We want to wish you all a superb XMas and a fantastic New Year 2007, full of fun, sun, bikes and twisty roads!
We do of course look forward riding them with you during a Motorcycle Tour!
Have fun, drive safely!

Ok this will be short but still I can't stay calm when I experience things like this: driving the car (yes I know it is a shame but I prefer when I have to carry the kids), in a packed road, both lanes busy...guess what?

The last guy they released from the hospital just after his total brain removal, decided to overtake the whole lane! I think the space between his elbows (yes he was ridding a super sports bike) and our respective mirros must have been less that 1cm!

This proves:

• He is a very sharp ridder.
• He is a very stupid person.
• He is the most lucky guy I know.

Considering the speed he was ridding at, the first option is not possible, expeciallay as cars where moving sideways too!

So does this mean that luck comes with stupidity? Hmmm. I think that stupidity needs luck!

Anyway, thanks to that guy the biker image in the car drivers mind took a dive!

Well you may have noticed that we went quiet for some time! Not that we are no more in the motorcycle industry or no more willing to share info!

But some times you get very busy!

We have to get the 2006 tours over and get the 2007 ones ready! Have the new special offers running, get the bikes serviced, get our latest newsletter out, take care of the tax forms (I hate that part), go on chassing for new representatives all over the world etc...

Still the list of topics we wanna write about is growing on the desk and each time I look at it I wonder why there are only 24h in one day!

So don't worry more notes will come soon! We may even go to test a Harley!!! Can you beleive that?

When we create a new motorcycle tour we cannot use as much time as we will during the tour with our customers. This is normal as, for an 8 day tour, we spend only two to three days to check the planned roads and the selected hotels. This implies that, even though, we ride the same roads as the tour will take and even check various options, we have to be fast (but at the authorized speed limits) and efficient in our riding. The tours being of course tested and validated on a motorcycle the focus on the road and rhythm is paramount.

What is nice is then to ride the same tour with the customers who want to see everything and enjoy a good time, thus riding at a slower pace and stopping often for sight seeing and photos.

For us this gives a great perspective on the tour as we can then enjoy the scenery too! And even discover each time some new things, as we ride the tour with different groups at different periods of the year!

Suggestion: take the rhythm down, have a look around you, even on your favorite race track, sorry, road section! You will be surprised by the beauty of the scenery and the variety of places and people around you.

Ron Ayres who is pretty well known in the US extreme rally riders world, but not that much in the rest of the world unfortunately, wrote some books about his experience and a couple on this delicious extreme ride call the Iron Butt Rally (see their web site: 11.000 miles in 11 days).

His book is a precise report about his and some other riders, 1995 Iron Butt Rally. It is interesting to see how far a biker can go, how far you can stretch your limits in endurance, loneliness and focus. The read goes like the ride: non stop, you can’t get the book to rest until you have finished reading it.

Even though Ron is a competitor of our business I hope I will have one day the luck to have a chat with him over a good beer!

By the way stay focused, Unicorn Adventures Ltd may have a surprise for you in 2008….

But shhhhhtttt it is a secret!

After many many many kilometers of tour riding and guiding we have had time to sort out what type of gear and brand is good in regards to the equipment. But as this is not a product review I will go down to one element no one ever talks or even considers testing in magazines : the underwear !

As a man I can only write about our male butt situation and will let the ladies comment about their own issues.

This topic is just set aside by everyone. Ron Ayres in his Going the extra mile, Insider tips for long distance motorcycling and endurance riding on page 23 writes a couple of lines about the materials and the sewing but nothing about the shape.

Sewing is an important discomfort factor and can after a few hours ride get you to dream about a huge ice cube to sit on.

But there is one thing you never think about when you go for a ride: the shape! You may have your own favorite one: briefs, G string, underpants etc… and go for the one you are used too. But if, like me, you like the briefs “holds the whole pack together”, you will end up in a very uncomfortable situation while the borders slowly get their mark on your soft baby butt skin.

On the other side underpants will not have the border right where you sit but may need some adjustment to feel comfy and avoid misplaced folds. You may also have to fight against a certain level of freedom and moving parts.

After many different testing I ended up with a mixed solution of underpants crossed with briefs: boxer briefs. Sewing is no more under your buttocks and the material holds what should be well maintained.

Just an advice but comfort is paramount isn’t it?

Funny how many "interesting" personal philisophy coments one can collect while riding motorcycle tours.

About what is necesseray in the early morning to start a good day I could hear:

A coffee, a smoke and a good sh... is all you need!

Ahhh bikers ;)

We are going during the next couple of weeks to test the Tripy, a GPS based on a road book logic, vs. the usual GPS solution every one knows.

The Tripy has been developped for motorcycle riders and should be an interesting solution for motorcycle tour operators to transfer tour knowledge to one guide to the other.

First reaction when we received the test package: that thing is VERY ugly! An big but looks very solid and well adapted to motorcycle riding in all weather conditions.

We also received the Road Tracer Pro which the complete road design software that allows you to design your roads on your PC and transfer the road bokk on your Tripy. Not that intuitive to use for the first minutes because you try to use it as a standard GPS software (like map source from Garmin, for example) and miss some handy functions. But after 5 mins you get used to it and it took me less than 10 minutes to plan a whol 1243 km ride in the Alps.

You will have to be patient to know what happened during the test as we will test it for two weeks! Riding the twisty Alpine roads.

One good riding while on a motorcycle tour is Ted Simon’s “Jupietr’s Travels”.

Starting in 1974, Ted rode 65.000 miles during four years on his 500cc Tiger Hundred Triumph. He went through many many adventures you will read in his lovely book but the one that stroke me is that in, what we “civilized” people consider as pretty uncivilized countries, Ted met the most fantastic people. I stay convinced that even twenty years later it stays the same (see the lastest long ride adventure of Boorman and McGregor).

As much as I hated the “Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance” pseudo biker way of thinking mixed with crazy people’s philosophy, as much I like what Ted came out, as a philosophy, over his journey. It is real, based on a real period of his life, and has definitely has some impact on him. Would love to meet that guy one day.

Here are some sentences from his book I would like to write down:

• Does it rain because you carry your umbrella, or because you don’t? It’s a personal matter depending on how you remember it.
• There is nothing left for me to do but gather up my souvenirs and fly back to Nairobi. I wonder, would it have been like that if I had arrived on my motorcycle? I am sure it wouldn’t.
• Instant information is instant obsolete. Only the most banal ideas can successfully cross great distances et the speed of light. And anything that travels very far very fast is scarcely worth transporting, especially the tourist (TT’s note: that is why when you travel on your motorcycle alone or in a group you aren’t seen as a turist but more as a person trying tgo learn and blend in, in most regions).

There are many more interesting ideas and thoughts in Ted’s book but I suggest you discover them on your own.

Thanks Ted for being one of those who learn the world at a human speed, on two wheels.

Yesterday I went to Gonfaron (Provence) by car. Why not riding? Because I went there with my baby (9 months old) to visit the Turtles Village (how was the visit? Zen!!!). Maybe one day manufacturers will design a specific baby seat for the motorcycles… or finally do I have to buy a sidecar?!!!

Close to Gonfaron, I saw the beautiful grassy vineyards as far as visible, huge and heavy bunches of purple grapes. It reminded me Alsace and our walks in the vineyards where we ate the hardly picked grape. But yesterday I didn't want to do the same. I didn't know how the grape owner could react if he found me eating the fruit of his work. I couldn’t imagine a fast run with the baby stroller in the grapevines, a man more than unhappy behind us… not serious at all!!!

While driving on the small roads I had the pleasure to dive into the wine universe. Big domains, grapevines everywhere, beautiful big houses of character. Tractors and their trailer completely filled with grapes. Agriculturists greeting themselves cheerfully on the road, even stopping frankly to chat a while. Don’t you think that in the town where we live everybody would have been pretty angry with such a situation? But there, everything was different, quiet and fun. It matched with the scenery and the atmosphere. And in the air I could identify the smell of the young wine. Pretty nice…

The season of wine-harvest just began. There is something to organise pretty quickly to live once again all these moments. But this time, by motorcycle!

Hier je me suis rendue à Gonfaron (département du Var, Provence) en voiture. Eh oui, pas de moto pour parcourir ces 50km depuis Saint-Raphaël puisque j’emmenais mon bébé visiter le Village des Tortues (zen, la visite !!!). A quand les super sièges moto pour les bébés ? Ou bien dois-je résolument me mettre au side-car ??!!!

Près de Gonfaron, des vignobles verdoyants à perte de vue, des pieds de vigne lourds de grappes de raisin. Hummm, ça m’a rappelé l’Alsace et les balades dans les vignes où l’on mangeait le raisin à peine cueilli… mais bon, là, je ne voulais pas recommencer. Je ne sais pas comment pouvait réagir le propriétaire s’il me trouvait à grignoter le fruit de son travail ; et s’il le prenait mal ? Vous m’imaginez à courir avec une poussette dans les vignes, un homme plus que mécontent à mes trousses ?? Non, ce n’est vraiment pas sérieux !

En roulant sur la nationale j’ai eu le plaisir de me plonger dans l’univers vinicole. De grands domaines qui bordent la route, des vignes partout et de belles bâtisses de caractère. Sur les petites routes, des tracteurs et leur remorque remplies à rabord de grappes de raisin pourpre. Des agriculteurs qui se saluent gaiement lorsqu’ils se croisent, s’arrêtant même carrément sur la route pour échanger quelques mots… intra muros on se serait déjà énervé, mais là, tout est différent ; ça cadre bien avec le décor et l’atmosphère. Dans l’air, l’odeur du vin jeune… c’est très présent, et agréable...

La saison des vendanges a commencé. Une balade à organiser très vite pour revivre tous ces moments… cette fois en moto !

I guess that one day you experienced situations which demonstrated that riders are completely scary…

It’s absolutely funny to notice that when a person stands close to his/her motorcycle, the helmet on the saddle, people seem to be less nervous. It is even possible to see in their eyes something like “how lucky is this guy/girl ” or ” What a great style !”.

But as soon as the rider wears the complete gear, the gentleman aspect disappears at once and the mutation starts. And the result is pretty far from the Cinderella context, you know, the poor pumpkin that becomes a gorgeous coach … the most appropriate image is rather Davy Jones and his army of sea-phantoms in Pirates of the Caribbean!!! To summarize, the one who had a real positive image becomes a perfect enemy who scares everybody. Absolutely incredible!

I remember a motorcycle trip two years ago. We left Alsace to go to Corsica. It was about midnight and we felt tired enough to decide to stop for the night. We looked for a hotel but we got lost, that is the reason why I decided to ask someone to help us. There was only one young woman in her car, close to us. My man told me it was useful and that the woman would not answer me. But I was so optimistic that I decided to ask anyway. I was so surprised! The woman got me out of her sight, ignoring me ; of course she could not guess that the person under the helmet was another woman, quite polite and kind. As soon as there was the green light she disappeared, quickly.

I was so angry ! Because of the reaction of the woman, but also because my man added « I told you that it was useful »!