No Spain, No Gain!

Standing five thousand feet above the Mediterranean coast gazing over the mountain expanse, I realized that my lifelong obsession with motorcycling had culminated in the trip of a lifetime, a motorcycle adventure through the Southern region of Spain. Some thirty six years after watching Bruce Brown’s documentary “On Any Sunday”, I was living a dream of a lifetime, twisting through the Sierra de Cadiz Mountains with a group of individuals that shared the same obsessive passion for motorcycling as myself.

The trip came together after researching riding adventures in magazines and through internet searches.  I landed on a company conveniently named Iberian Moto Tours (www.imtbike.com).  Everything about the company, the qualifications of its employees, and the design of their tours appealed to my high level of motorcycling experience.   My only concern was that my wife and I would have to park our Japanese sportbikes in favor of the much more placid BMW steeds.  Much to my surprise, the BMW’s turned out to be the perfect bikes for such a grueling trip.  There were several different models to choose from, but knowing that we would be riding on very difficult, tight terrain, we chose to each ride the BMW F650GS model.  After witnessing the other tour members on much bigger machines, I was relieved to know that we made the absolute right model choice.

Our trip was called the Andalucia – Bandolero Tour.  We flew into Seville, Spain after and a five hour delay due to snow and ice in Washington, D.C, which caused us to miss flights in Belgium, and Madrid. To make things interesting, our luggage was nowhere to be found.  We were off to a good start.  Thank goodness for the guides at IMT, who consoled us and set about locating our luggage and having our gear delivered to us at our second stop.  The guides, now valued friends, went as far as to procure riding gear, some of which was their own, so that we could set out on our adventure without delay or frustration.

Our guides, Scott Moreno, Managing Director, Iberian Moto Tours, and Ashley Rhodes, proper English world traveler, met us at our hotel to map out our adventure over the next seven days.  The daily briefings entailed map routings, terrain overviews, food, and attraction descriptions.  Scott a U.S. transplant to Spain since 1989, with a Masters in Spanish Civilization, was to lead the group, while Ashley was to follow along as sweeper in the support vehicle with our luggage and bike supplies. 

Both of these guys have logged more time on two wheels in 10 years than I have in my thirty six years of racing and riding experience.  In fact, Scott has never owned a car in his life.  Ashley wrote a stellar book entitled “Lonesome Rhodes" about his 19,000 mile adventure from Terra del Fuego, South America to Anchorage, Alaska.  The personalities of Scott and Ashley were like oil and vinegar.  On many occasion, they had us laughing until tears came out of our eyes.  They were overflowing with information on the food, the culture, and the attractions throughout the tour.  They knew more about the Spanish culture than most Spaniards do.  Much to our amusement, they were always trying to top each other.  There was never a shortage of good times to be had by these two.  We could not have scripted a better duo.

Our tour group was as equally diverse as our tour guides.  Along for the ride was an American resident of Taiwanese decent with a passion for Ducati sportbikes, a delightful, yet wild, Brit with his wonderful newlywed Belgium bride, my daredevil wife, and, of course, yours truly, DNF Doug.  The Brit, David, and I had our guides a little worried about our safety, which they admitted to after our trip, after sharing some of our motorcycle adventures at our first rendezvous.  We were relegated to squid status after the first hundred twisties.  I have in excess of a hundred hours of helmet cam video to prove it (www.douglasmholt.com).  We were definitely humbled by the difficulty of the terrain.

The following is an overview of our incredible journey:

Day 2 > Sevilla - Jerez- Arcos de la Frontera

The first day of our journey began by leaving the beautiful city of Sevilla and making our way to Jerez de la Frontera, famous for, sherry, and Andalucian horses.  Our day also included a short visit to the Jerez Racetrack. The track was preparing for the MotoGP the following weekend, and much to our delight, we were able to chat with Casey Stoner’s Ducati crew as they were hanging out in the parking lot. Rossi, Edward's, and Hayden's teams were safely packed away inside the confines of the track. After Jerez we enjoyed some sweepers in verdant Sierra de Grazelema. We spent our first over night in one of many breathtaking Paradors at Arcos de la Frontera, one of the most famous “white towns” in Southern Spain.

Day 3 > Arcos - Gilbraltar – Ronda

We left Arcos and rode endless twisties up through the Sierra de Cadiz Mountains. Did I mention endless twisties?  The breathtaking scenery included forests of cork trees and bravo bull ranches. It is here that we saw numerous “white pueblos” that have made this region so famous. We stayed overnight in Ronda, home to the first bullring in Spain.

Day 4 > Ronda - Marbella - Malaga – Granada

We awoke to the sight of the beautiful gorge of Ronda. After a few shameless photos in front of the Bull Ring, our travels brought us down to Marbella, International hot spot on the “Costa del Sol.” The sites were breathtaking.  We rode along the Mediterranean Coast and through mountains on the famous appropriately named “Goat Road” to the enchanting and history-laden city of Granada, home to the mythical Alhambra.

Day 5 > Granada Rest Day

On our much deserved rest day we visited the Alhambra, the diehards of the crew rode in the snow through the curves up to Pico Veleta, the highest mountain pass in mainland Spain, while the rest of us toured Granada.

Day 6 > Granada - Ubeda – Jaen

Leaving Granada, we were back to riding the picturesque mountain sweepers, but with an added twist.  The temperature in the mountains had dipped down to 5 degrees Celsius, which made our ride very sporty.  We rode into countless olive groves, as far as the eye can see! We rode through the largest national park in Spain, and even more olive trees as we headed towards Ubeda and finally to Jaen.  After this experience, I will always be able to spot an olive tree.

Day 7 > Jaen - Cordoba – Sevilla

We reluctantly left Jaen and rode on sweepers through more olive groves to Cordoba. During our lunch break we had the opportunity to see the famous Mezquita.  Words can’t even convey the magnificence of this national treasure. From Cordoba we swept through the little known back roads to Sevilla.  On our ride we witnessed thousands of sportbikes making their way to the Mecca, Jerez, for the MotoGP. Sooner than I would have liked, we were back where it all started, Sevilla.

Sadly, our trip had come to an end; it was back to Tennessee for us.  My wife completely understands my relentless pursuit for two wheel, and in some cases, one wheel perfection.  This trip is not for the faint of heart.  I have gazed off of many a ravine on the tightest of bends not meant for two way traffic. There is no possible way that I could relate in writing just how magnificent this entire trip was for us.  At the onset, I bragged about having ridden on many occasions “The Tail of the Dragon at Deel's Gap”.  Scott politely laughed and told of a prior customer that had a mock shirt made up stating, “11 turns in 318 miles”.  After our ride, I knew exactly what he meant as we traversed thousands of turns in seven days.   Iberian Moto Tours ensured that we had the time of our lives.  I would strongly recommend this trip for any and all lifelong cyclists like myself.  We shared many a good time with a crew that I am honored to have as friends, hopefully for a lifetime.  We are already planning our next trip, maybe next time we will take on Morocco.