be the last day and we were coming back into Beijing.
00:44:13It was dark.
00:44:14And these things, the lights on these things are not awesome.
00:44:18And you could barely see, and I'm going along and I'm on two lanes.
00:44:22It's a road where there's two lanes each way.
00:44:25And I'm tucked in just trying to see the road because it's really, really dark.
00:44:29And right next to me, there was a pass, a full-size dump truck that's parked with its
00:44:36lights off in the left lane.
00:44:39I think it was abandoned, it broken down.
00:44:41They just left it.
00:44:42I didn't see it till it was about six feet from me.
00:44:45If I'd been in that lane, I would have gone under it.
00:44:48Jeez.
00:44:49That's crazy.
00:44:50Yeah.
00:44:51It was, it was a very, very cool experience.
00:44:54I really, really enjoyed it.
00:44:56Nice.
00:44:57It's not, I haven't, I haven't been yet.
00:44:59So yeah, I'll have to give it a go.
00:45:04I had a little issue with some of the food because we went to some places where, you
00:45:09know, they were still mining coal and we would, I remember one day we were riding down this
00:45:14road and there's so much coal on the ground.
00:45:17It was just the dust.
00:45:18It would just come up.
00:45:19Like when cars would go by, this black dust would just, would be on the road.
00:45:24And there was a little like stream next to the road and the stream was obviously black.
00:45:29And we stopped like, we stopped like five miles later for lunch and they wanted to serve
00:45:33us fish.
00:45:34I'm like, I'm like, I think I'm going to pass.
00:45:37I'm just going to have the noodles today.
00:45:40Yeah.
00:45:41That's funny.
00:45:42Right on.
00:45:43All right.
00:45:44Adam, let's, let's hear your, this is, this is your number one, numero uno.
00:45:52My number one pick and favorite place to ride abroad would be the country of Italy,
00:45:58which I'm sure all of us can probably agree is a solid choice.
00:46:02It's very solid choice.
00:46:03Yes.
00:46:04Very solid choice.
00:46:05You know, the roads are awesome.
00:46:07The food is super awesome.
00:46:10You know, the history of that country is really neat.
00:46:13And you know, again, a lot of diversity of terrain.
00:46:16You know, you can be up in the mountains, you can be in the, in the hills, you can be
00:46:21by the coastline, like for an island, you can be on islands for a peninsula or isthmus
00:46:29or whatever it's technically is to have that much diversity in that small of an area is
00:46:34pretty neat.
00:46:37I would agree.
00:46:38I have never not had a good time riding in Italy and I've been to Italy more times than
00:46:43I know to count.
00:46:45And same with, I think all of us, like it's just, it's a go-to for press launches for
00:46:51a very good reason, right?
00:46:53It's just good riding.
00:46:54It's just really good.
00:46:55Yeah.
00:46:56Yeah.
00:46:57It's a, it's a really, really fun place to be.
00:46:59Yeah.
00:47:00Have you guys ridden the, you guys have ridden race tracks there?
00:47:03Mm-hmm.
00:47:04Yeah.
00:47:05I mean, there's great circuits there as well, but you know, honestly, the street bike riding
00:47:10is even more memorable in my opinion than the racing tracks.
00:47:14I think so.
00:47:15My favorite area to ride in Italy is outside of Bologna where, you know, where Ducati is.
00:47:23And then you've got Ferrari and Lamborghini and, you know, you, there's these back roads
00:47:27where like you're going and it's just super twisty and super fun.
00:47:31And there's like Ferraris and Lamborghinis being tested and Ducati motorcycles.
00:47:36And the cops are just like, they, if you're in something cool, they don't care what you
00:47:41do.
00:47:42They do not care how fast you're going, what you're doing.
00:47:45They're just like, yeah, you know, it's, it's, it's quite a cool culture for sure.
00:47:50Yeah.
00:47:51And it's such a, like you just mentioned about Ferrari Maserati being there.
00:47:55It's such a cool place because for gearheads, because you can do all this cool riding and,
00:48:00and their destination could be one of the museums.
00:48:01You know, I've been to the museum, the Ducati and, and two of the Ferrari museums.
00:48:07And it's just such a cool way to like tie all this stuff together.
00:48:10Yeah.
00:48:12It's really a gearheads Mecca.
00:48:17It really is.
00:48:18You know, they call Bologna the Valley of the Motors or whatever.
00:48:21Yeah.
00:48:22It is just a great destination.
00:48:23If you are a person who loves, you know, motors and engines, anything mechanical, you know,
00:48:29and then that's one aspect.
00:48:31And then just, just literally the food, like just going to restaurants in that part of
00:48:36the world is just like the food's phenomenal.
00:48:39You can't, we don't have the same Italian food in the United States.
00:48:43No, we do not.
00:48:46We do not.
00:48:47Definitely not.
00:48:48And all the, you know, just stopping for just coffee and like a little snack on the roadside
00:48:55is like just such a, like experience that you just have to, you have to do it.
00:49:01Like you just, you know, it's just really good.
00:49:04Yeah.
00:49:05It's pretty special.
00:49:06And it's considered fast food, like a quick panini and espresso is just, I mean, it is,
00:49:12it's, it's incredible.
00:49:14Way better than Starbucks.
00:49:15Way, way better than Starbucks.
00:49:18Absolutely.
00:49:19And, and everyone there is pretty friendly, you know, pretty friendly app, ready to help.
00:49:23You know, roads are a little narrow.
00:49:26It's a little, can be a little bit narrow and challenging to get around a little bit,
00:49:30but at the same time, that's what kind of makes it fun.
00:49:33Yeah, for sure.
00:49:34For sure.
00:49:36I love Italy.
00:49:37I love everything about it.
00:49:39I have no complaints.
00:49:41Definitely a spot you should check out.
00:49:44So mine, mine is another place that we do a lot of press launches at and it's for a
00:49:49good reason because it has great weather, awesome roads.
00:49:54It's basically like the California of, of Europe and that is Spain, Spain.
00:50:00I think if, if I was going to recommend one place in Europe for someone to travel and
00:50:07make sure they have a consistently good ride and experience, it would absolutely 100% be
00:50:13Spain.
00:50:14Yeah.
00:50:15And they're just motorcycle crazy there.
00:50:17Yeah, they are.
00:50:18They definitely are.
00:50:20So you've got uncrowded roads.
00:50:22The pavement is usually unbelievable.
00:50:27Super grippy, you know, twisty, turny up in the mountains, you know, and, and it's varied
00:50:33at the same time.
00:50:34You know, there's different, there's different parts of the country that have, have different
00:50:38weather, you know, cooler or warmer.
00:50:42But even if you go in the wintertime, usually you're never like super cold, you know, like
00:50:47we'll go, we've, I've been there in January and February and it's still pretty, pretty
00:50:53mild and nice, you know, so.
00:50:57You make a good point, California of Europe and you know, you'll go there, you know, this
00:51:01time of year during the winter months in North America and you'd be amazed how many people
00:51:08are flying in from England, from Ireland, from, you know, the North, North of Europe
00:51:13to get out of the cold and experience some California-ish weather in Europe.
00:51:19Very much so.
00:51:20And it's, you know, you have, you have the really good weather, but you also have a fairly,
00:51:26your money goes a fairly long ways there.
00:51:29It's not an expensive place for the most part.
00:51:31Yeah, you can definitely make it, yeah, you can definitely make it affordable.
00:51:36Yeah, you can make it affordable.
00:51:39And there's just, there's just epic places to go see, like, you know, there's a lot of
00:51:43press launches we go to in Malaga and then you ride up to Ronda, which is this amazing
00:51:49mountain town that has this like cool stone bridge over this big ravine and it's just
00:51:54beautiful and all those roads around there, just like epic.
00:51:57You know what I mean?
00:51:58Like, and we've been there so many times, like I'll see like a car commercial and I'll
00:52:02be like, oh, that, that was, that was shot over by Ronda.
00:52:05You know what I mean?
00:52:06You can, you can recognize the corners, you've been there enough times, but it's because
00:52:10it's so, so good.
00:52:12It's just such a great place.
00:52:14And then you've got, the food is great, like we said, that your money can go a long ways
00:52:20there.
00:52:21You know, it's just, it's solid, it's a very solid place to be.
00:52:26And actually, and flying in from the States, you know, you can find pretty decent airfare.
00:52:31Not everywhere we've mentioned is that way.
00:52:35You know, it's, it's expensive to get there, you know?
00:52:37Yeah.
00:52:38That's the other thing.
00:52:39Go ahead, Adam.
00:52:41That's a great point.
00:52:42Like travel.
00:52:43I mean, some of these places we're speaking about are easier to get to than others and
00:52:48more affordable than others.
00:52:50Like LAX, Madrid, like that's a very common flight, you know, and there's also other routing,
00:52:56you know, LAX to Newark, Newark, Madrid.
00:52:59So there's a lot of options to get to these, a place like, like, you know, Madrid, Spain.
00:53:04Yeah, exactly.
00:53:05Yeah.
00:53:06It's easy to get to Madrid and Barcelona.
00:53:08And then there's, you know, small, cheap commuter flights from all those places that are, they're
00:53:13all short.
00:53:14They're like an hour long.
00:53:15You know what I mean?
00:53:16Like to Malaga or to Bilbao or wherever, just a quick jump and you're there and, and they're
00:53:21motorcycle crazy in Spain.
00:53:23So finding a motorcycle to rent or use is, you know, it's easy, tons and tons of stuff.
00:53:30So Jeff, let's get to, let's get to your last, your, your last choice.
00:53:35Well, okay.
00:53:36So my last choice was I, is France, but in particular, I mean, I've done other trips
00:53:43in France, but then I had this one trip I don't know, a number of years ago, riding
00:53:49from, we started in Switzerland, so just briefly in, in, in, we started in Geneva, just briefly
00:53:58in Switzerland, down into the South of France.
00:54:01And it was like, I mentioned Italy being a gearhead country.
00:54:06Well, this trip was the ultimate gearhead.
00:54:11It was like 10 days.
00:54:12It just so happens that my, my ride coincided with, and the road, so the roads there are
00:54:20fantastic because you can just look up roads they've used for the tour de France.
00:54:27So pretty much anything that's a good cycling road is a good motorcycle road.
00:54:32And so you find all the, and the tour tends to pick places out of the way.
00:54:37So they're just less traveled roads anyway.
00:54:41And it was fantastic.
00:54:43For the first few days, we traveled the same route, just coincidentally as a vintage car
00:54:49rally, like, like similar to like the Mille Miglia.
00:54:53So like all of these vintage cool cars were stopping in the same place to see all this
00:54:57really cool stuff back in the, back in the back roads.
00:55:01And so we did that, followed them for a couple of days.
00:55:04And then we got way down into the South of France.
00:55:07There's a road, I don't remember what it's called, but it's basically like California's
00:55:10PCH.
00:55:12It follows the coastline, the very, very South of France.
00:55:15And it goes through places like Saint-Tropez and Caen and Nice into Monaco.
00:55:20And along that strip, you know, that's an expensive place to be like Saint-Tropez.
00:55:26I can't remember how much, I stopped, we stopped for lunch and had like just a couple of Cokes.
00:55:30It was like 30 bucks.
00:55:31I was like, we got to go.
00:55:35But it just happened to be that this was the weekend of like Vespa World Weekend, which
00:55:41is similar to like Ducati World.
00:55:44There were in the, along the South coast, there were thousands and thousands of Vespas.
00:55:50And you know, the Vespas crowd, they're kind of, they're crazy.
00:55:53So people are dressed up in weird stuff.
00:55:56They dress up their scooters.
00:55:57And it was just fantastic to see all of these other people sharing the road.
00:56:02I mean, it wasn't so long that it became, you know, too annoying or anything with too
00:56:08much traffic or anything.
00:56:12It was just such a cool experience.
00:56:15And then after that, following through these places, went into Monaco.
00:56:24And that was super cool, go to the casino, do all that stuff.
00:56:28But it just so happened that this time we were there was literally just a couple of
00:56:33days after the Formula One race.
00:56:36So the course was still set up with the K-Rail and the fencing and the curbing and all that.
00:56:41So we had to do laps on the Formula One course.
00:56:43Oh, that's awesome.
00:56:45It's unbelievable.
00:56:46It was so cool.
00:56:49And all of it was unplanned.
00:56:50It was just like the next thing and then the next thing and the next thing.
00:56:54And it was just the coolest motorsports 10 days of that.
00:56:59And then at one point, we had stopped for lunch in a town I think was called Grenoble.
00:57:09And I was just looking at the map.
00:57:11We didn't have a planned route.
00:57:12It was just follow the map, follow.
00:57:16We were watching weather.
00:57:17It happened to be some rain in the area.
00:57:20And so we're sitting and having lunch in this town of Grenoble.
00:57:22And I said, I go, holy cow, we are really close to Alpe d'Huez, if you guys are familiar
00:57:28with that.
00:57:29It's one of the most famous hill climbs in the Tour de France.
00:57:35They don't use it every year, but they use it a lot of years.
00:57:38And it's like the craziest hill climb.
00:57:41I forget how many turns it is, but it's more than I care to think about on a bicycle.
00:57:48And so I said, we should go just check out the road.
00:57:51So I think we decided to just stay at the top.
00:57:56At the top is a ski resort.
00:57:58And so you follow it.
00:57:59We were going to follow it.
00:58:00We were going to come in the back way.
00:58:01That's what we decided.
00:58:02We come in the back way and go to the thing and then come down the twisty part that they
00:58:07use in the tour in the morning.
00:58:10Well, it just so happened this weekend was also the weekend they were doing some sort
00:58:14of bicycling event.
00:58:16It was a fundraiser for something.
00:58:19There were hundreds and hundreds of people bicycling this road, staying in the village.
00:58:24And so it just made it like it was off season, obviously it was in the summertime.
00:58:28So it made the cafes were full enough, you know, wasn't too crowded.
00:58:34And to ride that road with all these bicycles on it.
00:58:38It was just amazing.
00:58:42It was such a cool event.
00:58:44And I will always remember that as like such a special trip.
00:58:47Nice.
00:58:48That was awesome.
00:58:49It was.
00:58:50That's really good.
00:58:51Surprised.
00:58:52I like that.
00:58:53I like that section, you know, the south of France, the Riviera, like really good roads,
00:59:00really fun.
00:59:01But yeah, not a cheap place to be.
00:59:02Like you said, you're $30 for a couple of cokes.
00:59:05I remember I ordered a couple of Diet Cokes and a Red Bull and some sort of snack right
00:59:14outside the Grand Casino in Monte Carlo, and it was like 180 euros or something.
00:59:20It was like so insane.
00:59:22This is not my world.
00:59:23Yeah, for sure.
00:59:25Not my world, but cool to see.
00:59:26So let's let's get into those are like rad choices.
00:59:33I think every one of us would agree that all those picks are solid and you should add
00:59:37them to your list of places to go.
00:59:38But what about like worst, we'll say like places you might want to avoid for riding
00:59:44and I'll I'll kick it off, which may seem like a strange place to avoid for motorcycling
00:59:51because it's a it's a neat place to visit.
00:59:52But Abu Dhabi, you know, in the UAE, go to Dubai, go to Abu Dhabi.
01:00:00It's a sensory overload in the sense of like the cities versus the stark desert.
01:00:06Super rad.
01:00:07But every road is straight and narrow.
01:00:09There's speed cameras everywhere.
01:00:11And there's only one good road in Abu Dhabi called Jabal Hafeet.
01:00:15And it's it's like a 4000 tall foot mountain.
01:00:18It's got 60 turns.
01:00:19It's like seven miles.
01:00:21And that road is rad because it was it was made by one of the royalty in the country
01:00:28to drive his supercars up to this this resort.
01:00:32So the road is perfect.
01:00:33It's like a racetrack, but it's the only road there.
01:00:36And so it's not it's not really worth it.
01:00:38Like the people are awesome.
01:00:39The food is delicious.
01:00:41The scenery is rad.
01:00:42But if you're going to go to Abu Dhabi, just take a car.
01:00:48But sounds like good advice.
01:00:50Yeah.
01:00:50For me, I don't I don't really have a country that that I don't like riding in.
01:00:58You know, I guess if there's if I had to pick something and it's kind of strange because
01:01:03like Jeff said, he enjoys riding in New Mexico and as do I just because it's so close to get
01:01:08to.
01:01:08But even though I like riding in New Mexico, I also sometimes don't like riding in Mexico.
01:01:13And and, you know, that's kind of because you go through these towns and, you know,
01:01:18they can just be kind of dirty with like trash and litter and telephone poles everywhere,
01:01:25every which way.
01:01:26And, you know, it's kind of cute and nice, but it also, you know, it kind of looks not
01:01:31super aesthetically pleasing.
01:01:32It kind of bums you out.
01:01:34Yeah.
01:01:34So especially when you're there, you're there and you're like, man, you you got like this
01:01:41this place is so beautiful.
01:01:43And then, you know, people are people, right?
01:01:46They they tend to litter.
01:01:47And so it kind of screws up the scenery a little bit.
01:01:51Yeah.
01:01:52Like you'll be riding down there and there'll be like a huge pile of trash just like sitting
01:01:56on the side of this nice vista.
01:01:58You're like, well, come on, you know?
01:02:00Yeah.
01:02:01So, you know, it's it's a it's a love hate relationship.
01:02:04More than more love than hate.
01:02:06Sure.
01:02:07Yep.
01:02:08No, I get that.
01:02:09Totally.
01:02:09And there's there's also the which doesn't happen as much now, but the shakedowns, right?
01:02:16You know, you get pulled over by the the the police and they they they want money, you
01:02:22know, so that's that's another thing that's not right about Mexico.
01:02:26But once you get used to doing that and you get used to the dance, you can just do the
01:02:30thing and usually get out of it.
01:02:32So yeah.
01:02:34So what about you, Jeff?
01:02:35Let's hear let's hear your place that you don't recommend riding.
01:02:40I would not recommend Russia.
01:02:43Well, I mean, for multiple reasons right now, for sure.
01:02:47But but let's hear it.
01:02:50I did it.
01:02:50I did a ride.
01:02:51We got we picked up BMWs in Munich and we rode, you know, through we rode through Poland
01:02:57and Lithuania and Latvia and Estonia.
01:02:59And that was all it was all awesome.
01:03:01Like every single day, you're like, could it get any better?
01:03:04And then when we got to Russia, literally.
01:03:09The moment we got to Russia, so we cross over the border from
01:03:12Estonia into Russia and the cops are like, oh, where's your Russian driver's license?
01:03:20You got to have a Russian driver's license.
01:03:22We'd only ridden across the border.
01:03:25So now we got to pay a fine for riding for being in Russia without a driver's license,
01:03:31a Russian driver's license.
01:03:33And so we go round and round with these guys and it's 100 bucks each.
01:03:37We were there.
01:03:37It was me and this guy we used to work with, Bo.
01:03:40And we were there working.
01:03:43And so it's 100 bucks each.
01:03:46And we're like, hmm, you know, it's like seems kind of steep.
01:03:49But Russia is relatively expensive anyways.
01:03:52So, you know, we go through this whole thing and we get back on the bikes.
01:03:55We start riding and we're on our way to St. Petersburg.
01:03:58It's only about two and a half hours from the border to the city of St. Petersburg.
01:04:02And we get we get pulled over again, not too far down the road.
01:04:07And it looked like they were waiting for us.
01:04:09And so we're like, those guys at the border radioed ahead
01:04:13that these guys on BMWs are on their way and they got some money.
01:04:17So like as soon as they saw us, they lit us up.
01:04:20So I don't even remember what the violation was or what the claim violation was.
01:04:24We were we were being pretty good citizens because we'd already had to pay once.
01:04:28We're like, oh, we need to, you know, keep the expenses down.
01:04:31We can't keep paying.
01:04:33So anyway, we pay again.
01:04:36And again, a third time there was we were up the road and there was a
01:04:43you've probably seen it like there's always like there's like a police stand next to the road.
01:04:48And so as soon as they saw us coming, they walked out, stopped us, pulled us inside.
01:04:53And, you know, it's funny.
01:04:55The phone I had this this kind of funny dynamic.
01:04:59He would like he was a big guy and he would sometimes, you know,
01:05:04you know, kind of loses patience with people.
01:05:07And I would be like the voice of reason.
01:05:09I'm like, well, just relax.
01:05:10Let's calm down.
01:05:11This will be a lot easier to deal with if we're just, you know, mellow.
01:05:16So we go to the they drag us into this little police stand.
01:05:19It's not really a station.
01:05:20It's just just a stand.
01:05:23And again, they want a hundred bucks.
01:05:25So it's been a hundred bucks every time.
01:05:26So now a third time, another hundred bucks.
01:05:29And we're trying to like, you know, get out of it.
01:05:33We're like, hey, we weren't doing anything.
01:05:35Why are you pulling us over all this stuff?
01:05:37And I start losing my patience.
01:05:40And then one of these Russian cops, he's got the gun.
01:05:43He's got like a rifle strapped across the front of him, you know,
01:05:46and he comes over in front of me and like leans,
01:05:49like pretends like he's getting something off the table, like paperwork.
01:05:53And it's literally the end of his gun is pointed in into my face.
01:05:57He doesn't have his hands on it or anything, but you're just like, whoa.
01:06:01So I said, now I'm getting pissed.
01:06:03And now the dynamic change.
01:06:05And then Bo's like, hey, you got to mellow out.
01:06:07Like, there's not a good place.
01:06:10There's not a good place to lose your mind.
01:06:12I'm like, I don't care.
01:06:13I was so pissed.
01:06:16So anyway, so that was that's the thing, the shakedowns and all that stuff.
01:06:21And because we were there for work, funny side story.
01:06:24When we came back and we did the T&E, I put on my T&E,
01:06:27like we had to pay 300 bucks and I put extortion.
01:06:33The corporation we work for, like, yeah, we don't pay extortion.
01:06:37Like I know you had like a real expense,
01:06:39but we can't have it written down that we reimbursed you for extortion.
01:06:43And they said, you got to figure out something else.
01:06:46And they go, all right.
01:06:47So I changed it.
01:06:48It said tourist tax.
01:06:50They said, all right, we can pay a tourist tax.
01:06:53That's funny.
01:06:54Yeah, well, that's that's a bummer.
01:06:58It seems like there's so much land in Russia that would be rad.
01:07:01But then again, if you're feeling unsafe the whole time, not awesome.
01:07:05So real quick, let's go over like maybe somewhere that you'd want to go to.
01:07:12Jeff, you've been to a lot of places.
01:07:13So let's start with you because your list is probably smaller than mine and Adam's.
01:07:19No, it's not true.
01:07:20The more places you go, the more places you want to go.
01:07:23The more places you realize you haven't been.
01:07:25In fact, I'm going to make this my official notice to you,
01:07:28Dawes, since you're my boss, that I'm going to need some time off in August.
01:07:33I'm planning a trip to Slovenia and Austria.
01:07:39Oh, nice.
01:07:40And Croatia.
01:07:41And then plan to catch the MotoGP race at the Red Bull Ring.
01:07:47OK, cool.
01:07:48Yeah, no problem.
01:07:49I've been to two of those three that you mentioned.
01:07:53Austria, of course, is rad.
01:07:54It's very much like Germany.
01:07:56Germany, Slovenia, super, super rad place.
01:08:01If you can swing it, like maybe we can set it up,
01:08:05go to the Akrapovic factory and take a tour.
01:08:08It is unbelievable.
01:08:10Yeah, that's what I heard.
01:08:12Unbelievable.
01:08:13And the town near there, Ljubljana, super rad, like insanely cool city.
01:08:21It's a walking city for the most part, but super beautiful.
01:08:25Running through it.
01:08:26Amazing.
01:08:26So yeah, it's on my list of places to visit while I'm there.
01:08:29I didn't realize Akrapovic is so close to Ljubljana.
01:08:33Yeah, it's pretty close.
01:08:34So again, either.
01:08:36Yeah, so I'll go with mine, Vietnam.
01:08:41I want to go ride Vietnam.
01:08:45It's tropical.
01:08:46It looks awesome.
01:08:46It looks adventurous.
01:08:48It looks rural and untouched.
01:08:50It looks just super rad.
01:08:53And I'll go back to, there was a Top Gear episode, probably 10 years ago now,
01:09:00where they rode small motorcycles through Vietnam.
01:09:03And even Jeremy Clarkson, the notorious motorcycle hater at the end of that trip,
01:09:09was like, this is one of the most amazing things I've ever done.
01:09:12And for that guy to give thumbs up to something that is on two wheels instead of four,
01:09:17says a lot about that place.
01:09:19So that's on my list.
01:09:22Dawes, Vietnam is on my list as well.
01:09:25Well, I thought you rode in Vietnam, Jeff.
01:09:28No, we did a trip to Thailand a few years ago.
01:09:31Vietnam is on my list.
01:09:33Yeah.
01:09:34Yeah, I've ridden in Thailand too.
01:09:35Thailand's rad.
01:09:36Jeff's ridden in Thailand.
01:09:38But Vietnam looks epic.
01:09:40So Adam, let's hear yours.
01:09:44Well, Mexico, love, hate.
01:09:45We'll go back to the love.
01:09:47Even though it can be challenging in some spots,
01:09:51aesthetically with the litter and stuff, there's also really nice spots.
01:09:54But I think it would always be good to log some more time and see something a little bit different.
01:10:03I heard there's these roads up there where people race street bikes on,
01:10:10almost like a Pike's Peak.
01:10:12And I would love just to explore those roads and see what that's all about,
01:10:18and just check out new places I haven't visited.
01:10:21And that's the great thing about Mexico is it's close.
01:10:23It's easy to get to.
01:10:23You don't have to fly 12 hours to get there.
01:10:28Flying to Mexico City, what, takes four hours maybe from LA?
01:10:33If that, three and a half, four hours?
01:10:35Yeah, something like that.
01:10:36Yeah, four hours sounds about right.
01:10:37Not far at all.
01:10:39Cool.
01:10:42I think that's going to cover our likes, our dislikes, and places we want to go.
01:10:48As always, put your comments down below.
01:10:50We want to know where you've been, where you really like,
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