Well, I'd never been to Spain

[MacDaddy]

These steep rock canyons did not disappoint today! First up was the A-1602. This off-the-beaten-path road was part of our separation from the main route in our search to find as many interesting nooks and crannies as we could find. Later, back on course, that national treasure of a road the N-260 was even more magnificent to ride. Spain is not disappointing us!

 

[Liteitup]

Awesome! I'm massively jealous.
That's the most traffic since you left the coast.

Do you leave the same time as the rest of the tour or wait and give them a head start? We rarely see them.
It looks like you're riding solo, is your wife riding in the support van?

Did I mention I'm jealous?

 

[MacDaddy]

Awesome! I'm massively jealous.
That's the most traffic since you left the coast.

Do you leave the same time as the rest of the tour or wait and give them a head start? We rarely see them.
It looks like you're riding solo, is your wife riding in the support van?

Did I mention I'm jealous?

I usually rode with two other guys on XR1000's. Being smaller, we usually were able to leave a few minutes earlier. We rode the same route but made better time and therefore didn't wait on them for coffee breaks or lunch. By making better time, we were able to get a few bonus miles in here and there. You know me and coming up with alternatives.

It was still nice to be part of a group and the guides were very helpful with all sorts of things not always motorcycle related. Yes, Kathleen rode in the chase van and enjoyed the guides company. She has a hard time getting on and off the motorcycle these days so doesn't ride with me anymore. She's happy in the chase van (which is another reason we do the group ride) and that allows me to still ride abroad.

It's funny, on the first group dinner the night before our first day riding, one of the guys asked me if I was interested in breaking off from the group and striking out on our own. I told I hadn't even rode one day with the group and wasn't ready for that. After day 1, I was ready for that. When the curves come up I typically loose my mind. You may have seen when we were riding the coast on day 1, there were a few times where I caught other bikes. That was my group. I would stop and wait a little while and then go motoring along until I caught them and do it over again. Wash, rinse, repeat.

The two other guys I rode with take a lot of these trips and enjoy the freedom of going ahead. I did too. On the second to last day, I broke away from those two and did a little extra exploring (dirt roads) and got in a sort of a race with a Ducati. My most enjoyable day on a street bike ever!!!

Traffic. Yes hardly any most of the time. The N-260 is probably the best national road and it runs east / west so it has some.

 

[MacDaddy]

Wow, probably the single most fun day I've had on a road bike. The roads were great and almost vehicle free as is becoming the norm.

I even found some time to explore and ended up coming up on a dinosaur exhibit in the middle of nowhere. How cool was that? I did a little gravel riding when I left there just to see where the road went. I later learned our bikes are only insured for the pavement. Oh well I guess, stuff happens.

I can't say it enough, but these are some great roads for motorcycles especially if you like to ride on the aggressive side. I can't wait to go back again. Soon I hope.

 

[Pipewizard]

I didn’t see y’all there...

 

[MacDaddy]

View attachment 282965

I didn’t see y’all there...

Well since you're up in Whitewright, I guess that certainly qualifies as northern Spain for sure so I don't know where the mix up was. Just so you don't get to thinking I'm unworldly or anything, I'll have you know that I've shot .308 rifles off the tower at the Texas Pistol Academy in Whitewright before. I appreciate the picture too. A few of my friends here know the strong feelings I hold for the KLR. Seriously, I appreciate your chiming in and hope to see you around.

 

[EETTU]

Thank you for the kind words. You’re right, I do trail brake. At least anytime I’m riding half way spirited. I’m usually on the brakes halfway through the corner and occasionally most of the way around it, if I think I need more grip and load the tire that way.

I grew up riding dual sport and dirt bikes so I didn’t know I was supposed to be afraid of it. Lol. I find now that it adds a layer of fun or challenge that keeps me mentally stimulated. Just another obstacle to overcome if you will.

This I think allows me to keep up with guys with more hp and not work the motor as hard too. Most of what you’re seeing in the videos is me trying to have fun and sightsee. It’s hard to do both and I usually end up erring on the fun side.

Later, I’ll have about a 15 minute video where I chase down a guy in full leathers with knee pucks on a Ducati Panigale on a Canyon road. He can’t use all his 100 hp advantage on that road so I stood a chance. I may have been the only one who knew we were racing though. Anyhow, the trail braking was an advantage in that situation, especially since I (and maybe he) hadn’t ever been on that road before. Man that was fun!


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Thanks for the videos! I found a local high school parking lot and practiced trail braking then found some 20mph S-curves to do it in the real world. Seems much safer for unpredictable turns as there’s some adjustment that can be made even while turning. If you use MSR technique and you’re too hot in the corner, there’s not much you can do outside of lean harder.

 

[MacDaddy]

Seems much safer for unpredictable turns as there’s some adjustment that can be made even while turning.

Exactly! Say we're on a medium speed road with plenty of curves. I can see part of the curve while approaching it so I plan on getting my speed down at that point (in the curve) to what I think I need to complete the rest of the corner. As I get closer, more of the corner becomes visible. I can then slow more for a decreasing radius corner or let off the brakes and maybe speed up for an increasing radius corner.

I enjoy the calculating that goes on with trail braking, it keeps me mentally engaged and becomes more of a challenge the quicker you want to go. I think if I'm faster than some others in the curves, it mostly comes down to this. Everyone's heard of slow in and fast out right? How about fast in and fast out?

 

[MacDaddy]

Okay Jarrett, this is what we talked about a year ago. Get on the the big screen with your YouTube app for this one.

It had been a fabulous day on this penultimate day of the trip. I had gone out on my own that morning and explored a number of squiggley lines on the GPS, as I continued basically along the prescribed route.

Nearly as soon as I left the lunch stop, I saw the road open along the side of a mountain and the pavement looked fantastic. So I was cruising along about 15 mph, trying to get my GoPro fired up, when I heard the booming sound of a large V-shaped motor right behind me. He had politely announced his presence with a couple of revs. As you've seen, there's hardly ever anyone out here, so I was startled when I realized I wasn't as alone as I thought. Anyway, I quickly moved over to let what turned out to be Ducati's flagship Panigale go roaring by me.

About 20 seconds later I had the camera going and wondered if was any chance of catching said flagship on what turned out to be the most enjoyable single ride of the trip for me.

 

[Jarrett]

Okay Jarrett, this is what we talked about a year ago. Get on the the big screen with your YouTube app for this one.

It had been a fabulous day on this penultimate day of the trip. I had gone out on my own that morning and explored a number of squiggley lines on the GPS, as I continued basically along the prescribed route.

Nearly as soon as I left the lunch stop, I saw the road open along the side of a mountain and the pavement looked fantastic. So I was cruising along about 15 mph, trying to get my GoPro fired up, when I heard the booming sound of a large V-shaped motor right behind me. He had politely announced his presence with a couple of revs. As you've seen, there's hardly ever anyone out here, so I was startled when I realized I wasn't as alone as I thought. Anyway, I quickly moved over to let what turned out to be Ducati's flagship Panigale go roaring by me.

About 20 seconds later I had the camera going and wondered if was any chance of catching said flagship on what turned out to be the most enjoyable single ride of the trip for me.

I've been waiting to see this one. I LOVE it when I'm out riding and someone passes like that

 

[MacDaddy]

We really enjoyed our overnight stay at the castle in Cardona on top of the hill. What a unique experience that was and in some ways I hated to leave. I'm not even certain if that's the best place we stayed at or not. Today's route took us from Cardona to Barcelona where we turned in our bikes and got ready to fly home.

Most of this footage is around Sierra de Montserrat and it's fabulous roads. What a unique area that is. The earth just goes straight up. There is a monastery located in amongst the jagged rocks, with daily tours that are highly rated. I really wanted to take a tour after our sight seeing in Barcelona, but it just didn't work out. At least I got to ride around here on a bike instead of a big tour bus. Sooooo much better!

We had an awesome trip and creating the videos gave me a chance to experience it once again which was pretty cool. I know my editing improved by leaps and bounds since the first video.

P.S. Guys, don't miss 1:09