INSIDE PASS
European Vacation Part 2
Author: Jon Hatcher
Road Trip!
(Missed the first installment? Check out European Vacation Part 1!)  The bike was ugly. Its tall stance, awkward “face” and fat, saddlebag-clad rear end just didn’t have the same sex appeal as the sportbikes sitting in my garage back home. However, the Suzuki Vstrom in front of me was inexpensive to rent and cheap is the name of the game on a college student’s budget. After signing some papers and swiping my debit card at Motogreek, the rental company in Munich, Germany (www.motogreek.com), my buddy Joe and I rode the Vstrom I’d chosen and the BMW R1200GS he’d picked back to the dorm to pack our gear. Then, we were off on a road trip through the Alps and into Italy, to watch the Italian round of MotoGP at the Autodromo Mugello outside of Florence.
 Germany’s Autobahn is an experience. Teutonic drivers take great pride in their driving ability and it shows in their responsible conduct at high velocity. Just outside of the city, the road opens up and speed limit signs disappear. Being a couple of racetrack speed junkies, we twisted our throttles to their stops. My tall, softly sprung Vstrom started to become jittery around 150 kilometers per hour and stopped accelerating around 210kph, but Joe’s big Beemer sure had some steam, blowing past me like I was standing still. Soon enough, our blazing pace brought us into the foothills of the Alps south of Munich.
We exited the Autobahn and headed toward soaring white mountains in search of the exciting twisties that would take us all the way into Italy. The road began to wind and our pulses quickened as we snaked our way along river roads deeper into Alpine country. Blue-green water interspersed with boiling rapids and waterfalls cascaded down rock faces from the icy mountain peaks above. Dark green pine forests surrounded us as we began our weaving ride through the snow capped Alps of southern Europe.
|